Never-ending Winter

Ever since January we have seen rather strange fluctuations in temperature. A stereotypical winter in Minnesota, at least up in the northern region, is one which remains in the negative degrees until maybe mid-March. At that point we would begin to see a lot of snow as the temperatures hang in the 30's. Then, as April approaches, temperatures would slowly start to climb until they are decent in May. I remember the temperatures being around the 50's when I started working at the wolf center in 2014. It had even snowed a week before we all arrived! Which our arrival was sometime mid-to-end of May.

However, as mentioned, things have been strange this year. There was a point in January where a good chunk of the snow in the area had melted and we began to see grass again.The photo below was taken at the base of the "earthen" stairs that lead up to the cabin. Meanwhile, in Ohio we had seen temperatures climb to the 60's the day after Christmas. I remember my boyfriend and I were very confused for this was not natural.

 

 Of course the "warmth" did not last long. Shortly after much of the snow melted, temperatures began to fall back down in the colder temps. At first it was the usual "0 - 20" range and then a few weeks later it climbed down to -30. When you account for windchill it was actually -40 or perhaps lower at times. So the arctic blast came back in full force. Therefore it was either too cold to snow, or temperatures would warm up just enough that we got some snowfall before the temperatures plummeted again. For most of January and February we saw temps between -20 and 20 degrees. Hello winter.

Top: Boyfriend's car buried beneath all the snow we got.
Bottom: What the car actually looks like after we uncovered it. Check out the snow all around it.

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Although we grew tired of constantly shoveling, ice picking, and trying to keep a drive way and an ice free walk way... the wolves were having an absolute hay day in the snow. Ready for a hardcore biology lesson?
 

Grayson (back), Axel (front), Denali (top right corner)

Colder temperatures mean more active wolves. This is the time of the year when wolves thrive because their prey is struggling to survive themselves. Let me paint you picture. 60% of a gray wolf's diet, here in Minnesota, is composed of White-tailed Deer, followed by Moose (at 18%), Beaver, Snowshoe Hare, and "other". Other can be dead animals they find on the ground, squirrels and other rodents, birds, possibly livestock, and well anything else they may catch. Note, wolves do not hunt for fun. They hunt what is necessary to feed their pack. Granted, wolves typically run in a pack of 4-6 animals.  A pack is generally two breeding wolves (mother and father) and their pups. A family unit.

Side note: For those of you who may claim "I heard a pack of 15 wolves howl".... it's because wolves do not howl in the same tone every time. They howl at different times and fluctuate their vocals to create a sort of symphony and therefore make their pack sound bigger than what it is. A great way to defend your territory from other wolf packs... anyway. 

Any parent out there who, including themselves, has 4-6 mouths to feed understands it takes quite a lot of food to shop for, prepare, and thus feed your kids. It takes more food to feed a kid who is 50-100 pounds vs a kid who may be 10-30 pounds. If you are a wolf, a tiny snowshoe hare is not going to feed your entire pack similar to how a one cheeseburger is not going to feed your 4-6 member family. Wolves often weigh 60-80 pounds in Minnesota and each can eat up to 20% of their body weight. Therefore, wolves generally hunt those large ungulate species (ungulate means hoofed animal) such as White-tailed Deer and Moose in Minnesota. Musk Oxen in the arctic. Elk and Bison in the Rocky Mountains... and so on. Male white-tailed deer weigh 100 to 300 pounds and female deer weigh 85 to130 pounds. Boom, one deer just fed you and your whole pack.

Grayson (L) and Axel (R) with part of a beaver.

Lets think about white-tailed deer for a moment longer. Even if you know everything there is to know about Whitetails, then see this as a refresher. We talked about what deer weigh but lets think of other things. White-tailed deer often stand 2 to 3 feet tall and have relatively thin legs. As you can see below.

Photo Credit: Emery Way

White-tailed are known as herbivores, which means they eat vegetation. During the spring, summer, and fall months, deer browse on the leaves, needles, buds, and twig ends of trees and shrubs. They may also eat acorns, corn, soybeans, mushrooms, grasses, wild grapes, apples, and assorted shrubs. Which is fine and dandy, when it is warm outside. As we all know, come fall the leaves are starting to die off and less vegetation is available for deer to feed off of. In winter they commonly eat the twig ends (because of the thin line of green growth inside twigs) and bark.

