Dogs and Bison and Elk, Oh My!

Posted photos from Fleming Park, October 2011

Dogtoberfest at Last!

YAY!!! Back in the car!!!

    My lil' mix-up with dates yesterday didn't dampen my interest in heading back out to Blue Springs to attend Dogtoberfest today! Tomorrow the weather is supposed to cool significantly, and it looks like rain this week, so it made sense to maximize the outdoor time this weekend...

   Kelly and the pooches and I jumped in the car and we were off! We grabbed lunch at one of the stands, then watched a sheep-herding border collie, a dock-diving Boston terrier, and a mixed breed snatching Frisbees from the air. There were many breed rescue groups, and we saw many greyhounds, Frenchies, shaggy mutts, an Aki, and one other Shiba. (In addition to hundreds & hundreds of other dogs.) This is the place where Aki & Tay accepted their Good Citizen Awards last year. Click here for last year's photos.

   After we got our doggy fix, I drove back to where we were yesterday—I really wanted Kelly to see the buffalo and elk. I had packed a few apples to entice them, and they were as game to greet us as they were yesterday. Buffalo Number 136 was a bit of a bully, hogging the apples, shooing away smaller buffalo, and head-butting the fence in the pause between apple slices. Brat.

The elk were slightly less pushy, but equally hungry...

Bowing to this little boy = adorable

To the victor goes the spoils... err, carrots

Blue Springs Buffalo

MAD BUFFALO? Uh-oh...

   Fleming Park, in Blue Springs, MO is apparently home to a breeding program for buffalo (aka bison). How I have lived in the area for 14 years and not known that is beyond me! The animals are so used to being fed apples, pears, corn, and carrots that they are docile and approach the fence when people arrive. It was tough to get good photos with them so close to the fence, and with the fence's shadows on them, but it was easy to appreciate what beautiful animals they are.

Sawako holds the pups so I can get some pics

Ready for my close-ups:

Sawako makes some new friends... and so does Aki & Taylor

   Indeed, everything was going great until Aki decided that she wanted to take on this very large bison (and why not? She's only 700-2,000 lbs. to Aki's 25 lbs.!) I think "Shiba Inu" translates to "knucklehead". To be fair, though, they were bred to hunt bear, and these big furry bison kinda look like bear. With hooves and horns. Film at 11.

Sawako's Photos

   These are the photos that my yoga buddy, Sawako, took on our hike and visit with the bison:

More bison...

I was drawing these little frolicking bison today, and the person looking over my shoulder mistook them as rats. Granted, they're not super-accurate-bison, as I was drawing completely from my own memory & imagination, but RATS?! Cracked me up.

Umm... yeah...

Here come the cartoons!

Here are the first of the drawings I scanned from my sketchbook. I did these on Saturday night following the prairie hike. More to come...

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

The cattle may be lean, but I bet they're not LIGHT!

_______________________________________

_______________________________________

I imagined that if I got lost, I might have to hop a cow & ride home!

_______________________________________

Despite making friends, I DID have a ribeye for dinner...

_______________________________________

The definition of "idiot": Hiking on a shadeless prairie for several hours, carrying a bottle of sunblock that was never applied because the weather was cloudy & cool & I couldn't FEEL myself burning. Seriously. If I even THINK about the sun I burst into flames! Stupid, stupid, stupid!!!