Eva Gordon's Blog, page 20

Hooty Owl-o-ween. This year's Halloween creature, the owl

Hooty Owl-o-WeenTrick or Treat From the Bestiary: The Owl

Last night I was on a night hike in a wooded wetland in Northern Texas. I heard the 'hoot' of the Barred Owl (Strix varia). 
The Barred Owl's call sounds like this: "who-cooks-for-you, who-cooks-for-you-all," and "who-who-who-who, who-who-who-whoowha" Listening to their calls and the song of the night insects made me feel in touch with twilight. Click on link to hear their calls
http://youtu.be/Id2A8yC_JJY


These days as the sun sets, we are tuned to electronics from TV to i-pads or driving with our radios blasting. I highly recommend going out in the woods and listening for your local owls and or other night critters. Imagine what hearing the hoot might have sounded like as you rode your horse through the dark forest on your way to deliver a message to King Guy on the Throne. [image error]

On Halloween, as you walk down the streets and to the storefronts, you will see a decorative owl or two. Throughout our history and across many cultures, people have had a great fascination with owls. You can spend days, reading about global owl myths and lore. The owl can evoke a series of emotions, from fear to admiration. Owls are associated with witchcraft and therefore a favorite Halloween decoration. 

In Romania, vampires were known as Strigoli, from the Roman word, strix, which referred to the screech owl. Strega, which is Italian for witch is also derived from the word, strix. They are also associated with medicine, birth, death, the weather, and wisdom.  According to Paul Johnsgard (North American Owls: Biology and Natural History, Smithsonian Institution Press), Mesopotamian tablets from 2,300 B.C. depict the goddess Lilith as "winged, bird-footed, and typically accompanied by owls," a significant association because Lilith was Sumeria's goddess of death. 

Pallas Athene--Greek goddess of fertility and power--was also affiliated with the owl, possibly "because of the nocturnal (and especially the lunar) . . . associations between female fertility goddesses and the cycles of the moon."

Owls have been associated with wisdom. A bird sacred to the Goddess of Wisdom, Athena. [image error]
To the ancient Romans, to hear the hoot of an Owl presaged imminent death. The deaths of Julius Caesar, Augustus, Commodus Aurelius, and Agrippa were apparently all predicted by an Owl."...yesterday, the bird of night did sit Even at noonday, upon the market place, Hooting and shrieking" (from Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar")
Fortunately, for me and other owl enthusiasts, owl hooting has not presaged our deaths. Though stumbling over a log in the dark, while listening to hooting can cause injury.So why has the owl earned a special place in our lore? Especially spooky lore. Allow me to muse.
For one thing owls are crepuscular, which means they come out at the most mysterious time of the day, twilight. The sun is setting, darkness rises and these nocturnal creatures become vocal and active. Man's fear of the dark, or night has added to the fear of the owl as a harbinger of death. 

Owls look so darn human. This is due to the position of their huge eyes. Unlike most birds whose eyes are on the sides of their heads, the owl's eyes look ahead as our do, and they have to rotate their heads to see all round them, again, as man does, but owls are a bit better at it, their heads can swivel nearly 180 degrees to each side, adding up to nearly 360 degrees. A pretty freaky thing to see.


Here are reasons why Owls appear supernatural:
They swoop in silently because of downy feathers. Without a warning the owl's powerful talons silently crushes the mouse.  Fan an owl's feather compared to another bird's feather to hear the difference.

Owls have amazing night vision and can see in almost complete darkness.
Their hearing is also superior and they can pinpoint a mouse's footsteps despite other ambient sounds. At a raptor center, there was one barn owl that was nervous around a handler. It detected that she had a heart murmur.

They have a ravenous (sorry ravens) appetite. Researchers found that one barn owl family can consume 3,000 voles/year. Owls are our best ally in eating rodent pests. The owl regurgitates undigested bones and fur called owl pellets or castings. Finding such pellets might have inspired ancient people to associate owls with death. 

Other reasons why owls contributed to eerie legends:
Often owl vocalizations and screeching cans sound very human and even evil.
Seeing a white owl at night might have been one of the reasons the lore of white ghosts evolved. Even recently mystery lights can possibly be blamed on owls. Or what about those aliens we call the greys with their owlish faces and huge black barn owl like eyes? 








