What the Walrus said . . .

Good Morning everyone . . . everywhere!! I start today with a weather update . . . cold, windy, cold, rainy and still cold with continuing rain and wind!! ALL DAY . . . and it rained all night!! LOL Soon, I will crawl out from under these toasty blankets and sleeping bag (Thank you Joseph and Sonia for the third blanket . . . worked like a charm!!) and don the rain gear so I can head to the bathroom which is about an eight of a mile walk through the woods . . . uphill! The good part of having to make this mini expedition is two fold. First, the bathroom is nicely heated and next to the camp store. Second, the camp store has a truly magnificent coffee maker. For a mere dollar, I will rejuvenate myself with a steaming hot cup of joe so I can trudge back to the car and contemplate making breakfast. Thinking about that, I may just skip breakfast though, depending on how bad the rain is blowing . . . and opt for a simpler fare like teriyaki flavored beef jerky, powdered doughnuts (God forbid I do not eat them before they go stale!) and orange juice (naturally with pulp!). A true breakfast of champions!!  

So . . . since the weather is basically holding me hostage in my tent, I will keep this running so you can follow my day. This should be fun . . . I hope. But first I need to get moving up the hill. Talk again soon.

I survived! No sooner did I start the walk to the camp store than Mother Nature determined I needed a good rinse and the skies opened up with a downpour. Luckily, dressed in my layers, with my fur lined hat and warm gloves . . . I was fine. Now getting it all off so I could conduct the business I was on a mission to complete was another story. Note to self . . . don’t do this again if there is an emergency requiring the use of the facilities because bad things will happen!

The rumor at the camp store is that this weather is going to pass later today and start clearing away. I tend to agree with that assessment as well. The wind has shifted almost 180 degrees and the rain is waning. Based on what I hear inside my tent, it is either the rain is slowing or simply the wind is knocking off the loose water from the trees overhead. Either way, this is all good EXCEPT that being on the back side of this cold front means that the temperature is dropping a bit. It is time to start drying out and I can deal with the cold.

What is kind of cool right now though is sitting enclosed in the tent and listening to the wind outside. All night the wind was coming over the top of the ridge line above me. I could only hear it as it blew itself over the ridge and rushed across the tops of the trees. There was very little flexing and flapping of the tent as the torrent of wind and rain passed. Now that situation has changed, the wind is coming up the valley between the ridges. I can hear the gusts coming as they enter the canyon below and are pushed up through the trees.

I cannot see what is surging towards me, I can only listen at it advances. The wind’s approach sounds much like an ocean wave rising to meet the beach, building as it approaches, louder and stronger as it draws nearer . . . the tent will start to flex and the car will start to sway as the crest arrives . . . only to rush past in a flurry of noise, then slowly subsiding as it spends itself higher up the valley, like surf crashing on the rocks and sand. As soon as one gust passes, another starts, sometimes stronger and I hold on waiting for the crest, or sometimes it is just a gentle rustle of the leaves surrounding me. We often rely on all of our senses to tell us the full story of the world around us. It is different to simply sit and let my ears attempt to sort out what is happening beyond the thin nylon walls of my rooftop cave. It is sometimes scary but it is also good to feel alive.

So . . . starting again. The night was not that bad, or maybe I am just getting used to wet and cold nights! I simply rolled myself up in the blankets and sleeping bag, made certain NOT to touch the side of the tent so I did not wick water, and basically became a human burrito. I slept warm and cozy (as long as I did not create any openings allowing the cold in) until my alarm went off at 6:00 AM. The nasty weather had abated overnight, the rain had ceased and the tent was already drying out in a light breeze. I dragged out all of the blankets and sleeping bag, laptop and Jackery Battery, packed the car, grabbed my cameras and headed up to Lakota Wolves to meet my Guide for my photo session. I was so excited that I skipped breakfast!!

Two hours photographing four sets of wolves was fantastic and I really do love coming here. Let me explain . . . Lakota Wolf Preserve, Columbia, NJ, was founded over 30 years ago by a husband and wife who truly love wolves and wanted to help preserve them and teach people about why we need them. They maintain about 15 animals now but are licensed for 23. The animals include one that is a “special needs” wolf (born with a slightly deformed skull and some brain issues who they helped learn to walk and run). The wolves are free to run and play inside two acre fenced paddocks. They look and are very healthy and are very well cared for. Today is the last day that photographers get to come see the wolves. After today they will not shown to photographers again until September. This is because the animals will be shedding soon and they look horrible when they shed, plus they will also look skinny (almost amaciated) and the owners just do not like showing them in that condition. If you still want to see them, there are still public tours you can go on, but you do not get to have to look through the fence from a safer distance.

Understand that these wolves ARE NOT, in any way, pets, and even though they may look docile and placid most of the time, and even though they seem to act friendly with the guides, these are wild animals who are accustomed to four people simply because they are the food source. If you or I got into the paddocks, or extended our hands through the fence, the wolves would react as any wild wolf would . . . see a threat and/or food and the end result would be bad, probably very bad!

I now have about four hundred photos from today that I culled down to about 80 to start processing through Lightroom. This was when my problem arose. My laptop has maxed out its memory and will not let me add any more photos to the Lightroom catalog. My Raid is out in the car . . . buried in the car . . . and I am not going to go dig around in the parking area, in the dark, to try and find the Raid. What this means is that tomorrow I will be digging out the portable hard drive so I can get the catalog loaded to somewhere useable, process photos and then come back to you. Please check back tomorrow and with luck I will be here with a solid wolf posting.