Hi ho and all that jazz

mr_ed:  I'm glad the weather broke for Blogathon.
Tucker:  I didn't do it. Why are you glad it's broken?
mr_ed:  I mean it wasn't hot like it had been, and we didn't get another electrical storm to crash our zippy fiber-optic ISP again.
Tucker:  Dialing into AOL was not fun.
mr_ed:  Yeah. Still lame after all these years!
Tucker:  Like you.
mr_ed:  Different kind of lame. I got hit by a car and took care of it. AOL got hit by a ton of money and never figured out that getting good money should mean giving good service in return. But oh well.
Tucker:  Oh well, AOHell.
mr_ed:  Heh. It's been a while since I've heard that. Thank goodness!
Tucker:  Thank dog!
mr_ed:  I hope it stays cool - I have lots of things to catch up on, and it's so hard to get things done in the heat. Are you going to help?
Tucker:  Of course! I will look handsome!
mr_ed:  Yeaahhh.... That won't help.
Tucker:  I will be your role model for masculinity! You will get stronger watching me sternly control whether Jaeger and puppy can go out and come in!
mr_ed:  By lying in an inconvenient place on the kitchen floor?
Tucker:  Work smart, not hard.
mr_ed:  Good point. I'd better get at it. "Miles to go before I sleep," and all that.
Tucker:  You're getting Miles Davis to go? Can you get me some wolf singing?
mr_ed:  I'll look into it.
Tucker:  Thank wooo!

Post-Blogathon blog posting

Tucker:  We are back!
mr_ed:  Sorta. My eyes are burning - I think I let them get too dry while staring at the computer all night.
Tucker:  We have visited some other blogs.
mr_ed:  Yeah, I just didn't have time to poke around while we were posting every half hour. If we could have been more prepared, it would have cut down some of the work that needed doing while we posted.
Tucker:  Weren't the other bloggers done too?
mr_ed:  The ones we visited started at a different time, so they're still going. Less than two hours for them now, though. Keep at it, folks!
Tucker:  Did we do good?
mr_ed:  I'd say so. I wanted to do even more, but we beat what we would have done if we'd slept through the night!
Tucker:  So we're done?

There's still time to pledge to MaxFund!

mr_ed:  Not quite yet. There are some pledges I want to make for other 'Thonners, and then we gotta get premiums and prizes matched up with their winners. So, no. Stuff to do, yet.
Tucker:  Tonight?
mr_ed:  I think I'll take a break and go get some dinner.
Tucker:  Do I get a chew bone while you're gone?
mr_ed:  No.
Tucker:  Awooo !  Rrruff ruff !  Awooo !
mr_ed:  Maybe.
Tucker:  That's better!  ::big Husky grin::
mr_ed:  Later, gator!
Tucker:  Chow!

Merit badges!

Woohoo!

mr_ed:   We made it, buddy!
Tucker:  ::yawn::  I guess we did!
mr_ed:  Congratulations!
Tucker:  Woo too!
mr_ed:  By the way, Wally in Walla Walla is worried about his wandering wallaby and says a witch of a wench wants a wad of ones from Wally's wallet for his weturn.
Tucker:  Wooooo.
mr_ed:  Wooooo is wight!
Tucker:  It'll work out.  G'night for now.
mr_ed:  G'night sweet boy!

There's still time! Please pledge to MaxFund !

Get steamed

Tucker:   I'm going back to bed real soon!

Last hour's trivia answer:  Twins Freelan O. and Francis Edgar Stanley invented and produced the car known as the Stanley Steamer. Edgar died; Freelan built the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park.

Stephen King planned or wrote (or something) his novel The Shining while staying in the Stanley Hotel. So the hotel is what they have in common, though of course they never met.

You park your Stanley at the Stanley, which is (sorta) in the park. So your Stanley is in park, and so is the hotel! Funny how that works out! You can drive in the park, but you can't drive in park.

Hmmm.

This hour's trivia question:  No question this hour.

Next hour's trivia category:  No question next hour either.

Verily, it is so

mr_ed:   One hour to go!

It's vital for Valerie and Victor to find the valiant veterinarian that was viewing the viruses in the veins of their valuable velociraptors. He's vanished!

Home is where the heart is

Tucker:   This is our last trivia question. Blogathon ends in an hour and a half, so there isn't time for another one later.

Last hour's trivia answer:  William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody founded Cody, Wyoming. One of his wills, according to Wikipedia, said he should be buried there. But his last will and testament said for his wife to make the arrangements. His remains are on Lookout Mountain, west of Denver.

This hour's trivia question:  What do an automobile inventor and a horror writer have in common?

Next hour's trivia category:  No question that hour. There wouldn't be time to answer it before Blogathon ended.

Thimk!

Tucker: Thelma and Theo have thornbirds. They think that their 30 thornbirds make a thick flock in their thatched-roof hut. In the thinned-out forest. In Thailand.

Tucker is blogging for MaxFund!

Not relocated after all

Tucker:  The Human Assistant says I have to do some of these. I think he is sneaking more cookies and chips. He doesn't want to share. Huh ! I'll let him keep the Diet Coke...!

Last hour's trivia answer:  The "cliff dwellings" west of Colorado Springs were built in and around 1900 by Manitou Springs to boost sagging tourism.

Please pledge to help us help MaxFund!

This hour's trivia question:  This Civil War soldier and cavalry scout (among other callings) died in Denver. He wanted to be buried in a place he founded in Wyoming, but he may have changed his mind. In any case, his body is still in the greater Denver area. His name?

Next hour's trivia category:  Oh, how about a combination of Landmark and Famous Resident?

Tired, yes

Tucker:  The Human Assistant told me to say Howllo to Terri and Terry. Who he's been talking to. They tend to tiny tortoises in Timbuktu. And would gladly take any legal tender that came their way.

