Furry Friday on Saturday

Hamsters remind me of....

Fur-balls!


WISHING Y'ALL A FANTASTICAL WEEKEND!

Meet Nubia

NUBIA was one of the best pet fishes I ever had. She was a Borneo Sucker or hillstream loach. These stealth-bomber-style fishies live in shallow pebbly streams where they zip along the shallow aerated water, sticking to rocks as the tumult swirls about them.

Relative to her size, Nubia must have been the fastest-moving most agile swimmer I ever had. The lady at the fish shop was totally exasperated trying to catch her between two nets in an empty tank as she pinged back and forth in great commotion. She looked like a flying ribbon.

Nubia lived in a special cave that I built her by hollowing out the gravel at the front and placing a flat piece of slate over the dip. Here she spent her hours of repose, happily suckered upside down ignoring the world (it takes all sorts). She didn't seem too offended when I picked up the rock to have a good look. She just stayed anchored down. And then whooshed away in a flurry of bubbles.

We had an air filter streaming against the glass at the side, and this was her second favourite place. She was a strong enough swimmer to actually move vertically downwards against the air-and-waterflow.

Loaches are my favourite sort of fish. They skulk about in the shadowiest, most secluded zones of the so-called community tank, eschewing the company of other fish, preferring to dart about very quickly at selected opportunities. They don't eat fishfood, but feed instead on algae on the glass, which means you should never place one in a brand-new tank or it'll starve.

It took me a while to realize that Nubia's most striking characteristic was one I'd previously attributed to a trick of the light. Sometimes she seemed to go light and then dark as if a shadow were passing overhead. Then I realized she was actually changing colour, more according to mood (so I assumed) than anything else.

How amazing is that.

So there we have it. The Borneo Sucker: the most amazing fish known to aquarium-kind!

Male Sewellia lineolata and Gastromyzon ctenocephalus having a scuffle on a cobble (as you do). Well as gripping viewing goes it beats Larkrise to Candleford hands down:~

Escaped furry lightning bolt

HERE is yesterday's escaped roborovski story translated into English.
I am going to open a German blog very soon I promise y'all.

When I had roborovski pygmy hamsters, I lost them a couple of times... akh! Two entire days and not a sign ...
Then, after midnight I saw something tiny, like a furry pingpong ball with eyes, that shot across the bedroom like lightning and vanished behind my bed ~ the swine!
Roborovski hamsters are the smallest and fastest hamsters in the world. No wonder I couldn't catch her.
Finally I threw a bedsheet over her. She was extremely unhappy, and went back to bed in the lightbulb box with a thunderous face :-)

The main illustration isn't a roborovski at all, but a cream coloured Syrian hamster, which is about five times bigger... but I just found the picture entertaining...

Roborowski Hamster

FURRY FRIDAY ON SATURDAY
PELZIGER FREITAG AUF SAMSTAG

Roborovski pygmy hamsters are the tiniest of all hamsters.
Roborowski Zwerghamster sind die kleinste aller Hamsterarten.

Even as grown-ups, they're just 5cm/2in long!
Als Erwachsene, werden sie nur 5cm lang!


They are beautiful...
Sie sind sehr hübsch...


Roborovskis love living together. They are the most social of all hamster species and eat, sleep and play together.
Roborowskis leben sehr gern miteinander. Sie sind auch die geselligsten alle Hamsterarten, die gerne miteinander essen, spielen und schlafen.


Roborovski babies are so tiny...
Roborowskibabys sind so klitzeklein...


... and cute!
... und goldig!

