Where do you buy a camel?

 

I’m a dog person myself but maybe because I’ve never had a camel.  

Do you ever look at someone and think ‘how did he/she get there?’ Example:  I was invited to attend a circus production earlier this week with my oldest son, daughter in law and grandkids.  We watched intently as the performers tossed hoops and rings.  They spun tables and metal geometrical shapes.  They twirled and balanced and danced for our viewing pleasure among machine generated fog and flashing lights.  They bounced and biked and even clowned for our applause for nearly two hours.  They were a very diverse group of performers; men, women, children, old, young, thick, thin, and a variety of hair colors.  The apparent lead of the show was a somewhat younger man with coal black hair that was long on the top but shaved on the sides.  He may have been of Latino heritage but I really could not say for certain and I don’t see that it adds any depth to this blog. Though I cannot put my finger on exactly why I think he was in charge, his level of engagement was definitively higher.  So, how did he get into the circus game?  Did he runaway and join the circus in high school?  Did he aspire to be a three-ring performer since grade school? 

Circus performers are not the only career choices I have given an unnecessary amount of thought. I think I have mentioned this before but Olympic Lugers have puzzled me for years.  In my limited experience those who grow up to be Olympic competitors start very young.  An Olympic gymnast starts pointing her toes soon after she learns to use the big girl potty.  A professional infielder didn’t get his first glove in high school and a vocalist didn’t do her first mic test at the Apollo Theater.  How do you get to be a champion luger?  Is there a little league for luging? What is the first step?  More importantly how does a young person know to chase the downhill dream of luging? 

So, today as I was driving across the north central Texas region I passed a large yard at the edge of the highway with a tall fence.  Behind the fence only feet from the road I could see two camels.  One laying down and the other standing. They were both chewing.  I don’t know if they were large camels or just normal sized camels.  They were a reddish-brown color; not the camel color that I would have predicted.  It’s Texas.  We have livestock.  We have horses, cows, pigs and all the typical farm animals plus an occasional llama or ostrich.  I have seen zebra and exotic deer and antelope here and there.  This is not the first time I have seen a camel.  I have been to the zoo for goodness sake.  I think it’s the first time that I have seen one behind a fence in a big yard on the side of a Texas farm road.  Was it a pet?  Or livestock? Is it too much to wonder how you would come to own a matching pair of camels?  I realize that I am only showing my ignorance and I could google this but where do you buy a camel? Where do you buy camel food?  Does Purina make Camel Chow?  Do they loan them out for live nativity scenes around Christmas?