ONE of the free pet cards I received in the Series 1 trading cards was a panda, so when they announched that the panda would be the May Pet of the Month, I was inspired to use the card.
I thought hard about a traditional panda name, but gave him a less typical one. Traditional dominos are black and white, and of course the panda looks masked. Back in the days of masked balls, a mask was also called a "domino," so it fit as well.
Dom came with the steam-powered television, which is a funny-looking gadget, and also with another W1000 coin and also a disco ball. I take it from messages that disco balls are highly prized, so it looks like I can trade this one since I already have another.
In the Cards
Webkinz Day
CELEBRATING Webkinz 3rd Anniversary!
A greeting and a gift in the dock when logging on early this morning!
When we arrive in the Royal Room, home of Treve (pictured) and Flax (my German Shepherd), there's a letter for us...
...which contains a card! (You can't see the animation in the screen cap: the penguin jumps up and down, the velvety elephant wiggles his ears, etc.)
And here are our Year 3 trophy, photo, and other gifts!
The New Guys on the Block
I adopted Gertrude on Easter Day. She is named after a much less lucky Gertrude, the duck in Journey to the Center of the Earth, who ended up as a meal for the awful Count Saknussen (he got his "just dessert" a few minutes later when he is buried in a rock slide).
But I call her "Trudy" after Adrian Monk's wife.
(Hmn. Another dead character. Could I want her to be a...::groan::...dead duck? Never!)
As for this fellow, also adopted on Easter, what else would you name a chocolate-colored dog?
"N-E-S-T-L-E-S...Nestlè's makes the very best...chocccccc-late!"
For you non-baby boomers who have no idea what I'm waffling about: here's the original pushing a Nestlè premium and a 1990s version of Farfel (and family!) doing a Christmas commercial and singing the famous jingle.
Here are a couple from the beginning of this month: Abigail is named after Abigail Adams, because I noticed after I bought her that she was pigeon-toed. This comes from a scene in 1776, taken from John and Abigail Adams' real-life letters, where they are discussing her faults as John had listed them in a previous letter. To each fault, John protests, "That was an endearment!" or "A compliment!" or something similar, until Abigail says, "That I am pigeon-toed." He responds, "Well, you have me there, Abigail. You are pigeon-toed."
Jack is named after Jack the bulldog in the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. (No, TV series watchers, Jack was not a shaggy mutt, nor was he whatever breed of dog that portrayed him in the Disney Channel miniseries. Of course, the real Jack was what they called a bulldog back then, which is closer to Pete the Pup in the Our Gang shorts or Chance in Homeward Bound.)
Jack was a Valentines Day gift, along with Skippy the (bush) kangaroo.
Ears or Patches?
WEBKINZ Insider, which has been uncannily accurate with ferreting out the Pet of the Month almost since the program began last fall, has told us for over a month that they found out the POTM for May would be a panda. However, when Webkinz announces the present Pet of the Month, they always have the next month's POTM in a little iris underneath.
Now some folks who already went out and purchased pandas are upset because the May critter is announced to be a Lil Kinz cocker spaniel, not a panda.
By accident, I have it covered both ways, but I can see where they'd be upset.
(Maybe it's an April Fools joke? I've already see several of them this morning already.)
News Brigade
THE Webkinz home page addressed the garden problem by telling us that "Nafaria" (the evil fairy from the Fairy Forest) had hexed our plants. Uh-huh. Yeah, sure. Last night the message changed and every single garden item was ready for harvest. Boy, did I make a bundle selling to the W Shop.
Some new pets are confirmed for May; here they are in virtual form. The Samoyed is Too Cute! The Gecko looks too much like a frog and the rhino like a hippo with a horn. And, why, oh, why, a pink dragon? Purple would have been okay, but pink? Ugh.
Here's the plush "Sammie."
One of the April animals is an American cocker spaniel; very tempting to buy and give it the name of one of Gladys Taber's cockers, like Honey or Teddy.
Following the pink poodle for April and the panda for May, the Pet of the Month for June is confirmed as an elephant. I have a panda virtual pet card, and an elephant in my stash.
Easter in Webkinz World
EXCEPT it can't be called "Easter" (which is silly, because "Easter" comes from "Eostre," a Pagan goddess). Pre-announcements:
And on March 23:
One of the gifts was a bit chinzy: you can buy the tulips in the W Shop. Usually the Spring/Easter gift is something novel.
Lowell models the egg shoes:
There was a clever animated card, too, but I didn't cap it properly.
Where Are My Plants?
WELL, this is a glitch I've never seen before.
Poor Lowell wants to know where all the vegetables went...
Getting the Jump on Things
I'D toyed with adopting my black poodle today, but adopted the kangaroo I got for Valentines Day instead.
After all, it is is the first day of spring.
:-)
(g,d, and rlh, as we used to say)
I was going to name her "Clancy" after Liza Goddard's character on Skippy the Bush Kangaroo (the ultimate Baby Boomer's Australian association)—since my koala is named "Rafferty" it would have continued the Irish name theme. But I copped out and went straight to the source. How could I resist naming her "Skippy"?
Right now she's sitting next to Schuyler's cage and Schuyler is happily whistling at her.
Not to Forget Those Numbers
AS a reward for surviving those numbers today, I adopted my velvety elephant.
I decided he was much too sweet-looking for all the expected monikers: Hannibal, Kala Nag or Hathi (the elephants in The Jungle Book), Modoc. I toyed with "Trombone."
In the end, I named him "Norbert," probably because the day I bought him I was reading Beany Malone, in which she's dating a boy named "Norbett." Norbert sounds better to me and I can call him "Bertie" for short.
