Lately

Today has been a very good day. All the cats enjoyed the weather and were being extra adorable. When Katie and I finished checking locks on the first habitat of the day and let Tigger 3 out, he shot out of his lockdown into the habitat and ran a lap around the perimeter. Then he saw me over by his water and dropped to the grass to stalk me. He got all excited and leapt to his feet and bounded over. After having a very lengthy conversation with him (he moo's like a little cow) he flopped over on his side for some back scratches. Then out of no where, spotted the boys (two lions that share his habitat) and ran over only to roll over and grab his own back foot to wrestle with. Such an amazing five minutes.  As we moved on to the next habitat I saw a little cougar face poking her head of the den. Nala loves to stalk and so I crouched down and crept over behind her den. I snuck up to the door and then took of running so that Nala could chase me. Luna and Ruby battled for a spot at the fence for scratches (Luna is very "well- rounded" so she usually one haha) and then I heard some squeaking/meowing from behind me, Star (cougar) was trying to get my attention. As many times as I said her name, she always responded with a squeak. As I walked over to pet Star, I heard a similar noise, again, from behind me. Shasta was complaining that I was leaving her group without her getting a chance for a little cougar massage. As the morning wore on, we got over to Shir Khan's habitat. When we let him out he walked over to his habitat water bucket and started to drink. He drank for so long he laid down, I mean, might as well! I chuffed at him (I do to all of them but I love Shir Khan so much that I was waiting for him to come over to say hi to me) He was so happy that I was waiting for him that he chuffed between laps of water. Much have taken a lot of stomach muscles! Then later I visited with Hercules, who is not friendly, but so so so cute. He has a rough back story so I don't blame him for hating people. I gave him one of the duck's eggs I found that morning. (Ginger and Dr. Quacks - Doctor of Quack-a-nomics- are both female, so when we find their eggs we give them to the cats as a treat.) Hercules trapped the egg between his paws and smushed it a little and licked. He kept squishing it just a little bit at a time, probably savoring it. After I was done watching Hercules I looked over to find Heather, just to see her crouching in the tall grass stalking me. So I got up and pretended not to see her. I went to hide behind a log so she couldn't see me and we spent about 10 minutes playing hide and go seek. She only ever poked her head above the log just enough to spot me. Little glimpses of dilated pupils and tiger nose is just the best experience. She was so playful, you could hardly see her iris, her pupils were so very dilated.