Bringing some handy backcountry woodswoman skills to the Zoo

This afternoon I had a chance to help some zoo visitors by putting my backpacking skills to use. One boy in this zoo-going family had broken a flip-flop and was stumping around with a dirty foot. His mom and 2 brothers had all been enthralled with my schpeel about the Amur Tiger, ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the clawed up, mangled toy ball the cat had destroyed. At the end, they were the last folks at the exhibit and I asked if they needed some help figuring out the map. The mom said they had wanted to go see giraffes and zebras, but she felt bad the boy had only the one shoe and unfortunately the zoo gift shop doesn't sell flip-flops (I was thinking to myself that's probably because little people tend to lose them (a.k.a. "drop" them) in exhibits like the giraffes and zebras...). I had some time on my hands as today was not very busy, so I offered to try to fix the shoe. As I whipped out my handy-dandy knife and a key-ring I explained I just moved to Oregon from Montana, where I did a fair amount of backpacking: if you're out in the backcountry and a shoe dies, you have to figure out how to fix it to get home! Working to prove I am at least as smart as a chimp or raven, I threaded the key-ring through the broken shoe part so it held the toe-strap fast against the sole and VOILA it seemed to work!

They thanked me profusely and set off to Africa.

Ah, a satisfying finish to a busy day at the ZOO for this little naturalist.