Wildlife Safari

This weekend we went to Wildlife Safari, which is a drive-thru zoo.  The animals walk right up to the cars; some even stick their heads in.  One guy at work had a grizzly bear climb in the back of his friend's truck.  The large cats and black bears are behind fences, while all the other animals can come up to the car.  Our trip was the perfect opportunity for me to try out my new camera.  Here are some of the pictures for you all to enjoy!!

We were able to feed this elephant.  There was a lady there who gave us all pieces of bread to give the elephant, who proceeded to grab the bread with his trunk, which was wet from the water he was  standing in.  It was rather cute.

This tiger decided to roar at another tiger while we were right there!  A tiger's roar is very cool in person!

This is an emu chick (or emuletts if you prefer).  There were several of these little fluff balls throughout the park.

This baby lama was so cute!  His mom is behind him and he was so curious.  He didn't come up to the car, but he watched us closely.

This is a foal following along behind his mommy.  He came right up to the car and stuck his nose in Mom's window.

There were a lot of elk...

These are the three grizzly bears.

This baby buffalo is all tuckered out.

Baby zebras are so adorable!! Watch out though, zebras kick!

The giraffes were wandering all over on Saturday.

A cheetah taking a little cat nap.

This is a capiberra.  They are the largest rodent in the world.

We had capiberras at church for Noah's Ark.  There, we learned they will only go to the bathroom in the water.  Therefore, the exhibit at Wildlife Safari had a large pool for the capiberras to play in.....along with other things.

We had a grand time!  Wildlife Safari is only about 10 miles from where we live; we love it!!

The Pursuit

Last night, I was listening to the radio and heard something that made me have a huge swelling of pride for our country. All of you know I deeply love the United States, which is why I’m always talking about it. One thing that really made me think last night was the part about the Declaration of Independence.  The more I learn about the Declaration, the more I love it. What the host pointed out was the promise of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Notice it is the Pursuit of happiness. We have grown accustomed to having everything handed to us: Medicare, Social Security, etc. But what most people today fail to see is that the United States isn’t here to guarantee happiness; we guarantee the Pursuit of happiness. That is what sets us apart from the rest of the world. A free market, a chance to make something of ourselves. There is a reason thousands of people try to enter the United States every year. We have a huge problem with illegal immigration, but while we deal with that problem think of why they want to come here: because here they have a chance at success. Why do we have a limit on how many people can immigrate here every year? Because so many want to come to the United States, the Land of Opportunity, that we can’t hold them all. Have you seen National Treasure? If so, then you know that Thomas Edison tried 1000 different models before he discovered the incandescent light bulb. The difference is he didn’t say he failed, he found 1000 ways how not to make a light bulb. Surely you’ve heard of the phrase, “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” Well, why not try, try again? That is the beauty of the United States, we can try again and again and again because we have the inalienable right to the Pursuit of happiness. Why give up? There’s no reason to. The best way to describe it is to let you have what I did last night. Here is the transcript to part of yesterday’s Glenn Beck Program.

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We're Americans. We believe in the freedom to succeed. You can succeed. You should have the opportunity to succeed. There's a reason we were the country that changed the world. There's a reason. Conservatives believe in the ability to succeed and not be punished for it. It has not been a conservative ideal. It was an American ideal. There's a guy who never finished school, founded a candy and ice cream store and decided he wanted to make candy and ice cream. Liked it so much, decided to make taffy and caramel and everything else, but he couldn't get it right. First he opened up a business in Philadelphia, and it failed within six years. Then he said, you know what, I've got to retool; I think I have it this time. He opened up in Chicago and then New York City. Failure, failure, failure, every time. His mother never gave up on him. His mother said, you just keep going. You got it; you'll find it.

