Showing posts with label animals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label animals. Show all posts
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Five Raccoons
Coming out of the King Kullen parking lot, a light blue Oldsmobile with Florida plates cruised uncertainly ahead of me. Was that an old man with a hat driving? Suddenly I was reminded of my Poppop, John S. Nagy Sr., my maternal grandfather who passed away a year ago, with the honors of being both a New York City Police Officer and Veteran of War. Not to mention world’s funniest grandfather who wore his old man’s hat with style.
The tears that came then were both of happiness and sadness – happiness that the memories of Poppop and the time we had spent together will always be with me – sadness that he is gone from this world forever, leaving his wife of several decades behind. I think of him whenever the Mets play the Marlins, because he was both a Mets fan (being a native New Yorker) and a Marlins fan (having moved to Florida in retirement).
Wiping away my tears, I was driving down the long country road that leads to my house, when my headlights shone on a family of five raccoons crossing a yard ahead of me. No one was behind me and I stopped short. I thought they had stopped right in the center of my front end. To be certain, I edged up and turned around.
No road-kill in the middle of the road. There was one raccoon on the right side of the road, standing upright and keeping watch as the other ones re-crossed in the opposite direction again. I watched as two cars sped by in the opposite direction. Why did I care?
My Dad would have said it was good riddance. In my childhood neighborhood of Bethpage, squirrels and raccoons were pests that were gotten rid of by multiple methods. Drowning, carbon monoxide, and bb guns were common methods of killing them off. A farming neighbor said that if you caught them and spray painted their tails and then drove them off to the state park, they would be back within three days. My Dad did that and sure enough there were blue-tailed squirrels running up the Maples in my backyard three days later.
The next day I went to carve up the watermelon for the kids as they swam. I searched the packed fridge and couldn’t find it. “Where did you put the watermelon?” I yelled to my son. “What watermelon?” he answered. I ran to the car and found it under the backseat. It hadn’t been fully ripe when I bought it – it was perfect now.
Why did I stop for those stupid raccoons? Again I asked myself, as I cut up the large, juicy fruit. I brought it out to my husband, kids, and nephews, who jumped out of the pool and eagerly ate it up, throwing the rinds into the woods. Some deer, or more likely a raccoon, would come eat them up, and then run out into the road on the other side. Would they make it?
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey “Zing Zang Zoom” Circus
My arms are still aching from carrying my toddler through the circus last night, but it was well worth the trouble! As a “Mom Central” promoter for the show, I and my family received free tickets and backstage passes. We also wound up getting free parking to Nassau Coliseum, as we were there well before the regular show time.
At 5:30 we were ushered into the basement of the coliseum, where all the animals were kept. We were up close with elephants, Arabian horses, miniature horses, zebras, tigers, and elephants.
I remarked that the elephants were in an area tied off only with rope, which served only as a visual deterrent to both animal and guest, whereas the zebras were in a locked paddock, and the tigers behind several layers of steel. All animals seemed content. The smell was tolerable.
The zebras caressed each other playfully.
The elephants played in the wood chips, playfully throwing it onto their backs.
We then received a personal interview with Mr. Alex the Zingmaster (so called because he was to perform several “magic” tricks throughout the show) and his nemesis, Mr. Gravity. I thought it was a clever concept to have Mr. Gravity as the enemy clown throughout the show. Mr. Alex pulled out a coin from behind my son’s ear. I don’t know how it got there.
Finally, we went down to the actual floor of the show, for the public pre-show. All ticket holders were permitted to mix with the cast of the show. Several performances were viewed up close. My 11-year-old daughter was assisted in balancing a table on her feet; you can see the back of her legs in the pictures.
We were seated halfway up, far to the right of the stage. Half the stadium was walled off, so that the entire room was a half-oval. I am guessing that, if I could see from where I was, every seat had a pretty good view.
My toddler jumped up and down throughout the show, shouting, “Hurray, ephants!…Yay orsies!…Doggies!…Lions!” No, there were no lions in this show, but she can’t differentiate between them and tigers.
My ten-year-old daughter, a great elephant lover, was completely satisfied with the trick of a dozen Asian elephants standing on each other’s backs. In an educational video I received about Barnum and Bailey’s Elephant Conservatory Park in Central Florida, I learned that this and others tricks performed by elephants are based on the natural play that they perform in the wild.
I really loved what I called “air dancing”, couples who performed on a rope high in the air, doing moves similar to what pairs figure skaters do on ice.
In all, the pre-show lasted for about an hour. The actual show went from 7:30 to approximately 10:00. I normally like to have the kids in bed by 8:00, but this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It was a great night, and well worth the trip!
Special Offer:
Purchase a 4-pack of tickets to a show in your area for $44 by logging onto www.ticketmaster.com and entering the coupon code: MOM. Additional tickets can be purchased at $11 each.
At 5:30 we were ushered into the basement of the coliseum, where all the animals were kept. We were up close with elephants, Arabian horses, miniature horses, zebras, tigers, and elephants.
I remarked that the elephants were in an area tied off only with rope, which served only as a visual deterrent to both animal and guest, whereas the zebras were in a locked paddock, and the tigers behind several layers of steel. All animals seemed content. The smell was tolerable.
The zebras caressed each other playfully.
The elephants played in the wood chips, playfully throwing it onto their backs.
We then received a personal interview with Mr. Alex the Zingmaster (so called because he was to perform several “magic” tricks throughout the show) and his nemesis, Mr. Gravity. I thought it was a clever concept to have Mr. Gravity as the enemy clown throughout the show. Mr. Alex pulled out a coin from behind my son’s ear. I don’t know how it got there.
Finally, we went down to the actual floor of the show, for the public pre-show. All ticket holders were permitted to mix with the cast of the show. Several performances were viewed up close. My 11-year-old daughter was assisted in balancing a table on her feet; you can see the back of her legs in the pictures.
We were seated halfway up, far to the right of the stage. Half the stadium was walled off, so that the entire room was a half-oval. I am guessing that, if I could see from where I was, every seat had a pretty good view.
My toddler jumped up and down throughout the show, shouting, “Hurray, ephants!…Yay orsies!…Doggies!…Lions!” No, there were no lions in this show, but she can’t differentiate between them and tigers.
My ten-year-old daughter, a great elephant lover, was completely satisfied with the trick of a dozen Asian elephants standing on each other’s backs. In an educational video I received about Barnum and Bailey’s Elephant Conservatory Park in Central Florida, I learned that this and others tricks performed by elephants are based on the natural play that they perform in the wild.
I really loved what I called “air dancing”, couples who performed on a rope high in the air, doing moves similar to what pairs figure skaters do on ice.
In all, the pre-show lasted for about an hour. The actual show went from 7:30 to approximately 10:00. I normally like to have the kids in bed by 8:00, but this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It was a great night, and well worth the trip!
Special Offer:
Purchase a 4-pack of tickets to a show in your area for $44 by logging onto www.ticketmaster.com and entering the coupon code: MOM. Additional tickets can be purchased at $11 each.
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