Climbing the cliffs

Last hour's trivia answer:  The 10th Mountain Division was activated during WWII at Camp Hale, high in the mountains of Colorado. They trained specifically in winter and mountain warfare, learning climbing and skiing.

This hour's trivia question:  Cliff dwellings near Colorado Springs are far to the east of those in Mesa Verde, Chaco Canyon, and the like - which were occupied until maybe the 12th century. About when were the Manitou Cliff Dwellings built?

Next hour's trivia category:  Miscellaneous.

Don't call me Surely!

mr_ed:  I just want to give a shout out to "Sheila the Shy" at Shining Shar-Pei Shampoo Shop in Shanghai. Hsieh hsieh!

He dropped the ball

mr_ed:  Robert Redford ...
Tucker:  Redfurred
mr_ed:  ... dropped out of the University of Colorado but attended a couple of other schools before going on to be a hit on TV, stage, and screen.

Last hour's trivia answer:  General William Jackson Palmer (retired) founded Colorado Springs as a resort destination for his Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. It was sometimes called, "Newport of the Rockies."

This hour's trivia question:  The U.S. Army built and tested sleds, and tested and trained sled dogs, in a spectacular location that is much more famous for being the home to an elite WWII combat unit that is now based in New York. And they are...?

Next hour's trivia category:  Miscellaneous.

Softly, softly

mr_ed:  A guest post by Claire, who's suffering with a slow, slow dial-up connection:

Susie saves sections of steppe for sage thrashers so she can sing along with their superior songs.

Even the sheep aren't asleep!  Please pledge to MaxFund !

You just can't train a man

mr_ed: The Broncos' overall record dropped pretty quickly, but it took much longer to bring it back up.
Tucker: ::yawn::
mr_ed: When they lost their last game of the 1965 season to the Kansas City Chiefs, 35-45 at home, they dropped below .300 (24-57-3). And pretty much stayed there.

The Broncos hit bottom on November 12, 1967 with an 18-20 loss at home to the Houston Oilers. They were now 29-76-3, a .276 overall average.

It took until October 27, 1996, for them to come back up to .500 with a 34-7 trouncing of the Kansas City Chiefs in Denver. They were 265-265-10, and it was the middle of the Broncos' 37th year.

Last hour's trivia answer:  This dropout is too good to just give away. Check the title of the posting for a clue! :-)

This hour's trivia question:  I couldn't find the picture files I wanted for a Landmark question, so here's the change-up: In the TV series Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman, Dr. Mike persuades "the railroad" to come through Colorado Springs rather than bypassing it.

This makes for great dramatic tension as she wants "the Springs" (as locals call it) to develop and prosper. She wants medicine for her patients. But the love of her life rightly perceives that "the railroad" will be a huge and irreversible step away from the natural world he loves.

What were the real circumstances of "the railroad" and "the Springs" coming together?

Next hour's trivia category:  Military affairs.

No, really!

mr_ed:  Sorry - looking for some old files....

Rhonda and Randy are realists but would really love to be rolling in rupees for the realization of their Rangoon Rare Roos Reserve.

Butch Cassidy's first "job" in a bank was here

mr_ed:  How was your midnight pill?
Tucker:  Pill?  ::scowls::  I thought it was turkey.
mr_ed:  Yeah, that's what I meant. And a chew treat so the pi ... turkey doesn't upset your stomach.
Tucker:  It was okay. Just like usual. Dogs are kinda fond of routine.
mr_ed:  You don't know how to outwit your humans if you don't know what they're going to do next.
Tucker:  So true.
mr_ed:  So, you going back to bed now?
Tucker:  ::ZZZzzz....::

Last hour's trivia answer:  Right! The Telluride Regional Airport, at 9,078 feet, is the highest commercial airport in North America. Telluride itself is only at 8,750 feet.

The Broncology question will be answered in the next post.

This hour's trivia question:  This entertainer, unlike John Denver, dropped out of an institution of higher learning in Colorado. He was hitting the sauce kind of heavily and lost his athletic scholarship. He looks kinda like what he was, a California golden boy. His name?

Next hour's trivia category:  Ah, shoot! The list is getting short. How about something from Landmarks?

Pet people!

mr_ed:  Much thanks for the support of Penny and Paula, petsitters at the Pampered Persian Palace in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania!

The numbers game

mr_ed:  Claire, on a dial-up connection that's vastly too slow even by late-20th-Century standards, found another view of NCAR. A variation on the style in the other photo.

Last hour's trivia answers:  Yup. Naropa, the Buddhist university. In Boulder, of course. Lived next to it for a while.

In their 17th year (1976), the Denver Broncos hit stride and finished the regular season 9-5. They started having very few seasons where they finished .500 or below.

Please sponsor Tucker and the MaxFund no-kill animal shelter!

This hour's trivia question:  Okay, so Leadville has the highest public airport in North America. But commercial flights don't go there. So where is the highest commercial airport in North America?

The Broncos started out with a perfect 1.000 record. Then they lost their 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 8th games and were down to .500. And then they lost the 9th and 10th as well. Tied the 11th. Lost the 12th through 14th.

For Broncologists only - when did the Broncos manage to bring their overall regular-season average back up to at least .500? Where they had won as many (or more) games than they had lost over time?

Next hour's trivia category:  I think I'll surprise myself. ;-)

Opportunity

mr_ed:  I think somedoggy is all Tuckered out.

Here's a Public Service Announcement for those who can help ... Olivia and Oscar are 'oping for some offers of ossistance for their ongoing orphaned ocelot operation in Opa-locka.

Cubist trees?

Last hour's trivia answers:  The modernist I.M. Pei (b. 1917) designed, I think, the whole campus for NCAR (the National Center for Atmospheric Research) in or near Boulder. Anyway, that's where that picture was taken.

In their 14th year (1973), the Denver Broncos ended the regular season 7-5-2 and had their first winning season.

This hour's trivia question:  The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics is part of what university?

