Easter photojournal

Happy Easter!


Aunt Amy visited last weekend and is shown here with Susan while at the YMCA's Jungle Room (which, despite the name, is not a 70s lounge attached to a bowling alley). In this photo Susan's just finished working out.

The weather's been beautiful here, so we made the most of it with sidewalk chalk in the driveway on low Saturday, and a long afternoon trip to the Zoo on Good Friday.

Though it was quite warm, many animals were still out and active.

The zoo's female polar bear has a visitor, a male over 1,200 lbs., who is here to try to produce more little polar bears. When they were first introduced the zookeepers stood by with fire hoses to separate them in case they got hostile with one another (which might make them "bipolar" bears).

The river otter also has some female visitors for the same reason. He's the oldest river otter in captivity in North America but was frolicking and generally having a great time, far more active than we've ever seen him.

I've shown before the little glass observation room in the cougar enclosure, which kids get to by climbing through a tunnel. This time, though, the cougar went right up to the glass, giving the kids a good show, before wandering back for another nap.

We also have an eagle in the zoo. It was wounded in the wild, so it's got a much better life than the whole red-in-tooth-n-claw scheme would provide. While we were watching some Canadian geese came by to annoy it. They aren't scared of much, but kept their distance when it flapped its wings and made some noise.

Despite all the activity among the animals, Sam went through the zoo as if fulfilling a duty--at least, until he got to a wading stream outside the snake/otter/lake sturgeon/tortoise building. He had a tremendous time splashing around in his bare feet and cooling off. For dessert he went to the neighboring playground and obligingly climbed into the giant tortoise shell and permitted a photo op.

At home the local wildlife was active as well. The birds were chirping, chickadees at the feeder, and for the third time we spotted ducks at the creek. This time it was a mating pair, and Susan thinks she found one of their eggs in the back yard recently. They soon strolled out of the creek, across the street, and into the culvert's water fall, where they splashed around happily. Uncle Paul, what kind are these?

Lastly, a very brief movie. If you are into appliances, you get to see the new microwave. If you need further motivation, there's Sam-in-a-box. Enjoy!

Oh, today's Sam Quote:

"People are like moving statues that are painted."