VERLORENEN ROBOROWSKI GESCHICHTE
Wann ich Roborovski Pygmäehamstern hatte, habe ich die ein Paarmal verloren... ach!
Zwei Tage lang, keine Spur.
Dann, nach Mitternacht sah ich etwas klitzekleines, wie ein pelzartiger Pingpongball mit Augen, der blitzschnell der Bettzimmer herüber schoss ~ und, was für ein Schweinhund, hinter dem Bett verschwand.
Der Roborowski Zwerghamster ist der kleinster, schnellster Hamster aller Welt. Kein Wunder ich konnte ihn nicht anfassen.
Endlich warf ich eine Bettdecke darüber. Er war sehr unheilvoll, und ging zurück zum Glühlampekästchennest mit zornigem Gesicht :-)

Silver donkey OK

IF Y'ALL were wondering what I was blithering about earlier, it was mostly about my friend Belinda's poorly doggie Albert, who had an operation to remove a lump on his side last week and has been confined to his basket in sheer misery ever since.
Albert is nearly 15 years old, with fur the colour of a frosty morn. He looks like a little silver donkey with sad, sad eyes. He is so old he is almost deaf and never knows I'm there unles I put my hand down.
Yesterday he was so sick he was bundled up in a doggiecoat looking forlorn and cold ~ despite temperatures of 28C. Belinda said he's going to have to go under the knife again.
Today he looks much better. He won't be having an operation. Belinda says he looks so weary because he is stoned on all the painkillers and pills the vets gave him. Poor swine. I think he is going to be OK.

Flapper the wood pigeon is having a torrid affair! Yes! Off he flapped to the luxury high-gain aerial on the next road where he is to be seen cooing with a lady woodpigeon.
In the German version, by the way, I made a terrible mistake and said Flapper is perched up on a TV antenna with a deaf lady!
In mitigation may I point out that the German word for pigeon or dove is die Taube, while deaf is taub, so when I talk of a Taube-Frau, hoping this means a lady pigeon, I am evoking in the minds of anyone from Bremen to Berlin to Berne the image of a pigeon savagely kidnapping a disabled lady who is hanging off this pylon in sheer terror. Probably as Flapper viciously pecks at her fingertips.

The only other news is that temperatures have hit 28C and we are threatened with a weekend heatwave of 32 ~ that's 90F. The Greek lady at the druggieservice, who is from Athens. (When there is a severe heatwave in Europe it's nearly always worst in Athens. Temperatures can pass 50C/120F). She pointed out how much more oppressive is the sweltering British summer. It's nasty nasty nasty. I'm sweating like a swine.

Now here's a tune for y'all to try squawking out in the shower. I had a go and I sounded like a wicked witch having a haemorrhoidectomy without anaesthesia:

MOONFALL from The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Here's the Streisand version:

Die Nachrichten

HIER SIND DIE NACHRICHTEN VON GLEDWOOD
Ich weiß, ich sollte einen besonderen Deutschen Blog anfangen... ja ich weiß. Aber im Augenblick blogge ich noch hier.

Der Hund meiner Freundin Belinda, der Alfred heißt ist krank! Letzte Woche wurde er operiert. Er liegt im Korb und sieht sehr öde aus. Nie habe ich ein so armer Hund gesehen. Er ist so ältlich, er sieht wie ein kleiner silbergrauen Esel aus. Sein Augen sind so elend. Heute war Alfred noch im Korb. Er trug eine kleine Hundenjacke und bewegte sich nicht. Er sah kalt aus ~ während das Temperatur 30 Grad erreichte. Er ist so alt, er konnte mich nicht hören, und er wußte nicht, dass ich dort war. Ich denke es tut ihn zu viel weh, den Schwanz zu schütteln. Belinda sagt er muss wieder zum Tierartz ~ noch mehr Chirurgie. Ich hoffe, er wird OK.

Wie ich gesagen habe, ist es hier so heiß! Heute war es schwitzender feucht. Ich fühlte, als ob ich bekleidet in der Dusche gegangen war! Sehr unangenehm. Das BBC warnt vor einer Hitzewelle mit 32 Grad oder noch höher. Ich hoffe ich werde nicht zum Tod schwitzen. Dieses Transpirationsproblem ist nur nach Heroin gekommen. Bevor meiner Rauschgiftsucht liebte ich den Sommer. Nun wurde ich lieber das ganzes Jahr in Winter leben. Das Dunkel befördere ich zur Hitze.

Die Vogel in meiner Strasse zirpen noch laut. Wir haben viele Spatzen. Sie piepsen ganz unmelodisch den ganzen Tag lang. Flapper, die Ringeltaube hat verschwunden! Ich ahne, er hat eine Affäre mit einer Ringeltaube-Frau, die in der nächste Strasse auf einer neuen Luxus-Antenne gurrt. Vielleicht gibt es da Platz für zwei...

