Odds and Ends

No, there won’t be any photos of animal tails or behinds to illustrate this entry; I’ve used that joke once already, and I think that’s probably more than enough, at least for this year. But there were a few photos and brief anecdotes that I wanted to include at some point, and a Thursday just seems like a good day to do that.

First, the tortoises were at it again Tuesday morning (though not, thank god, making any noise):

[this image has been blurred to protect the identities of those involved]

—Although, on Wednesday, they acted all innocent, nesting in the straw:


(Their behavior gave me the idea for a new phrase, “finding a tortoise in a haystack,” which would probably be a lot simpler than the proverbial needle: maybe that could be used to describe tasks of only moderate difficulty? E.g., “Finding this mystery novel in the paperback section is like finding a tortoise in a haystack.” As opposed to tasks with no difficulty at all, like, “Coming across a TV show whose gender/race/class stereotypes annoy me is like finding an orca in a haystack.”)

And, of course, yesterday after I had posted my entry I got better pictures of the cheetah (or another one—how would I know?), but I’ll include only one that is less technically perfect but more amusing—to me, at least:


Finally, I stopped by the pandas the other day only to discover that this panda had apparently dropped its wallet:


You never know what you’ll see at the zoo.

{A note: I do write all text and take all pictures. Please do not reproduce either without my permission.}