Monday, April 20, 2009

The slow slide to nowhere

Survey Results:
What do you think of Caplin Rous' TV appearances?
  1. Haven't seen any of them but sure he was great! (11 26%)
  2. AP should have made the whole show about him! (28 68%)
  3. Move over Enzo, make room for Caplin Rous! (2 4%)
  4. TLC reality show! OMG that would be great! (8 19%)
  5. Fame is going to your head, you need to cut back. (0 0%)
41 votes total (multiple votes allowed)
It's nice to know none of you think I'm big headed. Come to think of it, I do have a pretty big head, especially the nose part of my head!

Statistics:
Starting view count: 877
Followers: 39

A strange thing happened this week: my life was changed by a photograph.

I have some capy friends in Houston to blame for this. Their owner posted some photos of them on his FaceBook page and my owner saw it and seized on it. It became an obsession with her. Below you see one of the original photos.

Houston capys playing on their toy.

For the next two days all my owner could talk about was how she was going to get one of those contraptions for me! Really, I am way too dignified for that. Those Houston capys don't have any class. But my owner would hear none of it, even though I eeped rather loudly. She searched the interweb. She scoured local stores, even those she hates like Target and WalMart.

When she didn't find what she wanted, I thought she would give up. But no, she settled--and therefore I settled--for less. She got me the dumb contraption you see me sitting on below.

I should have know this was going to go badly for me.

It is supposed to be a castle but it did not make me feel like a king. The Houstonian version is large enough--barely--for three capys. I hardly fit on this one by myself. And it doesn't have the same cute colors or holes for climbing through. But that didn't stop my owner. Next thing I knew, a popsicle was dangling in front of my face. When I went to grab it with my teeth, it moved farther from me and closer to that castle. Eventually I was sitting on it.

Believe me, I am not as content as I look!

Getting onto the platform was only worth 1/2 of a popsicle, if you can believe that. Amazingly, she expected me to willingly step onto that slippery blue slope and slide down! I resisted as long and as hard as I could but she still had that darned half of a popsicle and I wanted it!

She's dangling a popsicle just off-camera!

It looks so delicious!
Can't I just do a circle instead?

I couldn't let that popsicle go. Eventually I put one paw out and that was the end of it. Down the slide I went.

My owner gave me the other half of the popsicle when I got to the bottom and, I have to say, it was delicious. The problem now seems to be that I can't get a popsicle unless I climb up into the castle and slide down the other side. How do these things happen to me? Do I have a food addiction? Is my owner insane? What will she think up next?

Here's a link to my YouTube video video of my very first slide.

And if you missed me on Animal Planet, we're into reruns.

22 comments:

  1. You get all the COOL toys! Gracie & Ellie Mae

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  2. We don't have cable so we didn't see your TV appearance, but we're sure it was good.

    Are you happy with your slide now? Or are you still having to be teased onto it with a popsicle? It looks like a lot of fun.

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  3. Haha, that's adorable! I hope you're having fun :)

    PS - if you decide you want to expand your castle there's a 'little tikes cube' (like the Houston capys) on the San Antonio craigslist:
    http://sanantonio.craigslist.org/tag/1105868811.html

    ...and two on eBay in Cypress:

    http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120407649433
    http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120407645921

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  4. Nice castle slide! Hope you get used to it soon and maybe love it eventually. ;)
    Oh I loved your TV appearance. You should have your own show!

    Lou & Pebbles

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  5. Caplin, that looks like fun! I hope you start to enjoy sliding down the slide all the time. I can be bribed to do tricks for treats too. Only I like dried-up liver treats.

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  6. Have you seen these baby capybaras? http://www.zooborns.com/zooborns/2009/04/baby-capybara-conga.html

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  7. Thanks Mary Ellen! Those are some cute baby capys!

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  8. Cool castle, Caplin! My humans humiliate me all the time too. Aren't humans weird?

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  9. Hi Caplin - I think the best way to enjoy a slide is to sit at the top indefinitely!

    licks & slobbers,
    Charlie & human

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  10. Hi Caplin,

    I heard about you on Jan's Funny Farm and thought I must come over and say hello! You really are an unusual pet! But you look like your humans really love and spoil you! :-) And how exciting to be on TV - wow!

    Do come over and visit me sometime -
    www.bighoneydog.com
    and
    www.bighoneydog.com/honeys-blog/

    Slobbers,
    Honey the Great Dane

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  11. Oh, Caplin, you poor capybara. That slide looks scary! I hope you get used to it soon so you can get lots of popsicles!

    I am hosting a Pet Parade on my site tomorrow, 4/29, where people can link up to their pet posts and/or photos. If you want to, I would love to have you link up to a Caplin post or photo there. I think there are a lot of people that would love to learn about a famous Capybara! Can you believe that I was at a family gathering over the weekend and they thought that Capybaras were the same as javalinas?! I set them straight!

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  12. Caplin, thank you for adding this to the Pet Parade! That would be great if you add a link to your post tomorrow! I am going to keep the parade going through Friday as long as there are still marchers!

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  13. I'm visiting from Gayle's Pet Parade....

    This is such a fun post :-) Well, maybe not for Caplin, having to go up and down the castle all for the sake of a popsicle... ;-) But it was a lot of fun to read, and I love the pictures :-)

    I have no idea what a Capybaras is, so I'm off to Google to find out!!

    Kelly @ DesignTies

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  14. Oh, my! This made me laugh out loud. Well done.

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  15. Oh my goodness, I have never seen one before. My son recognized it right away. Seriously? A capy?

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  16. this is the funniest thing i've seen in a while. so glad you joined the parade and i got to meet this fine creature.

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  17. Well I think you should just enjoy the slide for what it is and wonderful diversion. Your owner obviously loves you ver much to try and get you a gift like this and you look like you might be enjoying it maybe just a little bit. You are a gorgeous capy by the way.

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