This week's Link Dump is sponsored by the newest members of the Strange Company staff. A word of explanation: a while ago, one of the--sadly, many--feral cats in my neighborhood decided that my backyard was the perfect spot for her five feral kittens. Thankfully, I was able to find a woman nearby who runs a cat rescue organization. She loaned me traps for the family and helped me bring them to a nearby non-profit clinic that spays/neuters strays. (A million thanks to the wonderful people at Valley Vet!)
Incidentally, after the experience of humanely trapping six wild kitties, I now truly know the meaning of "as difficult as herding cats."
Anyway, the result is that along with my four indoor crew, I now have a half-dozen in my backyard to feed, pet, and generally worry about. The mom and two of the kittens are still wild and won't let anyone get near them, but at least they won't be adding to the local stray population. Three of them, however, have become my best buds. They now live only to eat, sleep, chase squirrels, and have their stomachs rubbed. Here are two of the lazy sods:
This is Jimmy. I call him that because that nose reminds me of Durante.
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| Never a dull moment at Strange Company HQ. |
On to the links!
What the hell are earworms? Now we know!
How the hell was the Great Pyramid built?
Who the hell was Marco Polo?
Watch out for the Bunyip!
Watch out for those cursed wells!
Watch out for the Loch Ness
Watch out for those fault lines! For more than the reason you'd think.
The "lost chapter" of "Dracula."
What to do if you're unlucky enough to encounter a serial killer.
Stealing the Great Seal.
The worst soldier.
The violent election day of 1864.
Creating Georgian fires.
The mysterious Mount St. Helens.
"On being over-fond of animals."
This week's Advice From Thomas Morris: Reconsider wearing rings.
And folk medicine is not necessarily to be ignored.
If you want to own Eva Braun's underpants, here's your big opportunity.
The case of the drag queen's closet.
Mexico's "zone of silence."
So, how dirty were medieval people, anyway?
The dental detectives.
The Festival of Reason.
On the dangers of guarding your home against ghosts.
Some of us don't need to justify being an old maid with cats.
A Swedish "mass disappearance."
A remarkable French castaway.
Stealing the Princesse de Lamballe.
Conspiracy theory of the week.
Tudor political advice.
The yacht fit for a Czar.
What it was like to work for Stanley Kubrick.
How an English village became the world's most unlikely tourist trap.
A Tibetan ghost story.
A Sumatran stone spirit.
Two Frenchmen duel in England.
Calico Jack, the dandy of the Caribbean.
An Egyptian funeral boat.
The Duke of Wellington meets Napoleon's wife.
A flaming apparition.
An ancient baby buried upon a swan's wing.
A famed airship cat.
A powerful 15th century royal mistress.
A canard about a canard?
The execution of a werewolf.
The death of the Leu von Mitternacht.
A complicated German ghost legend.
How Britain obtained the Rosetta Stone.
The hard life of Indian seamen in WWII.
This week in Russian Weird: a guy is looking for a Siberian monster.
And marvel that at the modest, understated style of Russian millionaires.
And thus ends yet another WLD. See you on Monday, when I'll be presenting an English schoolboy's ghost story. In the meantime, here's a bit of Italian baroque.
Good for you for looking after those strays. It's not easy, but sometimes we worry about creatures almost without meaning to, or even wanting to. It is immensely to your credit that you are watching over them.
ReplyDeleteAs for the stories in the dump, I was interested in the one about the duelling Frenchmen. It's rionic that not long before, Britons would cross the Channel the other way, to fight duels in France where they were tolerated. I'm rather relieved that Berthelemy didn't get off so leniently after his second killing. One can press the luck of one's foul temper only so far.
Congratulations on your rescue kitties! My own rescue kitties are 2 and 3 years old now. Like you, I had some unwed kitty mothers who had their babies outside, so I took them all to the vet and got them neutered. Apparently this is called "trap-neuter-release" (TNR), but although I released them, most of them still come around to get the free kibbles at my house. I love your photos!
ReplyDeleteBTW: Anyone else who wants to try this, there are instructions on the care & feeding of the wild kitties at alleycat.org. The main thing is to get them neutered, to avoid a population explosion. Often the kittens become tame, and make great pets. The wilder kitties won't socialize, but they will hang around and eat all the mice and squirrels that are trying to nest in the loft of your garage/barn.
I only wish I could bring them inside my house and give them a real home, but there's just no room at the inn!
DeleteTook in a new rescue a week ago Friday - folks had moved and dumped him, some people don't deserve pets.
ReplyDeleteKeep a close watch on Jimmy, remember the original Durante had a million of 'em...