Well, he had launched these stores over and over and over again and he couldn't get it right. He never gave up. This time he decided, you know what, maybe I won't go to the big city, maybe I'll try it out in the heartland, and he did. He tried it out in the Amish country in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. This time he got it right. After failure after failure after failure, this time he got it right. In fact, he got it so right that the name of the town is now named after him, Hershey, Pennsylvania. He finally got his candy right. Milton Hershey was free to succeed. He was free to succeed. No guarantees of success. No protections against the hardship and heartache of failure. Only the promise of long hours, late nights and most likely deep, dark failures. It was America that gave him the opportunity to give us the milk chocolate bar. We wouldn't have had it if Hershey was just too big to fail. We would have gotten crap candy. I'm not just against big government because I'm against big government. I'm against big government because I believe in the power of the individual. Republicans too often think -- it's enough just to call somebody a liberal. Well, I need more than that. America deserves more than that. We need answers. We need solutions. And those answers and solutions always come from the individual. And those answers always come after you've failed over and over and over again. And you never really fail if mom and dad are always there to prop you up. If mom and dad will always say, well, you're too important to fail, you're too big to fail. "You didn't fail. You didn't fail. You got a trophy anyway." You destroy the individual if you do that. It's not compassionate. You destroy people by that, by doing that. The only time you really truly fail is when you're afraid to fail, so you never try. That is the definition of real failure. Have you ever tried to do something 1,000 times and refused to give up? Failed over and over and over again? I've failed more than I've succeeded in life. I have been a failure much longer than I have been a success, at almost everything that I do. But it makes those small glimpses of success so very valuable.

The American dream is built on determination of never giving up because you want a taste of that success. Thomas Edison, if he would have given up, we wouldn't have had the electric light bulbs. 1,000 different filaments he tried and then only to have the government ban them years later. We have the incandescent light bulb because a man sat in a room and tried 1,000 different filaments before he succeeded. We focus too many times on this country on the success and not enough on the work and the failure that was needed to overcome, to get that success.

Did you know that Thomas Edison had a cement factory? You didn't know that? It failed. By the way, you do know that Thomas Edison gave us the first motion picture, right? He gave us the silent movie. Do you know why -- the man who changed the world with his inventions has more patents to his name than anybody else. Do you know why he gave us the silent movie? Because he didn't think that you could make a movie and connect it to sound. So he never tried. He failed because he never tried. He didn't pursue it. So it never happened. Pursue it.

See, this is the one word that everybody seems to dismiss in our founding documents. It's not a guarantee of success or happiness that our founding fathers promised. They promised the pursuit of happiness. It is the pursuit of happiness that eventually leads us to happiness. But in that pursuit sometimes you're going to be in very dark alleys, but you give it your best. You give it your all. And it may not be enough. As a conservative I know failure and I know failure happens, and I also know and realize the universal truth that government cannot change that reality.

When President Kennedy promised to put a man on moon, he brought in the best scientists, he brought in the most advanced technology. He poured millions of dollars into the space program. The result, three promising American astronauts were killed in a launch pad fire as they sat there on the launch pad dreaming of going into space. They died. It wasn't until Apollo XI that Americans successfully put a man on the moon. We wouldn't have gotten there after that tragic launch pad fire if we would have said, "Apollo II? What, are you crazy?" But like the candy maker from Hershey, Pennsylvania, NASA learned from its failures. It became better. It rededicated itself to the mission. And we sent a man to the moon. Think of that. Every time you look up, this country put men on the moon. They walked on the moon. Today Democrats and Republicans tell us that I can't achieve without their help, that you can't achieve without their help. You need this or that government program to succeed. The government needs to be there as a safety net in case you fall down and get a booboo. It's there to catch you, temporarily assist you while you get back on your feet. What government has become is a safety blanket, and people are being taught every day, they have been conditioned that they need that safety blanket, that they need that government to stand there and hold their hand and make sure that they protect you from all the bad things that might happen. The biggest thing our founding fathers wanted protection from was a big government that protected you. The promise of America isn't guaranteed success, but the promise that we can try, that we can try to achieve the American dream. And not only together can we do it but maybe more importantly as individuals we can do it. Because after all, we're Americans. A group of individuals that changed the world, a group of individuals that once we really recognize who we really are will change the world again.

