The End of the Journey

Many people have asked me how I feel about leaving the museum.  Am I coming back?  Did I have a good stay?  Am I sad about leaving?

Yes, I had a wonderful time at the museum.  I loved every minute of the time that flew by.  I’m sad to leave some very dear Christians behind and (I know this might sound weird) I’m a little blue to leave one tiny pygmy goat behind as well. 

Licklick.  Her name is actually spelled Liklik (I found that out a few days ago) and her sister’s name is not Bandi.  I was told Bandi  by a confused and stressed out zoo keeper.  Her name is really Bindi.  Close . . . right?  Anyway, she’s one little girl I’m going to miss (Liklik, not Bindi – even though Bindi is cute too).

About coming back . . . only the Lord knows if He will let me do this or that. 🙂

The trip to the Creation Museum was well worth my time and effort.  I learned many valuable things and met some very valuable people.

So, I will end with this thought –

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: 

Fear God and keep His commandments, 

For this is man’s all.

For God will bring every work into judgement,

Including every secret thing,

Whether good or evil.”

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

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The Aquarium

Hello everyone, sorry I haven’t written in a while.  I won’t bore you with the reasons on why you haven’t heard from me (busy, nothing much to write about, too tired, etc.), and shall instead just tell you about our visit to the Newport Aquarium.

Sea Turtle

 

The aquaruim was a facinating place, filled with sea creatures, birds, amphibians and other creatures of fantastic colors, shapes and sizes.  We were able to touch sharks, feed lorikeets and watch a family of otters play.  You may ask, “What’s with the otters?  What do they have to do with an aquaruim?  Isn’t an aquaruim for fish?”

Yes, an “aquaruim” is for keeping fish.  But if you’ll recall, a fish tank is also a good place to hold your gerbils, reptiles and amphibians (turtles are concidered amphibians).

So, if the aquaruim has a family of otters in a certain exhibit, who’s to say boo?  I know I won’t, especially since I’m not footing the electric, food, or water bill for these fun-loving creatures. : )

Spiny Lobster

 

Now this is a creature my dad would like on his dinner plate. 

Spiny lobsters, also known as langouste or rock lobsters are a family (Palinuridae) of about 45 species  of achelate crustaceans, in the Decapoda Reptantia. Spiny lobsters are also called crayfish, sea crayfish or crawfish. Like true lobsters, spiny lobsters are edible and are an economically significant food source; they are the biggest food export of the Bahamas.

The largest spiny lobster on record was over 3 ft long and weighed over 26 lb.  They were created on day five in the creation week.

 

Lorikeets

 

Lories and lorikeets are small to medium-sized arboreal parrots which compose the subfamily Loriinae. They are widely distributed throughout the Australasian region, including south-eastern Asia, Polynesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia, and the majority have very brightly colored plumage.  They were created on day five as well.

My parakeet, Percy, would have loved the small (I say small because I’m sure there are larger ones out there . . . somewhere) aviary.

The lorikeets were quite friendly birds, albeit a little shy at first.  If you look closely you’ll notice that I’m holding a small plastic cup in my right hand.  That is a small cup of necter which the birds love to drink.  They cost $1 and are a bucket load of fun.  I think that was the best dollar I spent there. : )

 

p.s. the information concerning the Spiny Lobsters and the Lorikeets was copied from Wikipedia (the free encyclopedia).

The Wind and the Weather

“The wind goes toward the south,

And turns around to the north;

The wind whirls about continually,

And comes again on  its circuit.”

Ecclesiatses 1:6

This tree branch went right through the bridge.

 

Here’s some pictures of the weather on Sunday. Winnie the Pooh might call it Wind’s Day (get it? Wednesday . . . Wind’s Day . . . okay maybe that wasn’t very funny, just keep reading and forget the joke).

 

Statues have been tipped over

 

We have a few tree’s down . . . more than just a few, actually. The entire rain forest section of the gardens was a disaster area and people are still without power (not us or the museum, thankfully).

 

Notice the downed trees. And the wind blowing the plants.

Most of today (Tuesday) was spent with the grounds crew raking, picking up sticks and moving large branches after the guys used a chain saw on a few of the trees. They still have many more trees to go.

 

Big branch

 

The petting zoo is finally open. They were closed Sunday and Monday.

 

The portable pavillion was blown down (and almost away)

Right. Enjoy the pictures (notice the tent, it folded like an accordion).

