My How You Have Changed!!

If you've been reading my blog of awhile, you'll recognize this picture.  This is 6 week old Lexi, a little ball of furry fun.  When the keeper put her in my lap, she immediately crawled up to the top of my head for a higher vantage point.  I can't even begin to tell you how much fun she was!!

I'm thrilled to announce this is Lexi today and she is still at this facility.  It's so cool to see her again all grown up.  In the lynx world, two females usually stay with one male, so Lexi has a built in family right here.

She's fully mature now ... just look at those feet!!  At this point however, you can't have her on your lap.  Although there is no government money at all in this facility, they DO have to follow certain State rules about people getting close to mature wild animals.  Lexi has her eye on a deer that wandered by.  

She's really dialed in here.  That natural instinct to chase and catch prey never leaves them.  Her telltale ear feathers show she's a lynx.  And SOFT .. oh my gosh, she is SO SOFT!!!

There were two baby bears here last year, this one being Clyde.  They were found abandoned in the wild, rescued and brought here because they were so young.  By the way, all of the critters here are handled with dog collars and leashes, just like your pets.  Since they were so young, they were still drinking milk.

This is Bonnie ... as in Bonnie and Clyde ... both black bears, but Bonnie has a brown coat.  I got to pet her while she was having her snack.  Once these guys get bigger, they are not allowed around the public.  Not that they would hurt anyone, but they COULD.  

THIS is Bonnie today.  WOW ... in one short year she grew into a brute!!  The elderly bear that lived in this compound passed away, so they decided to keep Bonnie and have her raise a family.  

Not having an immediate home for Clyde, they kept them in the same area.  In no time, like normal siblings, they didn't get along AT ALL ... and so Clyde was transferred to another facility.  Bonnie grabbed a huge piece of grass in the above picture, then sat down at her dinner table and ate it.

"Yeah, I like it here .... they take good care of me.  I've even got a climbing gym to work out on and my own private swimming pool."  Bonnie is almost four feet tall and I'm sure weighs in the neighborhood of 300-400 pounds.

Here's the newest addition, Ruckus.  He came by his name naturally.  He sure can make a ruckus!  Unfortunately, he was WAY too rambunctious on this day.  If they don't mind (and he didn't) they are returned to their compound without the milk treat.  Yes, he IS biting her arm, although not hard.  He kept wrapping his legs around her, which I think scared her a little.

That made him want to play even more.  Yup ... his mouth is wrapped around her arm again and that's not allowed.  Back in his quarters, he created an even bigger ruckus by climbing up the wire and showing off for the crowd.  Ruckus is slowly being introduced to Bonnie.  They close her off and let him romp throughout her territory and swim in her pool.  Hopefully she will get used to him through his scent before they put them together.

There's even MORE pictures coming tomorrow.  Yari the snow leopard is up next.   In the meantime, I drove rather leisurely down the coast to Eureka California.  I made reservations at an RV park so I could take my time.  I'm sure glad I got those windshield wipers on because it poured down rain from Bandon to Gold Beach.  

My favorite stretch of road is from Port Orford to Brookings, although it is the worst section of road.  Most of Hwy 101 has been repaired with only two stop lights on the entire trip.  Not repaired well mind you, just drivable.  One particularly bad section I had to navigate at 5 mph because a bicyclist jumped in front of me on a terribly narrow one lane steep section.  I doubt he will do that again since I was literally on his butt all the way up the hill, overheating all the way!!  I realize they are "cars" too, but really dude ... let the cars go by first.

So here I am at a VERY noisy RV park (road traffic is terrible), but with pillows, quilts, levis and backpacks stuffed in the windows, I slept pretty good.  I'm paying $84 for two nights so I don't have to stress over finding a spot at the Elks Lodge.  Today I'm going to go find the fairgrounds where you can also stay ... just to check it out.

Last night's dinner at Samoa Cookhouse was an experience like no other.  I'll tell you all about my new friends tomorrow.