A Wolf Named Journey

While browsing the local newspaper during a recent visit with friends in Oregon I came across an update on the travels of a very famous gray wolf. First, a little background for those who haven't kept up with the efforts to re-introduce gray wolves into the Oregon wilderness.

The male wolf known as “OR7” was born in northeastern Oregon in spring 2009. He weighed approximately 90 pounds when collared with a radio transmitter by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in February 2011. He is designated "OR7" because he was the seventh wolf radio-collared in Oregon. The collar transmits location information to satellites daily and is expected to continue to function until at least 2013. In an attempt to draw attention to the success of efforts to reestablish the wolf population, Oregon Wild sponsored a kids art and naming contest. On January 4, 2012 OR7 got a new name - "Journey." (More background info here and here)

In the Fall of 2011 "Journey", the now two-year old wolf from the Imnaha Pack in Northeast Oregon, made history. After an epic journey across Oregon and into California, including time spent in the Sky Lakes Wilderness area south of Crater Lake, Journey became the first confirmed wolf west of the Cascades since 1947. You can visit the Oregon Wild website for photos, maps, and other resources related to the Wolf Recovery program.

Biologists suggest Journey is traveling in hopes of finding a mate. I hope he does, though chances are slim in the area he visited in California. Wolves really have a bad rep with lots of folks, possibly due to their size and yes, they do occasionally kill livestock, so they aren't too popular with ranchers and farmers. The links above include a lot of information, primarily in support of the wolf, and as I'm not a rancher or farmer I can't begin to speak on their views, but the controversy over wolves and the restoration project did remind me of a story my Aunt Roberta used to tell. This is from her writings about her early years in South Dakota.


In the early 1920's, in the far south east corner of South Dakota, our parents developed acreage that had been homestead land, turned back to the government when the owner never “ proved up” on it as the law required for ownership. The nearest school was a little more than 3 miles away, and the way there was mostly level except for a couple of gullies. I walked to school and no distractions except watching out for rattlesnakes. A lone wolf often traveled one of the ridges along the deepest gully. I had father’s assurance that the wolf would mind his own business and I was to keep on walking my usual route. We got along very well and it was a bit like having silent company on the long walk.

Kenai relaxing in the Portland zoo

Aunt Roberta was probably in 3rd grade at the time, and one can certainly understand a bit of trepidation where a wolf is concerned, but instead of fearing the wolf she learned to view it as a companion. What a fantastic memory, one that undoubtedly colored my aunt's appreciation for wildlife for the rest of her 93 years.  Few of us will ever have that kind of opportunity - actually there's little chance of ever seeing a wolf in person considering their small numbers. For that reason I was grateful my Oregon hostess suggested a trip to the Portland zoo, where we did get to see a wolf trio in residence there. Cheyenne, Yazhi, and Kenai lounged comfortably in the rain while we shivered in our coats and mittens. (A little about each of them here on the Wolf Quest game page) Now I have a face for Aunt Roberta's shadowy traveling companion.

Trimmin' Trees

This post is not about traveling or tourism or anything other than living in the Texas Hill Country - so if you're not interested you can move on and check back later for other news.

We learned soon after moving here that when President G.W. Bush said he was "taking a vacation" at his ranch in TX to "cut brush" he was telling the truth. Every afternoon when we retire to the porch for he afternoon cold one and admire the landscape we discuss what should be cut down. The stuff can grow a foot overnight, I swear!

The difficulty in accomplishing our discussed intentions regarding the pruning is the fact that most of the material to be "cut down" lies several feet above the ground ( 20, 30, or more) and being 60+ each in accumulated years we are sensible enough to know we don't belong that far above Terra firma. SO, we finally hired a crew to come in and do the needed thinning and pruning.

I guess you could say we were "inspired" by the horrible fires last summer. We had a lot of brush and several Texas cedars (which are really juniper) that needed to be gone, due to their proximity to buildings. The crew knew exactly what they were doing and not only removed the most dangerous of the trees, but did a marvelous job of cleaning up the live oak and the mesquite that we chose to keep. In the photo to the left the red arrow points down and to the right to one of the crew, in a yellow vest. He started there and worked his way UP the tree.

