Virtual Quill

Rudy, Rudy, Rudy.
My brother has shown remarkable growth in the maturity department since our parents got married and we were thrown together as siblings. I no longer worry about him pulling impulsive, ill-considered stunts that backfire on him (like, say, oh...stowing away on the space shuttle). Then he decided to get a tattoo.
I haven’t heard the whole story yet; I’ve just gotten pieces of it. (From Fiona, of course.) It seems that Rudy, without consulting her, decided to get a tattoo of Fiona’s face on his chest. That last detail was kind of redundant, since the chest/tummy region is the only area a canine has that isn’t covered in fur.
He was taken aback when five-year-old rabbit Wendell Luckyfoot entered the tattoo parlor. Little Wendell has grand designs on being the Easter Bunny someday, to the point of using whatever means are necessary to achieve it. Rudy was able to handle him back in April, when he and Fiona returned him to his grateful mom.
Wendell intended to get the “Easter Bunny’s” signature shades tattooed on his face; a rather extreme demonstration of his ambitions. Of course he’s way underage, and the store owner never would’ve done anything without a responsible party’s consent. Rudy, who knew Wendell’s full name from the Easter incident, looked up his phone number online and called his mom. That’s as much of the story as I have at the moment.
Tattoos are probably more common in the human world than they are here. Only a few mammals lack fur (elephants, rhinos, hippos, pigs, naked mole rats) and birds are covered in feathers. Fish have scales, and reptiles and amphibians show little interest in the procedure. (Some shelled species have pictures and designs carved into their shells, which is a related mode of expression.)
Can you confirm this about humans? Do you have any tattoos?

Rhonda’s the star of the Beige University hunting team, and she’s certain to be drafted by one of the professional teams after she graduates. She and Quinn have some decisions to make, however, since she’s two years ahead of him. Assuming Quinn stays in school (He’d better!), they’re going to have to have some kind of long-distance relationship at least during the season. I don’t know how that’ll work; Fenton and I certainly can’t be apart for any length of time. (I know what you’re thinking: Newlyweds!)
Rhonda confided to me that she’d missed her period a few months ago, but it turned out to be a false alarm. She and Quinn do want to have kids someday, but only after her career as a professional athlete is over. (Actually, there are female bears on hunting teams who do try to become pregnant. Motherhood seems to make them more aggressive, and for them fertility pills are classified as a performance-enhancing drug.)
Meanwhile, Rachel and Joan are doing okay so far as roommates. I drop by the dorm regularly, and after a while I ask how their grades are. Rachel’s are holding up, but I’m not sure about Joan’s.
Meanwhile, at the Cape Qualm lighthouse on the North Carolina coast Tammy reports heavy waves due to Hurricane Igor. Angstrom knows enough not to go into the water, so hopefully Tammy is becoming more confident in his judgment so she doesn’t hover so much.
Fenton, seeing the topic of this blog, wanted to add that his former roommate Bob Shrike earned an academic scholarship that’ll pay for his final two years of college. That’s a relief, since he comes from a family that’s struggling. (He’s the first in his family to even go to college.) He’s dating a buzzard girl, and they have a nice arrangement: He kills small animals, eats half, and after a few days she finishes the carcass.
I love romance.

A sure sign of Tree's continued recovery from her transplantation is the expansion of her root system. It's grown enough so that she has secure footing in the soil, so strong winds are no longer a danger. She wouldn't stand up to a hurricane, of course, but we're too far inland to experience those. (By the time one reaches us it's never more than a tropical depression.) Tornadoes are a concern, but they can demolish even the hardiest of trees.
Tree's roots have spread so far that they're touching those of the maple across the street. When Fenton and I teased her about it, her reaction was unexpected: she was actually embarrassed. It was as if we'd caught her in a compromising position. It seems that her off-the-scale intellect (for a tree) has led to her feeling actual love for another plant.
Whether that love is requited is a matter of debate. She seems to think so, but I know that those in love never see clearly. The maple certainly can't communicate with us in the way Tree can, but who's to say trees don't have a method of communication beyond our sensory input?
I do know that if these feelings are providing her with a positive attitude, that's helping her recovery. I'm not going to do anything to change that. She means too much to Fenton and I.
So, I guess it is possible to have feelings for a plant.
Humans, how are plants regarded on your side?

I got a text from back home that Caliban Academy won its first match in the most unusual way. Leona Mangle was hurt and was taken to the hospital, and her boyfriend Edgar was forced to see his first varsity action ever. Amazingly he actually took down a boar that seemed to win the game, but by roaring he was penalized for “Excessive Celebration.” That’s a penalty that was created because post-kill celebrations were getting out of hand. (For instance, teams would completely debone the carcass and reassemble the bones into a funny and/or degrading pose.) It was mainly felines who did that, since they often play with their food.
In recent years, though, officials are calling the penalty for virtually any display of enthusiasm. It’s not what the rule was supposed to do, and it detracts from the sport. Fortunately, in this case the team won anyway when Leona’s ambulance hit a deer that had earlier fled the field of play.
Meanwhile, here at the lab we’re still wondering what the stem cell funding ruling will mean for us since Federal grants make much of our research possible. While in many cases they don’t pay the total cost, they’re frequently a springboard to other funding sources. A freeze would halt a lot of promising studies that could alleviate much sickness and suffering. For now, all we can do is wait and see what happens next.
This week's question: In human sporting contests, how do teams celebrate?