This week........

Rosary Beads:
Oh Yea, I got some new rosary beads to add to my collection. Well, no. I am not Catholic. In the church I grew up in, we were not even allowed to wear a cross necklace because someone might "think" we were Catholic!!!! How crazy is that! Of course, I make a habit of wearing a cross most of the time now especially when I go to church. Just because...........I can..............I want to...............and I don't like people telling me what to do...............yes, you do detect an authority problem. One of the reasons that I am not married (besides being too old now) but earlier? Was all that "submit to your husband" crap. I am not to good at that submissive stuff.

Geez, but I have gotten off the subject of the rosary beads. I think they are beautiful. And I am supersticious and have carried my beads from Guatemala on about 6 international trips and so far the planes have not crashed.

So anyway, the new rosary beads are from Ireland. My friend that I work with is from Ireland and she went home to visit and she brought me these fabulous beads back. I had these nice pictures but could not get them to upload. I will do that later.

At the Memphis Zoo

Ya Ya could give birth as soon as April 15 to as late as May 15. Hooray! Of course it could be a psuedopregnancy which exhibits all the same signs (ie hormonal changes, nesting etc) as regular pregnancy. They have been shaving her tummy and pretending to do ultra sounds so that she will be prepared for the real thing. Hopefully, they can see a baby although they are very very small at birth. The daddy is Le Le. They tried for the natural approach, but ended up doing artificial insemination x 2. For updates, go to Panda Keeper's Log.

This is Ya Ya (sounds like it is spelled), the pretty mama to be (hopefully). Her name means "beautiful little girl". This will be her first cub(s). Twins in the family!!!!

This is the dad, Le Le (pronounced Luh Luh). His name means "happy happy".

Going to the Memphis zoo means driving only 2.5 hours depending on your speed. Problem: It is the the most deathly boring drive EVER known in the US. Really FLAT, BORING, UGLY and STRAIGHT. The most excitement is trying to dodge the 18 wheelers or crop duster planes depending on which one is closest to your automobile.

I certainly hope they "earthquake proof" this panda exhibit since I will be spending a lot of time there. For those of you not from around here, Memphis sits on the New Madrid earthquake fault. In the 1800's, it produced the 2 largest earthquakes ever in the US. Bigger than those in CA even. And guess what? It is overdue to repeat!

Trip to Atlanta:
Since I have absolutely zilcho on the social life, I am counting the days until I leave to see Mei Lan the baby panda. Sad but true. It will be the most exciting thing. I leave May 19 to go to Atlanta. I plan on taking zillions of pictures and video if possible.

(From bob2cleo at flickr) Major Cuteness


Minor adventure to the new vet
Rio had a trip to the vet last Saturday. It was rather traumatic on us both. I forgot to get the box of doom carrier off the back deck and it was filled with water, pollen and other nastiness that I did not have time to clean. So I opted for a collar and leash. In the Jeep, this worked well for all of about 30 seconds. Then Rio started howling and trying to climb underneath the dashboard. Then he would go underneath the passenger seat and come back around to the front under my seat.

Let me just say this, it is very difficult to drive with a cat under the gas peddle. They make squeaky noises when you press down. Needless to say the leash kept getting caught and I was afraid the cat was going to choke! So I was trying to hang onto the cat and drive. Then I could not find the place because stupid me forgot where it was and forgot the cell phone. Thus creating a much longer ride for the cat which led to more howling, more squeaking and copious amounts of cat hair deposited on every inch of me and the Jeep.

Mr. new vet was very nice and commented "We don't see many cats come in on a leash". I say "Oh really?, yes, we always travel with the leash" (cough, cough, sputter, hacking of cat hair out of my throat).

I have never seen a vet look into my cat (or dog)'s ears/eyes with a people otoscope/opthalmoscope. I was quite impressed!

Rio was not at all friendly, purry or sociable in any way. But, he did not bite/scratch/otherwise maim the guy, so I considered that a major plus! He got a clean bill of health and was noted to have "very nice teeth...........very clean ears". After the shot part, Rio was mad for the rest of the day. He did not even appreciate that I saved him from getting the worm test which requires instruments to be placed in unspeakable orifices. Damn CAT!