A long overdue trip to the zoo
London's been starting his days sharing cereal with Mumpa on the couch.
Sometimes he makes a playnest in the laundry room, with Elmo, some snacks, and his favorite toys.
After living in Merced for 13 months, and on just about the last weekend day that I could have (before we move), I finally took London to the Merced Zoo today.
It's not a big zoo, but it's nicely laid out, clean, and well-maintained. We went in the morning, when it wasn't too hot, and all of the animals were out. London liked the deer.
He was a little more nervous around the swans.
We also saw a coyote...
A couple of bobcats...
Some emus...
Some goofy raccoons...
A big momma bear...
And her playful baby.
My favorites were the cougars, which I never gotten such a good look at in my life. They were up roaming around, huge and gorgeous.
London's favorites were the goats. At first he was a little nervous. But they sold cups of feed for a quarter, and pretty soon...
...he was feeding the goats...
...and laughing when their tongues tickled his hands.
Lots of little kids had spilled feed where the little goats couldn't reach, and London spent a few minutes picking up the extra feed and giving it to the babies.
There were a couple of greedy billy goats that would butt the babies out of the way, and it was my job to feed them just enough to keep them distracted so London could feed the little ones.
We went through three cups of feed, plus the equivalent of another cup that London picked up. He loved the little goats.
I feel like a moron for not taking him sooner.
It's a microcosm of our year here in Merced: lots of good stuff not done because I was too busy. Too busy teaching, too busy trying to get some research done, too busy working my butt off for an institution that is happy to treat lecturers as wage slaves and ignore the possibility that any of us might want something better or more permanent.
Vicki and I will both be even busier teaching at Western, at least until the end of October. But we'll be less busy overall, because we know that our teaching duties for this academic year end on Halloween. So we don't have to try to juggle teaching, research, writing, and committee work. For September and October we can just teach, and let everything else slide. That's not just acceptable, it's expected. We have the rest of the year to do all that other stuff.
And something I'll be doing, both during and after the teaching block, is spending more time with my family. Taking more walks, playing more games, reading more books, getting more sleep, and stressing a lot less.
One more month, and then we're outta here.
I can't wait.
Sometimes he makes a playnest in the laundry room, with Elmo, some snacks, and his favorite toys.
After living in Merced for 13 months, and on just about the last weekend day that I could have (before we move), I finally took London to the Merced Zoo today.
It's not a big zoo, but it's nicely laid out, clean, and well-maintained. We went in the morning, when it wasn't too hot, and all of the animals were out. London liked the deer.
He was a little more nervous around the swans.
We also saw a coyote...
A couple of bobcats...
Some emus...
Some goofy raccoons...
A big momma bear...
And her playful baby.
My favorites were the cougars, which I never gotten such a good look at in my life. They were up roaming around, huge and gorgeous.
London's favorites were the goats. At first he was a little nervous. But they sold cups of feed for a quarter, and pretty soon...
...he was feeding the goats...
...and laughing when their tongues tickled his hands.
Lots of little kids had spilled feed where the little goats couldn't reach, and London spent a few minutes picking up the extra feed and giving it to the babies.
There were a couple of greedy billy goats that would butt the babies out of the way, and it was my job to feed them just enough to keep them distracted so London could feed the little ones.
We went through three cups of feed, plus the equivalent of another cup that London picked up. He loved the little goats.
I feel like a moron for not taking him sooner.
It's a microcosm of our year here in Merced: lots of good stuff not done because I was too busy. Too busy teaching, too busy trying to get some research done, too busy working my butt off for an institution that is happy to treat lecturers as wage slaves and ignore the possibility that any of us might want something better or more permanent.
Vicki and I will both be even busier teaching at Western, at least until the end of October. But we'll be less busy overall, because we know that our teaching duties for this academic year end on Halloween. So we don't have to try to juggle teaching, research, writing, and committee work. For September and October we can just teach, and let everything else slide. That's not just acceptable, it's expected. We have the rest of the year to do all that other stuff.
And something I'll be doing, both during and after the teaching block, is spending more time with my family. Taking more walks, playing more games, reading more books, getting more sleep, and stressing a lot less.
One more month, and then we're outta here.
I can't wait.
posted by Vicki at 6:05 PM
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