New Home Pictures!!

Hello my friends!!  I have been quite busy lately, so here I am (finally) to give you a lovely update.  It's not going to be long right now, but I will include some nice pictures.  First off....

This is one corner of my room.  Obviously it's not my entire room, but I didn't want to put up four pictures of my bedroom, so here's the main corner.

Here is one part of our library.  These are two, floor to ceiling bookcases.  There is one more bookcase that is about five-feet high that is also full of books....not to mention the books in my brothers and my bedrooms.

Here are our most treasured books that live on Mom and Dad's headboard.

Our kitchen without being in the middle of unpacking and Braden is not on the counter this time.

Our mantle is deocrated with things from places we've been and those that have touched our lives, including one of our favorites.....

Here's a picture of our back deck with my beautiful beagle Bailey!

This is one side of the entry way.  To the...well...the bottom of the picture is the front door and the top is upstairs.

This is the other side of the entry way.

The front of our house.

Of course we had to announce ourselves in the neighborhood.

My cute Cougar on my bed with a sleepy look in his eyes.

And my Yasha, also having a snooze on my bed, which is covered in pillows and blankets for my kitties.

And finally....In the kitchen is a high window that was recently discovered by the kitties.....

Currently Listening Music Inspired by the Chronicles of Narnia By Various Artists see related

Moving Adventures

It wouldn’t be a true Anderson adventure without a trip to the ER….

We have officially moved. We are in Oregon!!!  Our house is very nice; I like it. Our kitties were let out of my room just the other day and are enjoying climbing on boxes and exploring things.  The move went well, considering other moves.  There were four packers in our house for two days.  Three of these packers were very good; the fourth, Bill, was not good at all.  He actually told both Dad and Braden that he preferred to load the truck over packing because “packing just takes too much thinking.”  Really?  I suppose that is why a box marked “stereo” for my room did not have a stereo in it (Bill packed my room). And I also suppose that the “thinking” that comes with packing would be not putting a plunger from the bathroom in with my clothing, but that’s just me. The first day of unpacking my room was very frustrating; I wanted to scream…so I did.  That helped actually, I felt much better afterward.  Thankfully, nothing of mine is broken, only bent, wrinkled (clothing and papers), and dirty. Our piles and piles of boxes are mostly unpacked.  It took a few days, but I did find the last box to my room, which contained my CDs. It was mistakenly put in the garage…on the bottom of a pile….but we found it and it’s all good.  We are finding some random cords that were plugged into things in Joplin, but now the walls/plug-ins are different, so there are just these random cords. I’m sure when we have things in more definite places we may use them, until then they are a “useful cord pile.”  The guys that unloaded us were pretty good at putting the boxes and furniture in the rooms where they go.  These were the best unloaders we have ever had; they were fantastic!

After we got here, Mom went to Arizona and drove up with Michael.  They arrived late Tuesday night.  Mom was able to get most of the kitchen unpacked in only three days before she left so we had things to eat and eat with while she was gone.  I did have to call her once or twice and ask where something was in the kitchen.  One guy came to take all of our empty boxes thus far on Monday.  That was nice since it created a whole lot more space in the garage where we were piling the flattened boxes, which then reached over five-feet high.

The move itself was pretty fun.  Our pets had quite the adventure.  Bailey saw a prairie dog for the first time.  She found that quite interesting.  All the sniffs in the seven states were fun for my puppy dog (who turned 12 just yesterday).  She slept almost the entire time we were in the car, though the kitties did not.  They were not thrilled with being stuck in the car.  See, Yasha (the mom) was a stray and was stuck in a semi-truck for three days before she jumped out at Dad’s work, where we caught her and dubbed her ours.  She has been claustrophobic ever since, as is her son Cougar.  They did sleep some in the car, but they would also holler at us and pull whatever was near the front of the kennel toward the kennel door.  Oh, speaking of the journey across the country….we ran across a rest area that was completely run by some massive solar panels.  It was close to the middle of the day, so the sun was up and bright and all it had to do was flush the toilets, turn on the sinks, and let the dryers blow long enough to substantially dry our hands.  Well……the toilets didn’t flush, even when the button was pushed several times, the sinks worked all right though there wasn’t much water pressure, and the dryers would turn on for a grand total of two seconds and then refused to turn on again, I kid you not.  If solar power is the future of electricity, we will live in a very dimly lit home…with no air conditioning.  We did see hundreds of wind turbines, though those have been in Wyoming for at least ten years (ever since I started driving back and forth), but if they want those things to help, I suggest turning all of them on.  On the up side, gas never went over $4.05 on the road; it has now, but not on the road.

