Life On The Planet

Teton Trek

Happy Monday, all!

What a lovely, rainy, colder-than-average weekend it was! (Trying to look on the bright side, here.) I hope yours was nice.

Okay, so the weekend was cruddy, but Friday was excellent! Friday I took the kiddos to the Memphis Zoo. We went to see the new Teton Trek exhibit. 

Someone out did themselves with this exhibit. There's a geyser, "Old Faithful."

There is a lodge that is beautiful inside...

and out!

 

The landscaping isn't too shabby, either.

But the stars of the attraction are, of course, the critters.

There are swans.

TRUMPETER SWANS! They pose so nicely!

There are wolves.

GRAY WOLVES. A whole pack of them!

There are bears.

 

BLACKBEARS!!

"Who are YOU lookin' at?!?"

And after the long Trek, you can head back to the lodge to watch a short movie about Yellowstone, and then...

rest your weary paws while rocking on the lodge balcony.

Elk will shortly be residents at the Teton Trek.

Well, there was one elk...

but he didn't have much to say for himself.

We highly recommend it!

Signs of Fall

Signs that Fall is here are everywhere...brisk mornings, teasing hints of color and pumpkins for sale.

Here on the Planet, we look for that one sure sign that Fall is upon us...

Scratchy resuming her perch on the toasty warm cable box.

It's official. FALL has arrived!!!

Twinkles, Twinkles, Little, um...Rabbit

Introducing the newest inhabitant on the Planet...

Twinkles! It's a rabbit. Dr. R. will be coming by some time this week to tell us if Twinkles is a him or a her. The CFO's grandfather gave it to us. Twinkles is really kind of cute, in a fuzzy sort of way.

We are all excited to have a new member in our family. Some of us are more excited than others.

Right, Scratchy? No, no one called you for lunch. Go away.

Speaking of rabbits, we saw this sign while we were in Louisiana. You can't see the T from the road.

Grammar, spelling and interfaith relations all trampled upon in one fell swoop.

I removed the phone number in case you were tempted.

Weekend Update: Sunday Night Live

My apologies on the front end for any rambling - I am tired.

The cat has a urinary tract infection. Too much information? I only mention it because I commented on taking her to the vet a few days ago. I dropped her off at the vet's office on Friday, and she brought her home that evening, medicine and all. Do you get that kind of service from your vet? (Yeah, she's a friend, but still.) I was the nursery volunteer in church today and the vet's sweet daughter (who is two) told me, "We bwought you med'cin! We bwought you med'cin!" I could eat that child! So, happy ending all around on the cat front. She is still, yuck, getting on the table, but all things considered, it could be worse.

We are all still grieving over Julia's passing. I now officially hate dog food commercials. Cute little puppies? Don't want to see 'em. It's getting better, though.

The boys are well. Sal had scouty things to do, and Tiger was a tag along. He's good at tagging, poor, pitiful third child. His tick bite is still red, so it looks like a visit to the doctor's office is in our near future. Ugh.

Butterfly's play is in five days. (On knees, giving thanks that the end is near.) Best Sunday moment was on the way home from rehearsal tonight. We were listening to her Happy Land CD and In the Sweet By and By came on. We sang it together driving Mach 1 down Interstate 55. It was a beautiful thing.

Did you notice that I told you about the animals before I mentioned the kids? It just occurred to me. My mother will read this and call me an unnatural mother. She could be right!

Love ya!

Waning Moon

For the past two days the children had (understandably) been loving on Scratchy.

She's the only pet they've got left.

She got extra petting, love, attention, treats...she was living the good life.

All of the love and attention that had been Julia's share was redirected to Scratchy.

She enjoyed her new-found solitary place on the throne, until...

she sat on the Scrabble board.

I'd say the honeymoon is over.

Death. We Don't Like It.

Today was hard. Pretty darn hard.

Not as hard as when The C.F.O.'s Grannie died, and he was out of town, AND I had to call him to tell him AND tell the kids without him there.

