Conservation Covers

Archive for the ‘Conservation Tips’ Category

I’ve been compiling a list of famous cats for my pet numerology website for some time now.  I know which my favorites are, but I wondered which are the most famous overall.  There were so many great famous cats that I did four alphabetical gourps, with a final round of the most famous cats.  This is the final round, and I’ll reveal which are the most famous of these great cats.

The top most famous of all cats (based on online chatter) are:

10. Felix the Cat, from the classic Felix the Cat cartoons

9. Kitty, Cartman’s cat on the animated series South Park

8. Hobbes, from the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip

7. Mittens, from the animated movie Bolt

6. Dewey, from the book “Dewey, The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World”

5. Tigger from A. A. Milne’s Winnie The Pooh

4. Garfield, from the Garfield comic strip.

3. Figaro, from the animated movie Pinocchio

2. The Cheshire Cat, from Alice in Wonderland

…and the most famous cat of all is…

1. Sylvester, from the classic Looney Tunes cartoons

Cats not ranking in the top 10 were Socks, the Clinton family cat during the Presidency of Bill Clinton; Jules, from the Mutts comic strip; Spot, Data’s cat on Star Trek: The Next Generation; Yum Yum from Lilian Jackson Braun’s “The Cat Who” mysteries; Morris the cat from 9Lives pet food advertisements; India, the Bush family cat during the Presidency of George W Bush; Toonces the Driving Cat from Saturday Night Live; Mystery from Emily the Strange; Miles from Emily the Strange; Maru, the box loving cat in online videos; and Snowball the Simpsons family cat from the animated series the Simpsons;

Five of the top 10 cats are from animation (Sylvester, Figaro, Mittens, Kitty, and Felix), two are from comic strips (Garfield and Hobbes), and three are from literature (Cheshire, Tigger, and Dewey).  Only one of the top ten cats was an actual living cat (Dewey).

I compiled this list by searching for the cats listed on a number of search engines and ranking them by the number of web pages, discussion forums, photos, videos, etc that are available online.

Check out my complete list of Famous Cats at www.PetNum.com.

Here in Southern California we have been in a drought for the past several years, and even in a good year we do not get much rain.

If you own a home in a drought prone area an easy way to reduce your consumption is to replace water hogging plants with plants that are healthy and look beautiful with little water.

These plants should do well over most of the Southwest, but might not work in areas that get any more than a very light frost or significant rainfall.

1.  Ice Plant (Carpobrotus edulis) is an amazing groundcover that you see all over Southern California.  While many take this plant for granted it is excellent at growing in the toughest areas such as hillsides that get no irrigation in the summer.  The plants have either a pink or yellow flower, so be sure to get a plant with the color flower you like.  While you can buy flats of this plant it makes more sense to start your own patch from cuttings that you can probably get from a neighbor.

2.  Red Apple (Aptenia cordifolia) is another amazing groundcover prevelant in Southern California.  It has a smaller leaf than iceplant, and covers more thickly.  Red apple will have small pinkish red flowers year round, which is where it gets it’s name.  Note that the flowers will attract bees, so you might not want to plant this where you would need to often walk through it.  Once established these plants should survive with little irrigation.  As with ice plant, this is an excellent choice to start from cuttings.

3.  Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia) are a family of beautiful clumping plants with a distinctive tropical looking yellow orange or blue flower.  The smaller varieties have the yellow orange, while the larger varieties have the blue.  Once established these plants should survive with little irrigation.  Propogate by dividing these plants which is some work (they do form a very dense clump) or by purchasig a small plant at a garden center.

4.  Gazania (Gazania) are a family of spreading daisy like plants.  This is a beautiful ground cover, but is not quite as tough as Ice Plant or Red Apple.  To look healthy throughout the summer they will need some irrigation.  The flowers come in a varitey of yellows, reds, white or purple.  Propogate by dividing existing plants, from seed, or purchase a small plant at a garden center and watch it spread.

5.  Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthos) are a few beautiful clumping plants with distinctive red or yellow flowers.  The flowers have a slightly fuzzy appearance, giving them the name Kangaroo Paw.  To look healthy throughout the summer they will need some irrigation.  The habit is reminiscent of hemerocalis, and you can either propogate this plant by division or purchase a small plant from a garden center.

Here are my gardening resources for California.  Most nurseries and garden centers on this list would carry these magnificent five plants.

NASA’s International Space Station has very limited resources.  This includes water.  For astronauts there, water recycling is the only feasible option.  Many people don’t realize it, but water is in limited supply on earth also.  Only about three percent of the world is fresh water, and of that two percent is unavailable in polar ice caps, so only one percent of the world’s water is fit for human consumption.

In the United States, the average household uses three hundred and fifty gallons of water a day.  That may not seem like much, but when you multiply it out over a year that amounts to 127,400 gallons.  That’s a lot of water.  Of that, in some homes almost seventy percent is used for watering lawns and gardens.  Because of the finite nature of our usable water and the current rate with which we use it, it makes sense that so many government and environmental groups are calling for more water conservation.  Water is precious stuff.  While it is technically possible to make water chemically, the amount of energy needed makes it an impractical solution

“Utilities enforce and promote water restrictions through rates, municipal ordinances, federal laws and regulations, and financial incentives.”  One example of this is only allowing the public to water their lawns on certain days.  Or by not allowing home car washing with a hose.  Some counties only permit water fountains that use recirculated water.  As far as financial incentives, some counties offer them to consumers that install more efficient or low-flow plumbing or change out their lawn for resilient plants that require less watering.  The country’s average for recycling wastewater is only 2.3%.  However, in areas that are plagued more frequently by drought, that percentage may be as high as twenty-five percent.

Since scientists are unable to predict droughts or the length and severity of droughts, beginning and maintaining water conservation measures and programs is the only way to ensure that our area is prepared if a drought does occur.  Using wastewater for irrigation or similar work, shortening showers, conservation efforts at businesses, Aquifer Storage and Recover (ASR) programs, and other responsible consumer actions can all help.  Water conservation isn’t just another environmentally friendly thing we “ought to do”.  It is vital to ensure there is enough water for our children and grandchildren.