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Sherry Samuels
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More Out of the Pocket Than in the Pocket of a Keeper: Volume the Third

Fall is in the air at last(ish)! I really enjoy this time of year when everything is cooling down again (although in our case it’s more like colding down and then heating up and then finally, maybe, cooling down a little, for now, if we’re lucky and don’t jinx it. Oops.). Regardless, October is definitely one of my favorite months because it’s such a transition month (my other favorite month is March for the same reason. Have you heard the phrase “in like a lion, out like a lamb”? My birthday’s also in March, so maybe that’s why I’m partial to it…). There’s a period of time in October where summer is losing its kick and fall isn’t quite on the ball yet and the effect is very spring-like. To me, anyway (I ended up getting teased for feeling this way. Apparently everyone else just thinks it feels like fall). And what a better month to have a camera in my pocket always than this beautiful transition month (see, what I’m doing here [quite sincerely] is positively reinforcing Sherry for getting the camera. This is a technique we use in the training of our animals)!

Looking over a bunch of pictures I’ve been taking, I saw that I have an interesting documentation of the transition at the Museum this year. Here’s a picture of a beautiful farmyard morning I took at the beginning of the month. It was one of the mornings where it felt very springy to me. Notice how green the leaves are on the trees:

Here’s another one a week later of some flowers in the bear yard that popped up everywhere. This day was a little warmer and rainier. Look again at how green the leaves are:

Slowly, the first signs of fall emerge. These were taken by the wetlands down in Explore the Wild:

A find! One of the last Monarchs of the season. I showed this picture to the very fabulous Ranger Greg Dodge (he carries a camera on him too, and we always share pictures when we pass each other), and he was surprised that this guy was still hanging around:

Hey! Acorns everywhere! Where did they all come from all of the sudden? We collect buckets of them for the bears:

And then, suddenly, everything’s on fire (these were taken by Cassidy, but taken with my camera fresh from my pocket):

Leading us to this cool fall morning when I went to get the trailer, and it was decorated with a little fall decor (like 2 seconds after I took this picture, a volunteer dumped a big shovel of poo in it. So much for that.):

4 responses to More Out of the Pocket Than in the Pocket of a Keeper: Volume the Third

  1. Ranger Greg says:

    Nice posting. As always, you're postings are very entertaining.I like fall too, and I know what you mean about the spring-like feel of it at times.Keep tappin' that camera!

  3. Wendy A says:

    How come acorns aren't poisonous to bears when they do bad things to humans and dogs? Are bears immune to the toxic gallotanins that I've been reading about lately?

  4. Sherry says:

    Wendy: I would have to do a bunch of research to answer your question correctly. It is a natural food source for many bears, and I believe not all acorns are made equally.

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