The Elephant Whisperer - Book Review

One of the books that I wanted to read this year was The Elephant Whisperer - My Life with the Herd in the African Wild. Lawrence Anthony, the author, was asked to accept a rogue herd of elephants on Thula Thula, his reserve in South Africa.

If he did not take the elephants, they would be shot. Yet, he didn't have experience with elephants - much less with ones with behavior problems.

He ended up taking the elephants, and dealing with a variety of experiences - from challenges; triumphs and progress; new life; and death.

This books gave me a lot of insight into the minds and personalities of elephants; their sheer strength and determination; and the bond they have as a family and with humans they trust.

The start of the book started a bit slowly. However, as the story progressed and the elephants were beginning to trust Lawrence, it was interesting to learn about their personalities, interactions with one another, and how they accept (or don't accept) humans based on their intentions.

One of the many interesting chapters dealt with how the elephant herd dealt with a fire at the reserve. The matriarch of the herd led them all to a watering pool which they waded in to stay cool and safe as the fire approached them. They would take up water in their trunks and spray their bodies to stay cool. The author was checking on them and followed the matriarch's lead. By following her behaviors, he and his dog also were able to make it through the fire.

Like people, elephants have a certain "personal boundary space" around them. Each elephant's space is different. The smaller the elephant, the less confident they are and, therefore, they demand more space around them. A mother and a newborn baby need the most space of all.

When they each, they pluck up grass in clumps and then tap it on their knees to dislodge soil from the roots. They are fussy about what they eat; and will check the scent of each plant before deciding if they want to eat it.

Elephants communicate with their eyes, trunk, rumblings, subtle body movements, and attitude. As the author said, "Whether it is a pet dog or a wild elephant, communication is not so much about the reach as it is about the acknowledgment....If you are not letting them know that their communication has reached you, if you don't acknowledge it somehow there can be no communication."

An elephant's trunk pulses with about fifty thousand muscles. I had no idea there were that many in the trunk!

There were two especially sad parts in the book. One was when a baby elephant's feet had been deformed when it was born. Despite the encouragement and persistence of the herd, there was nothing they could do to help it. The staff was able to intervene and progress looked promising. However, it was not meant to be. The baby elephant died. The author said, "The elephant's cheerful ways and her refusal to surrender until the end had inspired everyone. She had shown us how life could be joyous, despite pain. How it could be meaningful even if it was short. Thula had shown us how life should be lived for the moment."

The author died in 2012 and the elephants continue to bring their babies to an area near where he lived even though he no longer is alive.

His legacy is that  he changed people's perception of elephants outside the perimeters of conservation. He encouraged people who said, "I can't" that they can. He believed that people should get involved, join conservation movements that actually do something rather than relying on media gimmickry; lobby local government officials; and plant trees. Most important, just go outside and look and breathe.

As Graham Spence, who wrote the postscript in the book said, "Wilderness is not somewhere out there. It's in your soul."

My Favorite Photos - February 2019

As I look back on February, these photos and memories stand out for me:

Sophia, Olivia, and I took a hand-sewing leather course at the art center. The girls each made a purse.

I made a tote bag.

I visited my sister at the end of February and took some photos of her cat. This is Juliette. She's a Flamepoint Siamese cat.

This is Buttercup. Check out those blue eyes!

I saw the first robin of the year during February. The birds like the apples that have been on the tree all winter.

There's a White-Crowned Sparrow that's been hanging around our farm this winter. Normally we don't see them in the winter. So, this is a real treat!

We have a flock of pheasants that have been hanging around as well. There is a group of six of them. The one below is a male - he is more colorful and has a white ring of feathers around his neck. He also has some interesting eyebrows. It's always fun to find one of the long tail feathers in the Spring.

This is four of the six pheasants in the driveway. They use their feet to scratch up the snow and uncover seeds and grain. They are looking for corn that I put in the driveway for them.

This is a blue jay that's approaching the feeder. I wish it were a better photo. However, I like the wing span on the bird and its target: the seeds.

