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Quirky Folk - January 2008

The Missing Crab

January 31st 2008 21:00
My parents liked buying live crabs from the local fish market. The crabs would come home still with protective binding around their bodies and my parents would put them in the laundry sink. There they will stay until they were ready to be cooked.

I felt sorry for the crabs. Often I would go over to the sink and watch them. Enraged, they would lift their bodies up and if their pincers were free, I’m sure I would have received several painful pinches. I can’t blame them. I would have done the same thing if I was in their position.

One time, a crab went missing. We were amazed as the walls of the laundry sink were at least a foot high so we could not see how a crab with its pincers and legs bound to its body could lift itself over the laundry sink and escape. But escape it did. My parents searched through every conceivable nook and cranny but still they couldn’t manage to locate it. My parents finally gave up.


It wasn’t until several months later when my parents were moving one of their heavy beds that they found a crab shell under the bed. The thought of it lying there dead all those months, possibly being fed on by maggots still gives me the willies to this day. Not to mention the pain it must have been in – firstly having sore muscles from being bound for days on end out of its natural habitat and then starving to death.

crab
Used in accordance with the terms of Wikimedia Commons’ GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
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Susan is Attacked by a Leech

January 30th 2008 21:00
I have a very vivid memory of my sister Susan being attacked by a leech. She was about one year old and could hardly speak. I was sitting next to her in the car and Susan kept whimpering. Being a kid, I didn’t pay much attention to it. Neither did my oldies. But when our parents decided to take a break from driving, they noticed not only was she whimpering, but she kept playing with her ankle. My mother decided it was time to take a closer look. Lo and behold, my sister was busy trying to pull a leech off from her ankle. My mother started to freak out. My father mentioned something about putting salt on the leech in order to remove it. So my parents drove to the nearest petrol station and got some salt and did that. It must have done the trick as the next thing I remember is seeing the leech on the ground and my parents setting it alight. Poor Susan had no idea what was going on. Neither did I. I kept wondering what the fuss was all about and now that the leech had been removed, did it justify my oldies going to all that trouble of burning it to death?
Leech
Photo by Paul Paquette. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
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My Fellow Caterpillar Phobics

January 29th 2008 21:00
I was trying to Google the technical term for caterpillar phobia since I suffer from it. I couldn’t find it but I found this interesting web page instead:

Caterpillar Phobics web site

I couldn’t believe there were others who were just like me, or even worse. Most of my friends aren’t caterpillar phobics so they find my phobia weird. My friend Fred likes to chase me around the garden with them. When I was on holiday a few weeks ago, I was catching up with Fred and made the mistake of pointing out there was a caterpillar on the ground. It looked liked one of those tent caterpillars – grey and black and furry. So what does Fred do? He sticks his finger next to it and pushes against it several times. He said it felt soft and furry like stroking a cat but there was no way I was going to suss this out for myself.

Mind you, after reading all the posts on the above thread, I realised my caterpillar phobia wasn’t as bad as some people’s. At least I can bring myself to touch dead ones. There was one time I was eating at one of my favourite restaurants when I found a tiny light green caterpillar on my plate. It had been obscured by the leafy green vegetables. I decided here was my chance to (sort of) overcome my phobia so I touched it with the tip of my finger. Being dead, it didn’t freak me out as much as if it had been alive. So I pushed it around my plate a couple of times before I told the restaurant what I had found. The manager was horrified and kept apologising. I was okay about it as the caterpillar was about 3 millimetres long and had been cooked in a light green sauce so it was easy to miss.

Still, I could relate to the caterpillar phobics’ stories about avoiding trees and constantly looking around in case there’s a caterpillar nearby that could fall on you. I can also relate to their stories about checking their clothes in case they are walking around with one on their back.

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Cats for Sale as Food

January 28th 2008 21:00
I had read about a cat being skinned alive in the paper and was doing a Google for more details when I stumbled across this web site which talks about cats being sold as food and for their fur.

Cat website
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My Old Man’s Sayings

January 27th 2008 21:00
[COLOR=BlackMisanthropy must run in my family. My father AKA my old man was never particularly fond of people. He didn’t mind animals but he went out of his way to avoid any contact with people.

His reclusive behaviour started after he invited several friends to his birthday party and only one of them turned up. After that, he cut off all ties with people. (I actually can’t blame him. I think I would have done the same thing myself.) So he seldom ate out, had no friends and was perfectly content to spend his twilight years as a hermit with only my mother for company


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My New Feline Friend

January 24th 2008 21:00
I was really feeling down over the weekend. As I told my best friend Andrea, any problems I experience have one common denominator: people.

