mythigal1966

[mythigal1966]

[mythigal1966]

This morning I came downstairs to discover that the dogs have invented a New Crime.

My husband get up very early for his Real Adult Job, and feeds Charleston (Black-and-cream Sighthound mix, mostly leg) and Herschel (40lb cardigan welsh crime tube), then lets them out into the fenced yard before he leaves.

I get up at the same time but take longer to boot up, so the dogs frolick about and discourage the local tree rats from lingering about the property while I get dressed/brush my teeth/try to not be psychologically crushed by The Horrors (TM)

Now it's pretty normal for me to find Herschel doing a high-speed yet startlingly efficient MC Hammer Shuffle on his stubby little legs around the base of the large honey Locust tree we have in the middle of the yard so he could keep his face pointed directly up the trunk at something in the canopy, because this his how he tries to herd squirrels.

...but Charlie is usually nearby, cheerfully play-bowing and encouraging the squirrel to come down, nothing bad will happen-!

This time Charleston is nowhere in sight.

I go outside to investigate and Herschel pauses to tackle me about the kneecaps as a greeting before returning to the tree.

Charleston is not behind the garden bins, nor in the side yard.

I am growing concerned, when I hear a telltale guilty scrape of claws above me.

Charleston is on the roof.

I shuffle out to the middle of the yard, until I can make eye contact with him.

He looks down at me, cheerfully wagging his tail, clearly anticipating praise for being such a clever boy.

I at least know how he got up there.

My house has a deck built off the second floor with a set of stairs leading up to it, and a large honey locust tree grows next to it. Part of the roof is easily accessible with a small hop from the deck.

The deck has only a minimal amount of railing ad the roof has none, so I blocked off the stairs with a board that was too high for Herschel, an inveterate explorer and criminal, to jump, but not Charlie.

I didn't worry about this at the time because Charleston is, in fact, The Best Dog In The Universe, and understands that even though he *could* easily jump various barriers, it would be *impolite* of him to do so.

Charleston is Extremely Polite and thus almost never commits any crimes.

...Almost Never.

Charlie has exactly two vices, which aren't even vices because his ancestors were bred for millennia to do these two exact things.

The first is that he is HIGHLY leash aggressive when I'm present (We were both attacked by a St. Bernard the first day I had him and Charlie has decided Strange Dogs Are Not Allowed To Approach Me)

The Second is that he has the Prey Drive From Hell.

He has chased bears and bulls with full murderous intent.

He almost got me arrested because he cut his leash to chase a pronghorn antelope in front of a park ranger.

It is only for the sake of my saftey and pursuit of prey that he will break the rules.

Today, he has his nemesis cornered

Charleston isn't clever the way Herschel is. He's never really explored using his toys as tools, whereas Herschel speedran the early stages of hominid tool use as a puppy. Arwen was a logistical sort of genius who managed to terraform my parent's yard into Rabbit Thunderdome.

Charleston's genius is... psychological.

If the Squirrels see both dogs, they run for the fence, but if they only see Herschel, they run for the tree.

Charlie is much better at tracking and guessing the route his prey might go, so Charlie runs for their preferred escape route of the tree instead of chasing them.

The squirrels compensate by running for the fence, which is farther away in general, but they have a head start on the dogs.

At Some Point, charlie managed to work out that if he stays in the shadows under the deck, the squirrels won't see his mostly-black body, especially when Herschel charges into the sunlight and catches it on his white ruff.

Charleston realized, long before I did, that there is only the ONE branch that overhangs the roof, and therefore if a squirrel runs up the tree, it only has ONE way out of the yard.

The real genius was combining all of the above into the realization that he could let Herschel charge the squirrels, run through the under-deck shadows and up to the deck and roof while the squirrels are distracted, and plant himself on the roof where the squirrels HAVE to land without them seeing him until it was too late.

-And so we stand this morning.

Herschel at the foot of the tree, preventing the squirrel from running back down and heading for the fence

Charleston square in the landing zone on the roof, at the ready

The squirrel paralyzed on the branch between them

...and me, only sort of awake and realizing that I'm probably the dumbest mammal here.

I need to figure out how to disentangle these beasts without anyone getting maimed. Charleston has the blood of his ancestors baying for the flesh of his nemesis in his ears. Herschel is dangerously close to figuring out how to get on the roof himself. The squirrel is contemplating some truly dire Maneuvers, including dropping out of the tree and assaulting me to buy time.

I haven't even had my coffee yet.

"Charleston." I say with a very aggravated sigh. "That's not where dogs go."