We've had so much snow in February this year...an excessive amount. It was the snowiest February ever recorded in the Twin Cities - in all of history!

Indoors, the pets are being patient until there is more area for them to run around outside. This is Aspen.

This is Scooby. He's getting bored with being inside so much.

Another class I took at the art center this month was papercutting. This is an example of Notan - a Japanese form of papercutting that explores negative and positive space. You start with a square piece of black paper and do free-form cutting from there. 

After doing that exercise, we worked on another papercutting project. All the parts have to touch one another (including the border), otherwise it is considered collage. The size is about 8 1/2" x 11" to give a size perspective.

During the month, Cooper has enjoyed watching the birds at the feeder. He likes the small ones, but - for whatever reason - does not like the big birds at the feeders, like the mourning doves, pheasants, and pileated woodpecker - all of whom have visited the feeder he's looking at in the photo below.

We've enjoyed visits by a large number of cardinals this year. We have multiple families here which is great!

This is a female. Her feathers on her head are standing tall meaning she is on alert.

This is a black-capped chickadee who chose a peanut to eat. She (or he) will fly off with whatever nut or seed is chosen and eat it in a tree.

We had a lot of challenges with icicles this month. This is not a good sign when they are this big since it shows that we have poor insulation between the ceiling and roof. These all were removed and the roof raked in mid-February. We have to do this again in early-March before it melts otherwise we could look at water damage in our home again, like we had a few years ago in three rooms.

Olivia and I drove out to Paynesville, Minnesota, in mid-February so she could do a 4-H retreat. It's for teens who are interested in nature, photography, and leadership. On our way back on Sunday morning, we stopped in Monticello, Minnesota, at Swan Park. There are thousands of trumpeter swans, Canada geese, and mallards on the Mississippi River. They are fed each day around 10:30 a.m., so we were able to see the tail-end of the feeding session.

We drove through a small blizzard to get to St. Kate's where Sophia was invited to attend a special reception and program for scholarship finalists. We found out later in the month that she won one of the top three awards!

For Valentine's Day this year, we celebrated it twice. Once was on the 14th when the girls and I had heart-shaped pizza and garlic bread plus red pop. Not terribly healthy, but it was a tasty treat.

I decorated the windows with some stars and heart-shaped cut-outs I had made.

We also celebrated it on the 15th when Paige was back in town from a business trip. I made a recipe I saw on Pinterest that I adapted. It used two types of tortellini/ravioli (cheese filled as well as meat filled), spinach, mozzarella cheese, and spaghetti sauce.

Another class that Olivia and I took at the art center was how to do peg loom weaving. The loom is small, yet you can weave rugs on it which is interesting. It took a bit to learn, but once I got the hang of it, weaving went quickly. This is Olivia's rug:

I'm participating in a Mystery Quilt project through Minnesota Quilters. Each month, you get a clue about how to sew together some pieces that you cut in January. These are the squares I made in February. I should have waited to see how people cut them because for the square on the left, the yellow should be half of the square; and the pink and purple the other half.

My only complaint about the directions are that they assume that people have a lot of experience with quilting and cutting squares. I don't, so it's a bit of a challenge.

Another sewing project that I coordinated was sewing diapers for newborns from t-shirts for Global Health Ministries. The diapers are used for incentives for women in developing countries to get prenatal care.

It was part of a larger service event that I coordinated on February 12th for our local Lions club. We had 21 people there - despite the snowy and icy roads.

We visited the girls' step-grandfather (Paige's step-father) in a transitional care unit. He is getting stronger now that he is getting 24/7 care. He will be moving to the nursing unit now that is part of the graduated-living community where he lives. It is an exceptional facility; and he is getting very good care.

One last photo that summarizes how the month felt.

Literally we feel buried in snow, it's so high we literally have to trudge through parts of non-shoveled parts. Cooper was looking for something in the snow...thus, his face is covered in snow. 