Photo Credit: LassenNPS

Both of which offer some nutrition but not as much as leaves and greens which photosynthesis and have many nutrients readily available. Evergreen trees help deer survive winter thanks to their needles. Evergreen trees also provide insulation because of said needles and they even act as natural fences; blocking out wind and snow and therefore keeping certain areas of ground from accumulating deep levels of snow. With deer, and their tiny thin legs, its not uncommon to see sights like this (left) when snow gets deep . Which in northern Minnesota, you can easily go from 0 to 4+ feet within a day or two. Therefore deer congregate usually at "wintering grounds", or areas where those pine trees create natural fences that therefore let deer walk around without burning too much energy and also provides them with some food to eat to get through the harsh conditions. In the animal kingdom, its all about "how much energy can one save vs spend".

Example of webbing between toes.
Photo Credit: the amazing Kelly Godfrey 💚

If those winter feeding grounds run out of food, and cannot produce more until summer, then deer may start to move about to find more food. Which, if they run into deep snow, you see what happens above. Now here's where wolves come into play. Again, wolves are active during winter. One of the big reasons why is their prey is struggling in deep snow conditions. What makes the wolves special? They have webbing between their toes which gives their feet more surface area. Think of a human for a second. You step out into 4 feet of snow with just your boots and *womph* you just sunk into the snow. Now, you step back inside and put on your snowshoes and can then step back outside. Wah-lah you can walk much easier on top of the snow. Granted you will still sink some. But the reason you can better walk on top of the snow is because you just increased the surface area of you feet, resulting in a better weight distribution while walking. The webbing in wolves toes may be minor but just enough for them to distribute their weight better when walking or running on top of snow. When you compare wolf feet vs deer hooves, the deer will hardcore struggle to run away. Therefore wolves have just enough of an advantage that they can catch and eat deer much easier. Now we finally reached out point as to why wolves are more active in winter: better hunting opportunity!

When summer arrives and snow has thus melted away, and white-tailed deer do not necessarily congregate in one place anymore and both predator and prey are on and equal playing field. Healthy wolves can run up to 38mph and healthy white-tailed deer can run up to 35mph as well. But it is not always about speed. Wolves have their sharp teeth and often other pack members but deer have very sharp hooves and sometimes antlers as well. A wolf pack has to be able to sneak up on a deer. However deer usually stick together as herds and therefore one deer may notice, flag its white tail, and therefore the deer run. If a wolf is close enough to grab the deer then perhaps the deer herd may out run them. Hunting is very hard and dangerous for any wolf or wolf pack. Therefore, again, winter is prime.

But that's not all! Wolves are also more active in winter due to other reasons. Mainly hormones. In summer wolves have "nurturing and care-for hormones" that make them more timid. Plus when you wear a fur coat in summer, you want to be more relaxed anyway. Especially for an animal who doesn't sweat but instead releases heat through panting and between the toes. In winter, however, wolves lose those "nurturing" hormones and therefore its important that "everyone gets along" in a pack. Sometimes 1-2 year old wolves will leave and therefore go off on their own to seek a mate so they may start their own pack. Sometimes 1-2 years old stay and help with future pups. Young wolves may feel a surge of confidence and therefore test their parents, and so it is up to parents to keep them in check. Sometimes pups test each other. Big thing to remember, this is not a "pecking order". There is no "first, second, third" rank but instead they dominate and submit to one another to sort of "get to know" each other. This helps keep balance in the pack and therefore results in a better cohesion between members. After all, if you are in a group working on a project... you want to make sure everyone contributes and also gets along to make the project run smoothly. A pack's project is often hunting and taking care of pups (in other words survival). So they test one another to "get to know" each other and overall function better. Not to mention, February is breeding season where hormones run high. Think of how crazy white-tailed deer get during rut. Only the dominant pair usually breeds, and this pair is typically mom and dad. 

Boltz

"So wait, why are the wolf center's wolves active in winter?"
We do feed our wolves their food, often roadkill white-tailed deer or beaver from fur bearers or Minnesota DNR (they were regarded as nuisance beaver). We also spay and neuter our wolves so they cannot breed.

