Marilyn's Photos - Feb 5 2026 - Top Dog

 

It makes sense to me that Top Dog the expression is thought to originate in the 19th century in dog fighting where the winning dog ends up on top of the losing dog.  It isn’t a great designation to be given, to my mind.  It implies fscrappy fighting, intense fighting and bitter combat.  Supposedly it carries a positive connotation today - that’s according to AI - with the claim that it celebrates success and achievement rather than aggression or violence. I say “claim” with skepticism of AI - it gives no sources for its information.  There’s one place where Top Dog is a wonderful designation - at Westminster Dog Show.  What a beautiful Doberman pinscher Penny is.  She seems as smart as her handler to me.  I think of Westminster as a British name/place.  It turns out the American Kennel Association named the show after a hotel bar where its founders met.  And is it more popular than the British Show - the Crufts Dog Show? I guessed so as I hear about the Westminster Show every year and only now learn about Crufts.  But let’s find out. The Crufts Show is considered the top dog show in size, international scope and status - as it is the world’s largest dog show. The U.S. Show is considered the “premier, elite and historic show in the U.S.”  This sounds like babble-speak to me.  Crufts has the Guinness World Record for the largest dog show - over 24,000 dogs from 44+ countries and 150,000 visitors. It has over 8.7 million TV viewership.  Westminster has 1,200 dogs from the U.S. plus 17 countries with over 2 million viewers.  So I guess the numbers would have Crufts as the Top Dog Show. And could anything top the dog show?  I think so. Remember the coronation?  The Cavaliers were the Dog of the Day. Perhaps this picture of a store front in Santa Fe might describe the mood of both of these Dog Shows.  A Big Grin and fun by all.

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Marilyn's Photos - Nov 19 2025 - Pig Latin vs Dog Latin

 

My question of the day:  Does Elon Musk’s robot dog Dogimus have some actual Latin in its name.  He is known for Latin phrases and Roman-inspired imagery.  It does relate to the name for his humanoid robot which is Optimus, derived from the Latin word for Best or greatest.  The “imus” could be taken to suggest a greatest dog robot.  I wonder if Elon Musk uses Pig Latin in his communcations.  His company’s Neuralink projects involved a pig named Gertrude.  The project involves implanting a computer chip in the brain to demonstrate a working brain-to-machine interface. This would likely be his twist on Pig Latin.  To speak the real Pig Latin, the instructions go like this:  Move the first consonant or consonant blend to the end of the work and add “ay”.  For words that begin with a vowel, simply add “way”, “yay",” or ay” to the end.  “Pig” becomes “ig” + “p” and then add the “aya” to become “igpay” - this is or was meant to hide conversations from people.  Wikipedia also says that there is Dog Latin. This is translating English words into Latin by conjugating or declining them as if they were Latin words.  We did this with Coca Cola in high school.   It turns out there is such a thing as Dog Latin. It has a long tradition and is mentioned in Love’s Labour’s Lost, Shakespeare’s play written in the 1590s. Skip ahead to the present and Margaret Atwood has a phrase in The Handmaid’s Tale scratched into the wall.  Take one of our favourite TV shows - The Red Green Show. It closed each episode with their Possum Lodge motto:  Quando omni flunkus moritati - whch translated to “When all else fails, play dead”.  Wikipedia says there was an episode in which some of the members break away to form a rival Salamander Lodge ,whose motto is Quando omni flunkus terra retreatum - “When all else fails, climb under a rock”.  Latin seems to be with us every day without us being attentive to it.  What about this latin - Lorem ipsum - it is the nonsense filler text and is based on a Cicero work.  It comes up in Photoshop every time I used the text function. Millie goes to the groomer today, and here’s the explanation for why her haircut costs much more than mine did yesterday.  And below  is Dezi with her seven house rules.

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Marilyn's Photos - July 24 2025 - Dog's Breakfast

 

A dog's breakfast used to be scraps thrown into a bowl in a heap.  And if something was referred to as a dog's breakfast, it was an insult. Messy or poorly done.   Mirriam Webster's example is "It was a dog's breakfast of a match, and our coach was understandably upset." Millie's breakfast is something pleasant to me - rice, cheese, dental dog crunchies and a spoonful of "turkey stew for sensitive stomachs."  That's a big difference from what we fed our dogs in the 1960s.  Smelly canned dog food and table scraps.  Our dog at the time was partial to dessert scraps.    The science of veterinary nutrition emerged in the late 1800s. It was in the 1890s that dog biscuits and dry kibble came about, and in the 1920s that canned food was available.  In the 1980s nutritional requirements were published for dogs and cats.  That got the pet food producers kick-started and here we are with aisles and aisles of dog and cat food of all sorts. There are vegan products now available and as edible and palatable as animal-based diets for dogs, so they say. Dogs seem more like humans than we imagine.  Here are some things that some dogs like: ice cubes pickles dried bananas raw spinach watermelon Things your dog shouldn't eat?   candy, gum toothpaste - things sweetened with xylitol avocado onions and garlic grapes and raisins persimmons, peaches and plums   And then a cartoon to demonstrate that what dogs chew can be quite different than what dogs eat.

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Feb 26 2025 - Dog vs Cat

 

The Globe and Mail has a 2 page spread on cats and cat cafes.  "Does my cat love me" is noted by Trupanion in one of its articles to be searched between 3,000 and 4,000 times on Google every month.  The article goes on to identify 10 signs your cat loves you.    However, our social  view of cats vs. dogs seems closer to this one below. I found it at dfordog.co.uk blog:    Dog Diary 8:00 am - Dog food! My favourite thing! 9:30 am - A car ride! My favourite thing! 9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favourite thing! 10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favourite thing! 12:00 PM - Lunch! My favourite thing! 1:00 PM - Played in the yard! My favourite thing! 3:00 PM - Wagged my tail! My favourite thing! 5:00 PM - Milk bones! My favourite thing! 7:00 PM - Got to play ball! My favourite thing! 8:00 PM - Watched TV with my people! My favourite thing! 11:00 PM - Sleeping on the bed! My favourite thing! Cat Diary Day 983 of my captivity My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet. Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am. B------ds! There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage. Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs. I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded. The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicate with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe.... for now.

