atotalblamblam: (l)
atotalblamblam ([personal profile] atotalblamblam) wrote2006-06-08 05:57 pm

Storm

Today we have been having one big storm after another. Thunder and lightning, big torrential downpours, and there are rivers of water everywhere. There is a very large hole here on the property that is meant to eventually become a small landscaped lake. Now it is filled to overflowing, just in one day. The animals are all covered in mud, and very frisky with this cool weather.

There have been big changes here, but writing them down won't capture the significance, won't show what these changes mean. Like saying that my boss quit. Doesn't mean much to write it down, because you guys don't know this wonderful, mystical, bearded old man.

I've switched a few animals again. I now take care of Ishi and Zoe; Mr. Cheyenne and his soon-to-be mate, Maki; and Lupe and Embla.

Maki is a pure wolf from a sanctuary in Ohio that just shut down. At her old home, she was the alpha of her pack, and very social. For now, she is still too uncomfortable with her new surroundings to do much other than lay down and sleep, but I'm working with her daily to try and build a bond.

Embla is a funny-looking mid-content wolf-dog. She's part wolf, part Chow-Chow. Black and fuzzy. Extremely timid.

Her mate Lupe' is a mid-content wolf-dog, also extremely timid. He is a very old guy, but still active, and he has an on-going fence battle with his neighbors Amadeus, Shaunie, and Mr. Cheyenne. His bark always makes me laugh. He puts so much feeling into it, but all that comes out is a single halfhearted-sounding "uh."

These last two have slowly warmed up to me, so that Lupe' now comes up for pets, and Embla is almost brave enough to.

There are more and more new volunteers arriving now. I've been going out on trips a lot. We've been hiking to Red Rock State Park and El Morro and El Malpais National Monuments. The last two Mondays, we went caving at El Malpais. Exploring dark, jumbled caverns, crawling on our bellies, finding strange formations and ice pools.

Oh! And the really big news is that a litter of six pure Arctic/Timber wolf cubs has been donated to us. They are only a month old now. They require round-the-clock care. They're completely helpless, although they gain almost a pound every day and are becoming more and more interested in the world around them. We are trying to socialize them so that maybe when they're full-grown, one or two of them can be taken out into the public for education and outreach events. Blah blah blah.

Here are pictures, unedited, because the coloring on this computer monitor is off, and I don't have time to do it anyway:




The view today from my doorstep. Looks and sounds so much cooler in video form.


Mr. Cheyenne singing his heart out.


Mr. Cheyenne's neighbor, Doc, adding in his two cents.


In El Morro.


Bob, the baby wolf.

</lj-cut) ps: I had videos, too, but the internet keeps failing before they have a chance to upload. Oh well.

[identity profile] atotalblamblam.livejournal.com 2006-07-09 05:26 pm (UTC)(link)
yep!!!!!

[identity profile] hellisinhello.livejournal.com 2006-06-09 08:37 am (UTC)(link)
Hey, Amy, I was going to ask you if you might be interested to help me out with something? As you probably know I'm writing articles for a Swedish travel site, and I want to write an article about animal related volunteer work, so I waswondering if you could answer some questions about the place you're at and what you do, and/or maybe I could possibly use some of your photos? What do you say?

[identity profile] atotalblamblam.livejournal.com 2006-07-09 05:33 pm (UTC)(link)
So now that it's taken a whole month for me see this and answer your question, yes, if it's not too late now, I would love to answer questions and give photos!

(Anonymous) 2006-07-12 09:39 am (UTC)(link)
I've already decided on the last topics for my articles, but I'd love to write an article about animal volunteer work anyway, so I'll email you questions sometime soon and you can send over whatever photos you want with the answers. :)

I'm hoping to get my freelance writer contract extended, so I need all the topics for articles I can get so that I have something to offer ;)

[identity profile] hellisinhello.livejournal.com 2006-07-12 09:39 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, sorry, that comment above was from me!

[identity profile] hellisinhello.livejournal.com 2006-06-09 08:38 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, and Bob is the most adorable thing I've seen in a long time!

[identity profile] atotalblamblam.livejournal.com 2006-07-09 05:38 pm (UTC)(link)
All the babies are just the cutest! So small and innocent with stinky puppy breath and they like to bite things.

[identity profile] hellisinhello.livejournal.com 2006-07-12 09:36 am (UTC)(link)
Haha, well, I know where I would have spent the most time ;)

[identity profile] hellisinhello.livejournal.com 2006-06-09 06:56 pm (UTC)(link)
You know what, I don't know how often you use the internet, so I'll just go ahead and email you some questions, and if you want to help out and answer them then that's great, and if you don't want to/don't have time, then just ignore them. :P