Z is for....

Zowie! The last blog. Really enjoyed reading everyone's blogs. There are some superb writers out there and some very interesting people. Thanks for visiting my blog and taking the trouble to comment. Really appreciated it. Cheers, Maureen.

ZOG  - as in the Planet Zog.

Completely bereft of ideas for the letter z,  I was making up silly words beginning with z and inspirationally "Planet Zog" popped into my head. Could this be an original idea. I zealously googled "Planet Zog" and waited patiently while Google zeroed in.
ZOUNDS! There were zillions of hits. It seems others had got there before me.
It would appear that if you "live on Planet Zog", you are in a place or situation removed from reality and what is currently happening. I think I've been there and certainly some of my friends have.

Nevertheless the Zog version of reality has its own website which promises info on all its habitat, but sadly delivers nothing. Is this a Zoggian thing?
It also has its own song recorded by the black metal band "Ad Hominem".
Now I have included the video of this but just don't listen to the words if you are of a sensitive nature.
As for the music, well let's just say I lasted about 30 secs into the clip before my brain tried to climb out my ears. But each to his own.

This is the sweet cute version of Planet Zog

From the series Welcome to Planet Zog (c) Quentin Blake

This is the black version, I am sure it's all very metaphoric.

Y is for...

YELLOW
I always think of yellow as a happy colour.
It radiates such positive vibes. Not by chance was the ribbon tied to the old oak tree a bright welcoming yellow.
Some of the most beautiful flowers are yellow, daffodils, daisies, sunflowers to name a few. A splash of yellow on a dull day can lift the spirits.
And when yellow puts on its best dress and becomes gold it is sensational. Just think of the warm rich glow of yellow gold, the magnificence of the golden pheasant or the golden yellow of a sunrise.

The world would be such a dull place without yellow.

Australian Native Hibiscus

Sunrise off Exmouth in WA

Golden Pheasant at Featherdale Wildlife Park

Daisy from my back garden

X is for....

X Chromosome
The X chromosome is one of the two sex chromosomes in humans. The other is the Y chromosome.
The sex chromosomes form one of the 23 pairs of human chromosomes in each cell. Females have two X chromosomes, while males have one X and one Y. So that is all that separates us girls from the guys, one microscopic scrap of genetic material?

While I didn't understand most of what I read while researching this post I did discover just how influential this x chromosome can be.
*If a male has one or more extra copies of the x chromosome in his cells he may suffer intellectual disability, abnormal sexual development and other health issues.(Klinefelter syndrome)
* In girls Triple X syndrome results from an extra copy of the notorious X chromosome and can result in abnormally tall stature, learning problems and other abnormalities.
*Now if a female is missing one of her X chromosomes the missing genetic material results in Turner Syndrome. This leads to short stature, ovarian malfunction and other symptoms.

So respect the X. It has a powerful influence on who and what we are.

(ref: Genetics Home Reference -http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/chromosome/X)

W is for...

WEIGHT...
Someone remarked that I looked as if I had the "weight of the world" on my shoulders.
Well they were wrong, it's on my HIPS!
I have this theory, not backed by any data , but you will see its logic as I explain. The mass (ie weight) of the entire world and all its population remains the same. I mean the basic elements  are recycled, the ashes to ashes thing. Nothing drops off the planet. When someone loses weight another person gains weight. When one of those "Biggest Loser" contestants loses 10kgs and I can't fit into my "fat" jeans it is no coincidence. Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers  openly campaign for this weight recycling.
If we extrapolate this theory to world populations it is easy to pinpoint whole countries becoming renowned for the large size of their citizens and conversely whole countries where people are so weight deprived they are dying from it.

So, if we, in the weight advantaged countries, ate a little less maybe we could share more with the weight challenged ones. Then no one would starve to death and no one would die from the ailments associated with obesity. And I might just be able to fit into my "skinny" jeans. You think?

V is for ...

VERMIN - as in pesky little rodents that don't understand the meaning of personal space!
MY much-loved pet parrot lives in a large cage,  in our large screen-enclosed back room. There is always bird seed scattered everywhere and every rat or mouse within smell-shot of our place, homes in on this free feed.
When we had a cat who slept in the room they stayed away. Puss Puss was an ex-feral who'd lived life tough for the first 18 months of her life. She was an excellent mouser and although only small, I am sure she gave the rats a run for their money too. Sadly a little while ago,Puss Puss succumbed to a mystery auto-immune disease.
Now, let the fun begin.
Within weeks of her demise the vermin declared open house in our back room.
I like mice and my kids kept rats for pets. They are sweet, intelligent animals. I didn't want to kill them, but I didn't want them as house guests either.

I tried every soft option I could find to evict them. I donned gloves  and set live traps. These would be emptied under cover of darkness in the local park. I set an electronic device to zap them quickly and humanely. They sat and ate the food in it, totally oblivious to the electricity that was supposed to despatch them. As they got cheekier and I got more desperate my options became less soft. I put out traps, horrible springy things that snapped together with a deadly bang. Success, and then remorse. Poor things! But vermin are clever, especially rats. The traps soon remained empty.
Then I finally decided on "the blockade". I staked-out the back room every night and patiently noted the comings and goings, pinpointing where these critters were getting in. Then I systematically blocked every possible entrance. YES!. So far.

If they come back I am getting another cat, or maybe I will borrow my daughter's Aussie Terrier.

My husband says I am missing the obvious permanent solution. "Get rid of that noisy, messy  bird!" NEVER!

RIP Puss Puss - the Verminator. I miss you.

U is for....

UGLY

Wikipedia describes the meaning of ugly as " Ugly or ugliness is a term referring to a property of a person or thing that is unpleasant to look upon and results in an unfavourable evaluation."
Beauty is indeed, in the eye of the beholder. One culture's ideals of beauty are literally a world apart from another's. A plate in the lower lip or a blue painted face is considered an enhancement to beauty in one culture and dyed hair, pumped up collagen lips and skin stretched tight by face-lifts is the "norm" in another.
It is not in just people that "ugliness" has different definitions. Buildings, art, landscapes, clothes, animals et al, all present differently to different eyes.
Just as its opposite "beautiful", the concept of ugly defies true definition. In fact sometimes they can be one and the same.

Winston, the Staffordshire Bull Terrier. His owner thinks
he is beautiful, many others have remarked on how ugly he is.
What do you think?

T is for ...

"Tiger ,tiger burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?"
(William Blake)

Will I ever see a tiger in the wild? I doubt it. But, maybe I have seen the parents of tigers who have been released back into the wild. Many Australian zoos are participating in world wide breeding programs. Symbio Wildlife Park just South of Sydney has a breeding pair of Sumatran tigers.
Deforestation resulting from the production of palm oil is a major threat to the Sumatran tiger.
These pics were taken at Symbio.