Also, owls consume a lot of what we see as vermin, young rats, mice, rabbits and other small mammals who enjoy eating our cash crops or garden veggies. That they also occasionally eat song birds and snakes. Birds will often be seen mobbing owls. Did we identify with diurnal birds who deem the owl as a threat? 


So step outside and listen for the owl. If you do, thank him/her for keeping our rodent population down and wish them a Hooty Owl-o-ween. Hoot me comments.

Full Moon Interview with A Zombie

I have been a fan of zombie apocalyptic movies and books for a long time and I have two works in progress centered around zombies. This full moon, rather than interviewing my usual werewolf guest, I have decided to interview a zombie, Mr.Z  (real name is not used since the family only know he is missing). 
Where does one go to interview a flesh-eating mindless zombie? The answer is in a secret black ops underground lab somewhere in a desert. I am not allowed to give any more details than that.
How can I interview a mindless zombie? Though they can make sounds, they can no longer speak. However, with the help of Professor M. and the nanochip implanted in the zombie's brain, Mr. Z's answers will be interpreted by an advanced computer and sound like Mr. Z talking. Mr. Z will be secured, since he will be reacting to my living flesh and nothing more.
My Interview with Mr. Z
Professor M. gave me a private tour of the underground lab. He explained that prior to Mr. Z's infection, he was an unemployed store manager who was bitten near the secret lab. The lab was built to support zombie research and to prevent the pestilence.

I sat across from the mid-forties man. He was wheeled in, like The Silence of the Lamb's Hannibal Lecter, complete with heavy duty straight jacket , mask and strapped in. His eyes widened and he moaned. I felt a rash of goose flesh in that crawling fear of being eaten alive. His brain was exposed and was wired and soon connected to the computer. Professor M. : "Go on ask him anything." He removed his mask and immediately he snapped hungrily at him. Drooling and stuttering a moan, anxious to feed.  Me: "What are you feeling right now?" The computer buzzed and the zombie spoke in a stiff contrived manner, like a puppet. His skin was corpse-gray, and he was bald with thin hair in patches. His body smelled of decaying flesh. Somewhere between the stench of a rotting road kill and a landfill.Z: "Hunger. Hunger for your brain and guts." He then snapped his jaw at me.Me:  "So you won't be satisfied by animal flesh?"Z: "Only human flesh."Me: "Do you remember your past, who you were?"Z: "No." He shot out a stuttering moan and turned to me. "I am hunger."Professor M: "The zombie's hippocampus was damaged, but ask him about Jessica and Luther."Me: "Do you know a Jessica or a Luther."Z: "No. I only want to eat your flesh." He sniffed and fought his restraints.Professor: "You asked him if he knows his wife of fifteen years and his twelve year old son."Me: "Mr. Z, do you feel pain or sorrow?" Z: "Only hunger for living flesh."Me: "So if you were released, you would attack and do what?"Z: "Bite the first human I could reach and feed, then find another and another. Feed."Me: "Do you feel any emotions?"
Z: "Only rage when I attack to feed."Me: "I take it you don't remember how you ended up a zombie?" Z: "No."Professor:  "He took a back road in the desert. One of our escaped zombies got to him. We shot the zombie in the head and brought Mr. Z in and kept him in isolation. On the third day he died and quickly reanimated."Me: "So your lab created this zombie virus?"Professor: "The perfect doomsday biological weapon, but we never meant this to happen."Me: "Why keep this lab, why not destroy the zombies you experiment on?"Professor: "We are determined to find a cure. Besides, other labs around the world have similar zombie labs."Me: "And nobody knows."Professor: "Best to keep it a secret, otherwise panic would lead to chaos. Like nukes, this a weapon that we hope to never use."Me: "Yeah right," I muttered.
Z: He moaned and shook in his straight jacket. 
Professor: "Put him pack in his pen."  Black uniformed armed men came in and took him away.Me: "What can we do if some terrorist releases the virus or another zombie escapes?"Professor: "Have a vehicle loaded with enough food and water for a month and get as far away from populated areas as possible.  Pack guns and rifles, but when you run out of ammo, make sure you have a sharp machete, sword or ax. Keep in mind that the next siren you hear, might not be for an impending tsunami, hurricane or tornado but for zombie attack.

