Something tells me it's all happening at the zoo

On Monday I had a lovely afternoon at the zoo. Of course my brilliant plan to go on a weekday and have the place to myself failed to take into account that it was Columbus Day, so it might as well have been a Saturday based on the number of screaming kids in attendance (God, I sound like a bitter old lady, and I'm only a quarter century old...for another couple hours, that is). It was also so hot and sticky that I almost hopped into the elephant area to get hosed off with water. The baby elephant just celebrated his 1st birthday. We're both Libras.

I'm choosy about which animals I see at the zoo. No birds unless they're really weird-looking (see picture at left), no lizards unless they're large enough to ride, and nothing that I could just as easily see on the grounds of Wolf Trap. The only nocturnal animal I care to see is the koala bear, mainly because it's cute and fuzzy and looks like it would be snuggly to have as a pet. Otherwise, I don't need to see a bunch of animals lying around sleeping. I can do that at the pet store.

The animals I love the most are the monkeys, mainly because they're usually doing something active and entertaining, like picking bugs off of each other and eating them, or playing with garbage, or swing from trees. I also enjoy the giraffes. Their building has these incredibly tall skinny doors for them to walk through, and they crack me up every time I see them. There was a baby giraffe, too, but she was indoors with black netting over the window, so all you could see was her profile. As you can see, there wasn't a lot of netting separating us from the adult giraffes.

The other big highlight of the day was looking at the flamingos. I ended up taking more than a dozen pictures of them. I think flamingos are sort of eerily beautiful. Their colors are so gorgeous, and I love the way they fold themselves up to sleep. A the Houston Zoo, they're in an area where you can lean right over the fence and take pictures of them (taking care not to drop your camera, of course).

Sometimes I think zoos can be a little sad, with all the animals so far from their natural homes, looking somewhat neglected and just too...caged, but I didn't feel that way at all this time. CameraMan wondered whether the animals get annoyed by their neighbors, like if the koala bear is saying, "If that sea lion doesn't stop barking, I swear to God...." or the tigers are complaining about the smell of the "Wortham World of Primates" next door, or the anteater is putting in for a transfer so it doesn't have to live next to the warthog anymore. I'm tickled by the idea of this, love picturing animals doing things that people do. That's why I adore Creature Comforts so much. Also this.

Tomorrow is my birthday—call me!