Klarinet Archive - Posting 000152.txt from 2004/08

From: ormondtoby@-----.net (Ormondtoby Montoya)
Subj: RE: [kl] Care of Leather Pads?
Date: Fri, 6 Aug 2004 21:45:19 -0400

Christy Erickson wrote:

> My sax has kangaroo leather pads and I can't
> imagine getting close enough to one of those to
> spray it. LOL!

Christy, the following anecdote is absolutely true and unexaggerated....
I swear on my word of honor as a gentleman and clarinetist:

When one of my daughters announced her upcoming marriage, I decided to
take her to Australia as a "goodbye" celebration. There's a reason why
I chose Australia, having to do with her birth, but I'll skip over that
part of the story.

One of the 'can't miss' attractions just outside of Sydney is a huge
live animal park where you can --- or could in those days, they may not
allow it any longer --- hold a koala in your arms --- koalas have no rib
cage and you must hold them in a certain way to avoid injuring their
internal organs --- and you can attempt to hold a 150-lb wombat in your
lap --- the creature sags like an oversized blob of bread dough; and
YES, you can pet and feed live kangaroos.

So my daughter and I spent nearly 3/4 of a day wandering amongst these
exotic animals, nearly bankrupting ourselves buying food for them. I
should've mentioned the ostriches as well and the macaws and lorikeets.

At one point, my daughter wandered off and I struck up a conversation
with an Australian gentleman whose kids had wandered off as well.

Suddenly my daughter came running back to me and proudly announced with
a huge grin from ear to ear:

"DAD! A kangaroo let me put my hand inside her pouch!!!"

"Really, Katherine? What did it feel like? Didn't the mother want to
protect her joeys (babies)?"

"The pouch was empty. Her babes were near her, but she let me do it!"

"Well.... tell me, what did it feel like?"

"It was warm and moist, just like you'd expect a mother kangaroo's pouch
to be."

The Australian gentleman standing next to me burst out in laughter.

I gave him a quizzical look.

"Mate," he said, "Kangaroo pouches don't have any plumbing. The lining
of their pouches absorbs the...waste... from the joeys. Likely it
*was* warm warm and moist in there...."

My green-faced daugher headed straight for the nearest rest room.

===========

"You're weird," the kid at rehearsal told me, "actually, everybody is
weird.... because if you're normal, that's just plain weird."

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