I thanked him for allowing me to see and speak to a real horror movie zombie and happy to return to the Bestiary Parlor. What is stranger than fiction is that there are real cases of zombie disease found in nature. The dreaded zombie-ant fungus.Blurbs taken from the Guardian about zombie-ant fungus http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/mar/02/fungi-zombie-ants-amazon?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487


"Records of "zombie-ant fungus" were made in 1859 by Alfred Russel Wallace, the great naturalist and contemporary of Darwin, who found two specimens in Sulawesi in Indonesia. Wallace also collected specimens in the Amazon to bring back to London, but he lost all of his material when his ship, Helen, caught fire and sank on the way home."
Today, scientists have discovered four new species of fungus that infects ant in Brazil six more species of the fungus in Cairns, Australia, home to some of the oldest rainforests on Earth.Blurb from the Guardian article:  "The lifecycle of the organism is extraordinary. Ants become infected with the fungus when spores land on them from above, or when they encounter them on the forest floor. Once attached, the spores use enzymes to get inside the ant's body where the fungus begins to grow. Within a week or so, chemicals released by the fungus cause the ant to wander off and bite on to leaf veins and other vegetation, moments before dying. Many ants are found in places where the conditions are perfect for fungal growth.Once the ant has died, the fungus slowly sprouts from its head and grows a pod of spores which are fired onto the forest floor at night, to infect other ants.The latest study reveals that some of the fungi produce spores that have a back-up plan if they fail to infect an ant within a day of being released. Spores that rest on the ground slowly grow a secondary spore that juts upright from the forest floor, where it can latch on to ants as they pass."
If you like mind-control microbes research about Toxoplasma gondii, a bacteria that tricks rats into risky behavior with cats.  This microbe needs to be ingested by a cat to continue its lifecycle.
Hmm? I wonder if such microbes are in underground bio weapons labs?

Do pick up Max Brook's The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z. 
Good idea to also pick up Roger Ma's The Zombie Combat Manual.  Very practical and I like he recommends to stay in shape. Running and doing weights is a good survival skill for when the time comes. 

Also, watch The Walking Dead.

Before this event happens I hope to have my own end of the world zombie story out. That would suck if I finished my manuscript and people turned into zombies.


Feel free to ask questions, just know I can't reveal the secret lab.

Report from Bigfoot Confenrence

Hi, Many of you know of my keen interest in cryptozoology and all critters of the Bestiary. In particular Sasquatch.  

I just got back from the Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy conference(TBRC ) held in Tyler, East Texas. 
I'm so jazzed as I'm especially interested in analyzing Big Foot (Giganthopithicus) scat to determine what exactly they are eating in the East Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas area.   

Just in Texas there are 19 billion acres of dense forest, free of humans.  There's plenty of food both plant and meat to sustain a large species of hominid. Bigfoot is not just a rare species that occurs in the Pacific Northwest or as the Yeti in Nepal, but rather is quite global. Sightings from most of the United States have been reported.


Me and Bigfoot head
Guest speakers included Dr. Jeff Meldrum and Dr. Ian Redmond, amongst a few local authorities on the Texas Bigfoot.Dr. Meldrum is no light weight. He is a physical anthropologist at Idaho State University and an affiliate curator for the Idaho Museum of Natural History. His research is centered on vertebrate—particularly primate—evolutionary morphology. His formal study of primates began with doctoral research on terrestrial adaptations in African primates, and has since taken him from the dusty skeletal cabinets of far-flung museums to the remote badlands of Colombia and Argentina in search of fossil New World primates, and to Asia to investigate intriguing reports of unknown primates.


As the acting director of the Center for Motion Analysis and Biomechanics (CMAB) Dr. Meldrum is collaborating with engineers, paleontologists, and the Idaho Virtualization Lab, to model the pattern of evolution of the hominid foot skeleton. His interests also encompass the evaluation of the footprints purportedly left by an unrecognized North American ape, commonly known as the sasquatch. He has authored an expanded companion volume to the very successful Discovery Channel documentary, Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science. I have the hard copy version.
He brought a vast collection of fascinating footprint track castings. His lecture included his report to a recent trip to Viet Nam, where an unknown bigfoot like hominid is thought to exist.

