the gold lizard and other discoveries

cold winter weather means we increasingly have to export our activities to burn off the youthful energy of which our house is so superfluously endowed. this does not require creativity and variety as much as it does adherence to prescribed methods. and when it comes to wearing kids out in a climate controlled facility, the science museum is just what the doctor ordered. armed with only a sack lunch, i can literally keep them in the museum all day and have them begging to stay at closing time. with a little careful planning, i can have them running up two flights of stairs to look at a manatee, down another flight to look at a few rocks and around the entire perimeter to see a couple of warthogs. thus, a museum trip can very often be parlayed into an early bedtime. as such, we find ourselves in the building at least a couple of times a week.

possibly the most onerous routing leading to the least impressive display is that of the gold lizard. there is no way to access the metallic reptile other than a long journey through precambrian and paleozoic hallways, up a couple of staircases into the mesozoic floor. the display once demonstrated body temperature regulating techniques of cold blooded organisms, but has been broken for months now. still, heaven help you if you try to get these kids out the door without visiting the gold lizard. 

pickup any phone in the museum and the recorded message will tell you all sorts of information about the display you are looking at. penelope uses the phones to "talk to grandma". if you are ever tempted to think penelope is paying attention to you while you talk to her on the phone, think again. she talks all over the pre-recorded narration about clothes, my little ponies, and other daily minutiae. my patience has not yet allowed me to find the limit of how long she can "talk to grandma". and yes, she even does it when grandma is at the museum with her.

often, the kids will conceptualize and stage timeless photos, such as sitting in front of the mole exhibit, sitting in front of the anteater exhibit, or sitting in front of the impala exhibit. when they get in picture mode, i always feel a profound gratitude for the invention of the digital camera.

the wolf statues out front are neither safe nor sanitary, and at times i'm amazed at the temperatures at which they still want to stop and climb all over them.

on rare occasion, when a grandparent is in town, they will even swing by the t-rex cafe for a $3.75 chocolate milk.

bison spotting

some pictures from our bison-sational trip to the rocky mountain national arsenal wildlife refuge. the once government dumping grounds for chemical weapons-turned chemical insecticide production plant is now used to house many of our nations more delicate species, including the ever popular north american bison. the buffalo-mobile is little more than a retired san francisco trolley with a new logo stenciled across the side. among a friendly park ranger and otherwise mixed company, the dreadfully under-equipped vehicle was dragged over a few miles of rough walking trail past a couple of ground hog domiciles before pulling into the gated bison complex. the protective males proceeded to charge the trolley until we finally made a poorly executed u-turn over ruggedly uneven terrain and barely made it out with the greasy side down. later, we toured the associated nature center. over the course of the three and a half minutes it took us to decide to leave, penelope broke two animal track stamps, a rabbit skull and few animal figurines. we fled the scene before the staff could put us on the black list- i'm not losing my seat on the wildlife wagon.

setting the record straight

as i have been bombarded lately with questions about my recent bald eagle sightings, i will try to address some of those more commonly asked so that we can all move forward.

yes, i have seen two wild bald eagles in a single week.
yes, one of the eagles looked at me.
yes, the eagles and i seemed to share a mutual, if unspoken respect for each other, but...
no, i did not cry when i saw the eagles- there was just some dust in my eyes.