Attack of the river otter

We are building a new exhibit in the aquarium called the Ozark Stream. We will be putting mammals on display for the first time. One of my friends was appointed the lead over mammals. She has worked for wildlife rehab places quite a bit. We have two raccoons, two beavers and just received our second river otter, a male. We purchased him from a wildlife supplier for $3000. He is 3 years old and was living in Canada working for a carnival. Apparently he was taught how to snow ski!

We received our female in September. She was captive-born, but not tame. She was just getting used to handlers getting in the tank with her. But, when she wanted to play she would nip them. Otters have big pointy teeth! Like a bobcat. They started wearing lower leg guards made for snake protection.

When the male arrived from the airport we put him in a tank that was converted into a kennel. He played and was so happy. People could pet him and he was so friendly. A chain link fence divided the tank so each otter was separated. This week they removed the fence for a short time so they could get "acquainted". They had been playing with each other by running along the fence and swimming in the water tank.

Greg filmed their first visit. The first thing the male did was hump her. We think it was his first experience being around a female. She growled and fussed at him. After a few minutes they separated them.

Penny is the mammal handler. Since then when she would go in his side to clean and feed he would start nipping her. Then he reached up and took a huge bite of her inner thigh. She screamed and blood was pouring out. It took a month for the bite to close up and the bruise to fade. The second time she got in wearing a wet suit and he put his mouth on her knee. They told her to stand still. She did and he bit her foot. They thought he was curious about her wetsuit. Now each time she gets in he runs to her, "mounts" her leg and bites her. He won't be distracted from her. Even when feeding him his favorite food: horse meat. She was stuck in the tank today and couldn't get out because his mouth was on her leg. She said she started hyperventilating and freaking out.

I've been upset for her, but I don't think the two head biologists take it seriously enough. They haven't seen it happen. Today she told them she refuses to get in the tank with him. I told her she should tell THEM to get in with the male. Except he doesn't bite men.

We've told her she is the male otter's bitch.

Surprise and BIG SURPRISE

My cousin, Joanna, who inspired me to start this blog emailed me to say she had a 30 hour layover in Tulsa. She is a flight attendant on American; her blog is Tales from a Sky Mom and is hilarious. Her sister, Deborah, came along with her. Deb teaches English at Jasper HS in Plano and recently won Teacher of the Year. I can't be more proud of these women. That's my first surprise, getting to spend the day with them.

The first thing they asked me after getting in my car was, "What's the big surprise you mentioned in your blog?" When I get busy, I get tired and even posting on my blog is too tiring. That's the sucky part of being 54. However, I probably would have done the same thing if I were still 34 or even 24. Stamina has never been one of my strong points. So, the BIG SURPRISE!

I'm going to be a mother-in-law. I'm getting the best daughter you could ever ask for!

Greg finally asked Jennifer to marry him over Thanksgiving. It is such a cool story. I'm so proud of Greg for being so romantic and clever.

Here's the story:

Jennifer is absolutely nuts about Disney. Her parents took her to WDW every year. She worked a semester at Epcot selling turkey legs and pop. (BTW, don't eat the ice at those food stands). We asked them to go with us to WDW over Thanksgiving so Greg decided that was the place to ask her. He thought and agonized over how to do it. He asked Jennifer what her favorite place was: Planet Earth at Epcot. He decided he didn't want to ask her with crowds all around. That was out. (But Jennifer told me and Allie that she thought something was up when Greg asked her that. I had to keep silent because I knew his plans). He consulted with Darin, our catering mgr at work. Darin worked 16 years for Disney and suggested the restaurant on top of the Contemporary Resort.

Greg came up with the idea of a boat cruise and was amazed that they still had boats available since it was high season. He rented a pontoon boat with a driver for the fireworks finale over Magic Kingdom.

The first day we went to Epcot and as we passed Planet Earth and nothing happened Jennifer was disappointed. After all, she had not worn any rings on her left hand for a couple of months. She was prepared for this proposal!




Jennifer has a cheapo Princess crown she wore at her last visit to WDW in May. She and her friend got lots of free stuff because of their crowns. Greg told her Wednesday would be at Magic Kingdom and it would be princess day. Allie and I bought crowns. Mine was an expensive crystal crown more like the queen I am. When you are with Jennifer you skip through the parks, and sing and cavort, et al. We got lots of stares. Kinda like those are stupid people. Little kids were fascinated though. It was loads of fun. Greg was really cranky.

Backtrack a few days. Greg took his dad with him to shop for the ring. He found the perfect one and paid a deposit. Harvey hired him to do web design and he made enough money to pay for the ring. I went with him to pick it up. I wrote the check for it and he wrote a check to me so Jennifer wouldn't notice the money gone from the checking account. Greg had been bragging about how nice it was to have so much money in his account. Jennifer was disappointed because she thought "the proposal" wasn't in the near future. Greg had to lie to her about his whereabouts and that about killed him, lying to Jennifer! I offered to bring the ring with us so she wouldn't find it. Then, Greg asked Jennifer if she wanted to pack together. She was sad because she thought again, no ring.


So Greg was cranky trying to hide all his plans from her. He dropped us off at Downtown Disney and they took the car to the condo to change for dinner. He kept having to make secret phone calls to us because he didn't know the ring was in the safe. Then he couldn't find the safe. Then he had to ask Jennifer for directions to the Contemporary. Then the guard gave away the secret that they were going on the Fireworks cruise.

During the fireworks finale he asked her to stand up. He got on his knees and asked her to marry him. The ring box had a little light in it so she could see the ring.
The rest of the trip she kept showing off her ring.



And we talked about weddings the rest of the trip. I'll be writing about The Wedding the rest of the year. It's October 12th.