The Zoo: Flamingos Dance and Swans Pose

Friday evening Anna Banana II and I went to a fish fry with some other people, then the two of us were going to go to a local pub to take a whack at the #4 Brett Favre (aka. Traitor) piñata, but it was already broken, so we went to work out instead. Then Saturday I went to Tiffy's sister's lake house, and they had a donkey piñata for the kids. One girl whacked the piñata so hard that the body went flying off, and I suggested making it into a Brett Favre piñata, but we never got around to it. Since most of the kids were preteens and teens, they were less interested in the candy that came out of the piñata than the cheap plastic toys, especially the whistles, and we entertained ourselves for quite awhile attempting to play songs on the whistles. You just haven't lived until you have heard a chorus of cheap whistles playing Lady Gaga's "Poker Face." Later Tiffy's niece played the ring tones that came with her cell phone, and Tiffy and I would try to guess what they were called. A typical sample:

Tiffy's niece plays a ring tone which is some kind of atrocious smooth jazz.
Tiffy: "Dancing on the Rooftops."
Me: "Cocktails at Eight."
Tiffy's Niece: "Actually, that one is called 'Jazz Marionette.'"

Why this game should have been so entertaining is beyond me, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. Then we created our own ring tones called "Buh-buh-buh-Beethoven" and "Chicken Tango," if that gives you any idea. (Probably more than "Jazz Marionette"...) In between all this hilarity we went out on the speedboat so Tiffy's nieces and their friends could go tubing, and we took a sunset cruise across the lake in the pontoon boat (aka. The Floating Living Room) to grab dinner from a restaurant on the far shore. Boats and music - what more could you ask for?

Yesterday Richard Bonomo, Kathbert, A-Fooze, Anna Banana II, and I went to the zoo and were amazed by the performing flamingos. There were two kinds, the larger coral-pink American flamingos and the smaller shell-pink Chilean ones, and they would just be standing around when suddenly all the American ones would look left, look right, look left, look right, flap their wings, and bob their head in perfect synchronicity as they honked like geese. This would go on for a minute or two, then they would stop, we would clap, and the center flamingo would bow. Then they stood around again for a few more minutes until suddenly doing it all again. By the third time around, a Chilean flamingo got into the act, matching the American flamingos move for move and squeaking along with their honks. We clapped even more enthusiastically, and several flamingos bowed, and one even curtsied! Then Kathbert noticed right behind us there was a receptacle for donations topped with a plastic flamingo head, and she said, "They're busking!" The other really entertaining creature was a black Australian swan; while the others went into the Herpatorium, Kathbert and I hung out by the swan pond. One swan was by the fence, so Kathbert said hello to it, and it made a two-syllable sound in response. Then some kids came over and hassled it, so it bit them. Their parents weren't at all sympathetic; they said, "I TOLD you not to tease it!" Then one quiet little girl came over, but the swan didn't bite her. On the contrary, it posed for a photo with her. So much for the expression "bird brain"!

Famous Hat