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Aug 18 2024 - The Woolly Dog

 

This is the fascinating story of the Salish Woolly Dog, now extinct, that was common with indigenous people for their wool. Yes, wool.  What was the wool used for?  Sacred blankets and ceremonial attire.    That is sufficient to explain why and how it is extinct.  It was eradicated in order to extinguish indigenous culture.    The story seemed to conclude, with various theories of how the dog became extinct - the indigenous people could get factory-made blankets, the dogs interbred and the line got assimilated, and so on.    The story doesn't die there - the the significant finding of a 160 year old fur pelt in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. It was donated in 1859, and lost in the collections until 2000 when it was analyzed to validate textile collections in museums.  The dog had likely been a gift from the Salish to the naturalist George Gibbs and its name was Mutton.   The remarkable part is recent - genetic scientists Logan Kistler and Audrey Lin decided to produce a genomic profile. Genetic analysis shows that this was a separate and distinct dog breed.  It has existed for at least 5,000 years, and was carefully managed to remain distinct from other dogs to maintain its special woolly fur.   The scientists worked with Indigenous Elders to bring the oral histories and knowledge to the project.  More on the project process HERE. You can read a shorter version of this story is in dogtime.com HERE.  I heard the story on the CBC radio yesterday - Bob McDonald's science show Quirks and Quarks.    He interviewed the scientist who did the genetic analysis.   Here's one of the representations of the Salish Woolly Dog.  There are some photos from the 1850s that this would likely be based on.   This is a picture of a light sculpture at the National Gallery - I turned it on its side, and now it looks like little ice crystals.

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June 8 2023 - Babbel or Gospel Singing

 

"There are lots of ads for learning a new language using Babbel.  Here's the Babbel sort of promotion: "From Spanish and German to Norwegian and Danish, the next time the plane lands abroad you could be speaking the native language fluently with a little help from Babbel. Over 100 expert linguists helped create this innovative app, which can have you speaking confidently in just a month."  "In just 15 minutes a day, you can start to be comfortable in another language within a week!" And that helps if your bucket list is Machu Pichu, Mount Everest, Bali, The Eiffel Tower, Rome's Trevi Fountain, and the Taj Mahal.  That's a few languages to learn.   So many languages and so many thousands of dollars of travel seem to be involved in these over-the-top bucket lists. The alternative might be something Bing is promoting.  Gospel singing.  Your can learn how to sing better with gospel legend Yolanda Adams.  Just like you learn phrases in Babbel, you can learn belting, chest voice, head voice, falsetto and vibrato in gospel singing.   In comparison to Babbel's promise of 15 minutes a day, everyone says that Gospel singing takes a few years.  But then one Quora answer says you can be a gospel singing in a community choir within three weeks.  Or if you are just aiming for the shower, it takes 3 minutes.  Only on Quora can you get an answer that says that a clean heart is required so that Christ will dwell in you and give you great inspiration. Gospel singing is not very close to home here in Niagara.  My own thought is to learn another language that is useful right here now.   What about an app on how to communicate with cats.  "MeowTalk gives your cat a voice! " It is a free app that has the translation mode with three basic meow intents.  And there are lots of articles explaining the science behind cat translations.  There's a pie chart with the different cat sounds dataset - hunting, fighting, warning, angry, mating, happy, mother call, resting, pain, and defence. What will Baxter do with all this?  I think we'll give this one a try. And since there is also a dog in our house the Dog Translator is also available.  Here's the promo for Dog Translator: "This app is amazing it's so cool but so simple all you have to do is just press the little mic and say what you have to say and then once you do that it will talk dog talk and allow your dogs to understand what you're saying." For the reverse, My Talking Pet turns your dog barks into talk that you understand.   Who would guess this is all here now?     It is Thursday and that means market day in Grimsby.  The pandemic restrictions are gone so we are back to Main Street as in this picture below from a few years ago.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

May 26 2023 - Skunked

 

Baxter was in the vicinity of a skunk last week.  When Baxter lunged into the house in the night,  smell swirled in with him as though it were a solid substance.  Millie barked and chased around the house as though the skunk had come inside. She darted everywhere looking for the invader. Here's the advice for a skunked dog: The Best Solution ¼ cup of baking soda. 1-2 teaspoons of mild dishwashing detergent like Ivory Snow. 1 quart of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide solution. Mix in a bucket and use immediately. Work the foaming mixture well into the coat. Leave on for five minutes. Rinse with warm water. Follow with dog shampoo if desired. Can you imagine working anything into a cat's coat?  Let's hope that 14 to 21 days is the distance between The Moon and New York City - the estimate when Baxter will return to smelling like a cat. Did you know that skunks can spray as far as 15 feet? The solutions include vinegar, lemon juice and tomato juice to get rid of the smell.  The advice for cats is to "rub him down" and follow this with a standard bath.  Ha ha! Who has heard of a cat getting a standard bath?  Or a "rub down." So we conclude with a silly skunk joke: Three skunks are walking down a street together when they come to an intersection... Skunk number one says, "My instincts tell me to go left." Skunk number two says, "My instincts tell me to go right."  Skunk number 3 says "Hey, my end stinks too, but it doesn't talk to me." Baxter at his best with Dezi. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca