Hooves, Misspellings and Slippery When Wet

 

Today is Sunday, the dreaded final day of yet another weekend. Terry will travel to work in the morning, and I will be back in the office, doing what I do with files and captioning projects. But all is good. We had a very interesting weekend, that's for sure! Last few hours of being able to relax before the week begins again. So, what to do on our Sunday? Let's go on safari or safaru as it has been said. 

Terry and I chose to pack it up and go to Wildlife Safari. We had not been there in a while, and it did sound good. This did mean leaving our Togo behind closed doors. We are talking our bedroom door. Since we have only had the dog in our home for three weeks, we were not 100% positive he wouldn't shred the bed, the carpet, maybe take out a few doors, or destroy other personal items in the bedroom. I have left him in the room for about an hour, tops while taking a trip to the store. A trip to Wildlife and then Arby's could take over an hour and this could mean trouble. Dare we chance it? We need to as I believe the dog should learn and not have to be with us 24/7. I adore him and the other babies, but you just cannot be with the things you love all the time. Breaks have to be taken once in a while. 

Togo had his "platy". We gave him his stuffed platypus that he loves so much, closed the door and left behind a confused dog. 

Now, before any Kleenex are needed and emotions run high over a dog being left alone, let me throw in a few defensive points before anyone calls the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). The dog is in a nice home where he is being stroked and kissed all day long. In fact, he puts his head under your arm and forces you to kiss and pet him should he feel slighted in the love department. He has his platy to comfort him as well. 

He has expensive dog food at his disposal all day long, along with water, and sometimes the water holds ice cubes to keep it cold on hot days. The dog lies on our queen size bed with five pillows to support his majesty's head, and he has the air conditioner in the window, shooting cold air onto his royal butt all day. I really feel that a couple of hours will not harm the animal. Even as spoiled as he is. 

Yes, those eyes and that pathetic "help me" look make him the perfect poster child for abused babies, but let us reassure you, the dog is fine. Anyway, the point is that we said goodbye to our babies, no matter how sad they were, and put them into their places to leave for our outing.

We arrived at the gates of Wildlife Safari as usual. The sun was beating down on the park and animals. I was not sure we would catch much of anything out today due to the heat and smoky environment surrounding us. Oregon has many fires burning everywhere. This means inhaling smoke until the fire season calms or the wind shifts to remove most of it from your city. It also means the next city over gets the brunt of the deal with smoke covering their skies. 

Driving through the gates of the park, we started off with nothing but dry straw-looking grasses covering dusty earth and no animals at all. It seemed to be barren with absolutely no life displayed at all besides the cars ahead of us. My first thought was that we would not be seeing anything today, or very little anyway. As soon as we rounded the corner though, things came to life. 

The lions were in plain view but trying to catch as little sun as possible. This poor guy was panting hard. 

Within moments of our arrival, he stood up, turned in a circle and plopped down again. Terry suggested that was the end of his exercise routine for the day. 

The second lion was a huge boy. 

Two females lay in a shady spot together. Everyone was just trying to stay cool. 

Watusi cattle headed for the watering hole, interrupting the ducks as they had swimming sessions going on. Pretty rude. 

All the cars had come to a full stop as the Watusi herd walked slowly across the dusty gravel road to get to the water. This big boy took up the rear. I was pretty positive nobody would mess with him due to his massive size. 

Zebras were hanging with the giraffe and some of the deer-like creatures under an overhang. The shade was nice for them, I'm sure. 

Eland, zebras, and the giraffe all hung out under the roof of the feeding area. Anywhere they could find a shady spot was the theme of the day. 

A little further up the road, we found three guanacos laying in the grass on the hill. A guanaco is a creature that looks like an alpaca or llama, but they are actually camelids. Young guanacos are called chulengos. 

Looking closely, you can see the similarity between this face and the face of a camel. 

Beautiful bison were next. Bison seem to have a "who cares" attitude most of the time. Laid back but large, they slowly make their way through the day. Bison and buffalo are often confused, but they are completely different animals. 

