Saturday fun with animals

 This week I have few encounters with critters.

Last week I met a friend's trial new dog, Champ. I haven't seen him this week, so he may not have worked out for her.

He was a rather slow moving older beagle. The interesting part of his  story was that his owner had recently died. And she had died the same day that my friend had lost her own dog suddenly. She was trying out living with Champ for a few weeks, I believe. 

Another blogger recently posted some art by an artist who was also recently deceased, Leoma Lovejoy. Blogger is Southwest Daily Photos. 

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From a Gallery Show by the Red House artists, in 2021 a selection.

My contribution was a ceramic open sculpture of trees (which sold!!)

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Today's quotes:

Every student needs someone who says, simply, "You mean something. You count."  -Tony Kushner, playwright (b. 16 Jul 1956) Be part of the discussion on climate change as we move our society to a critical mass of people who can change the way we live, govern, support, communicate, and save the earth. ---------------- Today's goddess: Amazing goddess figurine from Balzi Rossi (red rocks), who is apparently depicted giving birth. Dated ca 26,000-20,000 BC Gravettian period, it was found in Balzi Rossi caves (archaeological site), Grimaldi di Ventimiglia, Italy on the border with France. Musée des Antiquites Nationales of Saint Germain-en-Laye, France SOURCE: The Mother Goddess site on FaceBook And over at my other blog, Alchemy of Clay, see E. J. Taylor's wonderful dolls!

From here to there (Asheville to France)

 

At the Messina Cancer Center the other day, we were asked to vote for our favorite pumpkin decoration. I will tell you my choice at the bottom of this post.

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Hello - good-bye!

What a great way to make speed! Stretch then crunch all paws out - forward then back! Not necessary to jump.

Some critters at No Kings Day 2

Anti-Fascist Unicorn in Paris France demonstration on No Kings Day 2 (Oct. 18, 2025)

My neighbor (who just lost her own dog) is pet sitting this lovely guy, Harley. Very well behaved!

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An image which should remind us all what's going on with the autocrat in charge. We just had No Kings Day 2, and this is the image which reminds us of reality at the White House. The ugly truth seems to be not just the demolition in favor of a huge ugly ballroom, but the renovation of the bunker which lies beneath it. That's a military move.

The Contrarian said:

"The new project is set to replace parts of the East Wing.” To add insult to injury to the Republic, tony donors (including Comcast, Meta, Open AI, and Palantir, among too many others to list) happy to place business before the government are footing the bill—and getting a snazzy thank you dinner where they can hobnob with Trump.

My thoughts about the current autocracy is that those who want it all (money, power) are planning to starve and kill off many of the people who don't lie down in awe of their lies. Concentration camps anyone? No SNAP food for the needy. No health care that's affordable?

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I voted for "We're All Mad" the stacked pumpkins from Mad Hatters...number 3. Which one did you think was best?

Sharing with Saturday's Critters.

Saturdays Critters

 A furry friend who was blowing in the wind when I met him/her.

And off they went for their walk. I did ask the dog's name, but promptly forgot it!

I have some cute tiny birds that visit the trees (bare in winter of course) outside my windows over the laptop screen. Sometimes I try to take their photos...usually pretty sad results.

Big Windy had hoarfrost showing early on last Monday morning.

See the blue bird to the right of the blue flag!

Nope, an enlargement didn't help, even changing the background to more shadows.

He was all fluffed up and kept coming back to that branch all day long. Silly guy wasn't even in warm sunshine most of the time.

Our smattering of snow Wed. morning last...melted away by noon and that was all we got here!

Thursday morning  Big Windy showed a bit of snow, and neighbor's roof had either frost on snow...so grateful not to be snowed in, but actually I was "cold-in," and didn't go out till Friday (except to get the mail wearing my big coat)

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Sharing with Saturday's Critters

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Today's notes on politics: (which I mainly post to have as a journaled record of what these crazy times are experiencing!)

From PBS News Tues. Feb. 18, 2025 - 9:55 pm

Let’s look at some of the facets of the federal workforce that have lost staff. Consider this a snapshot of the landscape right now, with the caveat that more actions may take place after this week’s email.

