Day Ten: RUN!

This morning started off with a cheetah run at 7:30 this morning. Before I get into that, I just want to mention that it is starting to get really cold in the mornings and at night. This morning I needed to wear my heavy jacket and trousers when I went out for the run. The day warms up quickly with the sun, but once that sun is gone it does get quite chilly. You'd think the chillier weather would invigorate the cheetahs and encourage them to run a little faster, but that was not the case with Jemima this morning. She jogged her way through all three runs. She was much more interested in the grazing sheep on the other side of the fence (who can blame her?)

After the run, we went back for breakfast and then rushed to wait for Estelle to get back from town with the black paint we needed in order to repaint some of the enclosure fences and gates. We finally got started at around 10 AM and painted until 1. It may sound boring to paint fences, but it was actually very fun for me. As Paul said, it was very theraputic to paint all morning. It took me the entire three hours to paint just one gate entrance, and I'm still not all the way finished. While this may be partly due to my perfectionism, I feel I must also mention that there are many small wires and many small places that the paint has to cover.
After we devoured a very yummy lunch cooked by the house staff (I'm not sure what it was, but they made a vegetarian version for me and it was good. Yes, Remy, I'm not sure what it is, but I'm eating it), it was cheetah time! Today I sat with Jemima for a while. She was sleepy and drooled in my lap again. I still get a kick out of the fact that cheetahs drool. It seems so un-feline to me. I had time to do a few quick sketches while the others sat with her. I'm starting to get a better grasp of cheetah anatomy, but some things are still hard. Especially the back legs and hindquarters...

After Jemima, we went to the cubs. They were very grumpy today and not very playful. There were a lot of (literal) hissy fits. My theory is that we wore them out so thouroughly yesterday that they were still tired today. At any rate, we got a little bit of play out of them. Most of the time, however, they were just laying around watching us look like fools while we tried to get them to play. In the video below, Tone got Jade to chase for a little bit.

Tippy gives me her best unimpressed look

After cub time, we fed the cheetahs and then went back to the house. I went for a walk while the sun was setting, waiting for the PIZZA to arrive. That's right, PIZZA. As much as I like the homecooking of all the volunteers here, there is nothing like a good greasy pizza with cheese and tomatoes and basil wrapped up in a carry-out cardboard box. It was so good. Actually, it was better than any pizza has the right to be. I ate it all....EVERY LAST SLICE.

Tonight there is a bonfire, so I'm going to go enjoy it. Tomorrow night is the big party night, because Tone, Zelia and Mia leave Thursday morning. Then it will be just Paul and me until Saturday, at which point Paul leaves.
Over and out
Taylor