It has been several years since I have been able to get a good photo of the bears. There are black and brown bears in the park, yet they are difficult to see anymore. Today was our lucky day! These two were trying to stay out of the sun laying in the shade of a lean-to that is fairly close to the road. 

The elephants in the park have a large watering hole with an adorable statue of an elephant, trunk up and shooting water from the end. I have yet to see one in the water. Terry and I are awaiting that moment. Someday, maybe. Someday. But until then, pictures of them behind the electric fences and poles are going to have to do, I guess. 

Now the birds always crack me up. The rheas, ostriches, and emus spend their time sticking their heads into cars to see what they might get to eat. You can purchase cups of food to feed them and other animals, such as fallow deer. They are used to food coming from cars that travel past them. Most of them are known to reach in, grab the cup, and yank it out of the passenger's hand. Like this guy, with his head buried deep into the vehicle. 

Some of the environment is from dust of the road as cars travel but a lot of what you see in the sky in the photo above is how smoky the surrounding area is. There are so many fires burning in the state of Oregon that you cannot escape the smoke. 

Beautiful babies and an adult fallow deer taking advantage of the shade crawling across the hill. No antlers on the adult, so I'm assuming a female. 

Coming up to the window to see if maybe, just maybe we might throw them a treat. The baby blackbucks are all over people stopping to look at them. They know people in those cars carry treats!

We pulled forward a bit and ran into this fallow deer. Gorgeous boy! I was snapping photos from the car, through a dust covered windshield. 

Terry was able to get a picture or two of the same fallow fellow from his open window. 

A second one was roaming with the herd too. Terry really got a great shot of this one! His pictures came out so much clearer since he didn't have filthy glass in between him and the subject he was getting pictures of. It seems to help a bit (insert sarcasm here). 😏😒😜

Terry captured this one as he moved around the grounds. 

These babies were large for the species and on the move. We were lucky to capture both of them on camera. I've seen the fallow deer across the park before, but these two had an amazing set of antlers! Gorgeous boys! I believe they had been rolling in the dirt in a shady spot under the trees. At least it looked like all of them traveling out of the forested area had some dirt on their back. 

Two blackbucks hanging out together, almost posing for photos. What are blackbucks? For more information, click here to learn more. 

Another blackbuck, front and center. 

Then we spotted these three fawns from the sika deer family. I asked Terry if we could open the car door and take at least one home. Adorable! (For anyone reading this, this is a joke! I was put in Facebook jail once for joking about kidnapping a horse we had ridden along the beach. Get a sense of humor. They're nice.)

Plenty of photos were captured in the deer-type areas today. Terry was driving along, and we noticed a doe standing on the side of the road with two fawns. She was close to the road, but I saw something in her mouth. As she chewed, it dawned on me that it was a little plastic bag that had Trolli Brite Crawler candies in it at one time. She was munching on the edge of it as though it was her dinner. I told Terry we had to do something. He pulled over and I jumped out. That plastic could choke her, quite possibly killing her. As I set my feet on the ground, she acted as though she was going to bolt. Holding steady, I gave her a second to feel secure again. I moved toward her a step at a time. Finally, she dropped the bag and stepped backward to pull away from me. Reaching down, I was able to get the saliva-soaked bag and return to the car with it. Someone was not thinking when they let their child throw that bag from the car when they were finished with the candy. That or they didn't see them throw it. Either way, we need to watch our children closer when traveling through any type of wildlife park. 

Traveling on, Terry got a photo from a very long distance from the Oryx pen. They are always difficult to capture, but he managed to get this photo. The scimitar oryx was declared extinct in 2000. There are about six or seven in Wildlife Safari. As I was doing research for this post, I noticed there are many "rare oryx horns" for sale on Amazon.com, as disgusting as that is. I am certain most of them are fake, but it did appear that some may be real. Obviously the oryx have been hunted, whether for meat or for their antler/horn sets or they would not be extinct. Why are people so careless and so greedy as to care about creatures on this planet or for that matter, the planet itself? We are a disgusting species when it comes to greed that expands above and beyond caring about the beauty of the rock, we call Earth. Maybe we should be behind bars and fencing while the rest of the creatures on earth are allowed to roam free. 

