During visits to the zoo, most kids will fantasize about which animal they would like to take home and have as a pet.  There are many reasons why exotic and wild animals should not be kept as pets, but being an animal lover, I guess I never grew out of the mindset of a kid at the zoo – I still think about which ones I would like as pets.  Well, actually, I’d like all of them as pets, but here are the top 10.  Since this is purely fantasy, of course I did not take rational things into consideration like cost or cleaning up after or housing the animals, where’s the fun in that?  While you’re at it, try putting your top few fantasy pets in the comments box below…  🙂

Taylhis Most Wanted:

African Grey parrot – Ugh, another large bird?  Do I really want more bird screaming to rile up the kids?  But this is a fantasy list, so I’m going to build a huge tropical aviary with a little river for my birds, no problem.  Members of this particular breed of parrot are incredibly smart, and their ability for exact mimicry is hilarious!  I once posted a video of a little African Grey character named Silvia who did an awesome impression of Desi Arnaz (Lucy, you got some ‘splainin to do!) as well as sarcastically (and hilariously) delivering the line, “Well loddy-frickin’-dah!”

Manatee – My favorite animal; manatees are gentle and intelligent.  I find the manatee’s graceful movements relaxing and therapeutic.  Watching my manatee swim would be a great way to unwind after a stressful day!

Gorilla – Humans  have much in common with these intelligent primates.  It’d be incredible to get to know one on a personal basis.

Sea Horse – Well, these guys mate for life, so I’d like a pair of seahorses, which would then turn into hundreds 🙂  But many of their behaviors are truly fascinating to watch!

Sea Lion – Like an aquatic dog, sea lions are intelligent, trainable, and beautiful swimmers.  And so cute!

Goat – I’ve always loved goats; now that we live nearby many farms, this might be a possibility some day!

Huge Dog – Dogs are the greatest, and sometimes it seems like the larger the dog, the friendlier.  So for a dog-lover without limitations on house size, wouldn’t it be great to have a beautiful 150lb+ lap dog?  I was thinking St. Bernard, Great Dane or Mastiff type dogs.

Octopus –  A somewhat mysterious animal, though to be intelligent based in part upon its ability to manipulate items like jars and toys for food rewards.

Alligator – Huge reptiles with a bad rap; I would love the time to hand-raise and train a gator.

Tortoise – I really like tortoises, and it’d be really neat to create an exhibit to house one of those super-huge tortoises.

Honorable mention:

Marmoset – a cute furry little primate.  Cute as he is, smaller primates are known for being tempremental, so this guy is a runner-up.

So there you have it.  My husband commented on my list’s lack of felines.  True, I always blog about how much I would like a cat, but in the real world, all that’s stopping me from getting a cat or two or ten is my cat allergy, so that’s not really the point of the list – it’s more about forbidden animals.  Big cats would be too scary to play with – I had a little cat who passed away, but after watching how suddenly and completely her moods could change, I gained a whole new respect for big cats, so no thanks!

Since today is election day, I thought I would do a rare political post.

The great state of Ohio gave us the following laws

In Ohio it is illegal to fish for whales on Sunday, however, no one can be arrested on a Sunday or the 4th of July….

It is illegal to get a fish drunk.

In Canton Ohio it is illegal to play any game in the public parks without the Superintendent’s permission.

In Cleveland it is illegal to catch mice without a hunting license.

In Youngstown it is illegal to run out of gas.

Now that is just a few dumb laws for more in Ohio and other states Click Here.

After reading just a few of these laws I wonder if anyone would trust a politician to make laws that really matter. They are the one who made these laws. As far as I know there still are no wild whales in Ohio.

For a few years now, there has been a site dedicated to the ORIGINAL Bionic Woman (not the so called reboot that was a victim of the writer’s strike two years ago… that was definitely HORRIBLE).  I have been a frequent fan of the site.  Last week, a new site dedicated to the father (or should I be bold and say… husband) series, The Six Million Dollar Man, was started.  You know… (or maybe you don’t know depending on your age and maybe afternoon rerun viewing of the 80s) the one about “Col. Steve Austin, astronaut… a man barely alive.”  They rebuilt him following a tragic piloting accident making him “better than he was before.  Better… Stronger… Faster.” The reluctant hero was endowed with a bionic arm, two bionic legs, and a bionic eye (although Lee Major’s now pitches an add for a “Bionic ear.”)  I fondly remember playing in the yard with my brother and friends.  Orders were given by “Oscar Goldman” for the mission of the week.  Bionic action complete with the awesomely cheesy sound effects battling evil terrorists, fembots, and other evil doers.  Although guess who ended up playing Jaime Sommers several times… only because my first name happened to be the same but spelled differently… somehow I think there was a little more to it than that, but I guess if I wanted to play with big brother…

But the site has brought back memories of rushing home from school to atch the reruns (I was only a year old in ’74 after all).

After returning from being booed at rehearsal… second time we have read through and I’m already being booed… I’M LOOOOOVIN’ IT!!!!! I Returned to see the Yanks down 3-1 in the second and it did not get much better after.  I’m pleased to say that they never gave in.  That dratted combination of Lee-Utley killed us again.  Mr. Utley tied Mr. October (Reggie Jackson… even named a candy bar after him) for the most home runs in a single World Series with five… so far, NO MORE FOR YOU!!!

