Well, today's wolf encounter was very disappointing compared to last year. The wolf was penned in behind fencing where he and his handler sat and talked to people hanging around the outside. He's still not an adult wolf and is really only about a year into his role as ambassador. So, I guess they're trying to make sure he feels secure. Maybe last year was too much for him. But the nature center that sponsored the event also had some other groups present with educational tables. A Game and Fish guy was there. I saw maps where various Mexican Grey Wolf packs hang out in our area. I learned that the Mexican Greys are on the smaller side of wolf sizes. Turns out those two smallish wolf-looking canines I saw silently running about 20 yards from me and my two unleashed dogs early one morning about 8 years ago could very well have been wolves. Wow! And that shockingly large"dog" print in the snow many years ago could also have been a wolf track. I had dismissed it at the time because a friend said that wolf tracks are about as wide as a woman's fist. This one wasn't that large and I didn't know if had melted any, thus spreading it bigger than the paw that made it. But today I saw track impressions that were smaller than the standard huge wolf print, so maybe it was. Pretty exciting to think I saw two wolves right on our property. I'm very glad my dogs didn't see them!
I ended up spending ALL day in town, though that was not the plan. I had such exciting things to do as go to nearly every store here on the mountain including K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Big Lots, (some of the finer establishments so well known to small towns!), Safeway, and Home Depot. Not to mention stopping for an early lunch and later on stopping for dinner because I was STILL there, stopping by the quilt store to pick out my border fabric, and hitting the kettle corn stand in the Safeway parking lot. (When we did our This-Is-A-Brilliant-Idea, But-Utterly-Failed Kettle Corn Adventure in Alaska in 2006 this local guy was the one that taught us the ropes....so I stopped by to say Hi....and got a free bag out of it! Nice guy. Must still feel sorry for us.)
But the BIG event of my very long trip into town was that on a whim I stopped by The Movie Gallery, a rental place that's going out of business. I stopped by about 5 weeks ago and things were discounted quite a bit but prices were still in the $7.50 range. Today I thought that surely things had been marked down again and I'd check it out since I'd been forgetting every other time I'd been in town. My first clue should have been that the parking lot was nearly full. But, fried as I was from 8 hours of running around, I didn't catch on. I walked in and though the shelves were nearly bare, there were these wonderful hot pink signs over 90% of the shelves that said: 50 cents. 50 CENTS! Hey, for 50 cents, I'll try movies I've never heard of. Apparently everyone else in the store was thinking the same thing. People had STACKS of DVDs. And, well, a certain blogger did, too.
I bought some completely unknown movies to gamble on (hey, it's only 50 cents, right) and some interesting titles like Saint of 9/11 (the story of the priest who rushed to the scene of 9/11 to pray and serve and was killed when one of the towers collapsed), The Ron Clark Story (an awesome true story about a teacher who believed the rebellious and failing students of an inner city school could actually excel in learning), Sometimes in April (based on a true story of two brothers and the horrible conflict in Rwanda), John Adams (an HBO mini-series about the second president...Oops! I just looked closely at the DVD and it says 'Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5. Dang! Have to go back!)
I bought Ambulance Girl, the story of a writer whose life is falling apart and decides to become an EMT - based on another real story. And Shop Girl. Shop Girl is a remake of the original movie The Shop Around the Corner starring Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullivan. If "Shop Girl" and "The Shop Around the Corner" make you think of the movie, You've Got Mail with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks...you're thinking rightly. You've Got Mail was also a remake of the movie, The Shop Around the Corner. In the original movie, the man and woman were pen-pals and actually worked in the same gift shop but didn't know the other was the pen-pal they were falling in love with. In You've Got Mail, they meet in an online chat room. Meg Ryan's character's handle is "Shop Girl" and she owns a bookstore named "The Shop Around the Corner." It's one of my all-time favorite movies so I thought it would be fun to see how another rendition does it. [*Update: This movie was NOT a remake of the old Shop Around the Corner and You've Got Mail. It was something completely different, a story written-and starred in-by Steve Martin. It was a disappointment.]
