Animal Attraction
Aug. 13th, 2004 02:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
la_rainetteThe girls were invited to go see the animals at their usual drop-in place yesterday: a nice lady (actually the same one we'd already seen at a birthday party) showed us mealworms, crickets, and the animals who eat them.
Tadpole, who loves animals, was fascinated.
Of course, the cricket box dropped from some kid's hands and opened up and got everyone into a panick (and we're not even talking roaches, here, folks). See my mom as she flees to safety. See me as I call for help: "eek! Over here, I got one! EEEK! IT'S GETTING CLOSER! HEEEELP! ew ew ew ew" See the lady as she squishes the cricket dead.
See me as I almost faint.
The nice lady showed us a tarantula, a hedgehog (who ate 3 mealworms, to the kids' delight), a bearded dragon (who ate one mealworm, but only because it was much too lazy to go chase after them. Mealworms have no sense of direction, it appears: one of them ran straight into the dragon's mouth. That one, the dragon decided to eat.) and a great big frog.
Also, she showed us a bunnyrabbit: nothing to do with insects, but everyone's favourite nevertheless. Tadpole stroked it with delight, and when the lady moved on, she asked me whether she could go sit somewhere else. You know, right in the rabbit's path. :D
And I fell in love with Jake the snake. Am now trying to convince Husband to buy a snake.
la rainette: They're cool, and low-maintenance, and clean, too: you feed them one mouse every ten days, and they digest them and poop out the bones.
Husband: Ow. That must hurt.
He's unconvinced so far, but I'm still hoping to get him round.
And then we went to Centerville. Where I lost my mom. Twice.
I can't remember a single visit from my mom where I didn't lose her at least once. She and papy have about as much sense of direction as, well, a mealworm, and since they get along like a house on fire and can discuss obscure French kings for hours, they often visit places together, and by the time they are done discussing, they have no idea of the time or where they are. They always make their way back home, but by the time they're back we've been worried enough to call the police, the fire department, the hospitals, the morgue and the light brigade, twice, and our fingertips are bleeding from chewing our nails off in fear.
And all of a sudden they're back, with sunny smiles and happy faces. My mom always promises to at least call next time. She never does. She always has a good reason. Sometimes, like yesterday, there is no point in calling cos there ain't nobody home.
So. First she went to the washroom, and exited on the wrong side. It took her 20 minutes to locate us, at the very spot where she'd left us.
Then, I left her with Froglet at the bouncy castle, as I was taking Tadpole to the little red cars. OK, so I should have said firetrucks. But by the time I came back with Tadpole, they'd both gone.
Husband (who'd just cycled over from work) circled the place without finding them. I was starting to hyperventilate. And then we saw them, quietly making their way over to us.
la rainette: WHERE WERE YOU?
Mom: Well, it took me some time to find the little red horses...
la rainette: CARS! I SAID CARS!
Mom: Oh, did you? Anyways, Froglet said it must be the merry-go-round. So we went to the merry-go-round.
la rainette: BUT I WAS HERE WAITING FOR YOU!
Mom Well, I couldn't see you there, so we went on the merry-go-round.
la rainette: WHAT? BUT WE WERE SO WORRIED!
Mom: twice
She made up for the panick by keeping the kids while Husband and I went on the Scrambler (fast ride in the dark with disco music. Ever seen scrambled frogs? No, not pretty, I know. BTW, very gross riddle: What is green and turns red when you push a button? The answer is at the end of the post. Be warned: It is Gross.)
We also went to the kiddie roller-coaster.
Froglet: THE DRAGON! I want to go in the dragon. Please?
La rainette: Do you want to go with Froglet, mom?
Mom *very seriously* I will pay you for the privilege of staying here on the ground.
la rainette: :D
And watch thirsty Tadpole, as she gives Husband the bottle of Seven Up she's fished out of the backpack. Husband opens it, and pshhhhhhtttt! promptly gets the contents straight into his face.
Tadpole *giggles* Again again again!
*runs over to the backpack*
*grabs my Diet Pepsi*
*runs back to Husband*
*and gives it a good shake before handing it over* :D
All in all a Very Good Day.
Answer to the riddle: a frog in a food processor. What? I warned you that it was tasteless.
Tadpole, who loves animals, was fascinated.
Of course, the cricket box dropped from some kid's hands and opened up and got everyone into a panick (and we're not even talking roaches, here, folks). See my mom as she flees to safety. See me as I call for help: "eek! Over here, I got one! EEEK! IT'S GETTING CLOSER! HEEEELP! ew ew ew ew" See the lady as she squishes the cricket dead.
See me as I almost faint.
The nice lady showed us a tarantula, a hedgehog (who ate 3 mealworms, to the kids' delight), a bearded dragon (who ate one mealworm, but only because it was much too lazy to go chase after them. Mealworms have no sense of direction, it appears: one of them ran straight into the dragon's mouth. That one, the dragon decided to eat.) and a great big frog.
Also, she showed us a bunnyrabbit: nothing to do with insects, but everyone's favourite nevertheless. Tadpole stroked it with delight, and when the lady moved on, she asked me whether she could go sit somewhere else. You know, right in the rabbit's path. :D
And I fell in love with Jake the snake. Am now trying to convince Husband to buy a snake.
la rainette: They're cool, and low-maintenance, and clean, too: you feed them one mouse every ten days, and they digest them and poop out the bones.
Husband: Ow. That must hurt.