 

another picture : )

The Cost (and what it’s worth)

Everyone says how lucky or how blessed we are to visit the Museum, to enter without paying the fee or watch the movies/planetarium/special effects theater without cost . . . ah, but there is a cost.

Allow me to introduce you to the piles of goat dung in the petting zoo, or the mounds of “blue sheets” that need to be alphabetized and filed away . . . by hand. Shall I mention the stacks of quarters, pennies, nickels and dimes which are rolled into neat tubes. It can take a few hours to make enough for the numerous cash registers around the museum grounds. And then there’s the shrink wrap machine. The thought makes my feet hurt. Stand there for a few hours and shrink wrap Ken Ham’s latest book . . . that’ll make you think about the cost.

Now before you go and think that I’m complaining, permit me to assure you that I’m not. I love the goats (even their messy side). “Blue sheets” give me excellent mental exercise (the joke in the office is: When they start singing the ABC song, you know they’ve had enough). Rolling quarters and other forms of money gives one a taste of being the filthy rich banker (I know why they’re called filthy now . . . have you ever realized just how dirty money is? I walked away from rolling coins and the tips of my fingers were grey). And the shrink wrap machine . . . yes, hmm, what can I say about the shrink wrap machine? Well, there’s nothing to say about the machine, but the employees working in the warehouse know how to talk politics and you can read Ken Ham’s latest book before anybody else does.

So, there is a slight cost, but is it worth it?

Completely.

P.S. Besides, they feed you ice cream sundaes

 

Free Ice Cream

Pictures that can say a thousand words

The botanist

 

The Museum

 

 

Riding a triceritops

 

 

From the garden of Eden

 

 

The garden animals

 

 

A vegetarian dinosaur . . . created on day six

 

 

Still eating a fruit breakfast

 

 

The Tree of Life

 

 

The Serpent of Old

Dinosaur pictures (an encounter with the extinct)

Dino bones

 

 

The mighty T-Rex (rumor is: he ate water melons)

 

 

 

This is a protoceritops . . . and he likes Laurel

 

 

 

Everybody duck!

 

 

 

Raptors . . . created on day six

A Day in the Life of a Zoo Keeper

Bandi and Licklick

 

Goats are amazing creatures. They have cloven hooves and their eyes are like no other animal’s. Notice the iris and pupils if you would.

Today was my first full day as a Zoo keeper and I can assure you that I loved every moment of it. I was totally in my element not to mention the fact that the goats adored me. My first chore was to muck out the poo from the two goat pens, as well as rake up the fallen straw. After that I was assigned the task of taking two goats at a time out for a twenty minute walk (yes, you can walk goats on leashes). Seeing as how there is a shortage of zoo keepers, they needed somebody with “walking experience” and that happened to be me.  With “walking experience” I mean someone who can walk and handle two excited Nubian goats (they come up to a little above my knees) as they jump around and then try to run when the grey hound bus backfires. After I walked the six Nubians I walked the two pigmy goats, Bandi and Licklick.

You might think that I spelled Bandi’s name wrong and that I actually meant Bambi. But no, her name is Bandi which is aborigine for small and her sister’s name is Licklick meaning little. Cute, huh?

Today was Bandi’s and Licklick’s first time out into the “pasture” (nickname for the grazing grounds) and they weren’t too sure about it. I had to carry Bandi past the buses (the parking area for the buses is close to the petting zoo and you have to cross the gravel parking lot to get to the pasture). She is much more shy than Licklick.

The rest of the day was spent answering guests’ questions concerning the animals. Here are a few of the basic ones I was interrogated with (most of them were asked by children)-

“Can I pet the goat?” (yes, you may pet the goat)

“What animals can I feed?” (you may feed any animal you’d like to {there was a little machine you could get a handful of feed from for a quarter})

“What is that?” (it was either the zorse or the zonkey)

“Does the camel spit?” (no, Gomer the camel doesn’t spit, the two llamas do)

“Why did the goat bite me?” (you stuck your finger in the goat’s mouth . . . what did you expect it to do? no, I was nicer than that : )

“Is that a goat or a sheep?” (the ones with the wool are sheep, and the ones with the short hair are goats)

“Is that a cow?” (no, that’s a goat)

“Is that a baby goat?” (no, that’s a pigmy goat)

“Do you put the zorse on a lunge line?” (no, she’s only two and a half months old, she’s not big enough yet)

“Can I get in the pen with you?” (sorry, but only qualified personnel are allowed to be inside the pens with the animals).