Denali (L) and Aidan (R)

Despite all this, however, they do still have their hormones and above all else they have their wild instincts and therefore express wild behaviors. Despite being in captivity, they are not domesticated. What makes them different is they are socialized animals and therefore are used to seeing people. Wolves are naturally scared of people. Being in a captive setting they have to be used to people in order to stay comfortable in their environment. This socialization is also what allows wolf care staff to interact with them for the purpose of performing health checks and what not. The wolves still function as a pack. If anything, these wolves are not all related and therefore may have to do more in order to guarantee there is pack cohesion. Aidan is the dominant male, and he often dominates Denali (his brother) and Boltz (not related) in order to ensure he keeps them in check. In particular, Boltz had been testing Aidan's rank this past winter. With the pups around, now 10 months old as of March 2nd, they have a lot of energy which requires Aidan's watchful eyes. He has also dominated them on occasion, mainly Axel, but while they are still pups they often have a bit more freedom. Often dominant male and female will treat the new wolf pups as their own, even if they cannot breed. This is thanks to natural instincts and hormones still present despite spay/neuter. The wolves have also proved they can still hunt for they do sometimes catch ravens, songbirds, squirrels, mice, etc - even though we do not give them live animals. The predatory instincts are all still there as well. So they flow through the motions as they normally would during winter: dominating and submitting, stalking, hunting, etc.

Was that a fun biology lesson?

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Mid-afternoon nap. Axel (L) and Grayson (R)

As winter continues to progress, so do the days at the center. We are only open to the public Friday-Sunday but still remain just as busy on weekdays as well. Weekends are a time for daily programs in the auditorium, as well as answering questions about wolves, whereas weekdays are a time for projects, group visits, and providing programs in our video conference room instead. Whenever we get the chance, we often watch the wolves interact or take their mid-afternoon naps in the warm sun.

What the station looks like. There's two cameras because
we either use "Tandberg" or "Zoom" software.

Remember when I mentioned in the last post we were learning  how to give programs utilizing the videoconferencing software? You could consider us pro's at this point. It's not uncommon to give at least one or two programs a day (typically on the week days) in this room as you see to the right. As mentioned before, this offers the public the option of us connecting via the computer/webcam to provide a live program with props and live footage of the ambassador wolves from your seat. If you need a refresher on what programs are offered via this videoconferencing experience "click here". The TV in the center helps us view what the public sees. In other words they see us in the corner of the screen and then the green background features what we are presenting. There's a four inputs: one for the computer where we feature the program, two for live feeds of the ambassador enclosure, and the fourth input is a doc cam where we can show students a close up on props we have (commonly skulls and paw casts). As I also mentioned before, instructors can order a Wolf Discovery Kit, a kit that is filled with a variety of specimens (ex. wolf pelt, moose jaw), books, DVDs (or VHS if requested), and other activities that provide students and/or groups with hands on learning tools.

During my weekdays I spent some time inventorying all the props in the kits in order to generate a list of what we needed to fix or replace. Since then all props have been both replaced and fixed. I updated all the reference binders in each kit with new and up-to-date information. I also managed to talk to the manager about adding "Wild Wolves We Have Known" to the kits as well (at the cost of nothing).

The educators and other staff had also been writing Facebook posts to send in for the wolf center's facebook page. It is not uncommon for posts to get 100-500 likes. This picture in particular earned me a whooping 814 likes. Now honestly, I am not one to try to get the most likes or ANYTHING like that in nature. I am here to help educate and spread the word on wolves, not to obtain some sort of glory.  Why I even mentioned it in the first place is honestly because I was that surprised that one of my pictures actually gained that much attention. Funny part, all I said was "Caption this. Pictured is Axel looking into the Auditorium windows". I just took the picture right as he was closing his eyes.

Axel

Do you also remember when I mentioned I had the opportunity to continue assisting the education department by creating (or re-creating) programs? Well that is something to which is still going on. Before, I had mentioned that "Wolves of the World" was in draft stage. Since then it has been finalized and merely waits to be tested/presented. Therefore we move on to new materials. I had recently collected reference information for a new program being designed. Of course it is still a secret! The other educator is doing her part as well, she has located references for two new programs we hope to feature this upcoming summer season. I can say, since we already have this program, I was fortunate enough to get to re-work Northwoods Ecology. A program I had gave back in 2014 and thus felt negative feelings about due to how it flowed... or well didn't flow in some cases. I re-worked the program so it has a flow and thus focuses more on "ecology" vs "what can we find in the northwoods". Of course it still features some things you can find but very briefly in comparison to what the program had before. I just sent in the draft as of yesterday for review. Let's hope it is well liked and will be seeing the spotlight relatively soon!

