Why Is It ...

… that people keep reminding me to get my tires rotated? I’m pretty sue they rotate while I’m driving, but thanks anyway.

… that people don’t get that I laugh most stuff off because prision doesn’t cook the food I like.

… that life is like toilet paper; you’re either on a roll or you’re taking shiz from some asshole?

… that my first instinct when I see an animal is to say ‘Hello, and yet my first instinct when I see a human is to avoid eye contact and hope it goes away?

… that I can never be a good superhero? Is it because I know I would see the signal calling me in the sky and mutter: “I literally just poured a cup of coffee.”

… that I have shenanned before and I will shenanigan?

… that when I saw a hot man at McDonald’s spank his kid after the child threw his fries on the ground, that I also threw my fries on the ground?

… that sticks and stones may break my bones and words will also hurt me; compliments make me uncomfortable. I have social anxiety. I’m a wreck. Just go.

A Cat Tale: Houdini and Phoenix

Who says cats are “just” animals? After MaxGoldberg passed Tuxedo was especially hard hit. The first few days he would sit in the living staring down the hallway waiting for Max to come out for breakfast. Now, he sits on the couch in the sunroom after eating, also waiting for Max because that’s where the two of them took their morning naps. It breaks my heart to see him so sad, and, like people, I know he’ll come out of it, but he’s still grieving, so I needed this cat tale today.

A cat called Houdini was found hung up on a fence by the Humane Society of Mason County in Washington. Once they set him free, the volunteers realized that his vision was quite poor due to an infection which required surgery. Houdini made it through the surgery but was left blind. The volunteers then brought an orange tabby, Phoenix, in to meet Houdini, and the two have bonded, with Phoenix becoming Houdini’s seeing eye cat.

Katherine Johnson, Humane Society of Mason County president, said Houdini and Phoenix, about 3 months old, have bonded, and said they will be adopted out as a pair so that they can stay together … as they should.

Sometimes I wish people treated each other the way animals treat one another.

SIDENOTE: Carlos calls me his Seeing Eye Bob.

DListed

Russian Lawmakers Make Everything Gay

Yes, it’s a crime to be gay in Russia, but apparently everything in Russia is gay, or, at the very least, gay propaganda.

A group of Russian prosecutors have gathered together to decide if the Russian media’s fascination with an unlikely pair of friends could be — should be — considered “gay propaganda.”

Oh, and the two friends are a goat and a tiger. Uh huh.

Alexei Krestyanov, a lawyer so he must be educated, was the first to bring his disgust for these two animals to the prosecutor general; Krestyanov is concerned that this male tiger and boy goat that live together in a safari park could irrevocably harm The Children by promoting “interest in non-traditional sexual relations.”

Yup. The tiger and the goat are gay propaganda and The Children are in danger!

And, Krestyanov isn’t the only one concerned because the prosecutor’s office in the Primorsky region is diligently investigating these allegations of the tiger and the goat and their gay agenda. But they might be onto something because how these two became friends is the real mystery.

Timur the goat was meant to be dinner, and not a dinner guest, for Amur the Siberian tiger, but instead the two men bonded when Timur totally took over Amur’s enclosure and forced the predator to sleep on the roof of his own lair.

I guess Timur is a dominant top?

And when the media began airing footage of the two friends playing together and living together, most Russian hearts melted … except for the lawyers who, as we all know have no hearts.

Krestyanov cited a children’s right law in his complaint, but his language is more akin to the law against gay propaganda passed in 2012 by homophobic shirtless homoerotic poster boy, President Vladimir Putin and his growing emphasis on “family values.”

And it does not end well. Apparently because of all this media attention — when they just wanted to live quietly together, to perhaps one day marry, and adopt a couple of penguins — the relationship between Amur and Timur has crumbled.

Timur has been in the care of a veterinarian since late January after an attempt to head-butt Amur, who grabbed him by the neck with his fangs and gave him a good solid shaking.

I just hope these two crazy guys can get over their differences and live happily ever after.

In Russia, where even animals can’t be gay.

LGBTQ Nation

Photo of the Week: Travelin' Light

Photographer Martin Le-May and his wife, were walking in Hornchurch Country Park near London when they came across the unusual sight: a small weasel appearing to ride on a woodpecker. Le-May said the weasel was actually attacking the bird, and the woodpecker was in a struggle for its life with the unwanted passenger, but not before Le-May could snap the picture ...

... and post it to Twitter where is was reTweeted thousands of times. 

The picture has inspired numerous tribute images, including one that Photoshopped a shirtless Russian President Vladimir Putin riding atop the weasel as it rode on the woodpecker.

Sidenote #1: Le-May says the woodpecker was able to land and escape; the weasel was alst seen scurrying off to the US Congress.

Sidenote #2: Though we won't be traveling by woodpecker, Carlos and I are off to Miami for a few days. I have some preplanned posts and we'll be taking the laptop with us, so you may hear from me before we return home next Friday.

Have a great weekend ... and week!

Photo Source

A Visitor to Casa Bob y Carlos

Okay, so these aren't the newest of pictures. We had issues with our computer downloading pictures from the camera so these have been sitting on a memory card for a while now.

