Create Our World

 

Standing in front of one of the wolf cages at the California Wolf Center.

“The California Wolf Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profit education center committed to increasing public awareness and understanding of the importance of all wildlife by focusing on the history, biology, behavior, and ecology of the gray wolf.”

California Wolf Center.

My new friend, Nicole volunteers at the nearby California Wolf Center near Julian, California.  She says I could feed live wolves and they always need help, so we take a visit for the day.

Wolf Facts (from the California Wolf Center Website):

*Wolves are much shyer than imagined and will avoid humans as much as possible.

*Wolves live about 7 years in the wild and 12 years in captivity.

*Wolves trot at about 5 miles per hour and can run up to 35 miles per hour for short periods of time.

*Wolves mainly die because of human activity.  Starvation & wounds from territorial aggression cause some deaths.  Parvo and mange also kill a significant number of wolves.

*Wolves are pack animals.  Usually there is an alpha male and alpha female that lead the pack.  They are the most likely to breed.  There is a ranking system on down from the beta wolf to omega wolf.

*Packs can range from 2 to 36 wolves.

Helen chops up the frozen chicken.

Feeding the Wolves.

Nicole and I show up with about 5 or 6 other volunteers.  I stick my hand up to volunteer for feeding the wolves and I am paired with Helen.  Helen has volunteered at the Center for a few years and knows what she is doing.  She shows me the ropes as we get out 80lbs of frozen chicken and 60lbs of frozen bison.  We have to chop up the meat so that we can spread it around the large cages.  This helps avoid any fighting over the food.  

Wolves want nothing to do with humans and avoid me when I am in the cages.

Swinging the axe brings me back to my days of living outdoors, except this time frozen bison meat or chicken legs are flying as opposed to wood chips.  

In the cages the wolves, keep their distance from Helen and I and there is no danger of us being harmed.  The Center has never had a wolf injure a human nor a wolf escape in what I believe is 20 years that the Center has existed.

Nicole scrubs a wheelbarrow.

Scrubbing Cages.

After we are finished feeding the wolves, we have other less interesting tasks like scrubbing out some cages that were used to house some wolves temporarily, scrubbing wheelbarrows, and washing some tarps.  

All in all it was an interesting day.  It was enjoyable to learn about the wolves and be as close to them as I was.  There are also caring volunteers and workers at the Center that were very welcoming.  

If you live in the San Diego area and would like to volunteer, click here to contact the Center for details.

After the Wolf Center, Nicole and I stop by the scenic town of Julian, famous for their pies.  This post is coming soon, after my HOW TO post tomorrow.  How to be the best House guest ever.

Create Our World.

Ben

“It is not the years in your life that count but the life in your years.” – Adlai Stevenson

A mural in Normal Heights.

“We spend too much time living in the ‘what if’ and need to learn to live in the ‘what is.’ – Og Mandino

After a week of staying with my friend, Dave in Oceanside, California, which is about 45 minutes north of San Diego.  I decide to head back into the big city and meet some folks.  Normally, going into a city, I will set up a place to stay with a friend or find some one on Couchsurfing.org.  This time I decide to wing it though.

Sea World.

My first day in the city, I find a camp in a park near Sea World.  It is a nice spot, but I must get up early to avoid the folks working there and picking up trash.  

Caving in the Desert.

After awaking early, I join a local group that is going caving in the desert.  Stay tuned for the video!

Meet Matt.

After caving, I am hanging with some of the others and Matt offers me a place to stay with him.  Matt lives in Normal Heights, a section of San Diego.  He offers me a place to crash for the rest of the week.  I accept and spend the week hanging with him and his friends, writing articles at the local coffeeshop, and cruising the streets on one of his bikes.

Normal Heights.

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Tomorrow, I will post a video of photographs from a recent caving trip in the desert near San Diego.

Create Our World.

Ben

“A bird does not sing because it has an answer; it sings because it has a song.” -Chinese Proverb

Oceanside, California.

“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.” -Mother Teresa 

Oceanside, California.

45 minutes north of San Diego is a small city of Oceanside.  Barbara Mandrell, the country singer went to high school here.  So did the actress Denise Richards.  Oceanside is known for having the busiest base in the USA. Camp Pendleton.  It makes for an interesting mix of palm trees and long-haired surfers, stirred in with crew cuts and camo.  

My old friend, Dave, whom I worked with in Virginia lives here and I crash with him and his roomies for a week.  Here are some photographs of the town.

Tomorrow, I will tell you a bit more about my friend Dave.  Dave is a bike riding, boogey boarding, and kid helping dude.

Create Our World,

Ben

“Just as the wave cannot exist for itself, but is ever a part of the heaving surface of the ocean, so must I never live my life for itself, but always in the experience which is going on around me.” -Albert Schweitzer