To take my mind off my problems, I decided to go on a walk. I went down the stairs near my place and I heard some loud miaowing from the nearby shrubs. I looked and saw this brown tabby cat miaowing at me. I had come across this cat before and it seemed friendly. Next to the tabby was its friend, the grouchy tuxedo cat (it had tried to bite me when I tried to pat it one day. I’ve never been near it since.) The tabby kept miaowing at me and came out of the bushes. It lay on the stairs so I let it sniff my finger. Then I proceeded to pat it until someone else came along and the cat raced off.
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The Kentucky Fried Chicken Game

January 23rd 2008 21:00
KFC_chicken_potato
Photo by Moja. Used in accordance with the terms of Wikimedia Commons’ GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
It was another hot summer’s day and Andrea was teasing me for being too sooky to climb on and then walk along this huge pipe that ran along the back of the nearby university’s grounds. My sister had a go but she almost fell over, hence my hesitation. No amount of teasing by Andrea could get me to climb on top of that thing so she soon gave up and we proceeded to walk to the university’s sports centre.

Just outside the sports centre we found a nice grassy spot so we decided to play games with the tennis racket and tennis ball Andrea had brought along. The trouble was, we were still bored and didn’t want to play any ball games that we already knew of. So I invented the Kentucky Fried Chicken Game. I got my sister, Andrea and I to form a triangle. We then decided who would toss the ball and who would run. The third person would act as first base while the person who tossed the ball would be second base. So the game was similar to soft ball except that if the person who was doing the running couldn’t get to second base in time, they would turn into a piece of KFC and the remaining players would laugh at her. We lasted two games before Andrea got bored again and teased me for creating such a stupid game.
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Scruffy the Silky Terrier

January 22nd 2008 21:00
Silkyterrier125
Photo by Scott and Don Fletcher. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
One of the benefits of being best friends with Andrea is having a friend whose imagination was as wild as mine and who appreciates my imagination. Not to mention her sense of humour.

I have a memory of being inside Andrea’s house one day. It might have been raining; as normally Andrea and I would play outside on the swing set, walk up the road to the local tuckshop and get $1 worth of jelly babies (we always told the tuckshop lady, “No black ones, please.”), followed by an afternoon stroll around the university that was opposite her house.
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Mandy the Sheep

January 21st 2008 21:00
Sheep at Woodhenge
Photo by Dickbauch. Used in accordance with the terms of Wikimedia Commons’ GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
As a child, I loved hanging around Andrea’s house. It seemed a lot more fun than my place where my parents were obsessed with keeping the house spotless. At Andrea’s there were lots of toys to play with, tons of magazines to read, a swing set in the backyard and the university just across the road. Not to mention the shy yellow Labrador next door.

Andrea’s other neighbour had a sheep in her backyard so that was another attraction. The sheep was called Mandy and she baa’ed a lot. I used to like to look over the fence and watch her. Mandy didn’t seem to be in the best condition so Andrea’s mother gave any leftover bread to Andrea to feed her. So Andrea and I would stand near the fence and throw the bread over to Mandy. Mandy would come running, baa’ing all the way.
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Olwen is Mistaken for a Mother Duck

January 20th 2008 21:00
Ducks_and_poultry
Photo by Fir0002. Used in accordance with the terms of Wikimedia Commons’ GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
My friend Olwen grew up on a farm in New Zealand. When she was little a duckling happen to hatch just as she was nearby. You know how people say the first thing a duckling sees is assumed to be its mother? Well, that happened to Olwen. When the duckling cracked opened the egg with its egg tooth and saw Olwen, it assumed Olwen was Mummy Duck. From then on the duckling (and later, duck) followed her around constantly.

What’s an egg tooth you must be thinking. Well, when a duckling is ready to hatch, it has a small tooth on the top of its bill. It uses it to crack open the egg and the egg tooth falls off a few days later like an umbilical cord. Ahhh, so cute….
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Higgins Sits on my Stuff

January 17th 2008 21:01
Higgins Moving Towards my Stuff
Higgins Moving Towards my Stuff
Being around cats a lot, I’ve noticed they have funny ways of showing they like you. For instance, Higgins and Miggins often will put their front paws on my hand or arm. My neighbour says it’s their way of showing ownership. It also feels nice except when they get carried away and literally get their claws into me. When this first happened to me, I acted purely on instinct; I pulled my arm swiftly from them and ended up with scratches on it. My neighbour taught me to instead say, “Gentle” and to slowly lift the paw and take it off my arm. “They think you’re another cat who doesn’t feel their claws,” explained my neighbour.

