Things We Learned At The Cleveland Zoo Saturday

Last Saturday we did something spontaneous again because it was such a nice day. We went to the Cleveland Zoo to see the baby Red Pandas but learned a lot of things while we were there.

Red Pandas

The baby red pandas were inside the Primate/Aquatics building and were resting when we got there after playing an hour. They had stuffed toys in their exhibit that they played with. We were sad to learn though that they will be transferred to some other zoos as part of the conservation project because there are so few left.

Poop

Even in the gift shop we learned that paper can be made from elephant poop! We bought a calendar with paper made from elephant poop! It doesn't smell at all which surprised me so we bought one! The elephant exhibit is being remodeled and won't be done until 2011. We miss our elephants but once it's done, we'll have even more than the three we had before!

This is a note at the bottom of one of the calendar pages about recycling the poop in the spring:

Octopus

Did you know octopus have beaks--the only hard spot on them? The docent had one in a jar that we could see close up.

Giraffe

How much does one of the bit giraffes weigh? We were shocked when we heard a big giraffe could weigh up to 4200 pounds!

Animal Inventory Website

The zoo docent also told us about the International Species Information System, www.isis.org, which is a site that shows what animals are in what zoos around the world.

Teeth

Shark teeth are pointy and in layers. If a tooth breaks, another pops up to replace it in 20 minutes. Wish we had teeth like that! We saw the skull of another fish that eats plants and its teeth were flat like ours (can't remember what kind).

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A Humiliating Experience (Writer's Workshop)

In fourth grade a little girl was totally humiliated. She was a very quiet, shy, sensitive little girl who ALWAYS did as she was told. Unfortunately, when this girl had to move from the suburbs to Cleveland during the school year, she got the meanest, crabbiest teacher she ever had who I'll refer to as Ms. Grump. Although the little girl tried very hard to please this old lady, nothing she could do was good enough, especially handwriting. The girl's grades plummeted and she hated school that year.

One day after giving permission for several children to use the restroom, Ms. Grump got very angry at the class and announced "NO ONE IS ALLOWED OUT OF THIS ROOM FOR ANY REASON UNTIL THE END OF THE DAY!" Well, shortly after this proclamation, the little girl had to use the bathroom which she never had to do at school before until was Ms. Grump said that. Not wanting to make Ms. Grump any angrier and knowing she wouldn't be allowed to use the restroom, the girl just sat at her desk quietly and tried to hold it but peed her pants rather than ask permission to leave from Ms. Grump. A puddle formed around her desk. A classmate close by pointed out the water on the floor and pretty soon giggles busted out around the room. Ms. Grump saw what happened and the principal called the girl's mother to tell her that her daughter had a little accident and she should bring a change of clothes.

I was that little girl. I must say the other kids were great! They still treated me the same without making fun of me or teasing me about it. I think they all understood and felt sorry for me. I questioned if I should post this or not since it is something I'd rather forget, knowing that now the whole world could know. Since it was so long ago, I decided to hoping any teacher reading this will learn that being mean and intimidating is not the best way to teach.

What experience would you like to forget?

This post is in response to the assignment to "Describe an experience that you wish you could shake from your memory" as part of Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop where you can find links to others or participate as well.

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3 Things I Learned This Week--Part 44

Little House On The Prairie

I learned from reading Prairie Tale that Melissa Gilbert's brother played Willie on Little House On The Prairie and that she had quite a difficult time in real life.

Skunks

(photo from Wikipedia) When Gerard was walking Abby one morning, she found a skunk and went right up to it but fortunately, it ran off without spraying them! I thought, what if they did get sprayed, I wouldn't know what to do to get out the smell. Then yesterday in the CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER there was a big article on critters which included how to get out skunk smell according to wildlife-removal.com: Shampoo with a combination of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and liquid dish soap. Flush eyes out with water if sprayed in that area.

Cab Fare

Just a 20 min. drive from downtown to my home cost $35 by cab now! For more detail, see My Terrible Tuesday post.

To to the original Friday Fragment post for more at Half-Past Kissin' Time.

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We Were Not Alone On Our Honeymoon (Writers Workshop)

It is customary for newlyweds to take a trip somewhere to have some quality time together, just the two of them. One of the things I liked about Gerard is his knack for putting me at ease and his sense of humor. I loved that he had stuffed animals too when we got married and looked forward to “introducing” them to mine.

We even took some along on our honeymoon with us! The lucky pets who got to come along with us were Patch Dog, Brownie, Snoozer, Leo the Lion and Spotty (my purse). When we unloaded our things at the hotel, Snoozer rolled of the cart and we did not realize it until we got to our room. Gerard ran back down the hall to retrieve him. We even took pictures of our entourage. It was fun! We had a great time!

This post was inspired by the prompt: Share a humorous wedding experience. To read more posts or to participate, check out Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop.

Related Posts:
A Fun Honeymoon
What Does Your Handbag Say About Your Personality


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My Terrible Tuesday

I woke up in a good mood, praised the Lord as I walked to the bus stop, marveling at the sky with the dark clouds covering spots of blue where the sun shone through.

I got on the bus and there was water on the floor where I usually sit so I went to the other side. But when I got up, I noticed my pants were all wet! The seat was wet but I couldn’t tell because it had the cloth covering. When I got to work, I put a plastic bag on my chair to sit on so I wouldn’t get my chair all wet from my pants. It was not good.

When I left work to go for my radiation treatment, I waited and waited . . . and waited for the bus to come and it never did. I decided if it didn’t come in time for me to get home in time to get to my radiation appointment, I’d have to call a cab. Fortunately, I had the number in my cell phone. After waiting for 40 minutes without my bus arriving, I called the cab and got home at my usual time, but it cost me $35! It only took 20 minutes, half the time the bus takes, but $35? Whoa! When I got back from my radiation, I put in the number of my radiation oncologist so if it happened again, I could just call and let them know I’d be late or skip that day. It better not happen again though.

When I got back from voting after my radiation treatment, I found the paper torn up in the dining room from the pizza box ready to be tossed out that I had on the kitchen floor. Abby got into a little bit of mischief while I was gone. Guess I'll be putting it on the counter top from now on. Also, sad to say the Casino issue passed which I voted against.

To top off the day, I went to a special meeting at church that the Pastor called that dealt with a “sensitive topic.” We got a call and email the day before asking the congregation to come if we could. It was very sad to hear that our youth Pastor who has done such a great job with the youth was relieved of his duties for good reason. I felt a bit responsible for not holding him up in prayer more when I knew he had to be experiencing some burn out after the very hectic summer with the youth group.

I was glad to see this day end! I looked forward to Wednesday and hoped for a better day! It was!