I found a little gem about thirty miles from our house called “Big Joel’s Animal Safari” and I was glad to know it was open on Monday. Unfortunately, a lot of places we’ve thought about going aren’t open on Mondays, something I hadn’t thought of when Earl and I came up with the idea of doing Monday excursions.

Quite a few years ago, I heard a broadcaster talking on the radio about a man he described as a “randy old goat”. Being a person who is kind of fond of archaic sayings and such, I knew what the word “randy” was in this context. But for some of you who don’t, Webster’s dictionary defines “randy” as “lustful or lecherous”. Since he is nine years older than me, it was sort of a joke that he was a dirty old man, so I told him he was a “randy old goat”. Somehow, in the way things go, “Old Goat” stuck with him as my nickname for him and is often just shortened to “Goat”. I’ve called him that for so many years that I think I do it more often than if I call him by name and he answers to it. Even my daughter calls him that, “Goat” or sometimes “Paw”. But to be fair to him, he usually responds to me as “Old Broad”. All in good fun of course.

So, what could be more appropriate than a photo of the “Old Goat” feeding the goats? He got a big kick out of it.

His birthday FB tribute…

 

Big Joel’s Safari is just outside of Wright City, Missouri. It has only domestic animals, such as birds, goats and sheep and llamas, and ostriches, buffalo, donkeys and buffalo. Most of the animals can be feed through the fence and you can buy a large (20oz) cup of food for just $4.00. The cost of admission is $8.00 per person which in this day and age, is really a good buy.

It was so pleasant to be outside, walking around and feeling that there is some semblance of normalcy coming back. Personally, I will only go to entertainment venues that don’t require the wearing of a mask. As with a lot of people, I find that when I am required to wear a mask, my glasses are constantly fogged up and I feel as though I can’t breathe. That pretty much takes all the enjoyment out of doing whatever it is, not to mention half the time the other person can’t be heard or understood.

So walking around feeding the animals, petting some of the babies goats and just observing the animals was a joy. Not to mention the day was beautiful, not too hot or humid.

Big Joel’s is definitely somewhere I would recommend taking the family, especially if you have younger children.