Animal Intelligence

I recently came across the below story.  I’ve heard a lot about artificial intelligence recently, but you all seemed to have missed the biggest link to higher enlightenment: Animal Intelligence.  Yeah, yeah.   I already hear the naysayers in the audience claiming that people (homo sapiens) are but mere animals when it comes to the kingdoms of biology.  In fact, you are going to say that we (people and dogs) are even more closely related than this, as we are both mammals. Which will get me to my second point: domestication.  But before, I go there, I think this particular piece of journalism – which no doubt some will say is fake news – will demonstrate all of you with the “Big Brains” are missing out on so much of the world (and here I am talking only about the world of mammals), to which maybe you should open your minds – and aspirations?  And if those maple-leaf headed “Uber Smart People” in Toronto had done so earlier, they could have saved millions (that barb is dedicated to you Steve of Montreal):

https://www.npr.org/2018/09/16/647599627/theres-no-stopping-toronto-s-uber-raccoon

But there is more to this story, and that is one of domestication…and the fact that I can’t really blame you for missing the obvious right in front of your noses as you have been selectively bred to ignore the multiple scents on the breezes around you (not to mention your connection to your fellow mammals).  As you’ll see in this story, us dogs rock.   Maybe one day you’ll join Generation K9.  But likely, your shrinking brain pan, skull, droppy ear lobes, and other senses have been dulled by your quest for the perfect human (which in fact is an experiment lead by your two closest companions, and what you perceive as mortal combatants – Cats and Dogs) to get the best stewards in the Galaxy.

https://youtubedownload.pro/video/c2YwbzNOTEhWSTBlMkpNQlRRbnFhQT09.html

The Tempest

Will there be another race
To come along and take over for us?
Maybe martians could do
Better than we’ve done
We’ll make great pets!

 

 

A Quest for Service

We’ve been to Michigan the last few weekends for football games…which somehow Zoe and I keep managing to not get invited to attend.  However, we don’t mind because:

1. We can play our own version of the game.
2. Snowy comes over to play and our Aunt K (Snow-birds mum) watches us and makes sure Zoe doesn’t jump the fence…again – but that is a totally different story.
3. Snowy can be the ref as she has shown more than enough skill in this department.
4. If we ever get bored with our football game, Snowy is there to initiate a track meet in which we all do laps around our grandmother’s (Mormor and Farmor’s) backyard – of course constantly being aware of the flower beds and never causing any injuries to our flora fans who quietly, but avidly, watch our games.

After such romps, we naturally take a break and look for refreshments.  The “public” water bowl is always well stocked but sometimes us girls need a little special attention and someone to wait on us.  So we head to the nearest bistro for what we hope will be an excellent opportunity for service.  On the first occasion, our good friend and human relative, Miss E, joined us at this lovely little outdoor eatery.  However, the service was atrocious!  In fact, that would be a compliment to the wait staff since none ever  stopped by our table!  Pretty much like our IL bistro…  In this series of pictures you can see that there is no one close to helping us – and this is despite Zoe and Snowy going off to try and find someone.

Once we got home, Zoe and I checked out another Cafe but this time took a different approach hoping it would attract some of the wait staff.  This is akin to the bistro I tried another day in another blog.

This tactic also got us nowhere.  But their Yelp profile will take a beating once I find both of these rat-trap establishments!

At some point we have to be able to find a decent place to go get our post-exercise refreshments and goodies.

Zoe may have just about given up on finding a good place but Miss E agreed to help us in our quest…and if successful, Zoe will no doubt be right at the edge of her seat at the table (being the food motivated pup that she is).

Until then, take care, and may you encounter better hospitality on your adventures.

The Tempest

Zkunked

That Zoe.  Always has to do things just a little bit different from everyone else in our pack.  Saturday morning was no exception.  On this occasion, Ms. Zoidberg chose to get into it with a skunk before going on a road trip to Michigan!  In case you aren’t familiar with our pack, despite the numerous Skunk v. Dog trials in our neighborhood, none of our pack has engaged with those sneaky black with white stripe critters in our backyard…that is until Saturday morning.  Past precedence being that we wait until we arrive in Ann Arbor.

Sammy and Montana shared a series of stories about their encounters with the polecat at our grandparents in Michigan awhile back (one, two, three, four).  I myself have also had some run-ins with these critters when visiting Ann Arbor.   And despite rumors around their house of a roaming stink bag, last week when we visited there was no encounters with the odoriferous kind (unlike the previous visit…).  We chalked that up to the new shed my grandparents got before we arrived.  Although they call it a shed, Zoe, Snowy and I think it could be a luxury flat for us canines.  But once again, I digress – even though we do have numerous stories about our times in the backyard of farmor and farfar with Ms. Snowy.  If I am lucky, dad will take the time to sit down and relate some of those with you.  But tonight it is all about skunks.

So getting back to the tale at hand, yesterday morning we were to embark on another road trip in our EV to Michigan.   As is the case with most mornings, Mom got up with us as Dad continued to lounge in bed.  One difference on this day was Dad was a bit more awake since it was a football Saturday.  This isn’t to say he did anything different from his usual lack of momentum, but he may have been a bit more cognitively aware when the call from the first floor came.   I can’t recall exactly what Mom yelled but she was in some way predisposed to an extent that she could not engage Zoe and I in what was readily apparent to her to be of paramount importance…in other words that sickly petroleum-esque odor of a “stink badger”, aka Mephitis mephitis.

Dad, unaware of what the exact crisis was, none-the-less responded “rapidly” and ran down the stairs to assist in whatever problem had befallen our tiny tribe.   Upon hitting the bottom stair, his nasal referents started firing SKUNK SKUNK SKUNK.  However, the odor quickly overwhelmed him and as Zoe and I sat innocently in our room (having rubbed all over the couch), he, and shortly our mother, was unable to detect which one of us had engaged with the skunk…humans and their ever limited sense of smell.  So, as the skunk smell wafted into our house, and they tried to determine who to douse with the Nature’s Miracle “skunk-off” remedy, Zoe and I were sniffed and pawed as they tried to find the source of the stank…which is ridiculous when you stop and think about it since there was no black and white mammal with stinking anal glands in the room – well aside from Zoe (HAHAHA!).  In short, the decided I, the princess Tempest, was the one who had gotten the brunt of the spray since my hind quarters were damp.  So they deduced that I had chased a moving intruder in our yard, realized it was a skunk, and high tailed it out of there but not quick enough to avoid some skunk spray.  So I got the largest dollop of skunk off and then we were off to Michigan.   Although I knew this was untrue, I went along with their “fake news” and erroneous deductions since I was really looking forward to seeing my cousin Snowy.  Let it be said that they – my parents – were quite surprised when trying to console Zoe on our drive to Ann Arbor, that the acute smell of skunk infiltrated their nasal passages as she sat upon their laps with a majorly stinking face and chest (I of course said nothing as I remained stoic in the back seat…but I did laugh heartily to myself).  As an aside, we had a nice time entering our house today and re-engaging with the de-stinkification efforts!

I am sure I had more to say on this topic but the Scribe is fading so I will finish where I started: That Zoe has a way of making things her own – even when it comes to third party types – which no doubt include the aforementioned skunk.

The Tempest

ps- My mother drew a great picture on the ipad of a skunk in our neighbors yard (“the new potted plant”) which I can’t find at the moment but will share as soon as I can find it – along with the story that goes along with the picture.

pps – tonight on our walk, Zoe and I saw the stinky little critter – boy is he lucky we were on leashes!!  Or maybe it was our parents who were lucky? 🙂

some clean air…please!  I love the sun roof!