I’ve been vewy, vewy busy.
This Tasmania endemic Black Currawong (Strepera fulignosa) came very close to our house last week.
Currawongs have been hanging out around our house and may even have a nest on our property (someone has a large stick nest high in a eucalyptus tree, it’s either a Currawong or a Forrest Raven). Although they look similar to corvids (ravens and crows), Currawongs are actually cracticids which puts them in the sam family as Butcherbirds and Australian Magpies.
Hi! We were quite worried that you were sick! Glad it was just business.
When you didn’t notice the kids trip to Tasmania, Teach & I thought you might be ill.
The picture loses something without the context, but oh well.
Great bird, by the way. Reminds me of the Queen’s Ravens.
I did notice the kids’ diary of their trip to Tasmania, but have been flat out with everything from plumbing to political activities. Tell the kids that they did a wonderful job of capturing the crepuscular light. 😉
Will do. I might have to translate crepuscular for my third and fourth graders.
When I saw “(belated)” and then a large Raven looking critter, I thought this was a Halloween themed Critters-from-Beyond-the-Grave diary. I know I have a picture of that undead, mummified Abyssian somewhere.
I’m looking forward to seeing that picture.
on Squirrel Alert…Bu at work
clik to enlarge
in defending the homeland from those filthy tree-rats. Good dog.
Gorgeous dog! What a great tail and shiny coat.
Luna says, “Hi Bu.”
My goodness y’all live on a steep slope. 😉
Is that another mole retrieval expedition?
What does mole taste like, anyway?
What does mole taste like, anyway?
And what does canned liver and beef dog food taste like? Yet another two things I’m never going to know.
Those dogs have a fun life. What a great place to be a dog. And what nice people to hang around with.
A few weeks ago I mentioned that I was planning to add a new member to my family. Well, here she is. She should be ready to join us the end of November. I’m thinking of naming her Pax. What do you think?
I think I’m ready to volunteer to babysit her for you…she is so cute! Is she a shih-tzu?
Yep, she’s a shih tzu, the tiny kind – probably will be about 7 pounds full-grown. I really wanted a small one so I could take her with me most everywhere. But I’m accepting applications for baby-sitters. References will be checked. Experience in frog ponds will definitely be a requirement!
We have a small shih-tzu named Phoebe, and I love her (I also have 2 Australian Shepherds). She is smart, sweet, snuggly, and not yappy at all.
Congrats…I bet you can hardly wait for her to come home.
Here’s my application. 🙂
7 lbs?? Our smallest cat is at least 12 pounds! I don’t nothing about no dogs, but are you sure that is one? 🙂 🙂
(I can’ t believe I’m teasing someone about such a fuzzball.)
puppy + new carpet = new, random patterns on said carpet.
Good point.
awwww she’s sooo cute! How did you find out about her? From a breeder or a friend?
and I like the name Pax.
(don’t tell CG I said she was cute)
Wait a minute, Pax is cute, but phoebe is not? harumpf.
I hesitate to even get into the process by which I found her. I’ve always been one of those obnoxious pet owners who lectures anyone who thinks about getting a dog from a breeder. My previous two were from the humane society and have been the perfect companions.
I really need to have a dog in my life, but I began to hate the idea of leaving them alone all day while I’m at work. I tried hard to find a small one through the humane society or rescue organizations and it just wasn’t working. This one woman who runs a rescue also breeds these tiny shih tzus. So I finally resigned myself to take one of hers. I guess by doing so I’m helping support her work with the rescues. But I must admit to a tiny bit of guilt about it all. I just hope to get over that as soon as Pax is part of my life.
Take her name to heart and don’t worry about it. You have a puppy you like and you ARE helping the woman run the rest of the rescue service.
And Pax was going to be here in this world anyway — someone needs to take care of her, so it might as well be you. Since none of your other searches worked out, maybe it was just meant to be that you found each other this way 🙂
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.
but is the name meant to be contrarian? By the look on her, I’d say that she’s planning some very serious hell-raising. 😉
I hate to sound demanding but where are the pictures of Luna? I am seriously in love with Luna. Some photos of the food bowl dance would be particularly appreciated.
I’ll see what I can do.
Oh, and one of the reasons I was so busy this week was that Albert had to have more teeth removed. He’s still not talking to us, poor little grummet.
Hang in their, Bertie. Luna, watch out for revenge piddle attacks from you-know-who.
