10 Things I've Done You Probably Haven't...

 

I found this first at John Scalzi's Journal...  By the Way , and then, owing to John's long reach, saw it in several other Journals. It was even mentioned by Paul --see his take on it here  at Aurora Walking Vacation-- and, although he thought it was a little silly <g>, I was still contemplating wether to do this or not when received an IM from  pixiedustnme. (She has one of my favorite Journals In My Opinion) She asked if I was going to do it, and expressed a desire to see what I would come up with, so I decided why not, it could be fun.

Your Wednesday Meme: 10 Things I've Done You Probably Haven't

This is a fun thing that's been going around the Web these days, so I thought I'd import it here to the AOL-J: Ten Things I've Done You Probably Haven't.

The idea here is to note things you've done that you think are pretty unique -- although, given what's happened in other blogs and journals where this game is being played, you'll be surprised at how many people end up saying "Hey, I've done that, too!" Put them up in your own Journal and let the fun begin (you can also add your list in comments, or put a link back to any entry you write).

So, without further Ado.... Ten Things I've done that you probably haven't....

1. I livedon a Train -- this was actually my only residence year round!

2. Raised a couple of sets of baby tigers... from bottles to teaching them to eat meat (Yes, you have to teach them to eat meat <LOL>)

3. Entered a cage with adult tigers that I had NOT raised... and walked back out of the cage.... Gunther Gabel-Williams used to tell people that walking INTO the cage was the easy part, walking OUT was the hard part <g> hmmmm... I wonder if some of the people I have met could be a separate one?? I've been fortunate enough to work with (and around) several really great trainers.

4. Kissed G. on the top of the Empire State Building AND the Space Needle in the same year

5. Ridden a Royal Lippizan in a show in front of a paying audience. Square Danced on Horseback. Ran around at top speed carrying flags and flaming torches. Ridden sidesaddle while dancing the Macarama (O.k.... that ones kind of embarrassing ,g>)

6. Drug on the ground behind a wagon (dressed as an Indian) pulled by a pair of horses, climbed up in it.... and then mock fought with the guy dressed as a cavalry officer! Oh... and I've driven the pair of horses while someone ELSE drug behind dressed as the Indian <LOL>

7. Been almost completely covered up under a pile of adolescent Tigers.

8. Lived in a closed down train station in Mexico City -- with Armed Guards at the gates (they had Uzies... really!!). They parked our train there... Believe it or not, there was a Wal-Mart just 2 blocks away <g>

9. Ridden subways in New York City, Washington D.C. AND Mexico City, Mexico.

10. Driven a Chariot pulled by a team of horses.... AND a break-away chariot (think Ben Hur... the chariot breaks apart from the team of horses and you are drug out to the chariot and across the arena!)

And a couple of bonus ones...

11. Ridden on an elephant the 'correct' way (i.e. sitting on the neck behind the ears -- not in one of those basket thingies <g>)

12. Helped teach Zebras to lead on a line-- and eventually perform with some horses.

13. Both Hung upside down from and stood up on a horse while it ran across an arena.

14. Went to a Black Tie affair held at Madison Square Gardens. It was for our 'official' opening of our show, but we had been traveling and doing the show for 3months <g>.

15. Walked with animals (horses, elephants) from Queens to Madison Square Gardens thru the Midtown Tunnel (The police close down the tunnel one way to let us thru!) at 2 am

Sidenote: I did the written part of this on Friday night, but decided I would add some pictures. <sigh> I don't know if it was AOL, or my broadband connection, but I haven't been able to hold a connection long enough to get anything uploaded till tonight <bigger sigh> I could do anything else, but the minute I would try to upload a picture -- Boot! I wanted to do the pics thru the YGP feature so that you don't have to see the pics unless you want to. I know some people have dial up <smile>.

Baby Pictures

 

        

One of the reasons that Spring is one of my favorite seasons has nothing to do with the return of longer days, or warmer weather, or the flowers blooming, or any of the other things that many people in J-land are wishing and waiting for....

For me, Spring has always meant... BABIES! Even before I started working around exotic animals, I worked with horses. So, come the first week in February, we would begin watching the mares for the impending birth of our next set of Champions.

This year, I am not working with any animals that are about to have babies, but I have alerts set up with several zoos, National Geographic, and AOL News for info on new babies. G. comes home occasionally with news of babies either being born or being expected where he works. The man who boards my horse breeds and trains bird dogs, and he has a set of puppies that are just starting to venture out. On the trip to and from visiting Boo, I am starting to see baby cows and goats and things. Awwwww..... Spring!

In my e-mail this weekend, I noticed two articles about animals being born. What is really wonderful about these births is that both are from animal species that are very endangered.

Sooooo, without further ado, let me introduce you to a couple of adorable new additions to the world!