We are generally DYIers, but there's no way we could have done the the job they did, much less in one day!!

There were multiple fires going during the day, as burning was decided upon as the best way to dispose of the trimmings. Steve just had to participate in all the fun of course, so he fired up the tractor and helped move trimmings to the burn piles so the crew could dispose of everything by quitting time. I think they appreciated the help as they had hauled some pretty heavy stumps by hand earlier in the day.

Another huge fire burned at the back of the shop, near the RV port. In spite of assurances that there would be no problem, we finally decided to pull the RV out to avoid any heat damage to the side. 

 We had the last of the embers glowing well past dark, but everything was well contained so no worries.

The finished landscape is much more open, and much less of a fire hazard! We still have more fine tuning to do, but the upper story is good for now, and we have enough open space to allow new plantings to take hold and get some much needed sunlight.

We're aiming for privacy screening, food for wildlife, and evergreen if possible. Not much to ask is it? Any recommendations? Send 'em our way!

A Death in Dublin

I can still here the jingle on my family's black and white TV

I'm a Pepper, he's a Pepper, She's a Pepper, we're a Pepper, Wouldn't you like to be a Pepper, too? Be a Pepper. Drink Dr Pepper.

I can remember the "Dr." encouraging us to enjoy the beverage "at 10, 2 and 4"
And my husband's grandmother did! A native Texan, Mamaw couldn't stay awake in church on Sunday if she hadn't had her Dr. Pepper.

Sadly, Dr. Pepper is no longer alive and well in the little Texas town of Dublin.

Dr. Pepper is truly a “native Texan,” originating in the 1880's at Morrison's Old Corner Drug Store in Waco. It is the oldest of the major brand soft drinks in America. Like its flavor, the origin of Dr Pepper is out-of-the-ordinary. Charles Alderton, a young pharmacist working at Morrison's store, is believed to be the inventor of the now famous drink. Alderton spent most of his time mixing up medicine, but in his spare time he liked to serve carbonated drinks at the soda fountain. Inspired by the way the drug store smelled, with all of the fruit syrup flavor smells mixing together in the air. He decided to to create a drink that tasted like that smell. He kept a journal, and after numerous experiments he finally hit upon a mixture of fruit syrups that he liked.

The formula was eventually purchased by the Snapple company (more history here), and has been bottled by various plants around the country, one of which has been the plant in Dublin, TX. As a result of the outcome of the June law suit filed by Snapple, as of this month, the Dublin plant has been forced to stop production and distribution of their lead product. So much for holding on to tradition and individuality. Apparently the "sticking point" was that the Dublin bottling works identified the product as Dublin Dr. Pepper, rather than generic Dr. Pepper as all the other bottling plants do. They did this to emphasize the fact that the product produced at the Dublin plant used only pure cane sugar, not corn syrup. Other plants also use sugar, but don't label their product as being unique from others.

These changes at the bottling plant mean Old Doc's Soda Shop, which is a part of the bottling works, is having to change it's way of doing business. They're in the process of changing their website to reflect those changes now. They still offer tours of the bottling plant, where they produce  popular flavors such as Big Red.

This recent news article explains the impact on the whole town of Dublin, (map) where people really are viewing it as a death. Many folks are angry, and swear they'll never drink Dr. Pepper again. Jeff Kloster, vice president of the bottling works, became teary-eyed during an interview when asked if he'll still drink the soda. "Of course," he said, "I still start every day with a Dr. Pepper, but it's not the same."The Kloster family has owned the bottling works since 1991.

It's really too bad some other solution couldn't be reached as not only has the bottling plant had to lay off employees, this change will undoubtedly have an impact on the numbers of tourists which a lot of businesses depend upon for their livelihood. While the product continues to be available it will never be the same for the folks in Dublin.