Earth in High-Density Beauty

utterly beautiful

[prod. endors.] Complete for Cats

Complete for Cats, professional strength

Sold as an anti-stink spray for cat pee, one of the more vile natural odors one finds in the house, this is the only thing I’ll buy. This is not a ‘put supposedly-nice actually-revolting artificial stink on top of the cat pee stink and hope no one notices’. It claims to be enzymes, which my last vet told me was the key to feline anti-stink products. The bottle comes with a spray/stream option, like Windex, allowing gentle area applications to surfaces or the ‘just soak that puppy’ approach to furniture where the stink has seeped in.

I don’t know how good this is, if applied days after the pee application. Within 24 hours, it seems to work well. Now, the best part:

This also works on human bio-stinks. No, not the ‘oops I forgot to shower’ kind! Rather, the ‘mama, I peed in my bed’ kind. Seriously, what do you expect to do when your 5-year old forgets to put on a night pull-up, and soaks the mattress? The gentle surface mist just won’t cut it. And you can’t just hope to absorb the pee, since it's soaked right into the fibers of the mattress. And, while not nearly so vile, I don't particularly care for the ammonia odors of oxidizing amines.

This product results in a lemony smell, which decreases to an endurable level after about an half-hour and goes away after 3-4 hours. Yes, it has perfume, but its mechanism isn’t over-stink.

Target sells it in a standard household-chemical sized spray-bottle for less than $4. I’m hoping I can find it in industrial size, not just industrial strength. I don’t know how it deals with stains - if it stains, or if it causes other things to stain. The futon mattress is black, and the boys’ mattresses are already stained, but weren't white anyway. And, after all, who really cares if a mattress is stained? It didn’t seem to stain the bedclothes I used it on & I haven't tried it on clothes or the sofa.

Gopher Rating:
This is wonderful stuff.

Cleaning Cat

Only the first 20 seconds or so is really worthwhile

Doesn't work for me, either

I laughed until I cried and my sides hurt ...

30 Second Bunny Theater

What's your favorite movie? Re-enacted in 30 seconds by Bunnies? Season 3 has 38 episodes. You'll just have to suck up watching the same f'in 0:15 intro to a 1:00 show. Every time.

(you need a Netflix subscription, $, though I'm sure you can find it elsewhere, too)

I particularly liked:

Die Hard

March of the Penguins

Terminator

Casablanca

and Harry Potter, #1-5 (yes, all 5 movies in 30-ish seconds)

hee hee hee hee

Great Minnesota Get-Together

The Great Minnesota Get-Together (a.k.a. The State Fair) is hitting its stride today. We went yesterday. Thankfully it was less crowded than opening day. Monday had a record breaking 114,000 people in one day - ed: total attendance = 1.8 million. The weather was nice: sunny but not too hot. The crowd was nice: crowded enough to be a crowd without needing to stop every 6 feet to wait for someone to get out of the way of our double-seater stroller. It was pretty much the same thing as always. Animals, Agricultural Supply Displays, Educational Booths (let's hear a big round of applause for the Metropolitan Mosquito Control agency - a group I'd never heard of), Rides, and Food On A Stick.

I know I never went to the Michigan State Fair, and I can't remember if I ever went to one in West Virginia. But, seriously, people here joke about the food-on-a-stick all year long. You can't go 10 feet without a vendor selling some food item on a stick. Sure, corn on the cob or chocolate covered frozen bananas I understand. But pork chops? Deep fried cheese? Deep fried cheese cake? Is this such a Minnesota thing?

Two of my favorite stops are the birthing barn and the Little Farm Hands. One might connect the two... The former however, being the 4-footed kind and the latter being the tax-deductible 2-legged ones.

Jr.Gopher#2 got to pet a 1-hour old piglet, a couple of adolescent bunnies (hey, why no baby ones?), get pecked by some day old chicks, and pet a 3 hour old lamb. Well, actually he tried to climb into the pen with the lambs. He stuck his finger into the cage with the chicks and giggled when he got pecked. Being brand-new, they weren't as lethal as full-grown chickens. He promptly stuck his finger back in, giggled, and then repeated it. He then started crying when he couldn't get his finger out.