Also, on the off chance that Broncos fanboys such as my son are reading, in what regular season did they (the Broncos) first win more than half their games?

Next hour's trivia category:  Airports. And one final Broncos question.

You never knew

mr_ed:  Whoops - unavoidably detained, there.

Here's a perspective I'm sure we'll all find interesting - Neal and Nina down there in Needles say nematodes are neat and nice to eat and have a nummy, nutty nectar.

Thank you, Neal and Nina.

If you build it....

mr_ed:  No takers on the Donkos?
Tucker:  Why do you call them that?
mr_ed:  I think I earned the right. I was in first grade in the Denver Public School system when they started up, and I was "privileged" to hear lots of chatter about them every Monday during football season, all 12 years.
Tucker:  Not very good chatter?
mr_ed:  Often not very good at all. And then I moved to Boulder, which even then was seen as part of the Denver area, and I heard lots more about them for a bunch more years.
Tucker:  Okay. So about the question.

Last hour's trivia answer:  I'm going to let it ride a while longer.

This hour's trivia question:  Two Beanie Babies for this one - one for each question! What or where is this building? And who was the architect?


Next hour's trivia category:  Miscellaneous

'Member this!

Tucker:  It's good you came back. Jaeger and Gremlin were rampaging through the house.
mr_ed:  Oh? It doesn't look like it.
Tucker:  I tried to clean up. Except for puppy's mess.
mr_ed:  Did you, now? When I left, you were in your crate and the door was latched. When I got back, you were in your crate and the door was latched and you were howling and barking like ... like I don't know what to be let out.
Tucker:  So?
mr_ed:  So if you could get out to clean, why couldn't you get out to say hello and get a drink of water?
Tucker:  I, uh, don't want you to worry that I can get out.
mr_ed:  And chew up books and magazines and mail and whatnot.
Tucker:  Like the puppy!
mr_ed:  Can't say that I've seen her tearing apart books. But anyway, here's a bulletin:

Mamas, misses, and men of means maintain it's mean to monkey with mice in Manhattan.

Getting into the rhythm of things

mr_ed:  I'm baaaack!

Last hour's trivia answer:  Indeed it was William Barclay "Bat" Masterson, who as marshal of Trinidad refused to allow "Doc" Holliday be extradited back to Arizona for trial on another disturbance involving the Earps.

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This hour's trivia question:  We've shilly-shallied long enough - time for a Broncos question! In what season did the expansion team have their first "winning season"? That is, was it their first, third, ninth, or ? regular season when they won more games than they lost for the first time?

Next hour's trivia category:  Back to architecture!

Moblog 3 ..... Larry and Loren in Laramie would like to Let the Lions Live! Drop 'em a line!

More moblog ... Last question - John Denver ... This gunslinger was marshal of a Colorado town, died in New York as a writer.

Moblog by email from cell phone     Katy asks if you could kindly kick in a little for the Kitty Kat Korale in Kingston.

So far away from home

Tucker:  That last question was too hard.
mr_ed:  And when I told my son, he called me a dork.
Tucker:  I didn't know people still used that word.
mr_ed:  Well ... back when Mork landed from Ork, maybe.
Tucker:  Maybe.
mr_ed:  So.

Last hour's trivia answer:  I make it to be 91 miles from Boulder, where Mork nestled in with Mindy, got pregnant, and gave birth to Jonathan Winters, to NORAD's Cheyenne Mountain center just west of Colorado Springs.

You'd think they could have seen him with their own eyes from that distance! But they were inside a mountain....

And in the category "Dropouts," which I just created....

This hour's trivia question:  This college dropout was a friend of president Jimmy Carter and of puppeteer Jim Hensen. He shook hands with many Communists in Russia and China, held a benefit concert for the victims of Chernobyl, and Premier Zhou Enlai made one of his songs the first Western music to be played legally in China. His name?

Next hour's trivia category:  Time for another gunslinger, I think!

Jeepers

mr_ed:  Time for another Public Service Announcement.

Give Judy and Julie a jingle if you can join them at Jiveman Jimbo's Jumpin' Jukebox Joint in Juneau to benefit the jays this July....

There's some information missing here. It doesn't say whether it's for blue jays, Stellar's jays, or what. Well, you've got what I've got, so we'll go with that.

Watch out for that crow!

Tucker:  He made that question sound too hard! Of course, I never saw Mork and Mindy, so I don't know about that part. And I saw that NORAD is only using Cheyenne Mountain as backup these days. But if you can find those places, it's as-the-crow-flies from there. Don't let him fool you! He didn't have enough time to find USGS coordinates. He stole them off Wikipedia!

It would be impolite to ignore

mr_ed:  Birders and conservationists Izzy and Inez invite your involvement in the International Iberian Inland Inhabitant Inventory. I know you'll want to contact Ingrid in Inglewood for details.

Running back, now

Last hour's trivia answer:  Byron Raymond "Whizzer" White (b. 1917, d. 2002) was born in Ft. Collins, a football star at the University of Colorado, a Rhodes Scholar, and he played for Pittsburgh and Detroit. Led the league for rushing in 1938 and 1940.

So why did he spend so much time in court?

Yale Law School. Denver attorney. Chaired the elect-JFK campaign in Colorado. Appointed Deputy Attorney General, one step below Bobbie Kennedy. Appointed to the Supreme Court by JFK in 1962. That's why. ;-)

This hour's trivia question:  Oops! I forgot which category was coming up! Okay, ummm, how far is it from the populated place where Mork landed from Ork and settled in, to the operations center where NORAD (the North American Air Defense Command) tracked objects leaving, orbiting, and coming back to earth?

Winner will be the closest valid answer - answers have to be within 10% of the correct distance to be valid. The "correct answer" will be calculated from the U.S. Geological Survey's latitude and longitude coordinates using the U.S. Geodetic Survey's online calculator.

