Dona Otten
My name is Dona, and I live in the Bay Area. San Leandro to be exact. I am one of eight children. 4th oldest or 5th youngest depending how I feel that day! I love coming from a big family, the holidays, I would have to say were very special. As we have gotten older, it has been a little difficult. I hear that it can be overwhelming if you are to keep up with us. We can yak with each other forever forgetting anyone else is in the room. Christmas was the best, 7 bothers and sisters. You know I made out with hippos. Now we draw names, it truly is more reasonably financially.
I work for an ENT (ears nose and throat) physician. I just started in September. I had been working at San Leandro Hospital for almost 8 years prior to the new job. I am enjoying the job. It is totally different than the Hospital. They are sending me to school and I will be their audiology tech.
I have two dogs, Benji and Scrappy Doo. They are great company. Benji is eight years old and very calm and quiet. Scrappy is 19 month old that loves to chew. Every hippo toy I have given him is chewed to bits. It is kinda funny he has other toys, but he always seems to play with all the hippo toys.
I started collecting hippos back in 1980 or 1981. I was working at the Oakland Zoo. We had a hippo named "Mugs" (I think Mug Root Beer donated the money for the Zoo to buy him). He was down in the children Zoo and definitely too large for that exhibit. The Oakland Zoo is a non-profit organization. So, we did constant fund raising. I convinced my parents to run a Bingo to raise money for the new Hippo Exhibit. We got all the prizes donated from all the local merchants, some really great things. We even had t-shirts that had "Save baby Mugs" and Coffee mugs. I still have a couple of mugs, but I can’t find my T-shirt. Anyway, one of my parent’s friends gave me a hippo that day, a small gray stuffed hippo (Dakin). That was it for me. Not only did I get involved but also, I now became a collector. Well, we never raised enough money for a new exhibit. And Mugs was sent to a different Zoo. I think it was Denver. I knew he got along just fine and had some babies. That was nice to hear. Even though we missed him, he was somewhere like home. He actually submerges. The sad thing, when I left the Zoo, I lost contact with his progress. I am looking through my photos to find a few of the pictures. The rest is kinda history. I have at least 500 in my collection. My favorite has to be the one I got when we had the Bingo, he gives me fond memories of both of my parents. I go through periods that I just gotta have this one or that one. Boy does my pocket book show. And there are times I am just happy enjoying what I have. I wouldn’t change it in the world. I find when I am looking at my collection; I smile and feel so happy and relaxed. My family knows that as well. All I have to say is KEEP EM COMIN!
