Ok, it’s official … I now have more friends on the internet than in real life! Today, I’m going international. You see I found out about this wonderful site at www.africam.com where you can sit for hours mesmerized by a streaming video of a natural pond in S. Africa which has amazing creatures visit day and night! The microphone there is AWESOME … I could hear the elephants suck up the water and then … I could actually hear them SWALLOW it. I am serious, I was just overcome with the idea that I could sit here in Seaside, OR and watch this little pond. I have seen the aforementioned elephants just one time so far, lots of wildebeests (Gnu to you), impalas (not the Chevy), zebras galore, a waterbuck!, Cape Buffalo! (although I actually missed those … other peops took pictures of them and posted them), but the most magnificent of all was the leopard! Ok, maybe the rhino … no, I loved the elephants most of all … no, the leopard! Oh my gosh, I can’t make up my mind. I’ve been told that baboons also visit this pond and I’m waiting with baited breath for that! There are birds that I have NEVER seen before and annoying frogs that do their madness most of the night. It is AMAZING to see the variety in God’s repertoire.

Ok, here’s where I’m going with this story … or where I started. I just JOINED the message boards for this site in Africa and will now be talking to people all over the world who are watching the same little pond that I’m watching. Oh, I forgot to tell you that most of the time (except for the middle of the night and when they have to eat) someone is manning the camera and actually zooming it in so we can see close-ups of the animals and birds! So, we are seeing interaction amongst them that you would never see otherwise. The cameras and microphones are on a scrubby little tree near the pond and I guess remotely activated by someone in a compound you can barely see in the distance. Someone remarked they were glad the elephants didn’t decide to knock THAT tree down … we could hear them doing that to other brush and trees as they moved away … with loud cracking sounds easy to hear.

You can also see tourists being carted around in one of those Land Rover vehicles … or Toyota, not sure. We could actually hear them babbling when they were following the leopard! (I think I would be a tad more quiet if I wanted to see wild animals, wouldn’t you?)

I belong to several message boards … one on Weight Watchers for good old group therapy, and another favorite is Birds & Blooms to chat about …u m birds & blooms. On my Weight Watchers, sometimes I even slip across the pond and sign into the message board in Great Britain. Now THAT is fun because they talk so differently about things … example … “Morning Liz and Sue. It has been tipping it down here but is starting to brighten up now.” Not sure what that means, but I think it might have been raining …

Our world is getting smaller all the time, it truly is …. Can you imagine how it will change in just the next few decades? I hope I’ve encouraged you to search the net a little … it IS an addiction … but it’s an interesting one.