Otter Stuff- Part 2

 

Otter Stuff- Part 1

 

Dreamtime

 October 11, 2012- Animals and a Poodle

I was walking on a wide path through a forest with my brother and Cousin Missy. In my hand was a stuffed animal- Seamore the otter. I was carrying a small wicker wastebasket in my other hand which was very odd. The weather was perfect and the scenery beautiful. I was feeling so calm.

   We saw many animals, some that don’t even really belong in this type of setting together. But since this is a holodeck, anything is possible. There were deer, a mama bear and her 4 cubs, and a leopard.

   Other people were also on this path. I saw a couple taking a picture of 2 elephants and a giraffe - they seemed to be posing for this together which was funny.

   There was a river on the one side of the path. I went over to it and saw an alligator. At first I was a little scared but it seemed as if all of the animals here were tame and wouldn’t hurt anyone or each other.

   A little further down the river was an adorable otter. I was so happy to see this. I pointed it out to Mike and we took pictures of it. Missy was looking at an owl in a nearby tree at this time. I took a photo of that too.

   I looked at my watch; it was nearly 4:00. Mike mentioned that there was going to be lots of good food at a barbeque party in a nearby field. Even the hologram Mike was excited about food. We reached a field but this one was empty so it had to be in another one.

   I realized that I was no longer carrying the wastebasket. I must’ve left it by the river. I told Missy and Mike to go ahead without me and that I would catch up with them. Why was I even bothering going back for this? I guess that I didn’t want to leave any litter in this lovely forest.

  It was starting to get dark which seemed strange because it was still kind of early but time must be different in this place. I was getting a little scared of the darkness and also being alone. I found the wastebasket and got back on the path.

   I did see one other person ahead of me then but as I was getting closer to the first field, the storyline suddenly changed. I was in an entirely different environment now, a town that looked sort of like Linden but not as many buildings and people.

   I saw a doggie lying on the grass near the church. She appeared to be injured. I went over to this apricot colored standard poodle. That size one doesn’t usually come in that color, does it? Well, here it does.

  The poor girl doggie’s back paws were wounded. Had she been in an accident or was she a victim of abuse? I didn’t know where a vet’s office was so I asked an old lady who came out of the church. She said that she would drive us there. It wasn’t that far.

   I was holding the doggie and telling her that she’ll be alright. I wasn’t even caring that blood was getting on my outfit. In reality, I have blood anxiety. The lady told me to wrap the blanket that was on the backseat around the injured paws so I did.

   At the vet’s office, I saw a guy who looked like a character in” EastEnders”- Robbie. He had his dog Wellard (I think that is his name) there for an exam and was supposed to be next to see the vet. But since my poodle had a serious injury she was a priority so he had to wait. Robbie told me that he hopes that my dog will be okay.

   The vet cleaned up the wounds and put bandages on them. There were no broken bones, thank goodness. I didn’t want to leave this doggie alone there. It didn’t have a collar or microchip. I paid the bill and said that I would take her home with me. I was surprised that the vet let me do this.

   I had to take the bus because that nice lady had not been able to wait around for me.  How did I even know that I’d be allowed to bring a dog on the bus? Sam must’ve telepathically told me this along with the fact that once again I was living at my old apartment. I had a feeling that I would be anyhow.

   Why do I hardly ever have a place of my own in these storylines? My family and I do get along in all of them so I guess that it’s okay that I’m living with them but this does seem strange.

   Mom loves poodles. She used to have 2 of them, Shu Shu and Prince. Well, they were more like her Dad’s. She immediately fell in love with this one. We called her Princess. No one seemed to be looking for her so we would keep her permanently.

Robbie and Wellard

Prince and Shu Shu

Note- All photos except the last one are from the internet.

                               

September 15, 2012- Turtleback Zoo- Part 1

I survived the Garden State Parkway. This is the first time that I have been on it in 7 years. Getting to the zoo wasn’t as bad as coming home; it was pretty confusing and scary then.

   We had such a good time there. My brother seemed happy esp. when we were at the otter and penguin exhibits which were our favorite. We liked the sheep a lot too; we got to pet them.

   The groundhog never came out though which was disappointing. My brother was telling a lady how he had saved a baby one that was in the middle of the street. We kept it overnight and bought it to the vets the next morning.

