I have another post for today (yes, you get a two-fer, you’re welcome) but Snooty deserves his own post. Snooty was our manatee friend down in Florida, a state I love to death albeit in small doses. He died in an accident two days after his 69th birthday.

We met Snooty umpteen bazillion years ago when we were visiting Grandma Sally and Grandpa Garth in Bradenton and took the beach urchins to the South Florida Museum for a morning of kid activities and a visit to Snooty’s aquarium. Back in those days, Snooty’s aquarium was very accessible to the public and you could get up close and personal with him (and smell his horrendously awful breath). The beach urchins fell head over heels in love with Snooty and even named an Easter egg after him a few weeks after that trip. They were heartbroken when the GG gave “Snooty” (the egg) away (or something, I can’t exactly remember what happened).

In 2015 the GG and I returned to Florida for the first time since that visit (that is, it was *my* first time in Fla since then, the GG went down there multiple times to deal with parental end-of-life stuff). I made sure Snooty was on our itinerary and somehow we arrived in Bradenton just before his feeding time. A minor skirmish erupted when the GG realized that each of us had to purchase a $19 museum ticket in order to visit Snooty’s aquarium but I am a strong blonde woman who CANNOT be intimidated and I won that battle hands down. This time Snooty had a new state-of-the-art aquarium in which he was separated from close contact with the public. There was also another, smaller manatee in his aquarium because the museum now runs a manatee rehab operation, getting injured manatees ready for return to their natural habitat.

Even though I couldn’t get up close and personal with Snooty (and smell his horrendously awful breath), I got what photos I could get, including this one, and I cannot describe my emotional state as I texted those pictures to the beach urchins. We went to Florida again last spring (2017) and although it crossed my mind to go and visit Snooty again, for various reasons it didn’t happen.

God speed Snooty. You are loved.

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