Standing: Axel (L) and Grayson (R)
Lying: Denali (L) and Aidan (R)

Lastly, to follow up with that "Wolf Scholar" project I mentioned in the prior post. I "finished" with 75 pages worth of materials which have now been sent to the Web Specialist and are thus being reviewed. Hopefully the information is accurate and can be implemented relatively soon. I have high hopes that if they process moves faster enough, I can continue this project and thus potentially produce another 70 or so more pages. Although it absorbed a lot of time and energy to find information, especially when you are sorting through overseas information, the project definitely felt worthwhile! In other words I enjoyed the online research.

A new project I had not mentioned before includes creating wolf paw casts from a mold of Denali's foot. More or less, the wolf specialist had a fun time making a plaster cast of Denali's track and then making a mold from that plaster cast in order for us to make casts.... from the mold. If that makes sense. Anyway, we have to make 50 for our Alpha members. What we do is pour the plaster paris into the mold, wait for it to harden enough to remove, sand them after they have dried, and then paint them grayish black so they look like rocks. These are four examples of casts I had sanded and painted. As of right now they are due on April 1st so we have been staying relatively busy busting these out. There are at least 26 casts completely painted and finished and I believe 9 more waiting to be sanded. My numbers may be off as well... but at least I can say we are halfway there. Each cast made thus far is unique to the next. Mainly because I am not the best painter and they all came out as "50 shades of gray" instead of a few shades of similar colored gray. Somehow a few of the casts even have tan in them. Now how you get tan from black and white paint is beyond me. I guess that's one of my "unknown talents".

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Transition from Fall to Winter

As far as "outside of work" adventures go, there has been a bountiful amount which has occurred since January. As I had mentioned before, I began volunteering through the Forest Service to be a "Lynx Tracker". Due to weather conditions and work schedule, I was unfortunately only able to go tracking once. Through that I got the chance to see a new part of Minnesota I had not before. Considering Canada Lynx are endangered I cannot specify where I was but I will say I was only a few miles away from Canada. Which can be honestly anywhere up in these parts.

Mall of America

Also in January, my boyfriend's long time friend came up to visit him and therefore us. My coworker, boyfriend, and self traveled to the Twin Cities in order to pick him up. We stayed in a nice hotel, had a lovely breakfast, and then spent our entire day at the Mall of America. This was the first time my boyfriend, his friend, and myself got the chance to see the mall in all its glory. We went on a weekday and therefore it wasn't too packed. I found a few outfits. My boyfriend surprised me with a "Bananyas" shirt that I sincerely love to death; its a show I watch. My coworker showed me Lush for the first time (which I am not addicted to), Caribou Coffee, Essentia Tea, and we both visited and did a Behind-the-Scenes tour at the Aquarium the mall has in the bottom level. I unfortunately could not take any photos during the tour but I have many memories I hope not to forget. We saw turtles, fish, and sharks galore. Learned about how they feed said animals, what it takes to run the aquarium tanks, and saw the offices and "lab" where they prepare the food. During the visit our guide fed some turtles and fish in one tank. That was where we saw a HUGE gar. It had to be at least 5 feet long and I cannot even guess the weight. While my coworker and I ventured around together, my boyfriend and his friend were elsewhere taking a bunch of photos. Later on we met back up for a quick bite to eat and then headed five hours back to the cabin. The moon was as bright as the sun that night, making visibility easy.

 During his friends stay we made a point to give him a grand tour of the town. We all had dinner at the Grand Ely Lodge with my coworkers, wing night yum, and got to show his friend the local businesses and super markets that were open. He got to see the wolf center and the wolves during a "What's for Dinner" program. It was also my boyfriend's first program; which I was fortunate enough to give that night to them and many other members of the public. I was lucky enough to get a "wolf selfie" thanks to his friend snapping a photo while we all sat and talked in front of some windows (before the program of course).

Myself with Axel and my boyfriend.

