Friday, May 20, 2005
Jafar!!!
The Great [Intentional] Escape - Part I
THE GREAT [INTENTIONAL] ESCAPE – Part 1
MJ and I left the city around 1:00PM, picking up homemade sourdough bread from Grandma along the way. You can never stay at Grandma’s less than 30-60 minutes, so we had a seat and looked through a Goodwill box that Grandma had prepared. She had to make sure there was nothing sent away that we would have wanted, so we fumbled through the treasure and picked a few items: A gorgeous white lace shawl, a purple/white doily, a small cedar keepsake box, and a red Asian-patterned shawl that could be used to cover a small end table or some other decorative purpose.
To my delight, Grandma’s cat, Sunny, who is usually hidden and is not very approachable, sauntered into the entrance to the living room to rub her chin on the doorframe. She looked directly at me as I used my cartoonish little cat voice to greet her. Sunny walked DIRECTLY over to me!! She rubbed her chin on my hand and purred and let out short, happy mews. I was beside myself!! :)
We visited Grandma a few more minutes, and we also greeted Grandpa, who was in the kitchen, griping sweetly about Grandma’s potato-cakes-gone-wrong. He said he saw how much work she put into them, but they just didn’t quite happen. It was so cute. We said bye to both of them and we were on our way.
We fueled up, and got ON THE ROAD!!!
Heading out Hwy. 44 West, we anxiously awaited the PLBP – the Point of Lower Blood Pressure. It usually occurs just past Hwy. 109, or just past Six Flags, after we ooh and aahh at the rides that we love. From then on, it’s 70 MPH, trees and rolling hills, and a few ornery semi drivers. We then pass St. Clair; totally forget to read the signs after that, until we reach Stanton, and the exit for Meramec Caverns. We hang a left, and then try to settle the butterflies in our bellies, since we know what lies at the peak of the next small hill…
THE EXOTIC ANIMAL AND REPTILE RANCH!!!!!!!!
Whooooooo!!! It has to be one of the best-kept secrets! We found our guide, Steve, paid the nominal fees, and hiked off to visit the alligators. They were beautiful, looking almost like gray stone statues basking in the sun. They didn’t even move a muscle aside from a half-open curious eye just to see what we were doing. We then passed chickens, pygmy goats, and tortoises on the right, then we looked to the left and all time stood still. Walking down the hill in a large enclosure was a picture of beauty unlike most: The lovely Jasmine, a 2 year old, 300-400 pound Bengal tiger. In the background, basking on his rock, lay the regal Jafar-- all 2 years and 500 pounds of him. WOW. We watched the trainer pull a milk jug on a string in front of Jasmine and she jumped and rolled like a giant house cat. Jafar got up to join the fun and decided he wanted to keep the milk jug. Needless to say, that was the end of playtime. Just like a big baby-kitty…
The next few enclosures and cages housed woodchucks, opossums, Arctic foxes, turkeys, and emus. One of the emus is particularly affectionate, so we had to, pause, give her some scratches and lovins, and take a picture. We then stopped to rub the belly on a dog, gaze at a gorgeous silver rabbit, and laugh again at the tiggers goofing off with the trainers.
The next large enclosure holds the majestic KING OF THE… well, it used to be the couch in the owner’s living room… now it’s more like the outside kitty playpen. Leo is a 6 year old, 900+ pound LION, who’s pretty sure he’s an 8 pound faded red tabby. I met Leo about 3 years ago when I started visiting the ranch. I was able to pet him, hear him purr up close, play with him up against the fence, and just relish the time that I was so honored to spend with this incredible beast. Leo was a rescued baby, raised by the owners of the ranch, so they fed him with a bottle and let him sleep in the bed. He grew up with all the dogs and cats of the household, hence his playful, oblivious nature. He rose from his lazy position to his curious, bright-eyed, greeting posture, and rubbed his chin back and forth against the fence. (I’m tellin’ ya: Overgrown housecat) Steve was cool enough to let us sneak through the outer fence so we could touch him again, since USDA will no longer allow the contact with the public. But hey, I’m an old friend, right? I’m beyond the public! :)
After watching Leo have a goofy moment, sticking only his right rear leg into his tire swing and standing there, as if to say, “Look at me! I can stick only my right rear leg into my tire swing! Sweet!” we then ventured to my second-favorite part of the facility: THE REPTILE WING!! I don’t know what it is about those scaly, cold-blooded, slinky creatures, but they intrigue me like the dickens! We met up with reptile-dude Todd, and he took us through. They had three alligator snapping turtles, and one of them is estimated to be 150-200 years old!! They call him Ivan, since he was acquired during the hurricane, and a lady was feeding him carrots (using a VERY long pair of forceps). To our surprise, Ivan was sooo gentle!! Then again, I guess I would move pretty slowly at 200 years old, too.
We also watched Todd wrassle a Western Diamondback Rattler, who was a little pissy when he removed the lid to the plastic container. But they successfully moved the snake to his habitat, and of course he rattled like crazy for about 5 minutes until he settled down into his house. We then took pictures with a baby alligator, young Burmese python (maybe 6 feet long), and a white corn snake. Of course we had to ogle at the gorgeous (yet small) male green iguana in his habitat. We made a point to notice that our baby’s spikes are bigger, her body/tail are longer, she’s greener, and so on. We aren’t in love with our iguana or anything…
So, that was it for the Reptile Ranch, and we headed off to the farm, re-capping our exotic critter experiences as we drove.