I tried to grab a bunch of action/adventure titles for The Fisherman, but it was difficult. To me, they all looked unappealing. I did my best to follow what I know of his interests and, of course, his values, and steered clear of the highly thriller, victim, or evil predator type story lines. Which didn't leave many on these picked over shelves. But I went with some good and favorite actors like Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Val Kilmer. I also found some movies that had a distinct Christian sound to them. Good wholesome sounding films about people finding faith. And then I bought a bunch of chick flicks!
Because I had to stand in line for over an hour, though I was behind a mere 5 people, I didn't get home till close to 9pm. Had an almost immediate visit from one cute little raccoon on the front porch, and have been hanging out on Facebook, email, and now here. Nearly midnight...so, goodnight all!
Showing posts with label Wolf. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wolf. Show all posts
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Festival #2
First off, here's a photo of our booth. Every single day of both festivals I forgot to bring my camera. So these are photos from last year's Fall Festival, but you get the idea.
And here's one of The Fisherman standing next to one of his popular bear photos. The one below it is rather popular, too. We call it Autumn Reflections.
Festival #2 was a wild life festival. We waffled back and forth on whether or not to actually show up. The organizer was very nice and said she understood totally if we chose not to come. There was only going to be two other actual vendors there besides us. Verrrry small festival indeed. We hemmed and hawed, asking each other repeatedly, "So what do you think? Should we do it or not?" We finally decided, though it would probably be a lot of work for a little money, we should go ahead and give it a try. In the morning, the winds were picking up, which took the wind out of our sails. We decided to cancel. Then, my always-thinking and ever spontaneous husband came up with a set-up idea that would be virtually wind proof. We were on again at the last minute. We showed up later than intended and were encouraged by the weather and the feel of the place so we went ahead and did a fairly full set-up. It was a fun festival. Very small, but fun. We made a couple hundred bucks, too, so it was a good day.
Since it was a wildlife festival, most of the booths were informational and/or educational. Fish and Game had a booth that included bear hides, bear skulls, a big horn ram skull with HUGE curling horns, as well as several table-top enclosures each containing one of Arizona's native rattlesnakes. Mmm, boy. Actually, they were very interesting. During set up, one of the guys raised his voice a bit and said, "Uh oh! We're missing two snakes." Funny guy, that one.
There was also a live Red Tailed Hawk and a live Bald Eagle. Very cool. they stood on their handlers' arms or on an astro-turf covered perch while the handlers gave info and answered questions about them. (Average wingspan of an adult bald eagle: 6.5 feet.)
The wolf that was here in August was back. He has actually GROWN in the last two months. He looked a lot beefier to me, much more filled out. This time he was enclosed within a fence and the director/handler sat inside with him. I was sure glad I went in August where the wolf was leashed and walking around the whole day. I got a good share of petting him this time, though, during set up and take down times when he was being walked. We are looking forward to visiting the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary in New Mexico sometime in the next few months.
THEN, there was this indoor avian show. They gave a talk - in the acoustic nightmare that was the metal garage in which it was held - and brought out three different birds. One was a black and white crow that did a cute demonstration of flying back and forth from the handler to volunteers (aged 5 to 75). The crow landed on each volunteer's arm and then took from their other hand a pop can in his beak which he flew back to a little recycling bin across the room. Another bird was a huge owl from Africa. When the handler came out from behind the screen with it on his arm, the crowd erupted into the oooooh's and aaaaaah's of surprise and awe. It was very impressive.
