Circle of Life at the Petting Zoo

As the grandkids get older they naturally become more sophisticated.  Of course this is generally speaking a delight, but growing up is never entirely benign.

One of ours has been going to a nearby petting zoo for years now.  He has gotten to know many of the animals by name.  Recently we visited and he asked where Tully the Tortoise was.  Well.......

RIP Tully, not even tortoises live forever.  Much sadness ensued.  The proprietors of the establishment are old hands and have already added two smaller tortoises of the same type.  It's a good thing that "Charlotte's Web" was a recent bed time story.

Other transitions are less dramatic, and of more impact on grandparents than on still oblivious tykes.  Below is me with "Jack the Goat".  This was one year ago.  They usually allow a couple of the younger, cuter goats to roam free.  Jack really threw everything he had into the "I'm cute, feed me" routine.

Jack, June of 2019.  He's been demoted.  Now a gangly teengoat he is in the main goat enclosure which includes Goat Island and a couple of food dispensing machines. As a smaller, newbie goat he is relegated to the back corners of the pen while the alpha goats aggressively work the crowd.  How the Cute have come down in the world...

And while we are on the subject of transformations into older forms (not that I'm thinking of gangly teenaged grandchildren, nope...) here was an educational sighting. A dragonfly who moments before had crawled out of the husk of its nymph form.

Spreading wings and ready to fly off.  (Not that it brings back memories of kids leaving home, nope....)

Well there are still some constants.  Best Pal at the zoo is a camel named Humphrey. Or sometimes, Bumphfrey.  They've known each other for years and I think the big galoot actually recognizes the little guy.  Who is here holding up a bunch of nice tasty grass for his constant friend.