Actually, I had awful lighting for that shot, but some serious Photoshop work made it semi-presentable.

My other find was an adorable little bird known as a Tufted Titmouse. I saw a couple of them; this is one that was in a small tree in my brother's backyard.

I had gotten up late, so I didn't stay out long.

The plan for this day was that my brother and I would take the girls to Maymont Park, which is a big city park that keeps some domestic animals and some wild ones. It's more park than zoo, though.

We had breakfast and loaded up. Once we reached the park, the girls wanted to show me some of the animals, and they took me towards the farm animal pens. Of the penizens I really liked this particular beef critter, although I felt he'd look better with a brown maple leaf painted on his middle.

I now understand how someone came up with the idea of a corkscrew.

Another fine looking beast in the domestic pens was this fine-looking goat. I really liked its colors.

We soon headed down a hill and along a wooded path. After a few minutes' walk, we found some cages and pens with wilder animals in them.

This little kitty was sleeping in its pen, and I had to go around it a little and up onto a platform to get a photo which didn't have the pen's chain-link fencing in it. He was thoroughly knocked out the whole time we were there.

That's a Bobcat, by the way—Lynx rufus.

After seeing the cattle and the goats, I was thinking that one of the things that's maybe a little disappointing about being human is that we don't get any really good, hard head ornamentation, like horns or antlers or even tusks. There's lots of neat different forms of these things out there, and it'd sure add variety and interest if we had 'em. Men could bang them against things, and women could dye them fancy colors and hang jewelry on them.

This next fellow has some interesting ornamentation—thick, stout horns—and they certainly add to his charm.

Although I guess that points out one of the perils of having horns...if one gets much larger than the other, then its weight could end up twisting your head sideways.

That fellow, and the stately one below, were residents of the deer and elk pen. I didn't see any elk, though.

After passing the deer pen, we went by the bear pen, the site of a rather sordid tale from earlier in the year. In short, a child of four somehow got over or through a four-foot wooden fence and then put his hand through a high chain-link fence, whereupon a bear nibbled on said hand. And nibble is not understatement; no stitches were required. Both fences were in complete working order, but there were conflicting reports about whether the child's mother helped him over the fence, or whether she was being inattentive when the boy bypassed the fence.

The sad part is that, just in case, they decided to check if the bear had rabies. This check involves brain tissue, which meant that they had to euthanize the bear. Worse yet, of the two bears in the the pen at the time, they didn't know which one nibbled, so both were put down. They found no rabies. The bears' bodies ended up being dumped in a landfill, public outrage followed, the mayor got involved, and the bears were dug up, cremated, and given a public memorial service.

That was quite a fiasco for Maymont, which is mainly an animal rescue operation. The wild animals there are typically ones that are being rehabilitated or else for some reason cannot be released back into the wild.

New bears were making the pen their home now, but they were lazing on a high rock and not in position for any recognizably-a-bear photos.

As we rounded the corner, we soon came upon a very strong musky (and skunklike) smell, alerting us to the presence of Gray Foxes. These foxes may stink, but they're awful handsome little devils.

According to the sign in front of their pen, these critters can climb trees, and one of their favorite foods is birds' eggs, although they are basically omnivorous. We read some of the sign to the girls, and the fox must've heard us talking about eggs, because next time I looked, he was licking his lips in anticipation.

Either that, or he was sticking his tongue out at me. I tend to elicit that response, for some reason.

We walked around another hill, getting close to the James River, but not quite next to it. Some movement attracted my attention and I quickly located its source: one of the ubiquitous Northern Mockingbirds.

Next we came upon Maymont's Japanese garden. (In addition to the animal collection, Maymont has gardens, a few neat buildings, and cultural exhibits.) We looked at a waterfall, hopped along some stepping-stones, and eventually climbed the hill behind the waterfall to escape. We ended up in a more Italian-style garden, from which we crossed a road and descended a hill to come upon a bird enclosure.

Some small birds could pass in and out of the enclosure at will, but the larger ones, such as this Wild Turkey, couldn't. At this point, everyone was tired, and the interesting birds were all behind wire, so I didn't take many photos.

Anyhow, that turkey looked pretty relieved to have just made it through Thanksgiving and Christmas. No worries for him for quite a while.

Bidding adieu to the birds, we jumped a small brook and went up a hill towards where we had parked. On the way, I caught a few shots of squirrels playing around on the lawn.

Those are your standard Eastern Grey Squirrels, but they aren't all that eastern any more; we get them in B.C. In central Virginia, there are also supposedly Eastern Fox Squirrels (bigger, with an orange breast) and Red Squirrels (smaller, more reddish), but I didn't see any.

We made it back to the car without incident, and then headed off to meet my sister-in-law at Bill's Barbeque, a Richmond institution, for a late lunch. I'm a fan of Bill's, which serves an eastern (vinegar-based, tomatoless) Carolina-style shredded pork sandwich. It comes with cole slaw on it and is great with a load of hot sauce. Bill's also makes great limeade and some fabulous pies, including my favorite Lemon Chess and a yummy French Apple.

To be fair, I'm also a fan of western (vinegar-based, tomato added) Carolina-style barbeque, which is found in many restaurants in Richmond and thereabouts; Pierce's (just outside of Williamsburg) serves what is probably my favorite western-style sandwich. But when it comes to Carolina barbeque, I'm much more of a gourmand than a gourmet. Just bring it, I'll eat it; we'll worry about the fine points later if necessary.

Anyhow, a very good meal was had, and then we headed back to the ranch. I popped back out into the backyard, and found another Tufted Titmouse hanging out in a tree that was in the shade. In this shot, I caught him looking right at me; the big white areas around his eyes make him look a little goofy.

I took a few other shots, but because it was getting dark outside, I had to have long exposures, and they all turned out blurry. So that was my last presentable shot of the day.

Thinking I'd look better with tusks,
Tom