Friday, August 2, 2013

my animal planet

Don't you love when your plans and schemes work out exactly the way you'd hoped they would? It doesn't happen nearly often enough, so I'm really enjoying this particular one while it lasts.

Last summer, when I dug up and created a new flower bed along the back of the house, I intentionally planted flowers that I hoped would grow really big and showy and attract pretty butterflies. And I planted the biggest and bestest of these plants right outside my bedroom window. I had high hopes that one day I'd be able to enjoy a front row (indoor, air conditioned) view of some really pretty wildlife. And one year later, I'm happy to say that it worked like a charm.

What? HOW DARE YOU COME TO MY WINDOW, butterfly?!! WATCH YO' BACK.
 Every afternoon when we get home from work, we open the curtains and blinds and plop down on the bed to watch the Butterfly Show on the lantana, roses, and canna lilies for a little while. It's beautiful and relaxing and altogether happy times.
iPhone photography on the left, dSLR on the right. Equally poorly focused, let's be honest.
We also see an occasional hummingbird. And lots of bumblebees. I'm telling you, it's straight up Animal Planet out there. Lola likes looking out the window too, but mostly she's looking for the cute little bunnies that hop over from the woods. Or the cat.
I couldn't care less about that giant black barking indoor THING. I rule the outside!!
 This morning the cat truly earned his keep. As I went out to feed him on the porch, I discovered he'd left us a little gift on the front door mat. RIP, mousie. And nicely done on the kill, cat. It looked like the mouse just laid down to take a nap and never woke up. Relatively un-traumatizing. For me, that is.
You feeble-minded humans can carry on with your lame butterfly watching. I'll just be out here taking care of business. And pooping on your sidewalk like a huge freak.
Do any of you have DirecTV? And a dog? Then you should be sure to be checking out your free trial of DogTV August 1-14. We flipped it on to make fun of it, basically. But then (after a few minutes of coaxing to get Lola to figure out how to LOOK at the TV) the joke was on us because actually it was pretty awesome and Lola totally loved it. 
Heeeeey sexy...I like long walks on the beach, too! Oh wait, no I don't. I'm terrified of water.

Weirdest thing ever. It was like dog reality TV. It's kinda blurry (to us) because it's made so that dogs can see it, but there's nice background music (along with the sound of dogs panting). Turns out Lola is just as scared of water on TV as she is in real life, so that was an interesting discovery! I'm pretty sure DogTV isn't awesome enough to merit actually paying $10/month for, but we may DVR a few episodes for Lola's future entertainment.

So things have been rather animal-centric around here lately. But they're all sorta lame animals. Dogs, cats, butterflies, bunnies, dead mice...not too exciting. That led me to some brief pondering about what could constitute a really exciting backyard animal invasion. Which led me to create a survey!! YAAAY!! You know, and also because it's Friday and on Fridays you need to be questioned.

So put on your thinking caps, ladies, because this is a really serious one. As always, vote for as many as you like, and feel free to justify your choices or suggest something better. I was going to give a prize to the first person who could guess what my answer would be, but then I decided that I'd rather just dole out a harsh punishment on the first person who DOESN'T know my answer, because seriously. This isn't even tricky.


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18 comments:

  1. The obvious answer would be baby pandas... specifically, baby red pandas- they are the cutest AND their name rhymes with mine, so, duh.

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  2. Gotta go with a couple mythical beasts, the baby pandas, and (a write in) a platypus.

    One question, though ... Would the manatee be rolling around in the grass, or is some sort of river/waterway a prerequisite for it to invade? ;)

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  3. Shocking that I agree with Amanda (though I don't really care if they are red or not). And that's only under the assumption they stay babies forever...

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  4. Based on cutness and the lack of water in our backyard I would have to go with..
    1) unicorns
    2) dragons

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  5. PEOPLE PEOPLE PEOPLE!! Have ye no faith? Naturally, if it is a manatee or mermaid that you wish to have inhibit your backyard, with it comes an appropriately awesome saltwater habitat. If you choose a baby panda, bamboo will start growing. Let not your dreams be limited by the actual habitat of your yard!!!! Now...carry on. ;)

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  6. Agree with Allison - going with baby Pandas BUT they MUST remain babies forever or I'd give them the boot.

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  7. The cat would be on my hit list today... we don't do dead things in my family. Everest is an indoor only cat, but I can see the devious looks she gives to the outside, I know she'd be all over the dead creatures... Not happening! Ughhhh!

    But seriously, DogTV?!?! And people PAY for this? America!

    Manatees for sure, but in my backyard, they'd love crystal clear sparkly water, not brackish, gross, swampy water. Pandas could hang out too.

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  8. We had a dead mouse that somehow appeared in our basement. It was gross and let's just say...things...had gotten to it so it was no easy clean up. Thankfully Dave was home to deal with it because I was too busy yelling about it to actually clean it up. Yuck :(

    And your garden is beautiful!

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  9. 1. Baby pandas, because they seem like they could be cute and cuddly for the kids (and me, because of course I like cute and cuddly, too). That would be fun.

    2. Blurry TV so dogs can watch?! I've never even heard of such a thing! I just wish our Lola could check out an episode. Maybe it will come to netflix someday.

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  10. I love the butterflies!! And it's so awesome that your plan worked out!!

    I voted for baby pandas :)

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  11. Ok, no offense to your readers but I don't think any of them have actually seen a baby panda. They look more like rats than pandas. Seriously - they're pink and wrinkly and just not cute. Unless we're talking about 6-12 month-old pandas and then I'm on board. Otherwise baby tigers are clearly the superior choice, although I'm sure you prefer manatees and unicorns, which is totally understandable.

    Also, your picture captions just show up as part of the text in my Bloglovin app, which makes for a strange and slightly confusing post. :)

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  12. I love your "pollinators" garden! For work, I've done tons of research about bees dying out, so I'm glad your garden is attracting them! Dang, I want a yard so bad! Also, props to the new cat. I'd rather have a cat that dropped dead mice than live mice! Yuck.

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  13. the butterflies are beautiful, smart idea planting those plants in such an optimal location. you crack me up how you write about watching the 'Butterfly show'. i should take some notes for the garden i'm supposed to plant at my school.

    Dog tv...i have no words. haha. never heard of it until now. your blog is so informative! babies on game shows, now dog reality tv, what's next!? :]

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  14. Huzzah! An aardvark... byebye ants. (and other equally pesky small insects)

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  15. Baby panda, easy choice. And I don't even mind them when they grow up either. And I know I'm gonna be mocked for this but I would totally pay for the doggy channels. I worry all the time that Ike is bored while we are gone. I'm sure he'd love to have some TV to watch all day. :)

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  16. Maybe I'm lame, but I'd want a baby panda, which I would want to stay tiny forever but only because they're RIDICULOUSLY cute, and a tiger. Always wanted a pet Tiger. Always.

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  17. When I get a house, can you come plant my garden for me? I want a butterfly show too!

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