Amusing Myself, or Really, Just Getting Out of the House!

The week began without Bruce, and the week continues without Bruce. What's a girl to do?

Late last week, I considered going to one of my favorite places, the Brevard Zoo in Melbourne. It's actually not in what I call Melbourne because it is only 56 miles away, instead of 70+, but they call it Melbourne, so I will too. Looking on their website, I discovered that on Tuesdays in September the admission is just $3.00, rather than the typical $16.95 for adults. Now that the kids are back in school it can't be too busy on Tuesday or so I thought. I soon discovered I was being seriously naive.

Before leaving I needed gas---lo and behold, check out the price!

Can you imagine? Before I go further, I wanted to mention that the big flag display I showed you from 9/11 last week, was completely removed by Sunday afternoon, surprising me as I thought they would keep it going until it looked crummy?

Anyway, attempting to connect the blue tooth in the car to my phone for music, I discovered I'd left my phone at home. Thankfully I was still within a mile, so no big deal. WELL, pulling up in my driveway, I noticed a fellow out front with this!

Hmmmm....never one to shy away from asking questions, I did just that. He told me he was using the drone to take aerial photos of Nadav and Crystal's house because they were putting it on the market!!!! Well that's just plain disappointing....

Once I arrived at the zoo, the parking lot was pure madness with people parking any place they could squeeze into. Lucky for me, someone was leaving, and I parked in the first row! So, a good start to my trip. As you can imagine, I took a whole lot of photographs which I've tried to edit judiciously. On my last visit, the zebras were shy guys, however, they seem to have adjusted to their environment and are easy to see.

The dark chocolate brown is just beautiful on this Grevy's Zebra. Adjacent to this area is the ever popular giraffe section. Seriously, are they magnificent creatures, or what?

I learned from one of the handy volunteers that in the spring two baby calves were born, one of whom now resides at the pathetic zoo in our area. I've mentioned before that there are five acres in which the five giraffes have to roam, along with impalas, whom are pretty beautiful themselves.

If you can believe it, and I was hard pressed to, the weather was not too hot, with a slight breeze which felt shocking after months of weather related misery. A high wooden platform allows you to walk out among the animals in the Africa area, as well as allowing you a good view of Lemur island. At first I could not see the Ring-Tailed Lemurs, however, after close inspection, I found them in the trees.

Before I go further, and excuse me if it is jarring, but I'll forget if I don't link to this here and now. A very brief, albeit incredible, video of a humpback whale and a couple in a kayak. Don't miss it!

Having been to the zoo multiple times I felt like I'd seen most of the animals before, however, this little guy stole my heart yesterday. I feel fairly confidant I'd not seen a Klipspringer before. 

Can we just all say...awww? 

No visit is complete without a photograph of the West African Crowned Cranes...gorgeous birds.

Onward to Australia to see the kangaroo and joey, except they were hiding, so I continued on until I came to the aviary. Happy to do so, I might add. The breeze I was so eager to share with you was not without a purpose....it began raining and I don't mean sprinkling. Fortunately I'd arrived in the aviary before the heavens opened because there was a little roof there to keep about twenty five of us sort of dry. 

It rained and rained..the cockateels were flying everywhere, the ducks were making a racket, as were the children, who, by the way, surprised me with their presence as I thought they would be in school. Perhaps they were being homeschooled? After a bit, the rain lessened, and I became restless, so I went into the next section; much to my great surprise, this bird, from the Turaco family, held quite still for a photograph. 

Talk about a beauty!! Under those violet wings there are red feathers which look downright amazing when they fly. Showing you what I mean, I'll include this very blurry shot. 

According to the Wikipedia article, linked above, the crimson feathers are highly prized by the Swazi and Zulu royal families. 

The rain continued, albeit softly, as I made my way into the Lorikeet feeding area, generally chock full of people, but hardly a soul during my visit. They are darn cute birds as well.

Soaking wet is what they were! As were the emus:

Taking a wrong turn on my way to see the Jaguars, I soon regretted it because once again the heavens opened, soaking yours truly to the skin before finding shelter! I'd been scurrying by most everything else because of the rain threat; finally, after it slowed down, I did the same, eventually finding what I was looking for. Absolutely worth the trip! More often than not it is hard to spot the big cats, but not this time. In fact, they were almost too close!

Yup, right up against the wall with the big glass for viewing. One cub stayed snuggled up with Mom, while another was but a few feet away. I suspect they were happier out of the rain, as was I. Lots of oohing and aahing by everyone who saw this sweet sight!

Finally, and I suspect you are having photo fatigue at this point, one last shot of one of my favorite birds, a Sandhill Crane. I've always loved the heart shape on their head....

Having just about all I could take of the rain, I decided it was time to make my leave. Generally I hate driving during massive storms so I was delighted that during the drive home it was, what is the opposite of massive?? Tolerable, that works.