The Little Farm Hands exhibit let the little kids play farmer. They got an apron & little metal feed bucket. Then a scoop of feed corn. Oh, and a John Deere sun visor. (more about that below)



















































They got to ride on a tractor-tricycle to carry the feed bucket & a miniature bale of hay.

















Then they went through a chicken coop, gave the chickens some of the corn & collected a (wood) egg.


















Then the sheep barn: fed the sheep & collected a bag of raw wool. The milking parlor let them hand milk a cow & collect a little container of milk.


















Stopped at the vegetable garden: took a seed & trowel, planted the seed & collected a vegetable.
Went through the orchard: picked an apple.













Went to the market to sell the produce.

















Fun 4 All.
Who cares if the stuff was all play-food (well, the feed corn was real ground corn), and the cow's udder produced water? The kids loved it. Fun 4 All. Especially when there's so much stuff that kids just don't find exciting. Sure, some of the exhibits look cool (e.g. 1915 tractor), but what good is it, if you can't climb on it, papa?

At the Little Farm Hands exhibit, a local mega-dairy had free samples of pelletized ice cream. The lack of sample spoons made it a much, much messier event with little kids. Tipping the little cup up to drop the pellets into the mouth works with adults. Not 2 year olds. No. - 2 year-olds use their fingers. Obviously the person organizing this was not a parent of small children.


Friday was Minnesota Public Radio Day. The Midday Show was broadcast from the Fair with Guest #1 being Sen. Al Franken (D-MN). Who, when asked a question about electronic voting machines & their programming codes, said he was unfamiliar with the bill in question. He paused before observing that 'you'd think I'd be more aware of vote counting'. (Thankfully our new home state isn't stupid enough to use them.)















Culture Chasm:
Afterward, Mr.Gopher asked if I had heard of [Franken] before the election. He isn't one to ask trick questions, but this really left me confused.
Me: are you kidding?
Mr.G: no.
Me: well, yes, he's a comedian.
picture me looking confused like listening to my prof talking about Bayesian statistics...
Mr.G: but did you know him from his work as a comedian?
picture me looking confused that anyone our age has never heard of Al Franken
I then had to be reminded that, no, Saturday Night Live was not only not live, it wasn't even dead in Germany. And he was in the German Army when I was at WVU watching SNL. Stay tuned ... I'm sure I'll be sitting at some German soiree asking Mr.Gopher the same question.

Of course, there's always Minnesota's contribution to Western Civilization. Wild Rice? No. Hubert Humphrey? No. F.Scott Fitzgerald? No. Bob Dylan? No. Consistently the highest voter turnout in the country? No. ... Nope, we've got Spam. Or rather, SPAM. Made right here in Austin, Minnesota. Yeah, that would also be the same place where there's an outbreak of some exotic nerological human disease from exposure to aerosolized pig brains. Yum. yum.

















Well, then again ... I'm not sure how many state fairs have Dung Beetles in their parades. Complete with Dung Ball. This little group was at the May Day Parade here in in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood (where we live). Now that I'm not surprised about.



How is it that a person lives in a state like Minnesota, manages to get to the state fair, and then looks at my kids' little green sun visors with the yellow john deere logo with deer horns and says "aw, cute, a moose"?

On the way out of the fair, we passed a fiddler in the parking lot. We stopped to let the boys listen to him. Being 3 feet away, they could actually see someone play. He did a little jig while playing (impressive). So, I asked Jr.Gopher #2 if he wanted to dance. He said yes. He likes to dance. So, he shakes his booty a bit and then holds out his hands for me. We're doing some simple steps (I'm leading) to a country/bluegrass sounding tune when I realize the fiddler is calling the steps. However, unlike the dancers following the caller, he was sort of providing a commentary on us. With a promenade and a do-si-do. I think we entertained him as much as he did us.

