Last gorgeous day



 Tuesday was one of the last gorgeous days of the year.  Soon the snow will set in along with the dark.  I intended to use as much as the day as possible to work outdoors.  Even the bears seemed to be enjoying sunbathing for one last time. 

As I did the morning walk around their enclosure; Joe Boxer and Hugo were just laying around. (Hugo on right and JB on left)

 The animals are getting fluffier every day!  It almost happens overnight!  I noticed shaggy seems to be building up her winter coat.  The kodiak cubs are eatting about 4 pounds of dog food daily!  This is almost the same amount as the adult black bears are getting!

I spent a large amount of time goofing around with the moose calves.  They are now getting only one bottle a day.  They are getting 54 oz. of bottle, about 20-30 cups of grain, and will be getting brush for a few more days.  The willow has basically all died for the year.  There is still a bit of alder around, but it won't last much longer.    The moose calves have gotten so big that later this same day our maintenance man added a shelf for their grain bowls to sit on so they don't have to kneel anymore.  This is Gilly on the left.

There were still a few birch branches left over from a donation.  I added the remaining branches and watched them eat away. 

The moose calves will be fully weaned in about 9 days or so.  I will slowly start to add water to replace the milk until they are drinking straight water.   

After the moose calves got their daily brush; I headed over to give some birch to the musk ox. 

This is fluffy.  He is the younger bull that we have in the herd.  He is only able to eat peacefully because slide, the dominant bull, has not yet figured out that I threw in branches.  Typically the herd has to wait while slide decides which branches he wants.  I spread them out also so that the younger musk ox have a chance at eating the brush.  Mukluk, our orphaned musk ox, is doing very well.  This will be the first winter she spends with the herd.  The herd has been treating her very well.  I notice her laying closer and closer to the females every day.  It also helps now that the new born calves from this spring are much larger and do not need their mothers protection. 

After I threw the musk ox their share of the birch; I rode the four wheeler to go cut alder for the reindeer.  I also gave a few branches to jewelie, our sitka black tailed deer. 

Our garden is seeing its last few days.  I plucked the remaining lettuce from the garden and tossed it to the elk. 

Tomorrow I will clean out the broccoli, and also start pulling cabbage.  Snickers and Jewelie will be very pleased to see some more broccoli.  I will be sure to snap some photos of jewelie and snickers enjoying their broccoli!  Until then.....