I’d whine about why, but frankly you probably don’t want to hear much if anything about it and I certainly don’t want to dwell on it. In a nutshell, being disabled sucks. There are weeks at a time–even longer, sometimes–where it takes all my energy to manage the basics of everyday living, with a body that just doesn’t work very well at all. I end up without any energy, strength or functionality left over for the good stuff, like writing a blog post or two. That’s just the way it is, and I post when I can. *sigh*

‘Nuff on that.

We’ve had an absolute outbreak of bunnies, and a real bonanza of other wildlife this year. In one week alone, I saw a very handsome male ring-necked pheasant, blue herons, sandhill cranes, turkey vultures, an osprey, loads of bald eagles, great horned owls, Eastern bluebirds, rosy breasted grosbeaks, purple martins, turkeys, redtail hawks, the usual cardinals, bluejays, goldfinches, wrens, killdeer, robins, grackles and starlings, and some beautiful water birds including not just mallard ducks and Canada geese but also cormorants and several flocks of white pelicans. Wow. I’m seeing deer, some coyotes and for the first time ever caught a glimpse of what I think was a weasel in the yard. It moved like the mink I used to see many years back when I’d be trail riding, but was much smaller. I’ve suspected that we have a weasel, from some of the signs I’ve seen about the yard this spring, but this will be a first for us if one really has moved in and established a territory.

The dragonflies and damsel flies have also arrived, and are as beautiful as ever. The dragonflies seem like they are the size of B52 bombers, compared to the damsel flies in particular, and its a bit startling when they zing right past your ear. I’m also seeing butterflies, including monarchs, Eastern swallowtails (both yellow and black) and a lovely tiny blue butterfly/moth that I haven’t identified yet. No honeybees, sadly, but a goodly number of bumblebees, which is heartening.

I’ve done a guest post over on Cattlebarroness, about what it was like to move from The City to a rural State, so do hop over there and check it out. Lian is delightful, and her blog is a treat to read–pay her a visit and enjoy yourself!

A pudgy grumpy rodent is our national weather oracle?

Only in America.

Just sayin’.

Some of the cutest, most most appealing critters on earth are the red pandas. Look at this guy–does it get any cuter than that? Can’t you just hear the conversation that was going on as this photo was taken? “Oh, look, you have visitors! Wave your paw at the crowd!”

Also known as firefox (yup, that’s the same critter that’s behind the name of Mozilla’s web browser), red pandas are seriously endangered. Fewer than 2,500 wild red pandas are left in the world. An additional 900 or so live in zoos. They aren’t related to giant pandas at all, btw, even though they do munch on bamboo, amongst other things, for their standard diet. They really like yummy fruit treats, too, including grapes and watermelon slices.

They sure seem to know how to kick back and enjoy themselves, like this firefox that’s happily lying under a cool mister at the Akron Zoo.

Genetic studies show that red pandas are in their own family of mammals, part of the broader superfamily that includes raccoons, skunks and weasels.

Want to actually see some of these fuzz balls live and in action? Mozilla (the non-profit Foundation) decided to “stream cuteness” and in partnership with the Knoxville Zoo put up a live webcam of the Zoo’s baby red pandas. Go to Firefox Live and enjoy!

Photo of red panda waving copyright © Ariel Ophelia, and photo of red panda soaking in the cool mist copyright © by Meredith Houser. Both are used with permission granted under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. See http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Red_Panda_Face.jpg and http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flat_panda.jpg for full information and copyright restrictions.

We’re celebratin’ 2011, the Year of the Rabbit, here at Butter Side Down. All of the bunnies wish you a Happy, Hoppy, New Years.

Me too.