Ich muss jetzt gehen. Es ist schon Mitternacht, und das Temperatur ist noch 19 Grad! Ich schwitze noch wie ein Schwein. Ich hoffe, ich werde schlafen können ohne ertrinken!

Isn't Simi beautiful?

YOU COULDN'T MAKE THIS UP. I had to post this. Here's what Google Translate made of my post yesterday about Welshcakes Limoncello's little doggie Simi. After reading this I had to alter the word Ampel, which I was told meant flower pot, but actually means a kind of hanging basket ~ though, as the translator correctly identified, the normal meaning of that word is traffic light!

HERE is the dog of my friend Welshcakes Limoncello in Sicily, the Simi (short for Simon) is called. This stretches the fluffy teddy bear after a tiring Pelzschnitt. His coat is pure gold reingesponnenes, is not it? Maybe if Welshcakes planting the scrap into a traffic light, not a gold tree would grow from this?? Now barking Simi: woof woof-tootle-complain-i-coo-i-bone-knocking. She says: please come and tell you how beautiful I am! Here is the link.

(Simi speaks English, Italian and French and, of course, Doggie, but no German ...)

And this is the original English translated into German.

Dies ist mein Freund WELSHCAKES 'Dog SIMI wobei eine Pause nach einem anstrengenden Fell geschnitten. Ist sie nicht der süßeste kleine trotterdonkey du je gesehen hast? Ihr Fell ist aus reinem Gold gesponnen. Ich hoffe, Welshkcakes hält die Stecklinge. Vielleicht, wenn du sie pflanzen, werden sie in eine Gold-Baum wachsen ...
Nun ist Simi mich Bellen: Woof Woof-groany-bone--a-doodle. Sie sagt: Kommen Sie vorbei und lassen Sie mir eine Nachricht zu erzählen, wie schön ich bin, ist der Link hier.

If you compare both languges, you'll note they aren't direct translations. I wanted to see how Simi's barking onomatapoeia came across. I had to scan the German dictionary specifically for rhymes, which the translator dealt with rather well. In English-German, as you can see, it gave up all together and shoved the English woofs straight through!

AREN'T THESE SIMI PICTURES AMAZING? Did you ever see such golden fur? And who says doggies can't smile?! If you're wondering what breed she is, btw, Simi is a Porkshire cross...

Was für phantastische Simi-Bilder, nicht wahr? Habt ihr jemals solche goldene Fell gesehen? Wer sagt, dass Hündchen nicht lächeln können? Falls fragt Ihr euch, Simi ist Yorkshire Terrier-Mischling.

Isn't this the cutest doggie in the world..?

THIS IS MY FRIEND WELSHCAKES' DOG SIMI taking a rest after an exhausting fur-cut. Isn't she the cutest little trotterdonkey you've ever seen? Her coat is spun of pure gold. I hope Welshkcakes keeps the cuttings. Perhaps if you plant them, they'll grow into a gold-tree...
Now Simi is barking at me: woof-woof-groany-bone-a-doodle. She is saying: please drop by and leave me a message telling me how beautiful I am, the link is here.

HIER ist das Hündchen von meiner Freundin Welshcakes Limoncello in Sicily, das Simi (kurz für Simone) heißt. Hier, nach einem ermüdenden Pelzschnitt, spannt der flauschige Teddybär aus. Sein Fell ist unvermischt reingesponnenes Gold, nicht wahr? Vielleicht falls Welshcakes die Schnippel in einem Topf anpflanzt, würde ein Goldbaum daraus wachsen??! Nun kläfft Simi: woof-woof-murren-i-gurren-i-knochen-pochen-dudeln. Sie sagt: bitte mal komm' vorbei und erzähle wie schön ich bin! Hier ist das Link.

(Simi spricht Englisch, Italienisch und Französisch und natürlich Doggie, aber leider kein Deutsch...)

Woof-woof!

One more birdie:

Noch einander Vogelein:

Japanese budgie saying "hello" and pipping out the most peculiar sounds...
Japanischer Wellensittich macht ungewöhnlichen Lärm:

Birdie-bathing....

