Turkey Vultures, Kiss Tickets and Bad Noodles... Oh My!/January 15, 2007

My boyfriend and I went to our local park today so that I could take pictures. It was a very gray day, so the shots, although beautiful, are not exactly what I wanted. I had been hoping for a gloriously sunny day so that the colors of the foliage and the red barn could really stand out. Yes, a barn. There's a small farm/petting zoo of sorts in the park. It rained a bit and the air was cool. The weather was actually ok, and that's an oddity for Florida. If the air's not thick enough to make molasses, then it's dry and hot enough to fry omelettes on sidewalks.

Anyway, a great learning opportunity arose for me today while at the park. For a few months now, Erik and I have been wondering about these large birds that circle high up in the sky. I found a HUGE feather once on the ground near the train station and from afar, they appear to have gigantic wing spans. They would never fly low enough for us to get a good look at them, nor did they ever perch on a tree or light pole. I thought they were just mutant crows or something, but Erik kept insisting that they were vultures. "They circle. That's what vultures do, right?" he'd say. I didn't buy it. "Vultures only exist in Africa," I would say with finality. I'm a woman, so I'm always right, right? Ha, ha, and also, HA! I was wrong. VERY wrong.

Apparently, vultures do inhabit other parts of the world-America being one of them. The birds we've been insanely curious about are turkey vultures. However, they are more closely related to storks than to Old World vultures. While walking around the park snapping photos, several of them were circling overhead and many of them actually flew really, really low to the ground. I got excited, because I got a better look at them. Then (drumroll), they-GASP!- LANDED! They perched on trees, on the ground, on picnic tables. I went insane snapping pictures of these enormous, creepy-looking, yet harmless, birds. "They're vultures! They really ARE vultures!" you could hear me insanely shouting as I snapped away. I might have frightened some children riding their bicycles near by. I'll post some of the pictures tomorrow.

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In other news, while working on my letter scrapbook, I found a few kiss tickets in one of the boxes and thought I'd share the story about them with you all. Kiss tickets made their debut back when I was in junior high. They are the small sheet of paper that wraps around the foil of chewing gum- you know, the sheet with the gum's brand name and logo on it. Not all of these were kiss tickets, however. The authentic kiss tickets were the ones that had a thin black line on the inside flap of the little paper. If you gave one of those to a boy, he was supposed to kiss you. I remember collecting tons of them, but being too scared to give them to any boys. When I finally got hold of a boyfriend for myself, I showered him with those damned things.

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On a final note, I was thoroughly disgusted with the latest flavor of Ramen noodles. I love these noodles. They're great with meat balls, served with rice and just plain in soup. Erik and I live off of them when there is nothing else to eat. We bought a cup o' noodle thing in a new flavor- Cheddar Cheese. Erik was skeptical about it while I was ecstatic. "Cheeeesy nooooodlesss!" I drooled all over the shelf in Wal-Mart. We only bought one as a taste test, so to speak. Well, ladies and gentleman, the noodles taste like stale Cheetos. Enough said. The entire cup full of orange-tinted boiling water went straight into the trash bin without a second thought.

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