FIVE-FINGERED CARROT

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1,000,000

A million snow geese stop over at wildlife refuge en route to wintering grounds.

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Like a blizzard filling the sky, these pictures show one of nature's most amazing displays as more than a million snow geese stop for a rest during their annual migration.
The spectacular shots were taken by Mike Hollingshead in Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge near Mound City, Missouri. The geese must travel 2,500miles twice a year.
Every autumn the snow geese head from their main breeding grounds in central Canada to their wintering grounds in the Gulf of Mexico. The noisy birds migrate in unusually large flocks of 100 to 1,000 that are made up of many family groups. Biologists still do not understand how the birds decide when to migrate.

The birds manage to stay together in family groups numbering from 100 to 1,000 on their journey south from Canada
Male and female geese look very similar although the males are slightly bigger. Although a swirling flock of snow geese looks like falling snow, there are darker birds among the group. These blue geese, long thought to be a separate species, are simply a dark version of the same bird.
More than a million converge on the national park, which acts as an important stopover on the Central Flyway migration route. It is on one of the narrowest points of the migration route.

This year managers estimate 1.2million snow geese rested at the 11.5 square mile refuge. It used to be a private hunting area but now its wildlife is protected.
Some birds however have been recorded to make the entire journey without stopping for a rest - a flight of 70 hours.
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Thank goodness he was born cesarean

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

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Elk in a swimming pool

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Caption This...........

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Encyclopedia Britannica New Destiny

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Kissing Prairie Dogs

Philadelphia Zoo May 2009

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World's fastest game of hide and seek

Two kids play an extraordinarily short game of hide & seek.

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Playing with perspective!

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What's up with Funny & More

Just to let everyone know that I have not been slacking on my posts.
I had foot surgery earlier this year and wasn't able to do much work around my home. I am outside trying to catch up my up keep on my house. I should be all done with it around the first of October and I should be back posting 6-8 a day. Until then I will try to post something everyday until then.
Thanks for reading my blog and I hope you understand.

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Red Chair is doing the job of an Orange Cone

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Puppy from Iraq carries soldier's legacy

Yelping, jumping, squirming and showing amazing agility despite having only three legs, Laia, a 9-month-old puppy rescued from Iraq, now runs freely outside her Brighton home. She is a survivor.
Laia survived a war, a broken leg, the death of her owner, a risky convoy across Iraq, and an amputation and wound up in the home of Jerry and Colleen Deaven of Brighton.
She is just a mutt, but her story spans the globe. It is the story of a guy and his dog. Maj. Steven Hutchison fell in love with the puppy, but at age 60 became the oldest Army soldier to die during this war.
It is the story of a woman, Terri Crisp, who has made 23 trips to Iraq, trying to save the pets of U.S. soldiers.
It is the story of a grieving mother, Peggy Loving of Romulus, who found a moment of solace when she met Hutchison's beloved dog. When she left Laia, Loving was in tears because holding the puppy felt to her like holding her son.
It is the story of adoption. The Deaven family home has a massive yard, where Laia can run free, and plenty of love.

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Japanese centenarians tops 40,000 for first time

The number of centenarians has topped 40,000 for the first time in Japan, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced on Friday.
As of Sept. 15, there will be 40,399 centenarians across Japan, up 4,123 from the previous high of 36,276 in 2008, in the largest yearly growth on record.
The vast majority of centenarians are women: 86.5 percent at 34,952, while men numbered 5,447. The percentage of female centenarians has been on a yearly rise, according to the ministry.
The oldest man in Japan is Jirouemon Kimura, a 112-year-old resident of Kyotango, Kyoto Prefecture, while the oldest woman is a 114-year-old resident of Okinawa Prefecture, whose name is being withheld.

