The lioness

We had been to see the giraffes, monkeys and various other small animals and the bears. We were cold and hungry and at the top of a hill. We had come out of a building that housed various small animals and venturing down the road we came upon an enclosure that had thick glass separating us from the animals inside. There was a little alcove where we could stand, look at the lions and be out of the wind. As we looked at the lions, one of them got off her rock (I was told that it is a heated rock) and came towards where we were standing.

Here she begins her journey towards us. If you will notice, she is in the stalking mode. What other reason, in 30 degree weather, would she leave her warm rock? We watched her come towards the window at a slow crouching pace. She would stop every few seconds like she was checking her prey. Then move forward again. Her approach was very slow and calculating. And so interesting to watch.

She is close to the window and very intent on something. We, Jeffrey, Jordan and I were watching her, little did we know that she was stalking us.
Yip, she came directly towards us and stopped just a couple of feet from the window.Here, she is looking at where Jordan is standing.

I took this picture while she was still approaching the window. She is certainly a beautiful animal.

Back to her stalking. When she got close to the window, we noticed that when Jordan moved, her gaze followed him. The window was about 10 feet wide and if he moved to one end of it, she kept him in her line of vision, when he moved to the other side, her gazed followed him. Jeffrey and I moved around but she just kept looking at Jordan. When she got within a foot or two of the window, she stood for a few minutes then she lay down in the "ready to spring" position. I didn't take any pictures of her in this position, it didn't really dawn on us that... She was stalking Jordan!

Oh what a day we had!  So want to go back.

I want one

On November 7, Jordan, Jeffrey and I flew to Denver then drove down to Colorado Springs. Jordan had a Future Stars gymnastics clinic at the U.S. Olympic Center. That will be another post. Today I want to remember the Zoo in Colorado Springs. On Sunday morning we drove up the road and visited the Cave of the Winds. From there we went to the Zoo. Its touted to be the only zoo that is in the mountains. Lots of walking up hill and down hill, up hill and down. I digress. When we got to the zoo we were dressed in our area of California winter attire; pants, shirt and sweatshirt, shoes and socks. We parked in the parking lot along with about ten other cars, hmmm, must be early. The sun is peaking out, it should be a very pretty day, cold, but beautiful. Little did we know how the weather could change. We got snowed on and just about blown away. But we had FUN!!
Our first stop was the giraffe exhibit. I fell in love.

I want one!!
They are  friendly and so willing to eat out of your hand.And so gentle.

That little one there is about 14 months old, if I remember right.

Isn't he cute?
I want one!

 We got to feed them.
They like Ryecrisp crackers and lettuce

He snuck up on me.

These animals have the longest purple tongues. They are soft (yip, and I had some giraffe slobber on my hand), smooth and not slobbery at all.

I had so much fun with the giraffes that I only got two pictures of the boys with these beautifully graceful animals.Both pictures are of Jeffrey. I'm thinking that Jordan just didn't want to get too close.

I so want to go back to this zoo. I would rather go when I won't get snowed on, frozen or blown away, but just visiting the giraffe exhibit was well worth being in the freezing weather without proper clothing.

I will post more of our adventures later this month. We/I have a very cute story of the lioness and Jordan.
So glad you stopped by.

Why all the Racket?

I heard some chittering in the back yard yesterday. I ignored it since the squirrels are always chittering at something. However, this went on longer than normal and was getting pretty loud and anxious. I decided to go check it out in the back yard and saw Momma squirrel on a branch in the walnut tree. She was watching intently at what was going on below her.
This is Momma Squirrel
 Upon further investigation I found:

 The Cat
I watched her for a few minutes thinking she was after a mouse. (She's a good mouser), but then I started putting two and two together and came up with five.
Maggie, The Cat, finally gave up on her quest and went away (two feet) and laid down.
Momma Squirrel quit chittering. This didn't mean much as the squirrels are always yelling at the cats.
I went over and looked in to where Maggie, The Cat, had been trying to get a mouse.


And this is what I saw.


