On July 21 Dusty turns 15! He’s my guard dog and companion, and has been pals to all the other critters that we’ve had in our house over the years. And he’s so darn cute! In honor of Dusty’s 15th birthday, we not only made a birthday cake . . . . . . we also decided […]
Help Dusty the Angel Pup Celebrate His 15th Birthday Read More »
Mark and I have placed many wooden nest boxes around our small yard in the hopes that birds or squirrels will take up residence. We’ve witnessed enough squirrels over the years that we know a mother squirrel keeps her babies in their nests–or in our case, wooden nest boxes–until the babies are about 3/4 the
A Tender Moment with a Squirrel Read More »
A few years back, we got these live traps for trapping mice in our basement, and every now and again we set them. Two weeks ago, we set two live traps and the first night, we captured a mouse whose tail was about half as long as it should be–the tail had been chewed off,
Meet Smokey Joe, the Mouse Read More »
After 25 years working in an environmental program, I have to say that one of the best things I get to see is the annual celebration of Earth Day at my place of work in downtown Lansing. For one day a year, we open the doors and allow kids to come inside to learn about what
Earth Day with Kids and Critters Read More »
Pity the poor stepkid that agreed to take care of our critters while Mark and I are on vacation. Said critters include: Dusty, a 14-year-old dog that turtles out on the front steps and is constantly hungry; Purrkins, our 8-year-old cat; Chip, our 7-year-old ferret (which is pretty old for a ferret); 9 hamsters; two boisterous mynah birds;
Caring for Pets While We’re on Vacation Read More »
For all pet lovers out there, hampy holidays! Enjoy yourself and eat lots and lots. And don’t worry about the little things, like how good you might or might not look. Enjoy your family. And your friends. And look forward to 2013 with the enthusiasm of a hampster.
The problem with having a good digital SLR camera is that sometimes it needs some TLC. Take mine–it’s a Nikon D300 and had a little dust-spec problem I was tired of trying to crop out of photos, and it needed a new rubber cover to replace the one that should be covering the input/output ports but instead
The Buck Stopped Here Read More »
I was at work on Tuesday trying to be a good state worker when I got an email from Mark that was rather distracting. He said that Todd, the nice fella that sent our mynah bird by plane three weeks ago, inadvertently mailed us another mynah bird. “Mailed?” I asked. “How do you mail a mynah
When it Rains, it Pours . . . Mynah Birds? Read More »
This posting is to share a few images from the Great Outdoors taken the last couple of weeks. First, my friend the tussock moth caterpillar. This fella was munching on a milkweed plant. I like its colors, the fact that it looks sort of like a fly I’d use to try to catch a trout, and also because word
Critters You Might Have Missed in the Great Outdoors Read More »
It took Little Buddy a little over a week to get out and safely back in her cage by herself, and one thing that helped her along was putting a yellow washcloth on the door of the cage to give it a firmer feel. Once she figured out the yellow wash cloth was safe to land on, we moved the
Mynah Bird Likes to Read Books Read More »