#ThorsDaySmile

/ Marcia Meara

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Something a bit different–or at least longer–today. I’ve been asking myself for the last two weeks, why do we do it? Do what, you query? Why, insist on putting Santa hats on every animal we can get to hold still long enough. Seriously. ALL animals seem to be fair game for this rather odd activity. If you don’t believe me, take a look at some of these pics. Maybe even one or two of them will give you a #ThorsDaySmile – assuming you don’t expire from an overdose of Terminal Cute first. 😀 Scroll down at your own risk!

I’ll start with the obvious choices. Our beloved dogs and cats.
(I have dachshunds, myself, but so far, I haven’t put them through this.)

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But when your dog has a chump face, I admit, it’s hard to resist.

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Where dogs go, cats can’t be far behind, even if it ticks them
off royally!

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Or kills them, outright. (Sort of.)

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And if household pets are fair game, what about barnyard critters?

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Wee Two Pigs?

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Llama, Llama, Christmas Mama?

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Here a Chick, There a Chick!

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And of course, small, furry animals, like this!

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Or this!

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Exotics, One . . .

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. . . Two . . .

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. . . or Three?

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Wildlife????

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Even BIGGER wildlife?

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Zoo animals?

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Santa CLAWS?

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Yoohoooo? Enough is enough! Stop the madness, I say!!!

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This whole thing has worn us out, so . . .

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. . . bah, humbug!

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And that’s all I have to say about that!

48 thoughts on “#ThorsDaySmile”

    • I love reptiles, especially snakes. The only reason I don’t have a pet one is because I don’t like feeding them live animals. 😥 My snake would starve, because I’d be yanking out their dinner, and I’d soon have cages of mice all over the place! Hahahaha.

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    • Snakes are beautiful and graceful, and smooth and dry to the touch, and never wake the neighbors barking at 3:00am, and they don’t puke up hairballs on your expensive carpeting. See. Lots of things to like. 😀 😀 😀 MUCH, MUCH NICER than hairy-legged tarantulas! Check tomorrow’s post. Hahahaha. (Mostly, it will be cute, too.)

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        • They are, indeed, very windy-around, but how else can they hang on, when they’ve been cheated outta arms and legs? Poor little guys! And they do SO much good in the world, and in my garden. I have an arrangement with my black racers, yellow rat snakes, and ring-necked snakes. They eat vermin like mice and roaches, and keep my garden relatively free of pests, and I don’t bash them with a shovel. Win-win! 😀

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    • No, no, no. EEEEKK. I refuse to dream of snakes.

      Went into a shop today with a friend. They had these colorful artistic renditions of snakes. Really quite well done. Almost ran screaming from the room. I DO NOT LIKE SNAKES, even with Santa hats. 😉

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      • Awwww. That’s too bad. They are really the most interesting of animals, with remarkable adaptations for survival without legs. Utterly fascinating creatures, completely capable of thriving while draped over some admirer’s shoulders, and forced to wear a Santa hat. 😀

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        • Judith, don’t read this reply!

          My hat’s off to snakes (pun fully intended) for being extraordinary creatures. Just keep them away from me. I had a few close encounters out in the woods and in the barn back in my horseback riding days. They are too quick and can get in anywhere. Picked a saddle up off the rack one time and a copperhead (poisonous) was curled up underneath it. Neither of us were very happy.

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          • Naturally you do have to keep an eye out when you are in the snake’s territory, as you would with alligators, bears, or any other dangerous animal. There are lots of ways to do that, and reduce problems.(I’m assuming, btw, your run-in with the copperhead happened somewhere else, since we don’t have them in central Florida?)

            When I was a docent at the Central Florida zoo, I worked primarily with snakes, and between that, and my years at Audubon, I learned a great deal about them, so that helps me feel very comfortable when I spot them. This is NOT to say I would try to handle a venomous snake. Nor would I corner one, or stick my hand blindly into piles of leaves, debris, or under logs, where one might be lurking. Or try to kill one. (More than 90% of dangerous bites happen when people try to either pick up or kill a venomous snake, believe it or not.) But we only have four in central Florida, and they are very easy to identify, so I keep a sharp watch for those when I’m out in nature. And my resident snakes in my garden are all non-venomous, and very helpful.

            Understandably, not everyone will like snakes the way I do, but a bit of knowledge from a good instructor can keep folks from killing all snakes indiscriminately, and can prevent folks from having heart attacks every time they run across a harmless one. That’s my main goal, and one of the things I do talk about during my Swamp Ghosts presentations. And believe it or not, it’s the part of the slide show that garners the most questions, and that I get the largest amount of positive feedback after. Most folks learn a lot of helpful stuff they didn’t know before, which again, is one of my goals.

