One does worry so about one’s fur babies. Perhaps if I had more cats, I would fret less about the one, but I doubt it. Anyway, my dear Abner (Abilene, Kansas for short) didn’t come in last night. He has been a little bit unsettled lately by the firecrackers going off in the neighborhood, and […]
Category: Pets and Other Wild Animals
Animals that I have known and loved, and sometimes feared.
“Dallas”: Guest blog by Laura J. Graham
Blogger’s note: see my post “It wasn’t all cats and dogs” for some backstory on my sister Mary’s pet skunk, whom she named Dallas. I must ask her where she got the inspiration for that name. You’ll notice in the stanzas ahead that it lends itself well to rhyme. To wit: *”Alice” is the collective […]
Genius Fly Trap
“You kill one,” said the old man from his wheelchair, “and ten more will come to the funeral.” This was not a mob boss plotting to get his enemies into a confined space. Rather, it was my dear old Daddy discussing houseflies with his daughter, who was looking for more and better ways to kill […]
It wasn’t all cats and dogs
My friends, I have written at some length about family pets, past and present. But I fear I may have misled you in a fundamental way by discussing only those pets that followed the canine or feline persuasion. During my storied childhood we had pets of all shapes and sizes and attitudes towards life. There […]
The Prince of Wales Pet Predicament
About twenty years ago, my dog Bandit came down with hot spots. I vaguely remembered the term from childhood, when one of our long-haired dogs suffered from the same malady. I thought at the time that it was just a sore that developed when the hair got matted and rubbed the skin. Not so! Watching […]
Guest Blog: the Story of a Cat Called Fanbelt
by Laura J. Graham A beautiful black and white tomcat came to live on our farm in the 1970s. At that time, frequent veterinary emergencies among dogs was the hbc, or hit by car, and among cats, it was being injured by jumping through a moving fan belt, after spending a cold night on a […]
In which I wrangle a giant spider and win
Blogger’s note: Hello, dear friends. I find myself at a lull in the book project, so here is a new post. Happy reading! In our younger days, my husband and I would set up our front porch in an elaborate tableau, complete with a good jump scare, every Halloween. For many years this included suddenly […]
The fine art of doing nothing
I have no delusions of monarchy, I promise, but I do relate to a conversation that the young Elizabeth II may or may not have had early in her reign. This conversation was dramatized on the series “The Crown,” and went as follows: Elizabeth’s grandmother was telling her about the trials and challenges of ruling […]
Spidaerobics
I have a truce with spider-kind, as follows: I do not kill them, and they do not send their minions after me in the night. This is not a zero-sum game. My sister Laura is a treasure trove of spider lore and material. Most recently, she discovered a large lady spider residing in Benny, the […]
Oh, mighty wolf, what have we done?
I ask you, have you ever seen a more perfect example of feline beauty? This is my nephew’s cat Bebo. He is a rescue cat with no papers, and I think he knows that he is beautiful. In not-unrelated news, I recently discovered this meme, and have been laughing about it ever since: Ah, the […]