Dark Day

This morning, our bus-stop friend's mom wasn't dressed for work.  She can't go because her childcare center was shut with the shutdown.  She'll be home with the kids instead of earning money to support them until she can work something else out; and instead of getting a head start with early childhood education, they'll be home alone.  The family loses in many ways.

See, it's not a theoretical debate, the budget and the shutdown, but something that affects real people in real ways.  But some of those millionaires in Congress don't really care; for them, it's an ideological battle of Right vs. wrong.

How is it that people who ARE the government despise the government enough to shut it down?  Perhaps they should consider other careers--no doubt their choices aren't affected by a recession, sequester, or shutdown.

I cannot even begin to express my anger, disappointment, shame, and frustration with Congress, specifically the GOP.

And I think we should quit calling them the Grand Old Party.  How about Grand Old Idiots?

Lastly, on a silly note, I'm angry that Panda Cam at the National Zoo has gone dark.  I know this is not important in the grand scheme of things--they'll still feed the pandas and take care of them--but we'll miss that bright spot in our day as we watch the mom and cub.

And I imagine the Panda Cam is very important to the now out-of-work people who operated it and all those other hourly workers at the concession stands, shops, and booths at the National Zoo.

So, taking a cue from the wise Karen L.R., I'm taking a break from the news and FB today.

A-to-Z Zoo Day

"Anacondi" is the stuffed green snake Bud bought in the shop.

Butterfly garden is my favorite place.

Carousel of Bugs, which we rode twice because Sis was so happy.

Den of bears, both Grizzly and Polar, neither of whom were awake.

Eating lunch of pizza, chicken fingers, salad, fruit, and lots of french fries.

Flamingos are pink because of the food they eat--they were the first animal we saw.

Gorillas were eating forsythia (or as Sis calls it, "porsippia") like candy.

House Mouse--the kids were fascinated watching them crawl around a facsimile of a house. Ew!

Ice cream, our departing treat: strawberry, chocolate, moose tracks, and a root beer float.

J gets two butterfly magnets for the fridge.

Kookabura--but they weren't laughing or sitting in an old gum tree!

Leopard, snow, stretched once and then resumed its nap

Marmosets, which Sis photographed with Mama's old camera (Mama has a new digital SLR!).

Nests being built by 5 Magellanic penguins.

Okapi, with the striped bum, which the kids always recognize from Diego.

Panda, red, comfortable in its nest looking at us, Ma's favorite.

Questions about why they closed the "World of Darkness," Bud's favorite exhibit last time.

Red-eyed tree frog clinging to the glass--Sis wondered, "is it real?"

Spotted skunk doing a handstand as its defensive pose scared Sis.

Tram, a midday ride saved us a huge hike (and probably saved the afternoon!)

Up and down, back and forth go the swimming sea lions.

Volume of people increased rapidly as the beautiful day progressed.

White bunny--another stuffed critter--that Sis bought in the shop.

X marked the spots on the map as we searched for the animals to see next.

Young bears and skunks and mandrill monkeys unexpectedly not on view.

Zoological exhibits and events are captured in Bud's drawings (well, really, Ma's).

Cue Music From the Lion King

It really tainted our visit to the "little" zoo today:  Sis found out that the two Pygmy marmosets whom she liked so well had died.  We had noticed the exhibit had been closed awhile but it wasn't

 until today that we learned that the little animals had died and not just been transferred to another zoo.  Apparently, they were very old for captive marmosets, older even than the zoo keepers had first thought.  Oh, well.  It did occasion yet another discussion of everything that lives dies, just like it eats, poops, pees, and toots.  Dying just isn't as entertaining, and is actually quite perplexing to an almost-4 year old.   And then she wanted to see them, to see a picture of them, which meant a trip to the shop to look for a postcard or something.  But no Pygmy Marmosets there.  Finally, I called Mama, who is bringing home a printout from the internet of one so that Sis can see it.  We'll also look for other marmosets when we go to the "big" zoo tomorrow.

She's too young to grasp the "circle of life", but we also saw an octuplet set of Guinea Hogs born 8 days or so ago, very cute little black pigs who were running around and then nursing.  The kids enjoyed these quite a bit.  We tried to see the new baby ocelot, who has been named Milagri (not the name we voted for), but it was catnapping with its mom.  

Otherwise, the kiddos liked the prairie dog colony, the bison scratching its head on a tree trunk, the napping otters all curled up together, the ducks who just would not get in the pond, and, of course, the carousel, as well as a picnic lunch sharing food with all our friends.

Lastly, we send out hopes that our little friend L, who scraped her face in a tumble by the lynx, is feeling fine tonight.  We enjoyed walking around with you (but left faster than we expected because they were getting so tired).  

"I'm Not So Sure"

We were headed to the zoo on Sunday after church to take advantage of the shining sun and 50F weather. Sis, who always pays attention when we're in the car, immediately noticed that Mama wasn't going the way I usually go (there are several ways you can get there from here).

"Mama, is this the right way to the zoo? I'm not so sure."

Back seat driving with Mama . . . . (a la "Sid the Science Kid," for those of you not in the know).

We got there, alright, and enjoyed all the usual animals--wolves, tigers, bear, lynx, ananconda, caiman, toucan, iguana, ocelot (though the new baby ocelot was hidden from view), and otters--until Bud slipped on some ice and got soaked. Luckily we'd already done our (indoor) picnic lunch (it was too windy to eat outside) and ridden the carousel, so we grabbed some ice cream and headed home.

The usual way.

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Wow, it's lovely today--sunny, mild, not too windy--and this after a wet, foggy night and morning. So, we headed to the zoo.

DD is scared of peacocks. Doesn't like that they roam the zoo freely, doesn't like their caterwaul cry, really doesn't like how they spread their colorful tail feathers and shake them. She talked about the peacocks on the way over. DS tried to comfort her: "The prairie dogs are nice. The otters are nice. The tigers are nice. And they will be happy to see you." This last bit from a new nighttime story we read, Tell Me Something Happy Before I Go to Sleep. Then DD asked us to please quit talking about peacocks. We did, DS kept telling her that they were nice.

We got to admissions and were given peacock stickers (which are supposed to encourage kids to be nice to the birds). We've gotten them before and have told DD that they actually ward peacocks off. All she need do is wear her sticker and say, "No peacocks!" and she'll be fine. Which she was. Though DP and I have a fine-tuned system worked out as we maneuver the zoo. "12 o'clock, moving to 1, in the trees." "Yep, hey hon, let's go that way instead." Until DS chimed in, "there's a peacock!" But we soon had DD distracted by the tigers. Whew, a close call.

And then the darned turkeys appeared. Fluffing their own tailfeathers. Bother. Hadn't prepared her for turkeys, which aren't usually there. Luckily, otters are very enticing and we got away, albeit with DD in arms.

We heard the peacocks as we left but by then we were safe and she was very proud to have survived the peacocks. Especially because it meant she had ridden the carousel, twice. But she took the sticker off her jacket as soon as we cleared the entrance!