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Vacationing girl's message in bottle follows her home

A few days after Meagan Bilodeau dropped a bottled message into the Atlantic Ocean during a cruise near Bermuda, the girl was home in Massachusetts.
A month after that, the bottle nearly came home, too.
The 8-year-old recently learned the message she dropped from a cruise ship roughly 600 miles off North Carolina's coast on June 18 was found in late July by a girl whose family was boating in Massachusetts' Vineyard Sound, Meagan's family says.
The spot was perhaps 15 to 20 miles from Meagan's home near Falmouth.
"It was almost as if the bottle had been equipped with a homing device," Meagan's mother, Denise Acquaviva, said in a telephone interview this week.
The family was on a cruise to Bermuda when Meagan's father persuaded her to write the message, which included Meagan's name and address, Acquaviva said.
"I always wished someone would find my bottle if I sent one. If found, would you kindly write back to me? Please? Please? Please?" the letter read.
The message was put in a water bottle, and Meagan tossed it into the Atlantic Ocean not long after their two-and-a-half-day return cruise to Massachusetts began, Acquaviva said.
Meagan's father told her the currents could take the bottle to Europe. Meagan said she wondered who would find it and couldn't wait to correspond with whoever did.
"I hoped that it would end up somewhere far away," she said by phone this week.
On July 28, hundreds of miles from Bermuda, 11-year-old Teddy Herrick was boating with her family between Massachusetts' Martha's Vineyard and Cuttyhunk Island when the vacationing group spotted the bottle in the water. Teddy fished it out with a net, and she read the message.
Teddy, who lives in Telluride, Colorado, was excited to find it. She had just read a book whose characters became pen pals after one found the other's bottled message.
"I was very surprised. I thought it was a cool thing to do, and it was cool that the current would take it close to her home," Teddy said by telephone this week.
Teddy wrote to Meagan late last month, letting her know where the bottle was found.
The most likely path for the bottle would have been to or near the United Kingdom, but an eddy could have broken it away from the Gulf Stream, allowing it to float to Massachusetts, said Jenifer Clark, a satellite oceanographer who works for her own company in Maryland after years of employment with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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Stockpile 1,100 light bulbs

Woman stockpiles 1,100 banned light bulbs so she can read for rest of her life
A pensioner has defied an EU ban by hoarding more than 1,000 traditional light bulbs - enough to see her 'into the grave'.
Valerie Hemsley-Flint, 62, has spent more than £500 of her pension money stockpiling the old-style 100-watt bulbs.
September 1, EU countries were banned from producing or importing incandescent bulbs and shops can sell only energy-efficient ones.
But Miss Hemsley-Flint said the light from them is not good enough for her to read by and the flickering sets off her epilepsy.
So she has bought 1,100 old-style bulbs and is calling on the Government to scrap the ban.
From her home in Sittingbourne, Kent, Miss Hemsley-Flint said: 'I suffer from photosensitive epilepsy, which means I can't get near any screen or anything that flickers.
'I worked out that if I live as long as my aunts did - into their 90s - I would need about 30 years' worth of the old-style bulbs for each room.
'I have more than 1,000 now - in fact 1,100. It has cost me a small fortune but for me it's worth it and will see me through to the grave.'
The former teacher, who also suffers from migraines, estimates she needs about 20 bulbs at a time to light her £300,000 three-bedroom country cottage.

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Clunkers the untold

A vehicle at 15 mpg and 12,000 miles per year uses 800 gallons a year of gasoline.

A vehicle at 25 mpg and 12,000 miles per year uses 480 gallons a year.

So, the average clunker transaction will reduce US gasoline consumption by 320 gallons per year.

They claim 700,000 vehicles – so that's 224 million gallons / year.

That equates to a bit over 5 million barrels of oil.

5 million barrels of oil is about ¼ of one day's US consumption.

And, 5 million barrels of oil costs about $350 million dollars at $75/bbl.

So, we all contributed to spending *$3 billion* to save $350 million...

How good a deal was that???

