Kids + Presidents = CUTENESS

Via Politico: "The caption from the White House Flickr feed: 'The youngster wanted to see if the President's haircut felt like his own.'"

Cuties.

Forest Fires Create Forest Friends

From Lemonade Poem:

"The Jesusita Fire in Santa Barbara, CA last week caused these two to take shelter together. The fawn is 3 days old and the bobcat about 3 weeks. The fawn came from somewhere in the fire and the bobcat from Carpentaria. They immediately bonded and snuggled together under a desk in the Santa Barbara County Dispatch Office for several hours."

Scraaaaaaaaatch

This owl likes being scratched behind his ears.

Little Pig-chers Have Big Ears

This pile of piglets is too much. They're asleep, but they flap their ears whenever they hear a sound.

Sadface Matthew

Look at little Matthew. He's adoptable! And sad.



And inquisitive.



And shy! Oh, what a sweetheart.

GHOSTLY!

This chalk animation by Lucinda Schreiber is beeeeauuutiful. And the best image comes at the very end (I think).

Firekites - AUTUMN STORY - chalk animation from Lucinda Schreiber on Vimeo.

Full disclosure: saw this on Design Sponge first.

The Loneliest Pig

Afghanistan has ONE PIG. And they've quarantined him because of swine flu fears!

Hey Kabul Zoo! Didn't you guys get the memo? Everyone forgot about swine flu last week. It's totally not a thing anymore.

Anyway, they built the pig a little room even though there's no chance of anyone actually catching swine flu from him.

Poor little lonely, sad pig.

Here he is in the days when he could roam free:

More like CUTE Bats

There is such a thing as a Flying Fox. Did you know that? I didn't. Apparently "Flying Fox" is another name for Fruit Bats.



Here are a few who were recently rescued after their moms abandoned them. They are swaddled in a drawer, people. SWADDLED!

I found some other pictures. These dudes really do look like foxes! Truth in advertising!



This one looks more like a lemur, but whatevs. I'd still snuggle it.

Meet Beefy!

I watch a lot of silly TV but one of my most favorite silly shows is MTV's "Rob and Big." It's about professional skateboarder Rob Dyrdek and his BFF, Christopher "Big Black" Boykin. They get in all kinds of orchestrated misadventures, like trying to get their picture on the box of Kashi's Good Friends cereal, or buying a mini-horse. It makes me laugh SO HARD.

My favorite thing about the show is Rob. He seems like a really nice guy and he has this positive (borderline-delusional) attitude that I love. My SECOND fave thing, though, is his bulldog Meaty. And NOW, in his new show, "Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory," he has a new girl puppy, BEEFY!!!!!!

Just look. Oh my goodness.

"I'd like it toasted with cream cheese, please."

This is Mr. Winston and his bagel. He is 13 years old but still cute as heck.

Ultimate Snuggle

At the Wolong Nature Reserve in Chengdu, China, you can spend 5 minutes hugging a panda for a mere $130.

Totally worth it.

"A Handsome, Humble, and Honest Face"

This is Jack. Short for "Jackknife" because "sometimes his hind legs start to run sideways and he'll roll and flip over," like a big truck jackknifing on the freeway.

Oh my goodness, this differently-abled dachsie has stolen my heart. (Don't worry, tender-hearted folks, he's not in any pain.)




Best for last:



!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He reminds me so much of the Doggie Diner sign in San Francisco, which makes me so happy.



Post title via commenter drbobm55

The Great Cowscape

"The news came over the radio in the clipped jargon of police officers: "Queens. Loose cow. 103 Precinct. 109 Avenue. E.S.U. reporting a loose cow at the location."

Awesome.

The cow escaped from a slaughterhouse in Jamaica, Queens and the cops caught her and handed her over to Animal Care and Control. They're trying to find a spot for her at an animal sanctuary.

From the New York Times (really!):

Since — by early afternoon — no one had called about the cow or come to the sanctuary to claim her, Mr. Gentles said that the cow would not be forced to return to the slaughterhouse.

“Well, somebody can come and claim her, but in our experience, nobody has come forward in the past and asked to claim their cow,” he said. “We haven’t gotten any calls that someone is missing their cow.”

