Zoo Day.

Another bright and sunny day. The forecast had talked of rain in the afternoon consequently I didn't put the washing in the machine until I came home from the zoo but it is now drying nicely out on the line.  Wednesday is also bin/recycling day and before I went out I prepared a big pan of hearty soup so I could get the vegetable waste into the caddy ready for collection. 

As the lady I normally work with wasn't at the zoo today I used my initiative and swept the paths first. Although my sweeping and weeding don't have an immediate benefit for the animals they make the zoo look smarter for visitors who in the end fund the care of the animals. As it happened there was a guided tour booked in for a bit later on. I like the tours which are currently the only way people can visit, as I hear more information about the different animals. I now know that the Kookaburra is called Keith and is 17 years old which is a very good age as the usual life span is 15 years. If you look behind Keith the gravelled area between the paths is where I spent the rest of my time grubbing up weeds. 

While I weeded I could hear the sound of hammering coming from one of the animal pens. I assumed that it was somebody doing repair work but when I looked up I saw one of the Capuchin monkeys banging at something (a nut?) with a large stone. They are well known for being tool users. The monkeys in that pen were both raised as pets (bad idea) so can't ever be integrated into a group. They are different species of Capuchin but were gradually introduced to each other over six months and now get along well.

Some people were walking on the far side of the zoo fence and their barking dogs frightened the albino wallaby joey who rushed back to her mum.

Dive in head first, wriggle around and then just a little nose poking out from the safety of mum's pouch.

Back home I got the soup simmering, and then it was back to curtain sewing. The wind is still chilly enough to make wearing a fleece advisable when sitting out on the terrace but I had an enjoyable afternoon sewing in the sunshine and chatting to Peter who had joined me. The first curtain is done and so also is the hem of the second curtain. 

Later this evening I noticed that Speedy had a cut and a hairless scrape about an inch, the scrape not the cut, across on his leg. He must have caught it on something outside, silly cat. I'll check it again in the morning and if it looks as if he's been licking it then he'll be back to wearing a cone of shame (saved from the last time). He wasn't in my good books earlier when he turned up at the door with a sparrow in his mouth. Sadly it was too late to save the little bird. I took it out to bury in the garden (three weeks until the next bin day) and then decided to give the sparrow a sky/sea burial. In other words I threw it over the cliff to complete nature's cycle.