Wednesday, March 01, 2017

My Current "Shiny Squirrel"

Is everyone as obsessed with April the Giraffe as I am?  You know, April the pregnant giraffe? It seems the whole world is holding their breath waiting for her to give birth. The world seems like it's falling apart (in my small, humble opinion), and everyone is watching a giraffe's hoo-hoo looking for signs of new life. Is this a metaphor?

I feel awful, mentally, right now and it seems that April is a mindless escape. I mean, I don't have the camera trained on the live feed all the time (ain't nobody got time for that!), but I do check in a couple of times a day.

I've learned a few things, too.

Bull giraffes aren't as docile as their female counterparts.  Not mean, exactly, but - as the YouTube, Animal Adventure Park live feed info says, "A bull is a bull is a bull." Infer what you will.

The things on their heads are called ossicones. Who knew? They are ossified cartilage covered with skin and fur and, as far as I can tell, have no purpose. The only other animal to have ossicones are Okapis. Huh? I'd never heard of an Okapi before, but they're an endangered species, related to the giraffe, and look like a deer mated with a zebra.

Anyway, when April finally begins to birth her baby, we'll see the baby's front hooves first, then the snout, then the rest will follow. A baby giraffe weighs, on average, 150 lbs, and is, on average, 6ft tall. A giraffe is pregnant for 15 months.

Wait! 15 months? Seriously? I absolutely cannot imagine being pregnant for 15 months. That little tidbit just blew me away! And imagine, a 150 lb, 6ft baby? I'm baffled. But then again, I'm not a giraffe, either. (Thank God!)

I would very much like to pet one, though. Hug it and squeeze it and call it Georgina? (Not George, because that would infer a male giraffe and, as we've already established, they're not much on the hugging and the squeezing.)

So, as the world waits with bated breath for April the gentle giant to have her huge baby, I am enthralled. Am I somehow hoping I'll be the first viewer to spot something happening? Nope. Do I expect anyone else to be interested? Nope. Is this a way to post an entry on my blog without having to talk about anything personal? Absolutely.

Am I OK?  Yes. Is anything really wrong? No. Am I in a funk? Yupperdoodle. And I'll get over it.

For now, I'll look at a giraffe's hoo-hoo along with the rest of the world.

TTFN
JMS

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