And the vacation starts, ka-thump, ka-thump

So we started off on the Mighty Martin Vacation with a Saturday morning trip just for the Boofus- a walk down the NewHaven-Ft Wayne greenway.

 On which, while seeing nothing especially noteworthy, there were a couple of Scrappy moments.  And they came in rapid succession.  First came when a white butterfly was flying just in front of me... for quite a while... slowly sinking lower... finally landing between my projected next two footfalls.   "Dumbass", said I.
Laurie:  "Not the smartest butterfly in the box."
Me:  "A Scrappy butterfly".
Scrappy:  "Hey!"


Moments later an older couple on bicycles came up behind, the lady ringing her bell, saying, "On your left."

Lady:  "I wanted to see if you were paying attention."
Me:  "I was, he wasn't."
Guy: "Not surprising."
Me: "no kidding."
Scrappy: "HEY!!"

Later on, Scrappy got to go to Dairy Queen...

Where he got ice cream!

After a long nap, we adjourned to the back yard to listen to the game...

...and took pictures of passing visitors.

Still later, we decided to go back out and the car suddenly gave us two messages:  "Reduced engine power" and "Service traction control soon".  The internet tells me that that can be anything from a bad sensor to the gas pedal, and no way of knowing until we get it into the shop hopefully Monday.  On the bright side, it did it just minutes from home and not somewhere in Toledo.

So I rented a car online, set up a car appointment online, and we dug out the game cube.

Several games of Galaga, Ms Pac-Man and bowling later- as well as a few beers for yours truly- we wandered out under the nearly full moon to watch the festival fireworks.

Obviously, I don't get paid for this.

So Sunday, Enterprise picked us up, had a nice chat with a lady who was actually the sister of an old schoolmate, and got us our "ride'o'the week":

She's a '15 Chevy Cruze, so now I'm learning about all those neat features Bobby G's been telling me about on his wife's new ride.  And thus, we were off to the zoo on a drop-dead perfect day for it.

Lotsa squirrels to greet us- and a buttload of chipmunks inside- including one that had a bobbed tail, presumably from teasing the Lynx too much.

"Yeah, and if you let me out, I'll get his little buddy over there, too!"

"Your fleas are delicious, my dear..."

See the guy at the water's edge?  Kept pulling leaves out, wringing them out, and eating bits of them.

At one point, he grabbed something off the edge, and started wiping the palm of his hand on the ground.  "I think he just grabbed bird poop,"  Laurie said.

The new stingray exhibit is way cool.  You can pet them!  IF you can get close enough..

I did get a pretty good touch.  Kinda slimy.

Yeah, right.  Obviously there were no LIVE crocodiles down the canoe ride...

Fake one, yep, but...

Getting a little shaggy there, bub...

The little fish were easy to get- they were posing.  The sharks, not so much.

Dining with another guest...

Ker-Splash!

"Great dive!  Bet I could do that..."

"Yeah, I kinda doubt it..."

The sitatunga "walks down the same trail in the tall reeds all the time, enabling predators to find them."  And I'll write on your tombstone, "And thank you for dinner..."

These two were hilarious, running and wrestling.

Wildebeast, AKA the hot dog stand of the savannah.

"C'mon, dudes, it was a rough night..."

This mongoose was with the hyenas last night.

Not for the last time, Laurie gets tongue at the zoo.

This guy tried to eat my shirt.  How dare he???

Ol' boy put on a show for us.

And we wrapped up with a pleasant meal at Triangle Park.  Tune in tomorrow for....