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Friday, October 1, 2010

I take my daughter to work and we see a rhino and a giraffe

You never know what you will find when you get to a planting job. Yesterday I planted a pasture for a fellow who has a ranch for retired zoo animals. I took daughter with me at 7 a.m. and she got a tour.
The photo below is what we saw after going through the gate. Look closely in the trees!
It thought it was all pretty cool but kind of like five minutes worth of cool and then I went back to work. But... when you are 9 years old being five foot away from a 6,000lb rhino or looking at a giraffe out the window of dad's pickup is pretty freakin' awesome.
Here is the giraffe up close. I think this is the male. There are two, Allan and Wenzie (sp?). The girl came from the San Diego zoo. The owner showed us the special modified trailer he used to haul a 16 ft giraffe. He has a special tall barn that they live in. They eat alfalfa and the tops of trees. I guess it is a bit of a challenge to winter a giraffe in Oregon. In the cold weather they burn up a lot of fat. If they have no fat reserves they can get sick very easily.

The rhino was pretty cool. I can't remember his name. There are two of them. Both males. The one pictured likes to have his head scratched. They are incredibly strong, but they don't like electric fences. Their pen is built from 3" square tubing.

The rhinos followed me along the fence line while planting. I think they may have mistaken the silver White for another White Rhino. I had to distract them while getting through the gates. Sometimes they charge vehicles.
Best of all they fellow was happy that I came and planted for him and he paid me the full rate even though I give all my returning customers a substantial discount due to the economic crisis.

2 comments:

  1. Hey a whole new category of customer! And they pay! Any exotic game hunting preserves around you? Even Russian wild boars need forage and cover. Guess daughter wouldn't appreciate her new friends getting shot at. Maybe Barbie and Johnny West will find rhinos beyond the next ridge. Three ton white rhinos stomping about give thinking cowboys pause about where to pitch their tent and complicate the options for where Indians want to set up their machine gun nest. Too bad your pansy bottomed wine sipping etc bicyclists aren't represented in vintage action toys. They'd lay rubber Portlandwards getting off the set of 'The Good, The Huge, and the Totally Perforated'.

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  2. That sounds like a good deal for you and Sadie both!

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