FEATHERY FRIDAY ON SATURDAY
FEDERARTIGER SAMSTAG




What an amazing sight; Nikki the cockatiel washing wings under kitchen tap!
Was für ein wunderschönes Blick! Nymphensittich wascht die Flügeln unter Küchezapfen!




Gonzo really goes for it under the tap. You'd think they'd really hate water dripping right between the feathers, but apparently not so:
Man liebt das Wasser so...



Mad French woman strips off and takes squeaky-squarking cockatiel into shower... (no tiny tits)
Verrückte Französin entkleidet und bringt lärmenden schreienden Vogel in die Duschi mit:



Extraordinarily tame budgie goes for outdoor Tupperware bath...
Außergewöhnlich zahmer Wellensitti ch nimmt Tupperware-Bad im Freien:



Blue tit has splish-splash-sploshy jamboree in the bath:
"Blaumeise spielt Propeller im Vogelbad" ~ sehr komisch!




I don't know what this is because it's Russian and it still won't load, but if anyone sees it and likes it, please tell me!
Über diesem hab' ich keine Ahnung...




Only in Japan 鳥風呂 ~ it takes a while to get going, but eventually you see an entire flock of (pet) canaries taking a dip...
Kanarienvogelflug baden....



And last but not least: bizarre Japanese bird-tin antics:
Bizarre Vogeldosegrimassen aus Japan:

Down with the OSPCA

According to my Toronto Correspondent, the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals have slaughtered 99 of their own rescue pets! And another 250 are waiting to be killed!




All of the animals were up for adoption; some had been reserved by happy families who had scheduled dates to take their new pets home.




According to the OSPCA, which is only too happy to step in and prosecute what IT considers cruel, the reason for this "cull" is... (wait for it)... an outbreak of RINGWORM! And even healthy animals are scheduled to be put down.




OSPCA's loyal staff and volunteers have kidnapped and purloined 15 doggies and cats... but the fate of the other 236 hangs in the balance. A temporary stop on the slaughter has been ordained while the organization try to solve the PR nightmare they've brought down on themselves...




Ringworm, apparently, is too serious a disease to bother treating in a humane way.




Well that being so, let's hope the OSPCA's director catches it, then someone can chop her head off and see how she likes it!






Toronto Star report
Toronto Sun report
OSPCA's website

Little Ro-ros...

FURRY FRIDAY ON SATURDAY...

It's their favourite word ~ most doggies insist on yapping it out at least 25 times a day (or more) ~ it's what we used to call the little furries when I was little: ro-ros...



All these trotterdonkey little mop-heads are cairns or cairn crosses... third from bottom I suspect the lighter one to be a West Highland cross...
(West Highland terriers were originally white cairns; now of course a separate breed...)



Earlier this evening I heard a manic yapping and forgot myself and thought "that's my cairn terrorizer... I will have to go out and grab it by the ears drag it indoors and make it shut up!" Look at this tiny terrier trotting down the road for a yap. He is so furry I just want to pick 'im up, stash 'im under my arm and dash off:



I love the scruffy look of cairnies...
If you put round glasses on this one, he would look like a furry mad professor!



"Grrrgh!"



This is a cairn and a cairmal (cairn/Maltese terrier cross) having a savage on the rug:



Conversation between old furry married couple:
"Ro"
"Ro!"
"Ro-ro ~"
"Ro-ro-ro-ro-ro!"



"Ro-ro-ro!"



"Ro!"
"R-ro!"



This puppy looks like a tiny teddy:



"Don't call me scruffy!"
"Ro-ro-ro!"



PS can anybody tell me what this is?

AND A CHEERY WEEKEND TO YOU ALL!

Maltese Terriers

LIKE THE BICHON FREEZE (as I like to spell it)... Maltese Terriers are another sort of cloud dog...

This young lady's expression seems to say, "I am queen of the daft looking cloudies"!



