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2010 Calendars

January 17th, 2010

A bit slow on my part, but my hamsters have been featured on this year’s calendars

The calendar comes in 2 colors: pink & blue.

In the pink one, Almond & Joy are featured on my birth month; in the blue one, Baby Hamster is featured in the month of January.

I’m so happy that Baby Hamster is featured. That way, even though he’s gone (& missed much), I feel that he has been commemorated by being featured on the calendar.

With that being said, I’m going to a professional printing shop to print both of the calendars & have them laminated

Posted in Hamster adventure, Hamster pictures, News | Comments (0)

On Saturday the 28th of March 2009, I participated in Earth Hour between 20:30 and 21:30 local time. It was nice having the whole apartment lit up by a few candles. The animals couldn’t care less of course.

Earth Hour

Except that I cheated a little; I didn’t unplug the frige nor the stove 0_o

Posted in News | Comments (1)

Exotic Animals Become Drug Dealers Prey

February 9th, 2009

I saw this video news & it made me angry! It’s about Mexican drug cartels that use exotic animals, such as lions, monkeys, tarantulas, and birds, to transport drugs across borders – US & China as being the 2 largest markets for these illegal animals. It’s been rumored that rivals of the drug cartels have been thrown into lions for food. These animals can cost up to $90,000 and they are symbols of wealth. It’s simply not fair for these animals who have been taken away from their natural habitats for the furtherance of human greed & ego.

Posted in News, Other animals, Rants | Comments (1)

Coldest Day of 2009?

January 14th, 2009

It’s cooollldddd today!!!! It’s -12°C, but factoring wind chill it feels like -20°C. The cold weather even made it to the news.

According to the National Weather Service:

LIGHT SNOW COULD RESULT IN ACCUMULATIONS GENERALLY UNDER 2 INCHES TODAY. HIGHEST ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE ALONG THE INTERSTATE 94 CORRIDOR. THIS WILL RESULT IN SOME SLICK CONDITIONS ON ROADWAYS. WIND CHILL VALUES OF MINUS 15 DEGREES OR LOWER ACROSS MUCH OF THE INTERIOR TONIGHT ARE POSSIBLE.

LAKE EFFECT SNOW WILL BE ON THE INCREASE THROUGH TONIGHT. A BAND OF HEAVIER SNOW IS EXPECTED TO MOVE ONSHORE WITH ___ _____ … _______ … ______ AND _______ _________ COUNTIES TO BE THE HARDEST HIT AREAS.

DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN…THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY

LAKE EFFECT SNOW WILL CONTINUE ON THURSDAY … WITH SOME LOCALLY HEAVY ACCUMULATIONS POSSIBLE…MAINLY WEST OF HIGHWAY 131. DANGEROUSLY LOW WIND CHILL VALUES COULD OCCUR ACROSS MUCH OF THE INTERIOR ON THURSDAY.

ANOTHER STORM MAY ARRIVE FRIDAY NIGHT INTO SATURDAY. ACCUMULATING SNOW IS POSSIBLE.

The chinchillas love it & the hammies are hibernating .. as for me, I’ll be staying at home dressed like a penguin with some hot cocoa in hand.

The (slightly frozen) window from the chinchilla room, looking out to a pine tree

A close up of the frozen capillaries on the window .. this picture grosses me out (I’m one of those people who can’t look at close-up pictures of insects)

Posted in News, Rants | Comments (2)

Traveling Day 4

December 28th, 2008

Went to a resort that also has its own coffee plantation.

traveling day4-Losari1

traveling day4-toad in Losari

Found a whole bunch of tadpoles and snails, big and small, in a fountain filled with algae. This wasn’t my hand, it was my cousin who dared to pick up a tadpole.

traveling day4-Losari bench

Beautiful architecture.

traveling day4-bird

A fearless bird who’s not scared of people. When I went inside the huge bird cage, it would follow me around.

Posted in News, Other animals | Comments (0)

Traveling Day 3

December 28th, 2008

Day #3 was when I did touristy stuff.

traveling day3-Ullen Sentalu

A beautifully carved statue at a museum.

traveling day3-mushroom farm1

Visited a small mushroom farm. This picture shows rows and rows of damp wooden cylinders, wrapped in plastics. The mushrooms will eventually grow out of one of these damp wooden cylinders. The place stank (obviously), but it was very amusing

traveling day3-mushroom farm2

The place has a restaurant that specializes in, none other than, mushroom dishes. This mushroom is served as mushroom satay, which tastes better than chicken skin satay (if you’ve tried it, that is) and it is yummy

traveling day3-mushroom farm3

Long pieces of damp wooden cylinders hung from the ceiling (for larger mushrooms like the picture below).

traveling day3-mushroom farm4

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Traveling Day 2

December 28th, 2008

More random pictures!

traveling day2-restaurant decor

I’m not sure what this is called in English, but each of this was hung outside of one’s house back in the olden days. When the situation calls, e.g. a robbery, the owner of the house would alarm the whole village by clanging one of these things with the wooden stick that’s already attached inside.

traveling day2-escalator sign

I just had to take a picture of the signage; it was hung by an escalator in a mall. Too funny.

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Traveling Day 1

December 28th, 2008

Been busy traveling. I’m easily amused, so I took the most random pictures.

traveling day1-hen & chicks

A mother hen with her chicks. It was real cute; not sure if you can see from the picture, but there’s a small hill behind the mother. The mother hen flew up the hill (yes, chickens can fly), leaving her chicks behind. All the chicks started chirping because their wings weren’t strong enough to carry them to the hill (notice some of the chicks’ wings are spanned open). So the mother hen came back for her chicks.

Posted in News, Other animals | Comments (3)

RIP Jonah

December 2nd, 2008

Jonah passed away yesterday

At least his pain and suffering is over and he is in a better place now.

Related entry.

Posted in News, Other animals | Comments (3)

Jonah

November 30th, 2008

Jonah is [a] little dog that was hit by a car and left in the streets for 3 days, fed and watered by locals who called authorities for help. Help arrived 3 days later in the form of a trash compactor. As people took photos and videotaped what happened next[,] the world watched in horror as he was dragged by a noose around his neck with two broken legs to the trash compactor and thrown in and carted away to what they thought would be his grave. As Jonah was being dragged, videos clearly show authorities in the background laughing at this poor dog being tortured. Somehow, we don’t know how, Jonah survived this ordeal. Some say he was not crushed by the trash compactor however it has been said several of his vertebrae were crushed, he was rescued from the trash along with another dog found there and taken to a veterinarians office where he has been receiving treatment. Hopefully when he is strong enough he will have surgery and will be able to get on with his life.

People around the world fell in love with Jonah, we all prayed and gave positive thoughts on his survival; it must have worked because he is still with us. He was offered several homes outside of Turkey upon his release from the veterinarian’s office.

This is the less brutal version of the video, because it’s a collection of pictures.

This is the raw footage (warning: offensive graphics). I couldn’t finish the video, because it was just too painful for me to hear the dog whimpering nonstop.

Please help this lady’s mission to rescue and adopt Jonah by signing this petition. Or if you’re a Facebook member, join the group. It just breaks my heart that some people think of animals as merely things with no feelings.

Posted in News, Other animals | Comments (2)

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