keeper/writer fail.

Well, the “Khaki Shorts” blog has been quiet for quite some time, no? 

I promise valid excuses.

First of all, let us blame one glorious week spent (mostly) internet free on the coast of Florida. No blogging to be done when there are beaches to be sat upon! Not to say that there wasn’t plenty of wildlife action! We were kept entertained by dolphins, anoles, a mother cat and her two young kittens, stingrays, plenty of frogs and lizards, a group of fabulous gopher tortoises nesting in the dunes and even…wait for it…A SHARK! How “Shark Week” appropriate, right?!

Though I’ve been back for over a week, alas, I have not had much time to write because less than 24 hours after returning from said vacation I moved! Yup, brand new apartment! The last week has, again, been (mostly) internet free and full of creative ways to fit all shoes and bike and kitchen cutlery into a tiny (but wonderful!) one bedroom apartment. Now that I am officially settled and wired up at my new address it’s time to share some moving war stories. 

Not that I can complain. My boyfriend, John, his dad and friend, Matt, did most of the work while I was at the Zoo taking care of those animals. After work, though, the movers were more than happy to share with me a gruesome discovery found beneath my TV stand…

It all started a few weeks ago with Herbie, the cornsnake. I borrowed Herbie from John to take to the “Bubbles” presentation at the St. Louis County Library Headquarters. Herbie is thirteen years old, a tried and true cornsnake. The perfect, gentle creature to take with me to the Library. Plus, she’s pink! All kids love a pink snake! Perfect, right?

Well, Herbie’s first night at the old Rosebury address was a little less than perfect. My first morning of snake-sitting I rose around 5 am to run before work. I didn’t check on the snake (keeper fail!) before the run and afterward, I spent quite a bit of time hustling around changing, getting breakfast, yada yada yada, pre-work stuff. Around 6:45 I was walking out the door to get to the Zoo and thought to check on the snake. 

You guessed it. Lid intact. Enclosure supposedly secure. No snake. 

After a frantic few minutes, I found Herbie, contently curled up against the wall amidst some moving boxes. John and I decided it was likely Bandit the Cat stepped on the lid and weakened the mesh allowing Herbie to make a snake escape with the lid still locked.

Still. Keeper fail. 

This leads us to moving day. Yep, you guessed it again. When John and Co moved my TV stand underneath was a big, old pile of snake poop. Snake poop! Three week old snake poop sitting on the floor of my apartment! Three weeks!

Need I mention that snakes eat mice? And dead mice smell bad? And already digested dead mice smell really, really bad?!

Snake poop is my least favorite Zoo smell! Yeesh!

So that is my moving story and my sorry excuses for my quiet, little blog. 

Now that the dog days of summer are upon us, I promise to do a little better. 

And look for new “Khaki Shorts” videos, coming to a YouTube Channel near you oh so soon!