 He also got to see the Northern Lights over Burntside lake. They may not have lived up to their full glowing glory, like the first night I saw them, but they were still visible enough to the naked eye. It made me so happy to be able to share the northern experience. I cannot recall if he had seen them before or not but still! Every new opportunity to see the lights is extremely exciting to me. I would love to get a picture of myself with the lights behind me at some point; but dreams are dreams until they're reality.

My boyfriend, the friend, and myself also went to Kawishiwi Falls. It was exciting for me because it is one of my favorite trails and it was going to be the first time both the boyfriend and friend saw the falls. It was truly a beautiful day when we went. The sun was shining bright, the temperature wasn't freezing, and we had some cool experiences. I convinced his friend I was a disney princess because I called in some chickadees using the "pshing" technique. We also got to see a red squirrel up close (within 5 feet) from us as we hiked.

The falls did not have as much water as the photo I had taken for the last blog post, being that they were mostly frozen, but that just made it all the more fun. So far I have had the opportunity to see these falls in spring, summer, fall, and winter! Perhaps one of these days I will post a "transition" photo somewhere on social media to show the difference between the seasons. Give me time.

After the hike we went to Gators: Grilled Cheese Emporium and later back to the cabin. Beyond these adventures, and some trips to the grocery, I cannot recall much else to what we had done. I remember driving his friend to Duluth to catch a bus to the cities, so he may return home, and therefore seeing Lake Surperior's icy shores but that is unfortunately all I remember. We had a ton of fun when his friend was here but afterwards it was back to the daily grind. Which, part of this daily grind included helping our wolf specialist with a group that wanted to go snowshoeing. More or less we, the educators, had to go with them as supervisors since they wanted to hike the nature trail we have here at the wolf center. In order to use the trail, you have to have an educator. So, what did this mean for me? First time snowshoeing!

 I was rather intimidated by the idea of snowshoeing, but once they were strapped on to my tennis shoes I quickly realized it is actually a lot of fun. Part of me wishes I owned my own pair so I can go explore the areas trails and forest service roads that are still snow covered to this day. We did a short hike behind the wolf center with the group and later finished off the work day. So far I have only went snowshoeing twice this year. This occasion, as mentioned, and the second occasion was when I was out doing Goshawk Surveys with the biologist whom I spoke with about Lynx tracking. We went out, used a gamer caller with a Goshawk recording, and listened for any responses to determine nest sites. Unfortunately we did not hear any call back. Which may be good or bad dependent on who you're talking too. The area we surveyed is an area the service hopes to harvest timber from. If a goshawk is heard at any point in the area, then the area cannot be harvested for its timber and must be left alone. Thankfully the awesome timber harvesting crew sticks to protocol and doesn't harvest if there are goshawk nests present. I will also say I enjoy my time spent with the biologist because the more we talked about wildlife and this field, the more I realized there is so much I need to continue to learn. Whether it be about the career path and job hunting or Minnesota's wild lands. This was another reason I enjoyed working on that "Northwoods Ecology" program I mentioned before, but the research reminded me there is so much I still want to learn about the northwoods. A place I have come to love over the last two years. Fortunately, an opportunity has been presented itself to do just that....

I have not really announced this yet, minus a few people, so I guess now is a good time to do it. I had applied for a Biotechnician position with the Forest Service, here in Ely, back in September. In which case this position would be working with the biologist I volunteer through. During the goshawk surveys she had informed me that she requested my application during the process and therefore I am currently unofficially hired. What this means is I am hired only on the condition that they finalize the budget and have enough funding for the position itself. Mind you, this is only a seasonal position but it is certainly what I have been looking for. If there is no proper funding then the position would have to be cancelled. From the sounds of it, this position will go through for sure. How many months it will occur is up in the air. It could be one month, two, or maybe three. Hard to say at this point but I hope to know more soon. I would be conducting goshawk surveys, owl surveys, pollinator surveys, and other field related research. Of course, until something is set in stone I am still applying for and have interviewed for other positions as well. So I still cannot necessarily say my future is 100% set in stone the next few months. The joys of the wildlife field. Always wondering where you will be next.