Jr.Gopher #2 passed out on the way home around 5:30. He woke up for about 20 min. at 11 p.m. What a tired little boy. It was a very long day. According to Jr.Gopher #1, it was boring. I guess that was the boredom in between squealing during the parade, jumping up & down at getting waaay too much sugar, trying to climb over the barrier to check out operating farming equipment, climbing on everything, and playing at the kids' farm.

Ah, back to school on Tuesday for both him and me...

Multi-Species Health Care Options

Walgreen's has a prescription assistance program. No qualifying criteria; anyone can join. It's an annual fee to get certain generic drugs cheaper than normal by selling them in 3-month quantities rather than 1- month.

Raven - our cat - now has an insurance policy. I pay $12/mo rather than $18/mo.

So, my cat can get prescription assistance because I can fork out $20 and pay for 3 months at a time?

I have actually never understood the conservative position that public health care is evil. It's obvious listening to their rhetoric that they have absolutely no clue what Socialism is. But what is this option bad? "It just is" fails to move me. Repeating stupidity fails to move me, too.

I suppose I'm glad we can afford our cat - she's been horribly expensive this month.

The cat + the car + my education = breaking the bank this month.

Raven is okay - she finally put on weight. Unfortunately, she hasn't stopped caterwauling or slobbering. That's why I wanted a cat - they don't slobber. Except mine. ... ah, well. I hope when I'm that old, no one complains about me drooling.

Gone Fishin'

[written last Friday]

The boys' daycare field trip was to Lake Minnetonka this morning. It's just west of Minneapolis. Yes, one of those 10,000 lakes. There was a Fish-a-Thon our neighbor kids participated in. After discovering that the boys had never gone fishing, Ms. Tonja decided she was going to correct this deficiency. Getting the boys out of bed and out of the door by 6 a.m. was a bit of a challenge. As Jr. Gopher #1 commented, "It's too dark to get out of bed!" I didn't want to explain that this would be his lot in life as of Monday the 30th.

Jr. Gopher #1 caught 2 fish and wasn't too thrilled with the catching part. He had fun while dangling his line in the water, but not reeling the big catch in.

Jr. Gopher #2 caught 3 fish, and had a blast. He had a Barbie-fishing pole. Maybe the fish were attracted to pink?

Both Jr. Gophers & The Girl Next Door got a boat ride. Much more #1's style. It was a pontoon boat, offering a very stable ride where they could stand up.

Being catch-and-release, we didn't have a fish dinner.

It wasn't quite the Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay kind of day. Cold and rainy not being the sort of weather to deter fishing, they went anyway.


for the wonders of visual special effects, which don't require my brother's skills ....

the photos of Gopher #2 have the same fish.

Only in San Francisco...

Well, according to the AP, not really unique to S.F.

Penguin Love Triangle: gay penguin ditches partner of 7 years to get laid.
At the San Francisco Zoo, Harry left male partner Pepper for Linda. ... The blogosphere has been buzzing for days over the perky widow who stole the handsome gay guy from his longtime partner.

She's been called a "home wrecker" and the sobriquet that rhymes with witch, and lambasted as a wretch "who only lives for her own happiness, no matter who gets hurt."

Cherchez la femme notwithstanding, the saga of Linda and Harry and poor, cuckolded Pepper has ignited a fierce debate about whether homosexuality is a choice. Even People magazine has called for details.

I would think it funny, if I didn't think these people were serious about their emotional outrage on behalf of ... a penguin?

Bugs, Bibles & Buzzes

Back from the great North Woods. We spent the week at Kathio State Park, up near Lake Mille Lacs [trans: Lake of One Thousand Lakes]. We were pestered with pests. The mosquitoes are not nearly as bad as they were last year across the lake at Fr. Hennepin Park. The ticks, however, were horrible. For apparently the same reasons: it's cold. The heat should start the 'skeeters growing and the ticks dying. For all the time I've lived in Michigan, I've never run into ticks there. Haven't seen them in the past couple years here, either. But this week? Woah... and the park naturalist said "This? This is a pretty light year." Man, I do not want his job.


