Orm

Meet Orm.

Orm is the dumbest guinea pig in the world.  When Pretty comes to Orm's cage, Orm "oips" for treats.  When Pretty sniffs Orm, Orm sniffs back.

This is Pretty helping me feed Orm.

You might notice in the first picture that Pretty is doing sort of a 'play-bow' to Orm.  This isn't the first time she's invited him to play.  Pretty really, really wants Orm to come out and play.  Now, don't get me wrong, Pretty has shown absolutely no signs of aggression towards the piggy.  But she's a big ol dog, and she plays like a big ol dog.  Her favorite game is to play rough with me until she catches my arm.  She's also a big fan of tug-of-war.  And I just don't see Orm enjoying either of those games. 

But Orm somewhere lost the good sense God gave him.  He wants to get out of his cage and play with Pretty just as much as she wants to play with him. 

At least Mowgli & Pretty are getting comfortable.  He was so disappointed when she didn't want to sleep in his bed last night.

Pretty

We brought home a new doggy today.  We met her at the shelter on Sunday, and we were gonna wait until Friday to bring her home so we'd have all week to get ready and all weekend to get settled. 

But I couldn't wait.  I couldn't stand the thought of somebody else going home with OUR DOG. 

Her name is Pretty.  She's a pit bull/german shepherd mix.  And she is the sweetest best behaved dog I have ever met. 

When I brought her into our house, she looked at me for permission before going upstairs to smell Mowgli's room.  When she met the guinea pig, she just smelled him.  The third time she came down to the basement to smell the piggy, she barked once, and ducked her head apologetically when I told her no.  The fourth time Pretty went to smell the piggy, Orm went to the door of his cage and acted like he expected the dog to give him a treat. 

I took Pretty with me to get Mowgli from school.  Mowgli has historically been terrified of dogs, but his cousin-dog Dolly helped him get over that this summer.  Mowgli wasn't entirely sure about Pretty, but I put Pretty in back of the suv, and had Mowgli get into his seat.  Before I got around to get in the driver's seat, Mowgli was reaching over to pet Pretty and was thinking about climbing in the far back with her. 

This is the picture Mowgli took of Pretty:

After they'd been home together for about 10 minutes, Mowgli got down, looked Pretty in the eye and said, "You wanna chase me?" 


They're not best friends yet, but they're headed that way.

;)

I have the best office!

There's a single very tall building near my office, a beautiful gothic tower.  One of the two gigantic windows in my office faces this tower.  At the very top of this tower is an peregrine falcon aerie.  They used to have live webcam feed from the nest, but alas, no longer. 

As I sat down at my desk, not 10 minutes ago, one of these gorgeous birds was engaging in pigeon hunting right outside my window.  These birds hunt by snatching smaller birds right out of the air.  There were some pretty amazing aerial gymnastics going on.

I've often seen the raptors circling at least a hundred feet in the air over the pond in the nearby park, but I had a front row seat for this. 

Wait a sec.  He just parked himself on the eave right in front of me.  He must've not caught anything.  Damn I really wish I had my camera.  I think he might be a red tailed hawk, not a peregrine.  Yup.  He's a red tailed hawk. So says the almighty google:

I wonder where he lives.   Universities make pretty good hunting grounds what with all the pigeons and chipmunks.  Maybe next time I'll get my own photo.  Who knows, maybe I'll even see him catch one of those pigeons.