GardenGrrl's WunderBlog

Tiger Sanctuary Tour

Posted by: GardenGrrl, 5:00 AM GMT on April 25, 2009

Lions and Tigers and Bears; Oh My! What were these people thinking?

Sprinkled throughout the U.S. are private non-profit sanctuarys for homeless exotic animals that for one reason or another people thought would make great pets. They found out wild animals are not easy to care for. They get big. (Imagine that.) They play a bit rougher than a ten pound domestic tabby.

So these folks needed a place to dump their unwanted lions, tigers and other exotics. These sanctuarys take in the exotics that the zoos can't take. Most are non-profit organizations that live off donations. Boyd, Texas has one of these sanctuarys.

To help make ends meet the International Exotic Feline Sanctuary in Boyd, Texas gives tours if you make an appointment with them. Sanctuary tours are not quite like zoo tours. A great deal of effort goes in to keeping the animals comfortable and not to agitate them with visitors. Young children are not allowed on tours, loud talking and getting close to the animals is prohibited.

While it's neat to see these animals up close and live, it's also a bit depressing to hear how some of them got there. One story that gets the over-indulgent parent award is about the black panther. The panther was given as a pet to a teenage boy. When the boy left home for college they simply shipped the panther off to the sanctuary with a nice donation.

Okay so I'm being a tad preachy here today. Please think before you bring home any pet. They aren't "things" they are committments.

Peace from the blog porch soapbox.

Tiger Sanctuary

Updated: 6:35 AM GMT on April 25, 2009

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New Rose Garden Park in Farmers Branch

Posted by: GardenGrrl, 8:02 AM GMT on April 13, 2009

If you live in the Dallas area and love roses, right now is the time to check out the new rose garden in the city of Farmers Branch.

It has several acres of both roses you will recognize from the specialty catalogs as well as Earthkind test roses. Teas, shrubs, floribundas and a few I have never seen before, this garden is amazing. All these beauties are in full bloom right now.

There was only a slight breeze so the fragrance of a thousand rose blooms sweetened the air under a blue sky.
The garden is located a few blocks east of hwy 35 on Valley Parkway, take a right at Rawhide and you will see the park.

There is also a great barbeque place called Marshalls two stoplights east of the park in the strip mall to your right.

Discover a new special place.
Peace from the blog porch :)

Farmers Branch Rose Garden Park

Updated: 8:06 AM GMT on April 13, 2009

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Hummingbirds spotted in N. Texas!

Posted by: GardenGrrl, 6:07 AM GMT on April 02, 2009

They'er Back! Spotted one of my little black chinned hummers about two days ago on a chilly morning. Heard that trade mark sound of whirring tiny wings accompanied by a brisk one note staccato of de-de-de-de-de.

Grinning big I started to scan the usual flight paths for my annual visitor and caught him in a rolling loop towards the back corner of the house where the other feeder is set up next to the honeysuckle vine.

Thanks to the miracle of plastic buckets, most of my tender plants made it through the freeze. If the hummers had been around earlier this week they must have gone into a trance like torper to see them through the cold. Capable of flying thousands of miles in migration, enduring all types of hardship, gram for gram if one were to compare strength and endurance by size, I think humming birds are the toughest creatures on wings.

The little warriors who chase away winter and drag the sun back to the northern hemisphere. The hummers have returned spring. Life is good.