Bouncing around town

I got up early and headed out with cattitude, which got me to the gym before nine. It was odd being there at that particular off-hour: not only was it very uncrowded, but there seemed to be almost no other women there. I talked to one of the staff about a missing handle for the weight machines, and he said that was the second complaint in two days, and then came back to tell me that they were ordering a replacement.

( numbers and other annotations )

Then I went down to Chinatown for a quick, early lunch, and realized that it would be a good day for otters, so I went up to the Central Park Zoo. One of the otters was swimming very energetically, mostly doing laps--with a neat backflip into the water at one end of the virtual lane. Having seen what I'd come for, I walked downhill to the red pandas.

It turns out that they have a four-month-old red panda, an age at which he's walking happily by himself, but still very playful and sticking close to his mother. I spent a long time watching them, as they bounced around the enclosure and played together. The youngster sniffed or tasted everything in sight, and chased a squirrel. Eventually a third panda (his father?) woke up and came down from the pine tree, but did not socialize with the other two--in fact, when young Rocco approached him, he hissed, and the baby backed off. At another point, the baby started to climb a tree as his mother was coming down the trunk: they looked at each other a moment, then Rocco backed down and his mother continued on her way. I talked a bit to other panda-watchers, including a tourist who had literally not known the species existed and had come to the zoo to see the birds.

After the zoo, I came downtown to hang out with eleanor; she made me tea, and we've talked and I've played with her animals. Right now she and her stepdaughter are watching Buffy reruns; I have a low television tolerance, so only watched one episode.

Bouncing around town

I got up early and headed out with cattitude, which got me to the gym before nine. It was odd being there at that particular off-hour: not only was it very uncrowded, but there seemed to be almost no other women there. I talked to one of the staff about a missing handle for the weight machines, and he said that was the second complaint in two days, and then came back to tell me that they were ordering a replacement.

( numbers and other annotations )

Then I went down to Chinatown for a quick, early lunch, and realized that it would be a good day for otters, so I went up to the Central Park Zoo. One of the otters was swimming very energetically, mostly doing laps--with a neat backflip into the water at one end of the virtual lane. Having seen what I'd come for, I walked downhill to the red pandas.

It turns out that they have a four-month-old red panda, an age at which he's walking happily by himself, but still very playful and sticking close to his mother. I spent a long time watching them, as they bounced around the enclosure and played together. The youngster sniffed or tasted everything in sight, and chased a squirrel. Eventually a third panda (his father?) woke up and came down from the pine tree, but did not socialize with the other two--in fact, when young Rocco approached him, he hissed, and the baby backed off. At another point, the baby started to climb a tree as his mother was coming down the trunk: they looked at each other a moment, then Rocco backed down and his mother continued on her way. I talked a bit to other panda-watchers, including a tourist who had literally not known the species existed and had come to the zoo to see the birds.

After the zoo, I came downtown to hang out with eleanor; she made me tea, and we've talked and I've played with her animals. Right now she and her stepdaughter are watching Buffy reruns; I have a low television tolerance, so only watched one episode.