This knowledge came especially handy when I was playing with one of my friend’s Tonkinese cats. The Tonk lay on his back and let me pat his belly but a few moments later, he bit my hand. At the same time, all four of his paws were on my arm, his nails digging into me. I said, “Gentle’ and proceeded to slowly remove those paws. Once the paws were out of the way, I could then withdraw my hand from his mouth. I ended up with no scratches on me, although I did have a small bite mark on one of my knuckles.
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‘Evil’ Higgins

January 16th 2008 21:00
Evil Higgins
Evil Higgins
I showed this photo to my workmate, Nim. He said “That is evil”. Really? I can see from his cat-hating point of view that Higgins does look diabolical. He’s so dark and his eyes seem to see right through you. But to me, he looks as handsome as a prince, with those big yellow eyes of his. He can gaze at me like that any time.

Speaking of which, I’ve heard that cats don’t like people looking at them. Maybe that’s true for the majority of them but not in the case of Higgins and Miggins. I can look at them all day long and they let me. Higgins, however, doesn’t like being filmed or photographed. The moment I get a camera out, he seems to know something’s up and will turn his head away from the camera. It’s so hard to get good footage of Higgins. Some days I really have to keep trying before I get a good photo or clip of him so I’m glad I’ve got this snapshot of him.
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Working Amongst Cat Haters

January 15th 2008 21:00
Cat_odd-eye
Photo by Stovelkor. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
“I hate cats,” says my workmate Jeff. “They just sit there and do nothing. You can’t play fetch with them like you can with a dog. They’re just boring.” If I make “cat noises” (as my workmates call miaowing) Jeff will go, ‘Shut…up…” or “Stop making cat noises” while Nim will say, “Shut up, kitty.”

Another time, we were thinking up other words which KFC could stand for.
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The ‘M’

January 14th 2008 21:00
My sister thought I was making this up when I told her all tabbies have an M on their forehead. This was until I showed her some pictures of tabbies and she could see the M for herself. Since she was viewing the pictures upside down, she said the M could also be a W, depending on one’s vantage point.

But the M is one of those things you don’t notice until someone points it out to you. That’s what I think anyway. I only found out about the M from reading cat books. I knew what tabbies were and how they had stripes on their faces but I never noticed they formed an M. Now, of course, I see it straight away whenever I see a tabby.
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One Ugly Cat?

January 13th 2008 21:00
This is a photo of one of my friend’s Tonkinese cats. I keep this photo at my desk at work. Many a colleague has come up to me and said they don’t find this cat attractive. In fact, Jeff, one of cat-hating workmates, went so far as to tell me he thought this was “one ugly cat.” Even my cat-loving neighbour says she finds him ugly. She calls him Bruiser.

I find all this negative talk funny. They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder but I love this photo. I think he’s so cute. It also helps that I know the cat personally and when you see him in the flesh, he looks much cuter and smaller than he appears in the photo.
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Lenny and Riley

January 10th 2008 21:00
Lenny and Riley are two cats that like to hang around near a museum in the Rocks in Sydney. Lenny is a tuxedo cat while Riley is a ginger tabby. I see them almost every weekend, when I am walking around the Rocks area. Lenny is shy but Riley will often come up to me, wanting back rubs. I worry about Riley as he often likes to lie or sit under cars, especially on hot days. One of these days the poor little bugger will get run over.

Lenny, in contrast, likes to sleep in the drain. It looks so cute as the drain is just wide enough to accommodate his little body. I wonder who owns the cats. There are always bowls of food and water lying around so someone must take care of them. Sometimes, the sight of them lying around in the sun surrounded by food and water makes me wish I could swap places with them, especially if it’s a Sunday and I start thinking about going to work the next day…
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My Sister’s Goldfish

January 9th 2008 21:00
Goldfish in Bowl
Goldfish in Bowl
It had been a couple of weeks since my sister had cleaned out the fish tank and the sides of it were turning green with algae. So she decided it was time to fix up their home. First she put the goldfish and some of the water from the tank in a bowl. Then she cleaned the tank. Finally, she poured fresh tap water into the tank and put some water ager in it. She said the water ager changes the water so that the fish are able to swim and live in it.

The fish were now ready to go back to their home. My sister grabbed the bowl and tried to pour them into the tank. The fish hesitated so she gently nudged them back into the tank with her hand. They behaved oddly at first but after several minutes they had adjusted their bodies to the new water and were ready to play again.
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Peacock in the Garden

January 8th 2008 21:00
How does a misanthrope spend their Xmas break? At the zoo of course! And because Xmas day was cold and overcast, it was a perfect day for me to go. It looked liked it was going to rain any minute so there weren’t as many people so I got to see all the animals without having to be stuck in a crowd. Naturally, there were fewer children.

