Saturday, January 31, 2009

NEW ARRIVAL!!!

There's a new member of the Stevens Family! A bouncing 3 1/2 pound little boy! Isn't he adorable? Here you can see him trying out his new bed before going into the house.



Check out those ears!!1

He managed to hold still for a couple seconds (after several tries where one or the other here kept looking away!)

Oh yeah, gotta get the ball!
(Best of both worlds- a squeaky ball!!!)

Not sure, but I don't believe he was run over!

Ok, he just stayed like this chewing his rawhide. Strange no?

Yum!
(He finally laid down)

Movin' on to another chew- gotta taste 'em all!

Cute, huh!?

This is MY bed!!

As you can see, this is our new puppy! He is a papillon, (don't you just love those ears?) and he is very sweet. We are so excited to have him join our family!

Yes he has a name. It's Shadow Puppet. But that is only the name his breeder gave him. We are in the process of finding a new name for him. Got any ideas? Grant doesn't seem to like mine. I just can't figure out what's so wrong with Mr. Fuzzypants. Do you?




(ok, yes- I am really just kidding about that name!)

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Do you know these animals?

So! Here is where we went. Have fun looking around!



It's two babies. Not one. Two.
Watussi? What's a Watussi?


Watch where your pointing that flash!









Got anything good in here?




Ever heard of a Japanese sika?
Me either.


I'm waiting. . . .









ahh, it's a baby. Is he cute to you?






This is my park!
What long horns you have!

Looking waaaay up!


How kind of this lovely animal to pose so nicely for us!

This is MY park!

What a bunch of sleepy heads!

Trying to get the ladies attention...
'blackbuck style' !











I look so pretty!





I have blue eyes. Got it?


What a great bunch of girls!


Feed the goats?
Well. . . .
okay,
as long as they only eat the food!




Kimi may not like touching the goats, but it's clear they have no problems touching her!





Sipping soda together.
Aren't cousins great?


The rare Bongo. Did you know these are endangered?

teasing the ostrich
It's a good thing that there is a window between these two and the ostrich or they may have lost a few fingers or even a hand!


Feeeeeeed meeeeeeee


You can't go until I say so!


Well, if you can name all these animals without looking them up, I'll be very impressed! I'd tell you what they all are, but I can't seem to remember! But we had a great time!

A Zebra's Tale

Once upon a time there was a zebra who lived in a place called the Wildlife Ranch in San Antonio Texas. He lived a rather nice life watching the world go by with visitors coming and going pretty often to make life interesting. One day he was thinking...."I wonder if there are any other creatures who have black and white stripes like me?"
Well, just that moment there was a funny silver animal passing by and the zebra decided to go take a look. He liked the look of that silver animal because often animals that looked very similar passed by, and even though they didn't talk to him, they carried inside of them other funny looking animals that did and those animals usually had very nice things that they liked to feed him. When he took a look inside, to his amazement, there was the most gorgeous female creature he had ever seen sitting inside!

She had stripes!!! Perfect black and white stripes!



He posed for her while she held up a small thing that often flashed that these creatures favored, hoping that she would decide to feed him.


After getting a little something to eat from beautiful creature he noticed that one of his zebra friends was having a hard time getting any food from the female on the other side of the big silver animal. He went over to help

"Watch me. I'll show you what they like the best." He told his friend.


"First, you have to get their attention so they know they need to remove the barrier between you."

"Saying 'please' never hurts."


"Talk a little to them, they like that."



"Get nice and close so they realize that you aren't afraid and they don't need to be either."

"Offering a kiss never goes amiss"


"Be sure to admire their young. They think that's great and always make the sweetest little squealing sounds when you do."


"If they still seem a little reluctant, laugh with them a bit. It always makes them more receptive."


"Don't forget to keep smiling. Show lots of teeth!"


"Then, when they do bring out the treats, make sure to open REAL wide! If your lucky, they'll have good aim and toss the treats right in!"


"Make sure they can see those stripes inside your mouth. They like that, too."


"After they finish giving out the treats don't forget to thank them by giving them another one of those big smiles. Show those teeth! (Do I have something stuck in mine?)"

The zebra and his friend really enjoyed their visit with the beautiful creatures inside the silver animal. After everyone had shared the treats they were ready to go. Everyone was left feeling very good about the visit.



(And everyone searched for stray treats that might have dropped afterwards!)




THE END!!!!