New Baby Silver Leaf Monkey

The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium welcomed a baby silvered leaf monkey in the morning hours of August 8, 2008 or 08/08/08. The last langur born at the Columbus Zoo was born on July 7, 2007 or 07/07/07. Pokey, the Zoo's year old langur is big brother to the new baby whose sex has not yet been determined. Both babies are the offspring of father, Digby and mother, Gumby. Langurs are born with orange fur and white colored skin on their hands, feet and face. The skin changes color to black within days of birth. The orange fur will change to the grown up color in 3-5 months. So we headed up to welcome the little one into the world, and learned that sibling rivalry, and the corrective discipline that accompanies it, is even more extreme in the animal kingdom. While the new baby was nursing, big brother decided to come from underneath and pull its tail. In return, mom grabbed big brothers hand and bit it! I told Brendan and Jillian to be prepared - the next time they are picking on one another, I am going to bite the perpetrator. Think it will work?

Waking up TO raccoon eyes

Last summer, a gray-haired raccoon kept creeping out of the runoff drains and into the street. Rumors spread about the old guy being rabid. Neighbors said that if we saw him to call the sheriffs office, and an officer would "take care" of him. Me, being a country girl, wasn't really concerned. Mark and I told the kids what to do if they saw him. But for the most part, we just left him alone, and we haven't seen him since the end of last summer.

Then, following her daily-first-thing-when-I wake-up ritual of looking out the front window to decipher the weather, Jillian declared,

"Daddy, look at that cat!"

Well, not exactly, Jillian, but I don't think cats get more domesticated. It was a raccoon just strutting his stuff up and down the sidewalk. He didn't even flinch when I went out to take his picture. He just raised his front left paw in what seemed to be a gesture of hello. -- Now, as I am typing this entry, Mark sends me a picture message on my cell phone. He is on his way to work and is following a pest exterminator truck with a silhouette of a raccoon on the back. As soon as I get it on my email, I will post it too. Oh, the irony.