FOXSYLVANIA

It’s part of the language; brave as a lion, strong as an ox, meek as a lamb, sly as a fox…and the list goes on!  Such similes indicate the depth and power of animal identification, and the association of certain attributes with particular species.  On either a superficial or an in-depth level, by considering your psychological characteristics, you may come to identify your inner furry self, and come to realize what species you inwardly are.  This is a process of inner self-discovery that can be a source of strength for you, for your animal essence and spirit are vital, something at the very core of your being…

It’s uncanny and a bit creepy….but a cat at a nursing home in Rhode Island can seem to be able to sense when death is near.  Oscar the cat has curled up on the beds of 25 residents who soon thereafter shuffled off this mortal coil…bought the farm, if you will…speculations are that Oscar’s superior sense of smell detects changes in the human scent as death approaches.   Or maybe it’s Dr. Kevorkian’s cat…the grim kitty, if you will!

So if you wind up in a nursing home in Rhode Island, you may want to shoo Oscar the cat off your bed…  😉

True Story:  Zoey, a chihuahua in Colorado, saved the life of a 1-year-old baby by getting between the baby and a rattlesnake that had entered the family’s house.  The little dog took the snake’s fangs, saving the baby from the strike…

…and although it was touch-and-go for a while, the chihuahua survived following treatment!

Michael Vick, the Falcons quarterback involved in dog fighting, may face suspension and the loss of his very profitable Nike contract.  Here is something at least that will be understood, and may have a functional impact on this kind of behavior among the rich and famous! 

Why did Vick do it when he already has it all?–Probably the pursuit of the “high” involved, as when people with plenty of money in their pocket shoplift.  We are a thrill-addicted society, one that grows increasingly jaded…

What animal in nature does “olive loaf” come from?  Does it have pimentos extruding from its sides?

And if you washed a sweater from a cloned sheep, would you use the wool or synthetics cycle?

A thief recently robbed a bank with tree branches duct taped to his head!  He did escape, and no one could identify him…

…he was probably headed towards Elm Street! 

A new expedition in search of Bigfoot will soon be mounted in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  Sightings of Bigfoot date back centuries, but this time it is hoped for more proof of a Sasquatch than just some grainy film footage of some joker in a costume.  As the researcher declared, “We’re looking for evidence supporting a presence.”

Some in the scientific community believe that Bigfoot is a gigantopithecus, a branch of primitive man believed to have existed 3 million years ago.

I think that I could die happy if positive evidence of Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster, or aliens was discovered in my lifetime.  I want to believe! 

One advantage that animals have over us is that they live life in the immediate present — and in doing this, spare themselves the anxieties and preoccupations that humans fill most of their lives with.  Recently, one of my dogs needed and underwent surgery for a bladder stone, which caused him to pass blood with his urine.  He had no idea that the surgery was coming, so he didn’t worry about it.  On the day of the surgery, he was just swept along by the events of the day, and when it was over, it was for him as if it had never happened.  It just was, and then it was over.  My pet didn’t worry over his convalescence, either, and indeed it was very difficult to tell that he had even had an operation, so soon was he ripping around afterwards. 

Our mental health would be more enhanced if we would learn from our furry brethren, and try and live more of life in the immediate present.  The past is immutable and can’t be changed or done over, and much of the future is unknown and subsequently uncontrollable.  Living in the present moment is not being short-sighted, but rather Zen-like, for the present moment is of the highest importance.