No, not that hard.

But it was rough... especially for the children.

Julia was their family member. Co-conspirator. Secret keeper. Best friend and pillow rolled into one. She let them ride her when they were toddlers.

She died, and that really bites.

On the plus side...

She is no longer in pain.

She gets to play with Bonnie Cat, her long departed friend.

She is undoubtedly eating pancakes and bacon. And pizza bones!

She is no longer in pain. Did I mention that?

This whole death thing hurts. It really hurts. That really stinks, you know?

But while it's hard on us, it doesn't sound all that bad for her.

That doesn't mean we have to like it.

And that's good, because we don't.

Planetary Notes

I am using the computer to avoid vacuuming. (And dusting.) My momentary rebellion won't last long, but I am savoring the moment.

Sal and Butterfly are plugging away at school work.

Tiger fell asleep over his math book. The Benadryl I gave him to combat the itchy tick bite zonked him out. I don't like the looks of the bite. Ticks are awful. I'd happily vacuum them.

Julia is much the same. Poor, sweet dog.

I have lesson plans to write, a Girl Scout meeting to prepare for, laundry to tackle, a bathroom to clean, math to check and a living room to vacuum. I guess my moment of rebellion is up.

It was fun while it lasted. Thanks for sharing it with me!

Girl's Weekend: Sweet Julia, Inspirations & Twilight

Julia is not doing well.

"Mama!" Butterfly called a couple of hours ago. "You'd better come here."

Julia had fallen over trying to drink. She was still down when I got there. After attempting to rise, she fell over again.

She hasn't gotten up since.

I phoned our Vet., who is a friend, and we are doing what we can to make her comfortable. We will have to see what the next few days bring. It doesn't look good.

Butterfly and I had been enjoying "Girl's Weekend." (The C.F.O. is working. Tiger and Sal are camping.) Prior to the Julia incident, we had been having a really great couple of days.

Yesterday we went to a lecture by Dr. Jane Goodall. She was quite awe-inspiring, and I am so glad that Butterfly had the opportunity to hear her speak. Dr. Goodall's telling of how her mother's encouragement and support enabled her to achieve her dreams reminded me of the awesome and wonderful responsibility I have as a mother.  It is more than a little daunting. Her schedule of 300 days per year traveling and speaking would bury me. That she is able to maintain that level of activity in what you might call the evening of her career is phenomenal.

To say I was impressed would be an understatement.

Last night was rehearsal for The Pied Piper.

This morning we quickly tidied the house, and then we picked up Twilight.

We watched it three times.

Copious amounts of popcorn and Thin Mints were involved.

*Edit: Upon reflection "Girl's Weekend" probably should have been "Girls' Weekend." I just thought of Butterfly, and forgot to count myself. I really need to work on the whole self-awareness thing.

Z-O-O (In Memphis)

Random shots around the Memphis Zoo.

*(Note to homeschoolers - Check to see if public schools are on spring break before arriving at overcrowded zoo. You'll thank me.)

Obelisk. That's how you know you're in Memphis.

Sea Lions. Their 11:30 a.m. show was delightful.

The other lions were lounging in rather unbecoming poses. I won't subject you to that!

Meerkats. I wonder if he knows he's blurry.

 I was blurry this morning, and I'm here to tell you it didn't feel good!

Pandas. This one is about a year old.

Oh, sure, he's cute and fluffy now, but pretty soon he'll be out all night partying and end up in a Bamboo treatment program.

Teen stars. It seldom ends well.

Bald Eagles. Our national symbol. He wouldn't look at me.

You can be that way when your face is on the currency.

And finally...

Hooliganus Familius. By the pond in the China Exhibit.

Out of their cages!

Security!!!!!!!!

(Thanks for the zoo membership, Aunt Sandy. We love it!)

A Conundrum

Black cat wearing Shamrocks...

Lucky or Unlucky?