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Highlight posts of last:
  1. atmarama   Scientists are saying that a smile is pretty much a universal sign of playfulness amongst many animals including humans and dolphins.
    October 4 2024 Like
  2. VegInNotOut   Not monkeys though :)
    October 6 2024 Like
  3. MilwaukeeProf   Really? Are monkey smiles threat? But they're so cute!
    October 7 2024 Like
  4. VegInNotOut   Yeah, primates (and some other critters) perceive showing teeth as an act of aggression - unless they just told a joke. :)
    October 8 2024 Like
  5. atmarama   There were two stray dogs here a while back. They would sometimes fight. The pitbull was annoyed with the smaller dog for stealing her food. The pitbull would bite the smaller dog and the smaller dog would scream. But later they started to play together and even kiss. They eventually went away.
    October 13 2024 Like
  6. MilwaukeeProf   Oh my. I hope the "kissing" wasn't the big dog tasting the little dog and making a meal out of it on a "dog eat dog" world.
    October 14 2024 Like
  7. atmarama   The cat jumped on top of the gate on my back porch to scold me for being too friendly towards the dog. The cat wanted to be more eye to eye with me. The cat is angry about the dog killing one of the female cats. I was just trying to tell the dog to go home and stop attacking the cats. But it is interesting to see how animals display their intelligence.
    September 15 2024 Like
  8. VegInNotOut   I think it may be harder for people to comprehend a cat's intelligence and behavior because they are far different from us -- although that's the reason some of us love them so. :) ...which might be more universally extended to how we feel about our human relationships...?
    September 15 2024 Like
  9. MilwaukeeProf   God gave all of us animals our own intelligence. Cats seem to believe we're here to serve them. Perhaps we are, but I prefer dogs. I am their humble servant. And the birds, and the chipmunks, and the bunnies, and the possums (possa??) and the raccoons, and even the skunks but from a distance. "All God's critters got a place in the choir. Some sing low; some sing higher Some sing out loud on the telephone wire And some just clap their hands Or paws or anything they got..." Childless dog lady and voting for Kamala!
    September 15 2024 Like
  10. MilwaukeeProf   The cow jumped over the moon.
    September 17 2024 Like
  11. atmarama   I was never involved with cats until a couple of years ago. The cats ran off the rodents, and that was great. They are also quiet. But they had a number of special problems. The breed of the dog seems more recognizable for how well the dog can get along with everyone. There are YouTube videos of dogs making friends with dolphins.
    September 18 2024 Like
  12. atmarama   I purchased a dog from the animal shelter many years ago. She was real nice in some ways, but too much into certain mischief. They are saying that cats almost never kill people, but many thousands of cat bites every year. They are also saying that dogs kill less than one hundred people looking at statistics for recent years. Where does the Red Fern grow? I watched a movie about that. Bonding with an animal can be a special thing. But this story appears to include terrorizing the poor racoons. Racoons can be real sweet and clever, but get into mischief especially when trying to get at chickens.
    September 20 2024 Like
  13. VegInNotOut   Raccoons are geniuses. :) There was a family living in my wooded yard when I lived in WI. The mom showed the babies how to defeat the squirrel-proof feeders - which involved getting a couple of fingers into a hidden recessed area underneath, where the cage was bolted to the feeder tube and turning the nut to disengage it. I wasn't even aware of that until I saw her doing it on the web cam and found it dismantled the next morning. I read that their intelligence is equivalent to a toddler and they love puzzles and challenges. :) They seem pretty communal -- I never saw them fight with other families or individuals. The situation with the chickens is unfortunate. They, like the weasels, do seem to like to kill them and so many people do not provide their chickens with adequate protection from them.
    September 20 2024 Like
  14. MilwaukeeProf   The raccoons are smart, probably smarter than even we adults, if we'd only admit it. I had a family of four coming here recently, cute but I wouldn't want to mess with them. Wildlife poker: what beats four raccoons? Three skunks. Haven't seen the raccoons since.
    September 21 2024 Like
  15. atmarama   Presumably it takes special fencing and guards to protect chickens from predators. Sometimes the cage or fencing needs to be buried deep enough. Best to keep a safe distance from wild animals. I have had encounters with skunks, possums, and armadillos out here.