Weighing in at 1.8 to under 3kg, they are among the tiniest of all terriers ~ smaller, even than many porkies:

Famous for their long fur, which can grow to ridiculous lengths:

They actually look far better ~ in my opinion ~ in a so-called "puppy" fur-cut. This, by the way, is a fully adult doggie:



Look closely: again, this ain't a puppy, just another "puppy cut"!



This is what an actual Maltese terrier puppydog looks like... how amazing!!



THE FURRY SWINES!!

Dogs that do tricks...

I'M CURRENTLY RESEARCHING so if/when I do get a terrier, I can teach her (I would prefer a she-dog because they're even tinier and don't hump your legs and can have puppies if required)... teach her to do tricks.

Does anyone know much about this? Except that you encourage the tiny trotter to do what you want and reward her with chocolate drops/peanuts/etc...

Talking of tiny terriers, I was reading a dogfood can in the corner shop today and realized the food situation is indeed as suspected ~ that a tiny porkie can go all day on a single standard 65p 400g can ~ whereas an American Akita would require FIVE times as much ~ that's £20 a week on doggiefood as opposed to £4 for a porkshire... know what I mean..??!?

I wasn't joking when I said I wanted to train my Norfolk/Porkie/Cairn terrorizer to bundle into a bag and lie quietly as I quickly rush through Morrisons. No way could I leave the poor swine tied outside ~ I would be far too terrified of dogknapping, which IS rife. E.g. my dealer lost a prize Staff(ordshire bull terrorizer) ... I was once accused of eyeing up a dog with theft in mind. It was a grizzled old West Highland with cloudy eyes so what on earth the crazed black man who did the accusing had in mind I don't know but the owner laughed and laughed when he heard it. "The dog is fifteen years old!!" he hooted.

I have noticed that dogs who do tricks are without exception very well behaved (well it stands to reason that trained=obedient). If I can and I ever do get a doggie I want her to do a selection of tricks, including standing on back legs and hopping, jumping over held-out newspaper (like a steeplechase), staying where told, trotting round in circles until told to stop, playing dead etc... in short the type of tricks the Jack Russel Eddie used to perform from time to time on Frasier... then perhaps my tiny troting mophead terrier might become star of a Talented Pets agency and get a starring role on a longrunning TV show ~ y'know as the family pet porkie on a sitcom or whatever...

ANYWAY, can anybody tell me more about teaching a tiny trotterdonkey terrier to do tricks? What tricks she might be persuaded to do?.. And how? Is it possible to train a tiny terrorizer never to yap? Surely the going-2-bed-in-a-bag trick is easy to train...? Lots of posh ladies take their toy doggies everywhere ... into posh restaurants, bars, shops etc... and only get away with it because the furry mutants (I'm not too keen on pomeranians/chewawas/etc ~ I wouldn't want anything more ridiculous than a porkie)... because these furry swines are well trained and habituated to going in a bag and behaving... know what I mean..??

We did have dogs as I was growing gup, but I've never had a doggie of my "own"... only cats, hamsters, tropical fish (inc. giant snail and dwarf aquatic frog)... freshwater prawns ... and a mouse. Never the canine sort of trotters... so:~ ANSWERS PLEASE!!

ANSWERS PLEASE!!

CAIRN TERRIER TRICKS...
I love doggies with furry "beards" growing out of their "boze" (their snout)... aren't they CUTE!!

These are the kind of tricks I'd want my tiny terrier to do... but they'd have to be more professionally executed for TV...
... but this beautiful ケアーン・テリア is still doing a wonderful job ...
... hey do you really think I could get a baby cairn or porkie caste as the next Eddie on the next Frasier?... wouldn't that be amazing!!



YORKSHIRE TERRIER TRICKS...
THIS is the type of puppy I want ~ a very bright little porkie!



You can see some more tiny terrier's tricks on my Amazing Pets blog...

Border Terriers

FURRY FRIDAY (on Saturday)

I haven't a huge amount to say, so here's some shots of tiny terriers... they remind me of the robo hamsters I used to keep, when soaking wet from being "washed" by their friends...

This is said to be the natural "stripped" coat:



And this is what "standard" border terriers look like:



This pepsome puppy reminds me of Itchy Roborovski jumping for joy... (escaping from me!!)



And a cheery weekend to y'all..!