The blue sky of Mongolia. Happy Blue Monday meme. I have 3 out of 4 WWF maximum cards/ maxicards/ dorincards from Mongolia, with The Bactrian Camel (Camelus bactrianus)

"The Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus) is a large even-toed ungulate native to the steppes of central Asia. It is presently restricted in the wild to remote regions of the Gobi and Taklimakan Deserts of Mongolia and Xinjiang, China. There are a small number wild Bactrian camels still roaming the Mangystau Province of South West Kazakhstan. It is one of the two surviving species of camel.^[2] The Bactrian camel has two humps on its back, in contrast to the single-humped Dromedary camel.^[3]

Nearly all of the estimated 1.4 million Bactrian camels alive today are domesticated. In October 2002, the estimated 800 remaining in the wild in northwest China and Mongolia were classified as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.^[1]

Some authorities, notably the IUCN, use the binomial name Camelus ferus for the wild Bactrian camel and reserve Camelus bactrianus for the domesticated form.^[1]"

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bactrian_camel}

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bactrian_camels_-_Nubra.jpg

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Happy Blue Monday! (meme)

Please visit:  http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/

Happy Sunday Stamps! meme. Stamps with artwork BY children, and stamps with artwork FOR children.

The above maximum card is created with an ad(vertisement) card.

How many issuing countries contributed to the above selection of stamps? :)

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Please visit: http://viridianpostcard.blogspot.com/

Not really flying: The Siberian Flying Squirrel (Pteromys volans) - WWF maximum cards/ maxicards/ dorincards FROM Estonia (Eesti) ("FROM", not "ABOUT" Estonia, because they are really postmarked locally). Happy Postcard Friendship Friday! meme.

Mother Nature, or The Supreme Genetic Engineer gave this species the skinny - the furry glide membrane or patagium, a flap of skin that stretches between the front and rear legs.

"By spreading this membrane the flying squirrel may glide from tree to tree across distances of over a hundred meters, and have been known to record a glide ratio of 3.31, but is normally 1-1.5.^[2]"

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_Flying_Squirrel}

It would have been better if the postcards didn't have the basically identical, enlarged image of each matching stamp. Viva variety, you National Postal Administrations! :)

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Happy PFF (Postcard Friendship Friday)!

Please visit: http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/ (wait until Beth posts the today's Linky tool for the meme, then make your entry, if you want to join).

Can you spot a heart shape here? Hint: it's upside-down. Guest Heart Thursday meme. Official (from the Post) maximum card/ maxicard/ dorincard with Boxer Dogs, from Suomi/ Finland.

"White Boxers

Boxers with white markings covering more than one-third of their coat - conventionally called "white" Boxers - are neither albino or rare; approximately 20–25% of all Boxers born are white.^[5]Genetically, these dogs are either fawn or brindle, with excessive white markings overlying the base coat color. Like fair-skinned humans, white Boxers have a higher risk of sunburn and associated skin cancers than colored Boxers. The extreme piebald gene, which is responsible for white markings in Boxers, is linked to congenital sensorineural deafness in dogs. It is estimated that about 18% of white Boxers are deaf in one or both ears,^[6] though Boxer rescue organizations see about double that number.^[7][8] In the past, breeders often euthanized white puppies at birth; today, most breeders place white puppies in pet homes with spay/neuter agreements. White Boxers are disqualified from conformation showing by the breed standard, and are prohibited from breeding by every national Boxer club in the world. They can compete in non-conformation events such as obedience and agility, and like their colored counterparts do quite well as service and therapy dogs."

