RIP Maimie
On Saturday, a dear friend from Knoxville, Chris, sent
(e:Uncutsaniflush) and i an email letting us know about the passing of another dear friend of ours.
Maimie the african elephant at the Knoxville Zoo.
We would visit her and her friends once or twice a week (one year we got a letter from the zoo because we were one of the members that visited the most in a one year period!) and i very much considered them extended pets of ours. Once we got to know which elephant was which, we very much recognized their personalities. Maimie was the older, wiser elephant. Not the matriarch, she was too quiet and mild mannered for that. When the zoo built the new exhibit for the elephants, i was very happy for them.. and me. I, and other visitors, got the chance to see all the elephant cows indoors, with a mere piece of glass between us, in the morning and evenings, and Maime's enclosure was right up at the front. I loved watching her eat, looking at what she would choose out of the big huge pile of food.
Some of the elephants at the Knoxville Zoo paint, Maimie included, and when it came time to choose one for myself, i decided on one by Jana, since i heard the matriarch was going back to the zoo she was from, in Louisville, KY. She was the first elephant i came to recognize and she was the most prominent, since she was taller than the other cows (but not the bull, Tonka, he is a giant!). I don't know if she ended up going back to Louisville.. we left before she did, and although i read the quarterly magazine, Wild Wonders, online, that the zoo publiushes,
i have yet to see any mention of Jana leaving. Maimie was supposed to show Jana the ropes and teach her how to become and be a mom, but i don't think that ever happened. I miss my elephant friends in Knoxville. I now wish i had a painting of Maimie's to go along with my painting of Jana's. RIP Maimie. I miss you already...
Here's a pic from the article of Maime painting..
Here's the painting i have, done by Jana.
Because Saturday was such a nice day,
(e:Uncutsaniflush) and i thought we would go to Rochester, to the Seneca Park Zoo and we found out more sad elephant news. Seems the pregnant afriacan elephant there, Genny C lost her baby about a month before she was due.
Poor thing. We have been there once or twice and i was looking forward to seeing a baby... but more than that, i feel bad for everyone that spent so much time and energy invested in the life of this baby. I have heard that elephants mourn. I hope Genny C is doing ok, medically as well as emotionally.
Boss Mom
My mom's birthday is coming up next week. And the poor thing has to have oral surgery the day before! Not too long ago, she had some tooth pain. She went to her dentist and he said he couldn't figure out why she was having pain where she was having pain. Unlike me, my mom can pinpoint exactly where she has tooth pain. All i can ever say is that it is "around here somewhere and it hurts, please just make the hurt go away." My mom is brave when it comes to her mouth. Her dentist sent her to another one (scary when one specialist has to refer to another, if you ask me) and he took some xrays. Turns out that in a tooth with a crown that had a root canal in it, her mouth has decided to grow new side roots. They were infected. YIPES! She was (probably still is) on antibiotics and once the infection is clear, on to the surgery. She doesn't want to loose that tooth, or the crown, so they are going to root canal those side roots surgically. Cut open the gum and go in from the side. Oh, the thought just makes me queasy! Talk about a happy birthday f@ck you, eh? I think
(e:Uncutsaniflush) and i are going to go visit her on Sunday.. we thought about surprising her on her birthday, but she might not be up for much visiting. So, we think it will be a more pleasant surprise on Sunday. Since she loves shopping when she is here, we won't be giving her much that would take away that fun. Instead, i thought it would be cool to give her food. Stuff she can't find easily in Canada... Mrs T. Pierogies, Triscuit Rye crackers, Duncan Hines Spice cake mix (the spice ones are really hard to find.. i mailed ordered one for her birthday before i moved here), Snickers Icecream bars, and some booze infused stuffed olives from Premier. She will have a chance to munch on these things before her surgery that way, too.
If they play warped tour you should go. If you have never been it is an amazing tour. In case you didn't know some bands only play some towns so you would want to make sure to go to one of the places they where on the bill. What I like about Warped (been a few years since I've been) is the Random order of when bands play. Since they draw for order on stage I big name band might be on at like 11:00am . Plus there are sports and lots of little stages.