A New Job!

Yeay!! We've got our fall and winter job! We'll be working at a Kangaroo Ranch just outside of Deadwood, South Dakota, actually working with the roos and several other kinds of marsupials  and assorted animals. What an adventure! I'd never been close to a kangaroo before and today I got to pet one! Look for pictures soon and descriptions of what we're doing. It'll be another 2 or 3 weeks before we are there. Still have a couple of weeks to go at Bear Country. That'll be a big savings on gas just moving 50 miles farther north in the Black Hills instead of 1000 miles or so to another state, which we usually do. God is faithful to answer our prayers and put us where He wants us! Look at the list of my favorite links—The Roo Ranch.

White Buffalo

Here is a photo of a rare, white buffalo born at Bear Country last spring. He attracts quite a bit of attention from our visitors.

From Wikipedia, "American buffalo (technically bison) are normally brown in color. Rarely, white buffalo are born. White Buffalo are considered to be sacred signs in several Native American religions, and thus have great spiritual importance in those cultures and are visited for prayer and other religious ceremonies." 

I am told that a Native American group from the Black Hills area did come to Bear Country this spring and held a ceremony to honor this white buffalo. I saw the colorful ribbons they tied to the fence as part of their rites.

This is a goofy picture Keith got one day through the fence. It may be a little too close for comfort! These guys are powerful!

14 Black Bear Cubs

These 14 black bear cubs spend most of their time, running, tussling, climbing, wrestling, swimming, or else sleeping in a pile. That makes it very difficult to get a good picture. This morning we hit it just right. It was early, they hadn't been fed yet, and when they heard the sound of our Kawasaki Mule they looked up in anticipation (Sorry, guys, we don't have any food for you!) and held relatively still for this photo. They've grown so much from the tiny 3 month old cubs we first saw in early May. They are about 7 months old now. After their year in Babyland they will spend 2 more years together in the kindergarten or teenage area before they are large enough to join the BIG bears in the drive-through section of the park. The most difficult part of our job is driving past the cubs without stopping to watch them! The laughter and excitement of the tourists hanging over the rails, madly clicking their cameras and declaring their wish to take a cub home, is a delight to see!

A Favorite Photo

I had to add this picture because it is one of my favorites. I love the cute little burro but I also like the glow that the prairie grass has, plus the dead tree. This was taken in Custer State Park, one of the "wild" burros that live there. They are beautiful animals and very friendly. Click to view full size.

"Punny" Keith

My husband, Keith, is quite the punster, and well-known for this talent. I love watching him with the tourists at Bear Country. He will catch departing visitors and say, "Was everything 'bearable'?" If they get it they'll laugh and agree. Or sometimes they'll come back with, "bearly", and he'll respond, "bear up"! Brad, the driver of the cart for handi-capped people, has gotten into the spirit. When he and we are parked on the sidewalk with our carts, talking, he'll say we are a "bearicade" to the tourists passing by. Keith loves to tell little kids that bear cubs have 5 paws, especially if they're with an older gentleman. They'll look at him in disbelief, and then he'll count on his hands and feet, "one paw, two paws, three paws, four paws, and a grandpaw"! Occasionally the kids won't get it, but the grandpas always do. In this picture he is talking about his paw pun with Zack, a 15 year old Bear Country employee who gives informative talks to our guests about the various animals they are seeing. He was also the "Mascot" in bear costume, and the applier of temporary tattoos to anyone he could convince needed one. 

Another favorite  pun is, "The Pope came to visit Bear country and he left speaking in 'bearables' ". (The Bear Country owners are Catholics who are very actively and charitably involved the community.) To parents with babies in strollers he'll say, "Oh, are you bringing us another baby bear?" or, "Are you allowed to take that baby bear home?" Most parents chuckle. Here is a picture of our favorite cub, "Little Bit", one of the 14 bear cubs on display this summer.

One of the most enjoyable parts of our job here is talking to tourists. Most of the time they are having fun, are excited about being here, and want to share where they are from and where else they've visited so far. We've kept track of state license plates within the park this summer and have gotten 49. We lack Delaware—still hoping! There have been people from different parts of the world, like England, Germany, Poland, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Brazil, Japan and China, and some others we don't know because they were speaking a foreign language unfamiliar to us, probably eastern European. It is so much fun to talk to all kinds of people from all kinds of places. We are blessed to be able to do that!

Baby Porcupine!

This has got to be one of the cutest animals there are, though all baby critters are adorable. It's a porcupine baby, just old enough now to come out of the den by itself and eat from the food dish. This little one's name is "Stormy" because she was born during a typical South Dakota storm, but Keith and I like to call her "Pinecone". That's what she looks like! Porcupines love corn on the cob! They hold the cob in their little paws and nibble off each kernel just like we do. Pa Porcupine can be enticed out of his shelter with a cob. He reaches up and takes it ever so gently and then slowly demolishes it, not letting one kernel escape. Porcupines appear to be all hair and quills and sometimes it is difficult to see their cute little faces—harder yet to get a good picture! They move very, very slowly and make "ummm, ummm" sounds. We love watching them at Bear Country. If you click on the picture you can get a close-up!

Surprise!

We had a wonderful treat on Sunday. As we were heading for the Mt. Rushmore pavilion for the morning church service we saw 2 young people leaning against the statehood pillars watching us. As we approached them we realized they were 2 of the ministry group who had led the worship service 2 years ago, which we attended all summer. There were hugs and kisses all around. What joy to see them! They were at Mt. Rushmore for a wedding—had come from Kansas to be there. This is a picture of them with 2 of the current ACMNP (A Christian Ministry in the National Parks) team.