The only freshwater bass I’ve ever caught was all of 1.5 inches in Poway Lake when I was fourteen. So I am not much of bass fisherman. My interest in a new bass species, the Choctaw Bass, is strictly linguistic. The term haiaka is translated from the Choctaw language, meaning “revealed” or “manifest. . .”
A recipe for disaster… A canine-mantrap, fifteen stairs, a negative commando roll, and a bag of frozen peas with breakfast and ibuprofen!
Quick dit…
This morning at ‘O-crack-sparrow-fart’ (04:15hrs) I placed both feet on the ground a nano-second before my alarm went off. After conducting my morning’s ‘constitutional duties’ I showered, wet shaved, and jumped into my prepared walking-rig, ready for breakfast and the great outdoors. All before ‘pre-dawn’ even thought of breaking!
Not wishing to wake the (one and a half) dogs, I tip toed past their guard position on the landing near the top of the stairs, even resisting the temptation of roughing the puppy’s ears as I did so. Big mistake… ‘BIG’ mistake! Hannah, a black (with a splash of white) Staffordshire Bull Terrier was no longer drawing air and producing zzZZZ’s in her bed, she was laying lengthways on the top stair (one of fifteen), her colouring blending in with the darkness.
She was now a six-month-old mantrap, and a very effective one.
As I hurtled into space my commando & parachute training came instantly to the fore, I rolled into a ball, head & arms tucked in, with knees together, a coiled spring ready to accept my landing with a full sideways roll, exit right, directly into the open door of the kitchen.
‘Actually, that is what flashed through my mind’…
Unfortunately I was unable to put it into practice as it all happened too fast. I flailed out and tried to grab hold of the wooden banister, whilst screaming obscenities at no one but myself?
After much banging and crashing, and sparks and lights flashing! I landed with a thud in a snotty heap at the bottom of the stairs, that knocked the wind out of me. To add insult to injury Hannah bounded down to join in the fun, as did Joss who plonked his 45 pounds on my chest… Much jumping around, with frivolity and licking followed until I screamed “enough”!
(I had gone from being an Ex-Bootneck, to being a big girls blouse in less than two seconds).
As I stood up to regain my dignity I realised that I had twisted my bloomin ankle, the same one as had happened several times before. I quickly hobbled into the boot room and put on my walking boots and laced them up tightly, in the hope that the compress would instantly reduce the swelling. Unfortunately, and regrettably, it did not!
I ate breakfast in absolute silence; hacked off as my long walk had to be cancelled, as was the dog minder, and my walking ‘oppo’ who I was due to pick up en-route, (an Ex-Bootneck, who also called me a “big girls blouse” for not walking through the pain).
At least I had the pleasure of watching dawn break as I walked hobbled around the field with the dogs. However, to add insult even further, a small gnat buzzed inside my ear; and I scratched it with a previously unnoticed torn fingernail (strange how ears don’t bleed, they just weep water)!
The ‘two thirds empty’ bag of frozen peas is no longer… frozen. The swelling has gone down slightly, as I now sit with my foot in a bucket of iced water pondering the remains of the day. As I survey the one and a half dogs that are now snoring at my feet foot/bucket; the question I ask myself is…
“Why have dogs got black lips?
Yours Aye.
Turkmenistan president Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov was thrown from his horse on the outskirts of the capital, Ashgabat. It was not pretty and their media was silent. I wish Bangu well, that looked like a painful wipeout. I had one like that on a bike. One second you are upright and the next, you’re on the sidewalk. Wondering what happened.
In Navy-speak, an amphibious surprise is when you are the President of some small country and you awake to an LHD floating off your coast. But Gloria Chubb received an amphibious surprise of another kind:
Gloria Chubb was going about her business, microwaving the contents of a can of green beans when she discovered something decidedly un-green-bean-like. “I thought it was maybe a piece of moldy bacon or something,” she told WBND, an affiliate of CNN. Turns out, Chubb discovered a frog, nearly intact except for some limbs floating among the green beans.
A frog in bean can? Now I have heard it all.
In a recent post on bulldogs and golden retrievers, I shared the story of working for my boss (and how I should become more like a bulldog.) Reader Mark sent me a picture of his bulldogs:
These three pooches are most decidely non-Navy Sailorish. I’ll have to find another breed. Cute dogs though. . .
If you are black, white, and furry and you live near Bifengxia Panda Base near Ya-an city, please understand that the current earth shaking is temporary.
When it comes to dangerous, which would you drather not face: 53 king cobras in car or a tiger in bathroom? In Vietnam, the cops seized 53 king cobras:
Vietnamese police say they have seized 53 king cobras from a car in Hanoi and arrested the driver.
Officer Dang Van Hanh said Monday the live snakes were taken to a wildlife rescue center near the capital where they treated before being released into the wild.
And a tiger escaped at a circus, into the bathroom:
The big cat had escaped briefly after its turn in the ring Saturday at the Isis Shrine Circus in Salina. Staff members blocked off the concourses at the Bicentennial Centennial Center as the tiger wandered into the bathroom, where one of the doors was blockaded.
About that time, Salina resident Jenna Krehbiel decided she needed to use the restroom. When she walked in the door that hadn’t been blocked off, she found a tiger standing about 2 feet away, The Salina Journal reported.
Two feet away? No thanks. . .
For you Bay Area feline lovers, the Oakland Internet Cat Video Festival is on May 11:
The Oakland Internet Cat Video Festival takes place May 11, 2013 in uptown Oakland.
Do check out the FAQs, you would not want to miss these gems:
“Can I bring my dog?”
Nope! This is a cat fest, silly!“Can I bring my cat?”
