Powder Keg Breached

After almost 14 years, I thought I had seen the Asst. Zookeeper in every mood, in every situation. Today, I was proven wrong.

At our zoo, I'm the one with the short fuse. I'm the one that will fly off the handle or get bent out of shape over small things. The Asst. Zookeeper is always unflappable. Unflappable to the point that it drives me crazy. There have been countless times that I WANTED him to get upset and yell because it would justify me being angry. It has never happened. . . until today.

Sometime this morning after 1:30 am, someone very stupid stole Dan's truck. It was parked behind the house and the keys were hanging just inside the back door (where all the keys hang). He got up early to take Heathen #1 hunting for opening day, and went out to find that his truck was gone.

He checked around the neighborhood to make sure that someone hadn't simply moved it as a joke, but it didn't turn up. After calling the police and starting the report with them, he took the van and drove through the less savory sections of town hoping to spot it. No luck. He called all his friends and asked them to keep their eyes open for his truck, then crawled back into bed.

At 10:30 am, his cell phone rang. His younger brother had seen the truck drive past his house and was calling to see if it was Dan's. Dan described the telltale dents (one of which I put there!) - and it was Dan's truck! There were two guys driving it.

Dan exploded. I have never heard him like that. He went tearing out of the house, asking for directions from his brother as he went. The back door slammed and I heard the motor on the van gun as Dan pulled out.

The chase went on for more than two hours. Both his brothers and his mother, as well as family friends, were helping tale the truck as the thieves raced all over three counties in an effort to get away. The local police were contacted and several groups of cops joined the chase as well.

During the entire event, my sister-in-law was listening to the police scanner and calling me with updates as to where everyone was. People called in from cell phones and we relayed messages back and forth between drivers to position cars to follow. My father-in-law, who was in Saskatchewan for work, helped in relaying phone calls.

The state police joined the chase when it hit Haws' Pike. As they were setting up in Seward to attempt to block the guy in and get him stopped, the thief decided to cut across a field - and hit a tree head-on at about 70 MPH. The truck is totaled, and the guys in the truck were arrested.

Thankfully, the police had the guys before my husband got to them. When Dan arrived on the scene, the guys were already in police cars and his older brother was able to corner Dan and get him calmed down. My mother-in-law stood and stared at the one kid through the police car window until he broke into tears. Turns out, one was 17 and emancipated. The other kid is only 15 or 16.

Dan spent the rest of the day keyed up. I've never seen him like he was today. He's always been a gentle person. I've seen him help strangers and calm down children. I've seen him spend time with elderly people and make people laugh. I've always jokingly said that I've never truly seen him angry. I've only seen him irritated. Well, I saw him angry today - and God help the boys who stole and destroyed his truck. They better hope they go to jail long enough for Dan to calm down.

Fluffing the Tree

One job I never would have listed as a "Christmas job" is fluffing the tree. It is an essential task in any home that has an artificial tree. The year that Heathen #3 was born, the Asst. Zookeeper and I caved and bought one. Every year when I drag it out of the attic, I still feel guilty that it's a fake. But I don't miss the pine needles everywhere.

Saturday, I hauled the tree down from the attic. I wrestled it out of the bag and managed to put it together in mostly the correct order. Stepping back to look at it, I was once again struck by how much I really don't like artificial trees. Still, I reminded myself about the lack of pine needles everywhere.

I spent more than an hour "fluffing" the tree. It looked a bit better after I was done, but it still looked fake.


Usually, the Asst. Zookeeper is the official "tree fluffer" in our zoo. This year he was outside fighting the cold and wind to hang the lights on the roof line. Which left me with the tree.


I couldn't have done TOO badly fluffing the tree. Within an hour, Nina (our newest cat) was up in it. She's adopted it as her new home. Thank heavens she's still little and just over a pound. I don't know that the tree could handle a much bigger cat!

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

We made it! I've been wanting to go now for several years and this year we went! I booked a hotel that was only two blocks from the parade route. We drove to Philadelphia and took the bus from there to New York City. The Thornton Family joined us for our adventure and the boys all really had a great time together!

As always with our zoo, it was NOT a boring trip! We drove to Philadelphia on Wednesday morning. A friend of ours had suggested cheap parking near the bus station. Upon arrival, we unloaded the van and headed over the four blocks to the bus.

When we arrived at New Century Travel, we were in for a small surprise. It was located in Chinatown and run by people who barely spoke English. Not a big deal! It was just a little strange to be the only white people on the bus who were white. The boys were all good on the two hour bus trip to the Big Apple.

When we arrived in NYC, we didn't unload the bus fast enough for the bus driver. He yelled at us to "Get off bus now!" while we were trying to round up five small boys and luggage. Needless to say, we managed to leave Heathen #3's backpack on the bus. The only casualty of this loss was the stuffed snack inside. Fuzzbutt will be missed (and only replaced if Heathen #3 remembers...)

In the Big Apple, we all slung on our backpacks and hiked the few blocks to the subway. The Asst. Zookeeper managed to really irritate the locals as he was buying five tickets at the automated machine - swiping the card and entering the pin number for FIVE separate transactions.

We took the subway to our hotel and spent about 45 minutes in down time. Then we met up with the Thorntons in the hotel lobby and headed back to the Subway! We were going to see the balloons being inflated for the parade.

The map we had for the subway was really little. And none of us had been to NYC before. It took us three trains to get to the right location. The boys all thought it was a great ride!

Upon arrival at the balloons, we joined the huge crowd that was viewing the balloons. There were nets over the balloons to hold them down. It was amazing how huge the balloons were!

While planning our trip, we joked of having Thanksgiving dinner from a street vendor. We did have hot dogs while viewing the balloons. They were ridiculously expensive. We decided that the vendor was just pulling numbers out of the air.

The next morning, Bethany and I headed out at 6:30 to secure places for us to watch the parade. It wasn't nearly as busy early as we thought it would be. We found a place to stand beside the Carnegie Deli. The Asst. Zookeeper and Ron took care of bringing the boys down about an hour before the parade.

The parade was just amazing. There is no point in watching it on television - it is not close to the true experience. The costumes were phenomenal and the balloons were breathtaking.

The boys all had a wonderful time. I can't wait to go again!