Dr. Ian Redmond is a well respected field biologist who has done extensive study on elephants and mountain gorillas. He was once Diane Fossey's assistant and was there when Digit, the silverback mountain gorilla was killed. He is the documentary filmmaker who introduced Sir David Attenborough to gorillas in 1978 for the famous BBC Life on Earth sequences, and he coached Sigourney Weaver for her award-winning role in the film Gorillas in the Mist (1987).

Me and Dr. Ian Redmond
He is active in numerous conservation groups such as The Ape Alliance www.4apes.com and the UK Rhino Group (www.rhinogroup.org.uk). He is the Chief Consultant and Envoy for GRASP – the UNEP/UNESCO Great Apes Survival Partnership, an organization he helped launch in 2001.

He shares my feeling that we must build trust with this rare North American hominid rather than harming them. Just like Jane Goodall and Diane Fossey did with chimpanzees and gorillas.
I felt so honored to meet Dr. Redmond since he knew Diane Fossey one my personal heroines for her efforts to conserve gorillas. Growing up, I wanted to be Jane Goodall and study chimps in Africa. Perhaps I will study the American giant ape, a possible Giganthopithicus.



The best part of the conference was meeting people who have witnessed Sasquatch individuals. There were hair samples and castings to look at and many DNA labs have reported human-like/primate DNA. Yes, maybe contamination or a close relative of Homo. At least other common species such as bear and coyotes have been eliminated as possibilities.

 Listening to recordings of wood knocking and calls reminds me of how the great apes behave and vocalize. Here is the famous Sierra recording:http://youtu.be/rMkXYzpGx3w


Feel free to ask questions or write comments if you want to learn more. I hope to investigate witness accounts, especially now since deer season is starting. Hunter sightings spike in the fall.

I'm Back

Dear followers of my Bestiary Parlor musings,

I have been ever busy writing a steampunk novel, a new shifter series and bugging my agent about the books she is trying to sale. We hope to sell my fantasy and wolf maiden chronicles series. Yes, I have my rights back for the first three books in my wolf maiden chronicles series. I have spare copies if you wish to purchase them, just drop me a line. I will keep you posted when they are sold. Naturally they will be revised and updated.




Now back to the Bestiary. I live in a deep forest called the Bestiary where animals both real and mythical can be found. It can only be reached from a portal located in a secret cave. I can travel to other realms but make my home in the Bestiary. I have a part time job as a naturalist at a local museum and wildlife sanctuary so I will spend more time in your realm


I will continue to interview creatures and have arranged with the mysterious Dr. Mansfield to interview a zombie he keeps in Lab Zero. I love zombies and have been a George Romero fan for years.Love the Walking Dead.  I enjoyed Max Brook's Zombie Survival books and World War Z. I just bought Roger Ma's The Zombie Combat Manual and I'm ready. Bring it on Zombies!



I will let you know when the interview is up. I will make it to the secret lab in a few weeks.

Got to go. The portal is opening.

Howling to you all! Especially writers. Come sign up for my Wolf Lore Class. Starts July 11, 2011

  Deadline for Registration is July 10
**CLASS BEGINS July 11** Call of the Wild: Wolf Lore, Truths and Myths Every Writer Should Know. Presenter: Eva Gordon. Yosemite Romance Writers. http://www.yosemiteromancewriters.com.







Call of the Wild : Wolf Lore, truths and myths every writer should know about wolves
Instructor:  Eva Gordon
Dates: July 11-25, 2011

A three week seminar for writers who are interested in writing about wolves and werewolves in their stories but who want more background on the basic biology and behavior of real wolves.  Writers will learn why the wolf evolved from admired archetype to savage, evil nemesis of man. The instructor will include original interviews of a few famous werewolves and the workshop will end with the students creating their own myths based on their created shifter characters.

Eva Gordon, author of paranormal lycan romance and fantasy, has a BA Zoology, MA Biology and a California Secondary Teaching Credential in the Life Sciences. Eva volunteers as a wildlife educator and has volunteered at the Howling Acres Wolf Sanctuary in Southern Oregon. She loves delving into wolf and werewolf lore.


