Fall has been flying by. Thankfully, it has not moved too rapidly into winter. After last year’s early storms and continued pounding, we are praying that we get a little bit of a breather this winter. The weather has been outstanding, but probably just a bit too warm and nice.

In general, the Fall challenges have totally revolved around our Application to Larimer County to increase the size of the Sanctuary (see Irrational Fears). As mentioned in previous newsletters, this expansion is necessary so we can move all of the WideAwake wolves to the Sanctuary.

In that regard, the weather has allowed us to continue building the new enclosures without interruptions from Mother Nature, and we truly appreciate her consideration.

Isabeau seems to be calming down some as she matures. Although there have been a few more exciting moments with her, it certainly did not appear that we were only here to clean-up and fix things after her explorations during the Fall.

20 September
-- Recovering After Postponed Hearing 

Recovering from the disappointment of the postponement and stress from the evening before became very easy as Isabeau provided the comic relief. She began digging a den outside the back window of the house. Her efforts to excavate the perfect den involved digging through a wild rose bush, under a large tree trunk on the ground and around the roots and stump of that large tree. Her positions and persistence kept us amused for hours. The endeavor was an engineering masterpiece.

21 September
-- A Gift From Sustainable Living Fair Ž

Every year in Fort Collins, New Belgium Brewing sponsors a public event geared towards living green. This year a demonstration was sponsored showing how to build straw-bale dog houses. After the event the organizers wished to donate the results of their demonstration to a worthy cause. You guessed it, we accepted and were very grateful.

22 September
-- CSU Biology Club Volunteers

We were very grateful as well, for the extra volunteer help received from the folks from CSU. They spent the afternoon working on the new habitats.

23 September
-- Annual Volunteer Picnic

Every year we enjoy taking time to just socialize with those who do so much for the Sanctuary. This year’s event was wonderful and again, as in previous years, just as everyone was finishing the picnic goodies, we were forced into the house by a thunder storm. Although this tends to get a bit claustrophobic in our 480 square foot cabin, everyone was up to the challenge.

We presented a significant number of awards both serious and fun in nature. Without the commitment and passion of all our volunteers, Wolf would be severely restricted in what it could accomplish. The top awards went to:

02 October
-- Isabeau Jumps the New Railing 

OK, we totally misjudged her abilities -- again. After she jumped it the first time, we should have built it up much higher. How does she do that?! Again, we were adjusting the railing on the porch and wondering what her next super-wolf feat would be.

05 October
-- Temple Grandin, PhD Visits

Professor Grandin is a gifted animal scientist who has amazing insights into the way animals think and see the world. She had been trying to get up to the Sanctuary ever since her visit to the WideAwake Pack, last year. We were honored to visit with her and share some of our experiences with the wolves.

06 October
-- Re-donating Food/Reflections for Youth

Over the years, we have built some outstanding relationships with organizations such as the Wal-Mart Distribution Center in Loveland. The amount of dog food we receive is significantly more than we can use and for this we are extremely grateful. We redistribute the excess to other shelters and rescues in Northern Colorado. This day we were loading up Canine Bed and Biscuit with over a ton of food. They currently care for approximately 95 dogs, with about 60 of those being pit bulls dumped from municipalities where they have been banned.

We were again pleased to accept the volunteer help from a group dealing with teens-at-risk -- Reflections for Youth. These individuals are absolutely amazing workers and tremendously affected by the stories of the animals they meet. We appreciate their help and believe strongly that their interaction with the animals is a beneficial situation for them and the wolves.

07 October
-- WideAwake Dusting Œ

The first snow of the season was a light dusting at the WideAwake facility. This date was actually later than usual and the amount very easy to deal with. Thank goodness.

14 - 15 October
-- Rain & 1st Snow at the Sanctuary 

As ‘Wolf Awareness Week’ began the weather was cooperating extremely well and was making our building of the new enclosures much easier. Finally, we did receive a good amount of needed precipitation, mostly in the form of rain. It totaled almost 5” over the two-day period. We felt very blessed that only about two inches of snow accumulated.