Towards closing time, my sister and I wandered to where the garden was and we saw a peacock sitting on the grass, amongst the flowers. It sat there for 10 minutes or so, every now and then calling out. It then fluffed up its feathers, got up and that was when the few people who were there got excited. I’m sure we were hoping the same thing: that he would display all his feathers for the world to see. And what a pretty sight, right amongst all those flowers! But it didn’t go according to plan: the peacock simply got up and wandered around the garden. I kept waiting and waiting for the fine display which never came. After several minutes of strolling, the peacock jumped up onto the hedges before jumping down onto the surrounding concrete ground and walking off.
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Higgins and Miggins Listen out for Visitors

January 7th 2008 21:00
My neighbour lives in a large studio and often has the TV on. She also likes to cook a lot so often she is away from the door when her visitors arrive. So how does she know if there’s a knock on the door? Easy. She just looks at her cats. Whenever they hear a sudden noise such as a knock, their ears will prick up and they would look around, trying to locate the source of the noise. So if my neighbour is ever unsure about whether or not she’s just heard a knock on the door, she will look at her cats. How cool is that? So if she ever goes deaf, all she has to do is look at her cats and she will know whether or not she’s got a visitor.

Like most cats, Higgins and Miggins dislike loud, abrupt noises. They also dislike loud music and people shouting. So I have to be careful not to raise my voice in front of them.
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The Frog: Fred’s Alter Ego

January 6th 2008 21:00

My friend Fred loves frogs which is why he calls himself the Frog. I’ve lengthened that to Froggo, which is what I like to call him. It’s funny as he hates his name but for a frog lover, having the same name as Freddo Frog chocolates is so apt!

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One Cute Cat Book

January 3rd 2008 21:00
Your Cat Book
Your Cat Book
This one cute cat book. I just adore the cover. I wish I could actually make this cat materialise and take it home. It looks so beautiful and loving. Just thinking about patting it calms me.

And the book is a pretty interesting read, too. The author, Elizabeth M. Hodgkins, talks about how feeding cats dry food can cause all sorts of medical problems. Hodgkins argues certain commercial cat foods are not designed to meet cats’ daily nutritional requirements and that cat foods containing apparently harmless ingredients such as fruit, corn, rice or potatoes actually cause more harm than good. This is because cats are ‘obligatory carnivores’, meaning cats must eat meat as that is what their digestive systems are designed for. So there’s no point or nutritional benefit in feeding cats so-called ‘healthy products’ such as fruit. Check it out. It might make you think twice before you feed you cat.
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Higgins and Miggins go on a Diet

January 2nd 2008 21:02
Higgins 2
Higgins at rest
Higgins and Miggins live a pleasurable life. They get fed dry and canned food and raw meat every day. During winter, my neighbour turns on the heater so they can sit in front of it. During other months, she lets them sit out on the balcony. Miggins, in particular, like to stick his front paws over the front of the balcony and watch people and cars go by. They also get the occasional treat of ham. My neighbour will dangle a piece of ham in front of them in the kitchen and Higgins will reach up and grab it. Miggins, being a more reserved cat, will simply sit there and wait for my neighbour to leave a piece of ham in front of him. They also love cheese.

The problem with feeding them snacks such as ham and cheese is that the cats get fat, especially during winter when the weight starts to pile up. My neighbour carefully monitors their weight and will put them on a diet from time to time. It’s the same as designing a human diet: she stops feeding them ham and cheese and cuts down on the cat food she gives them. It doesn’t take long before they are back to being in the healthy weight range. And what is a healthy weight for a cat? According to Dusty Rainbolt, author of Kittens for Dummies, a cat should look like an hourglass when viewed from above. Good tip. That always makes me think of my friend’s Tonkinese cats, as they have a lean build and definitely have that hourglass shape when I look down at them.
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The Purr of a Cat

January 1st 2008 21:02
CIMG0019
Photo by Ben Thackray. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
People know cats purr when they feel content but did you know they also purr to comfort themselves when they are feeling distressed? Mother cats also purr when giving birth. Some cats purr louder than others. For example, Higgins, my neighbour’s cat, purrs very softly. It’s not until I put my ear next to his neck that I can hear the low rumble of his purring. On the other hand, my friend’s Tonkinese cats can be heard purring a metre away. The rumble they produce is like that of a motor running and they sound so happy.

Apparently another sign of feline happiness is when a cat sticks its bum in the air in front of you. Sometimes, Higgins or Miggins will do this and I get a nice view! My neighbour says that is their way of saying they like me.
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