Red means stop......what is so hard about that?

     Red means stop.  That has to be understood, or there will be no meaning coming from this tale.
     Actually had a good/crappy day.  I'll start with the good.
     I went to the zoo.
     I had a great cup of coffee.
     It was sunny and fairly warm.
     I went to the zoo.  It is always fun being at the zoo.  Today I played with paint.  We had golf balls and trays of blue and yellow paint.  You put a golf ball in a tray and rolled it.  Then you put the ball in an oatmeal container that had paper in it.  Then hop like a frog and shake it.  (OK, I felt a little pervy when moms were jumping and I kept saying "That's right, shake it!  Shake it good.")  Then you take the ball out and the paper and you have a cool looking pictures. (My hands are blue.  Evidently, the water soluble paints are not so water soluble when it comes to getting blue off your hands.)
     On my way home I stop at a little coffee shop and hand a candy bar latte.  It has caramel, hazelnut syrup, chocolate syrup, two shots of espresso and steamed milk......and a giant chocolate chip cookie.  (Which was actually lunch, because I got out of my rut and went to a different restaurant only to learn they don't have soup.  And I did not have enough time to walk across the park to the place that does.)
It was sunny and fairly warm.  Enough said.
     Now the crappy.
     At the zoo animals in my area are labeled green, yellow, or red.  Green means everyone can handle them...take them out, have kids pet them or just look at them.  These are animals that have undergone a training regime to accustom them to people.  Yellow means the animal is not quite there yet and can be handled only by keepers.  Red means don't take them out.  Period.
     I took out the baby gecko and had him out for about 10 minutes and went to put him away and.....he's red!  Just then a keeper came up and looked at me and said, "Terry!??"  I explained I looked at the green species tag and missed the huge red tag, and the note that is on the list I am supposed to check that said "DO NOT HANDLE." And the big clue that no one else had taken him out today.
     I felt so stupid.
     On the plus side, I served as a reminder to all volunteers to always check labels and notes, not assume a color is what it has been in the past.  And the keepers learned that even though the gecko wasn't used to humans, he did alright.  I was apologizing so much, I think the keeper was taking pity on me.
    Now I have to try to get the paint off my blue hands.....otherwise people will think I have an oxygen deprivation issue!