Today I discovered a website dedicated to sharing photos of cute food, cutestfood.com.
Here is the website’s logo:
Not all of the food is cute in the sense that it features cute animals, but there are a lot of adorable foods. I suggest taking a look at the site if you have a chance.
Here are some of the cute animal themed foods featured on the site:
Bear Ice Cream
Curry with an Alpaca on top
Bento Piggies
Dog Cake Pops
Elephant Pancake
Chick bread
Bento Puppy
I hope that everyone has a great day, gives thanks for all the blessings in their lives, and enjoys good food! While it is turkey day, there are two lucky turkeys whom President Obama pardoned yesterday that will live to see another day. This years turkeys are Liberty and Peace. They will go to live out the rest of their lives at George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate.
This modern tradition began in 1989, but there is a story that President Lincoln pardoned the first turkey in 1863. These special birds are chosen from birth for their appealing qualities and then receive special treatment. They are exposed to all sorts of distractions – pictures, noise, etc. – and hand fed so that they are tame and will behave well during the pardoning ceremony and while being photographed. Two birds are chosen so that if one dies before the pardoning then the other will be able to take its place.
You can watch here:
Have a great holiday everyone!
I discovered today that the Tanuki is an actual animal, not just the Japanese translation for raccoon.
My first experience with this animal was through Mario in Super Mario Brothers 3. The Tanooki suit was spelled differently than the actual animal, and it was always translated to me as the raccoon suit. With the recent release of the newest Mario game, Super Mario 3D Land, the suit is back and I decided to look into its origins.
Here is a picture of the first Tanooki suit:
Here is the latest version available in Super Mario 3D Land:
Now, here is the actual animal:
The Tanuki, or Japanese raccoon dog, is often mistranslated into raccoon or badger which are actually very different animals. Tanuki are members of the canidae family which consists of wolves, coyotes, and jackals – so they are not actually raccoons. They are rare outside of Japan, but have been part of Japanese folk lore since ancient times. In such stories they are considered to be happy but mischievous and absent minded creatures which can shape shift to hide or trick humans. Statues of these creatures can be found outside many temples and restaurants. They are prized for their fur.
In the US you can see an animated representation of these little guys in the movie Pom Poko from Studio Ghibli. The movie is rated PG.
I hope that everyone has a safe and fun Halloween!
To help make the day more enjoyable, here are some dogs in costumes:
Chewbacca
The Headless Horsemen’s Horse
Butter
Skeleton
;
Woof in the Wind
KitKat
Captain Sparrow
If you would like to see more amazing dog costumes check out the 25 Best Costumes at BuzzFeed. Note, the website might contain content not appropriate for younger viewers.
You can watch an online webcam feed of three Amur Tiger cubs at the Potter Park Zoo. The cubs named Ameliya, Kira, and Savelii were born on September 13th, they will remain in the nursery area until December. You can watch them at all times, but feeding times are 8am, 12pm, 4pm, and 10pm Eastern Standard Time.
To see the babies visit potterparkzoo.org.
Here is a picture of Amur Tiger cubs:
Today I discovered a couple of rather funny dog toys that serve as a fun play thing and a photo opportunity.
1. Humunga Tongue
A rubber ball with a large rubber tongue attached, this toy is available in multiple sizes for small to large breeds (by weight). You can buy it on Amazon.com from 6.99 – 8.99.
Here is what the toy looks like by itself:
2. Humunga Stache
Here is what they toy itself looks like, again a rubber ball with a rubber mustache shape attached to it:
This toy is also available at Amazon.com for around $10, and available for different sized dogs.
The company also has a different version – the Humunga Stache and Beard.
These are great to have around as a funny alternative to a dog Halloween costume, or just for the laughs and picture opportunities.
Do you dress your pet up for Halloween? I have seen a few rather interesting costumes available for purchase this year and wanted to share a few of them.
Raptor Costume – $24.99 from Party City
Stegosaurus Costume – $34.99 Party City
Triceratops Costume – $9.99 Party City
Hot Dog Costume – $9.99 – 12.99 at Target
Elephant Costume – $34.99 at Party City
Ladybug Costume for Ferrets – $8.55 on Amazon
Skunk Costume – $9.99 for small at Amazon
Catapillar Costume – $39.98 at Amazon
Dapper Dog Costume – $14.99 at NewEgg
Flinstones Dino Costume – $11.63 – 28.71 on Amazon
GEICO released an extended version of their commercial which features Guinea Pigs Rowing a boat directly to YouTube. The new version explains how he taught them and it actually features a couple real guinea pigs:
Animal Planet is having an online photo contest featuring your photos of puppies and babies with a chance to win $5,000! The contest is currently open for picture submissions, and online voting will begin Saturday October 22.
The rules for the contest are at animal.discovery.com.
Here are the steps they list to enter the contest:
1. Find (or take) a picture to submit of a puppy or baby no more than 18 months old at the time the picture is taken. This means you can submit pictures take a number of years ago. The complete rules for what pictures are eligible for entry can be found here.
2. Submit the photo with your information (and a bit about the subject in the picture) on the contests main page.
3. Vote on October 22 – the votes will determine a top baby and a top puppy to compete in the championship round.
The baby and puppy that make it that far will get $5000!
I wish that I had pictures of one of the two to enter, but I have only ever had one puppy and he hated having his picture taken. I look forward to seeing all the pictures – and to see which make it to the final round.
I have had dreams since I was much younger of having a guinea pig costume. Well, my mom could not sew and I knew no one who would be willing to help me design one once I was old enough to start really caring about having a cool costume for Halloween costume contests. I still do not have such skills and have only ever purchased costumes from stores.
Today I found this video:
I do not know what “The Magic Cuy” is, because the actual commerical is not in english, but I think the costume is amazing!
Here are some of the commercials I believe the costume was made for (not in English):
I would love to be able to have such skills in at least crafting the lower half of a guinea pig costume. I would not make a mechanical head because that would be impossibly difficult for me and I think it would be overly expensive for a Halloween costume. The company that I believe made the costume has created a lot of other animal and creature costumes for different commercial use.
