Saturday, April 1, 2017

Amazing April #atozchallenge

Please join me as I Travel Through Time and Space on the first day of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge to a playground in the Bronx, New York City, on a mild April day in 1959.

A group of girls are gathered in a circle.  One bounces a clean, pink Spauldeen ball and starts to chant, standing on her left leg as she swings her right leg back and forth over the bouncing ball:

"A my name is AM,  I come from Arizona, and I sell apples!".  AM passes the ball to the next girl, who bounces it against the sidewalk, chanting "B my name is...."

Many of us have childhood memories.  Some are happy, some are not.  But when we grow up sometimes travel to places we never would have dreamed of ending up in.  

The little girl from the Bronx never would have dreamed that every day now, we travel all over the world, carried by electrons and the interwebs, to even more amazing places.  Hence, my theme, Travel Through Time and Space.

Today, on the first day of the month, thanks to the Internet,  I blog about a giraffe called April.

Who ever thought a pregnant giraffe named April, living in an upstate New York animal park about 30 minutes from where I live near Binghamton, would become an Internet sensation?

After the owners of the park decided to train a webcam on her during the third week of February, hoping she would give birth any time, April the giraffe, as they like to say, went viral.

At any one given moment, upwards of 210,000 people from all over the world watched April and her caregivers.  Thousands participated in chats on their site on You Tube.

And now, all the signs of labor ready to begin are there.  What could be more fitting on the first day of April?  Here's a link to the live, official April channel on You Tube.

I couldn't believe I was spending an hour each night watching a giraffe's butt, along with those  thousands of other people.  I was learning about wax caps, udder filling, how giraffes give birth, and how endangered these majestic creatures are.

I learned to tell the chief zoologist, Allysa, and the other giraffe caregiver, Corey, apart, just by viewing their hands (as they fed April lettuce near the web cam).  I watched interviews with them, and with the owner of the Animal Adventure Park, Jordan Patch.  I learned about young Ava Patch.

What an incredible journey this has been for Jordan and his family, and for all of us who have bonded over a webcam.

Life takes us to many unexpected places, and that's no April Fools.  And that's how the Spauldeen bounces....

Are you part of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge?  If not, here's a quick rundown.  The title of this post starts with A.  On Monday (we have Sundays off, except for April 30) my blog post title with start with B, and so forth.  On April 30, a rare Sunday for A to Z, my post will begin with Z.
"A" on the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  My theme: Traveling Through Time and Space.

30 comments:

  1. Giraffes are magnificent creatures...Has April given birth already?

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    1. As of this minute (8:15 am Eastern Time) she has not, but their Internet connection was down. I last watched about 4am our time and she was definitely not showing her normal behavior.

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  2. Wowza!! Thus is incredible stuff Alana. I am on a bad internet connection, will try to view the link later. But what an amazing thing to share about. I can't say I have ever witnessed any animal birth -real or virtual . Fantastic way to start your travel through time... Brilliant!!!

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    Replies
    1. As of right now (Monday, your time) April still hasn't given birth. She is towards the end of her lifespan in the wild (15 years old) and hoping something isn't wrong.

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  3. Giraffes are truly magnificent animals. Sad that their numbers are so depleted, so are many other African mammals...Indeed we never know where we'll end up travelling to, couldn't have predicted the trajectories either in terms of real co-ordinates or couch travel.

    Great start to your A-Z!
    All the best.
    Nilanjana.
    Madly-in-Verse
    Theme : Arabiana

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    1. I don't think I will ever visit any giraffes in the wild, but if all goes well, I plan to visit April and calf sometime this summer. I'm even trying to get a "cousins" reunion organized so we can go with family!

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  4. Love watching the webcam about April, whom you introduced us to a few days ago. I look forward to the first sight we get of the very large "little one"! Will be following you throughout April.

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    1. Thank you, Shirley. Alas, no baby giraffe yet.

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  5. I played that same game with a Spauldeen.

    And I am also captivated by April the giraffe.

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    Replies
    1. Great minds! I think that game was played by a lot of us growing up in the New York City area. If I tried it now, I might fall over. Hmm, a balance exercise.

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  6. What all internet can do imagine! Making a celebrity out of a giraffe! All the Best to APril! Great start Alana

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  7. I should find time to visit that site. Just not enough hours in the day. Looking forward to your posts.

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    1. The site is down right now. They say "internet issues, not an April Fools joke". We'll see. Even the Today Show has started to follow them!

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  8. woa really... let me check out. Indeed, internet has brought everything so close and available to us in seconds.

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    1. Yes. To me, amazing. Come back Tuesday and share some of my computer memories.

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  9. Now I'm sitting in my dining room in Western Australia watching a giraffe thinking about giving birth in the US - the interwebs are amazing things aren't they Alana?
    Leanne | cresting the hill

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  10. That's so cool, I love the link already, thank you for sharing

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  11. We play game like that while traveling in car..It went like this
    (I'll use the letter S) Hi my name is Sue and my husband name is Stan. My job is seceratry, and I live in Santa Fe
    It was fun.

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  12. Great start to the Challenge! It is amazing that the Internet has made so many events like April's giving birth available to the whole world, hasn't it? I remember watching as the corpse flower was about to open...

    John Holton
    A to Z Challenge Co-Host
    The Sound Of One Hand Typing

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  13. Great post! I take it you will be traveling to see the new babe once it makes its appearance?? I like the name 'May', which I heard was trending in the polls. And that webcam.... I kept my eye on it till late last night as I was finishing up my April post. So cool!

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  14. Found you through Blog, Share,learn and the A-Z Challenge. Think I'm going to end up knowing a lot more about April! On my way there now!

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  15. My M-I-L is obsessed with April. She watches constantly. I'm looking forward to seeing the baby giraffe, but have no interest in seeing the actual birth.

    Good luck with A to Z.

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  16. That is so cool! I first read about April the Giraffe on co-host Heather Gardner's blog. I peeked in and she's up and pacing. May would be a great name for the baby. Cheers!
    Debbie @ THE DOGLADY'S DEN
    Latest post: Azzurro: Going AWOL in Switzerland
    Debbie @ THE DOGLADY'S DEN
    Latest post: Azzurro: Going AWOL in Switzerland

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  17. Best of luck on #AtoZ this year! (Sadly, I'm not participating, but I'll be cheering y'all on!)

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  18. In a way that's quite cool, being an internet sensation like that...but wouldn't April want to be left alone during her most private moments?

    Shubhangi @ The Little Princess

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  19. Hello, Fellow New Yorker! I'm about 2 hours south of you guys! Hoping to come up to the park in the summer and visit with the animals!
    I spend way too much time watching this giraffe. :)
    Great post!

    Heather
    Co-Host, 2017 Blogging from A to Z April Challenge
    https://hmgardner.blogspot.com/

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  20. Ah, April... Wouldn't it be funny if she did give birth in April? Kinda fitting.

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  21. I was happy to see they're offering an "April the Giraffe Alert" so you can sign up to get a text when something is actually happening!
    Fun topic! (oh - and someone at my work had April up on one of our big monitors this morning instead of the usual customer's website!)
    Lisa / Tales from the Love Shaque

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  22. So cute a topic. The miracle of life is something many of us love to see. And the baby giraffe! sobeautiful! Thanks for sharing the link.
    Also I loved your traveling throught time and space. I´m looking forward to read more about them.
    Hannie.

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