Nashville Zoo

I have wonderful friends all over the world and I am so grateful to all of them for everything they do for me. Yesterday I experienced another unforgettable adventure thanks to my friends Quinton And Kristi who work at the Nashville Zoo. 

I volunteered for the day to help out in the bird department and then I got to meet some of the amazing animals they work with at Nashville. There's a great group of keepers that gave me a lifetime of memories. I can't say that one animal is better than another, that's all on personal preferences. I thank everyone one of them for taking the time and showing me the individual animals in their care. 

The Okapi above felt as if you were running your fingers through velvet. He was so curious and friendly. 

Having just seen Jurrasic World Quinton couldn't help himself playing the alpha role with the Hyacinth Macaws!

I had to take a selfie to show that I really did do work. 

Bongos are so beautiful. This baby was curious about everything. 

I got to kiss the Okapi and I liked it. I'm not sure if he did!

Playing with three month old Clouded Leopard Cubs is incredible. 

I was sure glad there was a fence between me and the Cassowary!

I got to meet baby Bernardo's parents. Giant Anteater tongues are sticky and they love yogurt.  

They grow from the little huggable baby below to the huge adults above. 

I even got to hold Giant Mealworms!

These little poison dart frog species plays dead when threatened. 

Getting to feed one of the Elephants some carrots was awesome!

Lorikeets are so beautiful. 

Thank you again Quinton and Kristi, who didn't get into my pictures but will soon, for an unforgettable day at the zoo for me. 

Hello Nashville!

I guess I left Shreveport at the right time because the flooding of the Red River was getting bad. 

That is the boardwalk completely under water the week of June 8, 2015!

My drive to Nashville was uneventful thankfully. It was a long 12 hours with no stops other than to gas up the car. I was forced to take the lower route of going through Mississippi instead of the upper Arkansas route because of flooding. Many of the roads and bridges had been closed and I wasn't going to take the chance of having to turn back. 

I started hearing a loud raspy sound in Mississippi that would stop and it continued into Tennessee. Later on it hit me that I had been hearing Cicadas, I had no idea they were so loud!  

For the first time in my life I drove over the mighty Mississippi River. 

I got to drive over it slowly because there was work being done on the bridge and down to one lane. 

Having to pay attention while driving this was the best picture!

I finally made it to Tennessee after seven months on the road! I arrived at my friend Quintons home late and I was exhausted but I still made him pose by Motel Miguel!

By the next morning I was ready to go. The adventure began with us going to a kickball game where I met some of Quinton friends, and hopefully new friends of mine Kyle and Manny. They sure made an impression on me. Hahahaha in a good way!

This is Kyle, he's really shy!

And this is his partners Manny going down on the grass chasing a ball, he's not shy!

They were at the park playing kickball and it was so much fun. It took me back to my very young school days. 

The temperature has been climbing as late spring and early summer comes along and being in the Southeast now the humidity is really noticeable. I try to do my walking really early in the morning when it's tolerable to be out exercising. Here's a couple of things I've run into so far!

The first was this.....

Then I went further and I see these....

And I also noticed the view of Downtown Nashville. 

Quinton, and his partner Matthew, live in East Nashville.  He tells me it used to be a rough neighborhood that has been going through a transition in the last few years. As I walk through different streets in the morning I see what he meant. You can't walk a block without seeing one or two homes being remodeled. There are so many beautiful homes in the neighborhood that show the pride of ownership in them with their beautiful paint jobs and gardens. 

I want you to meet the ladies that Motel Miguel calls neighbors while in Nashville!

They like to get themselves in trouble because they're not supposed to be in that planter!  There's is fourth one but she's currently broody and sitting on eggs so you will have to meet her at a later time. 

On Monday night Quinton had a big surprise and we went to visit one of his coworkers at home. She has to bring her work home with her when needed!

I got to meet baby Bernardo the eight week old Giant Anteater. This is one of the great moments that make my adventure so wonderful. He was so soft and just wanted to hold onto you, since they ride around on their mothers back for almost eight months. 