“Can I hold the baby goat?” (She’s actually a pigmy goat, and I am sorry, but we don’t allow our guests to pick up any of the animals {especially the camel and llamas} no, I didn’t add that : ).

Ahh, a day in the life of a zoo keeper . . . I’m loving it. : ) 

P.s. perhaps next time I’ll add a picture of the camel and the spectorating llamas.

Checkers, Hazel and Ginger

Hazel

Me being loved on by Checkers

 

Mocha

 

Spot

 

 

Oreo

 

Rusty

 

Zoo Keeper answering the guests questions

Zoo Keeping 101

Rule #1- when feeding the goats, butt back.  Especially when ten of them rush you at one time.

Rule #2- when Princess (a marbled llama) spits in your face, raise your finger in admonition and say, “No!” in a loud, clear voice.

Rule #3- When Gomer the camel thinks you are a rubbing post, get out of the way.  He’ll squish you against the post. p.s.  his kisses are very romantic, if you like camel drool (which has the consistency of marsh slime and is the color a banana skin).

Rule #4- If Rusty the goat gets in your way while you are mucking out the pen, push him to one side with your knee (yeah, he’s only knee high).  He’s just getting in your path because he likes attention and he thinks interrupting your work is one way to get it.

Rule #5- MOST IMPORTANT RULE.  Amuse the guests.  They think it’s hilarious when the zookeeper gets swamped with ten or twelve minature goats at one time.  haha.  What fun it is to laugh. : )

Dear Mom,

You don’t have to worry about the llama spitting in my face, that didn’t really happen.  The ten goats rushing me at one time did.   Don’t worry, none of them came past my knees and I held the food buckets out to one side so that they’d rush to my left instead of rushing to my feet and bowling me over.  And about the guests laughing, well, I was laughing along with them, even under a dog pile of mini goats.

Yes, Gomer the camel did give me kisses.  He also tried to eat my identity badge.  Oh, and about the squishing part against the post, that almost happened, but I’m too smart for him.  Cute, isn’t he?

Posters and Papercuts

Buy posters from AIG and you’ll make my day. Our job for today was to cap one end of 12″ by 2″ cardboard tubes, roll posters and stuff them into the tubes, and then cap the open end shut. Sounds boring? Not really. We talked politics most of the time and everyone encouraged Jesse to sing Kum-by-yah (I probably spelled that wrong; oh well); unfortunately, not even a bribe of cookies would entice him to lift his voice in song. Anyway, we rolled and stuffed at least 900 posters. So, BUY AIG POSTERS!! (hint to those of you who might take me seriously: the butterfly poster gets boring after you roll 197 of them, my suggestion would be to go with the dinosaur or the one with the solar system . . . of course the large cat poster was interesting, at least until the 359^th).

Right, on to other things.

Concerning my cold, I’m feeling much better, thank you for your prayers. I no longer sound like the deep voiced Lurch from the Addam’s Family . . . he’s the guy with the infamous line, “You rang?” Instead, I now sound like a barking dog. : ) My goal for tomorrow is to sound like one of the animatronic dinosaurs, preferably the tiny tyrannosaurus rex over looking the turtle pond.

O.k. Now that I’ve done my duty and told you briefly about my day, I’m leaving now to  take a nice, hot, steamy shower and then perhaps I’ll read a book . . . or watch one of the Answers in Genesis movies they have for the volunteers to view. : )

What is man that You are mindful of him?

“When I consider Your heavens,

the work of Your fingers,

The moon and the stars, which You

have ordained,

What is man that You are mindful of him,

And the son of man that You visit him?

For You have made him a little lower

than the angels,

And You have crowned him with

glory and honor.”

Psalm 8:3-5

 

The universe is so big, and we are so little. Today we visited the planetarium and the special effects theater.

The planetarium awed me into silence. The universe is so huge, the size, the intricate design and handiwork . . . it is mind boggling. I can’t express my thoughts . . . my language cannot utter the reverence I feel for my God; I don’t think any language could. One is not able to comprehend just how vast the cosmos is. It blew my mind, I could’t fathom it. Our God is so amazing. We are not even a jot or iota in a colossal myriad of galaxies and solar systems and still, He sent His Son to the tiny planet we call earth to save and bring to repentance wayward humans. We’re so tiny, as the psalmist says, “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?”

When we left the planetarium I wanted to cry, because we are so small and our God is so great . . . and He loves us.

I can’t think of anything to say.  I’m sorry.

“For God so loved the world . . .”  John 3:16