And there goes another animal...

I was standing out there just not doing anything because I can when I saw something I have not seen before. Right there walking across our pasture was an Hippopotomus. Yes. A Blue Hippopotomus with White spots. Of course I could hardly believe what I was seeing since as I said I have heard about Hippopotomus but have never seen one. But there one was. It had stopped to get a little of our hay to eat. I walked over to speak to the Hippopotomus in our pasture.

I don't know about all Hippopotomuss but this one spoke very clearly. He told me he was on his way to visit his sister and her family in the Land of Wayupnorth. I wonder how many animals have sisters that live Wayupnorth? He said his name and asked me what mine was. I told him that since I have never seen or talked to an Hippopotomus before I did not know if I was going to be able to say his name so he told me his friends called him PAWPAW. I told him my friends call me Pretty Boy.

He went on to tell me that he was from the Island of Animalopolis which when he told me where it was I now know that it is near to Squatamahahalala Land. But PAWPAW said he has never been to the Land of Squatmahahalala. He said that usually his sister and her family usually come to see him but this year they have a new baby Hippopotomus so he is going to visit them instead. It is his first trip up to the place called Wayupnorth. He said it will take him about four days to walk up there. His sister and her husband now have four Hippopotomus of their own since they just had that little one recently and it is very hard for a family that large to travel all that distance. When he gets there he hopes that he will get to stay maybe three months with them. Maybe, he said, he might find some work while he is there because that hurricane that came thru here also went through that part of the land with a lot of rain and wind. Why he says there was one man there that lost 10 acres of trees all just that one day. That is a lot of trees that PAWPAW might be able to help move for the man.

I had to ask him many questions since I didn't know if I would be seeing him again. I asked him if Hippopotomus could swim or if they had built a bridge so that is how he came to be able to get off the Island of Animalopolis and he said that yes Hippopotomus can swim but that they did have a bridge. But he said that bridge was damaged when the hurricane came on shore from out in the water so he swam over. It is not a long swim said PAWPAW and he pointed to my pond to show me about how much water he had to cross. It was only about three times as much as my pond is wide. And I asked him if he had any pictures of his sister and her family but he said no he had left all his pictures on the Island of Animalopolis

He went to take a nap. I hope to talk to him more after he has rested.

Another story by The Pretty Boy

Hi Everyone! I was just pretending to be standing in the shade where my favorite Pine tree used to be when a Giraffe stopped out there at the East gate. Been having that happen more often now that my Pine tree is gone and the top of the big ole Hickory tree is gone. Lot's of Giraffe's stopping to look and see what they can see. I know because I have seen it myself that my front pasture sure does look different. Did you ever notice it is sort of shaped like a bowl? I never did notice that before. I think the lowest place is where the Wildlife refuge used to be. Boy was that a disappointment. I thought for sure there was at least one bear living in that big pile of brush those humans made after that hurricane came thru here three years ago. But there was no bear in there. Just Bunny rabbits. Maybe there was a bear or some deer that lived in there at night. That could be it. And when they came home that night they were all standing around wondering where their house went. I don't know that for sure I'm just thinking out loud. I know it was funny watching that big ole human man become upset when his Daddy put that mouse snake into the back of his dump truck. We don't mind those snakes around here. I worry more about the mouse running around than the snake that would eat it. A little mouse or a big rat running in front of me could knock me off course and that could be bad if I am heading for my big red barn to get me some feed. The quicker I get to my barn the quicker I get to eat.

The house mouse says sometimes I have to take a breath and start a new paragraph so that's what I just did.

So now where was I anyway? Oh I was talking about going to my big red barn to get something to eat. No. I think what I was talking about to begin with was that Giraffe that was out there at the East Gate when I was pretending to stand in the shade of my used to be there Pine tree. Yes that is what I began to talk about that Giraffe. Giraffe's have very long necks so they can stand outside of the gate and see a lot of stuff. They have long legs too so you put long legs and a long neck on the same animal and you have an animal that can see things a long way off and they can reach stuff that I can't reach. I am a pretty big horse but not as big as a Giraffe.

Well I can't stand in here in the barn talking any more right now so I'll see you later..................Try to remember where I left off and I'll tell you more when I see you next time.

mosquitoes

Mosquitoes are biting me! They are biting me all over me. Not so much the last couple of days since the weather has been cooler but before then and a lot! The bites on my sides are the worst because they are easy for me to scratch on a tree. The human girl put some of my horse's, Pretty Boy, medicine on my one side for a couple of days. She uses hydrogen peroxide on him sometimes. Now she is putting antiseptic mouth wash on me because I have scratched a couple of my mosquito bites into sores. Oh yes they itch that bad. Well not really that bad but it is just easy to scratch them like I said before. She sprays me all over with fly spray after she treats individual spots on me and then sometimes later after that she sprays me down with the mouthwash. I don't even know what I smell like anymore but I know it's not a horse!

Speaking of not a horse. Am I the only one that saw that Ostrich the other day? That was one funny looking animal and I do not know what it was doing on the other side of my fence. I know those people over there and they do not have any big birds like that. They just have our road dog Pansy. Well I saw an ostrich over there the other day I know I did. It was walking away from my fence towards that fake deer they have standing out there behind their house for some reason I do not know. And why do they have that fake deer? Fake deers, ostrich's, elephants all seen in the last few weeks.

Maybe it is because the weather is changing. It will be winter soon or at least Fall. The leaves are falling off the trees but not because of cold weather. No they are falling off because it hasn't rained in a while now. It rained a lot that first hurricane but not so much that one called IKE. The wind IKE brought with it was too strong for the rain to hit the ground here it was hitting the ground way way over there instead. So the leaves are not turning pretty fall colors they are just turning brown and falling off the trees.

Speaking of trees..........That human girl put the twiggy part of the ends of the downed tree branches all around my nut tree. I didn't know why so I stood there beside her till she told me. She says that the whole top of that tree is still sort of attached up there at the top and it could and will fall one of these days. She says she doesn't want me to be standing under it enjoying the shade when that happens. OK fine I will find me a new favorite shade tree to stand under or maybe I will just stand right where I am till the shade comes to me. Yes that sounds like a plan. I will just stand here till the sun moves enough so that the shade from my favorite nut shade tree gets to me.