Go to http://www.yosemiteromancewriters.com. For price information

I'm time traveling to the future to catch a vampire from the past

Dear followers,
I'm all geared up to hunt a vampire from the 1880s who is now in the present. Here I am after going through the aether generated worm tunnel.

Here is the vampire I followed through time.

He is dangerous so do not approach. Only I can reason with him since we have a past. I believe he is in Southern California.

Wish me luck,

Sadie

I will be doing an Author Reading at The Difference Engine Steampunk Summit

 Greetings and Salutations,I'm steaming through my new steampunk gothic romance series, The Bluestocking Adventure Parlor Club. Hand of Miriam is finished and I'm closing in on the rough draft of book 2. My world is an Alternative Victorian Universe with plenty of paranormal creatures, mad inventors, airships, lots of action and peril and of course a strong romance.  More news to come.In the meantime I will be doing an author reading about my Wolf Maiden Chronicle series and lecture on writing for this weekend's The Difference Engine Summit. More info for summit see below: A One Day Summit!
  The Difference Engine is proud to announce a one day summit coming to Fort Worth, Texas.

Date of Event: Saturday, June 4th 2011

Start Time: 10:00 AM - 6/4/11 (Registration opens at 9AM)

End Time: 2:00 AM - 6/5/11

Ticket Price: $20.00 per person & Children 10 & under are free if accompanied by a paid Adult badge. Get Yours Here!

Location & Information: Radisson Hotel in Fort Worth, Texas. 2540 Meacham Blvd., Fort Worth TX 76106. Hotel rooms will be $89 a night, and since there is another event taking place there, rooms should be booked ASAP.

Program information will be added as soon as possible. So stay tuned!

Flyer & Additional Information:

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Program Schedule:
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Jean Auel's Children of the Earth Series

Jean Auel's Children of the Earth Series

I have been a fan of Jean Auel since Clan of the Cave Bear first came out and since then I have identified with Ayla. She is an independent woman, an animal whisperer, inventor, and a healer. 
Jondalar, her mate is a hunky hot Cro Magnon. Romance and science. Being a science nerd who writes romance I loved their hot prehistoric love story. 

The animal loving zoologist in me just goes gaga with all the Ice Age animals such as horses, mammoths and of course the wolf. My dog is Wolf and I'm Ayla when we go on our run. 

I loved her imagery of the epic ice age landscape, respect her research and because of her inspiration and my visit to prehistoric caves in Northern Spain I took up painting cave art as a hobby. 

She did her homework.


The great outdoors and shamanism are interests I have in common with Ayla. Imagine all that space and then at night seeing the stars and dancing to drums around a bonfire.


I just finished the last in the series and despite the criticism (Amazon readers gave it bad reviews) about her plotting being repetitive and the Mother's Song repeated way too many times I still enjoyed it. 


I did not mind it when they greeted new friends with long introductions, naming their clan affiliations. It was not the type of plot driven story I'm used to but instead it was written in a journal style that made me feel I was back in the Ice Age.  It appealed to the naturalist in me. Here are the books in order:1.      The Clan of the Cave Bear , 19802.      The Valley of Horses , 19823.      The Mammoth Hunters , 19854.      The Plains of Passage , 19905.      The Shelters of Stone , 20026.      The Land of Painted Caves , 2011I'm also posting a youtube Jean Auel Interview at the Smithsonian Museum. I'm a sucker for Anthropology.






Love to see your comments about the series or the science behind the series.

"I have to say, it was quite a journey"

Full Moon Interview with Domesticated Rabbits (Full Moon is on May 17)

Dear Followers and friendly visitors welcome to Our Full Moon InterviewAs you all know rabbits and hares are common residents found in the Bestiary. This also happens to be the Chinese Year of the Rabbit/ Hare (no native species of rabbit in China so traditionally it was the Year of the Hare). In honor of the Year of the Rabbit, I thought this would be a good time to interview a pair of bunnies. First let's get the classification bit in (I'm in love with Taxonomy, the science of classification).