Yes, Blobby, I know all about iPhones and sending pictures to your email, but we here at Casa Bob y Carlos only Dumbphone™ so that idea was useless to us.

But now the problem has been solved and here's our little friend who came for breakfast one morning.

Notice how Tuxedo is on High Alert ... and possibly looking for a way to chew through the window screen!

That's our visitor under the trees, with both Ozzo, AKA The PocketDog™, and MaxGoldberg, completely oblivious!

He does find the leaves on some of the trees to be quite tasty.

Now he, or she, I really don't know, is headed to the other side of the yard; I think he, or she, came in that way.

And the visit ends with a quick glance back and a shake of the tail.

Yes, That's A BIC Lighter

Last week everyone I talked to was all a'twitter about the woman who was attacked by the chimpanzee and how she appeared on Oprah and lifted her veil. and they were all shocked: I've never seen anything like it and Poor woman and Oh, my God and on and on.

I didn't see it because, well, it was Oprah. But I did see this picture and it disgusted me more than anything I've seen in a very long time.

Yes, that is a BIC lighter. Inside the belly of that albatross chick.

I read this story on Towleroad and saw the images taken by photographer Chris Jordan who says, "These photographs of albatross chicks were made in September 2009 on Midway Atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the North Pacific. The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking. To document this phenomenon as faithfully as possible, not a single piece of plastic in any of these photographs was moved, placed, manipulated, arranged, or altered in any way. These images depict the actual stomach contents of baby birds in one of the world's most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent."

This is a slide show of his photos.

If you watch these images of birds with stomachs filled by bits of plastic and not feel anything, you're a better man than I. I was so disgusted by these deaths and how these birds were "fed" plastic and where they got it from that I sent the link to my Dad, in Smallerville, Oregon. A former Chemistry teacher, he now volunteers at an aquarium on the Oregon and writes articles for the aquarium newsletter.

This is what he had to say about the gyre:

Lets start this off with a question: What is located at approximately LAT 320 18' North and LONG 152039' West and is larger than the size of Texas?
When I was teaching Chemistry, my philosophy was for the students to see, hear, write, and learn, using as many of their senses as possible. This was the reason I used note taking and multimedia presentations in the classroom. So a picture being a worth a thousand words:

There are always reasons for my articles. A recent visitor and I had an excellent exchange of ideas on the ocean and the trash that liters our beaches. The recent Autumn 2007 issue of Ocean Conservancy contained a feature article, What Comes Around. We recently had SOVL....Be a SOLVer.....Help stop Oregon litter and vandalism. That was enough to ignite the spark.
The LATILONG coordinates in the question is the approximate location of the Northern Pacific Subtropical Gyre--also called the less scientific names: The Plastic Sea, Garbage Patch, and The Trash Vortex. Northeast of the Hawaiian Island chain, this gyre is the clockwise circular motion of water formed by wind driven ocean currents: the North Pacific Current (North), the California Current (East), the North Equatorial Current (South), and the Kuroshio Current (West). A simple example is pulling the stopper in a bathtub and watching the swirling water going down the drain, but the Pacific Ocean has no drain.
There are five central gyres, two in the Pacific Ocean, two in the Atlantic Ocean, and one in the Indian Ocean. Gyres are affected by wind direction, storms, tides, temperature, salinity, Coriolis effect, and liquid density. These factors then affect the depth, width, and the circulation speed in the gyre. The Northern Pacific Subtropical Gyre is a slow moving spiral of water. Debris entering the currents that bound the gyre, are forced into its low energy central area. A Greenpeace research animation shows that debris entering the water from the Western Pacific coast of the United States and the Eastern Pacific coast of Japan will be entrapped in the Northern Pacific Gyre in six years. Approximately 100 million tonnes (metric ton) of plastic are produced each year and approximately 10% ends up in the sea. Sea borne debris, about 20% of this, comes from ships and platforms and the remaining 80% from land. This gyre has been estimated as being larger than the state of Texas. All the plastic type polymers every produced since Leo Baekeland produced the first resins of Bakelite in 1907 and the "Plastic Age" began, are still here.
Plastics are not biodegradable but most breakdown into smaller fragments over time.
From the Greenpeace article again: "A single 2 liter drink: bottle will breakdown over time to put one fragment on every mile of beach in the entire world". The larger fragments, bottle caps, lighters, balloons, and fishing nets often entangle or are consumed by sea birds and other animals, such as the sea turtle, strangled by a plastic band.
Plastic fragments also provide a vehicle for numerous organisms to "ride-the-waves" and live on. These organisms can then invade a new habitat and become an invasive species. These fragments may also provide a "sponge" to attract and concentrate pollutants found in the ocean, especially POPs (persistent Organic Pollutants). Animals eating this chemical soup are also ingesting these highly toxic pollutants an then transporting them throughout the food chain ..
We have all heard the saying, "Out of sight, out of mind". Some plastic debris does sink to the sea bottom, about 70%. Dutch scientists have estimated that there are approximately 110 pieces of litter for every square kilometer of the seabed in the North Sea. The animals that inhabit the sea floor are now confronted with the intrusion of plastic debris on their domain.
We have all seen the disclaimers on TV about the side effects of the meds being presented. My disclaimer is: Do not read the information on the web sites listed below before or just after eating or before going to bed as it will probably cause mental anxiety about what we have done and are doing to this planet.