   Hopefully we will get to see the groundhog and a couple of the other animals that weren’t out when we go there in the spring. They are putting a new exhibit there, Sea Lions.

   The river otter wasn’t out at first so we went back there later. It was so much fun watching it swim. It was doing flips in the water and coming up to the glass. I tried getting good pictures of it in and out of the water but this was hard. I think that some came out nice.

   We both bought stuffed otters at the gift shop. I still have the 2 otters from my childhood- Seamore and Mrs. Otter. I loved playing with stuffed animals when I was a kid and totally regret getting rid of many of them in the late 1980s. They were like friends to me.

   I was feeling more joy watching that otter today than I’ve ever felt at any concert – how silly is that? They really should have a friend there for that otter; it must be pretty lonely. Other zoos have exhibits with two or more. I felt like talking to an employee there about this but was too afraid to do so.

   Part of me hates that these zoo animals can’t roam around freely in the wild, which causes me inner conflict about how I feel regarding zoos. I do enjoy seeing the animals there. I heard a young boy saying that the cougar was looking kind of sad. I was agreeing with him, thinking that maybe it is.

    Wasn’t there a” Twilight Zone” episode in which aliens held some humans in captivity like animals in a zoo on their planet?  I wonder how the animals in such places really feel.

   They had white and black wolves in addition to the gray ones. This was interesting and nice to see. I liked the big cat and farm animal exhibits also.

   Mike said that there were 8 penguins the last time that he was there. We only saw four of them. The one was swimming a lot so it was hard getting good pictures of it. I think that I got a few.

 He’s been to this zoo 4 times over the past few years. This was only my 2^nd time; the first was like 40 years ago- either 1974 or 1975. I have a few pictures of me from then. I’m on a pony in one and in another I’m petting a deer. Next year is the zoo’s 50^th anniversary.

   We only saw 4 prairie dogs. Mike saw 12 of them once. I’m just glad that they finally came out of their burrows- is that the right word? I was going to say holes.

 

Otter

Penguin

Prairie Dogs

Mrs. Otter and Seamore

Otter and Prairie Dog Souvenirs

 

June 18, 2012- Duran Duran Day

I arrived at the “GMA” studios in Times Square really early. It was still dark. No one else was even standing outside of it yet. I sat at a table nearby it for a while until a few other people turned up.

   We watched DD doing their sound check. Nick and Simon had waved at us. I wasn’t even afraid to wave back. Roger was smiling at us. I can’t remember if he waved or not. He probably did.

   Our view was of the back of them. Nick was basically blocking Simon. Roger was facing towards the side so we saw him the best.

   It felt kind of strange looking at them through the window like this. It was as if I were observing the animals at an exhibit in a zoo.

   Hopefully, my brother and I will be going to the Turtleback Zoo this summer. I am really looking forward to seeing the otter there. Otters are so adorable.

   One of the studio employees had come outside at one point and was asking if anyone was in the fan club then writing their names down. How did these girls prove that they were in it? Did they have a special pass or ticket?

    They were allowed in the studio to see DD’s performance. I was wishing that I had rejoined that fan club. I had only been in it for two years starting at the end of 2008.

   I saw the girl who I had hung out with during the Central Park show in 2008. I had seen her at the Wellmont Theatre too. She had mistakenly gone to that park thinking that they were performing there.

   A girl had a Nick doll. It was handmade and she paid a lot for it. She told me that she has been to 110 concerts. Damn, that is a lot.

   She showed me photos of her dressed up as River Song from “Doctor Who’” at Comic Con.

   They did the interview outside in the area that I had originally been standing in. I was sort of wishing that I had stayed there but then maybe I wouldn’t have been able to see them when they were performing.

   I am not sure if you could see them from there. I had noticed that the screen that Sam does the weather at was blocking my view of the inside when I did look in from that angle but maybe they moved it when DD did their songs.

   I better not think that much about this; I don’t need another thing to beat myself up about. I was already mad at myself for not looking at the TV screen inside sometimes to get a front view of DD during their performance.

   I did briefly try to get closer to them when they were outside so that I could take photos. These came out pretty shitty. I did get some okay shots of them through the window.

