FELL DOWN

I fell down.  Back hurts.  Calling emergency.  More later.
Don

GRANDMA HAS A CAT

Nine years ago, Japanese photographer Miyoko Ihara began snapping pictures of the relationship between her grandmother and her odd-eyed white cat. Miyoko's 88 year old grandma Misao found the abandoned cat in a shed on her land and the pair have barely been apart since.

 

 Here's looking at you - in color.

  I can help.

 It's comfortable up here.

Wheee! Faster, faster!

 Lunchtime.  Do you like our fancy table?

 Save me some.

Oooh, that sun feels good!

 I get to eat that when the photography is done.

Zzzzzzzz

 Just in time for Christmas.

 A good idea for the holidays!

It's the holiday season!

Don't forget to set your scales back 10 pounds tonight!

AMAZING PHOTOS, part two

 From various parts of the world  - -

In Turkey.

 Matterhorn

You don't want to go swimming there.

DOGS

My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to $3.00 a can. That's almost $21.00 in dog money.
Joe Weinstein

Ever consider what our dogs must think of us? We come back from a grocery store with the most amazing haul - chicken, pork, half a cow. They must think we're the greatest hunters on earth! - Anne Tyler

You can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will give you a look that says, 'My God, you're right!
I never would've thought of that!' - Dave Barry

Dogs are not our whole life, but they do make our
lives whole. – Roger Caras

MORE BIRDS

 For your enjoyment!

 First you put your right foot up...

 Anybody want this thing?

 

 You are getting sleepy.  You will do what I say.

  I am playing hide and seek.

 This is what is meant by "on camera".

 Pacing the floor, er, the grass.

 Just the cutest!

 Did too!  Did not!  Did too! ...

WORD RE-ARRANGEMENTS

SLOT MACHINES
 Letters rearranged: CASH LOST IN ME

ANIMOSITY
 Letters rearranged: IS NO AMITY

A DECIMAL POINT
 Letters rearranged: I’M A DOT IN PLACE

THE EARTHQUAKES
 Letters rearranged: THAT QUEER SHAKE

ELEVEN PLUS TWO
 Letters rearranged: TWELVE PLUS ONE

AMAZING PHOTOGRAPHS

The following photos were a part of a single group of pictures. The group was entitled "Amazing", and I see no reason to change it. These are truly amazing!

Okay, as long as a bear doesn't decide to use it for hibernation.

 Channel of Corinth.  SQeeZE !

 I get the impression it was built this way deliberately.

 Magnificent!

 

More magnificence!

 I'll stick to my bathtub, thank you. Do they shower on the street below?

Ah, Sorrento! That looks like a painting.

 That is immense! Look at the tiny people at the base.

 Gorgeous view – – even better from where that person is standing.

 This is certainly true--

 When there is a huge solar energy spill, it is just called "a nice day".

The dinosaurs in your garden

A few days ago I published a blog about Loch Ness, in which I made mention of the so-called Loch Ness Monster (or ‘monsker’ as I like to call it). Presumably the Monsker is a holdover dinosaur, which have been extinct for some millions of years. This led to one of my followers (thanks, Lynn) to send me a link with the following information --

Birds really are dinosaurs, and a sparrow or a blackbird is every bit as much a dinosaur as Tyrannosaurus or Stegosaurus.


The dinosaurs first arose in the Late Triassic period about 225m years ago. No specific ancestral species is identified, but we recognise that there is a distinct lineage of animals that can be grouped together by shared features of their anatomy that we call dinosaurs.  Living birds are literally dinosaurs by definition.
This means several things, most obviously the fact that dinosaurs are not actually extinct. Most lineages of course have gone: every dinosaur lineage except the birds is extinct (and indeed various birds are no longer with us). Second, this means that when biologists and palaeontologists talk about dinosaurs, they actually generally mean all dinosaurs except the birds.

