September

September was pretty busy. So much has happened that it would take way too long to tell all of the stories, instead we will just give the highlights.

WE WENT TO A RODEO!!!

To sum it up, we saw calf roping, calf wrangling, bucking bronco riding, bull riding, barrel racing, mutton busting (our favorite), a horse dance?, and several other things including sumo wrestlers and a clown with no political correctness whatsoever.

It was one of my favorite nights to date. Afterwards Michael had to drag me away as I just wanted to keep walking around. It reminded me of just how much I want a horse again, and how great Michael could be as a cowboy.

MICHAEL CAME TO THE WOLF CENTER :)

Michael finally got to see what I do at my "job." It was fun to be able to have him there and share all of the things I do.

Michael with the observatory tower and Taku in the background. Taku's a little scraggly looking because it's summer, normally he's huge.

Me cleaning the wolf tubs. We usually clean their drinking water and tubs twice a week. Also, we only feed them twice a week as they would only have a successful hunt 20-30% of the time in the wild.

Michael cutting a calf in half for our older wolves Mink and Kiska.

It must look horrible that whenever Michael spends a day with me it usually involves cutting up dead animals. I do lead a normal life, I promise.

Speaking of killing things, I just found this video the other day that I think is quite hilarious and a little sad. The worst part is the sound of the rock when it hits the fish.

Normally, you would hold the fish by the tail and whack it against the rock, but the fish was a little small and the rain made it really slippery. So we had to improvise.

The following are pictures of some of the wolves I work with.

Above: Kuma is the Beta, or enforcer, of our Alaskan pack.

Inuk is the Alpha of the Alaskans, he has my favorite personality.

Ketchikan is the unfortunate Omega, or lowest ranking wolf in the pack

Kiana is the Alpha female of the Alaskans, mostly by default since there are no other females to challenge her

Inuk again

My internship at the California wolf center has been the greatest thing ever. The drive may have been long and used up a lot of gas, but it was totally worth it. I spent my days weed whacking in the sun, feeding/caring for wolves, removing rattlesnakes, laying down cement, fixing roads, chopping wood, driving trucks, helping with tours, preparing for forest fires, and many other things that involved getting dirty. Seriously, this is my dream career, working outside and getting dirty. Ok there were also some menial administrative duties, but every job has to have at least one dreaded task. It is definitely the right line of work for me. Too bad it doesn't pay well.