When you’ve been out of the egg for 21-and-a-half consecutive nesting seasons, you have had ample opportunity to learn that expecting things to stay the same is both optimistic and unlikely. On the one hand – positivity. You’ve got it. (And what ladybird doesn’t love positivity?) On the other hand – reality. The food chainContinueContinue reading “Cuteness for Comfort with Pearl: Make Mine Mashed”
Author Archives: Shannon Cutts
Being Brave with Bruce: Two Shells Is Better
There is no doubt that “the shell” is a very good design. It is lightweight, attractive, sleek and stealthy. Tired? Take a snooze inside your shell. Looking for lunch? Hunker down in your shell to scope for snacks. Looking like lunch? Snap shut and send the predator packing for greener (well, browner) pastures. Depending onContinueContinue reading “Being Brave with Bruce: Two Shells Is Better”
Resting in Place with Malti: Super Stealth Shell
Being born with a shell means you are naturally very stealthy. The fact that you are also born low to the ground and slow and steady is just icing on the proverbial (tortoise-sized) cake. But sometimes you find that you want or need to add even an extra layer of stealth. For instance, maybe thereContinueContinue reading “Resting in Place with Malti: Super Stealth Shell”
Cuteness for Comfort with Pearl: Put a Heart On It
In large featherless circles, when you like something – or someone – you’re supposed to put a ring on it. What the large featherless beings don’t know is that a heart can work just as well. For example, let’s say you are having a bit of a bum day. The news from the large rectangularContinueContinue reading “Cuteness for Comfort with Pearl: Put a Heart On It”
Resting in Place with Malti: Soak for Success
It can be unsettling to wake up one day and discover you are suddenly at war with an opponent you can’t even see. Your enemy can get aerial without wings, survive for days (weeks) on surfaces without sustenance, stay dormant nearly indefinitely without losing any of their super-scary infectious powers. In a word….ACK. But thereContinueContinue reading “Resting in Place with Malti: Soak for Success”
Cuteness for Comfort with Pearl: Do Not Disturb Bird
Stress is nobody’s bestie. Whether it comes from unauthorized (at least from you) visits to the large featherless beings in the unattractive white lab coats or something awful called “social distancing” that means you are supposed to stay far away from the ladybirds during nesting season (as if), stress is a bona fide party killer.ContinueContinue reading “Cuteness for Comfort with Pearl: Do Not Disturb Bird”
Being Brave with Bruce: Good Luck Box Turtle
Moving into an interspecies flock means getting a crash course in how other species see the world. For example, you might notice that your large shell-less rescue mama really has a thing for these small round red creatures with dots and antennae. She seems to feel better – luckier – when they are around. You,ContinueContinue reading “Being Brave with Bruce: Good Luck Box Turtle”
Resting in Place with Malti: Grazing with Grandma
Choosing to live in an interspecies flock is not for the faint of stomach. It doesn’t take long to learn that some of the large shell-less beings are “delicacy whisperers”….and some are not. You need to learn quickly whose victuals are actually edible and whose are not….at least if you want to enjoy the averageContinueContinue reading “Resting in Place with Malti: Grazing with Grandma”
Cuteness for Comfort with Pearl: Big Bird Bite
Biting may not be considered the most socially appropriate response in certain circles. Sad but true. The longer you spend living in an interspecies flock, the more you are likely to notice how frequently your flock mates prefer to waffle around the important issues rather than tackle them head-on. Their loss. Whether the threat isContinueContinue reading “Cuteness for Comfort with Pearl: Big Bird Bite”
Being Brave with Bruce: Box Upgrade
It can be advantageous to have a totally secure box you can close yourself up into whenever danger strikes. Then again, it can also be awfully lonely. It can be easy to psych yourself out, in there all by yourself. Obviously, the ideal scenario would be to invite a friend to shelter inside your boxContinueContinue reading “Being Brave with Bruce: Box Upgrade”
Love & Feathers & Shells 