• U.S. Forest Service: 3,400 workers laid off
• Department of Energy: some 1,000 workers laid off
• Veterans Affairs: more than 1,000 workers fired
• National Institutes of Health: Between 1,000 and 1,200 workers fired
• Bureau of Land Management: 800 workers fired
• National Park Service: 1,000 workers fired
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: About 750 workers fired
• Small Business Administration: About 720 workers fired
• Federal Aviation Administration: About 400 workers fired
• Environmental Protection Agency: About 400 workers fired
• Federal Emergency Management Agency: More than 200 workers fired

Other agencies, such as the General Services Administration, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Department of Education, have had dozens of staffers cut.

 

The hardest hit agency. Currently the largest source of layoffs is the U.S. Agency for International Development.

 

So far, more than 12,000 American workers — most of them contractors — have been laid off, according to Stop-WorkUSAID, a group tracking the cuts. Organizer Sadie Healy told us they tallied this figure based on individual names they have vetted. The actual total is likely larger, she said.

 

Thousands more at USAID are also under a stop-work order and face potential firing, depending on a court ruling, which has frozen action against them for the moment.

 

Teenage Mutant MAGA Incels, the young men who gained access to our Social Security and IRS records thanks to MUSK.

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Today's quote:

A memory may feel abstract or immaterial, but it is actually a biochemical process taking place in the brain. It involves neurons communicating with each other via the “wires” or synapses connecting them. The pathway an electrochemical signal follows as it continually travels from neuron to synapse to neuron constitutes a memory.  

Whenever you have that memory, the same pathway gets activated. And the more it’s activated, the more it becomes hardwired into the brain’s circuitry. Eventually, it becomes a long-term memory. 

Activation also requires enzymes, molecules that set off chemical reactions. The problem is that these enzymes don’t exist for longer than a week. If a memory is to endure, it would seem that the enzymes would have to remain functioning for years or even decades. 

Once the enzymes turn off, one would expect the memories to go with them. “This became a holy grail in neuroscience,” Lisman says. “How can a molecule in your brain serve as a memory? How does nature accomplish this?”

—John Lisman

Thanks to fellow blogger, Love is a Place, 

I'm quite relieved to know why my brain has such trouble these days!

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Today's art:

Noelle E. DeVito

The Goose Dog

 His name is Cato (I think) or maybe Curtiss, or Calvin...something that starts with a "C".

The town of Black Mountain hired him to chase the geese and ducks away...to keep the grass clean of their droppings. And perhaps to keep them from being fed by children and parents who don't pay any attention to the signs saying "Don't feed the water fowl, they will get sick."

Anyway, my friend and I met to walk at the lake the other morning. And I said, "Look, a dog is chasing the geese off the island, and is even swimming after them in the water." She agreed, and then we saw the dog climb out of the lake and walk along with a woman, not on a leash.

We eventually walked over that far, and I took Cato's photo, and we learned about his job of chasing the ducks and geese. Originally I had felt bad about the geese and ducks being chased. Then we felt bad that the dog had been in pretty cold water. But he has a setter's tail, so is probably is used to swimming anywhere he wants.

Sorry I didn't get a shot of him looking at me, he's got one blue and one yellow eye....both of which were watching those geese and ducks out in the water.

It has been raining and cold the rest of the week, so this is all I can share today.

Today's quote:

“If I wait until I become perfect before I love myself, I will waste my whole life. I am already perfect right here and right now. I am perfect exactly as I am.” -Louise L. Hay

Snickers

 Can I take a picture of your dog? I really didn't want to pet Snickers..but he's kind of cute.

 The owner gave a snap of fingers, then made a gesture and said "sit."

 Dog would sit, then one of us would say something like "good dog" and up she'd he'd come. So owner said "sit" a few more times. Poor dog was like a yo-yo!

Today's Quote:
As a leader, you have to have the ability to assimilate new information and understand that there might be a different view. -Madeleine Albright, diplomat and author (b. 15 May 1937)

A dog! And a cell conversation!

I had to ask the woman talking on her cell phone to let me pass onto the foot bridge across Flat Creek.  She acted like I was the one in the way! Then she called to her dog, who had wet paws just below the bridge.

Fortunately dog was friendly but not into jumping up on me...and went with his "mum" to the other side of the creek to walk and talk together.

 I enjoyed looking at the simple things of nature around me.

And my shadow greeted the wet dogprints on the big rock.