   They did “Sunrise” and “Girl Panic”. After the show, they did “All You Need is Now”. They must have been filming this for something else- maybe the internet.

   I was hanging out with a nice girl, Tammy. She lives in CA now but is originally from NJ. We waited outside of the studio afterwards with hopes of catching a glimpse of the DD guys.

   Our view wasn’t great. Pro photographers were doing a lot of the blocking. Dom and Anna came out first but we didn’t really see them that clearly.

   Tammy went across the street so I followed her. I am so glad that we did this. We got to see John, Nick, Roger, and Simon pretty well from there.

   I took photos then as well but the one of Simon wasn’t that great. He was getting into a vehicle so it is more like a side angle.

    I also took photos of the show’s hosts. Sam walked by us when we were waiting for DD. I had seen him in person like in 1986 when he was weather guy at “Eyewitness News”. That was when we were waiting to get in the studio to see Regis and Kathie Lee.

    Tammy and I were both going to the Port Authority Bus Terminal. We ate at a place there. We were talking about DD a lot, of course. She mentioned that she had seen them in 2004 (or was it 2005?) when they performed in Times Square. She was in the second row; lucky her.

   I hadn’t been totally into them as of then. That didn’t happen until after my first concert at MSG in April of 2005. I am sure that if I had been, I would have tried to attend that event.

   Even though I was feeling a bit anxious about socializing with her and others at this event too, it felt sort of nice being around other people who have the same interest as me  

   My tickets for their Atlantic City concert came in the mail today. I was pretty happy to see this. I can’t wait until this event. I haven’t been there in 20 years.

 

 

 

 

October 12, 2015- Cute Doggies and Other Animals- Part 1

 I felt like crying when I saw a dead cat in the middle of the road when driving to the grocery store on Sunday. I remember when Mike, Kelly and I were walking home from school and saw a doggie that had been hit by a car. A man went out into the street to help it and told us that we should go home. I hope that the poor doggie was alright but I have this bad feeling that it wasn’t.

  I get so emotional about animals. They are also in the highlight reels of my mind from trips that I have taken. There was this adorable little calf at the Farmer’s Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. that I was petting. She got some snot on my light blue pants. I have a picture of her and me. I barely remember anything else about that place or the Baseball Hall of Fame.

  We have pictures of me on a pony and petting a deer at the Turtleback Zoo in 1974. I wish that I could remember this. I pet goats at Hershey Park in 1975 and at a farm that had a corn maze that Matt and I went through in 2000.

  On a Girl Scout trip to the Bronx Zoo in 1980, I rode a camel and saw raccoons and otters. We went to The National Zoo in Washington D.C. and saw the pandas and I’m pretty sure otters too. I definitely saw them there in 1997 and even took photos.

   My troopmates and I went horseback riding during a trip to Virginia in 1982. That the only time that I’ve ever done so and probably would be too afraid to try it again.

  Mike and I liked feeding the ducks in Rahway Park when we were little kids. Helen J. bought a bunny rabbit over to our house one day and we were petting that. I held a baby bunny at the vet’s office a few years ago. It was so adorable.

  We buried a dead bird in our yard in the mid-1970s. A baby blue jay went under Mr. C’s deck about 10 years ago. I should have tried rescuing it or asked someone to help me do so. The mommie was looking for it. It must’ve been so scared and lonely. I know how it feels. I feel so guilty about this. Mr. C’s cat probably ate it or it just died of starvation.

  Mike rescued a baby groundhog from the middle of the road. We tried taking it to the woods near our house but it kept trying to cross the street. We took it to our house and kept it overnight. I didn’t think of taking it to the emergency vet place and was waiting until Monday morning to bring it to our vet.

  We didn’t even know that it was a groundhog at first. Mike was calling it a hedgehog but I don’t think that we have those in the U.S.  I thought that it was a guinea pig. I was saying that if it’s a girl I’d call it Molly and if it’s a boy it’s Simon.

  Our vet’s office only takes cats and dogs so we had to bring it to the one in Clark. The lady there said that they could call a wildlife rehabilitation place that would take care of it. The poor thing was dehydrated. It wouldn’t drink the water that we put in a dish for it. I called them a couple of hours later to check up on it. She said “He’s doing fine”.  Yeah!  Simon was okay. We found out it was a groundhog from them.