Scientific Name:
Oryctolagus cuniculus (common name Domestic or European Rabbit )
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Lagomorpha
Family:
Leporidae Genus Oryctolagus (rabbit) Lepus (hare)
 No not all rabbits are that big. The photo above is of a giant Flemish Rabbit. Note athletic body of hare.

Not sure where the Jackalope fits but that will be another day.




I hope this year we can learn about what the Year of the Rabbit(兔) symbolizes. It is a time when people will acknowledge persuasion is better than force. Diplomacy rather than war-drums. This is also a time when we can make money without too much labor. With the state of world politics and our economy I hope the bunny spirit gets us through tough times.A person born under the Year of the Rabbit will lead a tranquil lie. He/She is reserved, artistic, and a good scholar. The Rabbit is best and needed in the fields of law, politics, and government. My favorite person born in the year of the rabbit is Johnny Depp

Okay, sometimes, Rabbit is more like Bug Bunny, all about seeking his/her own pleasures, moody and sometimes indifferent. Good Bunny/Bad Bunny.

Rabbits have universal importance in other cultures. According to Ted Andrews, author of Animal Speak . (By the way, if you love animal lore and totems, his book is a must on any shelf.)

"Rabbit is associated with Eostra, the Celtic goddess of Spring,
and therefore associated with Ostara (or Easter).
This is the reason we celebrate with Easter eggs.
Rabbit is also sacred to the moon goddess Andraste,
the Norse goddess Freya, and the Greek god Hermes.
The Hare is associated with the moon
in many cultures including Native American, Hindi, and China."
According to D.J. Conway/Animal Magick:"Superstitions: The saying "Mad as a March hare" refers to the ferocious fights between male hares during the March mating season. During the Middle Ages in Europe, the hare came to be associated with witchcraft and black magick; they believed only a silver bullet could kill a hare."Interesting how silver bullets kill werewolves as well as hares. I would love to see a shifter series with werebunnies. 
Hmm. I'm putting that on my books to write list. Not scary enough? Try holding a kicking rabbit. There was a bad 1972 horror movie called Night of the Lepus (1972) about killer rabbits. Here is the trailer.



Children love stories with bunnies.





Basic Rabbit Facts:

Originated from wild rabbits of Central EuropeCave paintings in Spain show rabbits and hares.European rabbits were popular Pets during Victorian era.Rabbits breed all year. Gestation period is between 30 to 32 days. A liter of 3 to 9 bunnies are born and they are blind and naked. Bunnies are independent after 30 days.                                                    Male rabbits are called bucks;female rabbits are does.                                                         Kit and kitten can refer to a young rabbit. Rabbit Burrow
 Okay, running out of time. Let's get started

Today  I have the pleasure of interviewing two rabbits that live with my friend Beth(a great humorist and writer and fellow naturalist), her family of humans, canaries, hamsters and one handsome Golden Retriever, named Apollo. I think it's no longer PC to say pets so I usually say family members, companions and at times familiars.

Bunny Interview:

Eva: Please introduce yourselves.
Violet: Hi, I'm Violet.    I'm half lop (from my Mom)  and half dwarf from my Dad. I'm four years old.   
Peter: I'm Peter.  Only rabbits who don't know me call me a dwarf.  I'm incredibly macho and tough.  I was at the pet store for weeks and no one bought me.  Beth saw what no one else did. 
Eva: Tell us your age.
Peter: I'm seven.
Eva: How long do you live for? 
Violet: We live seven to ten years in captivity, far less in the wild.

Eva: Tell us about your living situation.
Peter: We have hutches surrounded by roomy pens in the front yard.  We greet anyone who passes by, in hopes of carrot, or at least a nose rub.

Eva: What do you guys like to eat? 
Violet:We eat timothy hay based pellets and fresh cilantro and spring mix.  Every once in a while we get a carrot, and when Beth wants to give us medicine, she embeds it in a banana, which is our all time favorite food.

Eva: Do you practice coprophagy? 
Peter: Yes, but we mostly  eat our initial smooshy poops, not our more well known dry round ones.  We don't have the enzyme to break down the ample cellulose in our diet, and so we need to rely on the microbes the live in our large intestine.  Unfortunately, that means we must run the food through twice through our digestive systems for the nutrients to be absorbed.

