Photobomb!

At work, bet you'll never guess which one I am! ;-b

Critterpalooza!

For lack of thoughtful or insightful things to post right now, I will try to pacify you with a roundup of various animal pictures, some of which have been on my camera since late winter.

"Fat Cat" has an appropriately descriptive name. He belongs to some of my friends who pitch a tent in my yard occasionally and they often bring him with them when visiting.

I told my friend Jen the other day that I promised myself I wouldn't be one of those people who talks about my dog way too much... and that promise has been shattered. I feel like the stereotypical proud father who bores everyone to tears with endless pictures and conversations about his new-born child.

Pepper hiked all the way up Mount Mansfield with me in Northern VT recently.

The endearing, maudlin "beggar boy" look refined to an art

This is what happens when we get too curious about porcupines!

Schmoozing with my friend Jeanette at work

Jen's two dogs: Kindred & Addie

"Stella", a white umbrella cockatoo

Spending time with "Kayden" (scarlet macaw) at work. He used to routinely draw blood on me but after establishing that he would not get his way by biting (and by repeatedly plying him with treats & toys) I have become one of his buddies.

A most unusual hand-raised baby sun conure who actually likes to sleep on his back. Countless times we had customers dutifully reporting to us that they thought one of our birds was dead. We eventually posted a sign to let everyone know that this behavior was normal for this particular bird. Side note: in the wild, this behavior would most likely cause this little guy to become another statistic to explain natural selection.

A jade goby who has taken on the habit of lighthouse-perching, might this be the piscine version of pole-sitting?

"Duchess" is a very beautiful and spoiled bearded dragon who visits us frequently when her family comes in to buy food for her.

My friend Josh has recently raised a breeding pair of angelfish, the two white dashes in the lower left corner are some of their babies.

Leaf Turtle: she is the most athletic turtle I've ever seen, frequently climbing in and out from among the rocks and scaling the side of her enclosure. I had to put extra weight on top of her cage because she kept escaping.

A "blue lobster" (actually just a selectively-bred species of crayfish) right after molting with his old shell visible directly above him. We leave the shells in the tank because they eat them and recycle the minerals.

I am normally not crazy about rabbits, but this little fella is admittedly cute and the most docile bunny I've ever met.

He will even fall asleep in your lap!

A young fox who hangs out behind my workplace

Chipmunk at my birdfeeder

Photographic Chronicles of Delightful Workplace Nonsense

My workplace is quite unique, the other people employed within it being no exception. It is not your standard retail store and we all have unusual personalities. I enjoy having my own brand of absurdism and some of us share a really abstract, dark sense of humor, which makes for some very strange pranks on each other. View the pictures below for a full dose of the sweet madness.

"I am here to protect you from the terrible secret of space": One of my coworkers likes to draw random faces on the daily to-do lists in my department, then one of us usually adds on a body, accessories, and a caption/word-bubble or two. This one is both a reference and a tribute to this obscure internet phenomenon.

One of my dearly-missed coworkers created this mixed-media face just for me, I especially like how she created the jawline from random mathematical problem sets.

A spoon that one of my coworkers purposely rusted as a prop and tribute to Salad Fingers, specifically in reference to this episode where our noble hero expounds upon his affinity for rusty objects, specifically spoons.

Spongebob has obviously been VERY VERY naughty!

Squidward, wearing a lovely feather & bow headpiece, accompanied by a random girlfriend supplied by my buddy Dan.

"Telekrinkulum": Once in a while it is nice to confuse people by writing an emphatic made-up word on a specific date on the department calendar....

...and then offer a confusing clarification by giving the word it's own separate holiday.

A sign that has been hanging in my department for a long time.

I really can't offer a valid explanation for this one, it's totally random except for the fact that 'Feathers' happens to be a fan of Stanley Kubrick, his garb and commentary reference the movie A Clockwork Orange

Even aquatically-necrotic, tire-sitting murder victims can enjoy the fresh, bold taste of Mentos™.

More references to Salad Fingers

Various employees' representations of other employees

To the casual observer, all of this probably looks like the work of a bunch of criminally insane freak-shows, but really folks, where would we be without a bit of nonsense in our lives!!??? :)

Perched on the apse between the gaps...

...just an odd phrase that kept running through my head today, I don't know where it came from but it sounds like a line from some sort of existentialist poem.

Word of the day: parsimonious

Witty retort of the day:

I needed to walk to the grocery store for a few groceries after work today. We have a stray shopping cart from the local Wal-mart sitting in our parking lot. The night-time supervisor got wind of the fact that I was hoofing it and asked me if I would care to push it back to the Wal-mart, to which I said,"Now really, I have all these bags to carry and how do you think it would make me look to be pushing a shopping cart around town?" and one of my coworkers chimes in,"In this town completely normal!"