Where’s Wolfie #6

 

Last week, I “stumped” all of you regarding my location. You should have found me at the large hollow log next to the parking lot near the MacKenzie Center Lodge. Johnny took my picture after I crawled through the log and came out the other side. The hollow log is a very popular spot for school groups to have their picture taken, and younger people who come to our Maple Fest and Fall Festival like to play on the hollow log.

 

I have been told by the Friends of MacKenzie and by the Columbia County Forester that the log probably once was a large silver maple tree. It originally grew on the Gorman farm along Stebbins Road north of the MacKenzie Center. When ABS Global bought the Gorman farm, the hollow log was donated to the MacKenzie Center, and it has been on the property ever since that time. If your family has a photo of you near the hollow log, please consider sharing it with the Friends. You could send it to the [email protected] email address or post it on the Friends of MacKenzie Facebook page.

 

In fact, it’s not only ‘kids’ who enjoy the hollow log. Sometimes adults can be seen playing in the log, too. It’s fun to see adults acting silly and feeling young again. Last week, Johnny’s dad took me for a bicycle ride, and I got to ride on his shoulder. We were whoopin’ it up pretty good. I felt the wind in my whiskers and the sun on my snout. At one point, my bicycle helmet slid down over my eyes, and I was riding blind - that was scary, but I loved every minute of it. Some kids just never grow up … and that is a good thing. As Johnny’s dad often says, “Growing old is a fact; growing up is a choice, and I choose not to make it.”

 

Adults may be able to have fun with this week’s contest too. You might be able to recognize where I am this week regardless of your age, even a grandparent who is 55 years old. I asked Johnny to take my picture at this MacKenzie Center location because with my great wolf ears I heard very faint squealing. When I first heard the squealing I thought it was a den full of little wolves like me, but then I realized that the squealing I heard was actually human children laughing, playing, and refusing to go to sleep. Their voices were so faint because some of the squeals had traveled over 50 years to get to my ears.

 

If you think my ears heard your voice, and you know where my picture was taken, you can enter the contest for this week regardless of your age. Email your response to this week’s ‘Where’s Wolfie’ contest to [email protected] before 5:00 pm on Friday, October 2nd. If you are the prize winner, the Friends of MacKenzie will contact you by email. If there is more than one correct response, the Friends will draw a winning name from the list of correct entries.

 

Even if you don’t enter the contest, Johnny and I invite you to consider making a donation to the Friends of MacKenzie for their Wildlife Project. How about making a gift of one dollar for every year that has passed since you were at the location my picture was taken this week (if you can guess where it is)..

 

All of your donation will be used by the Friends to help build a new home for my cousins, the real wolves who live at the MacKenzie Center. Although I am still little and can have fun doing whatever I want to, my real-wolf cousins and the other animals in the Wildlife area have work to do helping the educators at the MacKenzie Center teach kids of all ages about things like animal habitat, predator-prey relationships, and the outdoor environment we share with the wolves and other creatures. Johnny and I visited the MacKenzie Center in July when it was very hot and watched one of the MacKenzie wolves enjoying a block of ice that the MacKenzie staff had given to them.  I wondered how the ice popsicle tasted to the wolf.

 

You can make an online donation to the Friends’ Wildlife Project by clicking the “Donate” button on our website, by downloading our donation form or by just sending a check to the Friends of MacKenzie Wildlife Project, W7303 County Highway CS & Q, Poynette, WI 53955. My cousins and I thank you.