the new nice

More Radiolab pimping…

“Brian Hare tells us the story of Dmitri Belyaev, a geneticist and clandestine Darwinian who lived in Stalinist Russia and studied the domestication of the silver fox. Through generations of selectively breeding a captive population, Belyaev noticed not only increased docility, but also unexpected physical changes. Why did these gentler foxes necessarily look different than their wild ancestors? Tecumseh Fitch has a hypothesis, something about trailblazing cells and embryonic development.”

CLICK HERE!

I saw this on a Nova or Nature special several years ago and was fascinated.  Listen, it is only 17 minutes long, and is SUPER interesting!

 

walls, complete!

Also, June!

 

 

“your kisses meant nothing!”

 

first points – the real thing

 

as a farmer prays for rain, so i wait for snow

This snow?  This snow already melted.  I’m not a fan of the stuff myself, but I won’t make money until there’s a decent base on the mountain, and waiting is hard.    Sooo… May the winter be long and profitable.

 

a little story before bed

Blue, the Aussie, is not terribly fond of the puppies.  He tolerates Ella, because she gives him the most tender loving darting kisses, but the other two he’d rather leave than take.

June got in his space this morning and he snapped at her and caught her on the cheek.  She said he’d killed her and ran screaming into the office and cowered there, crying.  GoGo and Dexter and Ella ran to her from all over the house and surrounded her, sniffing her all over, and then each taking a turn to clean the spot on her cheek where the spit was, and then cleaning her ears and eyes and mouth together until she settled down.  It was probably the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.

 

 

walls, cont.

Is that hay on your nose, or are you just happy to see me?

The *SHOULD* be pouring the walls tomorrow.

 

walls! (soon)

 

pictures for the week

June B.

Growing up in a hurry. Shorter on leg, longer on body.

Smellie

Best pics she’s taken. If only Dex showed like her, he might be something to fear.

Dexter

He either posts or pops his butt up, so I went with the posting pics. 

 

it’s official

Dex is at a good weigh (maybe just a tad fat, actually), but Ella is still on the weight gain regimen, and looks like she needs it.  How, when they eat the same amount, and she is 5 lbs smaller than him, and he’s fat and she’s rail skinny… I don’t know.  Guess it’s all the poultry-/buggy-chasing.  She should put out an exercise video.

June is obviously not related to mine, for more reasons that coat.  Ella is still sedately eating her dinner without resentment, while Dex has taken up the Carbon-boy “Do you expect me to eat THAT?” hunger strike.  After a couple of minutes of staring at it, hoping it will go away, he will usually start in.

June gobbles up her dinner.  And dives for everyone elses.  And tries to jump up on the counter to see if there’s more there.  And, failing that, sees if a parrot cage is open, so she can stand up on her back feet and eat the kibble out of their dishes.  And, if that doesn’t work, sees if the basement door is open so she can go pick the garbage.  I won’t have trouble keeping weight on this one.

The good thing about Ella is that she will generally eat every bite you give her, so hopefully she’ll be buxom soon.  Our next show isn’t until December (June will be three days shy of six months, of course!), and perhaps not even then.  But the age of plenty will soon be upon us (the ski season in the ski town) and I hope to be able to work my tail off and catch up on some bills and put a lot of money away.

I need National money.  And money for 3 sets of hips (unless I decide to wait and do OFA – Why is there no good answer on which hip test is best?), and various other health tests.  The good news is that June is DM clear, and Bronte will be tested before then, so mine might be clear as well.  As GoGo is clear, at the very worst they are carriers.  Fluff test is optional – I’ll see how it goes.

I also want to start back in agility.  GoGo misses it, and Ella would love to start, I know.  Dex and June don’t strike me as the agility types, but little Smellie Ellie needs a job!