the mellow tigger's musings

Omaha Zoo

Sat, 06 Jun 2015 18:12:48 GMT

I finally made it to Omaha Nebraska this week as part of a 4-day retreat for work with The Nature Conservancy.

I rarely take vacations, since travelling is more stressful than just relaxing at home. I've been in Minnesota for 18 years and still haven't gone across the northern border to Canada, east to Chicago, or west to see the rocks (Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse) of South Dakota. My plan last week was to leave Friday or Saturday and go see the rocks. Instead, I delayed so I could hear Bernie Sanders in Minneapolis on Sunday, then I took off immediately for Omaha. I spent the night at Motel 6 in Omaha, then I walked around the Omaha Zoo for several hours. I was tired of walking and didn't go to the Lauritzen Gardens afterwards. Instead, I drove to Nebraska City, Nebraska for the conference.

The indoors exhibits for the Omaha Zoo are very good. They have habitats specifically for desert biome, jungle biome, and a smaller building just for butterflies (even hotter and more humid than the jungle, so my glasses fogged up). Their outdoors exhibits bothered me, though, because they had large animals in small spaces. The Minnesota Zoo is much more humane in this regard. The indoor exhibits in Omaha were even more impressive because some animals (mostly birds but some bats) were allowed territory that wasn't caged separately from the human paths. Animals were mixing in with people, and it was a great combination to see.

I recorded some video clips while I was there. They include

the feeding of the penguins (250MB),
a peacock crying its call (14MB), and
two prairie dogs in a social ritual (114MB) that I would guess was a pre-mating introduction.

The desert dome had an underground exhibit devoted to all kinds of nocturnal creatures. They even had a large beaver lodge down there and a very tall "cave" whose roof had a bright gap exposed to the sky's light. It really looked like a bat cave, although the nearby bats were kept in contained spaces.

The Lied building housed the jungle biome. It was very large and its structural components masqueraded very well as native environment. It also included a few birds that could reach human paths. The bats in this daytime jungle building could roost anywhere, too. I don't know who the Lied family is, but their name was included in the conference center where I stayed in Nebraska City for the retreat event.

Elsewhere, the zoo included its large animal exhibits (with several many spaces under construction) and an Imax theater. The aquarium included an odd "virtual pool" where kids could jump around with the tidepool creatures. (At the Minnesota zoo, people can touch real animals in real water.)

The one thing that actually surprised me on my mini-vacation, though, was seeing the many wind farms in Iowa.

Who knew Iowa was investing so heavily in sustainable energy sources? Why isn't Minnesota dotted with these structures? Is the wind really so less common here?

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three days gone

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:03:40 GMT

One-third of my vacation is gone, and I haven't enjoyed any of it yet. I didn't turn on my computer for two days, so you know it was bad.

I made the mistake late Friday of grabbing a quick burger at McDonald's at 9pm. By 11pm, I was already feeling the first twinge of nausea. Who knows if it was the meat, the lettuce, or the mayonnaise that had gone bad? Saturday was awful. I had to lay down on the bathroom floor a few times because using the toilet left me light-headed on the verge of fainting. Sunday was better. Monday was a little better, although walking around the house still leaves me very tired.

I try to stay horizontal rather than vertical, and I sleep a whole lot. This evening, I finally feel steady enough to sit up at my computer desk to check messages and write a brief post. I may lay back in a warm bath this evening, the first cleaning I've had since Friday morning.

Food poisoning is a lousy way to start a vacation. My poor gut just can't catch a break.

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interlude

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 03:42:28 GMT

I'm officially on hiatus. I'm taking off from work all of next week. I have 9 days to do nothing, and I intend to do exactly that.

I'm hoping to rest, recuperate, and regenerate. Maybe afterwards I'll finally have the attention and stamina to return to the local Occupation, to sign up for an online class, or do some extra programming at home.

If I never leave the house except to forage for food at the local grocery stores, then it will have been a very successful vacation.

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