Zoo Day Two

DAY TWO AT THE ZOO

Here are a few of my favorites from today

This orangatan was particularly engaged with the visitors. "Orangatan" means people of the land. Their habitat is disappearing for the development of Palm Oil Farming. Conservationists are working on making "corridors" between primary forests (never disturbed) and secondary forests (recovering) to avoid populations being isolated and therefore causing issues with interbreeding and lack of acreage needed for each animal.
He looked right into my eyes for several minutes. I do wonder how they are processing these "visits" from people.

Who says we are the only ones with opposible thumbs? His hands fascinated me. It seemed he held them in certain poses throughout the day.

Reticulated Pattern on Giraffe

Sleeping Lioness

Tapir: a member of the undulate(hooved stock) family (which includes animals like antelope). There are even toed undulates and odd toed undultes, which are less common.

The Tapir is an odd toed undulate like the pig or a horse.

The foot of a Komodo Dragon. I thought it looked very prehistoric.

Hippopotomus.

Overall we had a wonderful day observing, studying and learning about Inquiry in a zoo setting. I am learning so much and can't wait until I can implement some of these things in the classroom. One thing I learned about this morning was something called community mapping. I challenge you to look it up. It's a pretty cool thing that people are more involved with now that we have technology like Google mapping!

A Birth-DAY at the Zoo

Today was my first face to face time for my Master's of Zoology program. This time is spent at the zoo and deals with how to teach scientific inquiry to students of all ages. We spent part of the day observing the animals so I thought I would share some of my favorite photos of the day.

This gorilla is in honor of my mom. She loves all of the greater apes and it was fun to be able to get so close. In fact this primate was only about three or four feet from where I was standing! He seemed to enjoy entertaining the crowd and had a stare out with me for a few minutes.

This giraffe is named "Olivia." Sarah loves giraffes and I wanted to get some video, but they were being fed in their barn, so Olivia was on her way to dinner! :) I hope to get a chance to feed them this week.

This Malayan Bear is from Borneo and is endangered there. Our class was able to prepar the "enrichment" you see him playing with there. Inside were peanuts, dried apricots and grapes. The keeper also gave them (there's also a female in the enclosure) a whole watermelon which they loved! Enrichment is not just for nourishment, but also to stimulate the animals' sense of play. (It was fun for us too!)

I had to take about 20 pictures of this tucan before I could get one that wasn't blurry. He seemed to know I wanted to get a "still" picture of him.

Wolves are one of my favorite animals. Gray wolves actually come in different colors, but are still called "gray." When I was growing up in San Diego I was called up to the stage during an animal show. A wolf came out and actually knocked me over and licked me on the face! That said, keep in mind that these are NOT dogs and should never be treated as such.

I throughly enjoyed my birthday and even though I am alone in a hotel room, I was warmed by all of the sweet messages on facebook. I feel loved. I'm living my passion. I'm blessed beyond measure.

Rainy Welcome

Rain welcomed me to Seattle for my week at the zoo. It may be raining outside, but I'm feeling pretty sunny about the week ahead!

Six Months in Fast Forward

Over six months and no Blogging. So what's happened since my last entry??? Here's the fast forward version: Dad's Bladder surgery, Kevin's biopsy and cancer diagnosis, Kevin's surgery, Dad 911 call #1 (Feb 14) two day admission, Dad's 2nd 911 call (Feb 17) 3 day admission, Kevin's recheck ~ cancer free but still dealing with side affects, I submit application for zoology scholarship, women's retreat, Dad's 3rd 911 call (April 28th) and 3rd admission 2 days, transfer to VA extended care, back to Sacred Heart for several more days, back to VA, I'm notified I was granted the scholarship, ended another successful spring quarter, went to Oregon Coast alone with Kevin, started first online zoo class and then 4th of July in Montana with Kevin's sister. TA-DA!

Next big thing: Zoo week in mid July!

Family Pictures from September

The Parks Crew

Mom, Dad, Carole, Kevin, Sarah & Matt

Who's dumb idea was this??? :) Oh~mine!

Mom ~ 83 Dad ~ 86

September 2010

We should have got pictures of them getting in the tree!!!

Sibs

Thanks to our friend and photographer, Barry Moses for tolerating all of our sillyness during this photo shoot at our local private university ~ Whitworth. These pictures were taken during Matthew's post army visit in Spokane. We had a lot of fun even though it was kind of thrown together at the last minute. Thanks to my kids too for tolerating all of the "creativity."

Micro-Scapes: Mushrooms

Mushrooms were a curiosity during a recent visit to Priest Lake. We were there for a women's rereat, but during a lag time, I was to be found on my belly under a tree taking pictures of these tiny "forrests." What a great time I had getting these pictures and learning about my Sony CyberShot at the same time. This first picture is my personal favorite!
A cluster of mushrooms.

Upon reflecting with my photography friend, I would have moved the grass out the way before shooting this one.

I never thought I could shoot into the sun, but this picture proves that I was wrong about that.

