The animal lover in me

My mom has a photo of me clear back in the first grade sitting on our lawn with about 20 cats all over and around me. I was in heaven! At the time we lived on a farm with land, freshly milked cows, and mice galore. As far back as I can remember we have always had animals--farm animals as well as the more exotic.


While living in Mexico, my brother would buy animals from the locals, saving the poor beasts from becoming soup. In that three year period we had a pet oppossum, a coati mundi, and even a deer. There were wild birds that would blow down from the rain forest during a storm--once even a toucan. We kept these only long enough for them to regain consiousness and then would let them loose.


And of course there were our parrots: Cotorro, Feo ("ugly" in Spanish--have you ever seen a baby parrot?), and Sopi (short for sopelote or "buzzurd"--again, have you ever seen a baby parrot?). The vocabulary of the creatures was amazing. Sopi could play a whole soccer game in spanish and english, call the cat and then bark at him, say "please" and "thank you" at the apporpriate times. He loved hot chocolate and would go from person to person saying "give me some", then "thank you". He was my parrot and preferred women with glasses and men with beards (my dad). They are truly wonderful animals.


I have already introduced you to Dude, our Newfoundland--my baby. In reality he is my daughter's dog and adores her, but until she can find a permanent home that will handle a very large, hairy, slobbery dog, he will stay with us. We had rescued two Newfoundlands in the past and have finally been blessed with one we could raise with manners!


Then there is Zeke, Dude's puppy. He is Justin's dog (again, still living with us...same story as Dude). He is a happy, go-lucky hyper dog who only wants to please you. Justin had the nerve to inform me this summer that "Zeke needs a puppy"! I reminded him that that is how we got Zeke in the first place. I am happy to announce that both dogs are becoming great fishin' dogs!



The newest additions to our family are Lola and Luigi. They are so entertaining! Last night they were each chasing the others tails. They are not too sure of the two, obviously, much larger dogs and I have the scratch marks to prove it. But everyone is beginning to settle down--we've only had them four days.



I have had so many pets over the years: Dusty, Rex, Quila, Mr. Schultz, Max, TC, Fire, Sox, Sassy, Buck, Callie, Spanky, Solomon and his many wives (rooster and hens), Freckles (lamb), on and on. God has given us so many enjoyable things to amuse us, to teach us responsibility and the true meaning of loyalty. For those of you non-animal lovers, don't worry--I have had enough enjoyment and lessons of responsibility and loyalty for all of us!

A Plug For Yellowstone, Nat'l Park

Yellowstone holds so many fun memories for me! We were blessed to live 2-3 hours drive from the park for 17 years...and we took full advantage of it. There were days we did it as a day trip, and weekends we spent camping, fishing and hiking. We have taken many friends and family to visit the national monument over the years and did it again this last weekend. It was like going home!

Two "couple friends" of Ken's and mine (a single friend of our's joined us a few days later) spent 3 full days in the park, hiking, biking, fishing and touristing. The nights were very cold--we'd wake up to frost inside our tents--but the campfires were warming inside and out. We sang, we ate, and ate, and ate. We made friends with a lone camper next to us who'd join us at the fires (I'm sure it was better than trying to sleep through our noise), join us for huckleberry pancakes in the mornings, hot drinks and pies baked over the hot coals in the evenings. There is nothing like a campfire to create comraderie.

If you have never been to Yellowstone, you need to put it on your "bucket list". If you have been to Yellowstone, you need to go again and this time spend more time in the less touristy spots--not that they are not wonderful, everyone needs to see them--but this time spend a little time off the beaten path. There are many hiking trails ranging from the short and flat to the long and steep. We've been there over 20 times I'm sure and every time we do or see something new and still haven't seen it all. We girls walked the .75 mile trail to Chittenden Bridge and on the way back a doe and her fawn were on the trail grazing along. They stopped long enough to "check us out" then continued their foraging as if we weren't there. We stopped, waiting for them to continue on, but soon realized they had no intention of moving out of our way. So we walked right by them, so close we could have pet the doe as we passed!

The boys had dreamed of biking Yellowstone for a couple of years...this was the year. They rode with us following them in the truck from the top of Dunraven Pass to Tower Fall (which by the way you can no longer hike to the bottom of for those of you who are familiar with it) going sometimes at speeds of 45 mph! From Tower they rode on to Mammoth Hot Springs where we

waited for them. We were thinking they would have an easy ride, most of it being down hill with a few rolling hills mixed in. It wasn't to be so! They had a head wind the whole way--so much so they had to pedal on the downhills. But it was an experience they'll never forget. And they all say they'd do it again.

wild life in the park is one of the most fun things, for me anyway. We saw bison (look up the difference between bison and buffalo), elk, moose, coyotes, canadian geese, eagles, hawks (all kinds of birds--a "camp robber" landed on Phil's head!), deer, ground squirrels, and...for the first time for me...wolves!!! We were fishing on Obsidian Creek (I'll do a blog later on fishing), whooping and hollering at every tiny fish caught--we are a noisy bunch--when we happened to look up across the creek and saw three gray wolves romping in the meadow like any playful puppies would--not 50 yards from us. To the left farther off we saw a larger black wolf wandering around. They would stop and look at us then continue on playing. Eventually they disappeared in the tall grass. We gathered our wits, calmed down our goose bumps and continued fishing till dark. Back at the cars a small group of people were looking off into the same meadow watching the black wolf who'd reappeared. As we stood awestruck, he lifted his head and started howling! What an amazing sound! Truly an experience I will never forget. We did not see any bears...but who cares!!!

We are already talking about our next trip to the park, planning a 3 mile hike in to Grebe Lake to catch the elusive Grayling (a less common fish), and biking the lower loop. If you want to join us let me know! It's always an adventure.