Eva: Is it true male rabbits are sex obsessed? I notice Peter acts enthusiastically.
Peter: Yes, there is a reason Hugh Hefner identifies with us. Being near the bottom of the food chain means we must constantly replenish ourselves. 

Eva:  I smile. Part of Survival of the Fittest means having more offspring that survive. Are your needs ever met?
Peter: Every once in a while I'll get to visit with a bunny lady. I have been known to hump human legs, which is not as satisfying. Beth should have gotten me neutered years ago, but now I'm too old.  Plus, my horniness is part of my personality. Peter sees above photo: Now that's what I'm talking about.

Eva: Is there any truth in breed like rabbits? 
Violet: The gestation period of a rabbit is only a month, and those babies can have babies themselves in a couple months. Best of all, we rabbits have no hang ups about coupling with our siblings, or daughters. 

Eva: I chuckle. Just like the Discovery Channel. Speaking of. (My mind always remembers penguins being eaten by leopard seals. Yep, damaged for life.)How do you react to danger? 
Peter: We have eyes on the side of our head, so we can see danger.  We have those amazing ears too.  When I sense danger, I stomp my feet to warn others.  Beth thinks the light underside of our tail is a warning for lollylaggers to get running too.

Eva: Tell us about your human family.
Violet: Beth does the vast majority of rabbit care.  Walker is the thirteen year old boy who has always identified with my compact macho-ness,  Lena is the ten year old girl that used to treat us like stuffed animals and now ignores us.  Reese has always ignored us, he tolerates us because he loves Beth.

Eva: What do you think of living with a dog, your born enemy? 
Peter: Last July, the family got a golden retriever puppy named Apollo. He barked pitifully when the family went out, but then he discovered me.  He sits near my pen, and tries to steal my cilantro and pellets. He even eats my poos when Beth isn't watching. Sometimes Beth lets us sit together.  He is my friend, but he acts weird when I hop, so I try to sit still. 

Eva: Tell us about your typical day.
Peter: I wake up very early, in hopes that the other pen is open so I can fornicate.  Beth checks my water and pellets.  I look at the other pen and think about mating.  I patrol my pen area like a lion in the savannah.  Apollo visits, and tells me about the television show he watched with the family last night.  I sunbathe a while, and eat some poo.  I eat some more, and pee and poo in my litter box.  Beth picks me up and kisses my head. I check out Violet and think about creating a son who is also my grandson.

Eva: Did you do anything special in celebration of the Year of the Rabbit? 
Violet: We looked at the rabbit in the moon and were reminded that we rabbits are an important part of the universe. 

Eva: Is it really lucky to carry a rabbit's foot? 
Peter: He thumps in rage. Anyone who carries a rabbit's foot is cursed by me and all breathen.

Eva: Who always win, turtle or hare and why? 
Peter: Well, we rabbits have a short attention span and lack follow through, but who would you rather cuddle? 
Eva: Laughs. Definitely a fuzzy little bunny. Hey friends and followers, feel free to ask Violet and Peter any questions. What do you all think of rabbits? Here is a link about Bunny Care and more: Hopper Home

Interview with Tower of London Raven

Cawing to all my friends who share my spirit guide, the Raven.  The entire globe is excited about William and Kate's Wedding. Those of you lucky enough to be in London, don't forget to visit the Tower of London Ravens. If you are on this side of the pond, fret not, I have had the opportunity to interview one of the Tower Ravens.
I'm a diehard naturalist who loves scientific nomenclature so let's give it up for the Common Raven, Corvus corax. (My personal political platform: teach people scientific names again!)

Kingdom: Animalia. This distinguishes animals from, say, plants. We are included in this KingdomPhylum: Chordata. This includes all animals which have, at some point in their, a 'notochord' running down the length of their bodies. The spines of vertebrates put them into this category. We share it with the birds.
Class: Aves. All birds are members of this class, whether they fly or not. Feathers and beaks. Sorry, we humans belong to Class Mammalia
Order: Passeriformes. Commonly called the 'songbirds', these are the 'perching' birds... the ones most people think of when they think of birds. Family: Corvidae. This family includes all the 'crow' type birds, including Magpies, Jays, Nutcrackers, Ravens, and, of course, Crows. The family emerged in the middle Miocene period (23.7 - 5.3 million years ago).
Genus: Corvus. This is the classification especially for ravens and crows. Within this genus are different species of both, but their scientific names all start with 'Corvus'. Species:  Corvus corax. The Common Raven ( Corvus corax) is one species of raven. Another is C. cryptoleucus, also known as the Chihuahuan raven, which lives in the SW United States and Mexico.

