This post is mostly about rhinoceros poop

Even though my promised super-dee-duper exciting international travel has yet to begin, this past weekend I did do some pretty exciting travel to West Virginia and Ohio, the homeland of the Krivchenias. My time there overall was spent in classic Krivchenia style: eating, arguing and playing with the little ones (adorable, all). However, it was also a special occasion. It was Granny's 75th birthday, and for her birthday she took all of us on a safari - that's right, kids, a safari. A safari in Ohio.

This is all land that was surface mined for coal back in the day, got totally ruined, and was then donated in the 80s by the coal company for conservation. I hear tax breaks were also involved. For your further edification, straight from Cousin Betsy, here’s a song to give you an idea of what surface mining is (thanks, Cuz! Er, and John Prine).

The coal companies came with the world’s largest shovel
And they tortured the timber and stripped all the land
They dug for their coal til the land was forsaken
And they wrote it all down as the progress of man

Deep, right?

So now this land is called The Wilds, apparently the largest conservation facility in North America (must be the largest animal conservation facility?), about 14 square miles. They have a lot of animals, mostly endangered, from a lot of different parts of the world including cheetahs, giraffes, wild dogs, swans, etc, etc. They do a lot of breeding things with the animals (as well as tours, of course), and also are doing some reclaiming of the land, bringing back in native plant species, which is cool. I love prairie grasses. Also, there is at least one very witty person who works there:



My experience was more “watch the cousins watch the animals” than anything else. There was a lot of butt-in-your-seat-while-the-bus-is-moving! and mediating possession of the ‘noculars.

The animal highlight, I thought, and based on the outcry, all the little ones agreed with, was the time that this one rhino, wandering alongside the bus, pooped (kind of towards us) while standing about three feet away! It was gross. Or awesome, depending on who you talk to. We learned later on the trip that rhinos always poop in these big piles (which was pretty apparent) and that they use them to give information to the other rhinos - like who's been where, and maybe something about what they're eating? The guide called it "rhino text-messaging."

And that, friends, is where I’ll leave you: rhino text-messages. Think about that. Here’s a photo to help.