Archive for the ‘furry’ category

Cow Takes A Dip…

November 19, 2009

– – In Spartanburg, South Carolina a woman was udderly surprised when she found a 650-pound cow in her covered swimming pool.  Once again, there was one incredulous 911 dispatcher.  No one was sure what the cow was doing in the swimming pool, although the dog paddle was mentioned…

It took five men from county rescue and a sling to get the cow out of the swimming pool.  The cow was unharmed (although water isn’t good for leather), and thought to belong to a neighbor.  It was speculated that the cow escaped, thought that the covered pool was solid ground, and just kept walking…


We Soldier On…

November 15, 2009

Furry for Life!– -Thank ‘ya, Esteemed Readers, for helping Foxsylvania pass the 60,000 hits mark!  May chewy treats, cozy dens, warm huggles, and shiny things await you in the great furafter…

What?!–Did you think you’d get 72 virgins out of me, or sumptin’?!    😉

–You Hit a WHAT?!

November 7, 2009

ODD Elephant Sideswiped– – It’s not unusual for deer or cows to cross Oklahoma’s rural highways, but imagine driving home…from church, no less…and hitting an elephant!

I swear that I am not making this up! About 80 miles north of Oklahoma City in Enid, a guy in his late 60’s swerved his SUV at the last second and ended up sideswiping a 29-year-old pachyderm that had escaped from a nearby circus late Wednesday and wandered onto U.S. 81.  “Didn’t have time to hit the brakes.  The elephant blended in with the road,” said the driver.  “At the very last second I said ‘elephant!'” Now that’s something you don’t see every day…or hear said every day!

After sideswiping the elephant, the motorist’s wife flagged some people down and used their cell phone to call police, where the dispatcher didn’t quite believe her.  “You hit a WHAT?,” he said.  One can also imagine the reaction these folks  got upon calling the accident in to their friendly auto insurance adjuster.

“So help me Hanna, had I hit that elephant, not swerved, it would have knocked it off its legs, and it would have landed right on top of us,” summarized the motorist.  “We’d have been history.” Clearly, it would have been a no-win scenario.

Fortunately the couple, who own a wheat farm, weren’t history.  The 8-foot, 4,500-pound elephant suffered a broken tusk and a leg wound, with a local vet saying it appeared to have escaped major injury.

(- -I just love stories with happy endings, don’t you?- -This true story would have made a great episode of Courage, the Cowardly Dog…Eustace and Muriel are riding along in their truck, when Eustace screams, “Elephant!”  Courage also screams, his eyes leaving their sockets…

– -BTW, hear any good elephant jokes lately?)   😉

Deer Takes The Plunge!

November 3, 2009

Deer-In-Pool01– -Swimming is great exercise, and it was no Halloween prank when a deer in Gastonia, North Carolina got a workout after he jumped from a balcony through a glass roof and into the area surrounding an indoor pool at the Ashley Arms Historic Apartments on October 30th. After pacing the pool’s perimeter a few times, the deer took the plunge and started swimming laps for about 15 minutes, looking for a way out!

Maintenance supervisors were able to use a net to herd the tiring animal to the shallow end of the pool, where he walked up the steps and ran away, successfully avoiding the traffic. – – It was all caught on security camera video!– -And wait until the does catch a look at that buck’s swimmer’s bod!

The “Real” Werewolf on MonsterQuest

November 1, 2009

Gevaudan werewolf– – MonsterQuest recently aired a two-hour episode investigating the killing of over 100 peasants by a werewolf-like creature in southern France during the mid-1700’s.  As the slayings occurred over 240 years ago, extensive speculation and reconstruction was involved as provided by a cryptozoologist and a criminal investigator.

The Beast of Gevaudan slaughtered primarily women and children in an often gruesome fashion, at times decapitating the victims, eviscerating them, or consuming limbs.  The killings began in 1764, and continued for about three years, drawing the attention of Louis XV whose expert hunters dispatched a large wolf but failed to halt the peasant slayings.

