Pancho and Lefty

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It is slowly turning to Spring up in Yellowstone, things are greening up, Pancho and Lefty are on  the prowl and that means Saturday night dances at the Long Tooth Saloon in Blacktail Flats. These two have just had a tough day of eating dead buffalo, laying around in the grass, drinking out of the pond, hanging out, talking crap, eating dead buffalo and deciding on how early they want to get to the dance tonight. They need to look sharp because everybody and I mean everybody is going to be there and if there is ever a chance of hooking up with some fox, I mean wolf, tonight’s the night.

Pancho is asking Lefty if he’s sure he wants to wear that collar as he might look like a total dweeb. He doesn’t want to get stiffed because his wingman looks like a dork. Lefty says It’s cool, back off and they’re on their way. It’s Saturday night in Yellowstone and things are going to get wild.

Antler Dance

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It’s Spring, their antlers are growing and they’re filled to the gills with exuberance over making it through another hard winter in the Rockies. High up in Rocky Mountain National Park, right at the tree line, the young and older bulls gather to rest, eat and grow antlers. There are no predators to worry about and for now the living is easy. Now is the time for them to rejuvenate and get set for September. So with all this free time on their hooves what do young bulls think about? You guessed it, Dancing!

At this point in their development their antlers are soft, covered with velvet and fragile. Normally these young bulls would be testing their mettle by mock fighting and finding every available shrub, bush or tall grass clump to jam their antlers into to remove the velvet that is driving them crazy. Since it is too soon to do that, and as their antlers have to triple in size from where they are now before the velvet comes off, and fighting would damage them so they wouldn’t grow, or if they did grow they would be deformed. So what do they do to burn off this excess energy.? Why they Dance!

Just like Zorba, when they’re faced with life’s frustrations or they are happy because elk giddiness has over taken them, they dance. And of course you must dance with a friend, and you must dance as if you mean it. Throw caution to the winds, let your inhibitions float away on the summer breezes and dance. Steps are not important, neither is skill, what is important is that you make certain that the universe knows that you are a young bull in your prime and you have your entire future ahead of you.

So listen, we can learn a lot from our animal friends and if you find yourself in a snit, or life is unfair, or you are just insanely happy for no apparent reason, go find yourself a lingering snowfield, throw your antlers back and follow their lead and dance your shiny hooves off. You”ll feel better I guarantee it.