Calf- Farmer's Museum 1987

Turtleback Zoo 1974

Rahway Park 1972

Hershey Park 1975

Raccoons-1980

Bronx Zoo 1980- otter

D.C.-National Zoo 1997

Simon the baby groundhog

 

Note- last photo is from the internet- I wish that I had thought to take a picture of the baby groundhog!

 

 

Dreamtime-

January 3, 2010- An Aquarium Adventure

The aliens put me in a holodeck storyline with my Girl Scout troop; we looked about 13 or 14 years old. We were on a trip only I wasn’t entirely sure of which state we were in yet – either Florida or California. We were on a boat heading towards an island with a big aquarium on it.

   I saw dolphins and harmless sharks swimming around in the ocean. It was a lovely day; temps in the mid-70s and low humidity. I was listening to my troop mates talking. I was feeling like an outsider as I had during my real Girl Scout days. But I didn’t mind this here too much because I was excited about getting to see otters and other animals.

   Suddenly, things started getting scary for the boat was taking on water; somehow it had gotten damaged. We were semi- freaking out but when the crew informed us that we would be able to make it to the island without any problem, we calmed down. It was still 10 minutes away at that point.

    Everyone got out of the boat quickly though when we arrived there. I was a little bit slower because I was feeling a little ill- maybe seasickness. I became nervous as well when I couldn’t see any of my fellow Scouts or the 2 leaders- Mrs. M and Miss K, who also was our 4^th grade teacher.

    Although it was upsetting that none of them had waited for me, I decided to not let this spoil things and went off on my own on this adventure. It was strange that I didn’t spot any of them- how could they have gotten that far away from me in this short period of time?

   There were a lot of people at this aquarium; many of them were tour groups and those on class trips. I saw another Girl Scout troop also. Each group seemed to be wearing matching jackets or shirts. Ours had on yellow jackets like the ones that we had in reality. I was looking around for this at first and spotted girls wearing these. As I got closer to them though, I noticed that it wasn’t my troop and the jackets were just similar to ours.

      I was actually having so much fun looking at the animals, esp. the sea otters and seals. You were able to interact with some of them so I petted a baby otter and a seal pup. There were also sea lions, walruses, penguins, turtles, dolphin and more at this wonderful place.

   Most of the exhibits were indoors. There were several floors in this building. Of course, now such place exists on Earth near those 2 states or any other, at least not that I know about. It’s possible that a similar aquarium could be in our country somewhere.

    I still was slightly upset that my troop and its leaders didn’t even notice that I was missing. Wouldn’t they have asked an employee to make an announcement telling me to meet them in a certain area if they had? 

   Why should I even care, I was having a pretty good time on my own. Besides, they weren’t even real, just holograms or shape shifters- or both. I guess that a part of me was feeling lonely and wanted to share this experience with others.

   I went on the submarine ride afterwards.  I did feel a bit claustrophobic during that. We saw fish and other marine life during this 15 minute trip. This reminded me of the ride in Disney World- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; I think that’s its name.

   I saw some nice stuff in the gift shop and bought a few of the cute, small stuffed animals- an otter, seal pup and dolphin. They were beanie baby types. The weird thing about them was that on the tags were names of tennis players; a part of the proceeds were going towards their charities. A pink seal had Safina’s name and Davydenko’s was on another- I forget which kind though.

    I can’t get away from the tennis, even in an alien holodeck storyline such as this. I was laughing on the inside about that.

    I’ve always wanted to go to an aquarium. There is one in Camden but no way would I ever drive there. There is also a small one in Point Pleasant, I think. Even that seems too far for me because of the driving anxiety.  I don’t know if this kind of trip could even be in my budget anyhow. Maybe in the afterlife I will get to go to such a place.

   I wonder if I ever found my troop.  Maybe they left without me. I wish that I could’ve been in this program for longer as I do with others. I was back in my room listening to a Bon Jovi CD on my stereo as I had been before being transported into the holodeck.

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea

Sea World 1976

Circus World 1976

 

 

part of my Girl Scout jacket

Turtleback Zoo 2012