Why I hate Racoons

I asked my dad in what condition he found my poor dead ducks when he came to collect and bury them. I just wanted to know if something had eaten them, and how roughed up they were so I could get an idea of what type of animal had done it. My dad looked sort of sheepish and told me he hadn't wanted to give me the details, but whatever killed them had EATEN THEIR HEADS and left the rest of the bodies. What the...?!!

So I asked one of the mammal curators at the museum what eats duck heads and he said raccoons bite the heads off ducks. That when he worked for the fish and wildlife service a raccoon got into a duck trap one time and bit the heads off of FIFTY DUCKS.

Why???? Cause they CAN???

So that's why I hate raccoons.

Vacation Stories

We're back!
We had a great vacation. I fully meant to update the blog during our trip, but by the end of each day we were all just completely WIPED, and there was no way I was going to go through the time-consuming process of uploading photos and stuff. We all just fell into bed.

But we had a great time. Our resort was great. Here's a sort of play-by-play.

Day One
Our flight was, miraculously, hassle free. Okay, AFTER I nearly missed our first flight because I stopped for coffee and a bagel on the concourse. I realized what time it was and hustled us out, and we showed up at the gate just as they were about to give our seats away to a couple on standby. But we made it.

The resort was beautiful in that classic impossibly perfect Disney way. Grayson was, of course, completely enamored of the pool, which was FABULOUS. It was this big curvy pool with a huge sea dragon winding through and around it, and a slide coming out of its mouth. A kid's dream! It also had a nice poolside bar... a parent's dream. We spent the first afternoon entirely in the pool, and then went to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney. Even that area was cool, with the huge Disney store, a Lego store with neat-o Lego sculptures out front, and a big toy store. This sea monster was built entirely of Legos.

Grayson was also excited because the place is alive with lizards. Little brown anoles that scurry out onto the sidewalk to sun themselves in the mornings and evenings. He took the camera and went around "catching" them in pictures, since it was completely impossible to catch them in person. They are way too quick and savvy.

Day Two
We started at Animal Kingdom, because Grayson wanted to go on the safari and ride the Dinosaur ride. Animal Kingdom is beautiful, especially the amazing Tree of Life in the center.

Grayson enjoyed the "safari," and took lots of pictures of the animals. The Dinosaur ride, however, terrified him. It is very loud, very bouncy and very dark. The Carnotaurs are a little too scary for little ones. Guess we should have known. But after that experience, he was sort of done for the day.

Just as well, it was really hot and we'd been on our feet for a long time. So we went back to the resort and got back in the pool. Honestly, I think we could have just camped out at the pool for half the trip and G would have been perfectly content. He's not exactly a trooper about heat, extensive walking, or standing in lines.That first day was something of an education in how to manage subsequent days.

That night we had a wonderful, if rather late, dinner at Jiko, a South African restaurant at the Animal Kingdom lodge. It was fun to see the other themed lodges, each so beautifully done. From the deck past the pool at Animal Kingdom you can look out over the savanna and see elephants and giraffes browsing about.

Day Three
We got smart. We stayed at the resort, swam and napped during the hot part of the day and didn't start out to the Magic Kingdom until after 5 p.m. 'Course, then we opened our hotel room door to discover a torrential downpour. Greeeeaaaat.

It all worked out, however. We spent an hour in the resort arcade and then the rain let up and it was a beautiful night. We hit the Magic Kingdom about 7:00.

We had some minor drama over the issue of rides. I think the Dinosaur ride may have left a bad taste, and Grayson was very trepidatious about getting on anything else, fully expecting it to scare him. We thought we could push the issue a bit, and got all the way through the line for Big Thunder Mountain, but Grayson wouldn't ride it and we weren't able to leave him to wait for us on the platform, so we just climbed through the car and out again. It was disappointing for Gray and I not to get to ride any "Big People" rides, but I didn't want to make the whole trip a struggle with Grayson over riding things he was afraid of, and there was really no way to ride without him, since the lines are long and we didn't want to risk losing him by asking him to wait for us. Later, I suppose. When he's bigger.

We rode the Haunted Mansion ride, and he was so terrified by the scary atmosphere of the place as we were boarding the cars that he just clung to me and cried. I felt terrible, but there was nothing I could do. There was no turning back, and we couldn't convince him that it really wouldn't be scary.

It ended up okay, of course, because it really isn't a scary ride. But I felt bad about it.

Fortunately, we finished up the day with the electric light parade, which Grayson loved, and fireworks, and then took a very tired little boy back to the hotel. The crush of humanity leaving the park at 10:00 is amazing, however -- enough to wear you out in and of itself.

Day Four
Back to the Magic Kingdom. Hot in the morning, but blessedly cool and overcast in the afternoon.
We did get Grayson on Goofy's Barnstormer, a quick mini-rollercoaster. We had made a sort of deal with him that he would ride ONE roller coaster before we left, and that's the one he chose. It was just 60 seconds long, and I think he was terrified, but he did okay. Here's a picture Gray took right after the ride finished, and I think the look on Grayson's face says it all.