The cause of the racket
Its a bit bigger than a mouse and isn't he/she cute? Yip a Baby Squirrel is trapped behind a board. There were other things leaning up against the house, so he was pretty well protected. The hole was too small for her to get in and there were places for Baby to go, he just couldn't get out.And by the time I figured out what was happening, he was pretty terrified.

Oh oh, enter The Dog. He heard something behind the board and off he went. He wasn't as playful as The Cat. That's Charlie, and he is a terrier mix and loves to play with the cats, chase the squirrels at the lake and  Baby Squirrel was just another fur thing to chase. Charlie scared Baby Squirrel so much that Baby ran up the board and got stuck at the top between the board and wall.





That's Baby Squirrel being rescued. My son took the board with Baby on it and let Baby get into the walnut tree. Momma Squirrel joins Baby and they both leave. A few minutes later, here comes Momma Squirrel carrying Baby Squirrel in her mouth. I figure she took Baby Squirrel back to the nest.  I wasn't able to get a picture of Mom carrying Baby as she was moving too fast and the two really blended in.

Hope you have enjoyed my story. 

Blue Moon

Blue Moon

A Blue Moon is the appearance of the third full moon in a season that has four full moons, instead of the usual three.Since a blue moon occurs only every two or three years, the term blue moon is used to mean a rare event, as in the phrase "once in a blue moon". (info from Wikipedia)

We went camping over the Labor Day weekend and were treated to a fairly rare occurrence. A Blue Moon. So theoretically we went camping "once in a blue moon". Actually we camp a lot and are treated to Mother Nature's beauty and bounty quite often..
I'm trying to figure out the "season" for this moon. According to the calendar, summer starts in June and ends in September.However, for this Blue Moon, the first of the four full moons is in July and the fourth comes after the first day of Fall. Since June's full moon is before the first day of Summer why is the full moon in September counted? So, I'm confused. Just like I'm confused about how they arrive at when Easter is. Not going to go into that one. If you figure it out and can relay it in terms I can understand, let me know.

Caught in mid air

This is my 11 year old grandson. The boys team from our gym went to the Las Angeles area for Regionals gymnastics camp. Along the way, they stopped to play. Wish I could have see this in person.

Day 36 - Full Silvery Moon

By the light, (By the light, By the light),

Of the silvery moon, (The silvery moon).

I want to spoon, (Want to spoon, Want to spoon)

To my honey I'll croon love's tune.

Honeymoon, (Honeymoon, Honeymoon),

Keep a-shining in June. (Keep a-shining in June)

Your silvery beams will bring love dreams,

We'll be cuddling soon,

By the silvery moon.

 

 

That moon looks pretty full to me, but my calendar says its not full until February 7, 2012. Now, if I can just remember to take another picture of it on Tuesday.

Day 35

I am having a heck of a time getting my photo to stay in the post. Every time I try to move it from the center to the left, it disappears.

Finally, I got it to go on the left. I'm afraid to delete the above sentence, so it is staying in the post.
I made this card for my SSSD Color of the month swap card. Colors are Pretty in pink, Regal rose, melon mambo and So saffron.

Day 34, 2012

I like to knit and crochet, but I don't usually have an end user in mind when I craft. However, Scarves for Special Olympics gives me an end user. While I don't feel my work is great, I hope it is good enough that the scarves can be used.

Ground hog day

Six more weeks of winter. hmmmmm

This is the card I'm sending to my SSSD pen pal
I made the card at SU club. Each club meeting someone brings a technique and we make a card. This one was using the One Note die. Shows there's more to a label than meets the eye.

February 2, 2012 the 33rd day of the year

It's a new MONTH

This child is real darling. He's also not very color coordinated. Gets that from his grandma.  He doesn't care if it matches as long as he likes the colors and clothing pieces. The shorts he has on are brand new, he started out with an orange shirt (just a shade lighter than the wall he is in front of, but he found this blue one in the car. It goes better with the shorts than the orange  did. His socks, he loves them and....as luck would have it, they have the colors that match the shorts. Ya can't tell from the picture, but they are stripped in several colors including blue and purple.
But at age 11, he doesn't have to be totally color coordinated, just comfortable in what he is wearing.
I just had to get a picture of him.
This is my picture for the 32nd day of 2012

Last day of January

Niel, you were a sweet and loving cat. 

