Sharpshooter Insects are Real Wizzes at Whizzing | Deep Look

Sharpshooters survive by guzzling a lot of plant sap. But drinking all of that liquid nutrition presents a problem for these tiny insects: How do they move it all out? Easy. They’ve perfected a super-propulsive urination technique using a special catapult in their butt.

The sharpshooter gets all its nutrition from the thin, watery liquid inside a plant, called xylem sap, which it sucks out with this tube-shaped stylet. That sap has so little nutrition that sharpshooters need to guzzle nonstop. Taking all that liquid in presents a problem – how to move it out. The sharpshooter has evolved the perfect tool for the job: an anal stylus — or butt flicker. Here’s something incredible: Each drop of pee actually travels faster than the speed at which the butt flicker launched it. Learn about this incredible creature’s super-propulsive pee in this video!

Spy Octopus Helps Friend Hide From Shark


Coconut octopuses are vulnerable to blacktip sharks, who use smell to find prey. With the help of an unlikely ally, this octopus is able to hide from hungry sharks.

My day, cat food cans, Ron sick

So we are taking care of three cats.   One full inside fat diabetic cat Named Odie, one inside / outside cat who is sort of gray with white paws also a white tiny mustache, who is named Tupac.  Then there is the totally feral untrusting outside cat we all call Smokey.  

We feed the inside cat three times a day as he wants with wet food.  At night we leave him with what ever wet food he did not eat to finish.

Tupac we feed as many times as he wants when he is in the house, he is very tiny and slim, we give him drops but if we miss them for a few days he starts to spot on stuff.   Often Tupac will come in and go straight to the bedroom rather than eat.  But he tends to spend most days inside with us, and nights unless it is really cold, outside with smokey.

Smokey seems to be a nearly feral female who distrusts most people or close quarters.   She has gotten to trust Ron and I enough to come with in a foot or so of our legs.  She will respond to our voice and come very close to us as long as we make no sudden movement.  She startles very easily.  So she eats her food, both dry and wet, on in the family room Ron built out of the carport.  The dance all these cats play is amazing to watch if you care for them.  

So while Ron and I pay for the vet bills for Tupac and Odie we have not gotten Smokey into a carrier to do so.  But to feed these three every time they demand food takes 90 cans of wet food plus a bunch of dry food.  

While Ron was getting Meow Mix for the family room dish, inside we have been giving Odie Fancy feast and mixing both for Tupac.  But today Ron came home and said he got two bags of food made by the companies that make the treaties we give the cats.  Temptations.  

I looked at the ingredients and stuff and it seems OK to me, but both / two bags were about the same amount we paid for one of the bags of Fancy Feast.   Hey if they eat it I am OK with that.  

So here is the real point of the post.  We go through about 3 cans a day which means is 90 a month.  Depending on how many days in the month or when we order, we sometimes order two of the 90 cans a month.  Each order costs us $78.74.  We get Fancy Feast Poultry and Beef Feast Classic Pate - (30) 3 oz. CansPurina Fancy Feast Seafood Classic Pate - (30) 3 oz. CansFancy Feast Poultry and Beef Feast Classic Pate Collection Grain Free Wet Cat Food Variety Pack - (30) 3 oz. Cans

So, to the point of the post.  Are you not glad I am finally getting to it?  When the cases come in we have to wait until the old cans are gone and then do the “CAT FOOD CAN SHUFFLE”   Ron prefers to put it off until I do it.  Below is the pictures of the cat food can shuffle.   Hugs.   Scottie

This is the place we store the cans and where after the shuffle they go.

IMG_0669IMG_0670

First I have to open each of the three boxes of 30 cans each and put them on the counter.

IMG_0665IMG_0664

Then I start shuffling them.  This is the part Ron hates and why he leaves it to me.  If you look at the first pictures you will see the cans well mixed, so the cats don’t get the same can of food at any two feedings.  I would get bored if every meal was the same as the last.  Ron will keep opening cans until he finds something the cats like and will eat. So below is the rest of the photos.   Hugs.  Scottie

IMG_0668IMG_0667IMG_0666

Odie has fallen in thrall of our radiator heater.

Ron is out grocery shopping.   I want to start going with him, and have a few times, but lately I am not up to it and there are things I need to take care of while he is shopping.  I was doing the dishes so he would have counters to put the groceries on when he got home.  Yes, I am tired.   But the funniest thing happened while I was doing them.

It has been cold on and off here in Florida during January and February.   This last few nights it has been around 46 degrees or lower at sunrise.   So before he goes to bed Ron turns the radiator on low with the temp dial about 72.  The heater we have in our bedroom bathroom heats both rooms and as I get up about every hour to pee, when it gets cool enough I turn it on.   Between the both of them they heat the main space and we keep the other doors closed until it warms up outside.   Also the electronics in the Pink Palace keep the room about 74 on the coldest nights so far.   I just have to remember to leave the computers up and running with the door closed.  

So to the point of the post, while I was doing the dishes Odie wanted food.  I gave it to him.  But Odie is older, we think at least 12 but more likely older, and not in the best health.  So while I went back to doing dishes after he finished eating, he went to the radiator heater that he often lays next to when it is running.  We have noticed that when it is active he will lay near it or against it.   He clearly loves the warm heat coming off it.  

So he finished eating, came out, stretched out next to the heater.  But no heat came out.   So he got closer.  Then he tried hitting it with his paw.  Finally, as I was rushing to get my phone, I saw him rubbing his face on the fins.  Yes even though the house was warm enough I gave in and turned on the radiator to the lower setting.  But that was not working fast enough for him and he was getting upset so I went over and activated the medium 1,600 watt setting.  That made it heat up fast enough and he laid back down next to it happy.  As he fell asleep, I turned it back to the lower watt setting.   Below is the pictures of our really spoiled fat cat.  Hugs.  Scottie

IMG_0672IMG_0673IMG_0674IMG_0675IMG_0676IMG_0677

Sad Cat Diary

Cats In Therapy

PetsTalk Holidays

Dogs In Therapy

The Experiment

Enough for now, headed to bed.

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

ThumbnailScience Fiction Quizz: who wore it better?

Thumbnail

Thumbnail

True Facts: Crows That Hunt With Sticks

Stairway To Heaven Parody Song – What A CAT Would Sing Instead

Stairway to heaven? Cats want THEIR way. Enjoy this parody song of the Led Zeppelin classic, now full of cattitude. Starring beautiful Luna, whose picture was sent in to me by Donna through my Facebook page, where I put call-outs when I’m looking for pet pics.

Mom, Where Do Baby Jellyfish Come From? | Deep Look

When grown-up jellyfish love each other very much, they make huge numbers of teeny-tiny potato-shaped larvae. Those larvae grow into little polyps that cling to rocks and catch prey with their stinging tentacles. But their best trick is when they clone themselves by morphing into a stack of squirming jellyfish pancakes.