Jr.Gopher #1's favorite part of the trip? The fire tower: 100 feet (30.5 m) of mind-melting maternal terror depicted here in full color, Not To Scale (neither structural nor emotional).

looking up





















at the top




















looking down











Jr.Gopher #1 had a more active enjoyment of the trip. Playing soccer with the boys from the neighboring camp












While out walking about, we discovered some people fishing at the spillway between the Rum River and its headwaters, Lake Mille Lacs. A fellow had just caught something, so Jr.#1 and I waited around to see what was going to come in. Whatever it was, it seemed to be pretty big, based upon how much bend there was in the fishing rod. A 36" (91 cm) Great Northern Pike appeared. Now, this is a nasty fish with nasty teeth, which is accorded a great deal of respect as a hazard. It wasn't really happy. I'm not sure my son was, either.

After 3 days of clouds and wind and cold, on the 2nd we finally got a glorious day of blue skies, eventually warm, and windy. We popped over to the Fr. Hennepin side of the lake, where there was actually a beach. The boys went wading, Mr. Gopher went swimming, and I sat on the hot sand enjoying not being in cold water. If I'd been hot, I might have been willing to get in the water.















Daily nature presentations gave the boys a chance to see new things about the Great Outdoors. Sure, we had already seen deer (right of 2nd tree from left),






















but, did you know that antler velvet is actually a source of nutrition for the deer? We didn't manage to see (or hear) any loons, but did you know they have 4 different calls? The little nature interpretation center had some pretty cool items, including a To Scale bald eagle's nets, along with an eaglet of your choice:
















I also discovered that it is illegal to posses any part of a non-migratory bird, such as Great Horned Owls (ehm, Mr.BirdMan?) ... and that skunks are really soft critters.

After the naturalist presentation on tracking animals, we made a point on our hikes to look for tracks. Unsurprisingly, the most common thing we found were deer and horses. We did find one racoon and one dog (at least, I'm pretty sure it was a dog, since there aren't any wolves or coyotes in the neighborhood). Walking was - of course - a primary occupation for the trip, in the marshlands:


















in the woods:














and even when we weren't sure where we were going:






















After the joys of camping, we decided to hit St. John's University (the religious one, not the basketball one). The Benedictine Monastery there is the owner of the soon-to-be-finished St. John's Bible. I saw part of it while it was on display at the Minneapolis Institute of Art and was utterly awe struck. I was speechless (which is pretty impressive right there). While it isn't quite finished, parts of it are on display in its soon-to-be-home, about an hour west of our campground. Mr.Gopher had checked to ensure it was going to be open, being the 3rd of July yesterday. No notice on their website. Now, despite the fact that they used a computer to do the layout and line breaks for the bible, apparently they don't bother to post university holidays on line. So, we got to see the chapel, but not the big book we wanted to see. C'est la vie. However, in the chapel is a Madonna and Child, which is beautiful if you like 12th Century art:
















And, to conclude the day, the neighbors pulled out their box of explosive goodies for a slightly early greeting of our national independence. Last year Jr.Gopher #1 freaked out at the firework display at the capitol for the Minnesota Sesquicentennial (i.e., 150th) Celebration. I took him to the back of the crowd. Not far enough. Further. Further. By the time we got to the bottom of the block where the Cathedral is, he decided it was far enough away. Hmmmm. At the beginning of the neighborly explosions, he insisted to sit on Mr./my lap with our arms around him. By the end of the evening:







































The boys have gone nuts over Toy Story 2. Jr. Gopher #2 has decided he's Buzz Lightyear. For the past month or so, he has taken to climbing onto something (the front steps, chairs, boxes, etc.) putting his hands in the hair and proudly proclaiming "To Infinity and Beyond". Although, the clarity of this proclamation has finally arrived at a level comprehensible to the uninitiated. This week, they both decided they wanted to be Buzz. There being two Buzzes: the Toy Buzz (i.e., the character in the movie) and the Star Ranger Buzz (i.e., the character that the Toy Buzz is modeled after). This isn't really a 'real' Buzz vs. not 'real', since they're both real. They realized that since Emperor Zurg is Buzz's father, that Mr. Gopher needs to be Zurg, since they're Buzz and he's their father. When I asked "So, who do I get to be?" Jr. Gopher #1 looked taken aback. After a minute of thinking, I was designated to be Andy's Mom, since she's a woman, and I'm a woman. (she's also the only woman in the movie). After which point, Jr. #1 decided he ought to be Andy, since I'm Andy's Mom and he's my son.