That task was accomplished by one Jean Chastel, who used (–what else?) a silver bullet to kill the beast.  Speculation by the MonsterQuest investigators and others has been that the true “werewolf” was in fact a striped hyena, which may have actually been trained to accomplish his mayhem by Chastel himself!

The Beast of Gevaudan will continue to fascinate speculators, and the events form the historical basis for much of the rich present day werewolf sagas, which one hopes will continue for the indefinite future…150px-Woman_&_La_Bete

The Abominable Snowman on MonsterQuest!

October 26, 2009

Abominable– – MonsterQuest finally came up with their long-awaited episode on the Yeti on October 25th after previous ho-hum episodes on wild dogs and rats.- – Here at last is a cryptid worthy of consideration!  The Abominable Snowman differs from his North American Bigfoot cousin in being more aggressive and carnivorous; he’s nocturnal, and goes after both people and their livestock in the Himalayas.- – You gotta give the big guy credit for that!

Examined were hair and footprint evidence as well as images from cameras.  The most recent footprint from 2008 was actually regarded to be a hoofprint, kind of a drag-impression in the snow distorted by multiple freeze and thaw cycles.  Fifty-year old hair samples supposedly from the skullcap of a Yeti were also analyzed, and found to be from a deer-like creature.  Picture images from cameras set up at different locations were of the usual birds with perhaps an antlered beast or two thrown in.  Lastly, eyewitness accounts of the Yeti were chalked off as being misidentified bears!

There were some interesting sidebars; apparently, the Nazis had sent teams out in pursuit of the Yeti, and locals led the Nazis to a supposed lair where they shot…a bear! I also loved a scene where an investigative team came upon a slaughtered and partly-eaten goat, perhaps consumed by the Yeti; the lead investigator indulged himself in the treat, which had been lying out for five or six days, and found it to be like jerky…”rather tasty, actually,” he proclaimed.–Anyone else up for five-day old goat, partly eaten by who knows what?–Didn’t think so…

It’s well been pointed out that even known identified species are hard to track over wild terrain, so I’m really not surprised by the lack of Yeti evidence. –And why do we call him Abominable, together with “terrifying” and “ferocious?” – – Doesn’t the Yeti just need a good spin doctor?–Why not as in the Tundra cartoon, come up with an Amiable Snowman?

Soupy Sales Gone…

October 24, 2009

Soupy Sales— I can’t take the loss of many more of my childhood icons; Captain Kangaroo has passed on, and now also Soupy Sales at age 83.   Soupy in my opinion has never gotten the credit or recognition that he deserved; a comedian of television, radio, and film born Milton Supman, Soupy drew heavily from slapstick and also used word play and improvisation. His comedy wasn’t always sophisticated, but it could be clever and was always funny; taking a pie in the face was a stock in trade, and Soupy estimated that he and his visitors took 20,000 pies in the course of his career.  Soupy was big at the time in the New York area where I grew up in to the extent that kids would imitate him and do his routines.

Soupy had furry elements; two of the visitors to his shows were dogs called White Fang and Black Tooth, who appeared at his door as giant shaggy paws with felt triangular claws.  White Fang spoke with unintelligible growls and grunts which Soupy repeated back to his audience in English; Black Tooth was also unintelligible, but was into giving loud and sloppy kisses to Soupy off-camera.   Then there was Pookie the Lion, a hip character prone to appearing in Soupy’s window who you could understand. – -Soupy even had a novelty dance record and song called The Mouse which was wildly popular in the mid-1960’s!- –Hey!–Do the Mouse, Yeah! I last saw Soupy on game shows, those last retreats of celebrities past their popularity prime.  Even then, he was funny, using his improv talents to transcend the medium and material that he had to work with.

