My final column for the Oklahoma Gazette.

Five years ago when I returned home to Oklahoma, it was with the conviction that Oklahomans were fair, decent, compassionate people. In the effort to advance human and civil rights, surely Oklahomans would listen, and ultimately these values would persuade.

The full adhere.

The text:

The pool table is a "Custom Original" by Delta Billiard Manufacturing Company. It features a single piece of slate, so the playing surface is perfectly smooth. It's approximately 30 years old and has some normal wear -- scratches, etc., and the bumpers will need restoring in the near future. It will complete your family or game room!

The pool table comes with a FREE ping pong table top and accessories! It's two pieces of game equipment in one! All for only $350!

Pool table accessories:
- 1 Full Set of Balls
- 1 Ball Rack
- 7 Pool Cues
- 1 Bridge
- 4 Replacement Cue Tips and Repair Kit
- 10 Cubes of Cue Chalk
- 1 Wall-mounted Cue Rack with storage and scorekeeper
- 1 Brush

Includes Ping Pong Table top and accessories:
- 1 Net with mounting brackets
- 3 Balls
- 4 Paddles

Our pool table is for sell for $350.  It is a single piece of slate, probably about 30 years old. The bumpers need restoring. I've also got the ping pong top, balls, cues, cue rack, and other assorted items that I'll throw in. Buyer will need to arrange moving it. I can do the disassembly and have it ready for move.

Me in the Sonoran Desert.  Earlier I posted a picture of Michael in the Namib desert in front of a baobab tree, which neither of us had ever seen in real life.

The cavern below the Desert Dome.

There were lots of fun monkeys throughout the park.  Everyone likes monkeys.

 This orangutan  looked as flat as a floor rug.  A crowd had gathered to delight in his humourous posture.

Maybe he was just tired at the end of the long day?  Yeah, the tiger answered, that must be it.

Oh, and here are the t-shirts we gave the nephews:

I postedbelow already, about theLied Jungle exhibit at the Omaha zoo. Here are some more pictures from our adventure inside.

  Notice in the above photo that you are right there beside the water, which is exhibiting fish and rays.

I thought this family of boar was cute.

These penguins clearly wanted back inside!

Of all the traditional, "big" animals, the best exhibited were giraffes.  There were lots of them, and you were much closer to them than you get at the Oklahoma City zoo.

Here are two shots of us in the aquarium.  This tank was filled with sharks, rays, and assorted fish.  I thrilled to it, but also felt a little Jaws 3-D.

We called this lemur "Barry White."

The beautiful and restful Garden of the Senses, included these great birds.

I always enjoy aviaries, but I had never experienced anything like this one.  Hundreds of birds, in a massive space.  They were really able to fly and swoop past you.  You felt right there with them.  And it is beautifully landscaped.

When we first arrived, we were in time for the feeding of the bears.  One of the sun bears climbed high in its enclosure to the top of the tree in its exhibit and the keeper was able to toss stuff straight over to it.  It was really fun to watch, but none of the pictures came out. 

It was the most active, playful polar bear I've ever seen.  He kept showing off, particularly for the kids.

  
I've got good video of the polar bear, which I might be able to upload later.

Oh, btw, one of the great things about this, and other exhibits, was that you could view from above and at ground level.

As we have been preparing to move to Omaha, everyone kept talking about the Henry Doorly Zoo.  It also appears in absolutely everything you get promoting the city and the state and its tourism.  And, I have to admit, it looked really cool every time we drove by. 

So, for the one day of our vacation when we said "no business!" and that we were going to take the entire day just for us, we went to the Omaha zoo.

And thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. 

We arrived early on a cloudy, misty day and said if we got tired, we weren't going to force ourselves to stay the entire day, but, guess what?  We stayed till closing.  And, honestly, we never really got all that tired.  It is broken up nicely and there were plenty of opportunities for rest, that one didn't get exhausted (something that often happens to me when walking the vast backside of the OKC zoo).

Here's what we liked most about the zoo:

1)  It was far more interactive with the animals than any zoo we've ever been too.  Meaning that often there was no barrier between you and some of the animals, like this tamarin which was only a foot from my on the railing in the rain forest exhibit.

2)  The elaborately designed exhibit buildings, particularly therain forest and the desert dome.

3)  The whimsical touches, like this hanging bridge:

4)  The fun experiences created for you.  We especially enjoyed (but couldn't take pictures of) the Swamp in the Kingdoms of the Night exhibit.  This entire night exhibit was remarkable, including the giant indoor cavern!  But the swamp section was one of our favourites because it was kinda fun spooky.  You could see the alligators and crocs and caymans in the water, but every now and then you'd hear movement in the water below you and couldn't see anything.  Fun spooky!

The one experience like this that really did creep us out was theinsect house.  Here in OKC it is a cinder block room with everything in glass aquariums.  It never bothers me.  In Omaha the room is bright and airy with trees and shrubs and flowers and all sorts of greenery hanging over you and brushing your neck, while you are looking in said glass aquariums.  Creepy!  Add to that the sign upon entering which directed you too look up at the golden spiders on their webs and promised that they don't come off them.  And then you walk in, look up, and there's this spider on its web right above you!

5)  The interestingly different animals.  They didn't specialize in the typical big animals like elephants, zebras, lions, etc.  But had all sorts of interesting species I have never seen before.  Lots and lots of lemurs (an entire Madagascar exhibit opened this year), interesting bears and many different kinds of monkeys, and more.  This rodent-like animal is actually a relative of the elephant!

My next post will simply be a bunch of pictures from our day at the zoo.