Barking Coyotes and Sleeping Mountain Lions

Last weekend we actually got out of the house and went over to the CALM (California Living Museum) zoo on the outskirts of town. It's a very small zoo, with native animals and vegetation. It's a great place for small kids, not too much walking and complete with a train ride and playground.

We did ride the train first thing because, hey, you are never too old for a train ride! It only takes about 7 minutes to go around in a big loop outside the zoo, but you do get a view of the river below, a part of the river that even has water in it before it all disappears underground or is diverted into canals. You also see some beautiful houses along the river and if I lived there I'd be sitting down by the river every day having my morning coffee. Or afternoon iced tea.

After the train we went to check on the mountain lions and bobcats who were all sleeping since it was late in the day and they are cats after all and we all know how cats love to nap. These two were napping right by the viewing window.

This one opened his eyes for a few seconds then right back to sleep.

No pictures of the bobcats since they were not sleeping next to the window but rather up on a rock ledge.

We looked at the birds and then over to the foxes.

As we were in the fox area we heard an announcement over the loudspeaker about something I didn't pay any attention to but apparently coyotes don't like loud announcements and the two coyotes in the enclosure next to the fox area started barking and howling. Their bark sounds just like a dog but that howl is definitely not coming from a dog, very distinctively coyote. A zoo employee was riding by on a cart and said that the coyotes always howl at loudspeaker announcements. I can't blame them, it probably hurts their sensitive ears.

We went by the barn owl cage just in time for him to hoot at us, when they hoot they kind of puff out in the neck area first, something I had never seen up close like that before.

Our little trip wasn't all that exciting but it was really nice to get out in the somewhat fresh air for an hour or so, we hadn't been anywhere in quite a while. We would like to get back to the Fresno zoo sometime this spring, they have a new safari exhibit that we'd really like to see.

Trip To The Little Zoo

Yesterday morning we decided to go on a little outing, driving over to the California Living Museum just outside of town, CALM for those in the know. I figured it being a weekday and us having a heat wave this week there wouldn't be very many people wandering about, but when we drove into the parking lot there were quite a few cars and six school buses. Keith was kind of like oh no the place will be full of little brats, but as we wandered we didn't encounter too many brats, just lots of kids but they were young kids, like first or second grade. When you see two little boys walking along holding hands and they aren't embarrassed about holding hands yet, you know they are young and still sort of innocent. They were all very cute kids with name tags around their necks on strings of yarn or pinned to their shirts. Unfortunately, due to the heat, most of the animals were either hiding in their hiding places or just laying around napping. We went to the mountain lion/bobcat exhibit first and the mountain lion was napping right next to the glass, so everyone got a very good view of the beautiful huge cat. Of course kids are banging on the glass trying to wake him or her up, but that was the only bratty business we saw going on. They did all seem to be enjoying themselves. Of course any day when you are away from the classroom is pretty exciting and enjoyable for any age kid.

The bobcats were in their den, the brown bear was scratching his bottom on a big rock, the raccoons were all sleeping, the badger was sleeping, but we did see a little screech owl that one of the zoo volunteers had perched on her gloved hand.

We saw one mama duck with about twelve ducklings following behind her in the duck pond, and we saw mule deer growing their antlers. The antlers look downright creepy in growth, they are all fuzzy and knobby and look like some horrible festering cancerous thing on their heads. That would be strange indeed to grow something on your head each year and then shed it at the end of the season and then start all over again each year. I guess the mule deer get used to it though.

Other than this one little outing, business as usual here. I'm tired a lot because I get woken up too early with the sun coming in the window so we are going to get some good blackout kind of curtains this coming payday. Maybe I'll be able to sleep past 6 am, but only if Mimi doesn't stand outside of my door MEOWING very loudly like she did this morning. She is LOUD. MEOW!MEOW!MEOW!

Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh My!

Well, we didn't see any tigers yesterday but we did see mountain lions and bears. Close enough.

After last weekend's high of 108 on Sunday, we were promised a much cooler weekend, with highs in the mid 80's. Yes! Sounds like a perfect time to get out of the house and go do something. The air quality was actually going to be good, too, so let's go!

Last holiday season when we went to the Holiday Light's at Calm thing, where the California Living Museum outside of town was all lit up with lights and displays we were given a flyer with two free tickets to come back to the museum, and misplaced them. I finally found them in a pocket of the purse I was carrying that night, and they expire next weekend, so let's go to the zoo for free.