Thanks so, keres. She is so lovely. I imagine there are several people who, like me, regularly read your weekly thread and have promised themselves that the next puppy will be a Great Pyrenees. She appears to have an international fan base…
I’m sorry to hear about Albert. Is he eating and drinking?
Only I hope I don’t inspire a Pyrenees craze – they are tremendously large handfulls and not usually a good backyard pet. The entry on Great Pyrenees dogs at wikipedia has a good section on their temperament, and all of the difficulties they can cause. I would never keep a Pyr is an urban or suburban area, unless you really don’t like your neighbors for a mile around your house, and you are willing to end up in court over their barking (thankfully, Luna is a fairly quiet Pyr).
The best dog is the one whose requirements and temperament are a good fit with his or her people. All else, like beauty, which Pyrs undoubtedly have, is secondary.
Albert is eating (as long as his food is cut up fine) and drinking well. He likes a mixture of broccoli, bok choy, and apple with a little peanutbutter and flax seed oil added. Crushed saltine crackers are good as well. He no longer has any lower incisiors, and will need to figure out how to better pick up food and transfer it to his back teeth without them. For those of you keeping track, Albert has both top incisors and all his cheek teeth on the left.
to enjoy Luna vicariously. Glad to hear that Albert is doing alright.
I’m a big fan of vicarious enjoyment. And there’s usually no cleaning up afterward.
As Terry Jones, in drag, once screeched,”The droppings are enormous!”
I agree. I was trying to be polite since you said were busy, but I miss Luna. I particularly like the see Luna when Bu is around. That ebony and ivory thing works for them.
If you had been watching the news on TV (in Tasmania) you would have just seen Luna marching in the “Walk Against Warming” that we attended today.
This is one of the things we saw on our drive home.
This family raises mini-horses of superb quality and they’ve had three foals so far this year.
When we lived in Iowa, the people the next farm down raised mini-horses. They were cute, but these are cuter.
Thanks for taking time out to post this diary. I look forward to it every week.
The latest foal.
This little fella is probably less than a week old.
Here’s a photo I took of their first little colt of the year (a few months ago, when it was raining and we all had green grass).
He’s a fair bit bigger now, but still cute as can be.
That is a very beautiful little horse…
but I hope it will hold you over as a Luna-action-shot until I can recharge the battery on my camera (and Luna recovers from her march today).
n/t
Kidspeak posted this in the lounge, but I have to put this one here. The Gray-and-White club hold daily meetings on
ourtheir bed while we work to get money to supply them with tender morsels and kitty weed.thumbnail
From right to left, Zena, Teebo, Sophie.
It’s a “pack of dogs” and a “murder of crows,” but surely this is a “cabal of cats.”
They are actually a cross-generational, splinter group of the larger “White Boots Revolutionary Army.” Teebo, the youngest and only male in the group, rests cautiously between two competing Queens of the Universe, who are pretending to like each other before their next “play” fight. Never a dull moment at the Midwest Cat Sanctuary.
I always regard Currawongs with suspicion. They are mean looking birds, and my partner tells the story of her childhood pet budgie losing its leg to a Currawong attack. At least they don’t attack humans the way magpies do…
Lovely photo, keres
I can see why you’d watch out for this critter. It looks like a bird that takes no prisoners and brooks no nonsense. I can imagine it looking at humans with utter disdain.
like most opportunistic omnivores, they view people as a food source.
There is the now imfamous “tomato cheese sandwich incident.” Shortly after coming to Tasmania Imogen took me to Cradle Mountain (see my Landscape entry to the fOtofair). We were having lunch in the parking lot before setting out on another walk. Camera in one hand and sandwich in the other I was taking photos of the lake with the mountain in the background. At some point I needed both hands to change a setting on the camera and ever so briefly set my sandwich on a log in front of me – like inches away – and a Currawong swooped past and grabbed my sandwich. I was outraged. I was hungry. It was a fine sandwich, with its flavor augmented by that extra special appreciation that comes from working up an appetite in the out-of-doors.
I love examples of how animals use us, the apogee of the evolution, the masters of all we survey, for easy pickings. Zena (see the cat cabal picture) is a past mistress of food stealing. She once leapt up onto my desk, ran past my plate and, without breaking stride, grabbed half of a bagel with cream cheese in her mouth. Before I could even call out, she and my bagel had disappeared under the sofa. She later crawled in my lap and slept for a good three hours.