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(On Monday, I asked for blogging advice, and one thing that everybody agreed upon was that interesting visuals were key. Which makes today's entry particularly ironic:)
This is what happens when you forget your camera. Yesterday I was in the Habitat for Humanity store in Washington, PA. It's a fascinating place, which sells doors, sinks, and architectural details taken from demolished houses at extremely low prices. If you're rehabbing a building in the area, you'd be made not to check it out. Through the store I went, and down into the basement, and at the very far end of it all . . .
. . . was one of the most alarming taxidermy mounts I've ever seen. It was of a mongoose and a cobra locked in a life-and-death struggle. The mongoose's tail stuck out, bristling with alarm and its teeth were sunk into the snake, just below its head. The cobra was wrapped tight about the mongoose's torso.
How alarming was it, you ask? So alarming that I didn't buy it, even though it was priced at only thirty-five dollars. And that's pretty damned alarming.
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These are apparently pretty standard things that people bring back from Thailand. You'll get some amusing stuff by Googling "stuffed mongoose cobra battle".
ReplyDeleteI prefer the more creative forms of taxidermy -- like the Wolpertinger of Bavaria, or Barnum's Feejee Mermaid.
ReplyDeleteThey call that camera a "cellphone" these days.
ReplyDeleteCheck out the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermy. (You may need a strong stomach.)
ReplyDeleteNo worse than http://www.customcreaturetaxidermy.com/ , Theophylact.
ReplyDeleteOr, for that matter, those photographs of the "Montauk Monster" that were popping up last summer.
That's why I always carry my camera. Always. Except when I forget it which isn't often.
ReplyDeleteWow. I stand chastened. And humbled. There's some very weird stuff out there these days. Much of which I need. Not that my wife will let me buy the Mummified Mystery Animal Paw earrings.
ReplyDeleteStill, as Marianne likes to say, "What a rich world we live in!" Or, as the comic book Planetary put it, "It's a strange world. Let's keep it that way."
Should've thought of the cellphone wheeze, though.
ReplyDeleteOh, I think Marianne would let you buy the mummified mystery animal paw earrings, Michael. But I doubt she'd let you wear them, at least when she's around. :)
ReplyDeleteMichael, I have seen several of these vintage rikki-tikki-tavi mounts. Jack Womack had one....
ReplyDelete