Animal

Meeting Ducks for the First Time

Gaston, our puppy, and I had gone to drop off Oldest at school yesterday morning. When we dropped off Youngest an hour prior, it had been super foggy. So foggy that Oldest, who was in the car, told me that it reminded him of a horror movie. He was expecting some tentacles to drop out of the sky.

Since the drive to Oldest’s school is country roads, we opted to wait a little bit before driving him to school. Once we got to his school, the sky had changed from super foggy to a glorious blue sky.

Gaston had seen a duck once before from a distance. However, this was the first time he saw one up close. He kept trying to get to the ducks.

He also enjoyed meeting a few other dogs.

Dobby, our previous dog, was adventurous. Fortunately Gaston is the same way. He is going to love exploring places around our area this summer.

Have a blessed day,
Traci

Sunflowers | September 9, 2019

Every year or almost every year since 2010, we have a tradition of going to see the sunflowers in a town near us.

They have a field that blooms for about 2 weeks. It is absolutely gorgeous so many people stop to take photos and even draw pictures of the sunflowers.

It’s gotten so popular that they have a parking area which they never had before a few years ago. I used to have to sort of parallel park in the grass near the field.

As I said, we go every year or almost every year. I have found photos from 2010, 2011, and then 2014-2019. I don’t remember if we went in 2012 or 2013.

This year, we took the Oldest’s girlfriend. She had never been to the field before so it was fun to watch her discover the absolute beauty of the field.

While walking through the rows of sunflowers, you have to be careful of the bees because they love to hang out there and the prickly plants that grow near the sunflowers. Other than that, it’s fun to get lost in the hundreds of sunflowers.

We also have a tradition of going to the local dairy that is just down the road after visiting the sunflowers. So we did that also on Monday. Oldest’s girlfriend hadn’t been to Young’s Dairy for a while so it was fun to treat her to ice cream made with milk from cows from the dairy and to watch her feed the goats.

Visiting the sunflowers is one memory that the boys are going to carry with them for the rest of their lives. Even though Youngest would have rather stayed at home and played on the computer.

Enjoy the video.

Stay kind!

Have a magical day,
Traci

The Wilds – Part 3 (Pasture Tour)

“Did you know that giraffes sleep for only 5 to 30 minutes a day?”

Part 1

Part 2 – Pasture Tour Part 1

On July 10, one of the giraffes had a live birth.  Those who were on the pasture tour during that day got to watch the baby being born.  Our instructors got to watch it because they were at the Wilds to prepare for our workshop.

I got to see some of video they took of the baby being born.

Sadly 2 months after the baby was born, the baby died unexpectantly.  I was fortunate to get some great photos of Masai.

collage20collage21collage22collage23

The last collage is of Masai and his mother.

collage24

Did you know that a group of rhinos is called a crash?

collage25collage26collage27

These are the sable antelope from Africa.  The tsetse fly spreads a disease called the sleeping disease.  However, at one point it was thought it was spread by the sable antelope.  They started to kill the sable antelope which in turn caused the occurance of the sleeping disease to increase.  It was later discovered that it was not the sable antelope but the tsetse fly that spread the disease.

 

collage28

The beautiful hawk that was flying.

collage29collage30

The Pere David deer – This deer is actually extinct in the wild.

Interesting fact about the Pere David deer is their mating rituals.  They go into the water and gather algae on their horns (sort of like decorations).  Then they roll around in the mud.  The lady deer love it.

 

collage31collage32

Bactarian deer

collage33

The male Pere David deer with all of his ladies.

collage34

View from the over look

I hope you enjoyed my photos from my visit to the Wilds.  It’s one of my favorite places to visit.

 

Have a magical day,
Traci

The Wilds – Part 2 (Pasture Tour)

“Did you know that the Sichuan takin’s funny looking nose helps warm up the air?”

Part 1

After eating our lunch, sketching animals, and then the keeper talk with the African painted dog, the workshop participants got back on the bus for a condensed pasture tour.

We lucked out with a great tour guide who had a lot of knowledge about the animals.  Plus many animals were out in the pasture.

I brought my long lens so I was able to get a lot of great photos.

collage12

This is a banteng and an eld’s deer.  The banteng is a wild cow species typically found in Thailand.

collage13

The winter home for some of the animals, some of the scenery, and how the mow some of the pasture.

collage14

The Sichuan takin and one of the deer species.

collage15

The Sichuan takin – He actually a goat-antelope.  They live in cold regions so their noses warming up the air helps their lungs not seize up with cold air.

They live in the same bamboo forests as the giant panda.

Aren’t they cute animals?

collage16

collage17

More of the winter homes.

There was a back up at the one gate.  The giraffes were in an ackward spot.  If they opened the gate, the girafees might have escaped.  So those tours needed to wait.

collage18

The zebras just wanted to stand under the shelter.

 

collage19

The scimitar-horned oryx – This species has been extinct in the wild for the past 40 years.  Several zoos and conservation organizations have been working on reintroduced them to the wild.

Since I have a lot of photos from the pasture tour, I’m going to have a part 3 of this series.

In the next blog post, I’m going to share the giraffe, Pere David’s Deer, and Bactarian camel photos.

Have a magical day,
Traci