So tomorrow night, we go back to ‘da Bronx for the magic game six.  I have said for the past week or so that it would be six and BACK TO THE NEW DIGS!

Final: Yanks 6… Phillies 8.

We’ve had many CSI series or maybe an NCIS series. How many Law and Orders have there been. Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits have had multiple variations. I won’t talk about all of the different versions of Star Trek. Or the many versions of various comic book heroes on TV cartoons.

And now the TV series “V” comes back to television. From the commercials it looks like it may be very similar to the original. Good looking aliens, but they are hiding something. Scuttlebutt on the web indicates that what they are hiding will be a little different than the first version.

I really enjoyed the first series back in the 80’s. It was one of the show I remember talking to friends about. I’m not sure if this show will generate the same buzz.

Anyone going to watch? Anyone remember the original show?

What’s super fun for kids and free for parents?  Well, free for parents who live in most parts of the country, anyway…  AUTUMN LEAVES! Last week my kids had a blast playing with the leaves in the back yard.  It might cost time and money to dispose of the once beautiful fallen leaves, but before they become a nuisance, there’s no reason why they can’t provide hours of family fun!

Not the Chicago Bears…  No, they stink.  Sure they beat a miserable Cleveland Browns team this weekend, but so could the team of Taylhis, Sublife, and Morat.

It is actually our local highschool football team, the Bryan Golden Bears.  This is the FIRST TIME IN SCHOOL HISTORY the football team is in the playoffs.  How’s that for some big local news!?

No, I won’t be attending the game, in Cleveland of all places (see above) but it is exciting for our small community.  So, next weekend I will have two sets of Bears to root for football-wise.  Cool.

Another blog here on tangents.org who was describing cool kids’ Halloween costumes reminded me of some high tech Halloween costumes I saw on the internet last week and forgot to post.  Click on this link and enjoy, maybe get some ideas for next year.  I especially like the first one; gadgets and gizmos that make it seem as if there is a giant hole right through a person!

Today at our second rehearsal, we got to watch the original 1947 classic film starring Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed, and Lionel Barrymore.  I now wonder why It’s A Wonderful Life has not been a holiday tradition along side the myriad versions of A Christmas Carol and other movies.  I thought it was extraordinary for the first time.  Primarily, Travis wanted us to watch and listen to line inflection and deliveries since many of the lines in the script are taken verbatim from the film, but I think watching Mr. Barrymore’s performance will help even more in developing my take on Mr. Potter.  Producer Mare asked if I could channel Drew’s great-uncle.  I thought the performance was stupendous and I can see why many in the cast have congratulated me on getting the role.

I also had time today to highlight my lines with the extremely cool erasable highlighters.  Whatever genius at Crayola came up with these deserves millions.  I highly recommend them to every actor.

And ONE MORE WIN TO GO! but I will not be so bold as to predict a five game series.  But I will ask… how many HBPs does it take before it becomes intentional?  In his first at bat, A-Rod was hit for the third time in two games.  A warning was immediately given to both pitchers.  Coincidental?  I realize that pitchers like to come inside to him but jeez…

Final score…. Evil Empire 7… Defending Champs 4

Halloween missed me this year, or should I say I missed it. All of this actually started Thursday when I was not feeling well. I slept through most of the day with a sore throat and headache. Friday was worse, I woke up early in the morning (3:00 am) with a massive earache. I tried getting in to see the Dr, but I missed the 8:00am call time by 5 minutes. I was told they could call me if there was a cancellation, or I could come in and wait for one. Hmmm. If the pain had been worse, I may have gone in to wait, but I think that would have been in an emergency room, not the Drs. office. I took the alternative to have them call me. That may have been the wrong move. No Dr. visit on Friday.

I spent the day with my ear under moist heat. That and some Tylenol made the earache bearable by 6:00pm. All I needed was some sleep and I should be fine, right?…. Wrong. I woke up Saturday with a cough that just would not quit. I didn’t even try searching for these symptoms on the web. Throat feels fine, but I had a severe tickle. I could not stop coughing. I’ve never had this sort of illness. One or the other sure, but different things in succession, nope.

Today I was feeling better, no sore throat, no headache, no earache, no cough. Until play practice. The extra talking I did made my throat tickle again.. I stopped talking at 5:00pm and the tickle has subsided. Maybe if I can get away without talking much tomorrow, my throat will be better by Tuesday’s rehearsal.

Anyway, I had my costume all set and was prepared to go to a Halloween gathering. I even had the makings for a wonderful Halloween treat.

Here it is…

Bloody Fingers and Toes

1 package Lil’Smokies
1 package brats
Favorite BBQ sauce.

Cut all sausages into toe and finger tip size pieces. Fry brats in skillet until cooked through, brown Lil’Smokies. Place in crockpot and stir in your favorite BBQ sauce. Heat through. Serve.

Hot dogs or other sausage types could be used in addition to other types. 1.5 to 2 1lbs meat should be used. Various types of sausages will give you different finger and toe sizes.