Ruth On The Parakeets

Our good friend >Ruth Hanessian, who is the owner of Animal Exchange, along with neighbor (and also Rockville Central friend) Chas Hausheer, has once again put together a video. She’s becoming quite the YouTube phenom — which, if you know Ruth, you would net expect. Ruth will be the first to tell you she does not work with these Internets very comfortably.

I’ve embedded her latest video below. It’s all about parakeets.

(If you are getting this article by email and the video does not come through, come back to the blog to see it!)

You can listen to Ruth this Friday at noon on Rockville Central Radio. Just come to the blog (or go here) to listen.

Calling All Pet Owners Past and Present

Next summer 2009, your pet could be featured in a Montgomery County Histor>ical Society exhibit entitled The Other Member of the Family: Montgomery County Pets. If you have old pictures, new pictures, or items used to care for a pet, you can help MCHS demonstrate how our relationships with our pets has transformed over the years. Pets and companion animals are always special, but the kinds of pets we keep and how we interact with them is always changing.

Guidelines from MCHS:

Send your favorite pet photo, and a brief description or story. We want any type of pet, but they must be Montgomery County pets. Whenever possible, images will be scanned so that originals can be returned immediately. If you think you have an artifact to lend – an old dog leash, water dish, cat sweater, birdcage or hamster ball (to name a few possibilities) – please make sure it’s clean, and that you won’t need it for your current pet for the duration of the exhibit. To offer something for the exhibit, contact Joanna Church at 301-340-2825 or jchurch@mongtomeryhistory.org.

I happen to know that the Animal Exchange is loaning the antique bird cages which line the walls of the store. What do you have to share?

We’re hoping our leopard gecko will be a star of the exhibit and this all has me wondering, did people keep lizards as pets when Rockville was named in 1801? I guess I’ll find out.

Picture from MCHS photo collection, donated by Alexander Casanges.

Ruth Talks Guinea Pigs

If you listened to last week’s welcome-back edition of >Rockville Central Radio, you know that our friend Ruth Hanessian, who is the owner of Animal Exchange, called in to tell us a bit about guinea pigs — great pets for kids.

Along with neighbor (and Rockville Central friend) Chas Hausheer, Ruth has once again put together a video that tells more about these fabulous creatures. I’ve embedded it below (if you are getting this article by email and the video does not come through, come back to the blog to see it!):

Speaking of which, we hope you will tune into today’s edition of Rockville Central Radio at noon.

Just come here to the blog and click the link at the right to listen. To dial in (and we hope you will), just call 646-200-3332.

Among other features, we will have Ruth back to talk about . . . parrot psychology.

No, I can’t wait either.

Ruth Is On The Video!

As >Rockville Central readers may know, one of my favorite people in town is Ruth Hanessian of Animal Exchange. Her shop (in the center just south of the Giant) is an honest-to-God crossroads. I always meet someone fun when I go there to buy my crickets. (I have a gecko.)

Ruth is a bird expert. Prodded by her friends, she has created a video on how to feed birds by hand and posted it to YouTube. I’ve embedded it below:

(If you are reading this by email, the video won’t come through and you will have to come to the site.)

For those of you who are privileged to know Ruth, you understand what a monumental leap this is for her (she is not known as an Internet early-adopter).

I hope this is just the beginning of a series of how-tos!

POTD: Nose to Nose

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(I guess I’m supposed to write “With apologies to The Bobs“. I can’t believe they’re still putting out music.) Rockville Central friend, Keya Bala, over at Gordon Biersch sent along this picture she snapped in front of the restaurant. That’s quite an expression!

Visiting the Beavers: An Arbor Day Update

Beavers are sort of an anti-Arbor Day subject since they take trees down and Arbo>r Day, started in 1872, is a day to celebrate trees. With all the beaver activity, we really do need to think about planting more!

Last December the beavers were busy felling trees for food at Stoneridge Pond. Small trees were also disappearing and it became apparent that they were building a lodge with them.

Lately everyone who visits the pond is talking about how you can actually see them living in the storm water management structure. These two are asleep each day in their little nest on the cement. They must have realized that a man-made structure was much sturdier than their lodge.

My family discovered the beavers home before I did, but soon people were stopping me on my run and excitedly passing along the word that you could see beavers. Aren’t they just so cute together? Every time I see them, they are laying on each other. I can’t run past with stopping to see them!

POTD: The Who

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This wonderful backyard friend was snapped by Rockville Central friend Linda Ekizian.

Want to submit a photo for consideration to be the Picture Of The Day? Wonderful! Just email it to me. Rules: a) Must be taken in Rockville; b) Must be your own work; c) Must not be published or offered for publication elsewhere; d) Should be generally contemporary (try to keep them less than a month or two old).

POTD: I Helping You

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I promise to do this just this once . . . but, meet our new cat, Penny. She’s very helpful around the office. If my productivity drops off, you will know why.

Robin Feeding Frenzy

>When we moved into our house six years ago, we were amazed that the holly trees were higher than our two-story roofline. Bright red berries filled the trees during the holidays, providing a natural decoration to keep us in the spirit.

