The strands in your eyes that color them wonderful, Stop me and steal my breath. Emeralds from mountains thrust toward the sky, Never revealing their depth. And tell me that we belong together. And dress it up with the trappings of love. I'll be captivated, I'll hang from your lips, Instead of the gallows of heartache that hang from above. And I'll be your cryin' shoulder. I'll be love's suicide. And I'll be better when I'm older, I'll be the greatest fan of your life.

 *yawns* I did nae sleep much last night and the tiredness just hit me waves of exhaustion like woah. So since I've finished the tasks I wanted to get done tonight and I'm over my 40hrs of work for the week anyway, I'm heading home.

And once there, I am going to bed, straight to bed. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. I'm looking forward to waking up in excitement to see how deep the snow has fallen while I rested!!! And then getting dressed to take Waffles outside (if she wants, though if she wants to stay inside and snuggle sleepies, I'll just stay in my pjs all day until whenever she decides to go outside.) And then the general plan (though maybe not the order) will be to make breakfast and coffee, haul firewood up from the trunk of my car, start a fire going in the fireplace, be all sorts of cozy with the fire and cuddly fur baby familiars and beautiful music and hot coffee/tea/cocoa and/or wine/whiskey/scotch to drink and finish the remaining third of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and maybe my book on the neurobiology of corvids (crows/ravens/magpies/etc.) and between the forecasted depth of snow and the winds, this might be a real legit blizzard by the time it's all over on Saturday!!

O but before I forget (and I DID forget to share to facebook) -- the zoo looked like Narnia today!!! Especially when we visited the lions and Pelo was laying all majestic on the heated rock like this:

And then I exclaimed, "O look Mikaela! I just was saying how everything is all Narnia today with so much snow and just LOOK at our very own Aslan!!!"  Which made her laugh and Pelo perfect timing then opened his mouth in the BIGGEST yawn followed by a roar. 

And I started giggling so hard as I curtsied to him and said, "why thank you dear Aslan my friend!" and I swear to G-d the beastie WINKED at me which made me laugh even harder. 

Then Mikaela said, 'Only. I know I'm the younger of us, but of everyone I've ever known, you are DEFINITELY the most Lucy. And not just because you're the one introduced me to Narnia." (When she was five or so, I read a lot of books aloud to her while teaching her her letters and to read before she entered kindergarten, starting with Roald Dahl and after we had reread those many many times, I decided she was old enough to love The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. She never finished the rest of the books, she's not a completionist like me, but that first one she has always adored and re-read many many many times.). And so I smiled at her and hugged her said, "Well then that must make you Susan the Beautiful. Only we'll make sure YOU are a Susan who will never forget her way back to the wonder. Because I insist."

O and sweet Kuza, the Amur tiger -- the first and last of the animals we visited today!

 

 

 Also, look at how adorable Bo and Berit are together!!!!! Just fucking looking at them!!!!

o I love them so much!!! Berit has been with us since they built the new arctic enclosure with polar bears on the one side and the two grizzly bear sisters on the other (the polar bears get the run of both enclosures while the grizz hibernate) and then Bo is just such a goofy happy puppy of a bear! Such darlings!

You don't want to know HOW many photos I have from today's visit to my polar bear friends.

No chance for babies although Bo is VERY amorous of his lady friend and today's snuggles/playing/fighting definitely had times he wanted to mount her before she roared at him then pinned him belly up made him submissive to her even though he's the bigger of the two bears -- but he ADORES her and he spends most of his time he isn't playing just following her around like a little puppy dog hoping and waiting for her to notice him or play with him or give him a sign of affection. (Even if Berit isn't too old for cubs, and she might be now, Vilas Zoo is AZA accredited zoo, so only babies are supposed to be sanctioned and by order of AZA; though oopses happen because birth control isn't foolproof. But unlikely with the polar bears.)

Anyway. now. I'm headed home and thence to bed. To sleep perchance to dream. Most likely dreams of lions, and tigers, and bears, o my!

P. S. Once I was home and brought the dog and my other things upstairs, I decided that future me would be grateful if I just hauled the 4 buckets of wood upstairs now so then I can stay cozy tomorrow except for the taking the dog out for snow frolics portions of the foot or so of snow expected across the day. So I did carry up all 4 buckets of wood, and I will burn through enough of it to bring the buckets back to my parents garage over the weekend and refill more wood to keep the fire burning through the bitterest bitter of the cold Sun through Weds morning. Also, I spent the entire time I was carrying the wood up both flights of stairs singing to myself the classic 90s love song I'll Be by Edwin McCain because it was the last song I heard on the radio driving home and I'm soooooo eat wormed by it stuck in my head right now!!! I will definitely be having dreams of snow and wild animal friends and someone serenading me the pre chorus and chorus at this rate. 😂. 

Now, pyjamas and getting ready for bed and chamomile tea to knock me out and waking up to see how shiny white and covered in more sparkle fluff my world is!!! I'm so happy to live this life in a world that still has snow and polar bears in it!!!!

[Post title: lyrics to the song I'll Be by Edwin McCain. You can either believe it's because it's stuck in my head OR you can believe it's because my over imaginative brain is imagining Borealis serenading Berit with that song. Reader's discretion on that one.]