Santa Barbara Zoo

A couple of weeks ago Alan and I decided to get away for the day by visiting the Santa Barbara Zoo.  We had heard from others who had been there that it was a nice zoo.  Wanting to go somewhere we had never visited before, we decided to check it out.  I meant to take a picture at the entrance of the zoo, but neglected to do so.  Although the zoo is pretty small, we had a great time.  Here are some highlights from our trip.

This little penguin was injured and had a "boot" on its foot. His name is "Lucky".  He didn't seem so lucky to me...I felt sorry for him as he had a difficult time swimming around.

I thought these two birds were beautiful.

Watching this gorilla lie on his back grabbing his feet reminded me of when my children were young and used to do the same thing while playing on the floor.  Very interesting!

A woman kindly offered to take a photo of us with the giraffe in the background.  Unfortunately, you can barely even see the giraffe.  Oh well. At least she tried.

 We just happened to be right next to the Piranha aquarium at feeding time. They feed only two times per week so we felt fortunate to be able to view the feeding.  According to the caretaker, piranha's aren't as aggressive as seen on movies.  He said you can put your hand in the water and they won't even bite you.  I had a video that I wanted to insert here, but it would not download.

The elephant closest to the building kept picking up and dropping a log.  I guess he was hungry.  He would throw it down onto the ground and then try to get to the "husk" that was inside.

All in all, we had a great time at the zoo.  Afterwards, we went to the pier and also had a great time there. 

Feelings of Gratitude

On Friday evening (September 28, 2012), Alan and I narrowly escaped a head-on collision.  Since that time, the way I view my life has changed.  In the blink of an eye, our lives could have been altered forever.  Because of that fact and the knowledge that for some reason our lives were spared, I am having extreme feelings of gratitude - not only for our spared lives, but for other things as well.

Just prior to this near collision, my mind was occupied in thought with regard to what if Alan and I were involved in a car accident and we were both killed.  I had a vision of sorts.  I saw cops on the scene going through our car/bodies looking for our identification and then upon finding our last name they would find my cell phone and look through my contacts to find someone with the same last name so they could call to inform our "next of kin" about our demise.  This was a grim picture I had in my head.  Since this premonition or vision almost came to pass, I am filled with gratitude for a loving Heavenly Father who spared our lives and let us continue living here on the earth, at least for a little while longer.  I feel we have much unfinished business here on earth to complete.

Here are some things I am feeling gratitude for:
* That I know about our Heavenly Father's plan for his children here on the earth. God's Plan of Happiness gives me reason to celebrate life.
* That our children didn't have to lose both parents at the same time.
* That our children didn't have to plan a funeral or come to our house to sort out all of our belongings and decide what to do with everything. That would be a HUGE mess for them!
* That I can continue to be an ordinance worker in the Los Angeles Temple and do that important work that can only be done on this side of the veil.
* That Alan and I can, hopefully, live long enough to serve a mission together.
* That we can be around for future weddings, births, blessings, baptisms, missions, ordinations, etc. of our posterity.  Family is everything to us and we want to be around as long as possible to share in our family member's lives.


For some who may not know the details of this incident, here is a summary of events:

Coming home from a day trip to visit the Santa Barbara Zoo, we were on a two-lane highway going east when a car coming toward us suddenly veered into our lane. We were literally within moments of impact when Alan had to swerve off the highway onto a gravel shoulder. We were traveling the speed limit (60) and if the other car was traveling the same speed, we would have had a 120 mph crash. I don't believe we could have survived that kind of impact. Thank goodness Alan had the presence of mind to suddenly swerve off the road in time. By having to exit our lane so quickly, we easily could have rolled the car or crashed into a pole or something, but fortunately Alan safely maneuvered the car to a stop. As a nice gesture, the truck behind us pulled over to make sure we were ok. We called him our Good Samaritan.   The sad thing is that a few miles down the highway, our Good Samaritan got impatient I guess and decided to pass us and another car in front of us. He had to go over the speed limit to do this. A Highway patrolman going west saw him, turned his car around, and pulled our Good Samaritan over. It broke our hearts!