The police spokesman — apparently as uplifted as anyone about the cow’s new lease on life — said he suspected the cow, by escaping, had acted to save its own life. “I think it’s because it made it out,” he said.

Such a sweet story. I was planning on having burgers for dinner tonight, but now I feel guilty. Drat!

(And sorry for the random images. There are no pics of this cow as of yet.)

Hop to It!

Apparently there is such a thing as rabbit agility competitions. You know, like dog or horse agility. But for rabbits.

15 year old UK twins Mathew and Thomas Haslam have been training over 20 rabbits to show jump in their back garden in preparation for something called the "Ultimate Pet Show". (I'm going to investigate this thing. It's got to be full of awesome competitions that we can't even imagine. Cat pommel horse!? Hamster synchronized swimming?!)



Both twins have Asperger's Syndrome and training the bunnies (sometimes for 7 hours a day! What!?) has helped them with their condition. Kudos to Bubbles, Lilac, Cuddles, Apple, Muffin, Beefy and the rest of the warren!

Make Way for Robins, Too, While You're at It

AND there are baby robins outside the press briefing room!

Spring has sprung!

Make Way for Ducklings, Mr. President

There are ducklings at the White House, people. DUCKLINGS!

BFFs: Barnyard Friends Forever

William the piglet and Charles the rabbit are buddies. They live at Pennywell Farm in Buckfastleigh, Devon, in the UK. (Doesn't that sort of look like "Breakfastleigh"? Such a place should exist.)



William was moved to a pen near the rabbit hutch and started following Charles around. Chris Murray, the pair's owner, says, "William is far keener on the friendship than Charles, but Charles is tolerant, even when his food gets taken."



Charles is really looking tee'd off in these photos, but in a bemused sort of way. These two are like a gruff, secretly-kindhearted old man and an energetic young upstart. Oh my god, they're like Babe and Farmer Hogget, if Farmer Hogget were a rabbit!

Pop in Your Local Mom and Pop for a Present for Mom (WORDPLAY!)

Ez at Creature Comforts tipped me off to the 3/50 Project. If half of the employed population spent $50 a month in local shops, we'd generate over 42.6 billion dollars of revenue for the economy!

I know it's hard to shell out money right now, but I've been trying to shop locally and it feels good to help out merchants in my neighborhood that I've come to know and even consider friends.

Here are a few Mother's Day gift ideas from stores in my neck of the woods. PSST! MOTHER'S DAY IS MAY 10, suckas. If you live in Brooklyn you should definitely come check them out!

SCAREDY KAT
229 5th Ave b/w Carroll and President Sts



You gotta get her a card, obvs. Scaredy Kat has really pretty cards with a wide range of messages and prices. If you think a $6 card is ridiculous OR totally affordable, this store is for you!

ONE GIRL COOKIES
68 Dean St at Smith St



You guys, One Girl Cookies' tiny little cooks are the jam. The store itself is a lovely, blue-and-cream colored place to sit and enjoy a treat, but you can order their goodies online too. Prices for gift boxes start at $29. Totally reasonable!

GORILLA COFFEE
97 5th Ave at Baltic St/Park Pl



I stop at Gorilla every day on my way to work. It's the best coffee I've ever had. Plus, the staffers are the nicest and wear crazy accessories (which leads to me and the fella making up secret nicknames for them like "Map Hat" and "Sequin Beret"). Anyway, I could see a boy getting his mom the screen printed wooden gift box of three 1lb. bags of coffee. It doesn't have a distinct "mom vibe" (i.e. pastels) but if you have a cool mom you could pull it off.

COG AND PEARL
190 Fifth Ave at Sackett St/Berkeley Pl

Cog and Pearl, on the other hand, has a TOTAL mom vibe. (Well, a girl vibe.) Lots of affordable jewelry and one-of-a-kind-seeming housewares. These switch plates are a little pricey at $50, but isn't Mother's Day all about doing something special to make your mom's everyday life a little sweeter? She'd look at it often and think what a great kid she has. Then, when you call her to ask her to do your taxes for you, she won't be as cranky about it. Maybe?