Possum in the Path

We went nighttime geocaching for the first time the night before last.

This is where people hide containers, mark the coordinates, post the location online, and let people try to find it.

This one was in Fleming Park, near our home and was supposedly marked by little reflectors. We found the reflectors and started down the trail.

This is a path that used to be a road before Lake Jacomo was built (I guess they build the dam and the lake fills itself, but you know what I mean). I used to go out there years ago and could still see the centerline stripes in the road on the cracked but in tact pavement.

This time was different. Armed with bright Maglites (the 4 D cell sized variety) we went into the darkened woods. It was the last warm day, 65° at sunset with the promise that the next day temperatures would plunge. We had a very cold streak and snow for the weeks preceding our little walk, and the warm temperatures turned the ground into a mush the consistency of oatmeal.

Walking down the path, the little artificial reflectors weren't the only thing that shined in our flashlights. A possum was walking toward us with bright shiny green eyes. We closed to within 25' before the distracted little creature figured out we were there. This is only after Andrea said something like "Hey little possum!" I wonder why the bright light in the darkness didn't clue the animal in before that point. He finally turned tail (effectively disappearing in plain sight without those shiny eyes) and moved quickly into the undergrowth.

We found the cache, after much tramping through the mud. It brought back memories of the times I would tramp around in the woods in the Army, as well as the days almost 15 years ago when I first started exploring those paths in the woods.

Minke Whale in the Amazon

There was a Minke Whale found in early November almost 1000 miles inland in Brazil, up the Amazon. It was 12 tons, 18 feet long.

They are not sure why it got lost and disoriented, but people tried to help it return to the ocean. Their efforts failed, and the whale ended up dying 800 miles from the ocean a week after it was spotted.

No one is sure why the whale went so far up river, but they did mention that they thought it was a youngster.

Oh deer!

We found two deer carcasses, pretty much picked clean while we were out in Blue & Gray park this weekend. Some hungry coyotes must have had a good meal!

Wild Bees

I have always loved bees. Ever since I saw my first plastic hive in a Nickersons or Smuckeys restaurant as a kid, I've been fascinated. These restaurants near highways and interstates would put a hive in a big plastic enclosure inside the store with a hole to the outside world. The bees didn't seem to mind, and you got to look at them through the plastic, doing their incomprehensible bee things.

I heard that the bees just live through the winter, but I always wondered how that worked. This last weekend, I got to see it first hand.

We were looking for some hidden treasure in the woods (a geocache) and we thought it was in a hollow in a tree. So when Andrea looked inside, she saw that there was a beehive in there. I could have reached in with a finger and touched any of the bees. It was really cold out, too. You always hear that insects cannot survive the winter outside, but you always wonder where they go. Here's one example.

Bees are seriously endangered right now. A few years ago, they were attacked by mites called vampire mites that were killing them off at a horrible rate. More recently, they are being wiped out by a virus. They call the condition chronic wasting or hive collapse syndrome. Bees are very important to the world, they pollinate plants and help keep crops growing and producing. There are other insects that pollinate, too, but the honey bee is the only insect that will pollinate any plant. Their lose would be irreplacable.

Pet Heaven

I listened to a podcast of a touching story about a man than uses his pet border collie to help hospice patients. These are people with cancer or other diseases that are not expected to live. Jon Katz is the owner, and he tells about some of the ways that Izzy makes the people feel better for a little while.

The story is at http://www.slate.com/id/2180065/ if you want to read it. It's better in podcast form, with the guy reading it to you.

The final story tells about a man that says goodbye by saying "Izzy, thanks. See you on the other side." The man died right after that, it was the last time they saw him.

It got me wondering if most people believe that the pets that they had in life are going to be in heaven with them when they die. It's a nice thought. Do they remember you after so much time? Our lives are measured in decades and theirs are only measured in years. I started thinking about all the pets I've had and some of the pets that I've known and how cool it would be to see them all again.

What do you believe?

Feline Possessions

You probably never thought much about what a cat can own.

There was another chapter in the Cuppy and the Atomic Ball saga that made me think about this.

I knew that the Atomic Ball was missing, I knew Cuppy was frustrated, but I couldn't find it. She would come over and touch my arm and talk to me, so I had figured out that much, that I was supposed to find the ball.

I had already looked in all the usual suspect places, under furniture on the first floor, with no luck. I knew that sometimes she dropped the ball down the stairs to the basement to chase it, so we went downstairs to see if we could find it down there. She kept making a funny noise and "pointing" to an empty bookcase. I moved some shelves and there was no ball behind them so I figured this was not the place. Cuppy kept at it, and finally, I decided to show her it wasn't the right place. I was going to pull it out from the wall to show her, and when I moved the bookcase, I discovered that it had a hollow place under the bottom shelf that could only be accessed from behind, and there was the ball!

I was marvelling about how the cat must have been able to smell the ball or something. When I walked by Cuppy with the ball in front of her and she had a very content look on her face. That's when I realized that she owned the ball. It was hers. In fact, it's her only possession. So in a way, it's very important to her. I would even say that she understands that it's her ball, and only because of the ball, does she understand the concept of ownership.

This is something I would not have expected from a cat.