In Fields of Gold and Camel Poo

 

Wow. Halloween has now come and gone. We are now on November 3, which is mind-boggling to me. In my world, I'm still enjoying the sunny days of July and loving every minute of it. 

Terry's piggies are feeling a bit better, but they are still somewhat sensitive when anything or anyone gets too close to them. For those who follow the blog, you may remember he was "declawed" about four or five weeks ago. His toes are still healing and will be for about six more weeks. 

For those of you who do not follow the blog, my hubby had his toenails removed. This was an elective surgery, but he felt it was needed since his toes had psoriasis on them, including underneath the toenails, creating an almost impossible nail to cut. Being diabetic, he has to watch for cuts and injuries, and he had clipped the skin underneath one of the nails during one clipping. The doctor told him of the option to have them all removed so he would no longer have to concern himself with clipping them. Terry took that option, sending chills down my spine each time I think of it. 

While the actual surgery creeps me out, the look of his toes does not. We are bandaging them every night, while putting zinc and antibiotic ointment on them. It's all good. They are beginning to grow some skin over the top of where his nails once grew. After removing the nails, they pour an acid solution over the top to halt the regrowth of the nails. 

I had never heard of this procedure, and neither had Terry. As he was having it done, I chatted with a very nice woman out in the waiting room. Come to find out through our conversation, her husband was in to get his big toe's nails removed too. What are the odds? 

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Terry and I had some fun this weekend. I've been walking Togo, our husky, down the alleyway and onto the streets around the block. He is losing a bit of weight with the reduction of food and longer walks we are providing. Yes, our beefy boy is about nine pounds overweight, according to the vet. I'm certain Togo would disagree and call it floof instead of fat, but such is a dog's life. 

Speaking of walking the dog, I was taking him down the alleyway for his nightly adventure in the alley, when I looked up at the moon. It was Halloween night, and the moon was shining brightly in the night sky. It was a beautiful sight. But wait ... what is this?

No, not the building or the telephone lines running across the alley, but the long white streak? I snapped a photo to determine what it was when I got inside and didn't have an 80-pound dog dragging me down the alleyway. 

Once inside, I blew the photo up, and it did dawn on me exactly what it was. It's not a ledge as it appeared earlier, but rather a jet fuel trail. Wow. Had me concerned while looking at it outside. Of course, this is coming from a woman who is about to begin using my husky as a seeing-eye dog. 

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My hubby and I decided that it was a nice weekend overall. The skies were a mixture of sunshine and clouds, but overall it looked like a beautiful day. We jumped into the car and headed out for our home away from home. If you follow the blog, I'm sure you have guessed it. Yep. Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oregon. 

Some of these photos are not as clear as I want them to be, but often the animals are far away from us, or there are fences in the way, or our car windows look like the vehicle has survived armageddon. Any and all of the above may cause the photos to look like a chimp took them. It wasn't. It was Terry and me. Although I have to say Terry got a couple of good ones. Here are the photos we took, without explanation for the most part. 

Sorry about this one. The lioness was out cold on top of this stone stand, and the fence is always in the way.

The second lioness. 

And, of course, we have the lazy, sleepy lions taking a nap, as always. 

Look at the size of these beautiful, magnificent cattle! I would hate to lock horns with one of these, so to speak. 

Beautiful scimitar oryx. After being on the "Extinct in the Wild" list for so long, the scimitar oryx is finally pulling in the numbers to be considered endangered by all means, but not extinct in the wild any longer. There are about 600 oryx in Chad, however, populations in zoos and reserves also exist. 

We saw at least five giraffes roaming free today, including the giraffe in the background, leaning down to snag the food dish on the ground. 

The giraffes were walking from one side of the road to the other, as if they were bored on this beautiful day. 

This giraffe was waiting for his buddy to finish throwing the food dish around. 

Oops. Dropped it. Sprawling out to collect it again, only to throw it about a foot. 

Yep. Dropped it again. Do we pick it up one more time? Nah. 

Let's find something else to occupy our minds. 

Heading out to see what other kinds of trouble we can get into. 

Meanwhile, in the land of zebras ...

With trees changing colors and the air crisp and clean, we drive to the next destination to see what our fur babies are up to this week. 

We turn the corner and what do we see? Why, it's a bison, peeking around a tree!

Next up are the American elk cows with a calf in tow. A lot of new life springing up around the park! It's a great thing to see. 

The fuzzy little guy is curious about life around him while mom is replenishing her body with food. 

Other cows station themselves around the calf, keeping a watchful eye on their young herd mate. 

