When What Did My Wondering Eyes Did Appear

It was freezing cold outside-- about 5 degrees farenheit -- and the wind was blowing brutally. Snow from the recent record breaking storm was still on the ground. We were on vacation in Virginia, about 30 minutes west of Charlottesville, very near to the Blue Ridge mountains edge. The folks we were visiting had the normal random collection of animals in the ring adjacent to their barn. Some horses, a goat or two... and wait-- that one eating SNOW -- is it? It IS! It's a CAMEL.

Eating snow. Not in the desert crossing miles of sand. A camel in the wintry snow, having fun munching the white stuff. I whipped out my little digital camera, switched it to movie mode and pressed play... just in time to miss it. I had gotten said camel's attention and she came walking, then running, over.

Have you ever seen a camel run? I know, you really haven't now either because she was partially blocked, but it was still a fun sentence to write.

The lady who owns Chloe has had her since she was two weeks old. I asked if she ever spat, as I have seen them do it (I was in Lebanon stopping for coffee with Bedouins in the deserted land between Beiruit and Zahale in the mountains, and they had one who did. She said hers never does. Guess they do that when they are mad, and how could a well loved, well fed Camel be mad? Chloe's owner passed me a banana and told me to feed her a favorite treat. Below is my reaction to feeling her slobbery tongue grab a piece from my hand. And I say slobbery in only the most polite way.

I am of Arabic descent and I remember calling my brother camel breath as a teasing insult. I asked her, do camels have camel breath... the expression on their faces told me that indeed they do. But check out this beauty! She's quite a looker.

And just like when I interacted with my first baby goat, I will again exclaim, "I WANT ONE!" Don't you?

Have You Ever Seen a White Deer?

My friend Kurt, who lives near Charlottesville, Virginia, and gave me the link to last post's bear cam, also sent me these pictures of a white deer that has been visiting his back yard since spring.
Thank you Kurt! I've never seen a white deer, or anything close to it. I assume it's very rare. He thinks it's a doe, and that the other deer who is a little bigger seen with her is a sibling, possibly male. I wonder, do any of you have the ability to call that?
This one deer had been missing for about 6 weeks and Kurt and his wife were concerned that a hunter had gotten it, because it is a prize to get one with this coloring. He was so happy to see her in the trees again, even though it was hard to see her in the snow.
Thank you Kurt! It's a real treat to see this.

Black Bear Den cam

If you go to www.bear.org or http://www.wildearth.tv/static/bearden you'll see a pregnant black bear in her cave for the winter.

I guess she's been finnicky about what cave to go in and fortunately picked this one with the camera in it of three she has tried out for her hibernation. Once she realized the camera was in there she was upset, hit it a few times, but settled in. I think that was days ago.

Now, just a few minutes ago, the guys did something in to adjust the camera and she left the cave again. I hope she returns and we can watch her in there as she will have her babies and they will grow enough to be really cute by springtime, when they will leave the cave and enter the world.

OOh, there she is... I think. I keep seeing a bunch of hair block the camera, then moving back... Must be the bear standing close to the mouth of the cave, figuring she will reenter.... let's hope. Like when I gave out the Bald Eagle nest cam (thank you to commenter Sizzie for the link), I often tuned in in the morning and left the thing open in the corner of my screen so I could see movement as I worked on other things. It was so great to see the baby left in the nest and what it would do to not get bored... and as it grew, how it would try out flapping it's wings til one day it flew. And it was really exciting to see the mother fly back with a fish for her baby to eat.

Hey, now I can see a little bit of snowflakes falling.. and woah! Breath from someone's mouth or nostrils is showing up in the air!!! Cool! I can hear her breathing too!

I have always wondered how bears, who get hungry like us, and want to eat daily like us, go into some kind of altered state and manage through frigid winters to stay curled up in some kind of den for several months, with no need to eat, go outside or even get up to pee. I mean, we are all stiff after 8 hours of sleeping (well, at least I am these days) and if we don't get up in the middle of the night, using the restroom is top priority when we get up. How do you submerge all those things for 3+ months at a time? And giving birth while in this state? Is that the equivalent of a full body/mind epidural?

Oh wow, it is DEFINITELY the bear standing to the side of the lens now, deciding whether or not to go back in that cave. Whew, it's almost like she is right next to me. I expect this is more action than I'll see most of the winter, until the little ones are born, that is.

I guess this bear has been named Lily and has a Facebook page all her own (little does she know). You can Friend her, lol, if you get on the website. Let me know if you sign in, and if you know of other sites like this...

thanks to the website mentioned above for her FB pix

Today's Giggle

I will try to find out who this cartoonist is. Until then I can't give away credit, where credit is due.