We are looking for Spring. Hopefully it comes soon.

Outdoor Mom's Journal - February 2019

During our outdoor time this month we went...to see the migrating swans and geese in Monticello. There are literally thousands of waterfowl at an open area in the Mississippi River.

The sound is almost deafening with so many birds in one area. There is someone who feeds them each day in the morning; and Olivia and I were able to see the tail-end of the feeding which was fun.

At home, I went outside when I heard rustling near the fence under the pine trees on the east side of the backyard. I'm glad I did: it was a pheasant who was having trouble getting up and over the fence. There is so much snow and not enough clearance, so it is more challenging for them to get up in the air and clear the fence.

Check out the wing marks on the snow. I think they are so pretty!

 

The most inspiring thing we experienced was...watching from inside a snowstorm and then going outside to see the impact that wind and snow had on trees and bushes.

It kind of reminds me of a tornado or summer storm when leaves and twigs are scattered all around. The only difference is that in the winter, we see pine needles, twigs, and seed pods that fall off the trees.

I also enjoyed watching and photographing the birds on February 20th at the feeder by the bedroom window. There were lots of cardinals.

The black-capped chickadees loved eating the peanuts.

The cardinals kept coming to the feeder and eating the sunflower seeds.

Cooper loved watching the birds.

The birds would crack open the seeds and the snow would often go flying from their beaks.

On the 25th, it was fun to watch a group of pheasants that have been hanging around our driveway. I put out cracked corn for them and they scratch just like chickens. The female (on the left) was doing a lot of scratching and finding corn. Then the male (on the right) came up to see what was there. You can tell she's annoyed that he's wanting to eat what she uncovered.

The male then started kicking up snow and looking for corn.

The pheasants spent time in the driveway and walked along the pathways I shoveled for them in the front yard. I can tell the pathways make it so much easier for them to get around safely and find food.

On the 25th, I saw a white-crowned sparrow. I was surprised to see it at this time of the year.

On the 26th, there were some robins in the apple tree eating the crabapples. I can't imagine that they taste good, but the robins were choosing to eat them versus coming to the feeder and eat seeds.

Our outdoor time made us ask (or wonder about)...why some dogs do well in the winter weather and snow, and other dogs struggle. Cooper is one of our dogs who loves the winter. He'll stick his head into the snow and look for activity near the grass. He reminds me of a fox looking for a rabbit or mouse.

In the garden, we are planning/planting/harvesting...nothing. It's hard to think of planting when the farm looks like this:

And icicles are coming off the roof:

  

They are really bad this year and we are going to have to hire someone to melt them so we don't get damage inside our home.

That being said, I am thinking that this year I will need to plant more flowers and get the backyard sodded since it is all torn up. Since we are planning on having Sophia's graduation party here, there will be a lot of work to do to make it look presentable. 

I added nature journal pages about...what I observe each day, the types of birds that I am seeing, and goals that I want to accomplish. I'm adding color to each of the pages which makes them look better than just the single-color illustrations that are in the nature journal now.


I am reading...The Budget. It's an Amish-Mennonite newspaper and has reports from various communities throughout the country and world. It's interesting to read about how winter affects people, and how the weather this winter is significantly different than past years.

I am dreaming about…days when we aren't struggling to get through the snow. This year we have had a huge amount of snow and we literally are having difficulty finding a place to put it each time there is a new snowfall.

The pathways are narrow which makes it hard for the dogs to be able to run and explore when they go outside. The wind often is so strong that it blows the snow into the pathways, making for another outdoor time of shoveling to create paths.

This is the view from the barn to the house. Next year I really need to make sure that the snowblower is working. It would make creating this path so much easier. The shoveling is a real back-breaker on some days - especially when the wind blows and packs down the snow.

A photo I would like to share...this male pheasant was finding some unusual spots to perch one day. He picked the electric wire - something I had never seen a pheasant do! He also was hanging out in the apple tree. His coloring helped him blend into the branches on the tree.