So, one day last week I got home and there was this noisy box on the porch. I opened it, and met Hippy Jim. He did this song and dance, and was a totally comfortable and brazen dude. He totally won over Jezebel, but she's easy! Callie was a little more leery, and tried to avoid being near HJ.
Here's a picture of them hanging out under the Christmas tree:
Soon after HJ arrived we had some snow. HJ wanted to play in it, but was a little chilly. So later I made him a scarf!
After the weather cleared, HJ took the grand tour. He met the millies,
and then DH's chicken girlfriend showed up to see if HJ had any treats in his pocket.
Later, DH took Hippy Jim out on the town. They looked out over Knoxville.
Hippy Jim liked the look of the big gold egg. DH explained about the Sunsphere for the 1982 World's Fair. HJ didn't believe him. He still thought it looked like a big egg. So DH took HJ for a close-up:
Over the weekend we took Hippy Jim to the mountains. It was a cold but pretty day. We went into the park.
We stopped and looked out over Gatlinburg.
After seeing the traffic in Pigeon Forge, Hippy Jim was unwilling to go down into gatlinburg. So we went further into the park.
DH tried
really hard to get a Ranger to let us take her picture. She came thisclose to putting on her hat and posing. But then she "chickened out"
The next stop was Dollywood.
Sadly, it was too cold for the roller coasters to operate. We finally found one that was open:
The, oh the horror, he didn't meet the requirements!!
So, after some thought, we smuggled him aboard. I was already scared and kept my eyes closed in anticipation.
We saw many neat things. HJ was a little nervous when he found out Dollywood had an eagle rehabilitation center. Then he realized they were in enclosures. They were large enclosures full of the unreleasable eagles. HJ agreed to pose beside one group. One gave him the stink-eye, though, so we moved along pretty quick after that!
We stopped at a photo op,
and the Singing Christmas Tree (it doesn't sing until sunset but we didn't stay that late),
and then HJ saw the
coolest little door! He was very disappointed that there was nothing cool on the other side of the door. But he posed there for another photo.
And then Hippy Jim saw a sign. He didin't like that sign. He rushed to disobey!
We never did see Dolly there. Hippy Jim was soooo disappointed. We found the next best thing:
Dh said Dolly's 'unique profile' cast a shadow over Hippy Jim. HJ didn't seem to mind