Salieri and Victor

I decided I should go into detail about my newest little pets, Salieri and Victor.  They're much bigger than the picture below.  They were only about three days old then, and now they're about a week old.  Ducks grow very quickly.

You might be wondering which is which by now.  Easy problem to solve.  Victor is the left duckling in the picture; Sally is the duckling on right.

I got to take them to class yesterday and the kids loved them.  It's hard not to love those little ducklings with their long beaks, their oily down and their intelligence.

One of the things I debated after all the deaths was if I should continue the Intriguing Animal Act (the only day I ever actually did it was April tenth, 2012 - a year ago Wednesday...).  With two of the most amazing pets in the world gone from the act it seemed impossible.  Henna was the biggest part of the act, but Obviously since she's dead she can't perform anymore, although the Duck Twins might just be able to learn some adorable things.  I'm already teaching them how to come when I call their names.  I still have to see how things work out with Rosey and Sara.  Sara's the most harmless creature ever.  The worst thing she's capable of doing is getting angry.  Rosey, on the other hand, is much more dangerous.  When she sees anything the first thing that come into her head is "food!"  Especially when it comes to ducks, no doubt.

A Little Medley

I shall begin this post by saying that I am sorry for not blogging, and when I did, the posts were dull and short.  At first I was too sick with the flu to write.  Then I was catching up in life.  Then I was busy lazy.  Then Easter came (more on that in a moment).  Now I'm back!

As I said, there would be more on Easter in a moment, so here's how my Easter went...

"It all began on Friday, March 29th.  The day was lovely with all its sunniness and greenness.  'Twas indeed the day Matthew, Margaret and Walter were coming.
"On Saturday, Patrick and Sara came home and Chris and Kari came for quite a while with Beyonca, their friends' two-year-old daughter.  We went to our neighbors' house, then came back to our house to have dinner with Mom and Don.
"Sunday was, of course, Easter.  We had some very special guests, Meghan, Rob and Joshua.  Meghan is my cousin, Rob is her husband and Joshua is their child.  We ate, did some archery and chatted.  Of course different people did different things, but it would take too long to list all the activities.
"Monday was the day Mother and I took the little Newhall family to the car rental place.  We said goodbye and then left them to drive to Margaret's family's house.
"Walter was the most amazing, wonderful baby ever, and I'm very excited to see him again!"

...and that was how my Easter (and visit with Walt) turned out.

Today Mother and Daddy went to the farm store and got some chicken feed for our chickens.  They brought me home a wonderful surprise: two ducklings!  They're black and yellow and their names are Salieri (hopefully a female) and Victor (hopefully a male).  I plan on raising them into show ducks, like what I did with Henna, only she was a show chicken.  After Henna died, it seemed pointless to try to train any more chickens, but I'm excited to see how smart and cute my little ducks become.

Sir Raphael

After I blogged about Raphael, I was basically done.  Now that it's been some time since I got him, I thought you'd enjoy some random pictures.

Quite a recent photo of Raffi, maybe taken about a week ago.

This one is from today, actually.

I probably took this one a about a month ago.

This was taken around the time I first got him.

This picture is also from early December.

This photo was probably taken a few weeks ago.

This one was taken a little longer than a week ago.

This photo was taken some time in the last month.

A Few Abstract Thoughts

What if dogs didn't exist?  Where would we be without them?  Would we feel like a part of our lives was missing, even if we didn't know about dogs?  I can't remember what life outside was like before I got Rosey, though I fancy it was quite drab and lonely.  Of course, even back then I had Rainbowland, so it couldn't have been too drab and lonely.

Rainbowland!  The very mention of that word makes me excited to tell you all about what's happening there.  My mind has a vast as large as the Sahara Desert, metaphorically speaking, and I must use at least some of my memory and space up, thus I have Rainbbowland.  Oh, I was going to tell you all the exciting things happening there, wasn't I?  Very well.  There was a big battle with the foolish Americans, and obviously the Rainbowlandians won.  Americans aren't allowed to bring guns into Rainbowland.  You know, just because they're Americans doesn't mean they don't abide by the Rainbowlandian King's laws.  Now, if I speak any more of Rainbowland, I might have to change the title from "A Few Abstract Thoughts" to "Rainbowland and a Few Abstract Thoughts," so I think I should just quit thinking about Rainbowland and start thinking about other things (I don't know what yet).

Am I boring?  I hope not.  If my writing is ever boring, annoying or stupid, please tell me and I will try to make it better.  Don't worry about hurting my feelings; you won't.  I just want to make my blog a pleasurable thing to read.

