I had a really good tiger day… the final chapter… and I saved the best for last…

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These are the last photos… almost… of my recent trip to the San Diego zoo with my two-year-old buddy, Olivia. I may have told this story before, but once, when my nephew was little, we went to the zoo, and, as usual, the tigers were hiding or sleeping. We sat on the ledge under the window where I took these more recent photos. I had a feeling like someone… or something… was watching me. I turned around, and a tiger had his face pressed to the glass directly behind us. I mean, I was inches from his face. I could see the little, white hairs on his tongue. Some deep, lizard-part of my brain… that was too primitive to understand tiger-proof glass… sent a strange message to the rest of my brain.

It said: Don’t even try to run, it will just make the pain last longer.

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This tiger was pacing just a few feet away from us, and there is still a chill that goes up your spine. There is a fantastic chapter about zoos… both human and alien, and how they came to be, in the second book of my action/humor science fiction series of novels… just sayin’…

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Yes, we saw lots of animals that day…

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But it is always special when the tigers come out to play.

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And Olivia does love the zoo.

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And so do I.

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I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

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And I did save just a couple more, that I will share sooner or later, and maybe do some cool stuff with them first.

Posted in dogs and other animals, Stories of my life | Tagged , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Things that make you go: hmmmmm???

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Okay, I just thought this picture I took of an orangutan needed to go with that title… but now, I might as well write something to go with both of them. How about this:

I sort of agree with the idea of some of the tRump voters who just wanted to try removing politicians from politics… where they went wrong is that you have to remove assholes from politics too.

Just sayin’.

Posted in dogs and other animals, thinking about stuff | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 39 Comments

Well, how many books have you written, Arthur, I hear you asking yourselves…?

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That is a very good question, thank you for asking. Let’s see, I suppose it depends on how you add it up. So far, I have self-published the first three novels in my hilarious and exciting action/humor science fiction series: The Otherwhere Chronicles. But the fourth book is technically finished, except for the editing part. Then there is my murder mystery set in World War Two London: Double Service. And the two self-illustrated books for children. And now that I have finished writing The Seven Kingdoms, which I still need to edit, I guess that would add up to eight… more or less.

All those that you see in the photo are available by clicking the links in my sidebar… the ones that look like little pictures of the book covers… just so you know.

I have also shared parts of most of these books down there in the blog somewhere, including some interesting posts about how I did the artwork for the books for kids.

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Yes, I not only write books, but I do the illustrations for the ones for children too…

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And I did a few aliens also, that didn’t end up in my science fiction action/humor series of novels. I just do those for fun.

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I had a really good tiger day… part 6… what?… yes, I know that isn’t a tiger…

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That is a baby warthog.

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And that is a daddy warthog.

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That is a pygmy hippo… no… I don’t know how old it is.

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That is my friend, Olivia… a two-year-old human. I took her to the zoo.

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Which is where we saw all these animals.

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Including two tigers… who are usually hiding… but we got a good look at them close up… which, once again, explains the titles of this series of posts.

 

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Oh, and did I mention that I finished my latest novel?

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Yes… the exciting one, about the princesses who lead a revolt against an evil empire… the one you can read most of, under the button in my top bar called: The Seven Kingdoms! Yes, the one I still need to find some volunteers to help me edit, that’s the one.

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I had a really good tiger day… part 5…

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Oh, stop being so melodramatic, little orangutan, I know you aren’t a tiger.

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No, Olivia, I am not calling you a tiger either…

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I just started using the tiger thing as the title for this series of posts, and now I am stuck with it.

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I know, not as clever as my ‘ZOOm lens chronicles’ series titles.

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But I already used a few variations of that.

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I was only making the point that, when I took Olivia to the San Diego zoo, we were lucky enough to see the tigers really close up.

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And that doesn’t always happen.

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It doesn’t mean I love the rest of you any less.

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But, come on, tigers are pretty awesome!

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We interrupt our regularly scheduled photos of tigers and other animals… and other weird stuff… in order to share the last few pictures I took of Mollie, my younger daughter, and her friends, just before their senior prom…

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Yes, my daughter looks beautiful, and yes, her boyfriend is handsome.

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Don’t worry, I am not sharing all the pictures I took, just some of the best ones.

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Because that is what I do here, share my life, and my kids are a big part of my life.

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Also, I thought it was important to show that teenage boys have a sense of humor, and don’t take life too seriously.

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I know, Dashawn is dreamy, am I right?

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Anyway, that about wraps it up for these.

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Okay… one more of my daughter’s boyfriend…

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I like the way the little hair curl makes a shadow on his forehead.

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I had a really good tiger day… part 4…

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Okay… yes… I know… once again, that isn’t exactly a tiger… but you must admit it is a good photo of a cute little bird.

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And the San Diego zoo has other animals besides tigers.

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And really, how many tiger pictures do you want to look at?

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I mean, you are going to get bored if I just post all of the tiger pictures at once.

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On the other hand, I suppose some of you are getting bored with the pictures of birds too… so… uh…

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Tiger!

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Yes, I am aware that plants aren’t even animals… but I like the bromeliads.

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I can never remember if they have flowers, or just really colorful leaves.

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Also, get ready for some good pictures of other animals… because really, it isn’t all about the tigers.

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I had a really good tiger day… part 3…

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But it wasn’t all tigers, oh no. There were birds at the San Diego zoo also.

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I love the aviaries, and my favorite is the one full of jungle plants and little birds that move really fast.

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You need to be patient and sneaky to get good photos.

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But it does pay off.

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I like the challenge.

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I also like the colors.

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My photo of a hummingbird in flight didn’t come out as well as I was hoping.

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But they can’t all be great pictures, can they?

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