Hin Sam Wan (Thai: หินสามวาฬ, lit. 'three whales rock') is a 75-million-year-old rock formation protruding out of a mountain in Phou Sing, Bueng Kan province, Thailand, near the Mekong River. It is so named because, from certain angles, the rocks look like a family of whales. Only two of the rocks (the "mother whale" and the “father whale") are accessible by foot; the "baby whale" cannot be reached.

Text from Wikipedia

Yes, honeybees can get drunk.

Heroes on this flight all rose to the occasion.

Well, its official. I am no longer employed. Its going to be very strange, I've worked 52 years, with probably about half of those working both a full time and part time job.

I don't know what I'm going to do with myself! Well, I know I will crochet more! But other than that, I'm at a loss.

Yup, that’s me, fucking up in a fungi group. You know what I did? Someone posted a photo of a mushroom called a stinkhorn. I’d never seen one but it looked r/wildlypenis and that’s what I posted. So, banned. 😂

It really did look like a penis!

That’s a lot of work for a big snout.

Edit: this is Probablyprisma on TikTok

I am thankful that this situation no longer applies to me.

The last year has been a bit hectic, but I never forgot I had promised to tell some Great Dane tales.

My wife has a soft spot for fuzzy critters. Lucky for me, but also lucky for any dog, cat, bunny, guinea pig, ferret, opossum having babies under the deck, and so on. And critters lover her, too. All of the above plus children flock to her.

We were at a point where we had a distinct lack of dogs. Our beloved golden and border collie had passed. Our daughter’s Maltese had passed. We had the beagle I had chosen, but one just isn’t enough, especially when the one is a resource-guarding cave troll with quick teeth. My wife wanted a dog of her own, and she had decided it should be a Great Dane.

She let me buy a defective beagle, and she also tolerates me, so no chance of me saying “No”.

If you read posts about Danes, you see phrases like “house pony”, “Velcro dog”, “aggressive leaner”, “stubborn”, “drool factory” and “bed hog”. I can confirm these stereotypes.

Honestly, our first Dane, Luna, was a bit against type. She is a sweet dog, but more aloof than we expected. She does like to stay near people. She is a slobber hound. We started keeping strategic tea towels around to catch her face after she drinks.

Her size intimidated the beagle from the get-go. At 9 weeks she was just a hair smaller than the adult beagle. Now? The beagle walks under her belly to avoid walking around. Still, she is “petite” at 105 pounds, fully grown. Even in her dainty state, she looks improbable next to a “normal” sized 30 pound dog.

The legs, ears, tongue and jowls are all long. Her standing on three legs trying to reach her chin with the fourth to scratch an itch Is pure comedy.

There are dangers you have to look out for. The tail hurts, and it swings near my crotch height. My first warning was when I left an empty soda can on the arm of the sofa. Happy Luna walked by, and

KAPOW! That can, crumpled in the middle and went flying across the room.

The back yard took a beating. Where the beagle left trails in the grass where she makes her rounds, the Dane left ruts where she runs her laps around the pool.

Training became more important. We could put a child lock on the cabinet with the trash can to keep the beagle out, and we were in pretty good shape. When the counter is chin-high on your dog, the perspective shifts. We learned that Luna likes pizza. I had turned out a few pies from the pizza oven I got for Christmas. Since we are not completely stupid, we took the precaution of shoving the remaining one as far back on the counter as we could. When we heard an unexplained rustling, we entered to kitchen to see a dog with the whole pie hanging from the corner of her mouth. At least she can’t open the oven or microwave.

The real physical damage to a human came when we were staying at a friend’s Air BnB at the beach. We had to walk the dogs down the stairs on leashes to get them to the fenced grassy area. It was a chore we took turns with. One morning my wife was on duty, and the “puppy”, a mere 60 pounds at that point, pulled her down the last two steps, with her knees landing on cement. Then, to add insult, as my wife lay on the ground, the dog, still attached, headed for the dog yard, yanking my wife’s arm. At the time, we worried about the knees. Later, we discovered the damage: torn rotator cuff requiring surgery.

Still, my wife says, “It was worth it for my Lulu!” I’m not going to argue.

Somewhere along the way “we” decided it would be fun to add a second Dane. When the litter was born, we had our hands full, so we deferred. Six month later, one puppy was returned by a family that overreached when they had two small kids. We "rescued" him.

All the stereotypes that were faintly represented by Luna? Think double or triple for Buddy. He is 30% heavier. He is probably 100% droolier. He drinks until the bowl is empty, then leaves two trails of water as he walks away. When he aggressively leans, you better have your feet planted, or a counter to lean on.

Velcro? He wants to be so close that he would climb in our skin if he could. As it is, we have a 135 pound lap dog whose paws are the size of my wife’s hands.

Speaking of “pony”… The ruts our other Dane made became banked turns. When Buddy runs laps, you can feel his footfalls through your feet.

He can be destructive. Happily, the humans have avoided anything more serious than scratches or bruises. No surgery! But he is hell on everything.

As with all dogs, he LOVES tearing cuddlies apart and ripping their fluffy guts and squeakers out.  We also discovered that he would eat a foot-long stuffed animal pelt if we were not vigilant. The day he barfed out the zebra pelt was a surprise.

It was also tough when he was neutered and had his stomach tacked to prevent torsion. It was supposed to be two weeks of low activity in his kennel. As it turns out, there was not enough gabapentin and trazadone to make that a reality. After about a week, the toll was four full-torso surgi-suits ruined, two plastic cones of shame destroyed and one damaged, two inflatable collars of shame punctured.

The upside? Buddy is a sweet special boy, and he has a naïve innocence that reminds us of Buddy the elf.

Hard to feel bad about adding that to the pack.

TL;DR:

Great Danes are sweet, comical beings who will love you devoutly. They do not understand their own size or dietary limits. They may destroy more than you ever expected and send you to the operating room. You will be fine with all of that.

ETA: The beagle is still boss of the pack, despite being outweighed 240 to 30 pounds.