The Gentle Zoo

The same day we went to Ham Orchard, we went to the Gentle Zoo. It is in south Forney, so it was sort of on the way home. I had been wanting to check it out, and it was also a fun trip. We had the place to ourselves until the very last few minutes. I think that's probably because we were there on a Sunday morning when it was a little hot.

The Gentle Zoo is part animal sanctuary, part petting zoo, part play park. It is perfect for a child LM's age.  And, after going to the Zoo and then here, and LM is still talking about the "animals" from these locations, we decided THAT should be his birthday theme. Animals. So, now I have to figure out what that means for a party. Ahem.

We went in this pen with the big turtles.

They were very friendly, which sort of freaked LM out.

Friendly goats, no problem. Friendly turtles, not so much.

Speaking of goats...and sheep.

You could get in the pen with them too. 

Oh, how LM loved this part!

The horse was also very friendly.

As was the bunny.

Then we fed the goats, horse, ostrich, pig, etc...

Daddy had to do this one exclusively - he "pecked" a lot.

But LM liked watching him get a bath. 

Which the ostrich seemed to like as well.

Eventually LM fed the rest of the bucket to the goats, and we headed to the play area.

There were truckloads of sand in those crocs when he was done in here.

Then a quick stop to "drive" the John Deere, and we were off.

As you can see, we tuckered the boy out.

That's it! It was a fun outing as well. Best wishes for your weekend. I am leaving this afternoon for my first ever girl's weekend with some friends from undergraduate! It will be fun, I am sure. A spa is involved, so you know, how could that be bad? And S and LM will have all sorts of adventures together while I'm away, I am sure. 

See you soon.

Blanche

We met this girl at the rodeo too. She is NOT the llama who ate out of LM's hand. I don't know if it is the underbite, but something about her face seems so HUMAN. I've decided to call her Blanche. You know Blanche, don't you? I do:

Pretty eyes, that Blanche

Teeth - not so much. Ever heard, of floss, dear?

Showing her good side for a photo with Michael.

I love her, don't you?

See you soon.

Ellie Girl

We learned some sad news about Ellie last week. She has had some difficulty seeing as of late, so we took her to see a veterinary ophthalmologist. We were hoping to find out she had cataracts or some other malady where she could regain her sight if we only knew what it was.

Instead we found out she has progressive retinal atrophy and is going blind. She is eleven years old, and her breed is genetically predisposed to this sort of illness. There is nothing that can be done to stop the degeneration. The good thing is it is not painful to her in a physical way, so if we can keep her safe in her environment, she should continue to adapt well to the continued loss of her eyesight.

But, of course, this is not news you want to hear. Ellie is our first "baby" and she is aging and it is hard to absorb. Getting old is not for sissies if you're a person or a dog - or someone who is attached to said person or dog! We will be working to make sure Ellie stays safe here at home - we'll put bells on the other animals and teach Little Man to approach her with care. We'll purchase balls that beep so she can still chase a ball the way she loves to do and whatever else it is she needs. And we'll love her through this transition. Because she's still our baby, too.

See you soon.

Losing a Loyal Companion

Over the weekend our friends Cathy and Thomas lost their first baby, Dawson, a chocolate lab, to bone cancer. He was thirteen. He had a pretty long life, considering his health, for a dog. And he was certainly one of the "good ones" - a very good dog.

He was an integral part of their family and I know he is greatly missed today and for years to come. Dogs - pets, animals - they become such a part of our family, don't they? And they reward us for this inclusion with unconditional love. It is so hard to lose them when they go.

Of course, Dawson's death has me thinking of my own aging pet population here at home. Ellie is ten and Echo is nine. They are not going to live forever. If we're lucky, we have five or six more hopefully healthy years with them by our sides. And then there's Norman, who at twelve, still thinks he's middle aged, showing no signs of slowing down whatsoever.

But our girls, they already show signs of age. They take medicine. They sleep a lot more. They don't want to walk quite as far. I don't know why God chose to give us such wonderful companions who cannot be with us for any longer than they are, but this is a fact of life that we pet lovers have to make part of our reality.

I think it is because we don't really appreciate all that love coming our way. Maybe it's so we do appreciate them more. In fact, I think it's the reason some choose to not have pets - to not go through the grief of losing them. But, I believe the love and companionship they give is worth the grief tenfold.

There are many people who say animals don't go to heaven when they die - that they don't have souls. I am not a learned philosopher or sage in any way, but I disagree with this point of view for two reasons. First, I disagree they have no souls. Anyone who has loved and known a dog in their life knows these animals have old, deep souls that surpass our silly little consciousness in so many ways. Second, I believe if heaven is to be paradise that my dogs will be there with me. No paradise would be complete without them.