Ah, geneological fantasy ...

We wish you all a happy holiday.

Bears, Giraffes & pumpkins

from Our Zoo's newsletter:
Providing new smells in an animal's exhibit can cause excitement or alarm and often triggers territorial behaviors like rubbing and scent marking. A wide variety of scents are used for enrichment, including spices, perfumes and urine, as well as animal fur. Our clouded and Amur leopards like poultry seasoning, cardamom, dirty tapir straw and binturong fur. The tigers love "Obsession" and "Charlie" perfumes. The camels aren't very picky, they like most food extracts. On the other hand, the tapirs, tree kangaroos, binturongs and gibbons are very particular - they go for banana extract!

and yes, those are real grizzly bears. The faux Pooh is paper mache (sp?)




and here you thought that dorky opossum in Over the Hedge was just some animator goin' overboard? Nope, they really do look that goofy.





while it may not be totally obvious this is an ermine. His pumpkin is bigger, just ready for a nap.




FYI
There are 2 zoos here in the Twin Cities. Jr.Gopher#1 insists that the Minnesota Zoo is "Our Zoo" (reasonably enough, as we have a membership there - thanks, Dad - and go about once per month). Though, the other zoo in St.Paul has more animals that won't survive the Minnesota winters, like giraffes. Unfortunately, Jr.Gopher#1 informed me that Mr.Giraffe (his favorite stuffed toy) is allergic to the Como Zoo and can't go to visit the giraffes. Cute? just wait.

Our Zoo - that is, the Minnesota Zoo - is having an African exhibit this Summer, to include giraffes. It was here a couple years ago, and #1 was just totally geeked to see a real giraffe.

I informed him last month that the giraffes were returning. He said Mr. Giraffe wanted to go to the zoo. I asked him if he wanted to take Mr. Giraffe to see the real giraffes. He looked at me like I was stupid and said, "Mama, Mr. Giraffe is a real giraffe."

At least Mr. Giraffe isn't allergic to our zoo. I forgot to ask about Freddie (the girl giraffe who until recently was the stunt-double for Mr. Giraffe, i.e., the one Jr. got when the other was in the wash).

Mountain Lion v. DNR

Puma treed. DNR in pursuit.

For 4 hunters who found the cat, it was a no-brainer: They liked the big cat more than the DNR.

DNR arrives. Trys to tranquilize cat. Puma leaves. Puma gets treed again.

That's when a tranquilizer-gun-toting DNR employee climbed up the oak tree to get a closer shot.

DNR arrives. Trys to tranquilize cat. Puma leaves. Puma gets treed again.

We've called our friends with dogs and told them if the DNR calls for help tracking the cat, tell them to go to hell.'

Puma last seen somewhere in northern Wisconsin. DNR hasn't been seen at all.

Octopus Etiquette

Well, paying a bit more attention to the technicalities of ice hockey (like trying to figure out what in the world is the difference between icing and off-sides), I discovered what one is supposed to do with the octopi thrown in the Joe Louis Arena, a fact which no one had ever been able to answer. But, of course, these days there is the omnipotent god Wikipedia:

The 1952 playoffs featured the start of the tradition—the octopus throw. The owner of a local fish market ... threw one from the stands onto the ice. The eight legs were purportedly symbolic of the eight wins it took to win the Stanley Cup at the time. The Red Wings went on to sweep both of their opponents that year en route to a Stanley Cup championship. The NHL has, at various times, tried to eliminate this tradition but it continues to this day. ... since [arena] does not condone the throwing of any foreign objects onto the ice, fans often sneak the sea creatures in wrapped around their bellies in trash bags. The boiling process also lessens the odor and allows the fans to get past security.

