I SAW A GIANT TUBBY SEWER RAT AMBLING UP THE STREET AT 5 in the morning when I was out on a chocolate-sugar and milk hunt... the perky eared swine crossed the road at his own, extraordinarily slow, pace right in front of me, so I went to the kerb, knelt down and said "hello you great fatty!" in the stupid voice I reserve for furry animals. He gave me the most disappointed glance, then pinged back across the street and back to the bushes, where he'd been gathering birds' eggs or something...
Because it's the weekend I'm up to furry animal posting. To the left you see Reggie Rat's lookey-likey. To the right my namesake creature. If I had to be a rodent, I would be a harvest mouse. These are even tinier than roborovskis. Slightly longer in body-length they can be, but they're of far more slight a built, and hence designed for mousey-mountaineering. And it's definitely the climbing thing that appeals. I have seen these close up in a wildlife park. They were given a large indoor enclosure with wheat stalks and shrubbery they can climb with ease... Somehow I find the idea of abseiling among the blackberry bushes whose berries are bigger than me extremely entertaining ..!
If I had to choose any animal of course I'd be a bird (how imaginative: yes)... namely a seagull. I know the watery view's relatively boring, but you do get to wheel and glide over land (and that's half the fun of being a seagull: the effortless style of flight)... also you get to travel, plus I just luuurve fish anyway... so nary a lifestyle adaptation to be made, eh?!?
Last but not least we have pictured here the English water vole (better known as a water rat to you Wind in the Willows readers...) He's a tubby squeaking aquatic type of mega-mouse with the best doggie-paddle I've ever seen (and I have seen one doggie-paddle right past me down a fast-flowing stream when I was a kiddie...) Water voles are endangered species... and being that hamsters and voles share a genus/phylum/darwinian species compartment and I was born in the year of the water hamster or water rat... so here below, without a doubt is the embodiment of my Chinese star-sign. Ta-daaaa!!
LILY ALLEN: THE FEAR
This is sposed to be about the illusory nature of modern mores and existence... It's very Lily...
I think we have mice in our attic. I have no clue what kind they are. If I have to kill them, will you hate me?
ReplyDeleteThey will be mus musculus (however you spell it) common house mice definitely not harvest mice who are tiny, ginger and only live in fields of cereals or hedgerows and will not come inside even in winter... you could always use humane traps if you don't want to kill any ;->...
ReplyDeleteYou've written some lovely descriptions here, Gleds. If I could choose to be an animal I'd be a pampered dog! Buona domenica.
ReplyDeleteYou obviously have an affinity with rodents, Gleds, and that is meant in the nicest possible way. My favourites are the little field mice with their tiny round bodies and loooooong tails. I think they're so cute.
ReplyDeleteBeing in the country and having chooks, we get rats here, not the native rat unfortunately, but those sinister looking grey things which infest every country, ship, shop and attic...even car engines, as happened hear last winter. Nasty things...
Although I do have a very funny rat story which concerns McDonalds...I must post about it sometime.
Cheers...
I get rats in the rafters when it's raining and they sound like they're playing six a side soccer! Hate them. We've tried poisonning them but they just come back. Fortunately it's too hot up there in summer so they're back in the hedgerows and feed shed where they belong. Like the little field mice . . our native mice don't ping, they jump!
ReplyDeleteNorwegian brown rats are rather inconvenient... like Ronnie piectured they resemble a nuclear-generated mouse don't they... jumping mice? I like that. Bashful once jumped about 10ft up in robo feet... Itchy passed harmlessly unsquashed underneath.
ReplyDeleteAren't those monkeys about the size of a hammy??
i usually cant stand lily allen but i really like this song, got it on my ipod already. meaningful lyrics, but i suppose they are pretty easy to say for someone in her shoes.
ReplyDeletei didn't like lily allen for ages. specially considering her nonclever "attitude" thing she appeared to cultivate. but i've seen her interviewed by t4's miquita & taking off sheryl cole on the x-factor ~ she was hilarious
ReplyDeleteif i cuold be a perpetual puppydog like a young simi, Welshcakes, that would be pukka
ReplyDelete;->...
hey I was hoping it was you from Junkylife, Naomo ~ thanks for getting in touch. C'mon when're you posting again..???
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