September 22 – “The List”

OK, I suppose I will once again respond to popular demand.  Here is The List of Animal Travel Buddies.  We must establish their prior presence in the fold before embarking on another rescue mission. 

(2015)

Douglas, the Camel (He’s from Vicksburg.  A long ago and far away trip)

(2018)

Nonay, the sloth (Nonay is short for No Name, the Valentine’s Day gift from Chris that started it all)

Mammie, the girl sloth (She found us at the Mammoth National Park in Waco.  She was the only one of her kind on the rack)

Javi, the javalina (He came from the Ft. Davis/McDonald Observatory run)

Carlo, the coyote (We saw his family all over Big Bend)

Cray-ani, the deer (Her family walked right in front of the car in a Big Bend hotel parking lot.  The name is short for Crazy Animal)

Rufus, the Roadrunner (We found Rufus at Mission San Jose in San Antonio, but we had an up close and personal encounter with his cousin in Big Bend)

Bart Bison, the buffalo (We saw Bartholomew just outside the LBJ Ranch)

Bo, the longhorn (Bo was inside the LBJ ranch.  His full name is Little Bovine Johnson)

Beeg, the Beagle (Beeg was found inside the LBJ ranch, too.  His name is Little Beagle Johnson, but who wants to be called all that?)

Pablo Pic-Possum (Pablo came from the Big Thicket region of Texas)

Argyle Archimedes Alligator (A³ is kind of presumptuous, isn’t he?  Well, he’s from a plantation in the swamps of Louisiana)

Darryl Duck (Darryl is from Riverbend campground.  Not sure why he is the camp mascot.  We heard his name was almost changed to Joshua Duck after a certain youth pastor and his golf cart had an encounter with the lake)

Tootie Turtle, the baby dinosaur (Toots is from the Dinosaur State Park in Glen Rose.  Looks a lot like a turtle, a prehistoric one, of course.  She’s the only travel animal - other than Nonay and Buc-ee –chosen by Chris on our journeys)

Orville Ostrich (He came from the Fossil Rim Wildlife Preserve that we traversed with Cailyn)

Gary Giraffe (Gary is pronounced “szhary.”  Just use the same “g” as you use in his last name.  He’s from Fossil Rim, too)

Buc-ee Beaver (I’m pretty sure Buc-ee hails from Texas City, but he has relatives all over the place.  Rumor has it he hitched a ride with a trucker from somewhere in Canada.  Chris got me this guy for my birthday.  I think maybe she was hoping to end the travel animal collection madness in the same way it began.  Nope)

Darryl Dinosaur (Not sure if he is related to Darryl Duck.  They come from the same general area – the back hills near Glen Rose, so you never know.  He was a gift from the Seasiders who went to see The Promise.  Chris and I fell sick and had to stay behind in Waco)

There you have it.  Oh, I have other animals in the menagerie at the house, but they are there for other purposes, like explaining sacrifices and representing the perfect lamb and showing what it’s like to be a zebra or an otter or a rat.  Sigh.  Perhaps one day a great-grandchild will appreciate what the old man has accumulated in a realm other than baseball card-dom.

Psalms 102:12 says, “But you, O Lord, sit enthroned forever; your renown endures through all generations.”

Father, thank you for the memory each one of the animals evokes.  Amen.