MJ and I left the city around 1:00PM, picking up homemade sourdough bread from Grandma along the way. You can never stay at Grandma’s less than 30-60 minutes, so we had a seat and looked through a Goodwill box that Grandma had prepared. She had to make sure there was nothing sent away that we would have wanted, so we fumbled through the treasure and picked a few items: A gorgeous white lace shawl, a purple/white doily, a small cedar keepsake box, and a red Asian-patterned shawl that could be used to cover a small end table or some other decorative purpose.
To my delight, Grandma’s cat, Sunny, who is usually hidden and is not very approachable, sauntered into the entrance to the living room to rub her chin on the doorframe. She looked directly at me as I used my cartoonish little cat voice to greet her. Sunny walked DIRECTLY over to me!! She rubbed her chin on my hand and purred and let out short, happy mews. I was beside myself!! :)
We visited Grandma a few more minutes, and we also greeted Grandpa, who was in the kitchen, griping sweetly about Grandma’s potato-cakes-gone-wrong. He said he saw how much work she put into them, but they just didn’t quite happen. It was so cute. We said bye to both of them and we were on our way.
We fueled up, and got ON THE ROAD!!!
Heading out Hwy. 44 West, we anxiously awaited the PLBP – the Point of Lower Blood Pressure. It usually occurs just past Hwy. 109, or just past Six Flags, after we ooh and aahh at the rides that we love. From then on, it’s 70 MPH, trees and rolling hills, and a few ornery semi drivers. We then pass St. Clair; totally forget to read the signs after that, until we reach Stanton, and the exit for Meramec Caverns. We hang a left, and then try to settle the butterflies in our bellies, since we know what lies at the peak of the next small hill…
THE EXOTIC ANIMAL AND REPTILE RANCH!!!!!!!!
Whooooooo!!! It has to be one of the best-kept secrets! We found our guide, Steve, paid the nominal fees, and hiked off to visit the alligators. They were beautiful, looking almost like gray stone statues basking in the sun. They didn’t even move a muscle aside from a half-open curious eye just to see what we were doing. We then passed chickens, pygmy goats, and tortoises on the right, then we looked to the left and all time stood still. Walking down the hill in a large enclosure was a picture of beauty unlike most: The lovely Jasmine, a 2 year old, 300-400 pound Bengal tiger. In the background, basking on his rock, lay the regal Jafar-- all 2 years and 500 pounds of him. WOW. We watched the trainer pull a milk jug on a string in front of Jasmine and she jumped and rolled like a giant house cat. Jafar got up to join the fun and decided he wanted to keep the milk jug. Needless to say, that was the end of playtime. Just like a big baby-kitty…
The next few enclosures and cages housed woodchucks, opossums, Arctic foxes, turkeys, and emus. One of the emus is particularly affectionate, so we had to, pause, give her some scratches and lovins, and take a picture. We then stopped to rub the belly on a dog, gaze at a gorgeous silver rabbit, and laugh again at the tiggers goofing off with the trainers.
The next large enclosure holds the majestic KING OF THE… well, it used to be the couch in the owner’s living room… now it’s more like the outside kitty playpen. Leo is a 6 year old, 900+ pound LION, who’s pretty sure he’s an 8 pound faded red tabby. I met Leo about 3 years ago when I started visiting the ranch. I was able to pet him, hear him purr up close, play with him up against the fence, and just relish the time that I was so honored to spend with this incredible beast. Leo was a rescued baby, raised by the owners of the ranch, so they fed him with a bottle and let him sleep in the bed. He grew up with all the dogs and cats of the household, hence his playful, oblivious nature. He rose from his lazy position to his curious, bright-eyed, greeting posture, and rubbed his chin back and forth against the fence. (I’m tellin’ ya: Overgrown housecat) Steve was cool enough to let us sneak through the outer fence so we could touch him again, since USDA will no longer allow the contact with the public. But hey, I’m an old friend, right? I’m beyond the public! :)
After watching Leo have a goofy moment, sticking only his right rear leg into his tire swing and standing there, as if to say, “Look at me! I can stick only my right rear leg into my tire swing! Sweet!” we then ventured to my second-favorite part of the facility: THE REPTILE WING!! I don’t know what it is about those scaly, cold-blooded, slinky creatures, but they intrigue me like the dickens! We met up with reptile-dude Todd, and he took us through. They had three alligator snapping turtles, and one of them is estimated to be 150-200 years old!! They call him Ivan, since he was acquired during the hurricane, and a lady was feeding him carrots (using a VERY long pair of forceps). To our surprise, Ivan was sooo gentle!! Then again, I guess I would move pretty slowly at 200 years old, too.
We also watched Todd wrassle a Western Diamondback Rattler, who was a little pissy when he removed the lid to the plastic container. But they successfully moved the snake to his habitat, and of course he rattled like crazy for about 5 minutes until he settled down into his house. We then took pictures with a baby alligator, young Burmese python (maybe 6 feet long), and a white corn snake. Of course we had to ogle at the gorgeous (yet small) male green iguana in his habitat. We made a point to notice that our baby’s spikes are bigger, her body/tail are longer, she’s greener, and so on. We aren’t in love with our iguana or anything…
So, that was it for the Reptile Ranch, and we headed off to the farm, re-capping our exotic critter experiences as we drove.
