Baby Animals @ MindSay 
I am surprised at myself for saying, these critters are another favourite! Not because I enjoy their company in the garden as I don't, quite honestly. They do quite a bit of damage to many of the plants I enjoy growing. But we are attempting to learn to live together and in the process I've learned to admire specific aspects of the common garden snail. They became a subject of observation sometime last year and that activity inspired me in many exciting ways. I was encouraged to find ways to make my images available to others (in their large format) for their own purposes. I was also inspired to promote and share my thoughts on what I am learning and experiencing through observations of the natural world I am both grateful and lucky to enjoy!
(common garden snail, macro shot)
(no backbone, no spine... poster shot)
This creature is fascinating in many ways. There is no backbone in a snail's body, yet she can carry a house on her back! He moves as slow as thick molasses and almost as messy and yet in days he can devastate a garden plant, be it flower or vegetable! Dedicated, determined, diligent - quite the incredible critter. As a very young garden pest they are almost identical to their parents, though tiny in scale and they are slightly transluscent.
(tiny garden snails on human hand, macro shot)
Their species seem to have evolved very little and they are hermaphrodites, fertilizing each other's eggs when they mate. I had the thought that calling a snail he or she is completely irrelevant or fully interchangeable, depending on how you look at it! They certainly won't have gender issues! And they give me pause too, when considering that even with their determination and their dual sexuality, they still need to join with another in order to create new life. There's something to ponder in that and its' implications make me curious!
"Conversations with a snail" posing with the caretaker.
This shot reminds me of Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass"
..................
by far
..................
without a doubt
..................
are
..................
wolf pups.
AAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
:)
This morning, I let the new couple out to browse the barnyard by themselves.
The couple hadn’t gotten too far from the nursery before the little tyke began darting off in every direction to investigate various distractions.
What you can’t see in a still shot is that the little fella doesn’t really ‘walk’ anywhere…he bounces, leaps, stumbles, rolls and leaps some more, all while wagging his little tail like an excited puppy. In fact, he was so excited about exploring his new surroundings, that mom could barely keep up with him!
Dessa seemed totally uninterested in the baby’s new adventures this morning, but Sugar and daddy were riveted on baby’s every move…
Are you guys as dumbfounded as me at how BIG this newborn bugger is?!
Mama seems to be catching on to her maternal responsibilities. She never lets him far from her sight and tonight when the two of them bedded down in their nursery, she lay down in front of him, so as to protect him as much as possible with her body, from the cold night air.
I’m going to try to capture some of his shenannagins this weekend with movies. Now, can someone tell me where I can upload said movies so I can link them to the blog like photos? Then I’ll be driving you all batty with goofy home movies too!
Tomorrow, I promise to fill everyone in on my new camera, which won’t be here till the first or second week in APRIL! HOW will I SURVIVE?! Till then, ‘here’s lookin’ at you, kid…
(PS…name to be determined tomorrow!)
i went to imdb.com to look some stuff up, and as it turns out today was Michael Sheen of Underworld's birthday today. I totally didn't know that, lol. he's...*pulls out calculator*...37 years old now. Happy birthday!
Also, when i was climbing up the stairs here with Erica after going to Eureka, the similar scene of that area at night made me remember that yesterday in that exact spot, me and Ted saw a racoon. It was the first one i've seen since October, November at the latest, so I got really excited. Ted looked at me funny, to which i said, "I'm sorry, I love animals." He kept walking, and I said no. He asked if i was afraid of it, and i think that that's the thing that ultimately made me just want him gone, because at the time it was the dumbest thing i'd ever heard- i just got really happy and giggly and said I love animals. Of course i'm not afraid of it! I just didn't want to scare it and i told him that, but it was too late. the racoon had already run off into the bushes. we then started talking about the racoons here. He said they were too people friendly, which i argued with, and he said that the babies were, and of course they are- they're babies, they don't know any better. Funny what pot does to you.