May you rest in peace

3/1/2002 - 1/31/2012

January 30, 2012

This jade plant has been living at my house for many years. It isn't well taken care of, but give me a profusion of flowers every year. And I delight in seeing them. As for size, that little mushroom looking thing to the right of the plant is a foot tall. Its actually a statue of a little boy with a big hat. Guess I should have turned him around before snapping the picture. He is probably as old as the plant. I have no idea how old this plant is, but the original is still living and was given to us in 1967. The pink flowers to the right of the statue is another jade plant, but just a wee bit smaller.
This is my picture for the 30th day of 2012

January 29, 2012

I took this picture this evening at sunset.  I missed a red headed woodpecker that was getting bugs in my mulberry tree. I was in the house and my window needs washing. As I watched him fly away, I heard other birds so went outside and saw a robin in my locus tree. I couldn't get a good pix of him, or of any of the birds as I was underneath them. And really, a bird's underside doesn't make for good pictures unless its going to be used for ID purposes. This is the best picture I got. I think this may be a sparrow, he/she was about 1/2 the size of the robin.

Day 28

I can't seem to get a decent picture of this cat if she is awake. I took several pictures January 28, 2012 and several today, but couldn't get one where she would hold still. So here is my not so good photo for the 28th day of January a day late.

An angel

I didn't take this picture, my grandson did (Disneyland, December 1998) However, I am using it today because this morning, while driving down the freeway taking the kids to school, I saw a cloud formation that resembled a devil dancer. The mini whirl wind that one sees in the desert. It was so white in a beautiful blue sky. I couldn't take the picture, its against the law to use a cell phone while driving; and, I didn't have a camera. 

But it did bring to mind the picture I am posting. If you look in the upper middle, see that patch of white sky in the foliage? Doesn't it look like an angel? I couldn't take a picture of a cloud this morning, but an angel works for me.
Day 27 of 2012

Its all about the toys

Here's Charlie again. That white thing at the end of his nose is his favorite toy. What he is laying on, is my 12 yr old grandson; and they are both on my couch.
The picture below shows both of them with their toys. And both oblivious to the camera.
Day 25 of my 2012

Early shopping

There's something for shopping at 8:am.

An EMPTY parking lot. We have a business Sam's club card and can shop at 7 am til 10 am without the crowds. Of course, there are no sampling tables set up, but what the heck, I can find close parking and its quiet.
And there are roses on the tables. Yes folks, real live roses. Hmmm guess they aren't really alive since they have been cut from the bush, but they are real and so pretty. 

Behind the times

This is my Garden. Does anyone play Gardens of Time on FB? I do and I really enjoy doing the puzzles.
This is my picture for day 23. I seem to be missing a couple of days here. My posts go from day 20 to today. My camera and I took the weekend off.

Day 20

I'm cheating, I used this picture on my other blog. Buuut its the only picture I have for today. If I take another, I will post that one too. When I signed up for this, I didn't realize what went into a blog like this. Doing it is enjoyable, thought provoking and sometimes frustrating.
Now about my picture. and, its an actual picture taken with an actual camera. Most of my photos have been from my phone.
Aren't those little guys cute? I used my Cricut and the Cindy Loo cartridge. I cut them at 2 1/2". I probably could have gone a little bigger, but they would fit on a card better at this size. Anywhoo, that's my picture for this, the 20th day of the new year 2012,

Thomas

Today is January 19, 2012, the nineteenth day of 2012. Is that redundant? Yip, it probably is, but this is my blog and I can be redundant if I want.

Thomas, curled up halfway under a blanket, sleeping. I don't know how long he had been there when I found him, but I got two pictures. This angle and from the other side.
I moved in to get another picture from above him, when suddenly he is awake, hissing and there is a dog on top of him. Didn't get that picture, it would have been great. Calmed down the two dogs involved and Thomas took it all with a grain of salt. 
As you can see, he went back to his nap.