A Very Interesting Day

Elk, Eagles and Garbage

It was an interesting day. After work Dagmar and I tootled ten miles north to a park we frequent. We like to go look at the elk. We like to think the elk like to look at us, too, but they’re probably just bored. As we were playing with the elk I happened to look over my shoulder to see a bald eagle soaring overhead. I got lots of blurry pictures. (If you want to see them a bit larger, you can go HERE.)

So we thought that was way cool and went home. As we walked from the car to the house Dagmar started picking up some soggy garbage that was laying in our yard. After she’d gathered a handful she went to dump it in the garbage. “How odd,” she said when she came back around front. “Ve have dat green garbage can ve never use — the top had blown open, so I vent to close it und there’s a purse in it.”

How odd indeed.

So I called the police and they sent a nice policewoman over who very patiently went through the garbage… Turns out the purse had been stolen somewhere across town last November. The thief probably dumped it in our “spare” garbage can months ago, where it’s patiently sat waiting for someone to notice it… The policelady was really nice. I hope they find the thief, though the odds are pretty slim they will.

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11 thoughts on “A Very Interesting Day

  1. katrocket

    Hey, are those elk “wild” or is that some kinda elkfarm / petting zoo?

    Also, I lost my purse around last November. Was it purse-shaped, with a shoulder strap handle thingy? It could be mine.

    Reply
  2. Chris

    Well, they’re “wildish,” sorta. They’re fenced in, but they’re not tame by any means. It’s hard to estimate, but I’d guess they have 12 to 18 acres of pastureland in which to roam — not a huge amount of land, but if they don’t want you looking at them they can just go over the hill and munch the tasty grass over there.

    It’s interesting ’cause when the elk see Dagmar they’ll come trotting over to the fence. The big guy likes it when Dagmar scratches his nose. Dagmar talks to them, and sometimes the bull will shake his head and do a funny little dance in front of her, so Dagmar will shake her head and dance back at him… They have an interesting relationship. They tolerate me being near the fence, and I’ve seen them let a few other people get close to them, but for the most part they stay as far away from people as they can get.

    Unless the people is Dagmar, of course.

    Kinda funny — we were there once, watching the elk from a distance, when all at once each and every one of them lifted their head at the same time and started making soft hooting noises, staring off to the east. About thirty second later we could see the park ranger’s truck disappearing around the bend in the distance as he left the park. Half an hour later, the herd started hooting again. About a minute later we could see the ranger’s truck pull into the park entrance… They knew he was coming and going long before he was in earshot or in sight.

    Sadly, some hole actually SHOT one of the elk last fall. Shot a tagged elk in a pen. Big man. I don’t remember now, but it seems to me that I heard whomever was “elk hunting” cut the dead animal’s head off for a trophy and left the carcass to rot. How sporting.

    Oh, the purse? Yeah, it was kinda purse-shaped. Had an opening in the top with a zipper and stuff. It had a color. I’m sure it was probably yours — sure sounds like it.

    Reply
  3. The Guv'ner

    As OMC once said “HOW BIZARRE!”

    The elk look ultra cool. And wow, eagles? That’s awesome. The only birds we have in NYC are made of stone or pigeons.

    Can I adopt the word “tootled” please. I love it.

    Reply
  4. Chris

    Guv — Tootle away. I’ve been calling people @sshat for weeks. I stole that from you…

    Boobs — Yeah, there was stuff in it. I watched/helped the policelady go through the stuff… There were no credit cards, and no driver’s license, but there were some personal things (makeup, perfume, whatnot), a few children’s drawings done in crayon, and, oddly enough, an envelope full of checks from different people made out to a local charity. Evidently the lady who lost the purse had been part of a fundraising drive and had collected about a hundred bucks in checks for the charity, but the thief didn’t take the checks for some reason. Sadly there wasn’t anything that could really help the police find the thief. Nor were there any personal effects that could have held intrinsic value (other than the drawings made by the child) — if the lady kept any photos or anything like that in her purse, they’re gone.

    Reply
  5. ~:*:*:Pixie:*:*:~

    That is so crappy (about the purse)… when my mom’s was stolen, they took the only photograph in existence of her father who has long been deceased. :o(

    The elk are fantastic … wish we had something like that around here – the Phoenix Zoo isn’t so neat anymore.

    Gosh. I’m a real downer today. LOL!

    Reply
  6. The Lady Who Doesn't Lunch:

    How cool are those elk? I love when you can get up close to animals like that. There’s a little zoo in Traverse City that I love because you get pretty close to the brown bears, but the elk no so much. The last time we were there an elk came running up to the fence and rammed it. I nearly peed my pants. Anyhoo… the elk in your park are beautiful… and probably delicious. I should eat something.

    Reply
  7. Leonesse

    Oh, how lovely. There used to be a place here that had elk and all kinds of foreign deer and llamas. They had little DikDik’s that would mew like a cat. It was like they took an elk and shrunk it to the size of a black lab.

    I loved going there. The state made them shut down on some technicality. I had never heard of them having any issues, but you know how the govt. can be. I miss it.

    Reply

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