Despite the half hour wait, We did go through "It's a Small World," because we thought every child should be forced to endure it at least once in their life. We also watched the neet-O 3D "Mickey's Philharmagic" show and rode the famous Tea Cups, which Gray and Grayson loved and I thought would make me barf.

Day Five
Beach Day
We rented a car and headed to Cocoa Beach for the day. Perfect weather. Hot and cloudless sky. Sea, sand and surf. This was Grayson's first time to play in the ocean and he LOVED it. He loved going out into the surf with Gray and just riding the waves, or sitting in the sand and letting them just wash over him. I don't know when I've seen him any happier or more in his element. For Grayson, at least, I think the beach day may have been the highlight of the trip.

Poor Gray didn't put on any sunscreen (men are dumb), and -- despite being buried in the sand for a brief period -- burned bright as a lobster. He's still in recovery.









Sad News
We got back to the resort on Tuesday night in time to have a really fantastic dinner at Narcoosee's, a fancy restaurant at the Grand Floridian overlooking the lake. We went out onto the deck and watched the fireworks before dessert, and then just as we were waiting for our tab Gray checked his phone and realized we had missed a call from my mom. I called her back and learned that a predator of some sort got into our garden the night before and killed both Ping and Pong.

I was so shocked that when I hung up I just looked up and told Gray and Grayson right away. Of course, Grayson burst into tears, and then I burst into tears. Gray was furious with me for breaking the news at that inopportune time and place. Probably should have waited until we got back to the resort, but I just opened my mouth and out it came. G and I cried on the way back to the resort and snuggled in bed together and cried when we got there. And then he did the sweetest, sweetest thing. We were lying face to face in bed, with our foreheads together, crying. And he put his little hand up to my face and said "Mom, we need to stop crying now. We don't want to cry ourselves to sleep." And I could tell he was worried about me. So I stopped. And he stopped, and we went to sleep.

The next day, the first thing Grayson said to me, while we were still in bed just waking up, was "what kind of an animal do you think it was that killed Ping and Pong?" And we talked about it and decided it was probably a cat, or maybe a raccoon. And then he said "They're in a better place now," and I agreed. And he was fine. So it didn't ruin the trip or anything. Still, my heart is a little broken over it. I was very fond of those silly ducks. Very fond indeed.

We're home now, in Vacation Recovery Mode.
Grayson has been wearing the same pair of pajamas for... let's see... 32 hours now. Gray planted himself in front of his computer and has been playing WOW. Without a shirt, of course, to give his poor sunburned back some relief. And I have been alternately lying in bed with a book and switching laundry from hamper to washer, washer to dryer, dryer to hamper. It's amazing how you need a vacation to recover from your vacation.

Overall, we had a very good time. And it's good to be home.

I was looking through my photos and realized I didn't have any new photos of Ping and Pong once they got their feathers. That makes me sad. But here's a last look at my little ducks. I'm sure going to miss them.

Summer

Today is the last day of school. We celebrated with a pizza night and a 4-on-4 game of Chaotic.

Okay, likely you have no idea what Chaotic is. Unfortunately, I do. It's a card game and a TV show... like everything else. Grayson and I got the cards and actually learned to play. Traditional play pits 6 of your creatures against 6 of your opponent's creatures. But this style takes FOREVER to complete. So I usually play 3-on-3 at most, but today, in celebration, I acquiesced to 4-on-4, which only took about an hour.

Grayson had an awards assembly today. I may be bragging, but he got an award for highest academic honors, and achieved a straight A report card... AGAIN. Brilliant child.

Truly, I was proud of his all-A record, but more proud of his reading test scores, which put him reading well above grade level. So THAT's why we celebrated with pizza.

On Memorial Day, the official, unofficial first day of summer, we grilled burgers with Grayson's cousins and got the Slip N Slide out for him and his friend John. Now THAT'S summer.

So far summer has fulfilled its early promise. Hot days, windy warm nights. Just the right amount of storm activity. Actually, I heard yesterday from a woman I know who works at the art museum that her house was struck by lightning Monday night. Started a fire and left a hole in the roof. Considering that our house is really tall, it makes me a bit nervous, though we have a lot of much taller buildings around us, so I suppose it's an unlikely occurrence.

The past week and the week ahead are a bit crazy for me. The museum opens two new exhibits on Saturday, and I've been on a whirlwind tour of the radio and TV circuit. I hosted a TV station and a newspaper reporter today, had a morning radio interview yesterday, and two television interviews tomorrow. I'm hopping from one thing to another. Already a bit sick of talking about the new exhibits and they haven't even opened yet.

Here's a funny. When delivering press kits to the papers a week ago, I got into a conversation about my ducks with a reporter at the Oklahoman. Today that reporter told me the paper is considering doing a feature on them! Talk about a slow news day. I had to laugh. Guess they're considering dropping us into an overall feature about green gardening or something. Me and my famous ducks. I'll keep you posted on how that turns out.