As mentioned on Monday and Tuesday, I’m on vacation again for most of this week. If Fred did as promised and sent me some pictures of the kittens, and then I was able to get them uploaded to Flickr, then you’ll see kitten pictures below. If not, then you’ll see “KITTENS HERE” in text below, and y’know. Technology’s only as smart as the person using it, amiright? Check out my vacation pictures!
Meet Jimmy Ray. Because I can’t go on vacation without this ridiculousness happening. Fred was able to briefly pet him on Sunday, but he’s turned skittish. Give him a week, he’ll be charging through the cat door, I’m sure.
“Hi Mama, hi Mama, I lubs you!”
Oh, how those babies love their mama.
To see the full-sized versions of these pics, check ’em out over at Flickr. Still not feeling this posting-from-the-iPad thing. Edited to add: Click on any of the pictures to see the full-sized version.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New Orleans: Global Wildlife Center.
Only a few days before our vacation to New Orleans was to start, Debbie was looking around to see what else there was to do in the area and discovered Global Wildlife Center, located in Folsom, about an hour from New Orleans. She pointed out that they had giraffes and that YOU COULD PET THE GIRAFFES, and I insisted we needed to go. To say Debbie’s a fan of giraffes would be wildly understating it, and she didn’t take much convincing. She called and made an appointment for a private tour (which sounded much better than the tours on the bus with a bunch of other people), and we got reservations for a tour very early Sunday morning. It just so happened that Sunday was Debbie’s birthday, which made it perfect.
We hit the road early. It was supposed to take an hour to get there, so we left an hour and a half early, just to be safe.
I have no pictures of this next part, but after following Siri’s STUPID directions, what we found was that Siri didn’t know what she was talking about. We made a few frantic calls to the Global Wildlife office – and that poor girl who answered the phone can’t possibly make enough money to deal with idiots like us. I literally said “I’m sitting at a gas station on (I don’t remember where), where do I go?” Well, she couldn’t tell me where, because you know what? STUPID Siri brought us to a place over half an hour from where we were supposed to be. I finally got the address plugged into Google Maps, and got the correct directions.
We made it to Global Wildlife 40 minutes after our one-hour tour was supposed to start. They offered to reschedule, but Debbie suggested that as long as we got 20 minutes with the giraffes, we’d be okay. So they rushed us out the door, and off we went in search of giraffes.
This was just so incredibly cool.
Debbie taking a picture of me while that giraffe critiques her skills.
The corresponding picture (the settings on her phone were messed up.)
Listen, I don’t know what kind of animal this is, but he certainly made his presence known. We’re going to call him Reek, because this is a family-friendly site where I try to resist using naughty words and I won’t tell you what Debbie and I call him (though I suspect you can figure it out once I tell you more about him). APPARENTLY, when Reek wins a fight against another male, his next step is to use the other male’s manure as a kind of mousse not only to announce that he was the big, bad winner but also to attract the wimminfolk. (Hmmm. Maybe he uses his own manure? There was some super stinky manure involved, I know that for sure.)
Not only did Reek STINK TO HIGH HEAVEN, he was also drooly. Like, super drooly. The drool was just POURING out of his big gross mouth.
After a few visits from Reek, the seats were so coated in drool that I moved to the jump seat behind the driver, because it was the only dry spot except where Debbie was sitting, and also Reek couldn’t reach me. SO GROSS.
There’s Reek over the right, creeping on Debbie, who’s feeding that little giraffe.
Fun fact: for every foot of height, giraffes have one inch of tongue. So the 22-foot male has a 22-inch tongue.
A deer? I think? Did I mention we were there for the giraffes?
We have an emu mating dance going on here.
This might be that 22-foot male giraffe I mentioned. I never did see his tongue, though.
This is Cole the llama. He was a character.
The wild tundra of Louisiana. I love this picture.
More pictures from Global Wildlife tomorrow!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Video! Debbie feeding Cole the llama, who is running along behind us. It cracks me UP.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joe Bob is pretty sure he’s the only wild animal you need. RAWR.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Previously
2016: Something about Princess Consuela brings out the teef, I guess.
2015: Roseanne’s feelin’ skeptical.
2014: No entry.
2013: Charming waits breathlessly to see what Aslan will do.
2012: I think George and Gracie are mocking us.
2011: Fergus Simon and the belly rub.
2010: Rhyme and Reacher discover that the best toy on earth is always juuuuust out of reach.
2009: No entry.
2008: No entry.
2007: I think everyone has the occasional Strange Odor issue.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.