Some big headaches for Bruce, along with some victories.....he is hanging in there, but he did tell me he was tired of eating out. I feel the same after a few days, don't you?

Keeping the home fires burning,

Gail

Visiting the Zoo

It is a widely held belief by some, that zoos are bad places, and then there are those who love zoos, and appreciate the good work that the folks there are doing. I'm in the latter camp.

With that in mind, about the middle of January I decided it was time to make a trip over to the Brevard Zoo in Melbourne, however, after perusing their website, I learned that they were expecting delivery of two zebras around Valentines Day, so I decided to wait, because Lord knows I wanted to see the zebras! Then, of course, life got in the way. Now that I am fully recovered, I could not wait to go, and so I did just that yesterday.

The weather, although quite warm, was perfect for a zoo visit because it was mostly cloudy which helps not only to keep a zoo-goer cool, but for photography, it is much better without the bright glare of the Florida sun. I hardly know where to start I saw so many great birds and animals....

After paying the $16.95 admission, I beelined it for the Africa area to wind my way around there and, of course, find the zebras. My first stop was the cheetah area. Making my way amongst hundreds of screaming school children, I got to the platform, and did see the cheetah, however, much like any cat, she was lounging in the shade. As to the screaming children--did I really go through that? Four sons! Were they that loud and rowdy? Whew! Probably so.

Next up was the zebra/white rhinoceros area.

Boo hoo! The zebras were far outside the range of my camera lens. Which reminds me, I took the Panasonic for the picture quality, however, I forgot one thing. I cannot manually adjust the focus on that lens which limits some of what you can do when confronted with cages, or fencing. Plus it is a shorter zoom, but all in all, I was most pleased with how these turned out. Lastly, on the camera front, the Panasonic weighs nearly a full pound less than the Nikon which doesn't seem like all that much, but having used both at times, I can assure you, it is an advantage. All this info because people always seem to be interested in the gear. :)

There is quite a long elevated platform that runs alongside where you see the rhinoceros. From that vantage point you can see the cute ring tailed lemurs, as well as the giraffes. A nice new addition since my last visit a couple of years ago.

While on that platform, I met a lovely volunteer who provided me with lots of great stories. She told me that the rhinos are slyly harassing the zebras. How is that, you ask? Two examples: where the zebras go, the rhinos often follow, pushing them out of their space. (nothing violent, just silent harrassment) Secondly, when it is time for the zebras to head into the barn for the night, the rhinos pace back in forth in front of the open doors to keep them out! Pictured on the right in the peach colored polo is the helpful volunteer.

She also mentioned that their shift is four hours long, but some of them love it so much, they stay all day! Of course I could not remember the types of giraffe that reside at the zoo, however, a quick search of types, tells me that the one in the photo above is a Masai giraffe, and the other, pictured below, is a Somali.

Now you know!

In this same area I saw some fantastic birds, and I mean fantastic. When they flew you could see the most beautiful red on their wings. This location was not ideal for photography, so I was delighted to find there were more in the aviary. Have you seen this type of bird before?

Here is the little cutie...

I wish I'd been able to get an inflight shot. :) I've changed the header on my blog to another gorgeous bird, the name of which I'm embarrassed to admit, I do not know. What I do know is, it beautiful!

Continuing my journey, I heard, amongst the screaming children, some loud calls, and I mean crazy loud. They kept coming and coming. At first I thought it was a recording or something, you know, to give a jungle vibe, however, it was not. These monkeys call could wake the dead!

Here's the validation...

The thing is, they kept calling and calling, eventually, I suspect, growing tired of hearing themselves. I, for one, was happy when they quit.

In the interest of brevity, or as close to brevity as I'm able, I probably will do another post, just because I saw so many wonderful things. But, that's another day. Carrying on, I made my way over to the petting zoo area to see an owl I photographed on my last visit. I found a second owl this time. A Barn Owl, residing at the zoo due to injury.

I nearly skipped one of the greatest sites yet, however, fortunately, I saw a young boy and his dad looking at the side of a big tank, and oh my goodness, was I glad I followed their lead. An American Stingray put on quite the show.

Having never seen anything like this before, I was dying with wonder! There is a pool cleaner called Creepy Crawly, and I couldn't help but think about that gadget while watching the action. Simply amazing, that little face and all. 

Then, just as I was leaving the area, Mr. Barn Owl, opened his wings and what a span it is.

Oh, but wait, there was a darling little girl petting the Giant Tortoise, as did this old lady.

The shell feels very neat indeed. How about those legs? Aren't they something?

There is a large Meerkat exhibit which is highly entertaining. Watching their industriousness can wear a person out.

Because it is a pretty fair assumption that I'll never visit Africa in person, I made three visits to the "faux" Africa. One, I was hoping to see the cheetah up and about, and two, I wanted to see the zebras, or ze-bras, as Angela calls them, up close. Finally on trip #3, they were out in the open. Aren't they just gorgeous? These are Grevy's zebra; here's more info in case you are interested.