    September 21 2024 Like
  16. VegInNotOut   I subscribe to: wildlife are to be seen and not hurt.
    September 22 2024 Like
  17. MilwaukeeProf   I stand corrected: Last night I had one skunk behind the house and one skunk sharing the birdfeeder area with a raccoon. They seem OK with one another.
    September 22 2024 Like
  18. MilwaukeeProf   Now, if only someone could protect the chickens from humans.....
    September 22 2024 Like
  19. atmarama   Wildlife: Look, but do not touch without permission from your veterinarian. Many years ago I witnessed a family of skunks. The babies were following the mother in such perfect harmony that together they looked like one animal. They say that wild lions do not attack a truckload of tourists because the truckload of tourists looks like one animal. There have been a number of efforts to preach against chicken slaughter in general. They even created a funny cartoon. Contrarily they created cartoons with cows holding signs that said to eat more chicken. Sadly, the chicken is the one animal that is not banned from the diet with the major religions groups. The Jains and the Vegans may organize against chicken eating. Eating chicken and eggs is easily argued against. Both require a lot of refrigeration. Eggs kept at 70 degrees Fahrenheit will start spoiling after 2 hours. The eggs have to be refrigerated at 40 degrees Fahrenheit round the clock. People sometimes get so used to eating chicken that they place the stripped carcus of the chicken in the middle of the dinner table while everyone is eating. One important concern for all animals is humane treatment and humane euthanasia.
    September 25 2024 Like
  20. VegInNotOut   Chickens and rabbits seem to be low critter on many a food chain... sad.
    September 28 2024 Like
  21. atmarama   Frankly, chickens are like mud birds. They dust themselves in dirt. It takes a special arrangement to keep them free from pollutants that may be present in the soil. Chickens can go feral sometimes. They had that in Hawaii. Some are saying if the chicken is a little wild it can escape predators a lot better. Rabbit meat is said to be too heavy. Israelis condemn rabbit meat. Muslims may consider rabbit meat a nutritional aid. They tried to bring rabbits to Australia and they became invasive. There was a homesteader in Texas who loudly claimed rabbit farming was a good thing. People who believe that they have to eat meat are faced with many questions. Vegan is so popular in some areas there are a good many Vegan restaurants.
    September 29 2024 Like
  22. VegInNotOut   At least part of the reason the wild chickens are better off, is that so many backyarders clip their flight wings... I have friends who are restaurateurs and other omnivore afficionados who are now enjoying things like vegan Rebel cheese and Chunk steak and it is blowing away the bar to entry for them... totally satisfying and sharing that with others in their realm. It's thrilling to see!
    September 30 2024 Like
  23. atmarama   Stats say that there are over 31000 Vegan or Vegetarian restaurants in the USA. The West Coast is probably the most Vegan friendly. Lab grown meat is apparently something for the wealthy. Chicken farming has serious problems. Pork, Beef, and other heavy red meat animals are worse with regard to farming them for meat. A lot of people may be eating spoiling eggs since they must be stored at 40 degrees Fahrenheit. A hardboiled egg must also be stored at 40 degrees Fahrenheit. There has been talk of water shortages hitting the farming of soy, peanuts, and chickpeas.
    October 1 2024 Like
  24. atmarama   I think that the trees around my place are too high for the birds. Perhaps they could be cut down to size with a 50000 laser pruning gun. Dr
    September 13 2024 Like
  25. MilwaukeeProf   I never heard of laser pruning. That sounds dangerous. If the trees grow too high for the birds, something I also never heard of, God gave them enough sense to stay down lower. They'll be OK.
    September 14 2024 Like
  26. VegInNotOut   Hey, good to see you again! ...how high are those trees?
    September 14 2024 Like
  27. MilwaukeeProf   I just looked up laser pruning. What a surprise! Thanks for teaching me something today.
    September 14 2024 Like
  28. VegInNotOut   Also, if sturdy enough, the very high trees may support raptor nests... and turkeys and other large-winged birds seem to enjoy that view and ease of landing and take-off from on high as well.
    September 14 2024 Like
  29. atmarama   The Long leaf Pine grows very tall and threatens homes, vehicles, and blocking roadways when they fall. They are only good for composting once they do fall. Certain oaks grow around here and they are probably better for bird nesting.
