I trust everyone made it through the Ides okay? No knives in the back? I apologize in advance for the lack of Deep Thoughts and for the to-ing and fro-ing. Some posts are just like that. Tomorrow’s might be better, but I wouldn’t want to bet on it. But, hey, 4 out of 6 paragraphs have to do with animals, so that’s some sort of theme, isn’t it?
I had a most pleasant surprise this morning when I got to my car. The lovely Ms. Lea had stopped by on her way home last night and installed a clip on my seatbelt to keep it from strangling, or, hopefully, decapitating me. I’m so short that even with the seatbelt adjusted down as far as it’ll go, it still lies across my neck. Not a good thing for either comfort or safety.
And, further proof that this will be a good day, I saw a gray fox. It was hard to tell because he was a little unkempt and the brightness of my headlights washed out his color, but his coat looked to be light greyish and his tail had a black tip. It was too small for a coyote, too large for a cat, and not shambly enough for a ‘possum. It was definitely a slinky little fox.
I also had a cute encounter with a mouse when I stopped for gas. I went in to buy a pop, and as I walked back to my car, I saw what I thought was a leaf scuttling along the ground between the front tires. When I got closer, I saw it was a little mouse. He ran into my rear wheel and poked his head out between the alloy spokes and stared and stared and stared at me with his shiny black eyes. I told him he ought to move along, because it would be a long and unpleasant ride to Bloomington. I hope he took my advice.
Via Boing Boing, Garfield is finally funny. Really, really funny. The best part is that you can play along at home. Just remove Garfield’s thought bubbles, et voila, instant improvement!
I’ve added Carol J. Adams’ The Pornography of Meat to my Amazon wish list. Dear lord, there is a lot of bizarre advertising out there, and the worst of it seems to be that which involves the pimping of meat. The reviews of this and Adams’ earlier book are a mixed bag, but I’m curious about what she has to say on the subject, and about where she falls on the animal welfare-animal rights spectrum. I don’t have a lot of patience–precisely zero, in fact–with PeTA and those who knowingly or ignorantly buy their flavor of Kool-Aid. I do think that there is a lot that can and should be done to ensure that animals are treated more humanely and respectfully in the US, but I think PeTA (remember, small e for ethical!) has gotten it spectacularly wrong.
red paper boat 