I'll miss you

When I was in 3rd grade I got an adorable gray cat from my friend Rebecca's house, and named her Shannon. That cat, more often called "Miss Kitty" or "Pretty girl" than Shannon, kept me company when I was lonely, brought me brand new kittens to cuddle with when I slept on the trampoline, and showed her ultimate love to her Mama when she plopped a dead mouse onto my sleeping bag and looked at me proudly. She used to sneak her way into my sleeping bag or under the blankets in the middle of the night and I'd wake up with her snuggled against my belly. She didn't let many people love on her, but whenever I was home, she'd come up and love on me, without exception.

She was super protective of me too. There was once that I took a walk up the canyon and then up around the Rodeo arena, and she followed me the whole way. As she got older, my pretty girl got a bit grouchy and chased off little kittens that my Mom brought home as "replacements", cause she had absolutely no intention of being replaced. She started to have a struggle when she jumped up onto the railing of the porch to get her dinner, and spent more and more time curled up in the shed than begging for food on the porch. But she still loved on me anytime I came home.

I called mom yesterday and we talked about if it was time to take Shannon to the vet so he could put her to sleep, and she said she didn't think it was quite time yet. Well, my cat has always been a 1 upper and I guess that she decided she didn't want to go to the vet, she wanted to have her last few moments in the place that she loved most, and mom and dad found her this morning and Dad lovingly buried her out by our great old dog, Thor. I'm sure she'll be happy out there. Whenever I get home again, I'll bring some flowers and let my pretty cat know how sorry I am that I couldn't be there to love her as she passed on.



My cat's the big one. The little one was a "replacement", and the spitting image of Shannon when she was a baby.

Oklahoma City Zoo

On Saturday Anthony & I made the 35 minute drive to the OKC Zoo. It was 10:30am at a cool 91* with the sun shining and only a few white puffy clouds in the brilliant blue sky. What a glorious day to see nature in all its caged in glory!!

We meandered around for a while in the Aviary and saw Chilean Flamingos (Anthony served his mission in Chile and was very excited to see them).

Next we headed to the Noble Aquatic Center and saw seals, turtles, fish, anemones, etc. There is a lake out behind the NAC where people can rent swan paddle boats, we want to go another day and do that.

W/in the NAC there is a Sea Lion show and there was no way I was passing that up. I think it would be the coolest to be an animal trainer, don't you think so?

The video is about 8 minutes long showing Xander, Pearl, and Addy.  Watch the whole thing, it's really cool  :)

After the show we tried a short cut and got lost in the Education/Children's Zoo. By this point it was about 12:30 and it had reached a blazing 99* We were getting a little grouchy and frustrated we couldn't find the exit back into the main zoo and had a rowdy little family of 7 butt in front of us at the drinking fountain. Not only did they jam their way in, but by the time the last meandering kids were blocking our way they weren't drinking the water... they were wetting cloths repeatedly and playing with blasted feathers in the water. Finally I scolded mustered up as much kindness as I could pull out of my cooking bones and asked them to share one of the two fountains if they were just going to play so I could refill my dang water bottles before all the ice melted.

We headed over to the Pachyderm area, one of my favorites, and saw all the rhinoceroses but somehow missed the Pigmy Hippo.

The Cat Forest was a bust because ALL the cats were in their dens trying to beat the heat. We didn't see a single thing. I don't blame them one bit, can you imagine running around with a winter coat on all the time?

The Great Apes were across the way so we stopped to watch them for a while. Bless the architects who put all the shaded areas next to the glass so we could actually see some activity even on blistering hot days.

You see the fellow in the bottom right corner of the photo? He didn't move the ENTIRE TIME the gorilla was sitting near the glass. I fought the urge to do one of those "we'll get our turn to look as soon as this man infront of us moves" clearly loud enough so the man could hear it and get the hint. I really hate it when people behind me say things like that so I refrained from doing it myself. I guess I could have just sidled up next to him, but that might have been a bit awkward.

After some ape action (literally. It was scandalous) we headed to my favorite part of the zoo

There are three elephants at the OKC Zoo. Chandra & Asha are sisters, and Malee (May-lee) is Asha's baby.

Malee was born in April to Asha & Sneezy (who lives in Tulsa). Can you imagine giving birth to a 304lb baby?

See how they're holding trunks? It was SO cute. Reminded me of that song in Dumbo, you know, the one that makes me cry every time I watch it.

By this point we had been at the zoo for 5 hours and had each drank about 6 bottle of water. Though our bellies were full and sloshing our mouths felt like we'd been eating sand so we decided to make like this guy

and headed to the car for some glorious A/C. However, I apparetly do not do well with heat. I already knew from walks, exercising, etc. that I get pretty red when I'm hot... but once we reached the car and I looked at myself in the mirror the lobster staring back at me was not pleased. Luckily I was smart enough to wear sunscreen and I no longer look like a tomato.

We'll be going back to the zoo in the fall/early winter to see the rest of the facility when it's a bit cooler.

I miss...

this view that means I'm home

And the quiet and contentment of Home

And my Mom and Dad

And my big, loud, loving family!

And holding babies (and being this skinny(

And hugs from big brothers who somehow help all the hurt go away

And hanging out with my sisters

And my tiny, sweet fireball of a Grandma

And late night talks with these beauties

And throwing parties for my residents (even though I was sure I would never, ever miss that)

And Rockband nights at Cal's house

And sometimes, I even miss studying and writing papers

And, I miss this face (and the beard)



But, even though I miss all that, I'm glad I'm here.