Venus Fly Trap

A couple of weeks ago I walked outside in the morning on my way to work and saw a cylindrical container lying on it's side just outside our front door. I was curious to see what it was so I picked it up and discovered that it was a Venus Fly Trap. I had no idea where it came from so I set it upright on the walkway and went to work, hoping that the owner might claim it that day. By the way, it had been extremely windy the previous day and night, so I'm pretty sure it was blown in our direction somehow.

Anyway, I came home and the thing was still sitting there so I took it inside. Now this is where I think it becomes a little bit strange. If it had been anything other than a Venus Fly Trap, I probably would have left it outside. But because this plant eats bugs, it kind of goes to the level of a lizard in my eyes. I can't leave it there because it might die. It can't even go find food because it's in a container, so I feel like I've got to take care of it.

So I read the directions on the outside and wait for Jake to get home. After all, I can't adopt a pet without consulting with him. So he gets home and I'm waiting for his typical response about how plants don't have feelings and that I should get rid of it, but instead he asks some questions and I tell him what I've read on the side of the container - that it's supposed to be in hibernation and should be kept in cold temperatures until March. So I express that I don't know what to do about that and he sticks a thermometer in the refrigerator to see if it's cold enough. He even went over to look at the plant. We discovered that the fridge was at the upper limits of the allowable temperature for the plant, so he told me to wash off the outside of the container and we put it inside the fridge. Now, for those of you who know Jake, that's the last thing that I thought he'd be OK with - a plant (with dirt) in the refrigerator. Who knows, maybe we are both in a nesting phase. So now we have a bug eating plant hibernating in our refrigerator.

I should ask the neighbors if the plant is theirs, but I've forgotten the last couple of times I've seen them. But also, I've got this thought going through my head - what was the plant doing out in 70 degree temperatures when it should clearly be in a colder place. If they've had the plant out for the last few months when it was supposed to be in the fridge, what makes me think they'll take care of it if I give it back? What if they don't even feed it later? I don't know if I want to give it back. Maybe I should just kidnap the plant and take it with me when I move in March. They would never know it was me.

And this is where the craziness comes in because remember? - It's a plant! A plant for goodness sake! Just because it eats flies doesn't mean it will feel hunger or pain, right? I'm crazy because I can't help to think, but what if? Maybe Venus (my name for him) would get hungry. But could I even feed him a fly anyway? Does it hurt the fly to be eaten by the plant?

This will definitely take some more thinking.

Cat Stowaway

I thought this story was kind of funny:

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. - Some kitty math: How many lives did little tabby Gracie Mae use up when she crawled into her owner's suitcase, went through an airport X-ray machine, got loaded onto a plane, thrown onto a baggage belt and mistakenly picked up by a stranger far from home?

"She's got to be at four or five now," Seth Levy said after his 10-month-old pet was returned Sunday night by a kind stranger who went home to Fort Worth, Texas, with the wrong bag and Gracie inside to boot.

The last time Levy's wife, Kelly, saw Gracie was before she took her husband to the airport. The 24-year-old went back to her house in Palm Beach Gardens late Friday to find the bottom step, where Gracie would usually be waiting, empty.

She tore the house apart looking for the cat, who had been spayed just days before. She and her dad took out bathroom tiles and part of a cabinet to check a crawl space and papered the neighborhood with "lost cat" signs.

Then she got a phone call.

"Hi, you're not going to believe this, but I am calling from Fort Worth, Texas, and I accidentally picked up your husband's luggage. And when I opened the luggage, a cat jumped out," Kelly Levy quoted the caller saying.

Rob Carter said he made it home with the suitcase before realizing it wasn't his — and there was a big surprise inside.

"I went to unpack and saw some of the clothes and saw it wasn't my suitcase," he said. "I was going to close it, and a kitten jumped out and ran under the bed. I screamed like a little girl."

Carter said that he eventually was able to get the cat to come out from under the bed.

"In the morning, I got close enough to see its collar and the phone number on it," he said. "So I called the number and got a hold of the crying wife of the traveler."

The tabby made the 1,300-mile trip home on an $80 plane ticket. Carter said he considered keeping the cat before he knew she had a home.

"We were going to name it Suitcase," he said.

Groovin' Cockatoo

Oh my goodness, this bird dances better than I do!