Okay, that's enough of the world outside the safe confines of mom and the group. The little one comes back to eat a bit and get his strength up. All of the courage it takes to be on his own is exhausting. Three feet away from mom and the girls is a touch journey. 

Now, it's back out for more adventure. 

Next, we drive around to my beautiful yak. I love the yak. Terry says, "All they do is yak, yak, yak." I love their big, furry bodies typically covered in dirt and hay. They remind me of a big, hairy Pigpen character, like the one in Charlie Brown. There is just something about them that makes me want to snuggle down with the hairy sheepdogs of the field. 

Moving around the bend in the road, I found a hippo that was actually out of the water for once. It is tough to find them on the bank doing their hippo thing. Most of the time they are lying under the water with only their nostrils and eyes above water. 

It really is a gorgeous day, with portions of the park in sunlight still and some in the shade of the yellow, orange, and red trees. 

Wildlife Safari really is pretty in the fall. The colorful trees adds to the landscape around the animals. You can't go wrong with that combination!

Now we are having a giraffe meeting. I wonder what they discuss? Jack wants more lettuce. Raza recommends they plant a lettuce garden. He wants Terry to help him grow the luscious green snack since they became such good buddies last year. The ladies want what all ladies want, for the men to pick up their crap around the house and to take out the garbage once in a while. Am I right, ladies?

Terry does take out the garbage though. I can't complain in that department. Just to give him kudos where kudos are deserved. 

We arrived at the park very close to the evening feeding time for the animals. Most of them are getting restless and that's why all the giraffes are standing around, pacing, and looking bored. 

Dinnertime is five minutes late. Oh, no. What shall we do? 

Okay, enough is enough. Bring out the lettuce and let's begin this feast. 

I'm not sure what happened to this photo. It looks like it was taken in 1920. The pinkish coloration is very odd to me, but here it is. Two hippos standing around the pond. The other one I caught outside of the pond in the picture above shows three in one day that are not bathing in mud this time through. Score!

One of the gorgeous elephants. 

Yep. It's all about the dinner. 

Soon we arrive at the feeding area. People can purchase cups with food in them to feed the animals through this section of the drive. The fallow deer, like this beautiful one, are spotted with the ostriches, rheas, and emus. Ducks and geese hang out in this spot as well, to see if they can snag something that is dropped. 

When a car comes around the corner, so do the animals. 

I love these beautiful fallow deer. They're so tiny, but so adorable. 

Terry got this footage as we traveled through the fallow deer section. They came flying across the fields and I'm not quite sure why. I thought possible it was feeding time but they relaxed once they got to this point. 

While looking at the fallow deer, there is a pond to the side of the road that has a monkey hang out on an island. I have to look each time through. 

Today two of the monkeys were sitting on the roof of their little shelter. 

We caught a regal looking male lying on the grass to soak up what was left of the sun. 

As we drove through the area, I thought of how this section is always bare of animals. Once in a while I would find a bison here or there, or possibly a fallow deer or American elk basking in the sun or grazing on a few pieces of grass they may find. It makes me wonder why they don't hang out through this section very often. 

The bear run was closed today. They are hibernating through the winter again. It didn't seem like they were doing much through the spring and summer either. Each time we came, they were typically napping. Toward the end of summer, as the weather began to cool a bit, they would be wrestling and playing around, either in the pond or on the ground. I always miss seeing the bears when they hibernate. 

We drove through the entrance to the "Africa" section. I love this area. Cheetahs and tigers are always fun to see. We didn't see the red wolves before the Africa entrance either. Wonder what's up with that? 

The first thing we see are four cheetah cubs that were advertised earlier in the summer. A mother here had four and I guess that's a high number for cheetahs. 

Each time I looked, I only saw three of the cubs. It made me wonder if something had happened to the fourth cub I read about the mother giving birth to this summer. 

Mom looked exhausted yet watching her cubs closely. What a handful she must have. 

Aha! There is the fourth cub, peeking around the corner to look at us. 

Four cubs from another angle, with mama. Yes, two of them blend together, although I was not going to get in there and ask if they could move over. It was dinner time and they did not look like they were in the mood to deal with a walking, talking lunch. 

Driving home, I realized how pretty the sights were along the side of the road. Trees coloring the earth with their yellow and orange leaves. Nice day. Awesome visit. Wonderful company. Now, it's off to our kitchen away from home, Arby's, where they've got the meats. And women sitting alone for Terry to feed. I can't take him anywhere. 

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Until our next post, we would like to say thank you for reading the post. Please like and/or follow the blog to keep up with all of our new antics. We appreciate each and every one of you. Thank you!

Your friends,

Terry and Vicki Macrae

Always looking to get into trouble