Thatababy by Paul Trap for February 01, 2022

Alas, poor quagga..

Until today I had never heard of the cereal.

What about the Quokka, the animal that always looks happy? …and yet throws it’s baby at a predator to escape… 8/10.

Got to see a quetzel last year in Costa Rica – they are as beautiful as advertised (was hysterical watching all of the “full-time” birders freaking out like a horde of paparazzi!) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resplendent_quetzal#/media/File:Respledent_Quetzal,_Costa_Rica_2016.jpg

GASP – how could they forget the Quoll (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quoll#/media/File:Dasyurus_maculatus.jpg)! It’s an Aussie marsupial that is about the size of a small cat and is all teeth and attitude! Got to hand-feed one in Tasmania a couple of times at a friend’s animal rescue, Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary (https://www.bonorong.com.au)

A Quail misspelling “potato”

Don’t forget about the birds favorite seed: Quinoa

Quagga.Quokka.Quoll.

Quadraped

I expect readers to take the challenge and name other animals whose name starts with the letter ‘Q.’ (That seems to work on FarceBicker.)

Do not forget the Quail

shouldn’t the Q animals be eating quiche instead?

Or Quagga, or Quokka

Hey, what about quolls? (They’re real, unlike “quangaroos”.)

Don’t forget the Queen Snake, Quoll, Quelea, Quahog, Quinkana or Quillfish. If you’re old enough (somewhere between doddering and dead), you’ll remember the Quink, whose blue-black blood was used in fountain pens we were forced to use in the classroom until someone finally invented the ballpoint.

My desk had an inkwell and an adjoining well for the fine sand once used to dry ink. The generation previous to mine was also required to bring goose quills from the family farm to use as writing instruments. Also a penknife for trimming and splitting the quills. It’s a curious reflection on our times that back then you could be sent home for not bringing a knife to school.

My first-to-third grade classrooms also had a rack at the front for holding the .22 rifles or small-bore shotguns boys would bring along in the hopes of bagging supper on the way home.

Boys in those days were expected to be risk takers to the point of foolhardiness. I have an 1891 book of boys’ adventures that includes plans for building a hang glider (this was before the Wright Bros), manufacturing gunpowder for fireworks, building animal traps and executing trick riding stunts on the family horse (it was also before the automobile).

My favorite is the suggestion for a laff-a-minute gag that involved sneaking up on the ol’ swimming hole when other boys were skinny-dipping, wetting down their clothes, then tying them into knots. Tight knots, with 2 boys pulling as hard as they could. The clothes were then scattered in the sunlight where they would dry out and shrink. The act of trying to undo ones impenetrably knotted clothing was called, “chawin’ the beef” becuse the use of one’s teeth was essential to ultimate success.

I somehow wound up here from animals beginning with “Q.” I suspect I took a wrong turn at Albuquerque….