But the best, most thrilling part for me was the flight of the Auger's Buzzard. We learned that only Americans mistake "buzzards" for "vultures." Actually a buzzard, in the rest of the world, is a hawk. We're the only ones that think the term means a vulture-like creature. You can see a photo of this hawk at the Avian Ambassadors website. They had handlers set up at diagonal corners of the audience. I had the perfect seat. I was sitting in the last row, two seats in from the center aisle. The hawk flew from my front left to the back right.... right behind me and to my right about 8 feet. Before beginning the flying demonstration, the speaker explained to us that birds conserve energy by flying low in a swooping arc. He said essentially, if you're in it's direct path, you might get scared as you see it flying low toward you, but don't worry. And don't make any sudden movements like raising your arms or freaking out. I love birds but I get an involuntary skin crawl and body shudder when they fly real close to me. I was imagining what it would be like to have this thing fly a foot or even 18" over my head! Well, it's a good thing I didn't have to find out because this hawk swooped down from the man's arm and flew literally inches from people's heads! Inches! It was amazing. The family sitting in the end seats just three seats away from me had this beautiful, BIG, grey and white hawk with a 3 and a 1/2 foot wing span flying right into their faces just a couple inches above their heads as it made it's slight ascent toward the other handler's outstretched forearm. WOW! I wish I could have gotten a picture. But not only did I not have my camera with me, I was also so awestruck that I wouldn't even have been able to shoot. I noticed some friends sitting toward the front on the left hand aisle and the bird flew right over them each time. When it was over I talked to them and the wife said the hawk actually caught a little bit of her hair while flying past!!
I probably would have had Fearful Nature Encounter #3 and had to write some pathetic, humiliating account of it here. (To read about Encounters 1 and 2, see September 7th's post entitled Leaves Are Turning Yellow. The account of our Bear Mountain hike is under the sub-heading of Sept 5th.) As it was, I was so thankful for the beautiful, amazing things I saw so close up. I love the gentle flare and curves of the very outside wing tips.
Back out at our booth, there was one woman who came to the booth while The Fisherman was away. I could tell she was another festival participant by her hurried only-have-a-second manner. She only stayed about 30 seconds but was so full of energy and enthusiasm, exclaiming how awesome the photos were and that she'd be back. I noticed then that she had on a radio station jacket. After lunch she came back to meet The Fisherman. She was doing a live remote and wondered if he would like to do a a brief on-air interview. A couple minutes later, The Fisherman was on the radio. She talked up his photos, gave out his website address, and asked him a couple questions about his work, how close he gets to the bears, etc. I didn't hear it, of course, but the whole thing was pretty exciting. Later, as we were forced to start taking down 30 minutes early due to increasing winds, a dad and sons came by saying they'd heard him on the radio and wanted to come see. Cool!
All in all, we had a lot of fun at this small kid-oriented festival. We're glad we did it but are uncertain about doing it again next year. If we don't participate, we'll probably attend it because it's so fun to see the creatures.
And here's one of The Fisherman standing next to one of his popular bear photos. The one below it is rather popular, too. We call it Autumn Reflections.
Festival #2 was a wild life festival. We waffled back and forth on whether or not to actually show up. The organizer was very nice and said she understood totally if we chose not to come. There was only going to be two other actual vendors there besides us. Verrrry small festival indeed. We hemmed and hawed, asking each other repeatedly, "So what do you think? Should we do it or not?" We finally decided, though it would probably be a lot of work for a little money, we should go ahead and give it a try. In the morning, the winds were picking up, which took the wind out of our sails. We decided to cancel. Then, my always-thinking and ever spontaneous husband came up with a set-up idea that would be virtually wind proof. We were on again at the last minute. We showed up later than intended and were encouraged by the weather and the feel of the place so we went ahead and did a fairly full set-up. It was a fun festival. Very small, but fun. We made a couple hundred bucks, too, so it was a good day.
Since it was a wildlife festival, most of the booths were informational and/or educational. Fish and Game had a booth that included bear hides, bear skulls, a big horn ram skull with HUGE curling horns, as well as several table-top enclosures each containing one of Arizona's native rattlesnakes. Mmm, boy. Actually, they were very interesting. During set up, one of the guys raised his voice a bit and said, "Uh oh! We're missing two snakes." Funny guy, that one.
There was also a live Red Tailed Hawk and a live Bald Eagle. Very cool. they stood on their handlers' arms or on an astro-turf covered perch while the handlers gave info and answered questions about them. (Average wingspan of an adult bald eagle: 6.5 feet.)