Next hour's trivia category:  I don't know yet. Gotta think about it. :-)

It can get hairy

mr_ed:  I don't know whether it's going to rain today or not. Doesn't look like it. Rain's okay, but when the lightning takes down your internet service....

Thought I'd pass this along - Henrietta and Hector are hopeful for handouts for their Help-the-Hawks Home in Hoboken. If you talk to them, tell 'em I said Howdy!

(Come to think of it, on the Andy Griffith show either Gomer or Goober said, "Tell 'em I said hey!")

It came to pass....

Tucker:  Did you have a nice nap?
mr_ed:  I couldn't sleep. Couldn't turn my brain off.
Tucker:  That's a switch.
mr_ed:  I'll switch you, you ...
Tucker:  Trivia time!
mr_ed:  Oh, yeah.

Last hour's trivia answer:  The Battle of Glorieta Pass, March 26-28, 1862. Near Santa Fe, the First Colorado Volunteers and others shut down the ambitious Confederate plan for Brigadier General Sibley to seize strategic western forts and Colorado gold and to separate California from the rest of the country so it could eventually be taken.

This hour's trivia question:  Here's an item straight from today's (or yesterday's) headlines: Gridiron whiz winds up going to court. He had the potential to go all the way ... and, actually, he did. His name?

Next hour's trivia category:  Back to Colorado and the Final Frontier!

Getting groggy....

mr_ed:  I just grabbed some great gab with graceful Granny Greta in Granby, who urges all to go green and grow some gradiolas for grackles.

Hey, she said that, not me! ;-)

Up, up and away!

mr_ed:  I'm getting kind of tired.
Tucker:  Quiet. You woke me up.

Last hour's trivia answer:  Where would the highest public airport in North America be but next to the highest city in North America? Leadville! LXV's runway is at 9,927 feet, downtown is at 10,152.

The runway is 6,400 feet long, and it's a darned good thing! At that altitude the air is pretty thin, and it affects an engine's performance and the ability for propellers and wings to grab hold and get you off the ground.

This hour's trivia question:  What Civil War battle featured a couple of units from Colorado?

Next hour's trivia category:  Ummm ... back to sports!

Gotta flee

Please consider a pledge to the MaxFund no-kill animal shelter!

mr_ed:  I'm going to post this one just a tad early so I can phone Frank and Frieda, our fun friends at the Florida Foundation to Free the Fruit Fly.

Elevated discourse

mr_ed:  How do you get down from an elephant?
Tucker:  ::snort::
mr_ed:  Okay, okay. Old joke.

Last hour's trivia answer:  The Doud family also lived in Colorado Springs and Pueblo before Mamie married Second Lieutenant Dwight Eisenhower, but throw in Golda Meir and you can only be talking about Denver.

This hour's trivia question:  Where is the highest public airport in the U.S.? (And in all of the Northern Hemisphere, in fact.)

Next hour's trivia category:  How about ... military affairs.

E for Effort

mr_ed:  Why is Gremlin barking at me? What's she want?
Tucker:  I dunno.
mr_ed:  Get her to stop, okay? It's hard to concentrate.
Tucker:  That's the idea, I'm sure.
mr_ed:  You know, there are some rather radical animal-welfare groups out there. Elton and Elaine in Elkhart (at Elevate the Elephants from Elimination - or Else!) were just elucidating some illuminating issues for me.
Tucker:  The 'ell you say.
mr_ed:  I need some lunch.

Get institutionalized in Colorado!

mr_ed:  I found some stamps on the floor.
Tucker:  I didn't do it.
mr_ed:  They were slightly chewed.
Tucker:  Puppy did it.
mr_ed:  Fortunately, the money order that I bought at the same time was still safe - and you did chew some checks one time that I remember.
Tucker:  I'll bet puppy did it that time too.
mr_ed:  Right. I may never know the answer to that one, but I know the answer to this one!

Last hour's trivia answer:  Like the M on the hill, this building is the public symbol of one of Colorado's institutions of higher learning. It's the Cadet Chapel at the U.S. Air Force Academy, just this side of Colorado Springs.

I'm not sure Copper should get credit for this one because the question, in the category Architecture, asked for an identification of the building. Anybody have any thoughts on that?

This hour's trivia question:  One woman lived here and married a U.S. President-to-be. Another woman lived here and became Prime Minister. Name "here," the First-Lady-to-be, and the PM.

Next hour's trivia category:  Oh, let's try Airports next time.

Deep conversation

mr_ed:  Hey there! I was just gettin' down with Dieter and Diedre at Dangerous Dogs Defense in DeKalb - dee-lighted to chat with them again!

Anyone know which U.S. President used to say "Dee-lighted!"? No Beanie Babies if you do, but just for funsies. ;-)

Pure Rocky Mountain spring water

Please sponsor Tucker and the MaxFund no-kill animal shelter!

Last hour's trivia answer:  The industrious students at the Colorado School of Mines put an M on Mount Zion right around 99 years ago. Powered, one suspects, by the "pure Rocky Mountain spring water" in the beer from the Coors brewery in the same town.

This hour's trivia question:  Identify this building:


Not the greatest picture, but if ya know it, ya know it.

Next hour's trivia category:  Miscellaneous!

Check this, Charlie! ;-)

Tucker:  ::smacks lips::  I'm hungry.
mr_ed:  You're also just a little chubby. I think that bowl-ful you inhaled better be enough for a few hours. Why don't you take some vitamin Z?
Tucker:  Okay.  ::ZZZzzzzzz::
mr_ed:  We're here in Blogathon 2007 to drum up pledges for the MaxFund no-kill animal shelter. And right here and now I issue a challenge to Charlie, who chants, "Choose the Chinese chapter of Champion the Chimp Charity in Chatanooga!" Count your change, chump, or it's ciao to you! Heh heh.