There is a certain etiquette that must be followed for fans that wish to throw octopuses onto the ice.

Beforehand, an octopus should be boiled for at least 20 minutes on high heat with a little lemon juice and white wine. This will mask the creature's odor as well as reducing the amount of slime. A raw dead thrown octopus would result in a smelly ball that would stick to the ice upon impact and possibly leave an inky stain, while a well-boiled octopus will bounce and roll across the surface of the ice.

After the octopus has been properly prepared it must be smuggled into the ice arena, as it is against the law in Detroit (and other NHL cities) for a fan to throw anything onto the ice during a game. A preferred method is to wrap the octopus in plastic (a trash bag or a large Ziploc bag will do) and then wrap the package around one's middle section to give the appearance of a beer belly.

The most appropriate time to throw an octopus onto the ice is after the national anthem is sung or after the Red Wings have scored a goal. The octopus must be thrown onto the ice surface in an area that is clear of all players. It is never acceptable to aim for opposing players. Tactics are also used to protect the identity of octopus-throwers from arena security. It is common practice for the hurler to ask the surrounding people to stand up with him to shroud the task in anonymity.

Experienced throwers grasp the octopus around the middle of its arms with the octopus's head (or more correctly, its mantle) hanging down near the thrower's knee and then swings the octopus with an overarm motion. Holding the octopus by the ends of its arms prior to the throw may result in the mantle of the octopus breaking off during the wind-up.

After successfully participating in this peculiar tradition, the octopus thrower is left with a tell-tale indicator: stinky hands. It is advisable to bring along a wet wipe and a slice of lemon to assist in removing the odor.

... the Joe Louis Arena head ice manager and one of the two Zamboni drivers, is the person who retrieves the thrown octopi from the ice. After he retrieves an octopus, he has been known to twirl it above his head as he walks across the ice rink to the Zamboni entrance.

... sent a memo to the Detroit Red Wings organization that forbids Zamboni drivers from cleaning up any octopuses thrown onto the ice and imposes a $10,000 fine for violating the mandate. The linesmen will instead perform any clean-up duties. ... justified the ban because "matter flies off the octopus and gets on the ice" when ... it [is swung] above his head ... Detroit Free Press dubbed the prohibition as "Octopus-gate". By the beginning of the third round of the 2008 playoffs the NHL loosened the ban to allow for the octopus twirling to take place at the Zamboni entrance.

The little slaughterhouse who couldn't

Evil Incarnate.

Incarnate

in carnate

in carne

(carne means meat)


The U.S. Appeals Court ruled 2 to 1 that under a 1913 law, test kits that are used only after an animal is killed still constitute "diagnosis" and "treatment" — this for a disease that has no treatment and is 100% fatal — and therefore fall under the USDA's authority to regulate.

So,

The little slaughterhouse who couldn't. They are prohibited by the USDA from testing 100% of their cows for mad cow disease.

Too bad.

Why?
Because then the folks up the road @ Hormel would need to do it, too.

Got mad cow?
Don't ask, don't tell.

This appears to be the government's approach to everything under the sun.

Beef processing
gay soldiers
pregnant teenage fundamentalist Christians
hurricane landfall
moral compass

3-in-1

Yup, 3 posts in 1 day. This doesn't even qualify (much) as procrastination. Well, maybe it does.

I have a big presentation tomorrow morning at Honeywell. My internship ends on Friday. I get Labor Day, and then school resumes on Tuesday. I've got classes on epidemiology (infestion disease statistics), ethics, something about 'risk based decision making', and my thesis research. Oh, an apparently the course which equals my internship, which I forgot to register for. At least this way it's being paid for NIOSH, rather than my husband.

Our power just went out. Apparently Mother Nature is trying to catch up with our drought and dump it all tonight. One of those gung-ho Midwest storms, complete with tons of lightning. Thank goodness for the battery in my laptop.

