A Place for Everything

"Mom?"

"Mom? Where's that deer skull?"

"Ummm... . In that chest in the foyer." Right side. Top shelf.

Because, like, doesn't everyone have a deer skull in a chest in the foyer? 

The steer mandible is in the garage near the Area 51 rock. The goat skull is on top of one set of encyclopedias-- I think the stack that is weighing down some pressed four-leaf clovers. Those little bottles of model car paint with their cute teeny tiny little brushes are in the right hand drawer of that crappy old white metal kitchen cupboard under the air conditioner in the workshop. And the vintage mint-in-box Scarlet O'Hara Barbie is in the store room on the top shelf, one section over from the left.

And the truck keys are... . ... . ... ?

Quick Kitten Update

[Because I know you're only humoring me when you pretend to care about history and crappy old books and such.]

Yesterday morning only two kittens were in the box. We didn't see hide nor hair of the mamma. Miss M set out a bowl of cat food topped with a spoonful of tuna. We checked on them periodically throughout the day and gave them a dropper full of water later in the evening. 

We were prepared to go into full-on kit* rescue mode this morning if necessary. Zero kits this morning but the food bowl was empty.

There have since been two sightings of mamma in or near the garage. AND the food bowl is again empty. 

So... . The kits are around here somewhere and Miss M is doing her best to see that the mamma is well-fed.

*"Kits" because the mamma can apparently read. She put them in the old packing box marked "kit."

Post Haste!

Look at all the pollen on his shell.

Ring Ring

"Hello?"

"Mom. Come outside, quick. Bring the camera. Post Haste!"

I hurriedly got my camera, went out one door, looked, ran to another, and another. Oh there they are! (I didn't hear Daughter C come home.)

I got close enough and slowed my gate.

It's a turtle. No hurry.

posthaste 1545, usually said to be from "post haste" instruction formerly written on letters (attested from 1538), from post (3) "system for sending mail" + haste. The verb post "to ride or travel with great speed" is recorded from 1558.

Oh Those City Mice!

They're always good for a laugh, aren't they? Quoting at length from The Washington Post because it's just too rich.

Is a rabid fox ‘a really good sign’ for the city?
By Annys Shin and Theresa Vargas,February 14, 2013
 
A rabid fox bit a young mother on the leg this week as she crossed a road in Northwest Washington’s Rock Creek Park.

Tuesday’s attack was bad news for the fox, which was later captured by D.C. animal control officers and put down, and for the victim, who has to get a series of rabies shots.

But it was good news to city officials, who saw it as confirmation that the District’s environment is improving, making it more inviting to wildlife, even an occasional sick one.

“It’s actually a really good sign,” maintained Najma Roberts, a spokeswoman for the D.C. Department of Health, which oversees animal control. “When you look at areas that are filled with pollution — not a lot of trees and grass, and garbage everywhere — there is less wildlife.”

[snip]

The woman who was bitten described it this way on an online forum for denizens of Mount Pleasant: “I was crossing by the bridge (Tilden?) at the end of the little trail down the hill behind Ingleside when a little fox attacked my ankle and wouldn’t let go. I had the baby in the carrier in front and couldnt see very much, but I eventually managed to get him off of me just as Animal Control happened by. I am not sure if they caught him. He looked really sick and I’m still not sure why he came at me or from where but keep a look out.”

[snip]

The attack has left some residents wary of the creatures, which are about the size of large cats. Some Crestwood residents suspect foxes are to blame for unexplained cat injuries and fatalities, and they’re keeping their felines indoors at night.

Christina Ryan, who has worked in the neighborhood for 20 years, wondered if foxes were responsible for the disappearance of rabbits, which she used to see regularly. Others welcomed foxes because they believe they keep deer with Lyme-disease-carrying ticks at bay.

 I have just three short comments.

1. 

That's one BIG large cat!

2. 

Boy with a Gun. Oh my!

 3.