The three paths

mr_ed:  Contrary to what my daughter used to say, there are only three established routes to the summit of Pikes Peak (14,110'): the cog railway, Barr Trail for hikers and really crazy runners, and the auto road.

(She told customers that employees of the concession stand on top of the mountain took an elevator.)

Last hour's trivia answer:  The Pikes Peak Hill Climb is how locals know the race that's held every July for cars, trucks, motorcycles, and who knows what else. This former local, anyway. When it was held on the Fourth of July.

Only the Indy 500 is older. And it's much flatter! Being a brickyard and all.

This hour's trivia question:  There's a big M on the side of a mountain west of Denver. It doesn't stand for the Miller Brewing Company - what does it stand for?

Next hour's trivia category:  Architecture.


mr_ed:  Colorado trivia - first correct answer wins a Beanie Baby for most of these contests. (I'll let you know when the rules change slightly.)

-- EDIT -- I put the stupid line breaks in the wrong stupid place. Fixed now.

Food! Finally!

Tucker:  ::snarf snarf snarf:
mr_ed:  And a tip of the cap to Carol, Carla, and Corinne at Capture the Calico Cat! in Carlsbad, California!

Is it safe?

mr_ed:  All righty, then! Starting with our favorite dental quote, from the movie Marathon Man, here we go!

Last hour's trivia answer:  John Henry "Doc" Holliday, the dentist famous for lead fillings, did indeed die in Glenwood Springs. And he's buried there, somewhere, though I don't think anyone knows just where for sure.

This hour's trivia question:  What's the second-oldest ongoing auto race in the U.S.?

Next hour's trivia category:  Landmarks

Forgot the shout out!

Hey to another animal guy, Brandon who blogs for Bring the Black Bear Back to Boise!

Move, fingers, move!

mr_ed:  I write so slowly that, at this rate, Tucker's going to lose 10 pounds by the end of Blogathon! No time to feed him! Or the other three ... guess I'd better figure out a way to do it sooner or later.
Tucker:  ::swooning from hunger::
mr_ed:  Siberian Huskies are such fakers!

Blogger is scaring me

mr_ed:  Blogger sure took a long time loading a new page to edit! We're keeping all 84 fingers and toes crossed here.

Last hour's trivia answer:
Vance D. Brand, born in Longmont (Boulder County) 1931;
Malcolm Scott Carpenter, born in Boulder (Boulder County) 1925;
Stuart Allen Roosa, born in Durango (La Plata County) 1933 (d. 1994); and
John Leonard "Jack" Swigert,Jr., born in Loveland (Larimer County) 1931 (d. 1982).

If I remember, all attended the University of Colorado (Go Buffs!) at one time or another.

This hour's trivia question:  This man came West due to his "consumption" (tuberculosis), became a famous gunslinger, and died in Colorado ... from consumption. What's his name?

Next hour's trivia category:  Sports!

fine print:  Each household is limited to three prizes total.

Tempus fugit!

mr_ed:  Time for a new post already!
Tucker:  Grrr. That's my tummy growling.
mr_ed:  Oh come on! We're never up this early. Your tummy isn't awake yet!
Tucker:  ::scowl::
mr_ed:  Hey, I meant to get a shout out an hour ago, so let's do it now.
Tucker:  Let's do what now? Eat?
mr_ed:  I'll fix you something good in a minute. First I want to say howdy to someone in the animal biz who's smarter than us and probably still asleep, "Alpine Andy the Answer-man" at All-Alaska Akitas in Anchorage.
Tucker:  You're A-OK with us!
mr_ed:  Oh, and I forgot to mention the category for the next Colorado trivia question: Gunslingers. Some worked both sides of the law at one time or another. At the next half hour!

Trivia contests

Tucker:  You're eating potato chips.
mr_ed:  Once an hour, on the half-hour, we'll ask a trivia question about Colorado. Categories will include Gunslingers good and bad, Landmarks maybe, Sports of course, Architecture, and Military.
Tucker:  You should eat a better breakfast. I should eat breakfast.
mr_ed:  The first question is from the category Colorado and the Final Frontier.
Tucker:  ::sigh::  Okay, let's have it.
mr_ed:  Name three astronauts, born in Colorado, who have been on NASA space missions.
Tucker:  That's it? That's easy!
mr_ed:  Shhh! Don't tell.
Tucker:  Who wins?
mr_ed:  First correct answer wins a Beanie Baby, the winner's choice from about 180 gently-used animals (for an animal shelter, get it?) of all kinds.
Tucker:  All kinds?
mr_ed:  Lots of kinds. I'll get photos and descriptions later, I hope.
Tucker:  Okay, good luck all!

BLOGATHON 2007 !!!

mr_ed:  We're off and running!
Tucker:  On King! On you huskies!
mr_ed:  That's my line.
Tucker:  ::Big husky grin::
mr_ed:  I had trouble sleeping. Excited and anxioius. How about you?
Tucker:  When's breakfast?
mr_ed:  We're going to post every half hour for 24 hours during Blogathon 2007!
Tucker:  I'm hungry.
mr_ed:  Tucker is wearing his MaxFund tee shirt to help encourage pledges for MaxFund no-kill animal shelter!

Tucker:  I didn't make that mess.
mr_ed:  I've decided we'll have Colorado trivia questions every hour, on the half-hour.
Tucker:  Puppy did it.
mr_ed:  Beanie Babies as prizes!
Tucker:  I am King of the Stuffies!
mr_ed:  But we have a few too many, so we'll share.
Tucker:  Fine. Feed me first this time.
mr_ed:  Then you finish first and eat the puppy's food.
Tucker:  I'm bigger. I need more.
mr_ed:  You're bigger, and you need less! For now, let's get this, err, puppy posted!

Please let there be Internet!

Tucker:  It is raining here. There was lightning before, and now our internet is broken. The Human Assistant had to plug in a phone line. Then he rebooted into Windows, which he doesn't like. Then he dialed into AOL, which he hates.