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            • I would imagine that part would get a great response. The problem with copperheads (yes, it was in Maryland and yes they are venomous) is that they look like a piece of rope if they are still. And they invade human territory when it’s cold, looking for a warm spot. At least, three times I’ve almost touched one because I thought it was a piece of rope. One of the many reasons I’m glad I now live in Florida.

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              • I’m familiar with copperheads, too, because they do occur in a small portion of the panhandle, and I’ve seen them. (I can’t say I ever thought they looked like rope, per se, having such a distinctive banded design, but I do think most snakes can fool the eye.) And many snakes, even harmless ones, will try to shelter in barns, garages, sheds, etc, when the weather is cold. Sadly, they can’t deal with temperature extremes at all. But like all snakes, they aren’t aggressive, by nature, and again, the trick is to avoid them. (Not always easy, in some circumstances, I know.)

                BTW, the bite of a copperhead is generally far less dangerous than the bite of an eastern diamondback rattlesnake, which we have plenty of down here. Much larger snake, packs more venom. The good news is, snakes do NOT like to have to use their venom for defense. It is how they secure and digest their food, and it takes a long time to replenish it. They will often give a “dry bite,” as a warning, though you’d still have to seek professional treatment to know for sure if venom had been introduced or not. And even dry bites need antibiotics to prevent infection. (See, more good snakey info. You really should come to one of my events, so you can learn the fast, EASY ways to recognize our four snakes of concern. I know TRICKS!! 😀 😀 😀 )

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  7. Great pictures! Loved them all. Now for a fill in the blank: The photographer got the hat on the alligator by ____________________________________________ .

    Merry Christmas to everyone, hat or no hat!!!

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    • Asking nicely? Promising him extra raw chicken for dinner? Brute strength? Threatening him with an endlessly looping tape of The LIttle Drummer Boy? All of the above? 😀

      Of course, it isn’t a really big alligator, and holding one’s mouth shut is easy. You can do it with one hand on a young one. (Of course, prying it OPEN is a whole ‘nuther matter. MUCH stronger muscles at work in that jaw, then. They are designed to NOT let go.) 😯

      Glad you enjoyed them, Liz! Probably put up a few more today, just for Friday Giggles.

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    • I know. I also partial to the hedgehog, because, well let’s face it. They are so dang cute, you could put devil horns on them, and they’d still be adorable. 😀 And if you’ve ever forced a cat into clothing–especially clothing that covers their legs or feet–you find out that most of them think they can no longer walk, and fall down on the floor in much the same way. Of course, MY cats would disembowel anyone who even tried such a thing. 😯

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        • Oh, 3 of our 4 cats love nothing more than being held and loved on. (The other one is known as the Skittery Kittery. She mostly hides under the couch, even though we’ve had her since she was tiny, and you’d think she would have figured out we aren’t going to hurt her.) But as affectionate as the others are, they would NOT hold still for any kind of costumery! Nosirree. Make you bleed, they will. 😀

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    • Hahahaha. Yeah, mice have a way of increasing their numbers at a nearly impossible rate. I guess it makes up for how many of them fall prey to snakes and other predators in the natural order of things. But if you keep rescuing them, nature runs amok, and the next thing you know, you are the owner of a vast rodent exhibit. There aren’t enough Habi-Trails in the world! 😀

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    • Neither would mine, Mae. My current crop of cats would lay me open from my chin to my fingertips if I tried such shenanigans with them. 😀 And my dachshunds wouldn’t cooperate, either. Maks would flip that hat off and eat it in seconds. (Fiberfill and fleece apparently smell like porterhouse steak to him), and Potter would just piddle all over me and said item of clothing, ruining the entire experience. 😀 Still. They are cute.

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  13. Kass said ” As for snakes, I don’t hate them; I just want them to stay far, far away from me.”

    I can live with that, Kass. 🙂 And I suspect the snakes feel the same way. 😀 My goal with reptiles isn’t to make everyone enjoy them as much as I do, but just to help them understand that they have a place in the scheme of things, how to avoid the harmful ones, and why it isn’t necessary to bash every one they come across. Mutual avoidance can be a good thing. 😀 😀 😀

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    • Glad you enjoyed them. I love reptiles, including snakes and alligators, which are part of Florida’s wonderful wildlife, so they often get thrown into the mix. But my feelings on them are well known around here (even in this very post), so no need to go into that again. And I can’t resist cats and dogs, either. Actually, the only animals that really give me shudders are big sharks and hairy-legged spiders. 😀 (BOTH of which I’ve seen wearing Santa hats, though I think the shark was photoshopped.) 😉

      Merry Christmas, Cynthia!

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