I've shared quite a bit here lately about my old man, Oscar, and his signs of aging. One day last week, he decided he wanted to PLAY. Usually he'll take a few swipes at a toy and be done with it. But this day, he played with me and their toy for about 30 minutes!
I pulled out my camera and was able to get a few videos of him playing. He likes to get the toy in his mouth and then not let go. He purrs and meows (through the toy - his mouth barely moves!) And then he leads me around. I'm not sure where he thinks he's going, or what he's really doing, but it makes me laugh!
It was so great to see him playing - I enjoyed the time immensely!I hope you enjoy this little video. (The whistle you hear is me. It's Oscar's special whistle. Often he "talks" back to me when I whistle at him!)
--Tammy
I first saw this amazing video on one of my favorite (non-pet) blogs, Jezebel. And yes, true to the blog post title, it did make my heart swell!
In the video, the filmmaker tells us his story of discovering the Nosara Wildlife Rescue in Costa Rica. He and his girlfriend traveled there while on a vacation to Costa Rica and were introduced to the work they do with orphaned or injured monkeys.
The video is wonderful, and sad, but worth taking the time to watch. These wonderful people do such good work for these amazing creatures.
--Tammy
I laughed when I saw this video. My husband and I recently were able to take a trip to Yosemite (only about three hours from our new home). It was on his bucket list, for sure. And it was a very memorable experience, and we'll be returning many times, I'm sure.
While we didn't see any bears on our drive, we saw all the signs about them! I took this photo because the sign interested me - not something you see every day!
But - looks like visitors really do see bears. I was happy to see that the people who took the video were respectful of the critters. And didn't get out or try to approach them! How cute are these babies?
Have you ever encountered wildlife like this? We saw bears in Shenandoah a couple of years ago. One was while we were on a trail (I saw it and my husband didn't... he still gives me a hard time about my imaginary bear.) But, then after we hightailed it to our car, we encountered a bear on the road right around the curve from where we'd been.
--Tammy
Our cats LOVE catnip. They are picky though - they prefer Cosmic Catnip to any other brand. This is my Oscar - enjoying the empty carton. (Doesn't this look like it could be an ad for Cosmic?!)
Have you ever wondered if the big cats like catnip as much as our domesticated pals do? Well, I ran across a video that shows proof.
The answer is Yes! Enjoy the video - it's quite entertaining!
--Tammy
Last Friday, I posted a cute video of an orangutan swimming. I did so because it was "cute" and I thought you would enjoy, as I did.
However, on that post, I received a comment that made me really think. (It is questionable whether this video, and the organization who provided the video, is a humane way to treat these orangutans. I haven't done enough research to make that call, so I'll let you all do the research you might want to do on that subject.)
Prior to this comment, I hadn't thought a lot about the plight of orangutans. In the wild, their numbers are rapidly decreasing. There are many reasons for their decline, and there are many ways to help these animals in their wild habitats. The commenter on last Friday's post was from an organization called Orangutan Outreach. They do great work for the orangutans in their native habitats.
On their site, they also talk more about the palm oil crisis (this was mentioned very briefly at the end of the video last Friday). Palm oil is apparently being used in many products today and the exploitation of this oil is causing much trouble to the orangutans. There are reports at the site that talk about how this is happening and what we can do to stop it.
I haven't done extensive research (yet) but I wanted to, at the very least, pass this information along to you in light of my post from last week. These "cute" videos are fun, and we all get drawn into watching them, but very often we don't consider the actual treatment of the animals. These lovely, amazing creatures are being harmed by humans. Helping an organization like the Orangutan Outreach spread their message might be a way to do our part in helping these orangutans!
--Tammy
Here's a great, artistic business idea that I'd like to ask all of you to support...
It's called DoggyCorps and you can find it at www.doggycorps.org
It's a little hard to explain so you'll just have to go see it for yourself. The gist of the project is that Jenine Durland, a very talented artist and the grand-daughter of our very own Patricia and Bud Nay, is interviewing New Yorkers about their dogs. She asks them to speak to her as if they were their dogs, telling her what they (the dogs) most often do...you know, the behaviors and desires that define their personalities. Jenine then records these snippets of dog monologues and adds graphic animation. The result is a short video where we get to meet several NYC dogs and hear them tell us about their lives. It's really cool. And, if she has enough interest, she could make this a business where, eventually, she might be able to do a customized, personal animation of your dog or cat!
That's where you come in.
Jenine is launching this business on a website called Kickstarter.com This site asks viewers to make a small financial donation to help fund or "kick start" businesses into existence. If she raises $3,000.00 by early July (and she's more than half-way there!), kickstart will agree to let her keep her website there. If she doesn't meet her goal, she'll have to pay for a website elsewhere and everyone who donated gets their money back. So, you can't lose!
But, whether you donate or not, please go take a look at Jenine's animated shorts. You'll find her at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1122241796/doggycorpsorg-nyc
Just to warn you, some of the animated interviews are a bit "earthy", with dogs doing all the things that dogs naturally do, but that shouldn't bother you. After all, you're a pet parent. You've seen it all!
--Laurel