Coincidentally, I took a photograph, on my way to the zoo, of one of the donkeys in the fields on Judge Road.

According to the article, the Grevy's zebras are the most donkey-like. Crazy, huh?

More good stuff where this came from---tune in for the next post!

Thanks for reading,

Gail

p.s. A Matt update--the radiation, or so they think, is the cause of his, what was once, only a sore throat, but as of now, is a full blown blockage and he can neither eat or drink. Once again they are in the hospital and today a feeding tube is going into his stomach for nutrition. Apparently it can be weeks before this horrible side effect abates. :(

You Win Some, You Lose Some

After seeing the giraffe at Silver Springs, I decided to check out the Brevard Zoo website. Only last week I'd read in the paper that a new giraffe was born there, with the public showing scheduled for October. As well, the article mentioned that in April there was a birth.  Curious, I discovered the darling video I'm sharing with the above link.

I have to admit, I don't think I've given giraffe's their due. Once you are close to an animal, your appreciation skyrockets, as did Bruce and mines after our Monday experience. From the website I also discovered that for the month of September they are having $2.00 Tuesdays. Well, what was stopping me now that I've quit the Polasek? Nothing. So, off I went. Try as I might, I can no longer seem to embed the slideshow, however, if you want to see the sights, click please--I don't think you'll be disappointed.

A Morning at the Brevard Zoo

The weather was not too unpleasant and the crowds were slim. Bonus factor--only took me 45 minutes to get there. I was so impressed with everything. Now I know some folks have a thing against zoos, but I'm not among them. I was so very lucky because the giraffes come and go as they please, spending most of their time roaming the five acres allotted to them. I began my visit there, seeing five of the six giraffes, however, after roaming the zoo I returned and not a one was in sight. A big, big storm was moments away; apparently, according the volunteer, the giraffes were probably safely in their barn to wait it out. Fortunately, I was able to make it back to my car just as the torrential rain began falling.

Once I was in the car I discovered I had bird poop on my white shirt in two places, including right in the middle of the front! Sometimes nostalgia is a good thing, sometimes, not so much. In my case, as I was exiting I-95, I saw a Belk department store just off the interstate. Our mother worked at Belk after our father died, long enough to even get a small pension. During those years I shopped quite a bit at Belk, buying lots of the boys clothing there among other things. Because it was only a short distance away, I thought why not go over there and buy a new shirt to replace my soiled one? Bad move. I can't remember the last time when I've seen a more sorry collection of clothing. Absolutely everything was just plain ugly to me. They were practically giving away a bunch of clothes on the sales rack, yet I still had a hard time finding anything! Eventually I settled on a plain white v-neck sleeveless shirt for $4.50. After purchasing it, I went into the dressing room to change only to discover it was really too big. Angela is now the owner of said shirt.

After eating an excellent sandwich at Pita Pit, I made my way over to the ocean. The skies were dreary, however, I was so close I went anyway.

Driving along A1A, I pulled in a few places, to see what I could see. For someone who calls her business Out & About Photography, I've spent too much time at home this year, with the exception of our holiday. In the coming months, Bruce will be traveling most of the weeks which may translate into me doing the same. The scene below made me chuckle a bit:

No doubt, there have been some weird weather patterns of late, however, I'm pretty confidant that an earthquake and tsunami won't be coming our way any time soon. But then again, what do I know?

Taking the long way home, a stop in downtown Melbourne was a pleasant surprise. Lots of colorfully painted storefronts and restaurants. Very cute. The empty sidewalk may be the result of a rainy Tuesday afternoon. I sure hope the shops are doing well.

Baxter was very pleased to see me upon my return at 5:00. So here's where the title comes in. Checking my email I learned that I DID NOT get into the DeLand show in November. So what? As you may know I usually hope to do three shows a season--now I'm down to two. Plus I usually sell around $2,000 for the weekend. Bummer.

Soon thereafter though, my disappointment fell into perspective. While I was over delivering the shirt to Angela, Bruce was leaving a sad message. Apparently, his best friend Steve had what they think is a stroke yesterday morning. Now that is bad news. Bruce was hoping I could locate his whereabouts. After calling Orlando Health (it still galls me to use that stupid name!), the kind woman after declaring he was not in their system, transferred me to Florida Hospital. Although this kind woman told me he was not in any of their seven hospitals, turns out, upon further checking, he is in the main hospital on Mills. Calling his room was taking a chance and indeed, I did not get to talk with Steve, but I did talk to his brother who gave me the details. Both Bruce and I are surprised because in the last year Steve has lost a tremendous amount of weight, consistently exercising to keep it off. Furthermore, he's the happiest we've seen him in years after falling in love with Barbara. I suppose it reinforces what I already know--we can only control so much. After witnessing Maureen's recovery, not to mention Karen's, I'm thinking positive. Only time will tell.