The Week at a Glance

 

I believe our Siberian husky, Togo, is done with the heat. He wants snow. Where is the snow? 

This week has been another busy, unique week. We are definitely out of our ordinary weekends of working, smoking cigars and reading books. Now we are meeting with family, getting outside and doing our thing. It has been a good week overall. 

For those who read the blog regularly and are wondering, Terry was still having leakage off and on for the past few days. It has been a three-week plus timeframe since his prostate removal surgery to get the cancer out of his body. At first, he was drenched within three to five minutes after putting on a clean shirt. Bandages did not help the situation either, as they would soak through within seconds. 

Now that it has been so long, my drenched man contacted the doctor again and informed him the drainage was continuing. The doctor put through a STAT CT scan to see what is going on. Terry heard nothing after three days, so he contacted them himself. They had not even seen the fax that came through from the doctor. 

But alas, we have it straightened out now. Next Wednesday will be the scan so we can see exactly what is going on. In fact, it's just in time for it to stop leaking after almost a month since surgery. Awesome. I hate when that happens. We are hoping he is done anyway. It has not given him any issue for about three or four days now. 

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This week brought on another family gathering of sorts. My eldest daughter, Dawn, and her daughter, Jess wanted to bring Jessee's two daughters out to play somewhere and to visit Terry and I. We chose to go to Sutherlin Community Park because of the water play area. We figured the kids would love that. Jessee also brought along a friend and his four children. 

But to add to this beautiful surprise, I found out my daughter Marina and her three granddaughters were going to join us. I was so happy. Plus, my other daughter, Mallory was able to come and bring her son, Hayden. So, our family was going to take over Manhattan, or Sutherlin's park as the case may be. 

Here is our day at the park in photos. 

Great granddaughter, Zyrah is standing in the back, along with great granddaughter Spencer (Marina's granddaughter), on the back of the dog, and Jessee's friend's son in the front. 

Water shoots in all directions, at the same time. The dog shoots water too. Kids of all ages seem to love this water feature. I have seen larger water parks; however, this one seems to fit the purpose. The park is a perfect spot for us to keep the kids right by us while we set up pizza, mozzarella sticks, and fried potatoes on the picnic tables, all ordered from Abby's Pizza Parlor in Sutherin. 

One of my favorites are the buckets that tip as they fill, giving the receiver one big splash of water. The water is cold but it's all good on a very hot summer's day. 

Sage was not sure about a popsicle this large. 

Zyrah loved her popsicle. 

Novalee kept giving her frozen ice on a stick the Elvis look. 

She managed a smile and held it out for me to see.

Soon they were all sitting at the picnic table. Beautiful smiles of beautiful children. As a great grandmother, I love this. 

Meanwhile, back in Sage's world ... she was quite unhappy after her popsicle broke. 

She was eating both pieces of the popsicle, while crying that it broke. And, so much for the adorable outfit. 

Dawn, Marina, Mallory, and Jess were all focused on different things. The day was turning out to be great!

The Sutherlin Police Department had been at the park most of the time we had been there. They were doing an officer dunk in a water dunk tank in the park. Many took a cold-water bath due to the good shots by onlookers in the park. They were now asked to jump all at once. I was able to get this before they ended. 

Thanks to all of the officers that risk their lives daily but find time to have fun in community events. 

Food trucks began to arrive. There had been music playing all morning too, so we figured out it was Thursday and that meant Music on the Half Shell. Playing tonight is a band that restores the memories of Neil Diamond songs. I have no idea how good they are, as we did not stay long enough to hear them. 

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Friday, July 31, 2026

Terry went outside to watch videos and smoke a cigar or two. I finally got a delivery call and took off as quickly as I could. I delivered about three deliveries actually, before I got a final call at about 4:00 PM. I picked up some food and drove the packaged Mexican delights out to Wildlife Safari where the customer asked me to deliver to the customer service desk. I pulled up and went in. 

So, what does one do after delivering great smelling food to Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oregon? Why go see animals, of course! Why not?

With the weather as hot as it is, I was not sure the animals would be out. After driving through the beginning of the route, I was really starting to worry that nothing would be out. No camels to greet me. No wild turkeys running about. None of the zebras or Watusi cattle were around. Wow. Well, maybe I could take some pictures of the weeds and hillsides?

I did get a couple of photos after I delivered the food though. Snapped two pics of the beautiful flamingos. 

This may sound strange, but I believe this is the first time I have seen a flamingo floating on the water like a swan. I've always seen those long legs underneath them as they strut their beauty along the waterway. 

