Have You Ever Seen an Elephant Disappear?

A few months ago I shared my memories of my first circus, complete with an elephant parade through the middle of the small town where I lived. My kids got to see their first circus last week and WOW! It was so much better than the one I saw as a kid! For one thing, last week's circus was in an indoor arena and not outside in a tent, which made it much more comfortable! We also had really good seats, thanks to Feld Entertainment and Mom Central, so we were able to see everything really well, even when they were down on the opposite end of the arena. Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey chose a good theme this year in "Zing Zang Zoom". It coupled some really amazing circus acts with fun magic tricks. I think the best magic trick was when they made an elephant disappear! Yep, an entire elephant! The kids were absolutely amazed! And I was pretty impressed myself.

The acrobats were absolutely incredible. Talk about talent! There were numerous fearless feats taking place right in front of us including folks leaping through the air upside down and sideways, hanging from wires, riding on swinging on boards while flipping and twisting...it was all really cool to watch! Then there were those cage guys that ran around the hamster wheel spinning cage things, which would just make me ill, but made Little Man immediately decide to try to build one in our backyard. Nice. He already scares the life out of me with his lack of fear and his acrobatic abilities!

The animal acts were fun to watch, they included dogs, horses, elephants and tigers. I must have a thing for elephants, I found them to be the most entertaining. They have so much personality!

But my favorite part had to be the chicks who got shot out of a cannon. Cuz seriously? Who has that for a job? That's stuff you see on cartoons and old movies, right? I never really stopped to think that someone would actually do that for a living. It was so weird to actually see it in real life in front of my eyes. Boom! Chick flying through the air, lands in a big air bag...tah-dah!!

That's it, she's done for the night! Cake...right? I know, I know they practice during the day. C'mon! Don't wreck the easy job dream for me, folks! How does one get a cannon chick job, anyway? Maybe I'll apply. Although I have some concerns about the lycra suit and the whole weight/velocity thing.

It was a really fun family night and BONUS!...I ran into fellow blogger Melanie and family(she's got the cutest kids!), from My Little Patch of Sunshine and I also got to wave across the arena to my ticket winner, Trudi and family! My family will definitely do the circus thing again...great night of entertainment. Plus, I have a lot of questions for the cannon chick, so I have to go back to get the scoop before I apply for that job.

Don't forget, Zing Zang Zoom is traveling across the country and you can get a family 4 pack for $44 when you use the codeword MOM at ticketmaster(dot)com. Go see the circus this summer!

Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha, Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha, HaHaHaHaHaHa

I have lots of desert flora and fauna around my house. We have been visited by snakes sunning on our patios, scorpions hiding in the crevices of our rock, we see a thousand lizards of various color and size running around, through and ON the house. Quail come to water from our tree every morning when the tree well fills up and roadrunners often go streaking from the desert next to us, across the street and into our neighbors' yards, scooting after beetles and crickets. This year we've had a few centipedes, which is kind of scary, so we have to keep our eyes open more. We even had a few javelinas poop in the yard when we moved in over a year ago! And almost every night when we lay down to go to sleep, we hear a pack of coyotes yodeling. We kind of have our own Sonoran Desert Zoo going on next to us.

Yesterday, I heard a new addition to the wandering menagerie of desert dudes who hang out in our vicinity...a woodpecker. I heard him (or her) out on my front porch. I thought, "Oh! How fun! A woodpecker must have found a bug or something to eat on the side of my house!" So I opened the door to peek out and see my new friend. And this is what I saw: (no comments on the poor quality of photos, I need a new camera. Mine is old and crappy...anyone doing a giveaway for a new camera?)

The woodpecker is SO NOT my new friend. He/she is now on the list of things that need to be dealt with.

Can you believe this little pecker did that to my house? He wasn't content to just knock away the stucco, he had to penetrate the chicken wire, roofing paper and styrofoam too! Hey! I live in Arizona! The houses are already built like crap here, I don't need no stinking woodpecker bringing that point home (no pun intended) by building a nest in my wall!

I called my mom, to find out if there is such a thing as woodpecker repellent. She said, "Yeah...a piece of tin." Apparently the little jackhammer will keep coming back to finish the hole unless I cover it with something inpenetrable. I can't put a piece of tin over the hole, my house is stucco and chicken wire! And they are on the endangered species list now, so I can't shoot it! (Please, all you animal rights activist, do not email me with your animal rights crap, the bird is pecking holes in my HOUSE!!!)

So now, every morning, we are on high alert, waiting for the woodpecker to return, then we promptly run out and scare the crap out of it. We keep scaring it the direction of my next-door neighbor's house...our neighbor is also on the list of things to be dealt with.

I always thought the cartoon creators were mean for making Woody Woodpecker appear to be so annoying. Now I know why...