Happy Ground Hog Day...

 

Some people call Thanksgiving "Turkey Day."  What kind of sides will you put with your roasted ground hog today?

Ewww!  A ground hog is a big rodent.  Mmm-mmm - gotta get me some of that Kentucky Fried Rat.

The whole ground hog/shadow thing is bullshit science(?).  Meteorologists (aka: weather weasels; weasels are not rodents, btw, but I digress) with college degrees, training, and years of experience can't predict the weather accurately within 24 hours ahead... but some people put stock in a rodent seeing his shadow being able to predict the weather six weeks ahead?

I recently saw that some people are pushing the idea of a "weather reveal cake": instead of Phil (Punxsutawney Phil, the ground hog), PETA has offered to send a vegan "weather reveal" cake, similar to a gender reveal cake, each Groundhog Day. The proposed cake when cut would show one of two colors: blue, signifying six more weeks of winter, or pink, indicating an early spring.

I think I would rather eat roasted ground hog than a vegan cake.  Besides, does anyone think Weather Reveal Cake Day is really going to catch on?  And the human race continues to decline.

 

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Not just a cat wrangler...

While I am quite the cat whisperer, that is not my only talent with animals.  Steph and Dan had tickets for a Savannah Banana game this afternoon.  Rubina, their Guide Dog for the Blind Puppy In Training (that's a mouthful) would likely be traumatized at one of these games: they are loud and raucous.  As loud as any rock concert I've been to (and that also wouldn't be a great place to take one of these dogs in training, unless you had ear protection for them).

In order for Steph and Dan to be away from Rubina for more than a couple hours, someone has to be there to let her out to potty.  I was volunteered for that task.  I think Steph was concerned that Rubina wouldn't let me control her.  She needn't worried - Rubina was a model guide dog, following every command when told.  And we did more than just take a potty break... I got her plenty of exercise with a couple of her outdoor balls, then clipped her back into her leash, gave the commands, and we walked around the yards...

 My goal was to let her cool down from all the exercise (I'm talking energy level, not heat, although it was an absolutely gorgeous day today; around 80º for a high), so she'd be ready to chill when we went back inside.  Murphy got a bit growl-y when I walked Rubina by his catio... but that may have been more of: "Hey, that's my Dad!" than anything else.

Fresh cool water when we went inside.  Treats when she went back into her kennel, following commands (Steph wrote out all the commands for me, 'cause apparently you aren't supposed to say, "Get your ass back in there."), and behaving like a lady.  She's a good dog.

When Steph and Dan got home, I reported in how good Rubina had been, and they got to tell us all about the game.  We'll be going to another Savannah Bananas game with them next weekend.  It was fun listening to them talk about the antics at the game.