– – I’ve posted previously on artist Franz Marc, who refused to incorporate the human figure in his work because he believed that animals were more spiritual than humans. For Franz, the positive qualities of “purity, truth, and beauty” that humans manifested during infancy were forgotten in adulthood but were maintained intact in wild beasts. According to the painter, instinct made him depart from his solidarity with humanity and guided him to unity with animals as symbols of greater purity…
– – In a rare but tragic event, a fox crept into a house in east London this past weekend, and attacked nine-month-old twins in their nursery. One of the sisters received injuries to her arm, while the other received facial wounds. A fox caught near the family home was destroyed, although it is not known if it was the same animal that attacked the infants.
Parliament banned fox hunting with hounds in 2004, and the incident has caused some to seek a reversal of this ban; others have called for a cull of foxes. Some even wish for Roald Dahl’s book Fantastic Mr. Fox to be banned in schools, saying that it gives children the wrong idea about foxes! It should be pointed out that in England alone, some 225,000 people annually receive treatment for dog bites alone, while people aren’t calling for dogs to be culled.
So why did a lone fox turn to the dark side?- -First, he had opportunity, as a door to the house where the incident occurred was left open. Some have speculated that the attack on the girls was carried out by a confused 3-to 4-month old cub, who may have been lured to the nursery by the smell of diapers, which urban foxes have learned to associate with food as they’re often found aside edibles in household trash; urban foxes are scavengers.
While the incident was likely an unfortunate freak occurrence, this is not to say that we of the vulpine persuasion wouldn’t try to take over the world if given the opportunity…
– – I, for one, like the thought of primitive aliens so that we could feel superior to them. We’re all heard that aliens may have seeded earth with life in the long-ago, given the technological know-how to build the pyramids, and other great stuff. But forget about awesome aliens for now, and consider aliens that are below even ourselves on the evolutionary scale. Such aliens might exist as methane-based life on Saturn’s moon, Titan.
Now Saturn, while it has really cool rings, has no liquid water on its surface. It does, however, have lakes of liquid methane there. While you’d hardly care to vacation on Titan, exotic primitive life forms may exist by feeding on organic chemicals such as methane. Scientists note that lack of hydrogen and acetylene near the surface of Titan suggest that it is being consumed by something there…
..and wouldn’t a methane-eating pet beat a Chia Pet any day?!
– – Guys, thanks to your readership we’ve now exceeded 125,000 hits here on little ole Foxsylvania, and are still crazy after all those posts! Thanks for your interest and support!- –Furry for Life!!!
– – The former World’s Ugliest Dog winner for 2009, Miss Ellie, has died at the age of 17, a rather ripe old age for a canine. She was a Chinese Crested Hairless, and enjoyed a career in resort show business in the Smoky Mountains. Over the years, Miss Ellie raised more than $100,000 for the Sevier County Humane Society, and was on billboards and in a commercial. She also appeared on the Animal Planet show, “Dogs 101.”
RIP, Miss Ellie…
– – I, for one, am not really fond of gigantic insects, especially when they’re anthropomorphic, possessed of the power of speech, and even capable of driving cars. These are so much more than the lumbering giant insects seen in such vintage B-flicks as the ant saga, Them…the giant insectile creatures of Starship Troopers were a hoot, though!
…such are the awesome and disgusting ants and roaches of Orkin, appearing in televised ads right at your doorstep and even crashing your pool party! These bugs are insidious and clever; they might be delivering a pizza that you didn’t order, or saying that they’re broken down, and need to use your telephone…in one of the latest ads, a giant cockroach shows up to leer at an amorous couple in a hot tub. He (-it?) lets his towel drop to the floor, and asks in a wonderful voiceover if he can go “dipping skinny!” When they are spurned and countered, the bugs peel out in a variety of cool and classic vehicles, including motorcycles!
At once both sinister and comical, these bugs are animatronic, and it reportedly takes seven guys to operate each one. If they come to your house, don’t let ’em in…it would probably take more than a rolled-up newspaper to defeat them, and we value your readership!
– -I had earlier mentioned in this blog how I played a rooster in a second grade class play, wearing a woman’s nylon stocking over my head and face to which were attached a construction paper rendition of a rooster’s comb and beak.– Well, bigger and better animal impersonations lay ahead for me, specifically in college when I played Don Quixote’s horse, Rocinante, in an adaptation of the musical, Man of La Mancha. It could have been far worse…the only other furry cast member was Sancho Panza’s donkey! I considered myself to have had the glory role…and yes, that’s me in the image!
I really got into this, wearing a large black paper mache horse’s head crafted by the Arts Department. My equine body was black cloth with an underlying skeleton of two by fours artfully made with hinges to allow compression of the body in scenes that called for me to be lying down. Unfortunately I was not anthropomorphic, and had no speaking lines. Perhaps they’ll someday revise the play, and allow his horse to advise Don Quixote!
It was not until years later that I realized I was actually a fox…but hey, foxes are sly, and perhaps playing a horse was just a form of camouflage for me at the time!
FOXSYLVANIA 
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