If your cat likes being on a leash, by all means!“Will there be litter boxes and water bowls for my cat on a leash?”
Nope!
Can I bring my dog, puh-leeze. . .
Of Alexandra Nuttall, the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) rep added: She did an outstanding job. She’s a strong girl with good strong legs.
A wolf dog hybrid is a canine that is, as its name suggests, part wolf and part dog. They are independent, magnificent creatures which some experienced dog-folks keep as pets:
According to the article I read, many myths exist about wolf dog hybrids. Some say they are unable to be trained and vicious while some claim they are as tame as a Golden Retriever. Some feel they live longer than other “dogs” and are less prone to disease.
With regular dogs and wolf dog hybrids, there are a few similarities:
- In reality, a wolf in captivity has the same life expectancy as a large dog, from 12-14 years.
- Both dogs and wolves are susceptible to the same infectious diseases.
- Additionally, the efficacy of a standard dog vaccine given to wolves and hybrids may be questionable.
Wolf Dog Hybrids As Guard Dogs
As far as making excellent guard dogs, by nature wolves are shy animals, so generally are not effective in this capacity. If any aggressive tendencies are observed in wolf dog hybrids, those may be fear induced, which can make them hard to handle and unpredictable.
Do Wolf Dog Hybrids Make Good Pets?
So while they are extremely attractive canines (and made excellent guides for me during my time in the desert), do wolf dog hybrids make good pets for an average dog owner?
While many folks say they make excellent pets for those who are familiar with their special needs, but in general, my answer is “absolutely not.” Since these canines are a cross between a wolf and a dog, they need special handling and training by a person dedicated to these animals.
With patience and consistency, even a dog that is hard to train can learn. But the wolf dog temperament tends toward dominance, and will constantly test his or her “master.” In order to avoid constant battles, the owner must establish “alpha” status to “dominate” the hybrid.
That animal is humungous.
I once caught a three-foot long barracuda in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The thing was nasty, it had bent the h-ee-double-el out of my hook. But get this, Thomas Gibson (not the actor) caught a seven-foot long ‘Cuda on the Cuanza River in Angola:
Thomas Gibson, Barracuda
I don’t know whether people enjoy eating ‘em, I gave my trophy mine away.
A discharged, disabled Army veteran named Ernesto Rodriguez (who owns a tattoo parlor) tattooed his five-month old dog, Duchess, on her stomach. Man, I hope she likes panthers! Cuz she now has one across her tummy. (Just kidding, Duchess’ tattoo is not a panther. You can’t ink a dog with a cat. He would chase himself all day.)
First, I must offer my sincere thanks to NavyOne for letting me wax lyrical, poetic, nonsensical (you pick…) on his blog. I’m fairly confident he feels his numbers are just too high, or perhaps he’s a fellow Catholic like me and the sheer weight of the guilt of having such a popular blog is causing him a secret desire to punish himself. It remains – technically – the Lenten Season, hence, I suppose a little confession and sacrifice is always a good idea. Clearly he’s willing to allow himself to be punished.
The reason I post: perennial favorites – Politics & Cat Videos.
I’ve long held a theory (one among many, really…) that the American Public has already achieved a low-enough level of intellectual numbness that any truly dangerous, obvious and looming geopolitical iceberg would be ignored completely, hence plowed into with similar results to the Titanic’s sad demise. Thusly, to confirm my hypothesis, I decided a unbounded, statistically irrelevant, good old fashion silent survey would do to see if i was right… I could have picked any iceberg really…. I chose this).
I performed a facebook experiment – two posts to see which one received the most likes and comments back – which would it be?
Would my friends (people who know me, like me (I think), and at some levels, share my concerns for God, Country, Family & Friends) choose to care about a gripping, geopolitical controversy - one that once again offers evidence that our President makes decisions perhaps beyond his authority (hold on! That’s another post!) or would my ‘friends’ – (people I respect, consider to be intellectually adequate at the least) choose…
Wait for it…
….FUNNY CAT VIDEOS!
Heavy sigh – the title tells the outcome. I did hold out hope that maybe my theory was wrong… of course the statisticians out there will probably tell me that my test process was too vague, my controls were too ill-defined, my subjects were ambiguous or dissimilar, blah blah blah - whatever! Man!
Those were my friend! They should have come through for me, for us, For America! Say what you want! I’m right.
As a nation, we’re too stupid to recognize the icebergs for what they are – and that there may be some emergency maneuvering required on our part.
Remind me again – who is the forward lookout? Who is on the Helm?
Oh, wait, the voice is on..I have to go now…
Be good to each other.
For all you animal lovers, a rare giraffe was born at the LEO Zoological Conservation Center in Connecticut. Petal gave birth on Friday (and Dagmar gave birth back in October at the Chester Zoo.) The Rothschild Giraffes are on the endangered list, possibly because of the Occupy folks protesting them. Due to the Rothschild thing and all.
In an article titled: Cameras Capture Tigers Trekking Through Wildlife Corridor
With this first sentence: A camera trap has captured photos of two healthy tigers using a protected corridor in the Kerala province of southwest India this year, evidence that the pathway could help populations of theendangered animals.
The following picture was included in the photo gallery:
Thailand’s Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra speaks to students, who oppose to the trade of endangered animals, before the opening of the 16th meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in Bangkok March 3, 2013. CITES shall be held from March 3 till March 14 in Bangkok.
Now I’m no veterinarian, but those tigers (“captured” by cameras) look an awful lot like some of the kids in my neighborhood around Halloween time.
Dr Hayley Randle and her fellow researcher Emma Halliday, of Duchy College in Cornwall, have determined that only 1 in 20 vehicle owners have the correct horsepower.
