What brings you joy? I will tell you what brings my son my youngest son. I'll tell you what brings him joy mooding He's a baby. Pig me hippo So popular that you can only visit her for only five minutes.
She's in a zoo and we're in file in Thailand and Very very popular. There's no tiny baby and just cutest can be I've seen videos He's just as cute as can be or she's just as cute as can be but she's a hippopotamus and Piggy hippopotamuses do not grow that but they grow about the size of a a large dog and And maybe weigh a little bit more and they got thinner bones than a regular hippo But this thing is just as cute as can be and he is giving my son joy and I'm happy that my son is getting joy I'm grateful that my son is in and I'm grateful that millions of people are getting joy out of this hippopotamus that being said that being said I'm just gonna go right on record Many many years ago when I was doing a gardening radio show We have this we had this it's still there But now it's a state park or a city park or a county park I'm not even sure what but we had this Florida attraction in St. Petersburg, Florida called sunken gardens And it was a by one block area where they had just gone in and landscaped hell I brought in all these tropical plants and it was you could walk through there I think it costs like I don't know five bucks to get in when I was a kid I you know and you would just walk in and they had every tropical and then they had a gift store and they had all this and you know This was like a pre-Disney attraction back in the you know back in those days and There was this guy he was a real estate developer I forget his name, but I found him to be a very annoying person but he made the papers because the You know sunken gardens was about ready to go under because people could not you know They just didn't want to go there. They want to go and look at the artificial plants at Disney World and So you know it was about ready to go under and so you know what are we gonna do?
What are we gonna do? Well this guy he just I'm turned into a nudist park. That's what I'm gonna do I thought that was hysterical. So of course I had him on my gardening show.
He knew absolutely nothing about plants He was it turns out he was this big promoter real estate guy and it was all BS And I figured out it was all BS really really quickly And I was kind of letting him know that it was BS and he didn't want to leave the show You know he was on my show is gas and he didn't want to leave the show and then he brought up something else that it was his next thing And I said okay. Well, what's that? So the next thing that I am protesting is something that's going on in home assessor springs I said what's going on in home assessor springs? He said there's a hippopotamus there.
I said what I said I've been home assessor springs You know as a kid I've been that you know I hadn't been home assessor springs since the 60s But I've been to home assessor springs it which is now a state park But when I went it was one of those private attractions when we moved to Florida in 1964 There was a guy named Ivan Torres who was using it to film gentle Ben They filmed gentle Ben there and a bunch of other things about the same time They were doing flipper down in Miami at the Miami sequarium But but Ivan Torres owned a bunch of animals that he used in gentle Ben and some other stuff that he did and then he decided Okay, you know that show got canceled flipper guy canceled Ivan Torres is you know fortunes were kind of okay It's it's like done with Ivan Torres So he said I'm getting out of home assessor springs and I'm taking all my animals with me And because he had bunch of animals he had bears You know gentle Ben and all these bears and a bunch of bears is I recall and this hippopotamus Name Lucifer who was a little hippopotamus then but he was growing and The little hippopotamus had become very popular at home assessor springs But you know then there was a law said you can't have non-native animals living in a state park That the state is gonna pay for you know, so the hippo had to go and Yeah, okay, this well the hippo didn't go because a bunch of people by this time had fallen in love with a hippo How you fall in love with a hippo this hippo by now is giant and this guy's telling me He says the hippo is up there living in a fence in area in the water It's all because the hippos gotta be in water all time or most of the time They come on land, but they have to be you know They love being in the water because they see the only way they can keep their skin moist Is they have to be in water because it's got weird skin and the real heavy and the real mean hippos are not friendly animals They're mean hippos are very the people who work with this hippo there after you know Anyway, they said you know hippos gotta go. We're getting rid of the damn hippo He's got to go plus you would not believe the disgusting things that that hippo was doing in the water Okay, I'm just going to say it. He's booping and when hippos poop. Hey, there's a little tight.
Never mind. It's it's I'm just going to Quote my grandson when he was too. It was just ooh Disgusting, you know, so this guy's telling me that the state, you know There was this big thing and Lawton Childs who was the governor back then and by the way, I like Lawton Childs He used to listen to my radio show and I like him. He's good governor.
Good senator good governor good good all around guy And he's declared that this hippo named Lucifer who was living in the home assassin river Was a Florida citizen, so he was now because he was a citizen of Florida Hey, I'm gonna hippo be a citizen my cat lives here. My cats are not citizens. They're cats But anyway, one Giles one of my favorite corners declared this hippopotamus a citizen of Florida and he can stay here until he croaks Well, hippopotamus or hippopotami is that the floor? They live a long time and you know, just thing does they all they do is eat They they are carnivores.
They're not carnivores. They're herbivores. They only eat plants But you know, they do a lot they poop a lot and this thing poops in the river and Homosasa River is a beautiful river and it's nice and clear and we have this giant hippo that is you know Living there by the way, he was born in San Diego in 1960, but he was relocated to Homosasa To join the Ivan towards animal actors and he was in movies and TV specials and you know and and then he was going to be Evicted and now he is the oldest hippopotamus in Florida I think he's the only damn hippopotamus in Florida, but he's really old now and and he's living up there and Pooping in the river and I want to know what kind of damage this thing is doing environmentally to the river and We have to pay people at the state to feed this thing and take care of it And hope they don't get stomped on because that's what hippos do They chase you down there very fast and they stomp you to death, but they don't eat meat I have but anyway, I'm very grateful that my son is in love by the way right after that radio show I went up to Homosasa to see this hippopotamus because you know what I didn't believe the guy I did not believe the guy that was on the show I thought he was making it all up and I just you know went up there during the week I had some time and I drove up there and I said I want to see the hippo that's pooping in water and They tell me look there he is there you need their lobster right there You can see him and sure as sure as if I'm not gonna say there he was and again when they put that little tail gun and I I'm grateful that the people of Florida have saved the hippo, but Do we really need a hippopotamus living in Florida and by the way that little that little mood in you I don't think Thailand is it's a natural environment either. I think it comes from somewhere else We're taking these hippos and taking them places that are not native to them and letting them poop in the water Well, how's that for your Tuesday?
Okay, I've to write a newsletter and I have to get ready for a hurricane that's coming on Thursday What else it's a sunshine day. We'll talk to you later