Terry and I drove along until we saw this magnificent boy standing in the grass, eating off of a large branch that either fell or he pulled it down. Terry was able to reach out of his window and capture the gorgeous beast having his dinner.

I was wondering if I would run across my boyfriend this time! Last visit as we drove through, this guy or one like him serenaded me as he strutted and flapped wings to impress me. I had rolled down my window to get a good photograph, he spotted me, and it was showtime! Terry had to chime in with, "Hey, dude. She's engaged already!" This had me laughing too. 

But today he ignored me, giving me the cold shoulder as we traveled by. Terry believes it's because he saw my wedding ring. Personally, I believe it may be due to mating season coming to an end by now. So long, sweet prince. Maybe next time. You will always remain in my heart.

The tiger cubs have grown!  They are getting to be big boys and are ready to rumble. The last time we saw them, they were chasing each other and having fun. Playing like cubs do. Today they were laying on their wooden display, sleeping away the day but looking more like adult tigers. 

Oh, my wildlife God! They are adorable. I wouldn't want to be chased down by one, but they are sweet looking while they're sleeping!

A larger tiger was residing in the next pen. 

Terry and I discussed if we really wanted to take some time to walk through the village. I figured it would be cool if the baby cheetahs were in the pen as you walk in the door. But who knows if that was going to happen? It wouldn't kill us to take the walk and see what we could find. Both of us could use the exercise, so we walked in and ...

This little furball greeted us! He had just finished playing in the sprinkler and was drying off in the sun. Yes, it was worth the walk into the front gates! I didn't care if we saw anything else, but this, this was worth every minute! We both pulled out our phones and began snapping photos by the dozens. 

After a moment of taking pictures, I told my Terry I was going to go to the bathroom. As I walked around the corner to enter the restroom, I glanced to my right. There was the second cheetah cub, laying in the shade of a tree against the fence. 

Of course, the bathroom break could wait. The phone came out again and action!

A couple of face shots and boom! He was down again. 

I went into the bathroom and then met Terry at the cheetah pen again. Wanting him to see the other cub shots, I showed him the pictures I had just taken. He also showed me a couple he took of the baby on the chair. Terry had taken a couple of great images!

The first one looked as though he was still pretty damp from the sprinkler playtime. How adorable! I'm so glad we chose to go into the village. 

Terry was able to get this one while I was away. That look and those paws!

We left the park, once again very satisfied. Our collection of photos was growing each trip that we took through the park, and our hearts were filled with joy at meeting some new babies and seeing what the regular residents were up to. Even though it was a hot day, you just never know what the animals will be able to endure. Today just wasn't hot enough for them to remain indoors, I guess. It's a good thing!

On the way out of the park, we discussed the fact that the hippos remained out of sight today for the most part. I caught a glimpse of them in their pond while Terry was driving although I didn't see them later as we drove past their pond from a closer distance. That was a bit odd. The rhinos weren't around either. Not sure what was happening there. Still no action from the elephants and their water park and fountain. We're still waiting impatiently for that.  

Before heading home, Terry decided we should go to Arby's. For those of you who follow the blog, we have had some good times at Arby's. Great times, filled with laughs. He thought today would be another day to venture in and see what happens. Once again, the restaurant brought about some fun times. Yes, we crack ourselves and each other up. 

Arby's seems to be the place for odd things to occur. Not scary adventures, but comical happenings. We ordered our food and while Terry finished his up, I walked around to find us a good table. We love booths and there was one open, positioned by the door. As I'm walking to the table, my ice water begins to spill over the top of the tiny cup. Putting the cup and my personal items on the table, I walked to the condiment station where I found an abundance of napkins. I pulled out many and took them back to the table. Immediately I dumped a couple of the thin paper napkins onto the spill. Terry walked over and noticed what I was doing. He climbed over the water puddle and scooted into the seat. 

About this time, a woman who was an employee came upon me scrubbing their floor, and Terry waiting for food. She informed me that I didn't need to do that and said they could get it for us. I always feel guilty having someone else clean up the multitude of messes I tend to leave in my wake. Placing the food down in front of Terry, she headed off to fetch the mop. I sat in the booth across from him and we looked over the meal we were about to eat.