Please make a Blogathon pledge to MaxFund - a no-kill animal shelter!

We are having trouble seeing my blog. H.A. can edit it. But we can't see it! This is weird. And not good news if we have to keep working this way for long.  fooey-woo!

Well, that didn't happen

mr_ed: Yesterday ran away from us, so we didn't get another post in. Today we need to do lots of running around like our hair's on fire to get ready for Blogathon, starting in just over 17 hours. Yipes!

Please make a pledge to MaxFund, a true no-kill animal shelter - click this banner!

A nod from Charity Navigator!

Tucker:  Woo hoo! Blogathon - and yours truly - got top mention today in Trent Stamp's blog. He is the president of Charity Navigator. They rate charities. Not by who does good work and who doesn't. Just by the financial info they file with the IRS.

MaxFund has had Charity Navigator's top rating for the last three years!

More on another subject later!

Pledge to MaxFund!

Piled higher and Deeper

Tucker:  So you have news about stars?
mr_ed:  One star down here and many up there! Sixty-year-old Queen guitarist Brian May is finishing his Ph.D. in astrophysics! Sounds like all he has left is the defense of his dissertation.
Tucker:  And what is that?
mr_ed:  I'm so glad you asked! Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud.
Tucker:  I mean, what's a dissertation?
mr_ed:  Oh. A big paper you write to show that you did something new in your field.
Tucker:  It would be hard for a dog to do something new in a field. Chasing animals, marking, rolling in stuff.... It has all been done many times before.
mr_ed:  Ph.D. students get that same feeling sometimes.
Tucker:  I am getting a Ph.D.!

mr_ed:  Ohhh?
Tucker:  I am almost done with the research!
mr_ed:  Then comes the paper....
Tucker:  I will not be tearing up paper. Promise. My research is in another area.
mr_ed:  How do you prove what you've done?
Tucker:  A bunch of dogs get together. I will tell about it. If anyone disagrees we will fight a little.
mr_ed:  In a polite, scholarly way.
Tucker:  Collars? We will wear collars, probably.
mr_ed:  So what will you tell about?
Tucker:  The Role of Leadership in Establishing a Siberian-Only Home.
mr_ed:  Ahhhh. You're researching our little pack, aren't you?
Tucker:  "Write what you know."
mr_ed:  I'll bet you found leadership to play a very important role, didn't you?
Tucker:  Oh yes, absolutely.
mr_ed:  And your research will be done soon?
Tucker:  Two more weeks, I think. Then Jaeger and puppy will be gone.
mr_ed:  And Gremlin?
Tucker:  She has a Certificate of Honorary Huskydom. The committee was unanimous. In her early years she dug under fences to escape....
mr_ed:  And pushed through them.
Tucker:  Oh yes. Chewed books. Never furniture. That was a weak point in her CV.
mr_ed:  Curriculum Vitae?
Tucker:  Canine Virtues. And she wooooos. That is very strong in her favor.
mr_ed:  And barks annoyingly when she wants something from me.
Tucker:  Yes, that's a plus too.
mr_ed:  This all sounds similar to higher education for humans. Does Ph.D. stand for Doctor of Philosophy?
Tucker:  That would be D.Ph., now wouldn't it? It stands for Phamily Dog.
mr_ed:  "Family" spelled ph?
Tucker:  I don't want to point any toes.... But it was set up without Sibe input. While Siberian Huskies were still isolated in Siberia.
mr_ed:  The Russian Far East.
Tucker:  You say potato, I say chew toy.
mr_ed:  A whole system of higher training! What comes before Ph.D.?
Tucker:  There is the M.A.
mr_ed:  Master of....
Tucker:  Mutt Academy. And B.A. before that.
mr_ed:  I won't even try to guess.
Tucker:  Basic Antics. It is for immature dogs. So they get called Baby Animals. Barely Adequate. Barks A-lot.
mr_ed:  That's quite a system - I admit that I'm impressed! Will you keep me posted on how your Ph.D. is going?
Tucker:  Oh, you'll know.  ::Big husky smile::

Take my dog. Please!

Tucker:  Make a pledge to MaxFund!
mr_ed:  I'm glad you're getting into Blogathon! It's coming soon - three more days!
Tucker:  Biggest pledge gets a life-size Greyhound and Black Labrador Retriever dog!
mr_ed:  Wait a minute...!
Tucker:  No assembly required!
mr_ed:  Tucker!!!
Tucker:  No batteries to run down or recharge!
mr_ed:  Shut.  Up.
Tucker:  I thought you liked Sibe talk.
mr_ed:  We cannot give away Jaeger.
Tucker:  We can sell him?
mr_ed:  No.
Tucker:  I thought Blogathon was supposed to be fun. Get money. Give away animals.
mr_ed:  It will be fun. We'll have some trivia contests, probably, and give away stuffed toy animals. And all pledges of $10 and up get a toy - the bigger the pledge, the bigger the toy.
Tucker:  I heard you talk about getting rid of him.
mr_ed:  Someone wants to meet him and maybe adopt him.
Tucker:  Then we can give him away?
mr_ed:  MaxFund has to approve them. And Jaeger has to get along with their dog. And you know how that goes.
Tucker:  Woo is me! I'll tell him to be on his best behavior. And then we can give him away?
mr_ed:  If it works out, MaxFund hands him over. Mystique will miss her big playmate Uncle Jaeger lots and lots.
Tucker:  ::snort::  Puppy. Good thing she can go back to her home soon.
mr_ed:  Yes, it'll be good for everybody. But I'll miss her.
Tucker:  The dog pad in the computer room won't.
mr_ed:  See? Jaeger never does that kind of stuff. He's a great dog!
Tucker:  Grrr.
mr_ed:  Of course, he's not the only great dog here.
Tucker:  GRRR!
mr_ed:  Maybe not even the greatest dog here.
Tucker:  Yeah, maybe not.  ::hard scowl::
mr_ed:  You ever hear of Henny Youngman?
Tucker:  Who?
mr_ed:  He was a comedian famous for short, quick jokes. Like, "My wife's cooking is fit for a king. (Gesturing as if feeding an invisible dog) Here King, here King!"
Tucker:  Oh, that Henny Youngman.
mr_ed:  Well, he had a very famous punch line. He'd say something, like, oh, "Women these days. They always want to go shopping. Take my wife - please!"
Tucker:  Funny guy. You're gonna get mail about that one.
mr_ed:  Say goodnight, Gracie.
Tucker:  My name's not Gracie.
mr_ed:  Say goodnight, Dickie.
Tucker:  My name's not Dickie.
mr_ed:  Woof!