I send hugs to Cathy and Thomas and their children as they grieve the loss of their loyal friend. And I'll hug my girls a little tighter and a little longer as I try to capture every moment I can with them at my side.

Best wishes for your week.

Animal Business

First, a few housekeeping items. I want to apologize for the typos in yesterday's post. I was tired when I wrote it and I didn't check it as closely as I normally do. I'll blame it on the heat. It was the heat's fault. But, I'm sorry for the reader trouble caused by the writer malady.

Second, we have a new follower among us, people - welcome #17 - SEVENTEEN - I used to LOVE that magazine. When I was twelve. What's up with that? But I digress. I love having another reader and follower. Welcome one and all, and especially today, lucky seventeen.

Third, if you're reading this as a note on Facebook, please feel free to stop by the "real thing" at ateupamateur.com. And become a follower. And tell your friends. I love new followers as you can tell. And I love to have regular readers. It makes me feel less loony to know someone is reading all this drivel. Thank you. So, come on by sometime. We'd love to have you hang with us.

Now on to today's post.

Norman sitting on the desk, helping me blog.
Pay no attention to that huge pile of papers that need filing behind him.
No attention at all.

The animals are trying to stay cool this summer, just like the rest of us. Man, it got hot early this year in Texas, and it's killing me. Killing me! I hate the heat. Have I mentioned I hate the heat? Well, let me mention it now just in case - I - HATE - THE - HEAT!!!

Also pay no attention to the papers he's sitting ON. Ahem.

Norman has taken to a box. That's right, his new favorite place to be is inside a paper box. I brought the box home one night, full of stuff from a work trip to Greenville, TX (not the same one I took last week, but one earlier in the month). The next day, I emptied the box of its contents with the intention of taking it back to work. Norman had other plans. He jumped right in once it was empty and didn't leave except to eat, really.



So, a few days later I decided I was going to put the box out for the trash. I picked it up and put it on its side next to the back door. Norman was having nothing of that. He followed me around the house - no joke - right behind me - meowing the whole time - for a good long while. I finally realized it was the box he was after. So, I relocated it to the corner of the guest room, near a window where light would stream in on him, which he also likes, and he's been in THERE ever since.



Sometimes Lil Bit climbs in there with him. But she vacates when she sees me coming so I haven't gotten a photo of the cozy pair in there together.



The dogs and I have been spending more quality time together. That's because it's hot. Have I mentioned it's HOT? And I hate the heat? Well, I do. And it is. And, the dogs hate the heat too. So do any dogs really - if you have a dog, please don't leave it out in this kind of heat - please bring her indoors or at least in shade with a good fan and maybe a baby pool.

Echo, curled up with S on the bed.
I had to crop S out almost entirely or he would have killed me, you understand.

So, when it's hot, so that they don't completely go crazy on us, we leave them outside in the morning and bring them indoors for the afternoon. S used to do this - he worked near the house and had, well let's say, a flexible schedule because he used to be in sales.



But, last July he took a great new job where he works further from home and is out of the office less. I know you're thinking "great new job" and "further from home and in the office more" don't exactly go together, but in this case they do. When the new job happened, the dog runs became my job.

Proof of the much needed nail trim mentioned in Tuesday's post.

I don't mind it, really. Don't mind it at all. First, I save money by not going out to lunch every day. I do use more gas, I guess, but I don't live that far from the office. I think we end up ahead.

And - I know this is going to sound very sad, but, most of my work friends I used to lunch with have gone and quit to go work somewhere else or leave the city, or they've gone and retired. Or they bring their lunch. So, I have fewer people to lunch with anyway. Not that I don't LOVE lunching with those who are left, of course. When it's not 100 degrees in the very cool shade.



Last, it does give me some nice time with the pooches. At night, I get busy doing chores around the house, running errands, messing with photos, riding the bike, practicing the guitar, etc. At lunch, I make and eat lunch. And hang with the girls for a little bit. And that's it. So, it's nice.





So, that's what's been going on around here in the lives of the rich and famous furry creatures that live with S and me. You're all up to date. See you tomorrow.

The Birds around Arevee Drive

While walking around Arevee drive at dusk, we spotted several bird varieties around this here pond.

There were these ducks, which I saw at White Rock Lake once and called turkeys.

The female version.

There were these ducks with very orange beaks.

And there was this pretty stork-like bird.

But the big show was this.

This mama and daddy bird with their little babies.
Look carefully to see the little orange babies on the right of the mama.

Here, they are under the mama's feathers.

Daddy was keepin' watch.

Apparently, before they fly off for the season, when the babies are bigger,
they strut them through the development to show them off.

Look there - the baby heads are coming out of mama's feathers.

They were listening to the daddy bird squawk.

But then they settled back inside the mama feathers.
I bet it's a real nice place for a baby bird.