Archive for the ‘Cincinnati’ Category
I know it’s been a while since I’ve done a Cincinnati Zoo post. Time to rectify that. I believe I posted about John and Imani, the zoo’s power couple.
They had kids! Three female cubs, named “Huruma,” “Kya,” and “Willa.”
I’m afraid that, in spite of good guidance, I can’t tell them apart. One was sitting close to her parents.
The other two stayed by the fence.
Relaxing…
…until one of them decided it was playtime!
Nearby, were Imara and Brahma, the African painted dogs.
They had ten pups, all with “Batman”-themed names.
The “Batman” theme started with one, Joker, who seems to have a question mark on his back.
They had paper Easter eggs in their enclosure as enrichment.
It was fun to watch them scamper about.
Just watching them wore the bat-eared fox out.
As we left the Africa area, we watched a cheetah take a bath.
We stopped by the nursery to see Zeke, a serval cub. He was about eleven weeks old when we saw him.
It was late in the day, so mostly, he wanted to groom himself…
…and take a nap.
We had to stop and say “hi” to Nubo and Renji, the snow leopards.
Our visit began as a lazy afternoon.
But Nubo saw something.
He stalked towards it. I was confused, and fixated on the cats.
Renji joined him. Some idiot kids jumped a barrier, and went to a side of the enclosure not accessable to the public. Not cool!
It did stir them up a bit.
Nubo jumped up on an off-camber…he handles them so much better than I do.
He’s such a handsome cat!
On the way out, we saw a peacock, who wanted to show off.
It was fun to see all the cats, dogs, and babies!
My wife’s dance group, Celtic Rhythm Dancers USA, performed at the 2014 Cincinnati Celtic Festival.
I kinda dig the new, colorful belts.
As always, they do a great performance!
Labor Day weekend brings the Cincinnati Zoo cheetah run. My wife did the 5K for the second year, this time with my daughter doing a good chunk of it with her.
I’m quite impressed with their running. I only run if something is chasing me (or I’m late for the bus).
After the run, we decided to walk around the zoo. Remember Gladys, the orphaned baby gorilla? She’s getting bigger.
But she’s no longer the baby! Asha was born this year. I’m sure when she gets bigger, she’ll be a great playmate for Gladys.
We stopped to say “hi” to Renji and Nubo. Renji was wondering what was with all the smelly(-er-than-usual) people.
Nubo just set about making sure his paws were clean.
Inside, I got some good pictures of the black-footed cats. They were quite active that morning.
The sand cat took a great leap!
The caracal’s enclosure was quite fogged over that morning, creating a cloudy view. However, she just looked so cute, I had to take get the best shot I could of her.
Dobby the pygmy owl saw us out.
We had a great morning! The Cheetah Run is a wonderful fundraiser for one of the best zoos in the country!
Pelikan, a German manufacturer of fountain pens, has been making a strong push in social media. Primarily, this has been on Facebook and Instagram. They really do seem committed to reaching out to their fans.
A couple months ago, they announced Pelikan Hubs, an in-real-life meet-up of Pelikan fans. The idea was that, on Friday, June 13, fans would meet up at a designated spot at 7:30 PM local time. There, they would talk about pens, post with the #PelikanHubs hashtag, and generally have a good time. At the initial announcement, they were determining where the Hubs would take place. I signed up, unsure if we’d have one in Cincinnati.
They sent a note out saying that Cincinnati was chosen–one of thirteen cities in the United States to host a Hub. A week later, I got an email–they needed a “Hub Master” to run the hub. The duties were fairly light: select a location, and distribute goodies sent by Pelikan. I made a mental note to talk to my wife about it, to confirm I could commit to that. Over the weekend, I had forgotten about it, but a second email came that Monday.
Perhaps I should have taken that as a bad sign.
Regardless, I agreed, and worked with Pelikan to select a location, and get the word out to the half-dozen Queen City citizens who signed up. I chose one of the larger Starbucks in town, near an Interstate exit, figuring it’d make it relatively convenient for the attendees. Packages and emails were exchanged with Germany. I found my pelican beanie baby to be our mascot (as well as a way to identify me in a crowd). We were set.
The freebies were some post cards, along with a “shiny green” notebook, meant to match their new “shiney green” M205 Duo fountain pen highlighter–I have the original yellow version. The notebook is actually quite nice–a leather-like cover on cork backing hold two spiral notebooks: one of plain paper; the other, graph. The paper is good for fountain pens, with mild show-through.
I was good–I kept my notebook sealed until the Thirteenth. On that day, I drove to the Starbucks with the box of goodies and my pelican. I ordered a drink then set up at a table for six. The place was empty, save for a couple of Xavier University students.
Unfortunately, no one showed. I watched patrons as they came in, trying to decide if they were one of my Hub-folks. I generally figured if they weren’t wearing something that could hold pens, they weren’t it. However, after forty minutes, I gave up.
Other hubs seemed to go well, with dinners, give-aways, and other happenings. It was a bit of a bummer that my Hub at an attendance of one. Still, it was quite neat for Pelikan to reach out to their fans and try to connect them in this fashion.
The Marvin Lewis Community Fund sponsored Learning is Cool. Cincinnati Public School students who were on the “A” honor role twice were invited to an evening at the zoo, and receive a medal, given by members of a local sports team. Once again, my daughter was on the “A” honor role four times. Of course we would go to the zoo!
