I once went elephant hunting. It was one of those remarkable moments in a lifetime which will never be forgotten. This happened, lets see…carry the 2…divide by 7…minus 3…ahh! Here we go, I went elephant hunting right-around-about 36 years ago. Damn! That’s a long time. Actually, no it isn’t, but I’ll save that subject for another occasion.
I went on this particular hunt with 2 of my cousins. Mindy and Timothy. I traveled the distance to their home. A fantastic adventure, in itself. My parents came along too. However neither were interested in hunting. They did not even care to go on safari! 2 remarkable moments in a lifetime and they let it pass them by. At their age, I could understand the lack of enthusiasm for the hunt. However, the safari? I could never pass up an opportunity such as that! I do believe my father would have enjoyed the safari. I think he may have stayed behind to keep Mom and the rest of the old folks comfortable.
Timothy and Mindy led the way to their homes, which was an adventure it itself. The prime safari season runs roughly through the months of May to October. I was there in July, just as the rainy season was coming to an end. This would make the grasslands a bit tall thus more difficult to spot the large cats and other carnivores. This was a great concern of mine. However, my cousins assured me as long as I followed their lead-we would be fine.
Truthfully, I was not much of a hunter. In fact, until this moment, I had never gone in my enter life. However, Mindy and Timothy, were avid hunters and had great tales for me. They spoke of all the fabulous game they would see. Truly spectacular animals.
Since I was not a hunter, I also did not own a gun. Timothy had an elephant gun which he assured me was the finest. I could not believe the size of the ammunition. It was big enough to take down an elephant!
We packed some snacks and Kool-aid and left early the next morning. After great debate between Timothy and Mindy, it was decided we would hunt in an area Timothy had been wanting to try for quite sometime. Now that the rains were over, he was confidant he could get the bus through.
Truthfully, I was a little nervous. The bus, as I call it, was more like a beat-up long Jeep. The fact that there were no walls was an unnerving thought-better pushed out and off the cliff of my mind. I am a natural-born chicken and damn proud of it!.. and whats more, I intended to keep every feather on my ass intact.
Speaking of asses, though I love him dearly. Timothy would be a pain in mine at times. Once he got started talking he never stopped! He’d go on and on about the most boring things he could think of. Here we are in Florida, Kentucky of an Elephant Safari and ALL he wants to talk about is how his underwear was pinching his nut as we walk.
Speaking of walking, we had reached a point in our hunt, where the bus had to be left behind. We had to go by foot the rest of the way. Mindy pointed out, had we gone her way, we would not have to walk at all. I was not a happy camper. I traveled all the way to Florida, KY. So far, the only critters I’d seen was a couple of bugs Timothy poked with a stick and a bee which enjoyed chasing Mindy and me.
I cannot believe Mindy hadn’t already killed and stuffed Timothy. However, with our luck, there he’d be hanging on the wall talking away at 2.00 in the morning. Boys! What good were they? The 3 of us (them really, Mom makes me be polite) were getting grumpy and tired. I suppose by now, you have figured out I was child when the 3 of us went on our Safari. We never did see any elephants that day, although Timothy swore they hung out by the holler in Aunt Margie’s yard. We even tossed trails of peanuts hoping the elephants would pick-up the scent and sneak into the yard to eat them. They never did, but might have-had we not eaten the nuts and tossed them the empty shells. This was such a fun day and a wonderful childhood memory today. I recall how quickly our hunting trip ended when we were called in to eat. Imaginary guns replaced with real forks and spoons.
Soon after lunch, Timothy went home with his mom, my cousin Cathy. Mindy and I were free to play the games little girls like to play. I can recall a time when Mindy convinced me that dog biscuits tasted really good, just like cookies. So, of course, I just had to eat one. I forgave her just as soon as my mom was certain I would not die of dog poisoning.
Through a wonderful thing called thing Internet, I have been able to reconnect with Mindy, Cathy and many other family and friends who were hidden away under years of new memories. How wonderful to pull out these boxes of memories stored away years ago, but never forgotten.
Renee Robinson
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Mythical: The surreal sculptures feature a doubles head swan on the body of what appears to be a goat
Creepy: This otherworldly piece is created with the head of a screaming squirrel and the body of crab
Nightmarish: This taxidermy Sculpture called the McSparboe Salmonella is a mix of a rooster and a goat
Hybrid creature: De Molina uses the parts of once-living animals and merges them together to create strange but striking sculptures
Weird: In this strange example De Molina merges a goat’s head and hooves with the body and tail of a skunk
Macabre: De Molina smuggled the parts of dead endangered species into America to make the sculptures
Controversial: De Molina offers his pieces through galleries and on the internet for prices ranging up to $80,000
Scary: The mythical creatures could land the Miami artist in jail for up to five years and see him forking out $250,000 in fines
Illegal: The artist had not obtained the required permits to import the animal parts, and police claim he knew what he was doing was illegal
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Nae's Nest 