March 1, 2018

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On March 1, 2018, I was working on pictures I took in Cincinnati in October, 2017.  I found out it was National Pig Day, so I posted a picture of a Cincinnati zoo denizen to Instagram.

 I posted a comment identifying the pig, and got comments from people who follow me on Instagram.  One of these commenters is one of my high school friends, and the other is someone I met on Instagram.

I continued to work on processing pictures all day.



The weather was distracting.

12:13 pm.  The precipitation started with rain.  Then there were visible white bits.

12:38 pm.  There were more and more white bits.

12:49 pm.  It began to stick.

12:58 pm.

1:08 pm.  Looking at curvy car tracks.

2:16 pm.  It was as wet as it could be and still be snow.

4:26 pm.  Note odd texture in the lower left -- this is the result of big wet clumps of snow falling from the trees.

4:27 pm.  Still coming down.

5:24 pm.  Our nice young neighbor has blown the snow/slush off our sidewalk.  Thank you, John!

6:41 pm.   I can't tell if it was still coming down at this point.

7:28 pm.  The phone camera does a really nice job in low-light conditions!  This would have been basically all black, with maybe a bright spot or two, had I attempted it with the "real" camera.

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Fiona Rules!

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We like the Cincinnati Zoo.  And Fiona rules!  :-)

https://local.citybeat.com/publication/best-of-cincinnati/2018


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October 27, 2017

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Heading south from Cincinnati on October 27, 2017, so I could hug sheep on October 28th.

Closer crop of the above.  This does not look good.  20 minutes to go 9 miles?  No.

Goodbye, Cincinnati.

Looks like they weren't kidding about 9 miles in 20 minutes.  Can you see the line of trucks, as far as the eye can see?  (Bending to the left, under the bridge.....)

There are lots of bridges from Cincinnati which go south across the mighty Ohio.  We got off the interstate, took another bridge, and rejoined the interstate in Kentucky.  In less than 20 minutes, and we weren't stuck in stop-and-go traffic!



We headed for Lexington.  Lexington was FULL of traffic.  It seemed like everywhere in northern Kentucky was full of traffic on October 27.  Something unusual was probably happening.

We looked at what there was to do in Lexington, and settled on a walk in the University of Kentucky's arboretum.  There are many pleasant paths, through manicured gardens, and through wilder areas.

Coneflowers.

Beauty berry.  I still can't get used to this.  These perfectly purple berries -- whenever I first spot them, I think they are painted styrofoam.  Then I remember they are real berries.........

Rose.

I have no idea what this is, and it's rather moth-eaten, but the color!!!

Fungus on a downed tree.

A really BIG downed tree!  We saw lots of *big* trees down in the arboretum.  We don't know what happened to them.  This end of this one was clearly cut.

Another look at the fungus.

Closer crop of the above -- someone's seed, resting on the fungus.  (Love my "slow magnifying glass"....)

Rustic throne cut into large tree stump.

Another big tree, pining for the fjords.

These two not-so-little guys were marching across the path.  I have no idea what they meant to be when they grow up.  I'd never seen two, together, on what looked like the same mission across pavement.....

Castor bean, kale, salvia. 

Another look at the castor beans and salvia.  They were really this red.

We stopped at Target in Lexington to stock up on Cheerios and Vanilla Wafers, the better to make friends with sheeps.



Then we headed into horse country.  Lots of BIG establishments, with lots of green grass and pretty ponies.







I'll finish my description of the 27th with my MacGyver moment.

The bathroom in the B&B where we stayed had a motion-sensor-activated bathroom fan.  Even in the dark, that fan went on, regardless of whether you turned the light on.  (Yes, in the middle of the night, the fan was going to go on  !!!  >:-(  )


I went looking for the sensor, and, luckily, it was right down where I could get at it.  They had thoughtfully provided us with (light stopping!) foil candy wrappers.  I sacrificed a bandaid to hold the candy wrapper over the sensor. 

This worked like a charm.  No fan.  Yay.  I love quiet.............................

It occurs to me now that there are many other ways to stop a motion sensor.  Including duct tape, which we often travel without because we fly and it's heavy.

I bet a wad of chewing gum would work, too.  I'll hold that thought for a time when I may not have other options!
 

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October 26, 2017: Cincinnati zoo again, part 3

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I think this is my favorite picture from October 26, 2017.  No fencing.  No dirty plexiglas with glare all over it.  Pretty colors, nice plants, relatively sharp, nicely-lit Ruppell's vulture -- and, hey, wait, who's that in the upper right?  Mr. Lion, that's who!