I love the texture of the pine needles on the ground juxtaposed to the texture on the underside of the mushroom!

More Idaho Sunsets

This sunset was so spectacular, I could say it's the prettiest we have ever seen. I have visited South America, Canada, Mexico, and both coasts of the United States. During that time I have witnessed many gorgeous sunsets, but this one wins the prize.

This was an area north of Spirit Lake and due west of Priest Lake in a tiny town named Blanchard. The residents were all out on their decks as we watched the colors change moment by moment. Very memorable!

North Idaho Trip Sept 2010 012

North Idaho Trip Sept 2010 012, originally uploaded by squirrelmom989.

Breathtaking.

North Idaho Trip Sept 2010 013

North Idaho Trip Sept 2010 013, originally uploaded by squirrelmom989.

In the beginning of September, Kevin and I were able to spend some time in Northern Idaho for our anniversary. The first night we were there a storm was brewing. The clouds were lit up by the setting sun and the show was SPECTACULAR!

Electronic Challenges

The first thing you might notice is that I include no pictures with this blog entry. It's been a couple of weeks since the kids left now. When Sarah packed up and moved, Dad decided we didn't need wireless any longer, so I have been completely unplugged from my electronic life.

Last week we were in Blanchard, Idaho for a delayed anniversary trip. Kevin and I needed someplace close so that we could commute for our jobs and parent care duties. I was able to get some beautiful pictures while I was there but do not have internet access to them as they are loaded on my netbook (which presently has no internet access.) Sooooooo. . . when that happens, I will share some of them here!

Wolf Lodge and Couer D' Alene with Uncle Bob & Aunt Jan

Riding in Matthew's "Benz"

Jan after Matthew's "Patron Challenge"

hmmmm. . . looks like she met it!

Big Sis & Little Bro

Cheers!

Matt & Uncle Bob

Matt's attempt to get Momma drunk . . . (he failed.)

It's been a pesonal challenge to my kids and my mom to get me drunk. I have never been drunk in my life and really have no desire to do so. Nevertheless, my family continues to try. After a delicious dinner at Wally's Wolf Lodge, we landed in Couer D' Alene. After my Kalua and creams, it turns out that Matthew thwarted himself by (accidently of course) spilling one of my drinks (cran/vodka) on my pristine white pants. So I made it through the night unscathed and my white pants recovered (with a little bleach) too! Even though I remained sober, Jan, however, met Matt's challenge after a couple of shots of Patrone. There was lots of conversations about family history and how blessed we are to be together now.

Another funny thing that happened was that Kevin got stopped for his cool shoes. This is funny because in now 26 years of marriage, my husband has never been stopped on the street for his fasion sense. Here are the now infamous shoes.

SIBLINGS TOGETHER AGAIN!

Northern Quest CasinoSARAH & MATT

While serving in Iraq, one of the things that my mother and Matthew promised each other was that they would go to the casino together when he got back. It turns out that Sarah and I were able to join that party, and so last night we all went to Northern Quest together. The kids and my mom had a great time as grandma gambled her $50 and then was miffed that they would not give her a "refund." We enjoyed a meal at the noodle house as well. (Yum)

It was so great for us to all be together again. What a peace and joy it is for me to know that Matthew is back well and whole. They are planning to move to Las Vegas next week to begin their lives as full time students!!!

We will be squeezing as much as we can from every moment while they are both here. It will be difficult to say goodbye again, but there is solace in the fact they are going on to bigger and better things.

CRUCIFEROUS - CHRIST PRESENT

My co-worker and friend, Barry, and I have been working hard to improve our diets and increase our vegetable intake. Through a few conversations we came up with each of us bringing in a creative, tasty version of them. During all of the deliberation we were disscussing the meaning of "cruciferous." Barry is quite the linguist (being trilingual) and immediately recognized the religious origin of this word. So this one is for you Barry. . .

Cruciferous is the adjective form of "crucifer,"meaning cross bearer, from crux or cruc- meaning cross, and -fer meaning one that bears.

Cruciferous vegetables (including cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower) are those that belong to the order of Brassicaceae. (wikipedia) "Cruciferae is an older name; it means "cross-bearing," because the four petals of their flowers are reminiscent of a cross."

Love word origins.

". . . even the (stones) vegetables cry out his name!" ~ interpretation: mine!

VISIT TO MISSOULA, MONTANA

Kevin & Sister ~ Jan

This weekend we drove to Missoula to visit Kevin's sister, Jan and brother in law, Bob. It's about a three hour drive, so we stopped in Wallace, Idaho. This is one of the most beautiful drives I have ever done: right up there with the rainforests of Kauai. If you ever have the chance to drive through the panhandle of Idaho, don't miss it. Spectacular.

Carole & Joey on the Lake!

Joey and Sandy

Gazing @ the Beauty

In Wallace @ Red Light Cafe:

Famous for the best Huckleberry Shake between Seattle and Boston!

View of Missoula, Montana from Jan's Deck

Seely River from boat