Downhome 4th
Had an interesting 4th. One of our keepers that just recently quit was an older lady named Ruth (I think she is around 60.) She was a retired school teacher that has worked at the zoo for the last 5 years in the mammal department. She worked mostly with the elephants. Anyway, Ruth's husband of 30-some odd years passed away 2 years ago, and she has been online dating since then. Last December she met a nice man who proposed to her on their first date. She quit her job earlier this month to marry him and move away with him. She invited us all to attend her wedding "before God, friends, family, and the elephants." Yup, she had her wedding last night right in front of the elephant exhibit.
It was a different sort of wedding than I've ever been to. First of all, I guess the attire could be described as "country casual". Everyone in the wedding party was wearing cowboy hats, as was the groom. You could tell the pastor because he wore the biggest cowboy hat. He was also sporting on of those pretty purple and red striped cowboy shirts. He ended practically everything with "Praise God." As in, "Hi, how are you this evening? So glad you could make it--Praise God!" and "Is this where I'm supposed to stand? Right here? Praise God!"
The bride was lovely in a calf length white prairie skirt, white blouse, white leather cowboy boots, and a hot pink cowboy hat with a hot pink veil studded with sequins hanging off the back. (And no, I'm not being snide, she was lovely. Ruth is one of those people who is beautiful on the outside in whatever she is in, because she is beautiful on the inside.) I thought the hot pink hat was marvelous, and she told me this was the last time she was getting married so she wanted it to be fun!
The weather cooperated wonderfully. The ceremony started at 7:30, and there was just enough shade and a slight breeze by then, that people weren't dropping from the heat, so that was nice.
The animals got into the ceremony as well. The elephants, of course, were curious as to why so many people in cowboy hats were sitting outside their exhibit. They were periodically lumbering by to look at things. Thankfully, no one threw any poop on the wedding party. I sat in the midst of several keepers, including a couple of elephants keepers. It's funny that sometimes the animals don't recognize us in "street clothes" as the people that care for them on a day to day basis. I think one of the elephants, Tanya, finally recognized some of us right before the ceremony began. She positioned herself right near the group of keepers, and proceeded to try to get our attention. One of the ways she usually does this is by "blowing raspberries" with her lips. Pppppppbbbbbbtttt! So Tanya started blowing raspberries to get our attention. She would alternate that with doing her "dance" command. This involves lifting a leg and shaking her head back and forth and flapping her ears.
7:30 at night also seems to be the time when things were starting to cool off. And when the evening starts to cool, the lions in the next exhibit over usually start to roar. Sam Jack, our huge male lion, has a wonderful voice that carries even when he in inside his night house. I hear him frequently in the evenings and the early mornings from my apartment across the river.
Anyway, the stage was set for a memorable wedding. It went something like this:
The groom and wedding party lined up under the shade structure (cowboy hats in hands) as the bride entered the area from behind some bushes. The soft music she was marching in to was drowned out by Sam Jack's roaring. She arrived, and the pastor welcomed all of us--(praise God!) and the ceremony began. About that time Tanya the elephant lined herself up in sight of all of the keepers and began dancing and blowing raspberries (pppbbbbttttt!). Not loudly enough to distract the rest of the crowd, but us keepers were having a hard time maintaining. The ceremony progressed, and a woman with a lovely voice sang a song a capella. Tanya, by this time was getting a little more insistent about getting some attention from her keepers, and started "dancing" more vigorously. Her huge ears were making a flap flap flapping noise almost in time to the lady's song. Then as they moving into the vows and the ring exchange part of the ceremony, she kicked it up a notch. "Ruth, do you take this man as your lawful wedded husband?" Ppppppppbbbbbtttttt!!!! "I do!" "Praise God!" Towards the end of the ceremony, many of us were having a hard time not busting a gut. Ruth, of course, could hear everything, and she was shaking with uncontrolled laughter as well. Finally, we made it to the benediction (Praise God!) and the pastor had to stop in the middle of the prayer for a few moments because Sam Jack had started roaring again so loudly no one could hear him.
But we got them married! (Praise God!) It will definitely be a memorable wedding for me. We adjourned to a barbecue dinner. Ruth was having a great time, and we all had a great laugh over Sam Jack and Tanya's antics throughout the ceremony.
I left the dinner just after we escorted Ruth out (throwing bird seed-- of course!!) I made it home just in time for the start of the fireworks over the river. The street outside my apartment was lined with cars of people watching. I parked and had a great spot to watch in my lot. The only other person from my complex who was there was my neighbor Juanita, the lady who doesn't like my dogs. Apparently she has let bygones be bygones, and we stood there together and watched the fireworks.