My term paper about the methods of analysis of radioactive fallout from the nuclear explosion at Chernobyl is what I'm procrastinating about. And the final exam for the class.

Gregor's vocabulary is pretty small still. However, his newest word is Mull [trash]. He now has a stuffed weasel (ferret?); it was an inadvertant, spontaneous purchase at Ikea. I was pushing him around in the shopping car, and had to go through the Ikea-Kids department. He grabbed the ferret out of its bin. Soft, cute, he grabbed it and held it in his arms with a big smile. Great. Sure, he can hang onto it while I go compare prices for bedframes. About 15 minutes later, I realize the error of my decision: one ought never let a teething child have a soft cuddly toy which doesn't belong to him. The animal's tail was thoroughly wet from being chewed upon. Ah, well, at least it was only $7.95. And he still likes it.

Power back on.

Michael's German is getting rapidly better. He's still obsessed with Cars. Temper tantrums are becoming a bit tiresome.

Well, I suppose I ought to stop the not-quite-procrastinating and review the material for my presentation tomorrow. And find some nice clothes to wear for it.

If you're reading this, it's at least 8 a.m. CST. Cross your fingers that my presentation goes well.

Great Minnesota Get-Together

1,500,000 people at the State Fair **
7,000 applications for
3,000 workers
2,714 4-H animal exhibitors, of which are:
580 beef
283 rabbits
280 poultry
267 goats
471 dairy animals
381 sheep
453 swine
450 different foods for sale
63 of which are sold on a stick
4 sold by the bucket
50 games on the midway
5,000 entries in the Creative Activities, of which there are
19 categories for cookies
6 categories for scrapbooking
11 categories for competitive stamp collecting
4 sheep which will eat radio microphone if opportunity presents
10 times per day ask 4-H ers to sweep cattle barn
14 4-H ers seen texting and sweeping
200 animals will be born at the fair
Misidentification of animals by parents to their children:
3 identified lambs as "goats"
5 identified turkeys as "geese"
1 identified a duck as a "pelican"

only 12 days to get all of this in!



**This year, I guess it will be 1,499,996 people in attendance, since the 4 of us won't be going.

Cub: "No Comment"

aus Der Spiegel Don't you just want to pet it? Before it grows to 600 pounds and wants to eat you?

Columbus, OH - day 1

The boys & I were at the zoo today. Michael wanted to nkow "do we have to share our zoo?" This one is "ours", the one in St. Paul isn't. The new exhibit it spectacular. I had no idea how absolutely huge sea otters are. The little cute things living in the lakes and rivers are just stunted little things. Wild pigs are smaller than I thought. The leopard was just as heat-prostrated as I imagined it would be.

The new exhibits for the bears, though, are stunning. We were standing at the side of the swimming pond, which was under cover and glass. Michael mut have spent a full 10 mintues standing 2 feet away from a bear, who was swimming back and forth and doing some bizarre behavior that looked like trying to tap dance on the fish at the bottom of the pond.

In the newly renovated center area, there are new sculpture of the animals recently installed and some of the long-term residents. The photos are the boys next to the baby bear sculpture. The mama bear was about 12 feet high. Michael informed me it was like the bear in Jungle Book. I wanted to know if it was going to sing "Bear Necessities", which he assured me was silly.

























oh, and today's bath was unnecessarily exciting. annoying. frustrating. disgusting. demonstrative of maternal love, since they're both still alive. Yes, this would be Micha standing in the tub & pouring water into the tub. And, yes, that would be Gregor, who has just emptied a full 2-Qt pitcher out of the tub, onto the bathroom floor.

Dead Hedgehogs

sounds like it could be the name of a music group.

More proof that fast-food is McHazardous: hedgehogs were starving to death from empty calorie-containers.

"... it took time to develop an alternative lid. ... Tests have been conducted considering the average size of hedgehogs -- we needed to find an opening that was big enough for a spoon but small enough that a hedgehog could not get inside, ... explained that the company considered several different lid sizes and even a cover with flaps that would allow hedgehogs to crawl in and out."