In February, Ely finally ha another fun event going on in town. The Ely Winter Festival! There was a medallion hidden in town, creating a real life scavenger hunt with daily clues. At first it was anyone's guess where it was, until clues eventually pointed to the water tower in town. I had a gut feeling but did not act quick enough when it came to finding the medallion. However, it was still good fun trying. During the festival ice blocks of various sizes were brought in and sculpted. I had a chance to help with our wolf center block, but unfortunately was sick the day everyone went out to carve. Better luck next time I suppose. The sculptures were beautiful, but I failed to take any pictures! Thankfully someone else took a photo of at least the larger blocks: "click here". During the festival there was also snowshoeing, skiing, an art walk, and a symphony band. More or less the town came back alive despite some cold weather.

 

This is one of the guys we wanted to win.
Sadly he did not win either.

I look pretty scary in the right light.
This is our beloved Wolf Specialist.

My favorite part of the festival, besides the sculptures, was the Nordic Beard Fest. For this, three of my coworkers and a coworkers friend (who was an old intern at the Wolf Center) all went to cheer on said friend during a "public choice" event. More or less men with bears go on stage and whoever gets the most screams/yells wins. The friend unfortunately did not, but it was still a ton of fun! Heidi took a ton of awesome photos and overall we enjoyed some good drinks and laughs. If you search up "Nordic Beard Fest" on facebook or online, you should find the page explaining the event more and thus Heidi's photos too. Heidi is a well known photographer in the area whom takes absolutely amazing photos of wildlife, northern lights, and more. You can find her works at Root River Photography. One day I plan to buy some prints from her!

Anyway, after the event our group head over to Dee's Bar to play pool and giant life size jenga. We came close to the record stack, therefore drawing an audience to watch us, but unfortunately the stack fell before we beat said record.Either way it was a ton of fun! I came SUPER close to beating the wolf specialist at pool but called the wrong pocket when I fired the 8 ball.

As we progressed through February, we yet again saw more fluctuation in temperature from below freezing to freezing point (-20 to 32 degrees F). Of course the occasional warm days meant more snow that we had to shovel. But it also meant more awesome photo opportunities with the wolves. Aidan, as mentioned before, seems to really enjoy the snow for he is often seen lying in it.

Starting sometime this year up until a few weeks ago my coworkers, boyfriend, and self had had a Harry Potter marathon. We got to the 5th movie but stopped halfway through it because of how tired we were that particular night. My coworker had two of her friends visit. Each time this happened we all would get together for a movie or games like Cards Against Humanity. When the boyfriend's friend was here, so was a coworkers, and during that we played Oregon Trail and Betrayal at House on the Hill. Many laughs shared, many memories made, and of course at any point I would do it all over again.

Other events that have happened include Wine, Women, and Wolves weekend. In which case I got to tag along for an Insula dinner with some pretty awesome ladies. I did not get the chance to do anything beyond dinner, but it was still fun talking to everyone while I could.

The 'K' table at Insula during Wine, Women, Wolves.
Everyone here has a K name! No this wasn't planned.

I have also attended the Ely Naturalist Meetings every chance I get. The first one I went to was in December for the biologist's Lynx program. I missed the meeting in January because of having to drive to the Twin Cities to pick up the boyfriend's friend. February's meeting mostly covered winter finches and the Feeder Watch citizen science project. Today's meeting covered projects related to Invasive Species and Water Quality around the arrowhead region. This included possible volunteering experiences in the area.

What I always see during the drive to/from work or town.

I hate ending a blog post on a sour note, but try not to let it get you down. Unfortunately, although I had continued to say "my boyfriend" throughout the post. I will now say that he is no longer in the picture and has thus moved back to Ohio. I had merely said "my boyfriend" earlier in this post, because at the time all those events happened he truly was and it was much easier than repeating "ex" over and over again. Truthfully this is why I would never mention a significant other in the blogs I have written. Last time I was in Minnesota in 2014, I had a significant other then as well but you just never heard about him for this very reason. If a breakup occurs, then I have to explain why all of a sudden I stop mentioning someone. Lesson learned for another day. Although these last three weeks had been hard, the days get easier as they pass. After all, I am still a human and a loss is a loss. I have kept myself busy with work, watching movies, volunteering, hanging out with my coworkers, and doing the only thing I can honestly do for myself right now: try my best to move on. So please do not ask me for details. You do not have to say sorry, there's nothing to be sorry for.
I am fine and continuing to move on with my career.  After all....

Dreams require sacrifice.

Grayson

Enjoy the sound of wolves howling during one of our "What's for Dinner" programs.

Thank you for reading.