Orange

We don't have much orange around the house- even though it's a lovely warming colour! My mum used to have a BRIGHT orange spare room- and ever since then it's a colour I tend to shy away from! BriNylon bedspread and everything! It's not even one of her favourite colours.

A house around here has painted the exterior (pebbledash- so entire frontage) a dark peach colour- but she also has orange stiped nets- so I guess it's one of her favourite colours.

 

Anyway- had this tasty 'satsuma' with my lunch. Costco do amazing fruit- so we tend to buy these in a small box!

The Halloween bucket is ready for next week to give the sweets out to trick or treaters. I made special trick or treat bags last year- but this will just be filled with packs of chocolate buttons (from Cadburys trip earlier this month!) and sweets.

We went to see Madagascar three yesterday- and the cinema was freezing cold and the temperature had dropped outside when we came out- it was really bitter. Weather reports vary from us having sun- to experiencing wintry frosts- so not sure what to expect.

I was absolutely horrified to hear that the zoo we recently visited had had to sack three of the elephant keepers for cruelty. I had to read more about the story- and they had been beating the elephant we saw with bamboo canes. Now when I stood there enthralled- they were training them with bamboo canes with rubber on the end. They said that the elephant had learnt to put their foot up on the pen in 4 days. When I read the article- it suggested that the 3 men had been dismissed in September- which would actually tie in- with new keepers training them in the last 4 days. So I don't think that the keepers we saw were the ones that were sacked. The vet there was saying that she was delighted that they'd learned so quickly so that she could inspect their feet for treatment.

Part of the reason that I have mixed feelings about zoos is because of stories like this- and I know when we went there I was actually impressed to see great relationships between the keepers and the animals that I saw together. Especially the lad with the llamas! The reader comments saddened me suggesting that the zoo wasn't a great place to visit. They had recently moved the giraffes and the explanation was that they weren't happy with the enclosure- even though it still met current zoo specifi3cations-  they wanted better conditions for their giraffes. Some parts of the zoo probably are  a little outdated now- I'd guess it was a 60's design- but the newer enclosures were more the sort of 'wild' design I prefer to see.

They are planning on bringing in big cats- so will be interesting to see what they have planned for them. I have to admit that I have big reservations about big cats in captivity. Our local safari park has healthy looking cats- so I don't mind to see them there- but I hate to see caged cats pacing up and down all day.