Now that the school year is drawing to a close, we are getting a bit stressed about a few things. The first wee detail lying heavy on our brains is the fact that we don’t yet have a job in Korea for next year. The second is that we need to pack up both my classroom and my apartment...and hopefully get rid of a lot of things. Third, we want to try to squeeze in as much of Canada as possible for as cheap as possible in as little time as possible. No small feat. But we will give it our best Canuck try (ok, you Aussies....a Canuck is a Canadian....as in the person...not the canoe).
One thing Brett has been the most excited about since his arrival in Canada has been the squirrels. Small, rat-sized rodents with giant fluffy tails. They are adorable, I’ll give him that. However, he’s almost caused a few accidents by screaming "SQUIRREL" while I am driving. I’ve seen them all my life, so they are no big deal to me. But I do remember what it was like when I saw my first kangaroo in Australia....and now I also understand the bored look on my Aussie friend’s face while I spent 20 minutes gushing about "roos" and taking their photos. Anyway, in an attempt to give Brett a look at more Canadian animals, we headed to the Muskoka Wildlife Centre. This is a place that takes in injured or abandoned Canadian animals. And best yet...we had a coupon.
We arrived at a perfect time. A "show" was going on......which was one lady showing the animals to a father and son. Perfect. No crowds. We got a close up look at a wolf pup, black rat snake, a skunk, and a chubby ground hog. We were then given a map and told we could wander through their grounds to see the animals housed outside. I was so excited. Finally! Brett was going to see a porcupine, bear, moose, cougar...and more! All those animals I had been talking about, but can never find.
First up was the porcupine. He was a little angry dude and was putting on quite a show. He was up on his hind legs, rocking back and forth, with all his quills shaking as he did this. Not sure what he was so peeved about. But it was so cool to see. I turned to Brett and said "Isn’t he great?" Brett was not even looking. He was facing away from the porcupine. "What was that?" he yelled, as he ran for the side of the porcupine cage. I followed. It was a chipmunk. For you Aussies, a chipmunk is like a glorified hamster...cute little beige rodent with black and white stripes down it’s back. A common sight in the summer. BUT this was Brett’s first sighting. And the beginning of an obsession. He followed the chipmunk, taking many photos, and commenting on how cute he was. I asked if he had even seen the porcupine... "Yup"was his response..while still looking at the chipmunk.
The rest of our day was the same. I saw a bear, moose, cougar, badgers, a wolverine, and some eagles. . . while Brett excitedly chased around the chipmunks. I would show you the photos of all the amazing Canadian wildlife we saw that day....but the only pictures we have are of chipmunks. We drove 45 minutes and payed money so that Brett could chase rodents that we could have found in my backyard. Oh well.
Brett’s tradition is to always ask what my favourite part of our outing was. So as we ate ice cream on the front lawn of the Muskoka Wildlife Centre, he asked "So what was your favourite part?" "Badgers" I replied. "Guess what mine was!" he said excitedly. Now I want to change my answer. Sure the badgers were cool, but a year from now I won’t remember them at all. What I will remember is watching Brett, a fairly calm guy, get very excited about a tiny rodent. Makes me laugh just thinking about it.
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