My hubby looked up at me and said, "Well, I guess her bringing our food saved me from embarrassing myself again." I giggled. The first time Terry and I had come to Arby's, he made an attempt to deliver our food to an unknown woman sitting in a booth by herself. Meanwhile, I'm in our booth trying to call his name to correct the situation, but he just couldn't hear me. He ended the embarrassing situation by saying, "Here ya go, babe," leaving the poor woman dumbfounded and probably a bit frightened. This has been something I tease him about time and time again. I love him dearly for putting up with my teasing, although he shoots it right back, triple fold. 

I ate my cheddar beef sandwich while texting back with Mallory. She wasn't feeling well and stayed home from a day we had planned. We thought spending the day together watching movies was sounding great, but not when she was under the weather like she was. We were wishing her well and quick healing when a shout out over the intercom came through. "Customer number 32, your shower is ready." This is typical when eating at this particular Arby's as it is positioned next to Love's Truck Stop. Truckers can take showers during their stay, while eating and getting items they may need on the road. 

Setting the phone down, I awaited Mallory's reply. Terry and I chatted about the day and Mallory's situation while munching on our meals. Another intercom message came through, "Customer number 33, your shower is ready." Terry giggled and said, "It's a shower triage. The stinkiest drivers go first." This brought on a bout of laughter as usual. Like I said, we do crack ourselves up. Yes, my man has jokes.

Then we laughed over the idea of the first one is the customer with the largest number of flies following them. Not very nice and yes, we are probably going to hell, but we like to laugh. It's our "thing." It's how we roll. We love our time together and are trying to make the most of it, without meaning to be offensive but sometimes you have just got to be goofy and let the remarks fly.  

I shared the pictures of the cheetah cubs with my family through a group text while we ate. We generally keep in touch by sharing news and updates in our lives through this group message area. My family and me have been going to Wildlife over the years and now it seems most of us are busy and unable to go to the park as often as we care to. I figured they would enjoy the babies we had captured on camera.

Terry laughed as he read the text that I sent with the pictures. He said I misspelled "cheetah." I had written "cheeta," and called it a day. I laughed when he showed me the error of my ways and noticed something else. Now, in my defense, texting is a difficult process for me when I'm not wearing my reading glasses. I'm sure a lot of you can relate. You get older and the eyes do begin to fail. 

Yes, I can expand the font to make it very large, but I have been teased by my daughters when I do that. I had written that we were at the "Wildlife Safaru" with the cubs. Oh, boy. This lit my man up. Now he had something else to tease me about on top of my smoky potatoes. And so, the jokes came, one by one on the way home. He was cracking me up the way he alone can, making me feel as though I'm back in high school. The giggly, giddy way we all laughed over pretty much nothing back in the day. When our lives were simple, and we didn't really have a care in the world. 

I switched the word, "cheeta," for the correct spelling of cheetah. Then "Safaru" became Safari, and all was right in the world of spelling again. This misspelling brought up a conversation of how in the second grade I was in a spelling competition. It had come down to me and a boy named Scott Murphy. We were the two top spellers in the second grade. My eyes lit up when I heard the teacher ask me to spell the word, "Ice." I scoffed at the challenge to spell such a simple word. No problem. Hold my pen, I've got this. I opened my mouth and my brain seemed to dislodge from the process of speech. I blurted out, "I-S-E." The embarrassment lasted for several hours. I slumped deep into the curve of the seat in my chair and turned 80 shades of red.

Finishing our dinner and feeling as though we were all joked out for the moment, we climbed into the car and drove home. It had been another good trip to Wildlife Safari. All in all, it was a great day. Nothing special about it in terms of happenings, but in terms of spending that time together, it was a special day. We love doing things as a couple, as partners, as friends. It's how it should be in a marriage or partnership. We hope you all have a blast with someone you love as well. It's what life is all about. We are meant to be happy, and love brings out that happiness. Until next week, take care!