I never saw the lion until I saw the image above on "the big screen."  The lions are not in the same enclosure with the "on the grass" animals we've been looking at.  But isn't it cool that he looks like he is?



Flamingos.  Flamingos are docile enough that they can be with keepers, and I think it's fairly common for them to go for walks through zoos, when there are several keepers (and/or volunteers) to walk with them.  These were juveniles who had been walked from their usual enclosure to a small one where we could be within 6 feet of them.

Flamingo chicks are gray.  They slowly turn pink over the next couple of years, if they eat food with the right colorants in it.  Note that these two have gray legs and the one above has pink legs.....

Person for scale.  Not a terribly big person.  Maybe they were about 4'8"?

Mr. Lion with part of his harem.

At least four lions in this enclosure.

Closer crop.

I love images like the above, where there is nothing but a bit of distance between us and the critters.



Also love to be within a foot or two of an animal, with plexiglas in between.  Even when there are reflections all over the plexi and it's harder to see the animal.

Parade of giraffes.

Ever'body thinks the grass is greener on the other side of the barrier.  I'm a bit surprised the logs are a barrier.  Maybe it's because the ground behind them is lower?

Heffalumps.

Her face was totally dark before I lightened it up.  I don't think it's really scraped (as I believe it seems to be in this image).

Speed brothers!  This enclosure was big enough that these guys could run.  There were two out there when we visited.  I believe the brothers are young.  They were chasing each other, which was pretty cool to see.  A cheetah, chasing something that runs ... as fast as a cheetah!

Ok, I want to live in a house where there are (safe and properly cared-for) cheetahs in the yard next door!

This is a crummy pic, but I want to remember that there were two of them in there, and that they were playing with each other.

A lovely day.

My better half found us a very nice pizza parlor near the zoo.  It was early, but the restaurant was crowded.  We enjoyed our pizza and a very nice salad.  We'd eat there again, if we lived nearby.

And thus endeth October 26.



Well, nearly endeth it...................

One of my blogging friends lives in Kentucky.  She has sheep and dogs and cats and chickens.  Every year she has Hug A Sheep day.  I would love to do Hug A Sheep day!  Only ... Kentucky is pretty far from Michigan.

In 2017, Hug A Sheep day was October 28th.  On the evening of October 26th, I realized that I was in *Cincinnati*, NOT in Ann Arbor!  It would be one hour to Hug A Sheep day, not six hours!

We talked about hugging sheep, and my indulgent better half suggested that we stay an extra day so I could hug sheep.

He found us a place to stay on the 27th that was very near my friend's farm.  Instead of going home on the 27th as planned, we would go a bit farther south.

The 26th actually ended with this very uncharacteristic change of plans.


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October 26, 2017: Cincinnati zoo again, part 2

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Kendi was born just a few months after Fiona.  He was a full-term baby, and his mom has been raising him since the beginning.

Hothouse flowers. 

Closer.

Lizard.  I failed to capture the ID info.

Frog (or toad?) with turquoise tootsies.

Excellent wall tile.

The 26th really was a very nice day.

Tree bark.

Lesser kudu.  Wish I'd managed to catch all of his shadow....

Interesting that a deer-like critter has such a long tail.

Lappet-faced vulture.

Something about the vulture's stance made me want to cue the Pink Panther music (it's the first 15 seconds of the music that I'm thinking of.......).




He(?) *was* stalking!  It's chow time!  Note how he's standing on a log?  He's trained to do that.  Keepers work to teach the animals to stay put in a given location.  It helps people take care of them (weigh them, for example).  They are working to get the vultures to let them put their special logs on a scale....  (Slowly, slowly, so they aren't scared by the change from "on the grass" to "on some machinery on top of a piece of plywood".....)

Poor chopped-up wings.  :-( 



Ostrich in that same Africa enclosure.

The 26th was much nicer than the 24th, but the painted dogs were asleep anyway.  (They are near that big grass enclosure above, but do not have access to it.)

The meerkats are in their own enclosure very near the critters above.

Fiona (and her mom Bibi) are right near the meerkats.  We were lucky on the 24th -- hardly any people.  I'm sure this is "almost no people" compared to summertime, but opportunities for photography were fewer than on the 24th.  I am very glad we got so many good pics on the 24th.

People come from everywhere to see Fiona.  When we were there, we heard people say they were from New Jersey and Chicago (in addition to Michigan!).


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