Temperament

“	The character of the Boxer is of the greatest importance and demands the most solicitous attention. It is renowned from olden times for its great love and faithfulness to its master and household. It is harmless in the family, but distrustful of strangers, bright and friendly of temperament at play, but brave and determined when aroused. Its intelligence and willing tractability, its modesty, and cleanliness make it a highly desirable family dog and cheerful companion. It is the soul of honesty and loyalty, and is never false or treacherous even in its old age.	”
	— 1938 AKC Boxer breed standard[9] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_(dog) "Never false or treacherous even in its old age"...compare that with grumpy old pets, especially males. Ungrateful pets... Compare that with dubious or dangerous pets such as Travis The Chimp, possible posthumous spokeperson for U-Maul Company.  To stop him, it wasn't enough a simple stabbing with a kitchen knife, by her desperate female owner who had been taking care of him with food-and-beverage-including-wine-and-bathing(!)-and-sleeping(!)-accomodations(?). It took police firepower, after Travis ripped apart the side-view mirror of a police cruiser and then he (it?) lunged to assault a police officer, too. How hard would have been for a big, muscular male chimpanzee to also rip apart a human's head? Not hard at all. A specialist said that a male chimp can be 10 times stronger (especially in the upper torso) than an average human male. "Travis walked up to the police car when it arrived and tried to open a locked passenger door, instead smashing a side-view mirror. Then he went calmly around to the driver's-side door and opened it, at which point Officer Frank Chiafari shot him several times. Travis retreated to the house, where he was found dead next to his cage.[8]" "He [Travis] was adopted by Sandra and Jerome Herold when he was three days old.[2" "Jerome died from cancer in 2004, and their only child died in a car accident; as a result, Sandra Herold considered Travis as a son and pampered him.[8][14] Sandra slept and bathed with Travis saying, "I'm, like, hollow now. He slept with me every night. Until you've eaten with a chimp and bathed with a chimp, you don't know a chimp." [16][17" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_(chimpanzee) How well did SHE know a chimp, mauling and all? Moral: you want a house pet? Don't take a chimpanzee, tiger, etc. Take a good breed of dog or cat, or so.

Please visit and join The Guest Heart Thursday meme!

http://clytie-randomhearts.blogspot.com/

Welcome to Guest Heart Thursday -
A place to share YOUR hearts!

"Keep monkeying around - I'll snatch your sorry [donkey]!" The largest and the most powerful raptor found in the Americas: The American Harpy Eagle (Harpia harpyja). WWF Maximum cards/ maxicards/ dorincards about Guyana.

The largest and the most powerful raptor found in the Americas: The American Harpy Eagle (Harpia harpyja).

Look at the stamp from the maximum card in the lower left - do you see who has been monkeying around?

Actions have consequences. Lack of awareness got punishment. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Harpy_Eagle

"What is a bird of prey?

• Bird of prey is a loose term often applied to the eagle, kite, hawk and even sometimes the owl
• Typically have curved beak, curved talons and good eyesight for finding prey
• Raptor is sometimes used specifically to describe birds that seize warm-blooded animals during the day" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12634698

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Please visit and join The World Bird Wednesday meme!

http://worldbirdwednesday.blogspot.com/

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They say that the gentle lamb sucks milk from two ewes...:)

Here's a second meme.

Please visit and join ABC Wednesday meme!

http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.com/

Today,  G is for Guyana. :)

Never Fight a Land War in Asia | STRATFOR. Red is the blood, red in the flag...Maximum card/ maxicard/ dorincard about the Vietnam War Memorial, in Washington, D.C. Please visit and join Ruby Tuesday meme!

Never Fight a Land War in Asia | STRATFOR

Whether you agree or not with all the ideas from that article, it's still an interesting read.

 

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Please visit and join Ruby Tuesday meme!

http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/

Black Lechwe or Bangweulu Lechwe (Kobus leche smithemani) - WWF maximum cards/ maxicards/ dorincards about Zambia

It's challenging to participate in the Pink Saturday meme - you have to come up with something pink.

But you can easily find something blue, to participate in the Happy Blue Monday meme. :)

"Black Lechwe or Bangweulu Lechwe (Kobus leche smithemani) - Bangweulu Swamps. Adult male blackish. Vulnerable.^[6]"

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lechwe}

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Happy Blue Monday! (meme)

Please visit:  http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/

President Abraham Lincoln - I created a set of dorincards with the 4 stamps from the 2009 series 'Lincoln 200th Anniversary of birth'. As postcard support for that, I used a multiview real postcard, two educational cards with explanatory text on the back, and a circulated ad(vertising) postcard 'commercially available' only for Sprint to send as junk mail to ITS [not IT'S] customers. Happy Postcard Friday meme!

