I hurt :)

Went into town yesterday, meaning to spend the day with Nacilik. Dad was supposed to come home from the slope at 130, but his flight was delayed till 1130 PM because the plane was having mechanical difficulties, so Mom went home and I spent the night in town. Mom was getting a little stressed because nothing was going like she planned it, just little things the whole day. Nacilik and I had plans to bike to Eagle River from his place, and they kept getting inturrupted, but we finally made it. We didn't get to hang out there like I'd wanted, but we got to see a good friend from school. I had to push to get back in time to go to dinner with the DeLaneys, but we made it to anchorage in what, for me, was good time. (Assuming one ignores the fact that it's downhill. :) ) I dunno if any of you have met Mike's Dad, but he's hilarious, so dinner was quite happy. I more or less crashed after that, Nacilik showed me Eternal Darkness on zero-sanity, but he didn't play long enough for the really cool stuff to happen. It was still exceedingly happy, though.

We're supposed to get Wood Bison at work, soon. I can't remember if I've mentioned those yet or not. They're really endangered, hunted out of all of America, but there are some left in Canada. We're gonna keep a herd until they grow in number, make sure they're nice and healthy, then re-release them. It's gonna be so cool! Beary the bear sub is leaving soon, though. She was supposed to go last week, but they didn't have a bear crate and they couldn't ship her in anything else. It'll be sad when she's gone. :( But she'll have a playmate, so it'll be good for her, and probably more room, too, and she's going to Georgia so she'll get fresh peaches instead of canned.

Hugo the three-year-old grizzly moved into an 18-acre enclosure this year. It's one of the largest single-bear areas in North America. She's really bored, though. My boss rides out and checks on her all the time, and he says he'll find her just laying down, not sleeping but not doing anything, because there's nothing to do. He talked to a bear expert, and last I heard he wanted to move some of the bull plains bison in with her to give her something to watch. They're bigger than her, they could take her easy, so he's not worried about them getting hurt, but he's really worried about Hugo. We got her when she was a tiny cub, something had happened and she was separated from her mommy, some snow-machiners up north found her with more than 150 procupine quills in her paws and face, and she was dehydrated and very weak. She's so beautiful now, and so sweet, she'll come right up to the fence and walk with you, I've fed her by hand (through the fence) and she's so gentle.

It's funny, I never got attached to the baby fox we kept behind the counter, I don't get attached to the moose and elk calves or deer fawns we feed by hand (except for Glacier Bob the moosey calf, but that's different), but I got really attached to Berrie. Another girl at work said the same thing. Maybe it's because her mommy was bear-baited and it makes everyone mad, or because she would sit and cry when we first got her. I dunno. She isn't even affectionate, not like Kuma (last black bear cub we kept behind the counter) or the calves and fawns. She's a pretty special bear, I guess. (Though not as special as Glacier Bob... sigh.)

I have to work tomorrow... phooey.

NOE out