    September 15 2024 Like
  30. VegInNotOut   I thought to make a joke about Trump shooting himself in the foot or worse, for repeating the absurd statement about illegal Haitian immigrants eating people's pets in Springfield, OH and then I saw that his constituents apparently bought it and were harassing the resident Haitian citizens and their defenders who debunked that nonsensical statement. <SMH>
    September 13 2024 Like
  31. MilwaukeeProf   I remain shocked by their stupidity and violent antics yet not particularly surprised. There aren't enough mental hospitals in the world to confine all of them.
    September 14 2024 Like
  32. VegInNotOut   It's like they say, "let's see how absurd and low we can go and get our constituents to buy-in"... and there just isn't a bottom.
    September 14 2024 Like
  33. MilwaukeeProf   Yes! To offer the maga-twisted version of Michelle Obama's famous remarks: "when they go high, we go as low, as low as possible, lower than sane people would ever imagine."
    September 16 2024 Like
  34. VegInNotOut   Trump won't denounce the bomb threats on the innocent people of Springfield, so we shouldn't denounce the attempted assassinations of Trump -- fair is fair.
    September 17 2024 Like
  35. MilwaukeeProf   Karma
    September 21 2024 Like
  36. MilwaukeeProf   Back to the rfk2 brain worm: Now we've learned that he picked up the body of a dead bear cub, left it in the trunk of his car on a hot day so he could eat it and then threw the bear's dead body onto a path in New York City's famed Central Park. If that weren't enough, he evidently (per his own daughter) sawed off the head of a beached whale, tied it on top of his car and brought it home. I suppose this utter disrespect for the rule of law and basic decency correlates to his endorsement of the crazy insurrectionist.
    August 28 2024 Like
  37. VegInNotOut   ...and still more to it in that he confirmed that he was generally down for eating roadkill (or where'er killed)... seems there may be more than one kind of brain bug or such rattling around up there. it is truly a great match -- he probably should have been the VP pick.
    August 31 2024 Like
  38. MilwaukeeProf   Oh, now there's one I hadn't considered: which one is more crazy, hates women the most and will be generally the most toxic: rfk2 or jdv? Sex diaries v Childless cat ladies remarks. It is pregnant with possibilities! Then we could compare their dumb remarks about forcing women to crank out children even if it kills them or be stripped of their voting rights. I wonder if it's too late for the Kennedy clan to vote to revoke his name.
    September 1 2024 Like
  39. VegInNotOut   I perceive them as vastly different which makes my opinion predicated on weighting those nefarious categories (and too, different levels of aggression and different motivators - Vance, like Trump, sells himself to the highest bidder; not sure who or what RFK Jr sells/sold his soul to)... thankfully, this is simply an amusing discussion and not a choice we must make! I think you can be confident that if it was possible, the Kennedys would have done that already. <SMH>
    September 2 2024 Like
  40. MilwaukeeProf   Good point about the rest of the Kennedys. I believe the weirdo in question's motivation is some twisted desire to one up his late father and uncle. I've noticed a trait about the Kennedy men, in addition to being reckless to the point of self-destructive ( besides the chronic womanizing) is that they insert themselves late into presidential campaigns by attacking the leader of their own party, weakening their party's candidate and basically acting like, um, the last point in the digestive tract. Bobby did it to LBJ when he smelled blood induced by Gene McCarthy. Teddy did it to President Carter. [Carter attended Teddy's funeral.] Now we have this nut first attacking Biden and, Democrat v. "Democrat," when that did not work for him to be coronated, flailing around like a severed whale head atop a moving car before endorsing an insurrectionist in the hope of getting more fame and maybe a title. There must be a gene for that.
    September 2 2024 Like
  41. MilwaukeeProf   Last night I had the strangest dream, no, not the folk song about the Kellogg-Briand Treaty, but I was confronting rfk2 about all his weird, rotten ,ego-maniacal, s elf serving behavior. His mother was there, too, and I think she made him sit there and take it.
    September 10 2024 Like
  42. VegInNotOut   oh, double header -- the Kennedy men and women... now making me wonder if there is some inbreeding there that explains things, RFK Jr is more interesting to me because he is unpredictable -- lucid moments mixed with lunacy moments.
    September 12 2024 Like