Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Category Archives: Critter foo
Ferret on the lam
Here’s the crappy thing about ferrets: they’re like teenage boys, no end of mischief and they think they’re immortal. They’re geniuses at getting themselves into trouble. No instinct for self-preservation, none whatsoever.
Zappa is missing.
We let them out every evening and give them the run of the upstairs bedroom. (Our upstairs, the product of a 1970s remodel by the previous owner, is a great big bedroom, master bathroom, walk-in closet, and another walk-in closet. She was known as the Imelda Marcos of Brookings, that last owner, and she needed closets. Lots of closets.) Usually, they go to ground at some point and fall asleep under the furniture. When Zappa didn’t show up, we figured that’s what he’d done. I expected him to wake me up, the little bugger, but he never did.
So here are the options: he got into the attic or the walls, or he jumped off the balcony to his certain doom. If the fall didn’t kill him, the local predators would.
I’ve checked the attics. (We have a few. Don’t ask.) I’ve listened to the walls. I’ve checked the hillside beneath the balcony, looking for a ferrety body. Nothing. He’s vanished.
I’m upset about this. This is NOT good. I love the little bugger and I feel like I’ve let him down by allowing his inclination toward self-destruction free reign. I think we need to implant these guys with some sort of transponder.
We let Harmonica out earlier today in the hopes he would find Zappa’s hiding place. No go.
Anyway, I don’t know what else to do.
D.
Ferrety goodness
Zappa was so happy to get out of his cage this evening, he started jumping in place. Of course, I didn’t have our camcorder handy, and even if I did, I still haven’t figured out how to adapt movies from the camcorder to my computer.
So what did I do? I searched YouTube. Didn’t find any good examples of the behavior in question, but I did find some viddies worth sharing.
The ferret clown car:
We really need to try this:
Not much of a ferret in this next one, but it’s still funny as hell.
G’night!
D.
They seem cute . . .
until you see their teeth.
(From shhexycorin’s photostream.)
Still wiped. Still stressed.
That is all.
D.
Dig the frog
Sighted this morning, perched atop our algae-overgrown tub “pond”:
My best guess, this is Rana aurora, the Northern Red-legged Frog, indigenous to Del Norte and Curry Counties. I saw two of them this morning, but the smaller of the two was camera shy. Nothing could perturb this big fellow.
The call doesn’t sound familiar, though . . . and that means we have another species lurking about. Probably several.
***
We are NOT in transit to Seattle. Karen had some severe abdominal pain last night, so we spent the evening at our friendly neighborhood ER. Nothing serious, she’s fine, but we decided to scrub our Saturday departure date until she felt better. Current plan is to depart Monday morning. Since my first interview is Wednesday, we still have some wiggle room.
***
Coasting on 2.5 hours of sleep, I have this overwhelming desire to do nothing but veg out playing some old computer game — Civilization III, perhaps, or Diablo III. Both of those games are mindless and endlessly replayable. I never could get my head around Civ IV; Leonard Nimoy’s voice-overs were fun, but the slow, tedious, and bloodless gameplay made Civ IV a yawn-fest. Someone decided to make military conquest nearly impossible in that game. Not my idea of escapist fun.
***
A patient’s husband picked up my tab for breakfast this morning. That’s never happened to me before.
I liked it.
Live blogging tonight? Maybe, if I’m not too sleepy.
D.
What happened to the dinosaurs
Beelzebufo, the devil frog, to be precise.
Devil frog gives useful advice to his little pal before raiding nest of yummy dinosaur eggs
Credit
From the article linked above:
A team of researchers, led by Stony Brook University paleontologist David Krause, has discovered the remains in Madagascar of what may be the largest frog ever to exist.
The 16-inch, 10-pound ancient frog, scientifically named Beelzebufo, or devil frog, links a group of frogs that lived 65 to 70 million years ago with frogs living today in South America . . . .
“Beelzebufo appears to be a very close relative of a group of South American frogs known as ‘ceratophyrines,’ or ‘pac-man’ frogs, because of their immense mouths,” said Krause, whose research was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The ceratophryines are known to camouflage themselves in their surroundings, then ambush predators.
. . . . Not only was the frog huge, it was powerful in design, had a protective shield, an extremely wide mouth and powerful jaws. These features made Beelzebufo capable of killing lizards and other small vertebrates, perhaps even hatchling dinosaurs.
Remember Tubby, my pac-man frog? Eater of mice, thumbs, toes, and anything else moving within an inch of his enormous mouth?
That’s Tubby as a juvenile. At the time, he ate goldfish. Big goldfish. He graduated to mice within the year.
You bet I can believe Beelzebufo ate dinosaur hatchlings.
D.
Oh, that’s just not right.
Gorillas caught doin’ it in the missionary position.
In the first photograph taken of wild gorillas engaging in the behavior, lowland gorillas in Congo nicknamed George and Leah mate face-to-face as Leah’s four-year-old daughter Nancy looks on.
What’s next — pole-dancing orangutans?
D.
Thirteen Pets, Part 1
When old friends call, they ask about the pets. All through med school and residency, my wife and I were notorious for our critters. Never anything too exotic, mind you — I never did get that spider monkey I wanted so much as a kid (blame Curious George) — but exotic enough that our friends never forget the menagerie.
One of the neat things about a Thirteen is that it lets you see your life through a variety of lenses. I’ve done Thirteens on food, sex, crushes, dreams, patients, you name it. I’m flabbergasted that I’ve never done one on pets. Really. ‘Cuz I’m all about animals.
Barnyard Animals, Lesson #1
Shaina, this is a baby goat:
Pooties
Modern day kitty gets the mouse!, originally uploaded by tryingtolearn USA.
Nothing tonight, my pals. Karen and Jake are both under the weather, and I’m pretty wiped, myself. Not fair! I’m supposed to feel like this at the end of the week, not the beginning.
I want an orange kitty.
D.
Friday Flickr Babe: LIGER!
Who says a Flickr Babe has to be human?
Worlds Biggest Liger, originally uploaded by georgejbutlerii.
What an amazing, gorgeous animal. Watch the video. Here’s more from the same program.
Karen wonders whether they would survive in the wild. Could they find enough food to satisfy their appetites?
I’m betting yes . . . especially if a gaggle of human tourists are nearby, snapping photos.
D.