So, we did. It was warmer there than at our house, we have a really nice breeze here that was keeping our yards and house nice and cool, but it wasn't too bad. The museum is small, with only California animals and birds on exhibit, animals and birds that are either disabled or have some other problem where they can't be left out in the wild. The zoo is also home to lots of local plant species which isn't quite so interesting, but they are pretty much left to grow wild, so you sort of feel like you could be wandering in the mountains nearby. Sort of. But the bears won't get you because they are in an enclosure.

I mostly wanted to go visit the mountain lion and bobcat exhibit since last time it was so exciting with the mountain lion coming right up to the window. This time he and his mate were up on the rocks laying around like cats do.

But one of the bobcats was quite active. We think he (or she as the case may be) was newly introduced to the enclosure as a big cat carrier was by the zookeeper's door. He was pacing the area, coming down to the little waterfall and dipping his paws into the water, then around the enclosure again, then over to the window where he wanted to play (or maybe eat) a little girl on the other side of the glass. He kept pawing at the ground by the glass and batting against the glass where her hands were.

The bobcats are about the size of a medium sized dog and so beautiful. We watched for a long time, it was really amazing to be able to see this bobcat in action.

Keith was taunting this woodpecker by rapping on the wood fence and the woodpecker kept looking around wondering what other woodpecker was in his territory.

I can't remember which type of fox this one was, there were three fox enclosures with different foxes in them but this was the only one that was out and active.



And here are the bears. Oh My! This was the only time we've seen one of these bears sitting up at this zoo, usually they are laying around like the one in the bottom of the photo.

So, it was a nice outing and FREE! We only spent the gas to get there and a couple of dollars on some cold drinks from the vending machine.

Nice Weekend

We had a rather nice weekend. Instead of Keith doing chores and working on one of the many still unfinished projects, his daughter Katie and her boyfriend John drove up on Saturday for a birthday slash Father's Day lunch and visit. We were trying to think of something to do other than just sit in the house all afternoon and had a choice between driving up to Tehachapi for a chili cookoff (boring!) or going over to our little zoo, the California Living Museum over on the outskirts of town by the river. Keith kind of wanted to go to the chili cookoff because he figured there would be BEER there, but I kind of wanted to go to the zoo even if they don't serve BEER.



So, Keith was craving pizza and we were thinking of just going to Rusty's where they do indeed serve BEER but Katie suggested BJ's Brewery where he could have pizza and about 50 different flavors of BEER, so BJ's it was. I hadn't had a BEER in months but decided to try their hefeveisen or however it's spelled and damn, was that ever good BEER! John had the sampler where they bring 7 or 8 small glasses of different BEERS and was getting a little loopy by the time he finished his. I was feeling a little woozy, too, not having had a BEER in so long.

Then, after lunch we drove over to the zoo. We were lucky to have a mild weekend with temps only in the 80's instead of the usual high 90's or low 100's, where you definitely don't want to be doing any outside activities. It was fun going with Katie and John, they were all getting into the few animals that they have there, with John trying to wake up the bears and trying to stick his finger into the bobcat cage to pet their nose, us cringing the whole time expecting him to get his finger bitten off.


Bobcats are just a little bigger than our house cats. The raccoons are actually bigger than the bobcats!


They have a new porcupine exhibit, I've never seen a live porcupine before, and a beaver swimming around and around in a pond exhibit. I've never seen a live beaver before either. The beaver shared his pond with a huge white pelican, never seen a white pelican before, either.

Most of the animals were way more active than the last times we've been to the zoo since it was later in the afternoon and getting close to feeding time. The raccoons were tumbling around together and the deer came right up to the fence to see us. The amputee squirrel was amazing, he must have gotten his foot bitten off or caught in a trap, but was still scampering around, albeit a little off kilter. I learned that they use their big fluffy tail as an umbrella when it's raining and as a blanket when it's cold.

Most of the animals that they have there had been injured out in the wild and were rescued rather than animals that were purposely trapped for the zoo.

We like the little foxes that they have, too.


It was fun and hardly any people there at all, kind of like having the zoo to ourselves. We did find out that the birds that hang around our house are probably scrub jays rather than blue jays, since they had some scrub jays there that look the same as our birds. I know blue jays have that plume thing going on which our birds don't have.

It was nice that Katie drove all the way up here, we were talking about the horrible boring drive and how much we all hate it and wish there was a more picturesque way to go, which there is but you have to go about 2 hours out of your way along windy mountain roads, so...