Dedicated to Matt

Go Blue!  Today's tailgate was topnotch, as usual.  We even celebrated the fifth birthday of a friend's daughter this morning, complete with a flying Barbie (yes, a flying Barbie) and cupcakes.  The game was wet and Eastern isn't much of an opponent (there was no wavering in Cortney's allegiences).  But even without the highly tense moments of a good football game, the afternoon at the stadium was highly worth the ode to Monty Python and the Holy Grail  performed by the marching band during halftime, complete with King Arthurs (read: band members) lopping legs off of Black Knights (read: mascots of other teams) and commentary in a thick British accent.  In other football news, a certain other green & white team pulled out a win in the first overtime against a certain blue and gold team, which can be construed as a positive thing, if it weren't so darned hard to root for MSU.

And tonight's entry is dedicated to Matt ("I don't make the blog enough") and his favorite heroic characters, Zooperboy and Moo, as pictured at right.  Thanks for making dinner tonight, even if we did have to assemble our own desserts, and even though Kristin and Cortney are not sorry about beating you  and Jon in Mario Party.

Please continue to pray for the vicitms of Hurricane Katrina and give if you can.

www.salvationarmyusa.org 

Just checking in.

Wow it's been a long week, and yet there really isn't a whole lot to say.  Yes, gone are the days of summer when being busy was accompanied by suntans and photographs.  That being said, we do have a couple of pictures to share from last week's tailgating party. A funny story, in fact, attested to by the pictures.  We had a lot of stove trouble this week, so yes, that second picture is all of us at someone else's party.  We did not go hungry, and the tailgating is by far a highlight of our fall weeks, thanks to the whole crew.  Go pink flamingo!  "Go Blue," however, was a little lacking.  The game was such a disappointment (who let them put a high school quarterback in for such an important game anyhow?) that we decided not to bother writing about it last week.  The Ohio State game was just as disappointing if you are a Big Ten fan, but oddly exhilarating if you are purely a Michigan fan.  But the tailgating was a riot. 

Please continue to pray for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and give if you can.  The road to recovery will be a long one for many.

www.salvationarmyusa.org

Yes, that is a kangaroo...

Cortney got a phone call this morning (thank you Annemarie!) telling us that we had to go over to the Saline Community Fair in order to see this one-in-a-million petting zoo on its last night there.  We were told that we would get to see a tiger and pet a baby zebra, that the fair was open until 11pm and that zoo alone was worth the ten dollar admission price (we figured it had better be since we weren’t paying ten dollars to see the tractor pull).  In any case, we weren’t sure we would be able to make it.  We both ended up staying late at work, and then we had dinner with Cortney’s parents because her uncle is in town for the game tomorrow (go blue!).  In fact, as the evening got later and we were just clearing the table at 9pm, we decided that we were feeling a little apathetic and decided not to go.  It’s hard to say what made us make that drive over to the fairgrounds at 9:30.  We weren’t even sure the zoo animals would still be there that late, but the guy at the gate said they were, and offered to let us in for free because we were so excited about it (ha, all the tractor pull kids had to pay).
Let us just say that deciding to go was a fantastic decision.  We don’t usually go in for the small roadside caged animal kind of thing, but these animals were from a nearby sanctuary and travel for education purposes.  The man who owns the sanctuary was there, was very interesting to talk to,  and the animals love him nearly as much as he loves them.  In cages they had a beautiful white Bengal tiger, a North American Cougar, a Two Toed Sloth, Lemurs, and Baboons.  They all seemed relaxed and all were playing with toys (yeah enrichment).  The sanctuary owner got in and wrestled/cuddled/scratched with the cougar for a while.  But the real draw for us was the petting part.  This was no ordinary petting farm.  There was a very large enclosure housing llamas, sheep, pigs and goats, as one would expect, but also included was a giant turtle, baby cows and a baby buffalo.  In the pen next door was the baby Zebra (second picture), also housed with a baby Nilgai (from India; in the third picture) and a baby Oryx (from Africa).  Then, one final pen over, were two baby kangaroos (first picture), a couple of ducks, and a pair of small turtles.  Everyone was friendly, and everyone was soft!  We bought “feed cones” (those being your run-of-the-mill ice cream cones filled with seeds) and quickly became well-loved by all.  It was sheer joy all around.

Please continue to pray for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, and give if you can.
www.redcross.org

Of giraffe tongues and porcupine tails

We used our Labor Day off for a zoo trip to Binder Park with Matt and Kristin. Out of all of our zoo memberships, we picked this one to visit because they close for the season soon, and how can you turn down giraffe feeding? Matt and Kristin thought that was worth the trip alone, enjoying the giraffes' long, scratchy black tongues pulling off gymnastic feats to reach our biscuits.

We discovered that the animals they use for their educational stage shows are completely different species, not on exhibit anywhere else in the zoo. This is how we got a chance to get up and close and personal with a fenic fox, who was very shy and had big, sensitive ears. We really wanted to hold him, but that luxury was reserved for the trainer.

Another animal we wished we could touch was the prehensile-tailed porcupine. We heard that his quills have microscopic barbs on them that would embed themselves in your skin, requiring a visit to the hospital and a dose of muscle-relaxant to get them out! How could something so cute be so dangerous? His special training taught him to tap his enormous, wide nose on the handler's fingers to get a treat, so holding the carrot just out of reach encouraged him to dangle from his special tail for the prize.

We continue to pray for those affected by Hurricane Katrina. www.redcross.org

A day without a Mexican...

restaurant, that is. We had a welcome-home from Peru dinner for Patty, Curtis' girlfriend, and the only reasonable, sit-down dining place with Mexican flair available was the chain-errific Chili's. It was also the first time we really got to meet Patty's family, as well. Patty's generosity and thoughtfulness was wonderful, as she brought back a Peruvian gift for each of us. For Jon, she brought a set of pipes of pan (as if he wasn't making enough noise already :-) ), and for Cortney,  a decorative mirror. The margaritas and fajitas were plentiful, and, while cross-table conversation can be quite a challenge with such a large group, we really had a great time.

We continue to pray for those affected by Hurricane Katrina.  www.redcross.org