I *heart* Rachel » Blog Archive » Tai Sham has left the building

Tai Sham has left the buildingAugust 14

I arrived in Canandaigua, NY, at the home of Abiz and Ms. Abiz, and found myself in the midst of a heatwave. I didn’t mind going to Canandaigua, though, because I heard there was a fast ferry that goes from nearby Rochester to Toronto, where my beloved Rachel lives. One boat ride to paradise!

Wow, it was hot! It took me awhile to figure out their wacky thermometer, which showed it was more than 80 degrees inside the house. What kind of geeks don’t have a regular thermometer? (In fact, my panda senses tell me it was more like 92).

I tried to get back in the box to go back somewhere cooler, but Abiz said I was stuck here for now.

They gave me a hat and a cool drink, and I felt a bit better, and went to find out about how to get to the ferry.

Alas! The ferry business failed, and the ferry had stopped running! And now I was stuck in New York. So I decided to go check out the rest of the house.

Here I am chatting with some of the natives. The armadillos were particularly friendly.

This bear came all the way from Glacier National Park and he had a purple purse shaped like a trout. He also had a note saying, “You can use my fish purse!” I know better than to trust a grizzly with a purple purse, though. You never know what they have in there.

Gertrude the lobster has met miri and we shared stories about her. Gertrude said miri was there when Abiz got her for Ms. Abiz in Newport, RI.

Here I am with Big Gay Stan and Paul the Iguana. Stan seemed a little nervous about me being there and said that usually the carnivores were restricted to their own room. I explained that even though I am a bear, I eat bamboo. He still seemed nervous. I guess that’s how things are if you’re a rabbit in a pink jumpsuit.

I met these nice rabbits in the bottom of a closet. They didn’t seem frightened of me at all….

And then I discovered they had BIG POINTY TEETH! They were the most ferocious rabbits I’ve ever met. I was lucky to get out alive.

Fortunately, Star doesn’t seem that interested in playing with me.

Ellie wasn’t much of a conversationalist.

Corwen was more informative, but she swears like a sailor.

Gaby tried to wash my head…

but fortunately quickly discovered that pandas don’t taste like chicken.

The next day, it was cooler and I went to look around outside. Canandaigua is a sleepy resort town in the Finger Lakes area.

They have many Victorian houses, and some of them have been restored.

This one won a preservation award.

I checked out the light fixture. These people need to dust more often.

The Queen Anne stained glass window accented my fur nicely, though.

The next day Abiz said she was going to Memphis to a scientific meeting, and that I could come along if I wanted to. She said she was also going on a field trip to the Big Woods in the White River National Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas to look for endangered species. I’m an endangered species, so I thought I’d better go along. Maybe there would be other pandas!

Oddly the map doesn’t show any land managed for bamboo forest. It must be an omission!

I did a little more reading about the refuge, and discovered that it was sadly lacking pandas. But at least it is famous for being one of the last suspected locations for the Ivory-Billed woodpecker, one of the rarest birds in the world. Apparently the woodpecker is named “Elvis”.

Abiz also got us tickets to Graceland, and said if we were going to find Elvis, we’d probably find him there. I wasn’t sure what a woodpecker needed with a big mansion, though.

At the airport, I ran into a pig and a longhorn also going to Memphis, so we struck up a conversation and decided to travel together.

I invited them over to check out my accommodations at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis.

The three ducks on the pillow were confusing because I thought this was a four-star hotel, not a three-duck hotel. So I asked the concierge about it.

He directed us to the fountain in the center of the lobby, where we found five ducks. Lucky ducks!

As 5PM approached, suddenly there were hundreds of people crowding around the fountain. We had to watch from the balcony so I could see. The ducks got out of the fountain and marched on red carpet into the elevator, and then the bellman took them to the roof, where there is a “duck palace.” They sleep up there, and then come back down the next morning. I hope their palace is air conditioned; the outside temperature was 102.

That night we all had a good rest so we could get up early for the field trip to the White River National Wildlife Refuge.

We got lost along the way and I had to go ask directions from some locals.

Here I am in the sign at the Visitor’s Center. It was not a panda-friendly place.

O the indignity!

Soon we were out in the woods, looking for the woodpecker.

The manufacturer of the binoculars certainly didn’t take users without thumbs into consideration when they designed them.

However, I soon spotted an ivory-billed in a dead tree nearby.

Since I can climb trees, I went up for a closer look. He said his name was indeed Elvis asked me not to tell anyone I’d seen him. You know how secretive we endangered species can be. I promised not to tell.

After getting back from the field trip, I sat down with the program to plan which talks I would go see the next day.

I picked out one about reproduction in bamboo almost immediately. What could be more important?

I made sure to get a seat in the front row for the session about herbivores.

Here I am waiting for the session to begin.

I was disappointed there were not more talks about pandas, since we are famous herbivores.

After that, we went to go check out the poster session and the vendor/exhibitor’s area.

I found a book I needed right away.

The people from the Cambridge University Press thought I was so cute they tried to buy me for the display. Don’t they know you can’t buy cuteness?

I was starting to get hungry, so I stopped by the Forestry Suppliers booth. I was surprised to find they did not have bamboo. Isn’t bamboo a forest supply?

How did they know?

One evening, we rode on the trolley to Beale Street. My pig and longhorn friends joined me.

We stopped off at A. Schwab, which is a hardware store that’s been in business since 1876. I wasn’t allowed inside because Abiz didn’t want me getting mixed up with the toys there. How could anyone mistake me for a toy?

I didn’t understand why the pig and longhorn were getting so nervous.

By the end of our tour, we were getting a little giddy from all the music and beer.

The next morning I woke up and discovered I was on the street in front of some gates.

I climbed up on the stone fence to see what was around.

This sign clued me in that I was at Graceland, home of Elvis. I looked forward to seeing him again but didn’t see him around, though. Maybe he had left the building?

The pig and longhorn showed up for the tour, too. Here we are in front of Graceland.

Here I am in Elvis’ foyer. I think there’s definitely a resemblance, don’t you?

Some peacocks wait in the formal living room. I didn’t realize woodpeckers and peacocks hung out together.

That big white monkey in the TV room kind of creeped me out.

At long last, we reached the Jungle Room. I was disappointed that there wasn’t more bamboo. And those monkeys are still creeping me out. I thought the wall-to-wall avocado green shag carpet was swank, though.