 

It's really quite relevant, as accuracy is an inherent part of science communication and the statement that "dinosaurs are extinct" is incorrect, whereas "non-avian dinosaurs are extinct" is correct. Third and most amazingly, we have dinosaurs everywhere around us.

We have dinosaurs nesting in trees in our gardens, tiny dinosaurs that can hover and fly backwards and feed on nectar, aquatic dinosaurs that live in Antarctica. There are dinosaurs that we eat, (chicken, turkey), we have dinosaurs that can circle the globe without landing, intelligent and puzzle-solving dinosaurs, tall and flightless dinosaurs  that can sprint at over 40 miles an hour, (ostrich) and brightly colored and beautiful dinosaurs almost too numerous to mention.

The world is replete with these animals and they live on every continent and inhabit almost every ecological niche going. We might consider the Earth to be ruled by the mammals at the moment (and it's not an unfair position) but there are some 10,000 of bird compared with a more modest 6,000 mammals (give or take). In some ways, at least, dinosaurs still rule the roost.

(So my two little characters are my own dinosaurs!)

Did I read that right?

Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
Do they taste like chicken?
***
Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half
Chainsaw Massacre all over again!
***
Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors
Boy, are they tall!
***

Typhoon Rips Through 
Cemetery; Hundreds Dead
Did I read that right?

BIRDS, part one

Well, I like birds.  They are beautiful, awsome, funny ... See for yourself!

Hey Ma! Lunch time!

May I have this dance?

Out! Out! This is MY territory!

Mine!  Mine!  Mine!

Knock it off, guys. No fighting!

 Tonight we have very fresh fish for dinner.

 He said THAT!

 Now I'll start the song, and you sing bass.

TOMBSTONES

In a Uniontown, Pennsylvania, cemetery:
Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake.
Stepped on the gas
Instead of the brake.

In a Silver City, Nevada, cemetery:
Here lays The Kid.
We planted him raw.
He was quick on the trigger
But slow on the draw.

A lawyer's epitaph in England:
Sir John Strange. .
Here lies an honest lawyer,
And that is Strange.

John Penny's epitaph in the Wimborne, England, cemetery:
Reader, if cash thou art
In want of any,
Dig 6 feet deep;
And thou wilt find a Penny.

In a cemetery in Hartscombe, England:
On the 22nd of June,
Jonathan Fiddle
Went out of tune.

Happy Thanksgiving!

From this Thanksgiving morning comics:

Snoopy is at his food dish, and commenting that while others are having turkey, he gets dog food.

But then, he philosophizes, he's glad he wasn't born a turkey.

LOCH NESS

Loch Ness, a huge lake in Scotland, and its surroundings, are really quite beautiful.

Here is a photo of the loch itself. It is about 1 mile wide and about 23 miles long. It is also so 

deep that it holds more water than all of the other lakes in England.

Here is the shoreline.

The surrounding area is quite hilly. The outcropping of rocks tell geologists a great deal about the 

history of this area. Although I have no photos to show you, the rocks on either side of the loch are 

not at all like, and come from different parts of the earth.

Old castle ruins

One of the streams that feeds the loch.

Surely you have heard of the Loch Ness monster. In fact, here is a photograph.

Well, don’t take that too seriously. As I searched on Google to learn more about the monster, it told of many sightings. What it did not say however, is what the people had to drink before hand. If this is supposed to 

be an ancient dinosaur, there is a bit of a problem with that notion. We are told that the 

dinosaurs died out several million years before Loch Ness was formed. Go figure.

DOGS

The average dog is a nicer person than the average person. - 

Andy Rooney

We give dogs time we can spare, space we can spare and love we can spare. And in return, dogs give us their all. It's the best deal man has ever made. - 

M. Acklam

I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult. - 

Rita Rudner

Anybody who doesn't know what soap tastes like, never bathed a dog. - 

Franklin P.

If your dog is fat, you aren't getting enough exercise. - 

Unknown