Americain Animals

I have lots of people coming on my blog right now via the keywords American Melbourne Cup.

I'm thinking maybe they mean to say Americain.   She (or he?) is the horse that won the cup.  What's with that name?  What does it mean?   Is it regarding America and John McCain?   I have no idea.   But now I'm curious.

I'm reading an article in The Australian.....

Americain doesn't seem to be an American thing.  The trainer was French, and the jockey was French.

Oh, but The Age says the horse was bred in America.  Why didn't the French trainer use a French horse?   I'm just curious.  It's nice though that they make it such an international thing.   I hope they're all nice to this horse.  Does he get an extra dessert tonight, or something?   

Really.  I'm not going to go and PETA on everyone, but I'm looking at all these articles and no one is treating the horse like he's important as an individual.  I know the trainer did great work, and the jockey too.  But I think more credit needs to go to the horse.  I think his story should be told. What does his name mean?  What does he like to eat?   Does he like to be petted?  Does he have horse friends?  What are his fears?  Does he have bad habits?  Is he team Jacob or Edward?  

Maybe this will be talked about in tomorrow news.

For now I'll take this opportunity to talk about MY pets....or I'll be politically correct and call them my feline companions.  

We got Mushu in NYC from the ASPCA.  He was a year-old.   He's a VERY loving cat.   He purrs a lot.  He loves to sit on my lap.  He also loves to sit on any book I'm reading.  He's not so nice to strangers.  He's scary at the vet. He's a bit senile when it comes to eating.  He starts to eat, then walks away and forgets that he has food. Then I have to go get his food and bring it to him. He got fat in his younger years, but now he's slim again.

Max is the other cat. We love him, but he's a challenging child.  We got him at my parent's lake house.  He was a stray in need of a home.  Now he lives in OUR home and pees all over the place.   It's sad and gross. Yes, we got this checked out.   We couldn't figure out what's wrong because he refused to give the vet a urine sample, and we weren't talented enough to get one at home. We're doubting it's a physical issue because it's been going on for several years. If it was a physical problem, you'd think he'd be dead by now.  We keep Max contained in the kitchen so we can keep the urine saturation limited to one room. Often we have him stay in the laundry room. I wish he'd stop the peeing so he could wander around the whole house.

Max is cute.  He has a unique type of meow.  He eats a lot, and he's too fat. We've switched to canned food (upon the vet's advice and scare tactics) in hopes that this makes him more healthy. 

That's all for our official pets.  We used to have a fish, but it died. Last week we had a lizard for a few hours.  I accidentally adopted the guy when I brought in my bras and tank tops.   I was putting my clothes away, and the lizard jumped out.  He was so cute. I love lizards. I did wonder if we could just let him live in our house...wander about as he pleases.   We have tons of bugs.  He probably wouldn't go hungry, although he'd have to compete with the spiders. Ah! Maybe he'd eat the spiders.Sorry, Charlotte.  He might have been able to avoid the cats.

I did worry that he had a girlfriend (or boyfriend) outside somewhere.  Tim was a miracle worker and did some McLeod's Daughters type wrangling to get Mr. Lizard back outside. I was relieved and proud of Tim but also a little disappointed and sad.