First is a cute little cheetah cub and his Mommy. This little 10 week old cub is one of a litter of 4 born at the National Zoo on Nov 23. If you live near Washington D.C. and the zoo you can see these little guys! They went on exhibit on the 7th of Feb. The National Zoo has been around for 115 years, and these are the FIRST cheetah cubs born there. See, cheetahs rarely breed in captivity, and they are disappearing in the wild, so the birth of these four little guys is a huge reason to celebrate. According to the article in National Geographic, there are only 260 Cheetahs in North American Zoos, and only about 15,000 in the wild....

Our next little guy was born on Jan 7 and made HIS public debut at the California San Diego Wild Animal Park on Feb 11. He is an Indian rhino, and is being raised by the staff there. Don't you just love his little stuffed Elephant?? The San Diego Wild Animal Park has had some luck breeding these particular animals, and this little guy is number 46 born there since 1978. According to the article accompanying this picture in National Geographic, these animals have been placed on the endangered species list with only about 2,000 remaining in the wild.

Awwww... Spring! Time of birth and new hope!

Original pictures from National Geographic

Happy Valentines Day...

Happy Valentines Day!! I hope no one has trouble reading this entry, but I couldn't resist the background and the burgundy type for this entry. At least I don't do it often!

A while back I saw on the bulletin board, or maybe in a Journal someplace, people discussing getting stuffed Teddy Bears with little sayings for Valentines Day and how silly it was. And I was right there with, "Yeah, How lame is that?? A Teddy Bear with some kind of cute little saying. Who needs that? Ranks right up there with the dead flowers!"

Little did I know that G. was about to make me eat my words! <LOL> He came home the other night and just had to give me my Valentines Day present RIGHT THEN! Have I mentioned in other entries that G. is not real good at keeping something secret? Well, he's not! He's one of those people who doesn't Christmas shop till the last minute. Not because he isn't thinking about it, not because he is a procrastinator, but solely because he is incapable of buying me a present and not immediately giving it to me! <G>

Anyway, this is what I got for Valentines Day, along with the traditional Heart shaped box of chocolates..... But, it is NOT a Teddy Bear! It's a Tiger... in a motorcycle jacket!!! That's sooo different.. Yeah, right... <G> Oh, and his little T-shirt even has a cute saying... Wild Thing!

I also got another unexpected gift. If you look over to the left in my About Me space you will see a new TAG! The wonderful Lahoma of Lahoma's Laments saw this tag and thought of me. Not only did she think of me and offer to send me the tag, but she even added my name to it! Thanks Lahoma! {{{{{{{{{Hugs}}}}}}}



background from Absolute Backgrounds

Super Bowl XXXIX

 

After seeing my entry for John's Weekend Assignment, G. laughingly allowed me to enjoy the Super Bowl in my own way!! He watched the game while I read Journals and message boards, and perused one of my new books -- Totally Tasteless Photo Shop Elements. Each time a set of commercials would come up, he would alert me...

"Hon, your part is on"

"Hon, new commercials"

"Baby, heads up commercials"

<LOL> So, in my own way I enjoyed the Super Bowl. I even watched the Halftime Show, which turned out to not be so bad... That stage that Paul McCartney had was amazing to say the least.

My Favorite commercial spots were by Ameriquest and the set of four where labeled as Don't Judge to Quickly.... When you click on the link it will give you the opportunity to check out all 4 of the spots. My favorite was Surprise Dinner.

So, Thank you G. for making my Super Bowl dream come true <ROFL>

Graphics from Useless Graphics and Flaming Text

Weekend Assignment #46

Well, I had extra time this weekend (and absolutely no inspiration for a Journal entry <g>), so I went over to John's Journal to see what was up with the weekend assignment...

It's Super Bowl Weekend, so naturally, there had to be a Super Bowl Weekend Assignment:

Weekend Assignment #46: Make one new rule to apply to the Super Bowl. This new rule can apply to any aspect of the Super Bowl, from the game to the spectators, to the halftime show, to the commercials. If it's got something to do with the Super Bowl, you can make up a rule about it.

Extra Credit: Your pick for winner of the Super Bowl. Naturally, don't bother doing the extra credit if it's Sunday evening.

And my first thought was: "Super Bowl???"

My Second was: "Oh yeah... I think I saw something about that being this weekend."

My Third was: "Super Bowl... Super Bowl... Oh! That's Football.. Isn't it??"

My Fourth was: "Change something about the Super Bowl Hmmmmm...."

And, this is what I came up with! Since the only thing that interests me about the Super Bowl is the Cool Commercials, my change to the Super Bowl is This: 

I want all of the Cool Commercials grouped together so I can watch them all at one time without suffering thru watching the whole Football Thing <LOL>

Extra Credit: I Choose ... The Eagles... Not because I care if they win or not, but I just like the name and the logo <ROFL>

Graphics from useless graphics and The Eagles Websites