Happy Holidays from the Menagerie

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Blessed Solstice, Festive Kwanzaa, etc., etc.,
from us and ours to you and yours, with all best wishes for a Happy New Year





from Raz ("this is WAY beneath my dignity"),


Lucy ("please don't make me wear this any longer"),


Moose ("can we go back inside now?"),



and Daniela and Eric (not pictured).

More video from the archives

Two more movies. The first shows Moose in the front yard, running back and forth while on his leash. Moose is not allowed off his leash normally (too likely to run off!), so he has developed a method of running at full speed to the very end of the (long) leash, then turning and running full speed in the other direction. He knows just how long the leash is and rarely jerks it at either end. The video quality (taken with digital camera) for some reason distorts how fast he's running-- trust me, it's faster than it might look.

The second movie is from our fateful meeting with a local pig (read the archives for details).

At last, Video!

These videos (let me know if they actually work-- they didn't when I tested them!) are from Thanksgiving. They show Rudy, Daniela's mother's pug, engaged in a bizarre form of "play" with some neighboring German Shepherds.

Basically, when Rudy is walking near his house, he encounters these shepherds. They recognize him and come running over to the fence where he is. Rudy then starts running back and forth along the fence, occasionally pausing to bark furiously at the shepherds. They run back and forth along with him on their side of the fence, also barking constantly. It's unclear what would happen if the fence ceased to exist...

Both videos are similar, but one came at the beginning of our walk, the second on the way home.

Cardinal Family Reunion

How many cardinals can you find in this (admittedly not terribly good) picture? It may help to note that every bird that is visible is, I believe, a cardinal (male or female).

The cardinals seem to all come at once to the feeder-- when they were all out there, I could not see any other birds in the vicinity, until I heard the raucous call of a bluejay, who promptly put the redbirds to flight while he ate.

Oh, how I love the snow!

New Toy

Moose and Lucy have recently been enjoying a new toy (Raz has never been interested in dog toys, probably because she doesn't consider herself a dog)-- it's a more or less life-sized duck which emits quacking noises at various pitches, depending on how hard it's squeezed.

Moose is particularly enthralled by it and has played with it for long intervals of time.

Lucy also enjoys it, normally treating it as she does all toys, shaking it vigorously to 'kill' it.

The Trouble with Kitties

Hats are off here at the Menagerie to Ingrid and Curt and Lynda, for their cat-picture-taking skills. It's not easy to catch cats in the ideal poses, as Eric discovered with Jen's cats...

I took pictures with too much flash....

Or not enough light.....

And lots of pictures of the cats at the exact moment they decided to move out of the frame....

Bunny Princes?

Eric and Daniela are doing some cat-sitting for our friend Jen.

When we first arrived, the cats were rather apprehensive, especially Dayton.

Shoes were sniffed.... (here Paul does the honors)


Food was offered, which definitely helped.... though on our first visit, we put food in the cats' dishes and were puzzled as to why they seemed uninterested. We later discovered that we had tried to feed them dog food. They were much happier with the actual cat food.


And before long, we were allowed to scratch and pet the kitties to our hearts' desire. (Dylan soaks up the attention from Eric)


And Paul with Daniela

Fiat nix!

We're enjoying the first substantial snowfall of the season here at Menagerie central-- nearly 6 inches of fluffy snow, which, combined with our newly put up Xmas lights, makes for a nice picture.


The dogs' reactions to the snow varied a good bit. Moose has always been a fan of the white stuff and can't wait to romp around in it.


He has also always maintained that there are more good smells to be had when there's fresh snow on the ground.


Raz and Lucy, however, were less than impressed with Mother Nature's work...

After an astonished few steps in the cold snow, Raz retreated to the back steps and refused to budge. Lucy was coaxed into venturing a bit further, but she also went back as soon as she could...

New Menagerie members?

Last night here at the Menagerie, we had 2 surprise guests in the back yard. Though there was not enough time (or light) to get photos of them (I dug these up on the internet), all the dogs were very excited about them and barked 'hello' until the deer took off.

From the Archives

We were looking at some old pictures from the Menagerie archives.... Here's Eric's niece Anna (now almost 3 1/2) with the dogs on a trip to Connecticut in July 2004. Anna had met Moose before, but it was her first experience with the pugs. She definitely took to them immediately, not least because they were closer to her size. Her verdict: "Yoocy yikes to yick" (those "l" sounds were tough for a 2-year-old).



Here Anna rubs the mythical Moose Belly. Moose was extremely calm and gentle with Anna...


Anna got to take Raz for a walk (Raz hardly needs a leash-- she follows right on Daniela's heels at all times), something she quite enjoyed.