In lieu of blogging about the explosion down the street...

...I give you these pictures of capybaras.  Why?  Because they're the most awesome creatures on the planet (well, after hippos and pygmy hippos and Faith).  They're giant rodents.  Seriously.  They're huge.

And because I mentioned them, here are some pictures of hippos, followed by some pygmy hippos.

And to end with, my puppy girl.  She's extra adorable for your love (and for treats).

It's so tiny and cute!!

See that picture over to your left. No, on the monitor...yeah, the one of the pygmy hippo. A baby one of those was just born at Edinburgh Zoo!!!!

Now just to try and find time to schedule a trip up there before I head back to the states. A doubtful happening, as we've got people coming over both tonight and tomorrow (we think tomorrow, but I didn't buy Carling so they may not), next weekend is Adam's birthday, and the weekend after is mine, then I fly back to P-town. Who knows, though. Maybe my birthday weekend. Probably not, but I haven't looked at train fares yet.

News articles (from a very quick search) with pics:

http://deadlinescotland.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/hippo-132/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/5719118/A-pygmy-hippopotamus-has-been-born-to-a-new-breeding-pair-at-a-zoo.html

http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/uk_national_news/4471798.Hippo_hooray_for_zoo_baby_Leishan/

Zoofari

I got to pet a hippo on Sunday!!!  Adam's parents gave a donation to the Oregon zoo in my name, and made me a ZooParent to one of the hippos in the zoo.  The biggest part of the ZooParent perks is a pass into an annual event called Zoofari, which allowed me to go behind the scenes in a few different areas of the zoo.  Five areas were open, but Grandma and I only made it to two.  Which was ok, because the first one we went to was the rhino and hippo area.  I got to meet Petey, the black rhino, and I got to pet him (I chose not to feed him a carrot--he was very drooly).  He was endearing, and came right on over when he was called by the zookeeper.

After we left Petey, we went over to meet the hippos, who also came (slowly) when they were called.  Their names are Bubbles and Poppy, and like good hippos, they put their chins up on the bars of the gate, so that we silly humans could pet their chins.  I was both surprised and impressed that we were allowed to touch and feed them.  Hippos are very dangerous, but these guys were well enough trained (and the keeper wouldn't let us pet her girls when they started acting up).  I was surprised at how soft and supple their skin was.  I expected it to be rather bristly.  I declined to feed them though, because one small piece of apple or carrot kinda gets lost in their giant mouths.

So yes, Sunday was a happy day, as I got to pet a hippo and a rhino, and meet a giraffe behind the scenes too (couldn't pet him, though :( ).  And lest Adam feel overshadowed by his parents, he gave me Father Ted on DVD and the complete collection of Star Wars Kinder Hippos, and I've looked at them every day for the three months I've had them.  And I've watched Father Ted as well, toasting Jephcott in spirit.