Oh The Drama!

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Our Little Friday the 13th Drama

It was annual physical day for my little fur family. Its also Friday the 13th. That should have told me how it would go. The never ending fur drama thanks to  Balboa. No getting around it. They have to see the Vet. In an effort to relieve stress for the little guys I use a mobile vet who comes to our home. Dr. Ross is wonderful. She is a soft spoken, gentle woman as good with stressed out owners (me) as she is with the little fur babies.

 

the dog hugs a cat. isolated on white ba

ROSS VETERINARY HOUSE CALLS

The Check up Last Year

We should learn from experience right? Last year Balboa ran and hid. It took all of us to round him up. With that in mind Dr. Ross suggested that I put him in a carrier before she arrived.  The appointment was for 11:45. I started to try to put Balboa in his carrier at 11:30. I figured it would be easy. Boy was I wrong! It took all of that 15 minutes and then some. Once I finally got him in the carrier I put it on the floor. I figured he’d scrunch down and calm down. I went outside to wait for Dr. Ross so she wouldn’t have to ring the doorbell and set them off again. We were back inside within 5 minutes but poor Balboa had managed to roll the whole carrier across the room and was upside down with the floor cushion on top of him. He wasn’t a happy camper.

Balboa – Photo credit Deb Neumann

Balboa

Since Balboa was so stressed we decided to give him his check up first. I let Dr. Ross extract him from the carrier so if he got away it would be her fault- not mine. She expertly moved him from carrier to a grooming blanket making a kitty burrito. He growled and hissed the whole time. This got Banner all wound up. My usually friendly Banner started to growl and hiss too. He didn’t run or back away. If anything he appeared to be planning to come to Balboa’s rescue. 

Balboa on his cat tree- photo credit Deb Neumann

With Balboa secure in the grooming bag he got his shots and nail trim and was soon ready to be released. Of course he was off like a shot to hide. Now it was Banner’s turn. 

Banner

Banner is usually friendly and into everything but Balboa had him all worked up too. We didn’t need the grooming bag but his check up wasn’t without resistance either.  He hissed 3 times! very unusual. But finally we got him weighed and nails trimmed. He didn’t even notice the shot he got. Snuck that one right by him!

Banner- Photo credit Deb Neumann

The Results

In the end Banner kept his weight right where it was last year. In fact he may have lost an ounce or two. He was 15.10 lbs. last year and this year he weighed in at  15.07 lbs. We’re very pleased. He was back to his calm, normal self as soon as Dr. Ross let him go.

Balboa also maintained. He was 11.02 lbs. last year and this year he weighed in at 11.04. And here’s the thing- after all that kitty drama he was out of hiding and exploring his carrier almost before Dr. Ross was out the door.  She hadn’t even gotten to her car! The big faker wouldn’t have come out so quick if he’d even been half as traumatized as he let on. Dr. Ross said his heart rate was not as high as she expected for the tantrum he was throwing! 

 

Banner & Balboa- Photo credit Deb Neumann

At least that’s done for another year. See you in 2024, Dr, Ross

I’ve been blocked!

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Blocked Again

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I’ve been blogging for years and never had so much trouble with my site. I logged in to post an update and  found I was blocked from any new posts- AGAIN! This seems to be happening a lot and its very annoying.  This time it was a “Fatal error” with my SEO account. All of those things are supposed to update automatically but apparently the hosting platform is still mixing up the old  aroundustyroads.com with the new, active one of arounddustyroads.com. Anyway it took a couple of days/tries but it seems to be working now. Fingers crossed. 

 

Flickr

I have a Flickr account and for a long time it was linked to this blog in the side bar. Lately it doesn’t seem to be updating so that’s another thing I will need to work on. I haven’t worried too much about it because I haven’t added too many new photos to my flickr account but the recent photo contest got me busy uploading some of my pics since that gives me online storage. So if anyone is interested here’s the link to my flickr photostream

Here are a couple of examples of what you’ll find there

Yogi Bear

Bear Up a tree

Wyoming Black Bear 2017- photo credit Deb Neumann

Yes, I know this bear doesn’t look black – more of a cinnamon brown and he didn’t look very big.  He could have been a big ole Teddy bear sitting in some kind of bush, you could hardly call it a tree, right by the road and everyone was pulling over to get a look. He paid no attention to any of us gawkers. There must have been some berries or something in those leaves because he was really busy licking them up. 

Bull Elk

A pair of Bull elk

Bull Elk Wyoming 2017- Photo credit Deb Neumann

The same trip I got to see a huge herd of elk migrating to the elk reserve near Jackson Hole. These two handsome guys were just standing there seemingly surveying all of their domain. The herd wasn’t far away and that consisted of the cows and calves and a few younger bulls. . 

Elk Migration

Elk herd Wyoming 2017- Photo credit Deb Neumann

 

 

 

 

And The Winner is

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The Winner

The winner of the 2023 Mystic Aquarium photo contest is the Whale Breach! Darn I knew that was the one I should have submitted. I still like my iguana but the breach was a good one.  Congratulations to Shannon Higgins-Millicker for the breaching whale photo.

 

In case you forgot which one I entered here it is again and also my whale breach photo that I didn’t submit. 

