Other Sunday Things
Joe and I had a good day today. :)
After the church service, we stayed for Sunday school. There is a "young marrieds" class that meets at 10:45, and it was pretty good! Normally I feel awkward at Bible study groups but this one wasn't bad. It was REAL small - only two other couples were there this time, in addition to the (older, parent-age) couple that was teaching the class. Everyone was friendly, and easy enough to talk to. We could really identify more with these than with the "young career-age" group we'd gone to, that my ol' college pals are in. And there was also much distraction - while there was a serious time for lesson, there was also a lot of laughing. Also something that impressed me about the group was how welcoming they were - we got an e-mail from the leaders a few hours after getting home, with a class calander and a lunch invitation. :)
We decided to stop in at the Alligator Farm for lunch. They have pretty good food at their concession stand. Joe got a burger, and I got a hot dog, and we split some fries. Then we walked around. I fascinated a couple of tamarins (little bitty monkeys) with my Diet Coke bottle - they were so curious! They looked at the bottle, then watched me take a drink, then head-tilted. XD We walked through the swamp, where there are LOTS of the (wild!) great egrets building their nests. It was amusing to watch them. One egret would get a stick, then had to place it just so on the branches, and then he'd stand on it for a minute to test it out. Another egret would go over to an empty nest that'd already been built, and raid it for sticks to bring back to his mate. There were so MANY of them, and all so beautiful!! Finally, Joe and I walked over to watch the African birds. The Farm has a bunch of Cape Vultures, *beautiful* birds, and intelligent, too! We sat on a picnic bench in the play area to watch the vultures, and two of them came right up to the window (one of those "kids viewing window" things) and watched Joe and I. Apparently, my Diet Coke bottle was fascinating to them, too - they'd watch where ever I moved the bottle. In so doing, I made them dance to the tribal music on the speakers. XD GORGEOUS birds up close, and a lot of fun to watch. While we were there, a little girl (maybe four or five?) came up to Joe and I and asked what the bird was ("that's a vulture!") and if the vulture was mean. I told her to ask the bird! She asked, "Vulture, are you a mean vulture?" She was so cute. :P
Then Joe and I came home, and he did some yard work - we're preparing a small place for an itty bitty homegrown veggie garden - and I took a nap on the hammock in the sun. ^_^ Okay, I didn't just sleep - I also worked with Reo in the backyard for some of his training. He is learning "look" pretty well but is VERY stubborn about "heel" - even when I try to get him to target my hand (with a treat!) he will not do it when I give the command to heel - telling him to heel makes him run off. That part will take some work.
After that, we took Reo downtown for a walk, so he could work through some distractions again. We practiced our "sit and stay" quite a bit, and we even had a chance to test his "sit and LOOK" while another dog walked past. He sat, he looked at me, and not once did he try to go after the other dog! It was good that, once I got his attention, he did what I wanted him to, instead of going toward the other dog in an effort to play. He may be trainable yet. ;) After all, we are just starting!
Well, that's all for now, I am going to go to bed early because we have to get up AN HOUR EARLY tomorrow, even though the clock will read 8:00, it won't really be. ;P
After the church service, we stayed for Sunday school. There is a "young marrieds" class that meets at 10:45, and it was pretty good! Normally I feel awkward at Bible study groups but this one wasn't bad. It was REAL small - only two other couples were there this time, in addition to the (older, parent-age) couple that was teaching the class. Everyone was friendly, and easy enough to talk to. We could really identify more with these than with the "young career-age" group we'd gone to, that my ol' college pals are in. And there was also much distraction - while there was a serious time for lesson, there was also a lot of laughing. Also something that impressed me about the group was how welcoming they were - we got an e-mail from the leaders a few hours after getting home, with a class calander and a lunch invitation. :)
We decided to stop in at the Alligator Farm for lunch. They have pretty good food at their concession stand. Joe got a burger, and I got a hot dog, and we split some fries. Then we walked around. I fascinated a couple of tamarins (little bitty monkeys) with my Diet Coke bottle - they were so curious! They looked at the bottle, then watched me take a drink, then head-tilted. XD We walked through the swamp, where there are LOTS of the (wild!) great egrets building their nests. It was amusing to watch them. One egret would get a stick, then had to place it just so on the branches, and then he'd stand on it for a minute to test it out. Another egret would go over to an empty nest that'd already been built, and raid it for sticks to bring back to his mate. There were so MANY of them, and all so beautiful!! Finally, Joe and I walked over to watch the African birds. The Farm has a bunch of Cape Vultures, *beautiful* birds, and intelligent, too! We sat on a picnic bench in the play area to watch the vultures, and two of them came right up to the window (one of those "kids viewing window" things) and watched Joe and I. Apparently, my Diet Coke bottle was fascinating to them, too - they'd watch where ever I moved the bottle. In so doing, I made them dance to the tribal music on the speakers. XD GORGEOUS birds up close, and a lot of fun to watch. While we were there, a little girl (maybe four or five?) came up to Joe and I and asked what the bird was ("that's a vulture!") and if the vulture was mean. I told her to ask the bird! She asked, "Vulture, are you a mean vulture?" She was so cute. :P
Then Joe and I came home, and he did some yard work - we're preparing a small place for an itty bitty homegrown veggie garden - and I took a nap on the hammock in the sun. ^_^ Okay, I didn't just sleep - I also worked with Reo in the backyard for some of his training. He is learning "look" pretty well but is VERY stubborn about "heel" - even when I try to get him to target my hand (with a treat!) he will not do it when I give the command to heel - telling him to heel makes him run off. That part will take some work.
After that, we took Reo downtown for a walk, so he could work through some distractions again. We practiced our "sit and stay" quite a bit, and we even had a chance to test his "sit and LOOK" while another dog walked past. He sat, he looked at me, and not once did he try to go after the other dog! It was good that, once I got his attention, he did what I wanted him to, instead of going toward the other dog in an effort to play. He may be trainable yet. ;) After all, we are just starting!
Well, that's all for now, I am going to go to bed early because we have to get up AN HOUR EARLY tomorrow, even though the clock will read 8:00, it won't really be. ;P