Family Vacation: Ahh, Venice

The following is a continuation of Tiffany's flashback tour of Venice, Florida where we grew up. Here are some of her photos from way back when and from now.

Venice Avenue 1973 - Mom, a monkey, me (with hair) and little sister Tara in the stroller - she kinda looks like another monkey.
Venice Avenue 2009 with my niece and nephew. (was it coincidence that Tiffany took the photo in the exact same spot?)

Tiffany at Munday Park in 1970 - My father helped get this park created and Tiffany had a sense of ownership because of that. We lived a few houses down and when she would come here to play - she'd be miffed if other kids were on "her" playground. A two year old with a sense of entitlement!Tiffany's daughter Abigail at Munday Park in 2009

Dad, a monkey, Mom (prego with Tiffany), cousin Bill and Aunt Anne at the Venice Depot in 1968.

The Venice Depot in 2009 - now part of the Heritage Trail for bikers and hikers.

Tiffany at our old Groveland Avenue house in Venice. I was an infant - I don't remember those dogs. Amazing that there are still some classic old houses that they haven't torn down to make way for cookie cutter homes.Gunther Gebel-Williams - was considered one of the greatest animal trainers of all time and perfromed for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® Circus in the The Greatest Show On Earth®. He was Venice's favorite son and a world class entertainer. Regardless of my opinions of circuses today, as children we found his show entertaining. He was probably the first person I understood to be "famous" and our parents knew him! He passed away a few years ago and is memorialized below in an appropriately flamboyant statue with a surprisingly defined cod piece. He was inducted into the International Circus Hall of Fame in 1999.

And the last picture is for Jack and Josie who think "monkey diapers" are funny. And really who doesn't? Here's a picture of me in 1971 - in a diaper on Venice Beach. Had I known Tiffany had this picture I would have posed for a picture with me in a diaper on Venice Beach in 2009.

EDITED (3/4/2009) - Malena suggested I post this picture of me in a diaper from 2007. I am the SMURF on the left. Baby New Year in the middle and Ashley Hayes Traut on the far right.

Time Machine: 1998

It's premiere season which means the Tivo is overdrive trying to record all of the programs I can't watch and none of the commercials I don't have to. Which is a double negative. But I'm still not going to watch the commercials. And since I have TV to watch and the rainy season is keeping me indoors, I have no adventures to offer today.

Tivo is by far the greatest invention of all time. If someone invented a diaper for cats that might be right up there and although no one has invented a commercially viable, hydrogen powered hovercraft with built in wifi, ipod and gps they have invented a time machine. Or at least a website that has archived webpages of just about every site ever.

I had the entertaining task of looking back at my companies website over the last few years on http://www.archive.org/ and jumped back to 1998 when a naive, yet fantastically moustached Jungle Pete started working for EDS. Ok it's a hideous moustache. I look like I belong in the Village People. And what's with the tiny little hat on my bald head? I look like an organ grinder monkey without the organ. More Everglades Adventures coming soon. In the meantime I need to go rescue the cat. My diaper experiment is not working.

Monkey Diapers

When diapering a monkey, the most important thing is to cut a hole for the tail. Clean the dirty monkey butt, feed the tail through the new diaper hole and slide the diaper up the tail to the monkey's bottom. The rest is just like diapering a baby. And I would know. I diapered a baby once (and two monkeys and one ape for that matter.)

Anyone that knows me knows that my parents ran the Florida Monkey Sanctuary from 1968-1988 in Venice, Florida where this diapering lesson came in handy. One of the most often asked questions then was "where do you get monkey diapers"? You don't. You make them using preemie diapers. And for apes who have no tails, plain old diapers work fine.

I had dinner tonight with my friend Frank and his wife Paula and had the chance to meet their kids Jack and Josie for the first time. Explaining the above diapering lesson to a 4 and 5 year old was a silly experience. (Diaper apparently is a hysterical word). I'm always amazed that kids believe the monkey stories. Sometimes I have a hard time. But with kids, anything is possible and if I could lift these kids up by their ears (um...one of them might have a loose ear now, sorry), surely having hundreds of monkeys, some diapered, could be possible. I'll post the pictures to prove that diapered monkeys were part of my childhood upbringing. They even watched cartoons.

This monkey is wearing a diaper - I promise. So is my sister Tara who is pushing the monkey.

I know this one is diapered - no one would let a monkey in a doll house without a diaper.

um....ok no diaper. Hundreds of monkey pictures and I can't seem to find one of a clearly diaperde monkey.

I give up. So here's a picture of me in a diaper.

I found one!