Monthly Archives: April 2015

Bear Tales

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As we head into Spring it’s time for the bears to wake up and start the new season. Last fall they were stuffing themselves with anything edible in order to make it through the winter. This Black bear lady has two of last years cubs with her, although they aren’t in this shot, and next season she will cut them loose to go out and be bears on their own. They will den up with her this winter for the last time.

Before all that takes place she has a job to do. She has to bulk up and gain the weight needed to last through the winter. She has been eating everything in sight. Roadkill, carcasses that the wolves pulled down that she has appropriated, grass, bugs, Miller moths, and a delicacy she really likes, seeds from the pine cones from the white pine tree.

Here she has captured one of those pine cones and is holding it delicately in her front paws while she carefully pulls the individual scales off the cone to get at the seeds. It seems like a lot of work for such a small prize but she stays at it until she has eaten her fill. This is her chocolate and she’s a glutton. In the fall there seems to be enough pine cones on the ground and she can eat her fill without having to do too much work. If she finds a windfall where the pines cones have built up, like a place where they’ve rolled down into a gully and bunched up, she may stay there until she and her cubs have pretty much cleaned them out. Often sleeping on or near the pile so they’re at hand, or paw as it were, when she wakes up in the morning.

In the spring when there is still snow on the ground and the cones are more difficult to find she and her cubs will climb up into the white pines, heading to the top of the tree until it nearly bends over from their weight, and harvest the pin cones right off the tree.

She ‘s lucky today, the weather is perfect, she’s just located a huge stash of pine cones and she’s eaten so many so far that she is half-standing, half-laying on them as she still crams them into her mouth. The sound of her crunching the pine cones to make the scales fall off can be heard from some distance.

The cubs are behaving now and as they are sort of like teenagers at this point, they can not eat enough, but they give it their best shot as they too have figured out they better put on the pounds so they can make it through the winter. They can sleep as much as 10 and a half months without eating, drinking, urinating, defecating, while getting all the nutrients they need from the stored up fat of their own bodies as they sleep throughout the winter. This is why the bears pack it on and look like hairy sumo wrestlers when it’s time to den up.

This image was shot in late September in Yellowstone and this bear and her cubs have a couple of weeks yet before it’s time to head into the den. It looks like she has a good start on getting fattened up for the winter. It’s hard to image that she’ll put on even more weight in the next couple of weeks, but she will. So we’ll leave her to it. If we could catch her when she emerges from her den next spring you wouldn’t believe it was the same robust bear we’re looking at now as she will be just a pale shadow of herself. Sleep well.

View To The West

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One of the reasons it is good to be back at The Institute is the early morning sunrise. We have sunrise at other times of the day too, but I like the morning ones best. You don’t get these kind of sunrises other places, you have to be here in the mountains, standing on the photo observation deck high atop the Institutes west tower, looking to the mountains on the far reaches of The Institutes border as the sun comes up to see these views.

Many new visitors to the viewing deck make the mistake of looking to the East as the sun comes up hoping to see the beauty of that brilliant red orb as it makes its first appearance of the day. What they get instead is half-blinded because that sun is really, really bright and you shouldn’t look right into it ever, as that is a dumb thing to do. Smacking into things all morning long because all you can see is a big yellow spot on your eyeball, is a pretty big price to pay for the brief glimpse of happiness you get. We even have signs posted around that side of the tower saying “Don’t look into the sun cause it will burn you in the eye so good.” but often they are just ignored due to the excitement of seeing these views for the first time.

The colors to the west are often muted and less intense than the gaudy light show you get to the east, and that is sometimes more satisfying if you’ve awakened in a more contemplative mood and don’t want to be jangled to consciousness like walking on to a carnival midway with a hangover. Many mornings I need the carnival and all its riotous lights and chaos as it helps jump-start my brain and gets me fired up to do a good days job of work. But if you’re someone who occasionally doesn’t even want the sound of the cat walking across the floor, stamping it’s feet, hearing the sound of it’s fur rubbing together making that crackling electrical sound as it builds up static electricity to shock your leg when it bumps up against you, then you want quiet. You want to stand there and just let the calm soothing colors wash over you. You want the backside of the sunrise. The side where the colors slowly change in a soft subtle way, running through the pastel range of the spectrum in a slowly moving kaleidoscope of calming beauty. You want to look to the west and save the Big Top show for another day.

Calm After The Storm

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Well we’re back after a whirlwind visit to Washington DC. That is a busy place. There are people there everywhere, standing on corners, sitting in black suburban’s with tinted windows, running through crowds to catch the Metro, carrying attaché cases, talking into cell phones, frowning a lot, people in uniforms with large automatic weapons and the occasional mean looking dog, befuddled tourists with maps and they all look busy. Our mission there was several fold. One, was to help out our friends in government, which didn’t go all that well. We thought we might have had a hand in balancing the budget and planning strategy for finding peace in the middle east but as it turned out that was a mistake on our part. When we approached some of our policy makers they told us that they had people working on that all ready and didn’t need any help. In fact they had so many people on it they thought they might have to lay some folks off. Not wanting to be the cause of some bureaucrat losing their job we said “Put our name on the list and as soon as somebody quits or gets fired, call us.” So far we haven’t heard back yet. We stand ready to do our part at a moments notice however.

The second reason for our visit was to locate and identify some of my children who have taken up residence there in Washington to do good work in the private sector. We found them despite their repeated efforts to move to different houses and assume other identities. Once they knew that resistance was futile they welcomed us with open arms and we had a wonderful visit. Different children from other parts of the country flew in and soon we had a full house. Everyone was in good health and reasonably aware of their surroundings. Nobody fought, we didn’t get sick of each other, and there was even a damp eye or two when the visit was over. Some cynics have remarked that was probably due to relief that it was over more than anything else but that was totally inaccurate. We had extraordinary adventures some of which I can relate and others I can’t but as a visit it couldn’t have been better. Let’s just say that we know where most of the lighthouses on the Potomac river are and let it go at that.

The Third reason we went, uhm, I can’t remember the third reason we went. So, nevermind. Our mission was twofold then.

But like all trips it’s always good to get home. The disappointment of not being able to revise the tax code while there in Washington began to dissipate as I checked The Institute grounds to see how we fared while I was gone, everything was perfect, and after a good night’s sleep in my own bed I’m ready to face the world again, refreshed, happy, and glad to be back where things make sense. The image above is one where things are clean, simple and full of colors designed to calm the most agitated souls. Washington DC was an experience every American should have, it shows that we have the best government in the world even if they don’t want the excellent ideas some people bring to the table. It’s good to be back at the helm of The Institute again and I can’t wait to begin all the important work I said to hell with when I left.

Make the pilgrimage to Washington DC. It’ll open your eyes, make your feet hurt, deplete your wallet, show you what bad traffic can really be like, and cause you to swell with pride from all the good seafood, I mean see how America truly works. You’ll find it’s great to be an American.