For Cousins R and S

A few years ago my totally awesome cousins R and S had a genius business scheme. You may have heard of "designer dogs"- fancy dog breeds made by cross- breeding usually various combinations of toy or hunting dogs with poodles. Well, R and S decided that they were going to breed and sell "designer snakes".  Yes, Designer Snakes. Unfortunately, they weren't sure that there was really a market, so their schemes didn't come to fruition.
Well, we found out today that they're not the only people who have ever had this brilliant get-rich-quick scheme.
You may recall that yesterday I posted about Mrs. J's daughter's snake's funeral. Well, it turns out that this snake (actually, these snakes) were part of their business scheme to (guess what?) breed and sell "designer snakes."
Yeeeaaaah. I think they need to put their heads together. :)

 

 

 

 

I'm afraid I just don't get the appeal of having snakes. In your home. Voluntarily.

WWFN,
Rosie

There's been a Death....

 Don't worry, this really isn't a sad post. :)

There's been a Death, in the Opposite House,
As lately as Today --
I know it, by the numb look
Such Houses have -- alway --

The Neighbors rustle in and out --
The Doctor -- drives away --
A Window opens like a Pod --
Abrupt -- mechanically --

Somebody flings a Mattress out --
The Children hurry by --
They wonder if it died -- on that --
I used to -- when a Boy --

The Minister -- goes stiffly in --
As if the House were His --
And He owned all the Mourners -- now --
And little Boys -- besides --

And then the Milliner -- and the Man
Of the Appalling Trade --
To take the measure of the House --
There'll be that Dark Parade --

Of Tassels -- and of Coaches -- soon --
It's easy as a Sign --
The Intuition of the News --
In just a Country Town --

~Emily Dickinson

Yesterday, we were somewhat distressed to see our next door neighbors digging a hole in their backyard and acting somewhat emotional. We were worried about the three doggies next door, especially since Miss Charlotte is somewhat elderly. Today however, Roo heard Mrs. J next door calling for Miss Charlotte, so we knew she's ok. This evening, Owl went to talk to the neighbors on the other side of Mrs. J to apologize for my behavior (I'll get to that in my next post), and learned what the funeral was for:

 A narrow fellow in the grass
Occasionally rides;
You may have met him,--did you not,
His notice sudden is.

The grass divides as with a comb,
A spotted shaft is seen;
And then it closes at your feet
And opens further on.

He likes a boggy acre,
A floor too cool for corn.
Yet when a child, and barefoot,
I more than once, at morn,

Have passed, I thought, a whip-lash
Unbraiding in the sun,--
When, stooping to secure it,
It wrinkled, and was gone.

Several of nature's people
I know, and they know me;
I feel for them a transport
Of cordiality;

But never met this fellow,
Attended or alone,
Without a tighter breathing,
And zero at the bone.
~Emily Dickinson

People keep these things in their houses on purpose?!!

Their adult daughter's pet snake had died, probably as a result of hypothermia from being without heat due to power outages. We were very relieved to hear that it wasn't one of the dogs (BTW, I hope you know that y'all gave me a heart attack at dinner last night, pondering "who had died next door" since I had heard nothing of all this brou-ha-ha previously. ~Roo)
 WWFN,
ROSIE
 

Rosie the guard dog

Roo and Pooh (and to a lesser extent Tigger) have a longstanding love of the Redwall books by Brian Jaques.  I have one major issue with these books. The squirrels are good guys. ALWAYS. Now, aside from my beloved purple squirrel, I do not like squirrels, so it greatly bothers me that my girls like books in which squirrels are *gasp* HEROIC *shock* *horror*.  This is a total lie.

SQUIRRELS ARE EVIL LITTLE MONSTERS. If you don't believe me, just wait. Some dark and stormy night, you will wake up and find a squirrel standing over you with a running chainsaw. Seriously. 

Now, what led me to come to this conclusion, you ask?  Well, ze squirrels, zey are always trying to break into ze house. When the family abandons me (read: we leave the house for a couple hours. ~Ed.), they always tell me I have to guard against the squirrels. I wondered why these little rodents want to get in, and why the humans are so careful about not letting them get in.  I thought through the situation carefully, and realized that it must be due to the fact that the squirrels are out to get them. This, my friends, is why I am so careful to guard the house against these furry invaders.

Note my totally high tech kevlar chainsaw proof blanket that I wear to guard against squirrel attacks.

 WWFN,

Rosie the faithful guard dog:)

0.0109%

0.0109% That was the probability that we would find a snake in the house today. Guess what. We found one. I was in the kitchen and Tigger, Roo, and Kanga were upstairs. Roo headed down stairs and then the air was rent with the piercing shrieks of the Roo. " THERE'S A SNAAAAAAAAAKE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE STAIRS!!!!!!!!!!" Tigger came running and tried to move my bed, which was by the front door to try to encourage our little friend to head outdoors, but that didn't work, so Tigger ended up sweeping the snake out the door with a broom. THere was lots of jumping and squealing from all three humans who were home at the time. (In their defense they didn't know what kind of snake it was and it was rather unhappy and was doing its "Let's try to bite the people." maneuver. I stayed in the kitchen like a sensible dog...

This was taken after it was outside, lest you think our floors are concrete.

According to some of the cousins, who are snake experts it's either a baby black rat snake or a king snake, both of which are harmless, but hate being messed with.

WWFN,
Rosie the calm voice of reason amidst a crisis

Baby Birds!

The birds have been very noisy of late, and part the reason is that there are birds nests all over the place. Here are some pictures that Tigger took of the baby birds and the mother. She was not a happy camper about Tigger taking the pictures, however.

There's mama bird being very angry at Tigger.

Tigger said there were either 3 or 4. She couldn't get close enough to tell though because she didn't want to be attacked by an angry mama mockingbird!

Fawn Rescue 2012

Wol went out jogging this morning and he found a fawn that had fallen into a hole and couldn't get out. So, he and Tigger went on a rescue mission. Sadly, I was not invited to go along. I'm still not sure why. It was a teeny, tiny, little guy apparently, and as you shall see in the pictures, very cute! The family just went back to where they placed the fawn after rescuing it from the hole, and are happy to report that it appears that there has been a happy reunion between doe and fawn.