He's unconvinced so far, but I'm still hoping to get him round.
And then we went to Centerville. Where I lost my mom. Twice.
I can't remember a single visit from my mom where I didn't lose her at least once. She and papy have about as much sense of direction as, well, a mealworm, and since they get along like a house on fire and can discuss obscure French kings for hours, they often visit places together, and by the time they are done discussing, they have no idea of the time or where they are. They always make their way back home, but by the time they're back we've been worried enough to call the police, the fire department, the hospitals, the morgue and the light brigade, twice, and our fingertips are bleeding from chewing our nails off in fear.
And all of a sudden they're back, with sunny smiles and happy faces. My mom always promises to at least call next time. She never does. She always has a good reason. Sometimes, like yesterday, there is no point in calling cos there ain't nobody home.
So. First she went to the washroom, and exited on the wrong side. It took her 20 minutes to locate us, at the very spot where she'd left us.
Then, I left her with Froglet at the bouncy castle, as I was taking Tadpole to the little red cars. OK, so I should have said firetrucks. But by the time I came back with Tadpole, they'd both gone.
Husband (who'd just cycled over from work) circled the place without finding them. I was starting to hyperventilate. And then we saw them, quietly making their way over to us.
la rainette: WHERE WERE YOU?
Mom: Well, it took me some time to find the little red horses...
la rainette: CARS! I SAID CARS!
Mom: Oh, did you? Anyways, Froglet said it must be the merry-go-round. So we went to the merry-go-round.
la rainette: BUT I WAS HERE WAITING FOR YOU!
Mom Well, I couldn't see you there, so we went on the merry-go-round.
la rainette: WHAT? BUT WE WERE SO WORRIED!
Mom: twice
She made up for the panick by keeping the kids while Husband and I went on the Scrambler (fast ride in the dark with disco music. Ever seen scrambled frogs? No, not pretty, I know. BTW, very gross riddle: What is green and turns red when you push a button? The answer is at the end of the post. Be warned: It is Gross.)
We also went to the kiddie roller-coaster.
Froglet: THE DRAGON! I want to go in the dragon. Please?
La rainette: Do you want to go with Froglet, mom?
Mom *very seriously* I will pay you for the privilege of staying here on the ground.
la rainette: :D
And watch thirsty Tadpole, as she gives Husband the bottle of Seven Up she's fished out of the backpack. Husband opens it, and pshhhhhhtttt! promptly gets the contents straight into his face.
Tadpole *giggles* Again again again!
*runs over to the backpack*
*grabs my Diet Pepsi*
*runs back to Husband*
*and gives it a good shake before handing it over* :D
All in all a Very Good Day.
Answer to the riddle: a frog in a food processor. What? I warned you that it was tasteless.
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no subject
Date: 2004-08-13 07:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-13 08:11 pm (UTC).. and suddenly realizing we had taken my dad's car. We'd been looking for a small green car. Ours was a big blue one.
My mom actually called the cops for help, once, when she couldn't find out where she'd parked her car in Colmar (quiet, small, pretty town in Alsace, with lots of tiny streets). They found the car for her ;)
no subject
Date: 2004-08-14 01:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-16 02:10 pm (UTC)Husband, however, is still unconvinced because he has heard of too many stories where snakes got out of their tanks and terrified the neighbourhood. Meh.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-16 02:40 pm (UTC)To be honest I'd maybe wait till the girls are a little older.. snakes are quite primitive beasties and though Kithra is well-behaved and tolerant and loves her cuddles we tend to be respectful and wary of her. Your average furry critter is pretty relaxed even when being mauled and squished too hard and carried upside down (our cat muffin seemed ot positively enjoy being carried half upside down by the neighbourhood children!). Um, which isn't to say anything negative about your kids in particular, just younger folks in general - Forest's girls are 12 & 14 and will be under very close supervision when they eventually meet the snake (they live with their mum at the other end of the country so don't get to travel up here (and no we *can't* take the snake down for a visit, she won't enjoy the train journey. No, not even if we cuddle her.))
Some breeds of snakes are born escape artists, Kithra has already worked out the principles of opening her travel box even if she can't quite get the leverage she needs with her nose yet..
no subject
Date: 2004-08-16 02:46 pm (UTC)*is amused* Kithra seems to be extremely clever.
no subject
Date: 2004-08-16 03:35 pm (UTC)lol yep, far too smart for a reptile, cunning little thing!
Dragons
Date: 2004-08-14 04:08 am (UTC)I have never come across this beast before. What, pray tell, is a bearded dragon? A small meal-worm eating lizard of some sort? I confess that I have never slain a dragon which posessed any hint of facial hair.
I guess all the dragons I slew were pre-pubescent. This begs the question of whether there is a stage in a dragon's life cycle between regular dragon and bearded dragon known as bum fluff dragon.
*pauses for canned laughter*
Re: Dragons
Date: 2004-08-16 02:15 pm (UTC)A bearded dragon is a small and rather impressive-looking lizard, as it is covered in spikes and armed with powerful claws. However, this display of power is pure bluff and only serves to hide the fact that the bearded dragon is, in fact, utterly harmless. I've touched it - spikes included: it's a lot like a giant rubber toy, really. Poor, silly dragon who believes he looks so fierce no-one will dare eat him!
You don't need a sword to kill him, I'm afraid. Just absent-mindedly trodding on him would do the trick. (Ew.)