No doubt, they'll probably do a great job with health care though!
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Pet Saves Owner from House Fire

A cold nose in the middle of the night saves a man’s life near Boston.
Major Healy, a family pet, is now up for a promotion—perhaps to colonel or even a general.
The dog alerted owner John Healy to a fire in their home early Monday morning.
“Major jumped on my bed probably around 1:30—putting his nose in my face. He does that—not too often—just when he wants to be a major pain in the butt. So, he did that and I said ‘Major, knock it off’ a couple of times and finally I opened my eyes and I saw the smoke in my bedroom,” said Healy.
He tried to put the fire out himself, but wound up having to drive a mile for help.
Healy thanks Major for his persistence. “I think he saved my life, you know? I think Major saved my life.”
Firefighters are investigating the cause of the fire.
The home was built in 1783.
VIDEO

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Cat and Mouse Encounter

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Dog has unconventional method of going down slide

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The Little Tug That Could

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Want do you want?

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Admirers

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Today's Politicians

Playing Solitaire

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Hiding @ the White House

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Anyone Home?

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Deaf puppy learns sign language

Being a border collie, Pixie is blessed with natural smarts - all the better to help the eight-week-old pup learn sign language.
Adorable as she is, Pixie is also deaf, which is why a Coffs Harbour specialist is teaching her to recognize hand commands.
So far, Liz Grewal has taught Pixie to sit, drop and come forth.
An owner of deaf dogs for six years, she's now instructing Pixie in the all-important art of doing her doggy business outdoors.
"Dogs understand your body language, your hand gestures, they read all of that. They know,'' Mrs. Grewal said.
"Consistency is the key to training any dog but you have to emphasize it more with a deaf dog. You've to train them in a different way, they train quicker than a hearing dog as there are no noise distractions.''
Mrs. Grewal gets the attention of her four deaf dogs by squirting them with a little water bottle.
She said deafness is common among canines: ``I want these dogs to have a fantastic life, and I know they can do it.''
While Pixie's breeding gives her a distinct learning advantage, new Canadian research suggests some dogs are as smart as a two-year-old human.
Professor Stanley Coren from the University of British Columbia found the average dog can understand about 165 words, signs and signals, while the cleverest dogs could grasp as many as 250 words and signals.
The research also revealed smart canines are capable of basic maths, counting up to four or five and noticing errors in simple arithmetic, Professor Coren said dogs can tell that one plus one should equal two and not one or three.
Border collies are the smartest, while the thickest breeds include basset-hounds and the bulldog.
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The Rabbi's Shofar and the Dog Side Kick

As the Jewish High Holidays approach (Rosh Hashana begins the evening of Sept. 18), here's a short YouTube clip of Rabbi Benny Zippel of Salt Lake City. He's demonstrating the shofar, a ram's horn used during services to sound a call to worship.
All goes well with the demonstration for about 25 seconds. Then the rabbi gets some unexpected accompaniment.
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Happy dog

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Man Inflates Balloons from his Ears

Moradabad resident Khem Karan Koli doesn't blow up balloons the traditional way.
[Khem Karan Koli, Children’s Entertainer]:
"Once I was sitting with small children and blowing balloons for them with my mouth and nose. My wife asked me if I could blow balloons from my ears. I thought of giving it a shot. Since then I have been blowing balloons with my ears."

He normally uses a small sketch pen with no refill and opened at both ends.

Koli ties a balloon on one end of the sketch pen tube and inflates it from the other end.

He blocks his nose and mouth and pumps up the balloon through his ears with the support of the empty sketch pen.

"Normally, I blow balloons with my ears only. The kids like it very much. They clap and cheer me on when I perform this feat. This encourages me to blow more balloons. It's my wife who first inspired me to do this."

Small children are intrigued by Koli’s unusually feat and they encourage him to blow up more balloons for them.
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Electronic Noise Makers

Raindrops
Click on the raindrops in any sequence to establish a tune.

There's a metronome button (green button) to help.

The tune you create will play on a loop.

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ToneMatrix
Click on the squares in any order, it will repeat it over and over until you click off a square.

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Left - Right

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Goat Tower

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The Goat Tower

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Drinking and Showering

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Patient Cat

Woman’s new kitten Norman tries his best to annoy her cat Thirteen.

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Rescuing baby ducks from a pool

On a rainy day, a mama duck and her ducklings took refuge in the heated baby pool in our neighborhood. Trouble is, they got stuck and needed to be rescued.

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Nighttime, ... DAYTIME!

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