Key Largo Iguana

Key Largo Iguana- Photo credit Deb Neumann

Whale Breach

Breaching Whale

Whale Breach- Photo credit Deb Neumann

Next One

That’s the hard part about photo contests. You never know what the judges are looking for. Sometimes they will say specifically that is must be a bird from the northeast or  taken between July 4 and  September 5. When they get specific its easier to narrow down the submission but when its wide open its anyone’s guess. Oh well. It was only to name a seal. No Money so maybe next year. 

It was fun anyway. I’ll have to keep an eye out for the next one. Most are winding down for this year.

National Wildlife Day Photo Contest

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 Photo Contest

I haven’t been involved with a photo contest in quite awhile. I used to enjoy them but they can get expensive. Many have entry fees, sometimes fees per photo so it can get pricey. Anyway a friend sent me a link to Mystic Aquarium’s National Wildlife Day Photo Contest and suggested I enter. There was no entry fee and the prize, if you won, is the right to name a seal they are releasing. So its basically just for fun and that’s about the amount of effort I made. Just for fun.

 

My Entry

I didn’t even look at the competing entries, just made a quick grab for something from my archives. I kind of  like my choice but since it’s from the lizard family it might not have a lot of universal appeal. Maybe I should  have gone with a deer or a bird. Actually I was thinking about my whale breach photo but couldn’t remember where it was filed and didn’t want to take the time to look. So my Key Largo Iguana was it.

Key Largo Iguana- Photo Credit Deb Neumann

The 4 Finalists

It will be another week before the winners are announced but I didn’t even make the finals.  Here’s the top 4 as it stands now.

 

If I had thought about it I have pictures for all 4 categories that made the finals and here they are.

 

Finalist #1- Puffins

I like Puffins. I could have submitted a Puffin picture if I’d thought of it. 

Puffin 2016- Photo Credit Deb Neumann

Finalist #2-butterfly

Oh. I have so many butterflies but my favorite is on the sunflower.

Sunflower and butterfly 2018- Photo Credit Deb Neumann

Finalist #3 – Fox Kit

This one was a bit harder. I have a fox kit picture but I balanced the camera on the car window and never thought to shut off the engine so it wouldn’t be Photo Contest worthy. There was a little camera shake.

Red fox baby on Monday

Red Fox Kit 2017- photo credit Deb Neumann

Finalist #4 – Whale

I’ve been on whale watches from Cape Cod to Maui. I have tons of whale pictures. Even some of whale breaches. Here’s one.

Breaching Whale

Whale Breach 2017- Photo credit Deb Neumann

That’s a wrap

I have so many more wildlife photos that I just didn’t think about. I have seals and Elk and Moose. Even some Grizzly Bears. And this post about photo contests wouldn’t be complete unless I shared the one that made it into a National Geographic Contest. It didn’t win but at least it got past the initial screening. I’m pretty proud of that!

2015- Photo Credit Deb Neumann

I hope you enjoyed

Ginger (Orange) Cat Appreciation Day

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Ginger Cat Appreciation Day

Ah the Ginger aka Orange Cat appreciation day. Ginger Cats are the redheads of the cat world. Actually their coats can range from pale yellow to reddish brown but all gingers have stripes or swirls in their coats and an M on on their forehead.  All ginger cats are Tabbies but not all tabbies are Gingers.  Some things that make orange cats unique are:

  1. Tabby describes a coat pattern and is not a breed.
  2. 80% of all orange tabby cats are male. The gene for orange color is riding on the X chromosome. Females need to have the gene on both of their X’s while male cats have only 1 X so the odds are better for them than their female counterparts. 
  3. There’s more than 1 type of stripe. There are four different types of tabby patterns that can occur: mackerel (tiger-like stripes), ticked (hair that alternates with light and dark bands), spotted, and classic (which gives a swirled look).
  4. The pigment that gives your Garfield his ginger color is the same one that gives humans red hair.
  5. M marks the spot. 

Photo credit Deb Neumann

6. Orange cats Have Freckles. They usually start to show up at about 2 years of age. Don’t panic if your cat starts getting these black spots on        their  lips or nose. It’s normal for these guys.

They’ve got Purrsonality

I was a late comer to the ginger cat fan club. I was always drawn to black and tuxedo cats. Boy was I missing out! My first orange tabby was Rocky. Rocky was my constant companion for 19 years. He was quirky and funny and always loyal.

Photo credit Deb Neumann

 

Photo Credit Deb Neumann

You can see Rocky’s freckles in this picture.

Banner

Photo Credit Deb Neumann

Banner is my current tabby. He got his name by the way he carries his tail on high.

 

Always straight up and confident.  Banner is definitely all Garfield as far as his personality but not his eating habits. No lasagna for Banner. Banner is Mr. Fussy. The original finicky eater. But he has the prey drive in the family. When the toys come out get out of his way. He is 15 lbs of orange fur barreling across the floor to catch that feather toy! That’s not to say he doesn’t enjoy a snooze in the sun.

Photo credit Deb Neumann

Famous Ginger Tabbies

  • Morris the 9 Lives cat
  • Garfield
  • Crookshanks from Harry Potter
  • Marmalade from Cole and Marmalade
  • Heathcliff
  • Puss In Boots

 So hats off to our Ginger aka Orange tabby cats. Lovable , cuddly doofus kitties

photo credit Deb Neumann

Photo credit Deb Neumann