"We interrupt this broadcast" to specify that I dedicate this blogpost, during the Presidents Day week-long unofficial celebration, to Beth Niquette, blogger extraordinnaire and all-around good person [unless she lives a double life...OMG!] , who commits a lot of resources (time, intellectual effort, etc.) for us to enjoy several blogs, including

http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/

where every Friday anybody can participate in the Happy Postcard Friday meme!

She discovered, thru genealogic research and evidence, that she is a descendant of Abraham Lincoln!!!

I took this series of 4 stamps about Lincoln:

and I decided to create non-traditional maximum cards, since I didn't have "real, commercial postcards" to create traditional maximum cards.

See other stamps with US presidents here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_Presidents_on_US_postage_stamps

Read about Lincoln:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln

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Happy PFF (Postcard Friendship Friday)!

Please visit: http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/ (wait until Beth posts the today's Linky tool for the meme, then make your entry, if you want to join).

You may play Macao-the-card-game, but don't play with Macao-the-parrot! It may remove your eye (then you'll need an...iPatch) or it may give you the finger (after it cuts it from you). The Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) - a beautiful, engraved stamp on a 2004 maximum card/ maxicard/ dorincard written and sent to me in 2011 as a simple postcard from the Czech Republic, by my Czech-German friend Wenzel.

Can you see the hearts here?

What we can't see anymore is the miniature sheet that was affixed on the left half of the postcard.

LESSON LEARNED: never overestimate your BODILY EFFLUVIA, such as saliva. Or a weak glue. Instead, affix with enough glue to make it stick.

Make it hard for the postal thieves or the impersonal, brutal Automated Postal Systems to tear off the stamps from your mail piece.

Many years ago, I casually played Macao, a version of the French card game "21".

That's not the point here.

However: here's how to play Crazy Eights / Macau / Macaua:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macau_(card_game)

"Macau (traditional Chinese: 澳門), also spelled Macao ( /məˈkaʊ/), is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China. 

It lies on the western side of the Pearl River Delta, bordering Guangdong provinceto the north and facing the South China Sea to the east and south.^[6]

The territory's economy is heavily dependent on gambling and tourism but also includes manufacturing.

Macau was a Portuguese colony and both the first and last European colony in China.^[7][8] Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 16th century and subsequently administered the region until the handover on 20 December 1999. 

The Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration and the Basic Law of Macau stipulate that Macau operates with a high degree of autonomy until at least 2049, fifty years after the transfer.^[9]  [DORIN'S NOTE: then what???]

Under the policy of "one country, two systems", the PRC's Central People's Governmentis responsible for the territory's defense and foreign affairs, while Macau maintains its own legal system, police force, monetary system, customs policy, and immigration policy. 

Macau participates in many international organizations and events that do not require members to possess national sovereignty.^[9][10] 

According to the CIA factbook, Macau has the highest life expectancy in the world.^[11]"

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macau}

But that's not the point here, either.

The point is Macao The Parrot: The Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao).

"The Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) is a large, colorful macaw. It is native to humid evergreen forests in the American tropics. Range extends from extreme south-eastern Mexico to Amazonian Peru, Bolivia and Brazil in lowlands up to 500 m (1,640 ft) (at least formerly) up to 1,000 m (3,281 ft). It has suffered from local extinction through habitat destruction and capture for the parrot trade, but locally it remains fairly common. Formerly it ranged north to southern Tamaulipas. It can still be found on the island of Coiba. It is the national bird of Honduras."

"As Pets

Scarlet Macaws are quite demanding of time and resources, and in general, make for a rude, noisy, messy, and destructive house guest. 

One should spend a lot of time reading about these birds before inviting them into your home. 

Any large macaw can easily remove a finger, or remove

 your eye while perched on your shoulder. 

Not always aggressive, they are always somewhat unpredictable, even around experienced handlers."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarlet_macaw

Scarlet Macaw, less dangerous than Scarface [gangster Al Capone - he gave a new meaning to Be my Valentine: The St. Valentine's Day Massacre eliminated some of Capone's enemies, but outraged the general public].

Scarlet Macaw, more brightly-colored than ScarJo [actress Scarlett Johansson].

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scarlett_Johansson_with_soldiers_3.jpg

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Please visit and join The Guest Heart Thursday meme!

http://clytie-randomhearts.blogspot.com/

Welcome to Guest Heart Thursday -
A place to share YOUR hearts!