I drove further along the path, past the camel area and beyond the zebra, Watusi cattle range, and even past the hill where I typically see all of the antelope-like creatures known as the common eland. Eventually, after rounding the corner where I usually see zebras and all sorts of fun creatures, I finally spotted some animals. 

There they were the beautiful common elands. I love these babies. 

From there I saw an eland mom and her baby, feasting on the dried-out grass. Along with the elands, there were the dark-colored wildebeests snagging their fair share of all the grass on the flatland they were on. The wildebeests are actually a bluish color but tend to look black. 

Next up were the gorgeous zebras. 

As I was watching the zebras, a huge rhinoceros came from the feeding arena. Wow, was he huge!

We will leave the big guy in the background and head back to the zebras. My attention was now focused on the new baby. 

The baby was standing very close to mom. 

I do believe it's lunchtime. 

Ducks playing four-square. Each one on the corner of their little raft. 

I caught one of the black bears in his bathtime routine. 

I love those bears. They are typically swimming or playing. Sometimes we do find them napping but even then, they tend to show their personalities. 

Then came the bison. 

After watching the bison for a while, I moved a few feet down the road and came across a giraffe, standing in the road, visiting with people moving through the park. 

This giraffe is one of the youngest they recently acquired but gorgeous all the same. 

I saw the look he gave me as I sat beside him. It was time to chat. I spoke with him about how beautiful he is and how he is lucky to be in the park, with all the food and medical care and love one giraffe could have. Then I told him I would see him another day. He stared at me as if to say, "Lady, get a hobby."

As I drove off, I gave one last glimpse into my sideview mirror to say goodbye. I guess he was done chatting. He walked off into the hot scene before him. Another day giraffe. Another day. 

As I drove down the dusty gravel road, I noticed one of my favorite animals standing off by the water they had spurting out for the fur babies to stay cool. A large American elk buck stood proudly in the refreshing water spray. Oh, my deer, they are so absolutely gorgeous. Majestic and proud are the American elk. I've always wanted to get out and go hug one as tight as I could but figured those antlers would probably hurt badly going into an orifice it is not meant to be in. Freaking ouch. Loving them from afar is also nice. 

Found another one in the shade of a tree. 

The cows look gorgeous too. 

There were several elk bucks walking around. 

Including some that were chowing down. 

As I resumed my drive, the traffic in front of me had all of us slowed to about two miles per hour in between quite a bit of stopping completely. This gave me time to see a huge rhino peeking out of the curtain of their hut. 

He slowly moved outward into the hot afternoon sun, as if he was unsure if he really wanted to stand in all that heat. 

After the rhino's run was the giraffe enclosure. I got to see all of the giraffes hanging out. 

Lovely oryx were lying underneath a shade tree, enjoying the view and the afternoon. 

Oryx are slowly coming off the highly endangered list. There were none found anywhere except in parks and reserves like this. 

Of course, the fallow deer made their presence known to see if they could sweet talk food out of the visitors. With a face like that, how can they not get treats?

Sure enough, the rheas, ostriches, and emus make their way into the crowd of fallow deer too. 

Then, along the way, I ran into this goofball:

I began chatting with this cute ostrich, asking how his day was going and how life was treating him. 

He was going to chat back when I said, "I'm sorry, buddy. I don't have any food for you." About the time I finished those sentences, I got this look:

After that look of sheer disbelief, I chose to move on down the road before this bird took the paint off of my car. He did not look happy when I said I could not feed him. 

A darker colored fallow deer enjoying what little shade he could catch. 

The other monkey rushed back inside the building, leaving this guy alone outside. 

This gorgeous blue boy is a nilgai or also known as the blue bull. He is the largest antelope species native to India. The cows are brown, as you can see in the face coming behind the bull. 

The female nilgai is following the blue bull closely. 

This young cow was all by herself, enjoying the lovely day in Winston, Oregon, without a care in the world. 

The cheetahs and tigers are always difficult to get a good photo of. Fencing is necessary but sure does a number on photos. 

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Well, readers. I know this has been a long post this week. I tried to keep the writing at a minimum due to the number of pictures being posted. I hope you enjoyed the trip through Wildlife Safari with me. Missing Terry, it was good to at least have you with me. Terry is staying home, healing, like a good man. 

As of Saturday, August 2, 2026, Terry has no teeth left in his head. He had them removed to put in dentures, which gave him a beautiful smile, yet he now has swollen, bloody gums while they heal, and still has his leaky incision. Poor guy cannot catch a break. He would appreciate any light, love, and healing sent his way. Prayers are always good too. Thank you all so much for following the blog. We do appreciate you all. 

And the beat goes on ...

 

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