Interview with Cedric, Raven from the Tower of London

Eva: Who takes care of you and the others in the flock?

Cedric:  The Ravenmaster, also known as a Yeoman Warder. He makes sure we are fed, our cages cleaned and we have all day to do as we please on the grounds.  At dusk we return to our mews, usually without protests since at night there are the dangers of fox and cats.  After all our wings are clipped so there is no escape.

E: How long has there been a Ravenmaster at the Tower?

C: The post of Ravenmaster only goes back about 40 years. Before that, they were called Yeoman Quartermasters. We have always lived in and around the Tower of London.  Our free cousins laugh at us because we are never too far. Even during battles. Humans worry too much, though we don't mind war too much because it means more meat. E: What are you fed? C: Every other day we get a boiled egg and chopped apple, grapes  and if we are lucky  cheese. The best part is we get fresh meat and even my favorite, roadkill. That is if the Ravenmaster determines it's not too damaged. We all love blood soaked biscuits. Caw!

E: How many ravens are there in your flock?C: Always 6, as first decreed by Charles II I (1660-1685) to avoid calamity. On 22 June 1675, the King established the Royal Observatory at the Tower of London, housed in the north-eastern turret of the White Tower. The Royal Astronomer, John Flamsteed (1646-1719), allegedly complained to the King that the birds were interfering with his celestial observations. Charles therefore ordered their demise – only to be forewarned by an obscure soothsayer that: "if the ravens left the Tower, the White Tower would collapse and a great disaster befall the Kingdom".

E: And are there extra ravens in case anything happens to the ones in the Tower? C: Absolutely, but they are kept in wildlife parks until needed to serve our country. I'm never too fond on meeting replacements, especially since the humans can't tell the difference between male and females. Caw! Imagine?E: Do you enjoy visits from the human tourists?C: We do rather enjoy teasing them. We like to bark like dogs and perform numerous antics and watch their beakless mouths gape open. Humans think they are the only ones with a sense of humor and even think they are the only ones that can make tools. 
E: So you don't feel inferior to humans? C: Caaaww! Are you kidding we can fly so we don't need to invent cars and planes. And we don't  waste food.

E: Right, that ravenous appetite. Moving to a spookier subject. Do you see human ghosts here at The Tower of London?C: All the time.  Old ones, young ones and countless headless ones. E: Does it spook you to see them?C: No. We are messengers between the two worlds, this one and the next.  
E: Humans think of ravens as magical. Why do you think your presence here at Tower of London protects the British people?

C: It goes back to the tale of Bran the Blessed, the prophetic god-king Bran (which means 'Raven') asks that his head be cut off and buried on the White Mount in London, facing the direction of France. As long as his head remained buried there it would protect the kingdom. The Tower of London was later built on the site of the White Mount, and the magical protective power of the buried head was symbolized by our presence, fulfilling Bran's prophecy and ensures the safety of the realm.
E: Well, thank you for the interview. With the royal wedding bringing in so many visitors to London I'm sure you will get more than the usual visitors.C: Caww! It will be fun to grab ribbons and feathers from hats.Want more?  Although City of Ravens by Boria Sax is only available in England, I'm sure City of Ravens will soon make it to America.
City of RavensThe true history of the legendary birds in the Tower of LondonBoria Sax
·      ISBN 9780715640814·      May 2011·      £12.99 / Hardback, 256 pages ·      Subject: History' Boria Sax's book City of Ravens ... is both a delight and a profound illumination of his subject. ' Esther Woolfson, author of Corvus' Boria Sax traces the history of the ravens in the Tower of London, with accurate scholarship and engaging stories. Sax . . . reveals both the symbolic power and the true magic of the Tower Ravens today. ' John Marzluff, author of In the Company of Crows and Ravens
Want good music: Listen to Corvus Corax!