Fuzzy Things Open Thread

by 1:34 pm. It has 167 Comments.

Here’s 3/4ths of Badger, who was photographed recently while basking in the last sunbeams before nightfall:

I posted this on Twitter the other day, and a friend said Badger looks like he should have a martini and cigarette holder in his paws, which is true. He’s still a fuzzy boy, though — too young to drink or smoke!

There are all sorts of fuzzy things to look at in the swamp these days. I could swear I saw one of those adorable limpkin chicks I shared with y’all the other day achieve brief liftoff from its ground nest on a nearby island. Could be wrong though.

I keep trying to get a photo of a Sandhill crane pair and their two long-legged fuzzballs, but I can’t seem to catch the family at a time when I have a combination of my camera, good lighting and adequate cover so I don’t disturb them.

Moving to not-so-fuzzy critters, the frogs, cicadas, etc., were deafening last night. The weather was nice, so I had the windows open, and I almost shut everything down and turned the A/C on just to drown out the din of the frogs and insects.

The alligators are frisky too. Have you ever heard a gator mating call? It’ll make the hair on the back of your neck stand up if you happen to be outside in the dark when you hear it. Sounds like Satan’s drainpipe or something — hard to describe.

Anyhoo, all topics welcome in this open thread, even further re-hashing of Biden 2020. But talk of fuzzy things would be nice.





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Monday Morning Open Thread: Good Dog, Bad ‘Dogs’…

by 4:48 am. It has 102 Comments.

Vitisak Payalaw and his crew were working on an oil rig 135 miles off the southern coast of Thailand on Friday when they spotted something unexpectedly bobbing in the gentle waves.

It was a dog.

The animal was fighting his way through the moving water, heading for the oil rig. As he approached the structure, Payalaw, an offshore planner for Chevron Thailand Exploration and Production, held out a pole after the animal had splashed his way to the platform below the rig’s deck. As a video Payalaw posted to his Facebook account shows, the pup was soaked, shivering and too exhausted to whimper or bark…

Four members of the crew, including Payalaw, spent 15 minutes devising a way to pull the animal up to the rig, eventually slinging a looped rope around the dog’s neck and hoisting it to the deck. The pictures from the offshore planner’s Facebook account show the animal looking sapped after being taken aboard the rig.

According to NPR, the rig workers gave the dog water and pieces of meat. Then, they settled on a name: “Boonrod,” meaning “he has done good karma and that helps him to survive.”

“He looked extremely exhausted and ran out of energy. He didn’t move much,” Payalaw said to CNN. “He was shaking and he couldn’t stand, he had to sit all the time.”

How exactly a dog ended up paddling for his life in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand remains a mystery. According to the Bangkok Post, Boonrod may have jumped or fallen off another vessel in the water…

Payalaw told NPR he plans to adopt Boonrod if the dog is not claimed by an owner.


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On the other hand… yeah, I also have the impression that these guys would be less like cybernetic St Bernards, and more like Repo Dogs…





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Thursday Morning Open Thread: Stuff That Doesn’t Sukk

by 4:52 am. It has 119 Comments.

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Per the Washington Post:

The likenesses of music legend Johnny Cash and civil rights icon Daisy Lee Gatson Bates will appear in the hallways of the U.S. Capitol in marble form, replacing two figures from the Civil War.

Last week, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) signed a measure to swap out the statues of individuals from the 19th century for more modern representations of the state.

The current statues of Uriah Milton Rose, an attorney who sided with the Confederacy, and James P. Clarke, a governor of the state who held racist beliefs, are not being removed because of their controversial past, but rather because of a decision by the state “to update the statues with representatives of our more recent history,” Hutchinson said in a weekly address. The statues of Rose and Clarke have been in the Capitol for nearly 100 years, he said…

Cash, the esteemed country music artist with crossover appeal, hailed from Arkansas. Some state lawmakers were opposed to using Cash to represent the state in Washington because of his troubled past, according to the Arkansas Times.

“Mr. Cash is a great musician . . . but the drugs, the alcohol, the women, that kind of thing . . . no, I can’t hold him up to my children as a model,” state Rep. Doug House (R) said.

But eventually the measure passed.

Bates played an integral role in the desegregation of schools in Arkansas, including guiding the African American children known as the Little Rock Nine as they attempted to enroll in an all-white school.

“The history of the civil rights struggle in Arkansas is an essential part of our story that says much about courage and who we are as a state. Daisy Bates was a key person in that story. She continues to inspire us,” Hutchinson said…





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Respite Open Thread: Happy Bixby News

by 7:45 pm. It has 114 Comments.

Bixby managed to get outside today, because he has goals and he works hard at them.  More info on his day here. You guys really helped me get through the past two weeks of hell and uncertainty. Thank you.

And here’s some cuteness to close out the day:

h/t Jeffreyw for bat and music.

How are all our other critters doing? I know we have a few who are struggling. We are here to send lots of good energy your way.

You know the drill – anything but politics open thread.





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Another Good Lily Checkup

by 11:43 pm. It has 37 Comments.

Went to PVSEC for our every six week treatment, and all good news for Lily. Doctor said she was even good enough to get sedated to have her teeth cleaned and have a benign cyst removed. Also, a new bow:

She’s a very good girl.





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