-- photo of Jaeger by Nicole Howard



Tucker:  ::sulk::  That was my line.

Why we're here

More to come later, but for now a slight, quick repeat from last week:

mr_ed:  Tucker and I will be blogging every half hour for 24 hours during Blogathon 2007. When you make a pledge to sponsor us, you're betting that we can't do it! Hah!  :-)

Check out the MaxFund no-kill animal shelter, read about Blogathon in general, and let us tell you about the thank-you gifts you can get for sponsoring us.

MaxFund has a mission of caring for pets that are sick or injured and have no home, and four Siberian Huskies have come to the shelter recently. Two have been adopted, one is very ready for his new home, and one is a puppy with only three legs - and one of those is broken!

With care and time, Francesca will also heal up and be going to a new family! In the meantime, a pledge for MaxFund will help pay the bills for all the animals at MaxFund that just need a little extra love and care.

Thanks!

What's snew?

Tucker:  I did not see much interesting news yesterday. Some. A chihuahua took a rattlesnake bite intended for a baby. Pit bulls get training so more of them will be adopted. A big Newfie got his head stuck in a cat door.

You may think I will make a comment about Newfies. But Siberian Huskies have these problems too. We just try not to make it into the newspaper!

It was too hot to pay attention to news of the day. So when it cooled off I read some old news. Things that happened on other July 24ths.

In 1487 some people in the Netherlands went on strike. They couldn't get foreign beer. Sibes might do this, but not over beer. Maybe they had too much local beer when they decided to go on strike.

Eighty years later 1-year-old Jimmy the 6th became king of England. A 1-year-old Sibe isn't old enough to be the alpha of the pack. I bet Jimmy wasn't either. This is the guy whose name is on the King James Version of the Bible. The Human Assistant said there is interesting history about that.  ::Yawn::  Maybe. I'd have to chew it over.

H.A. also said Shakespeare was writing at the same time. Shakespeare and the Bible put lots of new words into the language. He said. ::shrug::  Doesn't matter to dogs. Words, words, words. Show me the treats!

News of the north

• 1534 - Jacques Cartier claimed Canada for France. Iroquois natives annoyed;
• 1701 - Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded Motown. Predicted a wagon will be called the La Mothe;
• 1814 - General Phineas Riall moved to stop American invaders. How did nice Quaker boy Jacob Brown later become commanding general of the U.S. army?
• 1899 - Chief Dan George born. Said, "Today is a good day to die" in movie Little Big Man;
• 1967 - French President Charles de Gaulle told 100,000 in Montreal, "Vive le Québec libre!" Prime Minister annoyed;
• 1984 - Canadian politicians held first French-language television debate. Nobody especially annoyed. They had an option. But John Turner was nailed in English-language debate when told, "You had an option, sir.";
• 1988 - World's largest milk shake made in Montreal. More crazy thirsty people. Maybe it's the heat;
• 1991 - Police pulled 270+ barrels of hashish from St. Lawrence River. "Cool cat" fish annoyed.

Oh, other stuff happened too. Lance Armstrong won his 7th Tour de France. Since we're talking about Things French.

Brigham Young reached Salt Lake Valley. His scouts don't get much credit for getting there first. O. Henry finished a prison term for embezzlement. Bob Dylan's croaking "Like a Rolling Stone" was released. The moon men of Apollo 11 came back to earth.

Birthdays

• Simón Bolívar, the George Washington of much of South America. Only he didn't chop down cherry trees;
• Alexandre Dumas (the father), called by someone on the old Steve Allen show "Alexander Dumb-ass";
• Amelia Earhart, awarded French (!) Legion of Honor and U.S. Distinguished Flying Cross (1st woman). Designed clothing and luggage. Associate editor at Cosmo;
• Pat Oliphant, Pulitzer-winning editorial cartoonist. He puts a little animal in his cartoons. A penguin! Not an elephant. Or a Sibe. Good thing he's not in Denver anymore!
• Charles Émile Picard, French (!) mathematician who loaned his name to Star Trek;
• Jennifer Aniston's father (John), Barry Bonds, Ruth Buzzi, Lynda Carter, ...;
• I think I better stop. Soon it will be time for tomorrow's blog!

-- sources: Wikipedia, Sympatico/MSN

There's Husky News Tonight!

Tucker:  Yesterday I read the news. I will tell you about it!

Husky Oil Plant Catches Fire

A long time ago there was a bush that caught fire but didn't burn. Or it burned but didn't catch fire. Something. But this plant caught fire and burned!

I would not let my plant burn! I'd pee on it right away! But the news said that it was an electrical part of the plant that burned. I didn't know plants had electrical parts! The Human Assistant said it's dangerous to pee on electrical fires so maybe that's why they let it burn.

I don't know what kind of oil this plant has. I know that H.A. gives us salmon oil. That's really the only kind I know about. Huskies and some other dogs like salmon! So maybe this Husky has a salmon plant. With an electrical part.

Thank goodness the plant isn't completely dead! The news said they can still get some oil out of it. Salmon oil is good and stinky! Maybe that will cover up the smoky smell. But ... H.A. says humans like to eat smoky salmon. Maybe they can sell the smoky salmon for more money than the smoky oil and pay a plant dokker to make the plant feel better while it heels.

