Very!

So fast, only her stripes are left!

5 months old and full of energy

Day 3 of the Best of ’09 Challenge. Today’s challenge is to write about the best article I read in 2009. I read a lot. Hard to pick one article, but I did enjoy an article on the Laughing Yoga.

And today I found myself laughing at the antics of a pair of tiger cubs. Yes, laughing is great medicine for whatever ails you.

Now about those tiger cubs. This is one of two females born on July 8, 2009. The cubs, recently named Tula and Nuri, were born at the Milwaukee County Zoo in Wisconsin. They are now old enough to be making regular appearances in their indoor exhibit every day.

The name Tula is from the South African language, isiZulu, and means “quiet.”  Nuri means “my flame” and is Hebrew.

After watching the two cubs play and interact for nearly an hour this morning, I am guessing that the cub in the photograph is Nuri – if she is living up to the meaning of her name. She spent most of the time chasing her sister, and when the other cub finally dropped in her tracks to take a nap, Nuri took a few pounces on her sleeping sister. Tula turned her back on the more rambunctious cub, and Nuri posed – briefly – before taking another pounce towards her watchful mother.

Y is for Yellow, as Bright as the Sun

Z is for ZZZs, My Work Here is Done

It’s a Wrap on the Alphabet, the End of the Year.
Here’s to a Holiday Season, Filled with Good Cheer.

To You and Yours, the Very Best

Bo

E is for Elephant, at Milwaukee's Zoo

F is for Freezing, and Ice Fishing, Too

G is for Goats; the Roof is Their Dinner

H is for Harley, our Blue Ribbon Winner

Continue with Wisconsin Alphabet I through L or you can start at the beginning with Wisconsin Alphabet – A through D.

One for the money:

Two for the show:

Three to get ready:

Four – slide in the SNOW!

This big guy was one of only a few animals outside at the zoo on this chilly winter morning, though he didn’t seem to mind the 27˙F. weather. While I took his picture, he fed himself his breakfast hay swinging his trunk up and down.

I was so amazed at the dexterity of his trunk, I checked out a few facts about elephants on Wikipedia. This is an Asian elephant – only one “finger” around the lip of his trunk. (The African elephant has two.) And what I found most amazing – scientists estimate there are between 40,000 and 100,000 muscles in an elephant’s trunk. The trunk is such a finely tuned instrument, an elephant can as easily pick up a single blade of grass as he can tear down a medium sized tree. Check out the facts about elephants on Wiki and you’ll come away amazed. Guaranteed.

Milwaukee County Zoo
Milwaukee, WI
March 1, 2008

After tramping around the zoo for a couple of hours, I came to realize not only was the snack bar closed, I couldn’t even find a seat to rest for awhile.

Milwaukee County Zoo
Milwaukee, WI
March 1, 2008

Milwaukee County Zoo
Milwaukee, WI

PLUMAGES

We’ve been wearing a winter coat
like drab and tired feathers
and an old beaten hat
like a drooping crest.

Grey days, grey skies, grey hearts.
Barnyard birds of routine,
low horizons, chicken wire souls.
We peck at what’s given us.

Why don’t we wake up early
tomorrow and catch the sun
in the drop at the end
of the drain-pipe?

Why don’t we sing to the moon
for a change and ask foxes
to dance their tangos
and wild tarantellas?

And then let’s change clothes
with phoenixes
and steal thunder
from the peacocks.

Then we’ll stand arrayed in opal
and emerald plumage,
in scarlet and tangerine
and pinions of azure and silver.

Then we’ll be kings and queens
among daisies and irises,
in poppy-fields and thyme-gardens,
through the bluebells
and even among the roses!

Then we are the crested emblems
of life in the air,
life among flowers,
life even in the barnyards
and the crates off to market.

Let’s never take off
these beautiful clothes.

from my poetry friend, Kate

photograph, Milwaukee County Zoo
Milwaukee, WI