Skip navigation

Category Archives: life in general

Moose vs Chickens

My mother has recently developed a thing for keeping chickens.  I assume as pets.  I don’t really know.  Yaris has developed a thing for sitting outside and staring at the chickens.  I assume it’s because she wants to eat them.  Actually, I’m pretty sure it’s because she wants to eat them and it’s not really an assumption.

A few weeks ago, my mother acquired a pair of black Silkies.

The little one may or may not have met an untimely demise. I’m not sure. You’ll have to ask Yaris.

Those were fairly nice chickens.  I like the way they look, all fuzzy and such.  They were also quite docile and friendly.  Apparently, Silkies are known for that kind of behavior.  I liked those chickens.

But then one day the Silkies were gone.  In case you were wondering, chickens were not on the menu.  Also, even if it had been on the menu, it would have been pretty easy to figure out if they were the Silkies, because Silkies are completely black inside and out.  I hear a lot of people find that to be really gross.  Weak.

Anyway, I’m told they were sold.  And in their place, I found a pheasken (a pheasant-chicken hybrid), a Nankin chicken, and a Delaware chicken (maybe?).

I was not impressed with these chickens/hybrids.  They didn’t look anything as amusing as the Silkies did nor were they so friendly.  They were noisy and all fancied themselves to be escape artists.  This ended up being a thing.

My parents asked me to watch over the chickens while they were away for the evening and also to keep an eye on Yaris.  I guess she had made several attempts to sneak into the pen earlier.  Ok…not a big deal.  But when I went to check up on the chickens after I fed the dogs, I noticed that one was suspiciously absent.  It was getting dark so I thought maybe it decided to roost for the night.  But…the roosting facilities were empty.  Hmm…and why is that big chicken constantly looking at the wall?  And what is the interesting noise coming from behind the fence?  SUGH.  The pheasken had escaped and it was too dark to find it.

THEN!  While I was trying to figure out how the pheasken escaped, the stupid big chicken leapt onto to the wall and tried to make an escape.  While I was standing right there.  It apparently thought that I would just let it escape.  Nope.  I knocked the chicken back in with a broom (it was a bit too far away for normal pushing).  Stubborn thing, it was.  I also figured that’s how the pheasken escaped.  My parents probably decided that the chickens wouldn’t be able to fly up to the top of the wall and didn’t think about how pheasants can fly.  Welp, I got to putting more netting around the top of the wall when the stupid big chicken exploited an area of the netting that was still loose and tried to escape again.  I had to knock it back down with a broom again.  This happened a few more times and I had to put a roof over the wall so the chicken couldn’t get out.

The little chicken that was still there looked like it was trying to roost but the big chicken kept stepping all over it.  It finally decided to also try to escape by using the big chicken as a step stool. It didn’t work too well and the little one never made it successfully to the top of the wall.

Anyway, I was THE ANNOYED the whole night.  Yaris was THE DISAPPOINTED.

This doesn’t really show that Yaris was disappointed, but it might help illustrate her interest in chickens (my mother acquired even more chickens since the events described above).

Real life superheroes

I write about superpowers a lot and superheros and superpowers go together. So, It has recently come to my attention that there is a real, live superhero in Vancouver. Well, he’s described as a superhero and I kind of disagree with that. I believe superheroes should have superpowers, because they are…super. As far as I can tell, this guy doesn’t have any superpowers. But this guy could probably be considered a hero. At least, he’s a nice guy trying to make a difference in his home town. He may be on par with that Batman guy who visits children’s hospitals to cheer up the kids there. Except that his superhero identity isn’t based on an existing one. So anyway, his superhero name is Thanatos.

Thanatos (image links to photo shoot with a bunch of superheros)

Thanatos goes out once a month, early in the morning, and helps the homeless community in Vancouver. He goes in full costume. He didn’t always. He used to do this just as a normal guy and apparently the homeless he was helping couldn’t remember him. Then it dawned on him that he should make his appearance more memorable. Enter the costume.

Thanatos, the superhero, based his name (and thus costume) on Thanatos, the daemon personification of death in Greek mythology. You may know him from the story of Sisyphus. Sisyphus first cheated death by tricking Thanatos into his own shackles. That must have been a sight to see. How do you trick people into binding themselves? But anyway…

So Thanatos, the superhero, wears predominately black, has a black tie with skulls on it, a black hat, a utility belt, and a green skull mask. It must be an interesting sight to see. I mean, think about it, you’re comfortably drowsing in a corner close to a streetlight in the black of night. And out of the mist, you waken to see a dark, looming figure approach you. He seemingly floats above the mist. Perhaps frightened and wary, you huddle into your corner a bit more. The figure enters into the beam of light cast by the streetlight, and you see a striking, green skull ominously glaring down at you. And then this dark-cloaked, beskulled person hands you a care package and tells you to be well. HOW IS THIS NOT INTERESTING?

I imagine it would look like this…

The fact that this guy decided to base his superhero persona on a minor figure in Greek mythology is interesting. The fact that he based his superhero persona on a figure of death is interesting. He’s not the grim reaper collecting the souls of the homeless on the streets of Vancouver. He’s giving them care packages! He’s trying to help them out! It’s this guy, dressed in black and a green skull, helping people out in the dark! THIS IS INTERESTING.

Anyway, it turns out that the person behind Thanatos is in his 60s. He enjoys what he does and would like to continue doing it for a long time. And when mobility starts being a problem, he says he will be out patrolling the streets in the “Hoveraround of Justice” and with the “Walker of the Free.”

  • This is how I first learned about Thanatos.
  • Here is a pretty interesting interview with Thanatos.
  • Here is Peter Tangen’s site on real life superheroes (the Telegraph article was an excerpt of sorts).