More info HERE.

So, what did we learn from this? Maybe to recycle everything, how about that? Maybe to think before you toss that lighter or pen into the trash. Maybe just to think about what happens to all the trash you throw out each year; where it goes, what it does, what it kills. It really takes no time to recycle, it hurts no one, and yet it might save the life of a bird on a tiny atoll somewhere you've never been nor heard about. And, if you don't want to recycle, then understand that it is YOU killing the birds, and the fish and the animals on this planet. Take responsibilty.

We all went up in arms about the woman who was mauled by the chimpanzee, but she could scream for help. These tiny birds cannot ask for help.

They can only die.

Do.Somethging.About.It.

Bugged Again

A few more things that bug me:

Karl Lagerfeld is defending the use of fur by designers, saying that if we didn't kill the animals they would kill us. Oh if I had a nickel for every time I've been chased down a dark alley by a knife-wielding chinchilla. And don't get me started on minks. One tried to run me down as I crossed the street one day.
I joke, because I can, and because Lagerfeld sounds like an idiot.
Especially when he goes on to say that he doesn't eat meat because of what it looks like. Um, what is that Karl? The innards, the flesh of a dead animal is appalling, but skinning it for a hat is acceptable.
Be gone Karl Lagerfeld, before someone drops a house on you.
____________________________

People who lack simple common sense; and there are a lot of you out there. I won't point fingers, but you over there, in the suit, yeah, you. Listen up.
Why don't people think? It doesn't require that much time or energy, and in these days of economic insecurity, thinking is free. Free? Yes, free.
I worked with a guy up until about a week ago, when he walked out on his job because he didn't feel respected by the boss. Did he speak to the boss about his suspicions? Gosh, no. That would require thought and common sense. Instead, he stomped around and said Eff this and Eff that. Eff, as we all know means, well, I won't say it here, because I'm a gentleman.
Of course, a few days after his employment-ending tantrum, he realized he did not have a job, and he has a child to support. Oops, forgot about la nina when you were fuming?
Common sense.
Common.
Sense.
Fucking idiot. There, I said it.
____________________________

People who have pets and then treat them like garbage. When Carlos worked at the animal hospital, they had a dog for adoption. Since all we have is the pocket-dog Ozzo, we decided to go look at this dog.
Well, this dog had been abused, obviously by some man.....some redneck, Bible-thumping, Bud Light-swilling, cousin-marrying, Confederate flag-waving, pick up-driving, gun-toting, toothless hillbilly of a man. Who apparently beat the dog because the poor animal was terrified of men and garden hoses and cages. Doesn't take a rocket-scientist to realize what happened to that poor animal.
I sat on the ground and this sweet dog would come close, and then turn tail and run. But before he ran, he'd have this look in his eyes that said, I so want to come over to you and let you pet me, but I think you'll beat me. I want to love you. I want to be your dog. But you might hurt me.
Yeah, dog's eyes are very expressive.
So, we had to give up on that poor pup. I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you want animals, treat 'em right, you fool.
And if you can't treat 'em right, DON'T GET THEM!
____________________________

Those idiots at FoxNews who either can't read, are too stupid to do so, or are simply a basket-full of racist pigs, because they let this crawl across the bottom of the screen on New Year's Eve:

If you miss it, it says: Happy New Year and let's hope the Magic Negro does a good job. Love Jen and John C.
Dear Jen and John C, Please refer to the entry above about common sense. And see about getting some. As I said, IT'S FREE!
__________________________

Half of the Roman Catholic adoption agencies who warned they would close rather than allow same-sex couples to adopt will now abide by the law. The agencies were given an 21-month exemption from the anti-discrimination laws, which came into effect in 2007, but that expired on 1 January. They said the law, which makes it illegal to discriminate against gay applicants, went against their beliefs. Five of the 11 agencies will now comply with the rules, while one is to close.
The BBC's religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott said the Roman Catholic church denounced the regulations, claiming the rights of one group - gay people - were being placed above those of another - Christians. Mike Judge from the Christian Institute said agencies were being forced to turn their back on their faith.
Catholic Caring Services - one of the agencies which has decided to comply with the regulations - has been disowned by the Bishop of Lancaster Patrick O'Donoghue, a fierce opponent of the new laws. He has said the Preston-based charity would no longer be able to promote the Church's "moral teaching that a marital setting is better for children rather than being placed with a same-sex couple".
Another two of the agencies are seeking exemption from the law by having themselves registered as charities explicitly serving heterosexual and single people.
The position of the remaining three agencies is not known.

You gotta love the Catholic Church. First they believe that gay rights is as destructive to the planet as the loss of the rain forests, and now, in the spirit of love, they seek to deny children, many of whom are special-needs children, the rights to have a parent, or parents, simply because of sexual orientation. Yes, Catholic Church, lets keep the orphanages full of children rather than giving them a home, and structure and love.


Okay........I think I'm done for the day.