A Morning at the Zoo

Yesterday (Sunday) the three of us decided to trek to the Hutchinson Zoo with Kris, Jessica, and Finn. The Hutch Zoo is free to everyone. As such, it is a pretty small affair. But, despite its size, it's really quite a nice little zoo. They have put considerable work into making it a fun experience, even if what's available only keeps a visiting group's attention for an hour or two. They had an impressive array of various smaller animals--most of them were native to Kansas with the one glaring exception of some little zebra monkeys (not their real name, which I didn't care enough to look at while there, but they were black and white, so it was either that or dalmation monkeys, and that didn't have a very good ring to it) that were apparently a inheritance from an older zoo.

Among the animals, there was a badger. Here's a brief video of it:

It lived in a little badger run. The video takes place just moments after our children excited it. When we walked up to the cage, the badger was lying (or was it laying, I can never remember) in the shade. When the kids walked up to the fence, it got very excited and started running back and forth, which it continued to do for a few minutes--I caught the tail end of it on the video. And I know why it got so excited, it yearned for the taste of scrumptious, tender young human.

Seeing the badger also reminded me of a story that some have heard, but it's funny enough to repeat again here. But I'll wait until I finish discussing the zoo.

Anyway, the sound in the background of the badger video--the terrible honking--was the sound of a nearby goose gangbang. So, that was fun. The boys got their first exposure to group sex, in goose form. Possibly not entirely appropriate, but I hope to drill the dangers of water fowl into Gabe's head from an early age (for details on my long-standing grudge with those nasty little water birds, see my Pat vs. Nature blog--specifically the duck stories, of which there are too many to be a coincidence), so this seemed like the type of sight that would enforce a mistrust or even hatred of he fowl beasts.

The boys also got the chance to feed some turtles, watch some otters swim around, and watch as Kris and I milked the simulation holstein cow they had set up (which, actually, worked almost exactly as I remembered cow udders working when I milked our cow growing up--so that was rather impressive, I guess, but my hand aches today. Because of that ache, I've decided to blame any future carpal tunnel syndrome I might develop on my milking cows by age five and NOT the hours and hours of video game playing at the computer I've done). I also got a little video of Kris and Jessica trying to change Finn's poopy diaper on the fly--while he's tipped back in his stroller. Fortunately, neither of them ever read my blog, otherwise they might be upset at me for including a video where they are obviously losing patience with each other and the situation. I, of course, found it hilarious for that and a few other reasons. I'm such a good friend.

And now Gabe is up from his nap early. His sleep schedule has been a mess the last two weeks. I miss the days of a set, reliable schedule. Guess it was good while it lasted (I REALLY miss him taking two naps a day, that was heaven, but that one I knew was too good to last--I'd hoped one longish nap would continue, but he's not been very good about it for awhile now, which makes me sad). I'll have to get to the badger story next time.