Feeding Giraffes in pandemic times

Well, it is finally time to start leaving the Shed. 

Yes, time to get out and be among…PEOPLE. It was hard, so many months stuck at the house, only going out in special circumstances and after quarantining. We did it! Armed with vaccines, masks and hand sanitizer, we left town, and believe it or not got together with a few of the kids and went, to the Zoo! Brave attendees of this outing have declared it a success and it has opened the door to dare I say it, to normal behavior. We did it up big, packed yummy food and drinks for lunch, and ventured out. Our mission; feed the giraffes at the Houston Zoo in Herman Park.

As an additional fee to your admission, you can, at two times during the day feed romaine lettuce to the giraffes. And it was amazing. These gentle creatures are so beautiful, and I had such a good time being up close and looking them in the eye. I love getting to do things out of the box and this was a great one.

It was a pretty day, chamber-of-commerce-weather as some say, even, dare I say…hot. Lots of animals were out and some even posed for a photo or two.

Many of the animals seemed happy to have humans to look at again, I think it has been quiet for them with “the covid” and weird weather over that past several months. This Tortoise was definitely walking across the enclosure with a purpose and actively looking at all the crazy humans.

As with all zoo visits there is always a moment that sticks with you. For me this visit was filled with X-rated pigeon activity. Those suckers were displaying and having pigeon relations all over the place, in the bushes, under pavilions, everywhere. So shocking!

Even the Meerkat was talking about them.

The Chimps were thoughtfully discussing the matter and have decided to send a strongly worded letter to Zoo management, demanding that they do something about all this. I mean can you believe it, these birds have no shame, no sense of decorum.

I think the Lemurs were taking notes, but you never know when it comes to the Lemurs, napping seems to take precedence over pigeon gossip even when things get interesting so much mating, everywhere. They probably have the healthiest attitude about it all, saying, “Just do what makes you happy dude”.

The giraffes seemed to find it all amusing, but they don’t seem to rattle easily. 

I may be scarred for life. Well, maybe not. Place winking emoji here. 

So, go friends, get outside and enjoy this weather before it gets too hot. You’ve got this!

This winter has been a wild ride

 

Life at the Shed

2021 has brought us some very interesting events and weather and we are only just ending February. January had craziness in the political scene, and a rare snow event.

The politics I can do without, the place we have come to with such insanity and fanaticism is something I never thought to witness in my lifetime or country, no good can come of this. (rant over)

So, back to snow, beautiful clean snow. The January snow was awesome, we all played in it and enjoyed the rarity of it in southeast Texas. Snowmen were made, joy was felt, we all had a good time.

At the end of January and in early February it started to warm up, early plants were starting to bloom, I looked this wildflower up, it is called Henbit…kinda tasty, yes, you can eat it. We have it all over the yard, I love it. Apparently so do chickens, hence the name.

 I was eager to start getting the garden beds prepared, mixing in compost and planning which seeds to start. It was all exciting and NORMAL. Well as normal as my sense of humor will allow as you can see with the new planter, I put out front, wink, wink. More on this one when I get the plants in place as I have big plant plans for it.

Then, February…

And over all the land there was Snowmagedon…wish I had thought of this name but, alas I am just quoting. Freezing rain, ice, snow, arctic temperatures where it is NEVER supposed to get that cold. And power grid issues, water issues, for a week! Here at the Shed we reached a low of 3^◦F on the coldest night. How is this even possible, it is truly apocalyptical stuff here man.

It must be mentioned here that we have INCREDIBLE utility management here on our side of Walker County, the folks at Midsouth Electric and Walker County SUD deserve all the kudos for keeping us in electricity and water. Can’t thank them enough for keeping us warm and pipes intact.

We did have some damages in town, but we were able to have repairs made quickly and have happy folks at our places again. So grateful that the winter storm gods have spared us the terrible trouble that folks all around us are facing with catastrophic damages to their homes and businesses. 

Between “The Covid”, crazy weather and crazier politics I wonder if we will ever get normal back. I just know that I have seen a lot of kindness happening around the little town of Huntsville, and that is a comfort after all the crazy.

I regret that I didn’t take many photos, it was just too damn cold to venture outside. Most of my bird feeder buddies made it through all this. I found three fatalities (Two Robins and one very pretty, unknown species) out in the pasture after the thaw. I am thinking that we came out well with those numbers.   

Mr. Jiggles is still kicking, thank goodness.

How is the weather now you ask? A week later, it’s hot (in comparison). No really, we can wear shorts if we want to outside as the current temperature out right now is 77^◦F and its cloudy threatening rain and thunderstorms tomorrow.  

So yeah, this winter has been a wild ride. I am up for having an adventure, but this is ridiculous. I think I will have to spend lots of time outside watching the antics of my winter visitors at the bird feeder, Pine Siskins, Golden Finches, Purple Finches and Cardinals.

 The following photos were taken today at the bird feeder I have set up. Enjoy, hope to talk at you all soon.