Clint and His Amazing Barking Meerkat

Clint and his amazing barking meerkat. Whenever Clint talked, the sound of his voice caused his meerkat to bark! Clint thought it was some sort of protective reflex like relaying an alarm. These days, the zoo keepers at the San Diego Zoo get out to talk to the public a lot more than they used to and, if you keep an eye out for them, you can often learn all sorts of animal facts and trivia.

Meerkat Momma

Meerkat, Suricata suricatta. Mom and nursing pup. Mom and Dad meerkat were both watching over junior and keeping a keen eye on the rest of the troop as well. Dad was quick to nudge away any interloping troop members to protect junior.

The Merry Meerkat

Momma Meerkat, Suricata suricatta, at play with her pups. Meerkats are related to the Mongoose and live 12-14 years. They sure are cute, aren't they? Kind of makes you wonder what the joke is.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I was asked what the derivation of Thanksgiving was. Digging around the web there are references to varied celebrations for the fall harvest both pagan and religious. It occurred to me that, especially in ancient times, making it through another year's harvest and having enough food to survive the winter was a real feat and something that people did not take for granted.

Odd that the "day after Thanksgiving" should now be the biggest shopping day of the year and that Christmas decorations popped up in the neighbors' yards a few days ago complete with dancing deer and inflatable Santas. Overall, however, while Thanksgiving has become a very commercial holiday it still retains the tradition of taking time off from the daily work craziness that we now live in to spend quality time with family and friends. Hopefully, that is a tradition that will endure.

Happy Thanksgiving to you, your family, your friends and those that you love. May you have many warm and enduring memories.