Pals
One of the consequences of the “hired gun” period of my career is times of financial weakness. Mrs DT & I came to understand our life was airplane flight on a less-than-airworthy aircraft. There would be periods of soaring upward flights … and times when the engine sputtered. Obviously from a hindsight view we came through OK but there were periods where the propeller picked up grass stains … I’m not a pilot but I understand such is not a desirable situation.
Anyway, it was during one of these times, we ended up renting a cabin on some friends property up in the hills west of Loveland, Colorado. Our friends lived in the main house and had a couple of Great Danes. This one was “Max”.
The property was at the mouth of what could be called a mini-canyon but was more a break in the hills a small creek passed through.
And elk.
This young bull lagged behind the herd and got curious about that critter on the other side of the gate. That green street sign is misleading; there’s a private two-track path alongside the small stream through the hills to the right. It’s a 1-foot spacing between horizontal bars on the gate.
They played together a bit – then the elk moved on to catch up with his herd.
It’s not a trivial task keeping elk out of a garden … that elk could clear that gate without thinking about it … although he’d prefer just pushing it over.
Excellent!
Great Dane?
Animals are my favorite people.
Life In These United States
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Why we can’t have nice things.
https://www.foxnews.com/travel/unsupervised-child-hersheypark-zoo-injured-wolf-crawling-safety-barrier
A toddler described as “unsupervised” was injured by a wolf over the weekend in Hersheypark’s ZooAmerica after managing to crawl into a restricted area.
The parents, from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, were charged Sunday by police with one count each of misdemeanor child endangerment, according to multiple reports.
Police say the parents moved about 25 to 30 feet away from the toddler toward a seating area and were looking at their cellphones at the time of the incident, reports say.
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The natural evolution from this will be the zoo will be required to install CHILD-PROOF barriers at each animal exhibit, which will further stifle the interest and entertainment value of the whole thing.
A few years ago my wife and I visited the Indianapolis Zoo and it was almost impossible to enjoy it because of the parameters. There were many instances where 30 or more baby strollers had been just collected together ad hoc while the parents gawked at their phones and the toddlers ran loose.
We wanted to see the animals but we ended up seeing mostly 2 legged retards instead.
This is why I am reluctant to visit places like the Grand Canyon, Biltmore, Ruby Falls, etc. The idiocy is out of control and I know I should just stay my ass at home where is some normalcy. Instead, I can watch youtubes and documentary’s on those things, as reality as I require it, slips away…..
I remember the US.
Elk were reintroduced into the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains in 2001. Several years after that I ran across one close up in Cherokee, NC. It was a buck that appeared to be pushing his chest into a fence right beside the road and doing that odd whistling they do. He seemed agitated as though tangled or frustrated but I couldn’t stop to observe and discretion told me it was best left to someone else. He was gone when I went back by 30 minutes later.
A year or so after that I was taking a back road from Cherokee to Maggie Valley and at the top of the pass where the road met the Blue Ridge Parkway a bunch of cars had stopped. There was a full herd of elk grazing on grass, probably 15 or more. I was driving a large step side van so was easily 8 feet above the road and a placid cow walked over and looked me right in the face, just the window glass separating us.
I grew up on a little farm and have experience with cows and horses but if you’ve never seen one up close, you aren’t prepared for just how large those critters are. They aren’t moose but they are bi-ig.
Later on I’ve observed a herd walking through the river in Cherokee and we’ve driven to Cataloochee to see them in the evening a couple times. They appear to be thriving and the numbers increasing. I wouldn’t be surprised if they institute a limited hunting season in the future though I expect that’s a long way off. Amazing the Indians took them with bow and arrow.