After that, I hit the sack. The boys did great and weren't scared at all by all the fireworks, even when someone pitched a thing of firecrackers over our fence in the middle of the night and they went off near my bedroom window.
It was truly a memorable 4th of July!
It was a different sort of wedding than I've ever been to. First of all, I guess the attire could be described as "country casual". Everyone in the wedding party was wearing cowboy hats, as was the groom. You could tell the pastor because he wore the biggest cowboy hat. He was also sporting on of those pretty purple and red striped cowboy shirts. He ended practically everything with "Praise God." As in, "Hi, how are you this evening? So glad you could make it--Praise God!" and "Is this where I'm supposed to stand? Right here? Praise God!"
The bride was lovely in a calf length white prairie skirt, white blouse, white leather cowboy boots, and a hot pink cowboy hat with a hot pink veil studded with sequins hanging off the back. (And no, I'm not being snide, she was lovely. Ruth is one of those people who is beautiful on the outside in whatever she is in, because she is beautiful on the inside.) I thought the hot pink hat was marvelous, and she told me this was the last time she was getting married so she wanted it to be fun!
The weather cooperated wonderfully. The ceremony started at 7:30, and there was just enough shade and a slight breeze by then, that people weren't dropping from the heat, so that was nice.
The animals got into the ceremony as well. The elephants, of course, were curious as to why so many people in cowboy hats were sitting outside their exhibit. They were periodically lumbering by to look at things. Thankfully, no one threw any poop on the wedding party. I sat in the midst of several keepers, including a couple of elephants keepers. It's funny that sometimes the animals don't recognize us in "street clothes" as the people that care for them on a day to day basis. I think one of the elephants, Tanya, finally recognized some of us right before the ceremony began. She positioned herself right near the group of keepers, and proceeded to try to get our attention. One of the ways she usually does this is by "blowing raspberries" with her lips. Pppppppbbbbbbtttt! So Tanya started blowing raspberries to get our attention. She would alternate that with doing her "dance" command. This involves lifting a leg and shaking her head back and forth and flapping her ears.
7:30 at night also seems to be the time when things were starting to cool off. And when the evening starts to cool, the lions in the next exhibit over usually start to roar. Sam Jack, our huge male lion, has a wonderful voice that carries even when he in inside his night house. I hear him frequently in the evenings and the early mornings from my apartment across the river.
Anyway, the stage was set for a memorable wedding. It went something like this:
The groom and wedding party lined up under the shade structure (cowboy hats in hands) as the bride entered the area from behind some bushes. The soft music she was marching in to was drowned out by Sam Jack's roaring. She arrived, and the pastor welcomed all of us--(praise God!) and the ceremony began. About that time Tanya the elephant lined herself up in sight of all of the keepers and began dancing and blowing raspberries (pppbbbbttttt!). Not loudly enough to distract the rest of the crowd, but us keepers were having a hard time maintaining. The ceremony progressed, and a woman with a lovely voice sang a song a capella. Tanya, by this time was getting a little more insistent about getting some attention from her keepers, and started "dancing" more vigorously. Her huge ears were making a flap flap flapping noise almost in time to the lady's song. Then as they moving into the vows and the ring exchange part of the ceremony, she kicked it up a notch. "Ruth, do you take this man as your lawful wedded husband?" Ppppppppbbbbbtttttt!!!! "I do!" "Praise God!" Towards the end of the ceremony, many of us were having a hard time not busting a gut. Ruth, of course, could hear everything, and she was shaking with uncontrolled laughter as well. Finally, we made it to the benediction (Praise God!) and the pastor had to stop in the middle of the prayer for a few moments because Sam Jack had started roaring again so loudly no one could hear him.
But we got them married! (Praise God!) It will definitely be a memorable wedding for me. We adjourned to a barbecue dinner. Ruth was having a great time, and we all had a great laugh over Sam Jack and Tanya's antics throughout the ceremony.
I left the dinner just after we escorted Ruth out (throwing bird seed-- of course!!) I made it home just in time for the start of the fireworks over the river. The street outside my apartment was lined with cars of people watching. I parked and had a great spot to watch in my lot. The only other person from my complex who was there was my neighbor Juanita, the lady who doesn't like my dogs. Apparently she has let bygones be bygones, and we stood there together and watched the fireworks.
After that, I hit the sack. The boys did great and weren't scared at all by all the fireworks, even when someone pitched a thing of firecrackers over our fence in the middle of the night and they went off near my bedroom window.
It was truly a memorable 4th of July!