The cats don’t tend to visit me while I am working, but for some reason they did today. Maybe they know I am in my step son’s bed room and he’s flying home from the UK today. He is currently in the air, on his way to London to grab a connecting flight to Boston. Can the cats sense that?
Anyway, I took some pic because that’s what I do.
Lily promised me she wasn’t the one who messes with the plant clipping I wrote about yesterday.
Yeah, whatever you say, feline. Whatever you say.
Given the frequency with which I post pictures of cats, the expectation here may be that I am going to compare myself to a cat. That comparison works in some respects but not others. Cats sleep all day. They are often considered to be lazy. Well, domesticated cats are at least. Those are qualities that I feel are accurate descriptions of me. Unfortunately, cats are also known to be ass kicking hunters who are always down with killing everything around them. They are very much pro-slaughter. Those are not accurate descriptions of me. I’m a peaceful guy. Maybe even a pacifist (unless we’re dealing with Yankees fans… or fascists).
So no, cats are not animals that I would compare myself to. Sorry. I asked Google Bard, or whatever it’s called now, to give me a list of animals that might work.
Here is what I asked, “give me a short list of animals that are known to be slow and lazy and are easy prey for predators.” (note, the response is slightly edited as it included images and some links which I have removed)
Here are some animals that are known to be slow and lazy, making them easy targets for predators:
- Sloths: These masters of hanging around are incredibly slow-moving due to their low metabolic rate. This means they spend most of their day sleeping or hanging motionless in trees, making them easy pickings for jaguarandi, harpy eagles, and even some snakes.
- Pangolins: These unique mammals are covered in tough scales, but they’re also slow-moving and have poor eyesight. When threatened, they roll up into a ball, which can protect them from some predators but not from determined ones like tigers and hyenas.
- Armadillos: While some armadillos can burrow quickly, they’re generally slow-moving herbivores. Their main defense is their bony armor, but jaguars, cougars, and large snakes can still break through it to get to the animal inside.
- Koalas: Koala spend most of their days snoozing in eucalyptus trees. This slow lifestyle makes them vulnerable to predators like dingoes and pythons.
It’s important to note that being slow or inactive doesn’t necessarily mean an animal is defenseless. These animals have evolved other strategies to survive, such as camouflage, venomous bites, or prickly defenses.
https://gemini.google.com/app/855452ea7906df52
Those are all good. Well, Koalas are super cute so they don’t work. Armadillos and pangolins… I think their defenses are too good to relate to me. That leaves sloths. Full disclosure, I was planning on using sloths for this post even before I went to the Google for advice.
Sloths! That’s the animal I compare myself too. Slow… lazy… all they do is eat and sleep and hang around… kinda painful to look at…
Yeah, that’s me. Call me Robbie the Sloth. Best animal comparison ever.
Happy Friday, everyone. Hopefully Friday has meaning for most if not all of us. It has extra meaning for me this week. Starting this month my company has changed it’s hybrid work requirements. Where it used to be that we had to be in the office for 20% of each pay period (basically one day each week), as of March 1st we have to be in the office for 40% of each pay period (basically twice per week). Today is my first, second day of a week. None of us our happy with this, but it’s a whole ton better than being back 80%, which is what we had prior to the pandemic shut down. Oh well. I’ll deal with it. I am still coming in every Wednesday. My group has Wednesdays as a mandate and the second day each week is at everyone’s personal discretion. I am sort of planning on making Mondays my regular second day, just to get it over with, but that didn’t work this week due to the contractors working in the kitchen. Friday was the only day that worked for me. Fortunately there was zero traffic today. I made the 40 mile drive to the office in 45 minutes. If only it were like that every morning.
In other news, the kids are on the ground. Bellana’s flight landed in Georgia (the US state, not the European country) before I went to sleep last night. Harry’s first flight landed in London well after I nodded off for the night, and his connecting flight landed in Scotland before I woke up this morning. All is well on both of those fronts. Here’s hoping they both have a great time on their trips.
I am taking advantage of the fact that I am 40 miles from home right now to make my way to IKEA after work. IKEA is about 60 miles from home, but only 20 miles from work. I will head down there as soon as I am free and go to the returns department and bring back a great big pile of stuff that IKEA included in our kitchen redesign blue print that we didn’t end up needing. There is a lot of stuff to return. A lot of stuff. If I get it all done tonight then we don’t have to worry about it, and with the money we get back maybe I’ll be able to afford a hair cut this weekend because damn, do I need a hair cut!
Anyway, here’s today’s photo-a-day picture. I took it before I did my workout this morning at about 5:40am. It’s only 9:14am now but it’s already felt like a long day.
So the plan for tomorrow, a sort of random vacation day in the middle of the week.
We have a ton of stuff that we bought for the kitchen remodel that we didn’t end up needing. Some from Home Depot, some from Lowe’s, and some from Wal-Mart. I plan on spending a nice chunk of the morning returning as much of that crap as I can. I thought about going to IKEA to return some of the mountain of leftover stuff we need to bring back but the receipts are all confused. We have to work it all out before we bring stuff back.
When I get home it will be about time to head to the airport. Both kids should be here by the time we need to leave. One, Harry, is here already. The other, Bellana, will be cutting it close but there should be enough time. It’s going to work out so that I can drive them both into the city at the same time. Originally I thought I would be playing Robbie the Airport Shuttle Guy twice, but now it looks like we can consolidate the two down to one. Nice.
After that I will go home again and make dinner for the love of my life and then hang out, missing the kids, until bed time.
Busy day on tap, yes it is. It should be fun.
I told my wife that I will eventually photograph all of the city of Burlington, Vermont but it will take years as I am sort of doing it one little street at a time. Here are a few random views from yesterday’s visit to celebrate my step son’s 21st birthday.
My step son opened his 21st birthday presents in the car because they were too big to bring into the restaurant.
We are in Vermont but still have far to go.
We are road tripping today.
Inside the Red Head's Head 