I did see your raccoon pix. Very nice. You did well to avoid closer contact with the little critters. They are cute and seem playful and harmless, but that is an illusion. They are quick to anger and ferocious fighters, that can take on much larger dogs - and win. Worse yet, there is the occasional case of rabies in the species. Michigan would seem a likely place for that to occur.

My lil' doggie is a little girl dog. Because she has long, shapely legs, her name is Willow. She gets her good looks from her mixed parentage. A Chinese mom and a French dad. She is a very athletic little bomb shell. Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. She's SUPERDOG.

PS, Willow is actually a young dog, not a puppy. Just a figure of speech. Her mom was a petite, innocent, demure, young Chinese girl. A Shih-tzu. Her dad was a no account, rascal, toy French poodle. I s'pose that makes Willow a Shih-poo. Her early life was not a happy time for her. She was imprisoned in a dog pound in Cincinnati, Ohio and after a time was sentenced to death. She was to be executed on a Ssturday morning, but was bailed out on Thursdsy by a rescue group called luvfurmutts. She spent time in three different foster homes until we adopted her a month ago.

I tried this once, then what I had written suddenly disappeared. The vervet monkeys and chacma baboons of southern Africa are both quite common and plentiful. The samango monkeys are scarce, but not yet considered to be an endangered species. They are kinda cute with their small round faces, but pretty much stay waaaaay up in the trees. Have seen plenty of howler monkeys in Central America. Watched as a new baby was born in Costa Rica. The new mama held the new born closely and suckled him for a short time. In no time at all the new baby was hanging by his tail high up in the tree where he had just been born. All took place high in a tree. Not conducive to good photographs. Samangos and howlers not easy to get good pics. Story of my life. Nothing has ever been easy.

Thanks Annie. Our lil' doggie is a real cutie, as well as being something of a comedienne. I think there are some good images of her in my ol' computer. But, I am prejudiced in her favor.

Our African experiences have been limited to South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, and a cupla more. All in the South. Therefore, we have no pics of the great apes. Chacma baboons, vervet and samango monkeys are the best we can muster of the primates.

Prayer is always solicited and appreciated.

My daughter is flying in from Houston on the 29th to spend a few days with us. P'raps I can impose on her to teach me how to send pics. Here is some fuel for the fire; mi esposa has two Nikons. One each digital and film. I have three Canons. All digital. (And an OLD Nikon film camera.) Her Nikons were expensive - my Canons were NOT. We both are able to create images.

At the present time, my favorite subject for photos is the somewhat smallish half breed doggie we have had for less than a month.

I guess I'd better try to learn how to post a few of my pix. I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Among the many things I am NOT are - computer whiz and photographer.

Nope, sorry to disappoint you, but the only tigers I saw in Africa were in a zoo. Will you settle for lions, leopards, and cheetahs? I may even find a serval cat.

Nice pix, Annie! I am a newbie here. P'raps as I become a little more familiar with things here, I may post a few of my own big cats. Big African cats, and there were NO fences. Keep up your good work.