Have you seen Prince Caspian yet?  Taking a break from unpacking and such, Braden and I went to see it on Tuesday, and it is fantastic!!  C.S. Lewis was a genius, and the writer of the films, Andrew Adamson, is great at adapting The Chronicles of Narnia to the big screen.  This one doesn’t follow the book as exactly as the first in order to better fit it into a movie, but it is very close and very good.  I had been waiting months to see this movie, and then it came out the day we moved.  So I waited some more, but finally saw it.  I love how Prince Caspian conveys the incredible message of how we can’t do anything without God’s help.  It wasn’t until they finally asked Aslan for his help that they win.  I love Aslan!!  I am quickly skimming the book Prince Caspian now.

Well, we have now been here a week and a half, but our adventure obviously isn’t over yet.  Wednesday night, Braden was out riding his bike.  It had rained earlier in the day, so the paths were wet, which got his brakes wet.  He was going down a hill (which are prevalent around here) and tried to brake.  Since the brakes were wet, they only half gripped the tires, causing him to swerve and then crash in a thorny bush.  He had quite a few thorns stuck in his arm, which he then pulled out, and a huge gash in his shin just below the knee.  He walked/rode his bike about a half mile back to the road where we could pick him up.  Halfway there, he called us and Mom, Dad, and I hopped in the truck with an arm-full of towels and headed off to find him.  Michael stayed home for a little while to lock doors, take care of Bailey, and such because we literally just ran out the door.  When we found him, he was in the back of the park along the road with blood running down his leg, and only moments before we arrived, a car had pulled up right next to Braden with one man in the driver’s seat, smoking a cigarette, and he was not the most upstanding citizen of the year.  We put Braden’s bike in the back of the truck and pulled Braden into the backseat with me, his leg now wrapped in half a dozen kitchen towels.  We rushed to the ER, where Braden was seen quickly.  The gash was so deep, we could see his bone.  Dad went to get Michael and they arrived just before the doctor was going to stitch him up.  While she was checking the wound, I didn’t mind the wound itself, but when she tried to squeeze the skin together to see how to do the stitching, I got a bit queasy and light headed.  I decided to head to the waiting room and watch Jurassic Park.  Michael went with me and we chatted while watching the movie, which is a very good movie I might add.  Braden now has ten stitches in his leg.  The bandage is close to his knee, making it difficult to bend.  The lack-of-brakes have him no longer biking in the wet, especially alone.  And the creepy guy in the car has him no longer biking alone very far or out of the neighborhood.  I wasn’t worried about the injury; Braden has a good head on his shoulders, particularly about health…I call him a “health freak” because he talks about it all the time.  What had me really scared was the creepy guy in the car.  That is why I didn’t like Braden riding so far from home in the first place, this really creeped me out.

It’s not a true Anderson adventure unless we pass a forest fire, call in an accident, or go to the ER.  Aside from the ER visit, we have had a lot of fun! It has been a great move.  We’re happy, our pets are happy, and our neighbors are wonderful.  They are very sweet, then again, how can one not love a Christian, military family who brings us food and flowers. J  They are very nice and have been very helpful in telling us where things are and where we can find a good Vet or pharmacy.  This is a nice place to be!

One of Our Boys

Here is a short video interview of Marcus Luttrell. You probably recall the posts I put on last summer about him and his team in Afghanistan.