John the lion has a new pal, Imani.
She’s pretty!
John must think so, too, as he’s trying to look his best.
They do make a cute couple.
Nearby cheetahs were looking like bookends. No runs were scheduled that evening.
Gizmo, an African white-faced owl, was out. We saw him before. He’s quite cute.
A red panda was in the tree, grooming.
One of the Malayan tigers was demonstrating his camouflage in the tall grass.
A cougar was relaxing in a less-than-camouflaged fashion.
The highlight for me was Nubo and Renji.
The snow leopard duo were bouncing off the walls!
Who says cheetahs are the only cats who can sprint.
We got to see a baby flamingo.
Later, they paraded by.
Before we left, we said “hi” to Louisiana girl Sayia.
It was an enjoyable evening at the zoo.
I took the day after TOSRV as PTO. My wife had the afternoon off, and after lunch, we decided to pop into the Cincinnati Zoo. It was very spontaneous–I didn’t have my DSLR, but I had my iPhone. The perfect camera is the one you have with you.
Why? Why to see Nasha, of course.
Nasha is a baby giraffe born on April 28. Here she is with her mom, Tessa, and an “aunt.”
Outside was her dad, Kimba.
It was Nubo’s birthday, so we stopped over to wish him well.
Finally, on the way out, we saw Jack, a baby camel.
All in all, it was a fun afternoon at the zoo.
My favorite zoo animal turns three!
The Cincinnati Zoo made a couple of announcements since my last visit, neither of which involved cats. It was, however, for two of my favorite non-felids animals. We had a gorgeous day, so I decided to go check it out.
The first was Seyia, a black rhino. She just moved here from the Baton Rouge Zoo. Like most Louisiana girls, she’s very cute*.
I confess I haven’t watched too many rhinos interacting with people. This time, I was there when her keepers were having a session with her. It was clear that she had an interest–even a fondness–for her people. It was quite cute.
The keepers train the animals behaviors that will help them in the animal’s care. In this case, Seyia has learned how to present her foot for examination.
She seems to really like watermelon.
The other new arrival was Kilua, a baby okapi. She was born on November 30.
She is a very active girl!
The black bear was enjoying the sun.
As was this penguin.
Of course I stopped by the cats! Techumseh the cougar was being active.
They fed the caracal while I was there. I remind myself that, in the wild, small birds are commonly their prey. Today, they gave her a chick. It wasn’t alive, but a bit odd to see. I’m not posting the picture here, but I did link to the picture.
Renji and Nubo, the snow leopards, were relaxed. Nubo did raise his head to say “hi.”
The tigers were even more relaxed, melting into a puddle. Not the tongue.
*Louisiana girls are cute, but I do find myself partial to women from the Midwest. :)
As I mentioned, until last week, I hadn’t been to a zoo since right around New Year’s Day. I had to look: it had been since late November—NOVEMBER–since I had been to my beloved Cincinnati Zoo.
The Polar Vortex really put a damper on our fun this year.
We made it out this weekend, to make sure we got to see Zoo Blooms. However, the blooms had come up yet.
The Polar Vortex really put a delay on our fun this year.
We did make a point of saying “hi” to the cats. Renji and Nubo were taking a nap, foreshadowing the day.
Nubo did pick his head up to greet us. What a handsome boy!
Naps were the theme inside, whether you were a fishing cat…
…sand cat…
…or ocelot.
The fennec fox was even catching a few Z’s.
Even the animals that were awake were mellow. I’ve never seen a black footed cat on top of this log before this visit. It’s tinyness was obvious.
The caracal, another favorite of mine, was taking a bath. Her camouflage is…um…obvious.
Outside, cougar Tecumseh was also napping.
His brother, Joseph, saw something and made ready.
He gave chase, only to have his prey, a squirrel, run outside the fence.
Better luck next time!
It has been an uncharacteristically cold and snowy winter in Cincinnati. I saw today that 2013-2014 has entered the top five snowiest winters since the late 1890s. I’ve managed to squeeze in some rides, but it’s been a lot of time at the gym. It’s meant wearing a lot of clothes and boots and gloves. Truthfully, I haven’t felt like doing much (as you may have noticed from the blog posts).
I realized just how bad I had gotten after an anti-snow rant on twitter, and an afternoon feeling sorry for myself. I realized I needed to get outside. I took a walk at Alms Park, to check out the new layer of snow that fell the previous day.
Snow that has hung around for a week (or even a day or two) takes on a level of nastiness–a semi-melted pile of ice that clings on to car exhaust. However, with three or so inches the previous day, I was one of the few people to tread this ground. It was somewhat lovely.
I walked up the the remains of a building on the hiking trail, and touched the snow. I felt the firmness of the pile on top of the wall, surprised at how much snow was there.
I started to regret not bringing my GorillaPod, to take a self-portrait. I briefly considered trying to improvise, but decided I didn’t want to disturb the snow for the next hiker. My shadow, then, represented me.
I walked past the river overlook, and saw the field of untouched snow. I made a point to stay in the tracks of the other hikers, as I didn’t want to be the one to mess it up.
I snaked up the trail to the loop around Alms Park, and saw the lonely statue of Stephen Foster.
I continued the loop past park buildings then back home. While I can’t say I like the snow any better, my attitude was improved by the time outside.
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