Charleston whimpers.

He has Disappointed (TM) me.

A fate worse than death.

He starts to walk back to the deck, but as he takes a step to leave, so does the squirrel, and he is pulled back by millennia of instinct.

This will require. Delicacy.

or delicacies.

"Stay. I'll be right back." I tell the dogs.

I go back into the house, and retrieve The Best Treat.

The Cat's Wet Food.

Both dogs crave this Most Forbidden snack with an irrational passion, and it is usually both out of reach in the cat tree AND defended by Mochi, who rules the dogs with an Iron Paw.

I return to the yard, and open the can in full view of both dogs.

"Charlie?" I call. "Do you want Wet Food?"

He is halfway down the stairs before I can finish the question.

Herschel switches his orbit from the tree to my person, and I have to shuffle to avoid tripping over them as we go back inside and the squirrel flees.

None of this is the new crime.

I go out with them later to pull Yet More Thistles, and a few minutes in, I hear a little 'huff' from Charlie.

I look up, and he's standing on the stairs, paw up to indicate he's going to jump over the barrier board and go right back up there.

You know.

...Unless there is wet food to be had.

The children have figured out how to commit extortion. I text my husband.

They're so smart! Do you think we can set them on the jackasses across the street? My husband asks, ever the practical man.

I'm going back to bed.

---

I'm a disabled writier who makes my living tellng stories. if you liked this, please consider giving me a Ko-fi tip, or pre-ordering the Family Lore book of stories on my Patreon. Thank you!

[mythigal1966]

Joli Poli | Barcelona Fashion Week 2025

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Sabina Bilenko | Underwater World

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From the article:

The project aims to plant 50,000 native violets over the next two years, with support from a grant awarded this year by the National Environmental Education Foundation to Freshkills Park Alliance. “Planting these violets is incredibly important to the ecosystem within Freshkills and also the region,” Mark Murphy, President of the Freshkills Park Alliance, said. “Our 2,200 acres of native grassland is not just a place of beauty, but a place of highly efficient carbon capture, of resilience, regrowth and environmental sustainability.” The violet project process began by removing invasive mugwort and Chinese bushclover from the grassland. The Greenbelt Native Plant Center team then tilled the soil and laid landscape fabric to prevent new invasive growth. [...] Over the next two years, the Freshkills Alliance science team will study the impacts of large-scale native violet planting. They will also reintroduce native pollinators to assess the success of the planting project and the challenges posed by global warming and the reduction of air safety regulations, Murphy shared.

Freshkills Park is built on the sight of an infamous decommissioned landfill that was causing harm to surrounding communities. The conversion from landfill to park takes time and the first parts of the new park opened in 2023. By the time it is fully complete, Freshkills Park will be almost three times the size of Central Park.

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“You need to fight your mind every time it tries to convince you that you are: not good enough, criticized, too serious, not interesting, not wanted, excluded, rejected, or laughed at.”

— Martin Brown

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Looks like I won’t be marrying Penelope…

Hopefully the upcoming film will have enough budget for the other 11 axes!

BTS, art refs and more here

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@allthefictionalboyfriends

Woot!

Guess who got straight A's and a 4.0 GPA for the second semester in a row?

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maskerade (1995)

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Cats getting caught doing crimes

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FASHION IN FILM ➤ PINK OUTFITS 💕

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When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.

Alexander den Heijer (via thoughtkick)

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Hass Idriss | Les Fables

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This suit helps people with mobility difficulties move around more easil...

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Have I ever mentioned that time I accidentally convinced the students of a college campus that the woods were haunted

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Hey y'all!

You know me now as Story, but some of you might remember me better as Vampireapologist or Mallaidh-Anne.

Thank you, as ever, for all you've done for me. My campaign is 46% funded, nearly 1/2! The August 1 deadline is still well away!

Your words of support since its launch continue to touch me.

You might know I am a fisheries biologist with a background in research-writing and museum management.

If you haven't seen my prior posts on the topic: I am thrilled to have accepted an offer to attend University College Dublin’s School of Irish, Celtic Studies and Folklore this autumn (2025).

My studies have been focused on the inextricable link between culture and ecology.

Although I graduated at the top of my class in my undergraduate degree, and I happily earned a small scholarship through community service work in 2022, I cannot afford the cost of attendance on my own. I am therefore turning to my community for support.

I do not ask lightly, and it is only after many months of encouragement and insistence of friends and family that I am taking this step. If you would like to know more about my program, my career, and what I am asking, please follow the link here:

Thank you for your support and consideration, whether or not you donate! <3