A Little Medley

I'm sorry I haven't blogged lately, but as you know, four of my pets died recently.  Now, when I wake up in the morning, I check to see if Sara and Scarlet are alive and well.  Whenever I go to throw something in the garbage I expect to hear a piercing squeal.  At first I have to admit it was nice, but now I'm getting used to it.  Two or three days ago I thought I heard Bobby clawing at the window, and on Saturday Mother put his old bed in the laundry room for Raf.  It's much more lonely going down to feed the chickens without seeing a bald head and a chicken who doesn't squat for me to pick her up.  The wagon and crate and pole we used for games and training are being used for other things or are just lying around.  I only have to fill up the pet spray bottle about every other day, even when I spray Sara.  I never knew my life was so full of annoying animals until they went and died on me like that.  I never knew how important it was to tell a little black guinea pig to shut up and dump food in his bowl.  I never knew how important it was to tuck a cat in bed with a towel and sing the Winnie the Pooh theme song to him.  I never knew how important this was...Someday, when Henna is too old to perform, Hoppy will take the stage herself, but until then, the two will be working together... I never knew how important it was to stand by a dark cage and spray, spray, spray.  I especially miss my Bobby though.  He was a big part of my life.  Now, because of him, I can't listen to the Toad song "I Will Not Take These Things For Granted."  Don't worry, though.  I'll continue to get animals throughout my life, as long as it's possible.

Let's now move on to a lighter subject, shall we?  Rainbowland is a fairly light subject... usually.
I've added a new character, Rafael le Marre (from a book, though he's nothing like the man in the book), to my stories.  As you may have guessed, he's a Black Rider.  He has dark brown, slightly wavy hair, bright green eyes and is 6'4".  There is a slight pattern with the Black Rider Masters I've civilized. Benedict Jones, 27, caramel brown hair, soft green eyes, 6'2", Toby Williams, 27, black hair, black eyes, 6'6", and Rafael le Marre, 27 (almost 28), dark brown hair, bright green eyes, 6'4" are all 27, go from brown hair and green eyes to black hair and black eyes and then back to brown and green and their height increases and decreases by 2 inches.  Oh, and they each get injured twice.  Once to get them caught and the other to increase their friendship and trust with Daisy.  Mostly I do that to keep it simple and easy to remember.  Lately I've also brought out the soldiers a little more.  There's a wounded one in the hospital now, instead of Deuce being hurt, but Deuce still hasn't left the stories.  If you know Deuce well - meaning you've read most or all my Rainbowland posts - you might be wondering if that's good or not.  It is, because Deuce is quite a crucial part of the stories.
I must go now.  Writing about Rainbowland has made me want to play it.

Those Silly Animals

Rocky died a little while ago.  I'm not too sad; I've been expecting it for quite a long time.  First Henna, then Bobby, then Pinkie and now Rocky.  I dearly hope and pray that the other four don't die for some time yet.  If Rosey were to die now - or any time - I don't know what would happen to me.

Remember these?  That was back when I had seven pets.  Back then I didn't expect to lose four and gain one.  Now when I read The Annual Awards Ceremony post,  I just want delete it.  Of course Rocky won the Mellow Award, and of course I loved - and still love - him.  Of course Pinkie won the Speedy Award, and of course he rocked.  Of course Henna won the Personable award, and of course she did it again.  And of course... of course Bobby won the Cool Award, and of course he did nice work!  They still are the greatest pets in the world, too.

Bobby "Mr. Bubbles" Newhall

To start this off, I'd like to say two things: I did not forget about my blog, and Bobby really is dead.  It wasn't just some really morbid, really idiotic attention-getter - he died three weeks ago, January 14th.  Pinkie also died, I'm sorry to say, and Rocky's getting so old, it's amazing he lived through the stroke he had about two months ago.  (I was going to write about about that, but I decided not to.)  Now here's a little "Intriguing Animal Act" story:

Last October, when the weather was still surprisingly warm and sunny, I took the Lightning out for some exercise.  I ended up putting her in a box outside and taking Henna out of her pen.  Bobby wandered up, and of course Rosey was right next to me the whole time.  We practiced and laughed and I got mad at nosy Rosey for interrupting Henna's training session and chasing Bobby away once.  We all had a great time.

Well, that was the story, and now here's my cat:

I decided to show a bonus picture of Pinkie.

That's Mother's coat he's lying on.

One of my favorite adventures.  Someday I'll tell a story about the excursion, maybe tomorrow.