Rex "Wrecks" Bell, who owns a Galveston area bar that sells Star Bock Beer, has won the right to continue using that name in court against Starbucks.  (Most people who know me know just how much I hate Starbucks....for many reasons, including that my husband was a manager for that damned company and his district manager nearly worked him to death.)

Way to go "Wrecks"!

Sometimes, I really wonder what kind of tests the shipping carriers give to new employees.  We have had thunderstorms off and on for five or six hours, and it has been overcast all day.  We have large dogs in the front yard and an obvious puppy (and puppies love to chew on everything).

Below is the box that my husband's new scope came in.

'Dog Toy'

Alyssa found it in the front yard when she went to go check the mail.  As you can see from the picture, the label is ripped off, and the auction does not specify who the carrier is.  It is also soaked and covered in mud from being rolled around on the ground by the dogs.  The awkward size and shape is the only thing that kept it from being opened by the dogs.

The package carrier had to only put it in one of their little plastic bags and leave the package just outside of the gate behind the plants on either side.  The dogs couldn't have gotten it, and it would have been protected from the rain.  But I guess someone just didn't feel like it.

Luckily for Ron, the seller, Litchfield Outdoors, packaged the scope very well.  Some of the packaging was damp inside, but the scope came through without any damage.

After leaving a positive for them, I sent an eBay message asking who the carrier was.  Someone needs to get reported for being just plain dumb (or lazy, which is worse).

I love our resident "houselion" Wayne.  He's smart, funny, and sweet.  But the bugger just can't keep his damn claws in sometimes.  His kittens aren't much better (their mother, Ryu, is as dumb as a post, and is very non-violent), and one of the calico girls got me in the back of the leg this morning.  Ever try stopping a three inch gash from bleeding--when you are on blood thinners?  It takes awhile, believe me.

This brings me to my present topic: the introduction of African species to the North American plains.  The damn Kool-Aid drinkers who thought this idea up must be flipping crazy.  My mom's ranch is the Rancho La Leona East, or Ranch of the Lioness--but those are cougars, natural residents of Texas.  (The "east" in the name is because over time the ranch has been split amongst descendents.  The original name was longer; "Ranch of the Sleeping Lioness", but it was shortened for some reason.)

Cougars attack people every once in awhile, but African lions actively hunt people.  Yes, this human stalking is probably due to the encroachment of humans on their territory, but that seems like a very good reason not to inject a non-native predator into Middle America.  Americans tend to sprawl all over, and the Plains are not empty. Would you want your child to go outside and play if you lived there and idiots with PHD's managed to let some African lions loose?  I don't think so.

After the hell that has broken out about letting wolves loose, think about what will happen if cheetahs and lions are loose here.  Ranchers would start shooting and burying or burning every one they came across.  I don't think any jury would convict them of a crime if that lion was on his property, around his animals.

Beyond the lions, elephants destroy trees and ground cover very effectively.  They mangle and uproot trees, and I don't imagine that will go over very well with most folks.  And Rhinos?  Tell me, who wants to have a rhino on the other side of the fence...

We have species here in the Americas that need help.  African animals need to be preserved in their own environments.  I don't want to introduce to the wild animals that are dangerous to our wildlife and to the people who live here.  These idiots need to get a grip on reality.