On a cold and snow covered day in February, masses of American Robins descended on the trees in a complete frenzy, just like a riot. Over the course of three days, they lived in the trees on our property and ate every berry while a squirrel screamed at them. Our toddler and infant son spent hours looking out the window at the commotion. We decided that the robins must have been very hungry and could not get to the worms due to the snow.

However, this phenomenon happens every year in February. This was the week! The berries were numerous and now they are all gone.

Since both my kids were home sick, I spent the week in the house and could keep close tabs on the activity. The robins always start at the top of the tree and work their way down. They don’t mind being together in close proximity to each other. Our vehicles and the ground are covered in droppings. They make a big mess! The squirrels didn’t get upset until today, when the berries were almost gone. I guess they are willing to share but not lose all of the food.

When I went outside, several robins would fly down at me as a warning to keep away from their stash. The loud noise from all those birds filled the air. Hundreds of birds dashed this way and that.

Do the robins do this to other holly trees in Rockville during the winter? Have they been to your neighborhood? Do you expect them to visit?

You can report robin sightings to Journey North.

POTD: Birdie

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I just thought this lone bird was quite dramatic the other afternoon.

POTD: Birdhouse In Your Soul

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(With apologies to They Might Be Giants.) I like the birdhouse, but check out the cicada exoskeleton in the upper right. Remember them?!

POTD: Like Snow

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This photo, by Cindy CG, was originally taken for her article on the beaver. But it was too good to pass up for a POTD! See how the wood chips look like snow? (Hence the title.)

Want to have your photo included as a Photo Of The Day? Easy! Send it to me and I will consider it. Rules: Must be original (by you); must be taken in Rockville city limits; must not be published or offered for publication elsewhere; must be generally contemporary (no photos from six months ago).

Should We Leave It to Beaver?

Last year my friend, Dave King, told me that you could see trees taken down >by beavers behind Dogwood Park. His family discovered this during a baseball game. You had to walk down the Monroe Street right-of-way along New Mark and make a left down to the stream. Sure enough when my sons and I went exploring, we saw that a beaver lived in our neighborhood. Several months ago, I saw the beaver at Stoneridge Pond while out jogging.

As autumn arrived and the leaves fell, a white band around a large tree on the far side of the Pond caught my eye. About six small trees disappeared on the opposite side. The Saturday before Christmas, the large tree was down. When we went to see it, there was another large tree also being gnawed.

Initially I was excited about a beaver in my neighborhood, but now I’m wondering if the beaver’s lifestyle is sustainable. If I was down in the park with a chainsaw, I think I’d be in trouble. Our forested areas are limited in the City.

The Montgomery County Parks and Planning website indicates that beavers are a good feature. They clear pockets in the forest and create ponds which attract a variety of wildlife for a diverse ecosystem and their dams help reduce sediment in the water. Beavers are vegetarians and during winter they eat the wood just under the bark. The beavers are just feeding down at the Pond.

Beaver removal companies will only refer to them as “rodents”. These companies detail all the terrible problems created by beavers such as polluted drinking water and lowered property values.

A recent Mark Trail comic strip told the story of a man trying to get rid of the beavers on his property even though his son liked them. Would they be shot? In the end, the beaver pond saves the day during a fire, so the beavers were a good thing.

Having beavers, foxes, coyotes, groundhogs, and raccoons in my neighborhood is enjoyable (notice I didn’t mention the deer) and I love seeing them. All the animals in my neighborhood make Rockville seem even more special, even though some persistent little fellow keeps knocking over my garbage can.

The City has a management company that comes regularly to the pond. I see them testing and treating the water. City workers just drained a section of the Pond into the stream. I’m curious how the beaver fits in with our pond management plan. As they reproduce and spread, will we reforest? Is there a limit to how many trees we are willing to lose?

A Neighborhood’s Best Friend

Anyone who saw “>I Am Legend,” the top box office draw this past weekend, knows a beloved dog plays a pivotal role. Ironically, she is the humanizing glue in a story about humanity hanging on by a thread. Writers of these post-apocalyptic stories often offer dogs as a small sign of hope – think “Terminator” and “The Day After Tomorrow.” Perhaps it’s because they live in neighborhoods, as I do, where neighbors might not know each other’s names but they know the names of each other’s dogs, as we discovered at last summer’s neighborhood block party.

One thing that makes my West End neighborhood particularly dog and people friendly is that it’s walkable thanks to sidewalks. Even on the coldest days our dogs draw us out of our houses. They glue us together in ways we might not be aware of – I silently mourned the loss of a neighbor’s lab after the dog was noticeably absent from her daily walks. They may even make you do something you’d never do otherwise. As I struggled to carry my injured 40 pound mutt up Nelson one summer afternoon a woman passing offered me a ride home. We knew without the dog in the mix neither of us would ever have offered or accepted a ride to/from a stranger.

In a world that sometimes feels on the verge of apocalypse I’m grateful our neighborhood has gone to the dogs – MacGregor, Porky, Maisy, Molly, Peanut, Mocha, Java, and Trixie to name a few.

Share your favorite Rockville dog walking routes, groomers, boarding and shelter services here, in the comments section of this post.

POTD: Bow Wow Wow

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(Apologies to Malcolm McLaren.) I have a soft spot for folks who have animal statues in their yard . . . unless this is really a pet turned to stone through some evil spell.