The wolf that was here in August was back. He has actually GROWN in the last two months. He looked a lot beefier to me, much more filled out. This time he was enclosed within a fence and the director/handler sat inside with him. I was sure glad I went in August where the wolf was leashed and walking around the whole day. I got a good share of petting him this time, though, during set up and take down times when he was being walked. We are looking forward to visiting the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary in New Mexico sometime in the next few months.
THEN, there was this indoor avian show. They gave a talk - in the acoustic nightmare that was the metal garage in which it was held - and brought out three different birds. One was a black and white crow that did a cute demonstration of flying back and forth from the handler to volunteers (aged 5 to 75). The crow landed on each volunteer's arm and then took from their other hand a pop can in his beak which he flew back to a little recycling bin across the room. Another bird was a huge owl from Africa. When the handler came out from behind the screen with it on his arm, the crowd erupted into the oooooh's and aaaaaah's of surprise and awe. It was very impressive.
But the best, most thrilling part for me was the flight of the Auger's Buzzard. We learned that only Americans mistake "buzzards" for "vultures." Actually a buzzard, in the rest of the world, is a hawk. We're the only ones that think the term means a vulture-like creature. You can see a photo of this hawk at the Avian Ambassadors website. They had handlers set up at diagonal corners of the audience. I had the perfect seat. I was sitting in the last row, two seats in from the center aisle. The hawk flew from my front left to the back right.... right behind me and to my right about 8 feet. Before beginning the flying demonstration, the speaker explained to us that birds conserve energy by flying low in a swooping arc. He said essentially, if you're in it's direct path, you might get scared as you see it flying low toward you, but don't worry. And don't make any sudden movements like raising your arms or freaking out. I love birds but I get an involuntary skin crawl and body shudder when they fly real close to me. I was imagining what it would be like to have this thing fly a foot or even 18" over my head! Well, it's a good thing I didn't have to find out because this hawk swooped down from the man's arm and flew literally inches from people's heads! Inches! It was amazing. The family sitting in the end seats just three seats away from me had this beautiful, BIG, grey and white hawk with a 3 and a 1/2 foot wing span flying right into their faces just a couple inches above their heads as it made it's slight ascent toward the other handler's outstretched forearm. WOW! I wish I could have gotten a picture. But not only did I not have my camera with me, I was also so awestruck that I wouldn't even have been able to shoot. I noticed some friends sitting toward the front on the left hand aisle and the bird flew right over them each time. When it was over I talked to them and the wife said the hawk actually caught a little bit of her hair while flying past!!
I probably would have had Fearful Nature Encounter #3 and had to write some pathetic, humiliating account of it here. (To read about Encounters 1 and 2, see September 7th's post entitled Leaves Are Turning Yellow. The account of our Bear Mountain hike is under the sub-heading of Sept 5th.) As it was, I was so thankful for the beautiful, amazing things I saw so close up. I love the gentle flare and curves of the very outside wing tips.
Back out at our booth, there was one woman who came to the booth while The Fisherman was away. I could tell she was another festival participant by her hurried only-have-a-second manner. She only stayed about 30 seconds but was so full of energy and enthusiasm, exclaiming how awesome the photos were and that she'd be back. I noticed then that she had on a radio station jacket. After lunch she came back to meet The Fisherman. She was doing a live remote and wondered if he would like to do a a brief on-air interview. A couple minutes later, The Fisherman was on the radio. She talked up his photos, gave out his website address, and asked him a couple questions about his work, how close he gets to the bears, etc. I didn't hear it, of course, but the whole thing was pretty exciting. Later, as we were forced to start taking down 30 minutes early due to increasing winds, a dad and sons came by saying they'd heard him on the radio and wanted to come see. Cool!
All in all, we had a lot of fun at this small kid-oriented festival. We're glad we did it but are uncertain about doing it again next year. If we don't participate, we'll probably attend it because it's so fun to see the creatures.
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