This Little Piggy
OH, yeah, I bought into the Pet of the Month thing again, just because the Lil Pig was so cute. (This despite the fact I haven't activated my larger pig yet.) Don't ask me where the name came from; I looked at the piggy and she told me her name. Maybe I was thinking of Buddy Sorrell's wife Pickles on The Dick Van Dyke Show.
Also picked up the Wacky Zingoz today; very cute! Wish there was a virtual one as well. "Wacky" gives you access to a new "extreme" Wacky Zingoz game. It also talks when you squeeze it, Wacky's stock phrases, like the giggle and "That tickles!" and "Zingozman!", etc.
Thanks, I Think
WELL, after nearly ten months membership, I've joined the elite company of those who have received the following special item on the Wheel of WOW:
Heh.
"Him, Him, Him..."
SINCE I've adopted my schnauzer on Rupert Holmes' birthday, and since he has a beard just like Mr. Holmes...
Not Yeti
WELL, what else would you name a Himalayan cat? :-)
(Talk about blue eyes! You can see this one's across the room!)
Trouble in Webkinz Paradise
THERE are several Webkinz websites that list what rare items are going to be at the curio shop in advance. This way if you want something special you do not have to log on every hour to see what's in the curio shop. It's always been especially useful for schooldays and work days. Now Ganz has moved the information from where it used to be and asked the sites that were showing the previews to not do so any longer.
Let's say it hasn't endeared anyone to Ganz.
Two-Digit Diva
IT happened again. I've been doing the Big Button of Kinz Cash any time it was available since May 23, 2007, and only once have I gotten any more than a two-figure amount (and then it was only W150 or something like that. Tonight the grand total was W39. I've had W59, W43, and other amounts of that ilk. But three-digit amounts seem to be as rare as a politician with scruples.
Nostalgia Strikes Again
IF naming a Webkinz after Lowell Thomas wasn't enough, I've mined the past again.
Two of the first pets in Webkinz World were the Cheeky Dog and Cheeky Cat, and they have been hotly collected ever since. They are both cartoony looking animals, and IMHO, the Cat is the homeliest thing I've ever seen, both the stuffie and the avatar. On the other hand, the Dog avatar has always looked cute, but I'd never seen many pics of the stuffie to form an opinion. I do know both of them sell for about $250-$300 on E-bay.
Ganz reported a new "cheeky surprise" for the new year in Webkinz Insider and it was fulfilled with the release this month of the black and white Cheeky Dog. I saw a photo of it and decided if it really looked that cute I might buy one.
It does and I did. He reminded me of something I'd seen on TV.
Of course he isn't pink (but then I only saw the show in black and white anyway), but he reminded me a good deal of Mighty Manfred, the sidekick of Tom Terrific, one of the cartoons that was shown on Captain Kangaroo back in the 1960s. Hence the name.
All Heart in Webkinz World
NOW if they'd only fix it so we could feed our pets again, since all the gift foods are going a-begging.
A friendly greeting upon opening:
Plus a newspaper story, with the Valentine gift box showing down at the bottom:
The Love Puppy gets greedy:
And the gifts:
Lowell of Arabia
I was faced with a surfeit of names for a grey horse, but somehow all of them didn't fit. There was February Callendar's "Grey Arab" (very simple), Dr. Syn's Gehenna (too grim), and Woodpigeon (name of the grey horse in the Flambards series), but all were older grey horses, who turn white as they get older (Lipizzaners start out black, then grey until they are completely white). A horse the color of soot was ... well, yeah, a horse of a different color.
Then I remembered the joke about calling an Arabian horse "Lawrence," coupled with Thursday's Young Indiana Jones in which he meets Lowell Thomas, who was the man who brought young "Ned" to the public's attention. Lowell Thomas' biography, Good Evening, Everybody, is one of my favorites of all time and was a particular favorite during my college years; I had it with me on one of our cross-country tours. Since the documentary that followed the Young Indy tale was fresh in my mind...
2 Cute 4 Words
GIVE the Webkinz artists A+ for adorableness here, especially that sugar-sweet "Cubbit":
A Sweetie
I wish I'd known about Webkinz in time to get this puppy, which is now selling for a minimum of $75.00 (more like $125.00 to $175.00). I like stuffed animals, especially this cutie, but not that much. LOL.
Improvising
SINCE Ganz won't give us snowy yards that last all year, here's a "winter park" made of snow flooring, using snow chairs, sofa, side tables, and dividers, with perks in the form of icicle trees and Google ice sculptures, with the blue skies wallpaper subbing for real sky. Minerva enjoys the permanent snowiness. You can even take a hot-air balloon ride around the park!
The Animals Came Two by Two...by Two...by Two...
IN the wake of the new January Webkinz pets—the black poodle, the velvety elephant, the grey Arabian, and the tie-dyed frog, plus the new Easter duck—and recent news of the February animals—the schnauzer, the Himalayan cat, the pink and white cat, the black and white cheeky dog, and the kangaroo—there is now news of more new pets, these for March!
The "March Madness" bunch will be a brown dog (looks like a cocker spaniel/golden retriever, but chocolate brown), a Bengal tiger (has a completely different design from the earlier tiger), a tiger snake (it is striped tiger color), plus a Lil Kinz pink poodle and black Labrador.
There is also a stuffed Wacky Zingoz, but the rumor is that we will not get a virtual pet with it; it will open up a new section of Webkinz World. Maybe a "Wackyland"?
No news on the grey wolf, which is rumored to be a totally virtual pet.
Six is Swell...I Guess
BUT not compared to two. :-)
After a veritable blizzard over the weekend where the snowflakes of Winterfest were falling in intervals of multiples of two (sometimes they did come every two minutes, which was a "wheee!" moment), they have slowed down to the old Fall Festival/Goo-Goo Berry rate of intervals of multiples of six (and very slow sixes at that). Should have done more snowflake hunting over the weekend.
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