Blast Blogger!

I wrote an amusing and photo heavy post of our activities yesterday, and it will not let me load the photos. I think, perhaps, the airwaves are clogged with angst-ridden teens blogging about the clueless monstrosities that have unaccountably been assigned to them as families, and the extremity of the agony endured when the whole clan assembles for food and football.

We on the otherhand, went to the zoo! The metro area just passed a big bond levy to support and expand the zoo, and in gratitude, the zoo was open and free today. It was damn chilly, but we went anyhow. And we had so much fun.

The animals are always rude to me. Hippos showed me their bums.

The sea lions made faces at me.

The sea otter was paddling around, floating on his back and working vigorously at a patch on his tummy. Then I realized that he was cleaning his boy bits. A couple of dads came by, noticed, and one said, “Well, it looks like the otter’s really lonely. Let’s go kids.” I could hear a childish voice trailing after him asking, “But if he’s lonely, shouldn’t we keep him company?”

The chimps were placidly picking their noses and then sucking their fingers.

The Mandrill was picking fleas off his toes.

The orangutan was wishing he was back in Sumatra with a lovely lady orang of his own.

And the new star of the zoo, baby Samudra was out with his mom and an aunty.

It was crowded,

And kept getting colder. Even pink princesses were bundled up.

Rather than let DH get chilled, we cut our tour short and headed back to the barn. But return trips are definitely in the offing.

We lounged at home for a few placid hours, warming up to room temperature and recouping our energies, then we dressed up and met C&J for dinner at the Portland Steak and Chop House. Don't we all look nice?

We had cocktails and DH explained the three degrees of cocktails - "Sophistication, relaxation, humiliation. I like to stick to the first one."

Here are my tiger prawns with grilled asparagus. Who needs turkey when there are tiger prawns available?

C and DH preffered turkey. J had prime rib. Dining out is SOO nice! No house cleaning before, no hours in the kitchen, a leisurely, delectable meal, followed by no dishes, no football, and no leftovers to portion out. It's an annual tradition for us.

May your shopping days be sane and may you emerge unscathed!