Wild Animals

It was another glorious day in sunny Southern California, starting with a beautiful sunrise.  This morning however, it happens to be pretty overcast.  Here's hoping we don't have much rain!!  Thankfully, after living on the lake here last year, the men all brought their easy-ups to keep us dry.

Back to the Living Desert, there were lots of critters there who didn't care about the rain.

It was the human kind of critter that was working on the garden railroad, fixing minor slides and cleaning the tracks.  There's everything here from waterfalls to the Grand Canyon, each section having it's own train running the entire time.  

If you have an interest in trains, you can sign up to sponsor your own little town, or at the very least, have a billboard with your company name.  I think you can even build your own little section.

After the fabulous time with the Cheetahs, we began to wander the park, where these little guys were stealing all the food they could.  Fat and sassy, they weren't very scared of the humans ... probably because that's where most of the food came from.

This was an interesting creature from Madagascar I think.  Kind of like a kitty, or maybe a dog, with a tail much longer than it's body, it's closest relative being the Elephant.  WHAT??  Now that's weird!!

The bighorn sheep have a great habitat.  The entire rocky mountain behind them is all theirs to scramble over.  There were two big males at the bottom stripping bark from big limbs, but all I could get was butt pictures.

Three Mexican Wolves also had a nice habitat with lots of room to roam.  They too had a waterfall and nice pond to cool off in.  Like me, the one in front had a little arthritis and was walking rather stiffly.

Here's my boy .. talk about a face only a mother could love!  This warthog has some nice tusks.  I wouldn't want to get in an argument with him.

Finally we wandered down to the animal show to find dinosaurs walking the earth.  What a great halloween costume.  I HAVE to look into that!!  They snorted, growled and blinked their eyes just like the real thing.

Next up was the Golden Eagle who is supposed to fly to these stations for a snack.  This little guy got there first.  See the dark spot at the bottom of the picture?  That's the snack this little birdie dropped because it was too heavy for him to carry.  

The eagle got back on track and finished with a fly-by.  

The show was more geared to the kids, and I admit I flaked out more than once.  This is a hawk, but I don't remember it's name.  She's a beauty though and flew her part of the show perfectly.  

This African porcupine did her part as well, cleaning up all the leftovers.

The Serval Cat is kind of like the cheetahs.  Their stare is intense, always looking for a BIG snack.  If you want to hold and pet one of these babies, stop in at the West Coast Game Park Safari in Bandon Oregon.

Lastly, this cutie patootie came down the fence, over the roof and jumped down on several boxes to do her part for the show.  She picked up all the trash, 5 or 6 cans, and placed them in the blue barrel.

That was the end of the Living Desert with one exception, which I'll show you tomorrow.  It was actually time to work yesterday at noon.  We set up for the Chapter Fair which immediately follows the Newcomers Seminar.  We now have two new members and two on the hook, which we hope to convince to join us.    

Following the Chapter Fair, where we were all chastised like little kids for talking by the cranky teacher, we packed up and headed back to the rigs, in spite of the warning "don't you DARE leave before 3:00".  We were gone by 2:30.  BAD Golden Spikes!!

Our big potluck dinner was last night, with barbecued pork loin and planked salmon.  Stuffed to the gills, we barely made it through the business meeting.  If it weren't for all the laughter and fun, I'm sure we would all have been asleep.  

Today we have a pancake breakfast totally prepared by the men, while the women sip their coffee and watch the fun.  The FMCA Beach Party Parade is at 4:00, followed by OUR pizza party.  You are never lacking for something to do with this group!!