As Soupy was influenced by the Marx Brothers, so he also influenced other comedians including Andy Kaufman and Paul Reubens; if you twist and press Soupy’s persona, you get Pee-wee Herman!   Soupy was an earlier prototype of the cheerfully demented childrens’ TV show host, filled with manic energy.   All of these comics realized that much comic inspiration can be drawn from childhood, which can be darker and more twisted  than many realize…

Thank you, Soupy, for all the laughter and the furry undertones!   To quote lyrics from The Mouse, “every cat in the neighborhood will be in shock.”

Cats, you see, loved Soupy Sales, and will miss him as will I…


Beer Bear!

October 20, 2009

Beer Bear– -A bear walked into a beer department in Wisconsin…no, it really happened last Thursday!  The 125-pound black bear wandered into a Hayward grocery store, went up and down the aisles, and then decided to check out the bruin, going into the beer cooler in the liquor department, and climbing twelve feet up onto a shelf!  No other customers were in the store at the time, and the single store clerk just kind of blocked things off and summoned authorities.

The bear sat on the shelf for about an hour until Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources officers tranquilized the bear, and removed him unceremoniously from the store.  No bottles of beer were broken…

…was the bear hangin’ with his Bud?Hey, hey, hey!–He’s smarter than the average bear!–If the Ranger had given him one more pic-a-nic basket, this might not have happened!

Goat Renaissance!

October 19, 2009

Goat– – Goats are going through a bit of a renaissance lately…there’s a wonderful new Thera-gesic arthritis commercial with an old woman extolling the virtue of goat tears (“Takes the pain riiight away”), and now there’s a George Clooney movie with goats,  Men Who Stare At Goats.

I’ve always felt that goats have been under-rated for years; they’re intelligent, whimsical, and can make good pets, too.  Perhaps our trendy celebrities will take to championing and adopting goats.- -See, goats aren’t so baaad…

My Wish List…

October 11, 2009

monarch– – I’d  really like to have a costumed arch-nemesis; no plain-clothes nemesis for me, thank you very much…those with a costumed arch-nemesis tend to be memorable, like Batman.  People remember the Joker or the Riddler, but almost certainly wouldn’t remember the Freemason or the Certified Public Accountant. An arch-nemesis has a history with you, in many cases arching you for years; it’s a love/hate thing, really.  A arch-nemesis should be colorful but not competent; you don’t want them to actually do you in (for further exploration of the complex relationship one may have with a costumed arch-nemesis, catch the Venture Brothers on Adult Swim, the Cartoon Network).

What about henchmen?–If you have henchmen, they’ll have to go through them to get to you, and maybe your enemy will wear themselves out.  Henchmen give you extra time to get away, bargain, plea, or just work up to a good cry.  Plus if you have henchmen, you’re giving others work in this depressed economy.

Could I possibly get a sidekick?–Batman, Aquaman, and the Green Arrow have one.  I don’t think Marvel superheroes have sidekicks as much; Wolverine would probably kill his. – – Cancel the sidekick; I’d probably be arrested, especially if it was some teenaged guy in tights.   Maybe the sidekick would write a tell-all book, and we’d split the profits and get rich.  Money isn’t everything, but it’s way ahead of whatever’s in second place.

I’d also like to have minions, followers who hang on your every word and do your bidding.  No one’s done my bidding to this point in my life, so I figure I’m overdue.  In this category, I’d like to have a cat’s-paw, which should not be confused with a rabbit’s foot; some of my best friends are cats, and I’m not into the amputation of bodily parts.  A cat’s-paw is kinda like a chief minion or tool that acts in your behalf.–Wouldn’t that be cool?

…and why don’t we have manservants anymore?–If you want something, a manservant is there to get it for you, and wait on you hand and foot.  I’d like to have someone wait on my feet, and a manservant sounds classy; kind of like a gentleman’s gentleman.  You’ve gotta love the redundancy of that!

So I’m gonna ask Santa for these things; I’d be satisfied to get any of them.  If that doesn’t work, maybe I could get some of that federal stimulus money, ’cause these things would be stimulatin’ to me, woo!    😉