(I've heard that plants can heel. I think H.A. might be joking about that, though.)

Kennel Gets Air Conditioning

This story is about a kennel called Husky Injection Molding. I think it's owned by scientists that make dog medicine. Molding bread used to be a way to make medicine for infections. And then dokkers would stick it in you.

But Dog Medicine Making sounds too scientific for a kennel! And naturally they breed their favorite dogs, Huskies. So they called the kennel Husky Injection Molding.

Anyway, the news said that H.I.M. "is one of the largest suppliers of hot runners." Maybe the dogs are too wooly! Or they don't blow their coats even in summer.

But the kennel bought another company and so is "adding temperature controllers." That's good news! Or as the Human Assistant would say, "Cool, man!"

Humans Play in Husky Clans

There are lots of stories about humans teaming up in clans that have Huskies as totems. You have get past news about oil and air conditioning. But it's there.

Most Husky clans are at schools. Humans are pack animals anyway. (They learned this from dogs.) But schoolchildren need extra help in knowing how to dress, what music to like, and who to fight when they're drunk.

Except for the clothes, music, and drinking, this is just like dogs!

There are Husky clans at universities in Connecticut and Washington. Also at high schools in Hamilton Heights, at Hemlock High, in Breckenridge, and probably many others.

After all, Huskies are athletic ... and good-looking too! Just like schoolchildren want to be! ::big Husky grin::

Mysterious movement

Tucker:  The Human Assistant is a blog hog. My turn!

I think Jaeger-yegger is going to get in trouble. Puppy too, maybe. Woo-woo woo-woo wooooo wooooo! Look at those two. Think they're cute together.

A few days ago H.A. went in the living room and found the couch moved away from the wall. And dog poops there. He thought puppy had pooped and his son had moved the couch so H.A. would see it and clean it up.

Which he did, of course. We have him well trained for that.

Why would puppy poop behind the couch? She's not housetrained very well. Also, I lie down and spread out in the kitchen. Jaeger and puppy are afraid to walk past me. ::big Husky grin:: So they won't go out the back door unless H.A. is there.

Friday when he got up he found the same thing. But the couch had been swung out and then pushed along six feet. H.A. was confused. His son left on Monday. Son's work day starts at 5:00 a.m. Did he come to the house early in the morning and not say hi?

H.A. called his son. No, he didn't move the couch on Friday. Didn't move it the other time, either. H.A. was even more confused.

It wasn't me. I go outside whenever I want. It probably wasn't granny Gremlin. Four years ago she was strong and bent her wire crate to get out. But now she doesn't have confidence in her back legs. H.A. gives her boosts to go up stairs and jump on the bed or in the car.

Puppy isn't big enough. Never will be. She's some kind of little dog. So that leaves....

The Human Assistant went out to supper last night. When he got home he saw a cardboard box knocked to the floor. Somedoggy had also torn off pieces of cardboard.

Okay, I like to do that. So does puppy. And that's why H.A. puts us in crates when he leaves. Gremlin only eats the covers from old books. Well, mostly. And she hasn't done that in a while. So that leaves....

Also, some books were knocked off a chair onto the floor. Well, I tear them apart when I do that. Then puppy chews the pieces. But where were we? In crates! And they were new books. So that leaves....

Also, somedoggy knocked over the clothes drying rack in H.A.'s bedroom. That he was using to keep us away from a box of stuffed toys. He thinks the rack fell on that bad dog and they left without getting into the box. Good thing because I am King of the Stuffies!

And Gremlin knows this. And puppy and I were in crates. Sooooo...!

So why would puppy be in trouble too? H.A. thinks there was more than one set of poops behind the couch that first time. And there are two dogs who won't go past me to get outside. Sooooo...!

Can't you see them plotting something together?

Animal Control lets dog roast

"Hindsight is 100 percent," says Sacramento's director of Animal Care and Regulation.

mr_ed:  So even though she got the cliche wrong, even though she's trying to put blame on those who ask whether the officers screwed up, even though people with enough brains to drive can add together "the dog's been in the car at least a day" with "it's gonna be in the 90s today" and come up with "we should take the dog out of the car" ... despite all that, don't be critical.

5:30 p.m. July 1:  Acting on a complaint (or "tip," as the Sacramento Bee reporter calls it), animal control (AC) officer sees dog locked in car in vacant parking lot. "[N]ot in immediate danger," decides officer. Leaves warning under windshield wiper.

10:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. July 2:  Dog "not distressed," "windows were cracked [left open a crack?] and a shade cover sheltered the front window."

3:46 p.m. July 2  93°

4:30 p.m. July 2  Dog dead. AC officer removes dog, leaves notice.

July 17?  Owner, in jail, hears of dog's death.

"People shouldn't leave them in a car and we need to pull them," said a county veterinarian. But another vet said, "I would be hard-pressed to make that judgment call looking through the window of a car."

No, really. She said that. Four years of college, four years of vet school, and she couldn't tell you that if it's 93° outside a car, it's too hot for a dog inside the car. Because you have to factor in temperature, humidity and an animal's weight, coat, breed and pre-existing conditions - according to her, according to the Sacramento Bee.

By the way, in California it's illegal to leave a pet in a car if it's dangerous for their health or well-being, and the law gives cops and AC officers "the authority to remove an animal from a vehicle 'if the animal's safety appears to be in immediate danger' and after 'a reasonable effort' to locate the driver." According to the Bee.

The director of Animal Care and Regulation doesn't explain what reasonable efforts they took to locate the driver, but she stands by their actions.

"She said animals won't always show visible signs of distress -- heavy panting or weakness -- from a heat illness, and that it's easy to second-guess the officers" (says the Bee).

Especially when they're so obviously wrong, huh lady?

thanks to itchmo.com