look out, Donald Duck

Walt Disney's Chip and Dale first appeared in 1943 in a "Pluto" cartoon as unnamed supporting characters. They became Donald Duck's chief antagonists in 1947 and remained in that "job" until 1989. Their original voices were created by several secretaries in the Disney offices doing short audio clips that were strung together to make dialogue.

These two are packing birdseed away for a long winter in the rock wall at Garnet Lake Lodge in the Black Hills. They were surprisingly not interested in sharing our picnic, thank you very much anyway.

the au pair Girl

She was loafing in the shade, waiting for me to get out from under the neighbor's pear tree so she can snitch a snack! Which is exactly what she did as soon as I went back in the house.

sometimes, the world is a Zoo

The Great Plains Zoo, Sioux Falls is an AZA accredited zoo with 850 animals on 45 acres of simulated natural habitat. Creatures from all continents except Antarctica live and breed here, the zoo is active in breeding endangered species of many types. www.greatzoo.org

Rangifer tarandus (caribou) N. America, Asia, Europe

In the early morning, the zoo is quiet, the keepers are feeding their charges and animals are active and a delight to watch. It was nearly a private party at 9am on a Sunday morning. I had the fun of talking to many of the keepers about the animals they care for. Pa Reindeer obviously gets fully involved with breakfast, Ma and kid had to wait their turn at the alfalfa. I'll introduce you to some the creatures we share the planet with this week, weird and wonderful.