Honolulu Zoo, our mangy cat and other things

Aloha!

We've had the pleasure of making several friends since we've been in Hawaii. I'm excited to share pictures of them as time goes on. This last Saturday we went with the Miller family to Honolulu Zoo. As far as Sam can remember, he's never been to a zoo- although he's been to many aquariums. We saw lions and tigers and-actually there weren't any bears, and the tiger wasn't out, so just lions. And peacocks. Lots of peacocks. We went during the heat of the day so most of the animals were passed out for a midday siesta, but we still enjoyed ourselves.

 The Millers, Jared and Meredith

And yes, Jared is 6'6".

They are also standing next to a plantain/banana tree. 

A flamingo where it should be: in a zoo and not in someone's front yard. 

       

 Weird crocodile-like thing, that isn't a crocodile. Sorry, can't remember its name. 

A white handed Gibbon

A Lemur

A Hippo

A Peacock (Did you know that only males have colorful plumage?)

A Rhino. 

They have a prominent upper lip that functions as a tool, 

called a "prehensile lip". Look it up, it's kinda cool. 

A Giraffe. They have really large purple tongues. 

A Bleeding Heart Pigeon.

Okay, these birds are REALLY cool. Scientists don't know why but they have a bullet shaped splotch of red color in their chests that looks like a bleeding heart. One of those cool things about nature. 

On a completely different note, Sam and I are proud parents of a scrawny feral cat that has adopted our car port as its home.

Sam took pity on the poor thing and gave it some meat. Bad idea. The cat learned we are suckers and will feed its ratty hide, so it sticks around. Honestly, I don't mind. We feed it enough to keep him around, and he keeps us safe from things like pigeons. He left this on our side walk.

Bless him.
I just hope he has a taste for mice and rats because I've heard from several people that they can be a problem.
We haven't thought of a name yet. Any ideas?

We've started our landscape-make over on the front yard. I had great intentions of helping Sam, but Sam is just so capable he gets everything done in a jiffy, so I've become the official picture taker. That and there are a lot of bugs. I don't like bugs, although I am getting desensitized to them. Just last night Sam saved me from a large cockroach with foot long antennae while I was bare foot in the bathroom (okay the antennae were only an inch long, but hey, I was bare foot). I didn't scream, which I think shows how far I've come.

I'll post pictures on the finished product once we're done. We want to lay down rock, but it's going to get $$, so we are weighing our options. I guess we'll see!

And last but not least, my food pic.

Sunshine in a bowl. The trick to a good pineapple isn't in the picking but in the waiting. You have to wait for your pineapple to get nice and fragrant. You'll know it's ready when you walk by and you are inundated with pineapple smell. It'll also have a nice golden yellow color. I also read that you should flip the pineapple over the day you want to eat it because all of the sugar that has pooled towards the bottom of the pineapple will be more evenly distributed- it'll be sweet throughout. We tried that method and the pineapple tasted really good, but I really think the trick is to just wait.

Bon Appetite!