Dog Funnies

Don't worry, Friday is coming!

"Any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own and makes it so much the larger and better in every way." -- John Muir

Adopt Senior Animals

How To Remove Ticks Easily

I have not personally tried this because I am not a tick magnet. But I know people who are. There is so much lyme disease going around that I'd think anything that might prevent that is worth passing on. I read of this method today so am posting it in case it can help. 

Apply a small amount of liquid soap on a cotton ball. Cover the tick with the cotton ball soaked with SOAP and blot it for 15-20 seconds. The tick will spontaneously detach and stick to cotton when you remove it.

Much less traumatic for the person who's got the tick in their skin or when the tick is places hard to reach with a tweezers, like your back. Apparently ticks will retract immediately which can be used on yourself, your kids or your dog.

If you see a ring in anywhere from 1-7 days, that looks like a bullseye, head to the doctor immediately. If caught in time, they can give you antibiotics to knock it out before anything more permanent takes hold. 

Choice Picks from My Adventures in Nature

I got so busy writing daily animal birth and conservation stories for ZooBorns.com that I had to step back a bit from my usual story-telling blog posts here, opting instead to post funny animal pics or videos just to put out that daily dose for my readers. It's all good, but it's quite different content than what had been this blog's usual fare. 

When I lived in Houston and had the time to walk in Hermann Park and make astonishing relationships with all the wild animals (to the point that people began calling me Snow White), when I was a Docent and a Carnivore Keeper's Aid at the Zoo and later worked there in Interactive Marketing, when I was an Animal Rescue and Rehabber both at home and for the Wildlife Center of Texas, I reported here on all the animals in my world. I wrote about a wide variety of  encounters, but narratives on some regular characters began to emerge.... Kiva, the Zoo giraffe, aka my boyfriend, the complex and tender relationship of Mr. and Mrs. Goose, the devoted pair of Chinese Geese from the Park, and the baby squirrels I rehabbed at home, starting after Hurricane Ike flung about 2500 babies from their nests - and how all, from neonates to the mothers, all ended up in our rehab center to be fed, squiggle, and be nursed back to health and returned to the wild - to name a few. 

Below are some of the best of those posts, to revisit if you have been a long-time reader, or to discover if you are new here. You can also pick your favorite species and just click on the list to your right, and all the stories about them will come up. 

Happy reading! 

The Houston Zoo: 

First Day as a Keeper's Aide at the Zoo: Grizzlies
http://naturegirrrl.blogspot.com/2008/08/poo-of-pooh.html

About my boyfriend Kiva, the 19' tall giraffe: http://naturegirrrl.blogspot.com/2008/09/im-in-love.html

Swimming Cats - The Malaysian Tiger:
http://naturegirrrl.blogspot.com/2008/04/only-big-cat-that-likes-water.html 

Hermann Park: 

Mr. and Mrs. Goose - Love and Marriage
http://naturegirrrl.blogspot.com/2008/09/fluffy-butts.html 

When Mrs. Goose returned after being missing for weeks:
http://naturegirrrl.blogspot.com/2008/08/shes-baaaack.html

Playing catch with wild Blue Jays:
(The clip that caught me tossing a nut and the Blue Jay catching it)
http://naturegirrrl.blogspot.com/2009/05/do-you-believe-it.html


Wildlife Rehab : 

Hilarious footage of an orphaned baby goat's first day at the center.
http://naturegirrrl.blogspot.com/2009/02/thursday-at-wildlife-center-woman-in.html  

A two-part story about two little fox squirrels who almost didn't make it.  The first is about getting them well and having to return them to the Center *sob* http://naturegirrrl.blogspot.com/2009/11/love-is-letting-go.html

The second is about going to see how they'd settled in and how they'd grown....
http://naturegirrrl.blogspot.com/2009/11/i-give-thanks.html

Squirrel Philosophy:
http://naturegirrrl.blogspot.com/2010/01/guardian.html

The day I found two chickens clearly out of place in a very ritzy neighborhood, and how I had to sneak them into my high rise to spend the night before I could take them to a wildlife center.
http://naturegirrrl.blogspot.com/2010/04/found-two-chickens.html

Part two - Morning delivery of the pair of Chickens and the Rooster who was pretty happy to see the new roommates: 
http://naturegirrrl.blogspot.com/2010/04/i-found-two-chickens-part-two.html


AND.... SAVING THE MOST AMUSING IN THIS CATEGORY FOR LAST:

Funny squirrel sleeping positions
http://naturegirrrl.blogspot.com/2009/08/sleep-clinic_22.html 

More hilarious squirrel sleeping positions:
http://naturegirrrl.blogspot.com/2010/02/more-sleep-positions.html

It Only Takes a Second to Check Your Car for Animals

Even though we're moving into spring, this still applies. Remember to check all four wheels. Please pass this along!