I got lucky to get a picture of how long their tongue is when Matt was holding him, it's amazing and when full grown it can reach two feet in length. 

When not sleeping they are very alert and eyes wide open as you can see in this picture with Quinton. 

And with me again....

I think I'm really going to enjoy my stay in Nashville!

Goodbye Louisiana!

This is not getting any easier the more I'm doing it. Leaving behind friends is still as hard to do today as it was when I left Bonnie and Tom in November or Jason in December. It reminds me of how happy I felt to have helped Hal and Ann move from New Mexico to Texas into their new home but saying goodbye was very difficult. Even though my stay at Sheila's in Crocket was way to short I will always be thankful for the short time we spent together. Carly and little Zoey are beautiful and I enjoyed them so much.  My cousins Jorge and David in Dallas and their beautiful families. Being so happy to have seen my Mother for a week because she missed me but having to take her back to the airport wasn't easy. 

Now I'm faced with doing it again with Sarah and Nathan. The little ones have been the most difficult to say bye to and little Nova has already been pulling at my heart strings. 

It didn't take long after my arrival in Shreveport for her to warm up to me and soon we were both on the couch with our iPads gossiping!

I had the pleasure of going to the zoo with her a couple of times. 

I hope she will remember me fondly in the future. 

Her parents Sarah and Nathan are beautiful individuals that have been so good to me. They made sure I wasn't bored at all when I wasn't birding. 

Sarah is such a beautiful Mom. 

Dot, what can I say about such a beautiful friend that made sure I had the opportunity to see so many beautiful wild birds in Louisiana. 

You are such an inspiration to me. You're love of life and endless energy showed me that one should enjoy every single day to its fullest. That if you didn't have to do this....

Then you had not done enough!

Kelly McMullen we didn't get to spend nearly enough time to talk more birds but the short time was memorable!

Thank you for making time for me and showing me your beautiful collection of pheasants. Hopefully I get the chance in the future to visit you again.

To Jacob at the Pinola Conservancy I thank you for making time for me. You are doing some amazing work and wish you continued success managing the collection. 

The thunderstorms were memorable. Never have I felt thunder like I did here and having Motel Miguel rock back and forth from it was terrifying. I hope the flooding doesn't last long and that the Red River gets back down to normal levels quickly. 

Thank you again Louisiana and until we meet again!

You gotta love Thor!

What can I say about this big goofball one and a half year old Great Dane. When I first saw him in Sarah and Nathan's driveway the day I arrived I must say I was a little intimidated. I got over that real quick because nice he gets to know you he is a love bug. He loves baby Nova since they are about the same age and he is so patient with her. 

I found out his one bad habit in no time. I had to park my car under the carport one night because of the severe storm that was coming and I was afraid that if it hailed the moonroof would be damaged. The next morning Sarah knocked on my door and she was real upset. I asked her what was wrong and she told me that Thor had eaten my car. I know he's a large dog but my car is a lot bigger so I knew the car wasn't gone!  We walked over to see what he had done and I saw it right away, he had eaten part of my front bumper. I have had my car for nine years now and it has driven me and many of my friends around the Southwest for almost 150,000 miles. The bumper had been damaged many years ago and I wasn't upset about this at all. Don't get me wrong, I love my car, but these days I don't let small stuff like this get to me.  I asked Thor to come and sit by the damage as a public shaming!

He is a tough dog when it comes to guarding his domain but when there's severe storms outside he gets scared.

 On this evening we brought him inside because there were tornado warning, one actually touched down about a mile from the house, and he was so scared that he just stayed by my feet while the storm passed. 

Once the power was back he was still scared....

Most of the time he spends playing with his girlfriend Beauty and loves watermelon!

He will sit there and eat it all...

But now and again he will remind you that he's still a puppy and all you need is patience and training...

This time he was really sorry because he chewed off and destroyed the license plate light on the passenger side. 

Keep o having patience Sarah and Nathan I because he will outgrow this phase. Be consistent with his training and you have a wonderful friend for life with him.