Saturday was another fun day at Little Zoo. While I was cleaning the bird enclosures, Miss Palona once again got my attention by suddenly leaping onto my shoulders! Mallory, who was helping me clean the bird arena, said I could just snuggle her a bit if I wanted to. Palona is a really cute little cockatoo. She actually is small as far as cockatoos go. And she is very affectionate. She likes being hugged - you can wrap your arm around her whole body, and she seems quite content with that. She let me pet her all over, and continually walked from one of my hands to the other, and even made her way back onto my shoulder again at one point. She is hard to reach when she's back there, but I scooped her up pretty easily. What a silly bird. I really like her!

The other creature who kept making me laugh while we cleaned the bird enclosures was the tortoise. He kept following me from cage to cage, trying to sneak inside. I know what you must be thinking, "Aren't tortoises slow?" But that's just the thing! They're moving kind of slow, so you say, "Oh what trouble could they get into?" and the next thing you know, they're right underfoot, trying to sneak in with the birds! I never thought I'd find a tortoise's antics amusing, but there you have it.

Last but not least, I got to see Simon (the capuchin monkey) take a bath! I was excited about that, because I'd never seen a monkey take a bath before. Oh man, is that a funny sight! He lathers himself up! And he uses his tail to rub the back of his head, like it's another arm. So weird! So as not to freak him out and have him go postal on anyone, when his bath was done, I had the towel ready, Mallory placed him in it, and then took him back in her arms, and we were at the ready with bananas to give him. Then she put him back in his cage where he probably instantly started playing with and eating poo again. Ah, such is the life of a monkey! Heh.

Saturday was also special for another reason. It was Loki's birthday! I called Bobbi early in the morning, hoping to get her voicemail, which I did. You see, I was hoping for her voicemail, because I felt more comfortable singing into a machine rather than live and in person. Yes, I called to sing "Happy Birthday" to Loki! I said in the message that if she could play for that Loki, I'd be very appreciative.

Later I missed two calls from her. In the first message, she told me how it was Loki's birthday party that night, and they were very excited and wished I could be there. She ended that message with, "Okay, I'm going to go listen to your message now." The second message was, "Oh, you are so sweet to remember it was Loki's birthday!!"

I called her on the way home from Little Zoo, and they were already on Loki's birthday hike with many people, and (I believe) eight dogs in tow! I heard her say, "Loki, you have a phone call!" She put him on, and I told him in a happy-doggy-voice that I love him and to have a very happy birthday. He licked the phone. Hee! Bobbi left another message (I know, I was missing calls all day!) later in the evening to say Loki had a fabulous birthday, especially the phone call from his Auntie Meg. Awww! I love them!

So yeah, all in all, Saturday was a very good day.