Have a Spook-tacular time!
Hope everybody has a fun and safe Halloween. I'm going to celebrate in Newport Beach with Jason and company. (I think this will be my first Halloween where I'm not freezing the whole time!)
Check out this video... it's kinda funny, but has nothing to do with Halloween, except maybe the orange drink. Enjoy! http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=XMyiMnQy9d4&feature=related
I know we all agreed to avoid politics, however I would like to supply some food for thought. This is not intended to become a political debate between family members but to be an eye opener for all of us when considering future environmental policies and those who claim to support such policies.
In 1993, Vice President Al Gore met with Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland and secretly signaled to the Norwegians that the United States would not interfere with their plans to expand commercial whaling. Gore's infamous Norwegian memo was leaked to the press and published in full page ads with the caption "Blood and Gore." In the memo, the Vice President repeated the United States commitment to stand by and not interfere with Norwegian attempts to overturn the IWC ban on commercial whaling. Gore wrote, "This strengthens my argument for the need for a scheme that will allow resumption of whaling worldwide." Gore hoped to keep free trade options open to Norway and Japan by not interfering and going as far as supporting their commercial whaling operations.
Although gray whales are the target of the Makah tribe's whaling efforts, the most commonly killed whale worldwide is the minke whale, the most common baleen whale in the San Juans.
In 2005 Japan announced its intention to more than double the Antarctic minke harvest, to 935 whales from this specific area a year. They also intend to expand their "scientific whaling" program to sperm whales, fin whales, Byrde's whales, and humpbacks. All of this was done with little backlash from ANY U.S. politician.
Some men see things as they are and say, "Why?" I dream of things that never were and ask, "Why not?"
It's funny how fast time goes by as you get older. When I was little summer almost seemed too long. I was always ready to go back to school and start another year. This fall was the first time I can remember not having to go back to school, but somehow the summer ended too soon. I really miss the Residents. I never thought I'd grow so fond of the animals or that I'd meet so many people who share my fascination with them. I was able to 
help on research teams, a dream I never imagined I'd realize because I'm not a marine biologist. I may even return to San Juan Island to work more on Katherine's scat project. It was exciting to see J28 (Polaris) growing up into a mature female and mingle with the people who studied her and her family for decades. I was determined to learn as much about the local wildlife, and amassed quite the library of cetacean books. I experienced close encounters with a variety of cetaceans including orcas, pacific white-sided dolphins, minke whales, humpback whales, dall's porpoise, and harbor porpoise. I learned the orca ID process and got a feel for the individual animals' personalities and cliques.
. Unfortunately seven animals became missing this summer: J43 (unnamed great grandcalf of Granny), J11 (Blossom, a mother of three), K7 (Lummi, estimated to be 98 years old), L21 (Ankh, a great grandmother), L67 (Splash, a 23 year old mother of two), L101 (Aurora, Splash's six year old son), and L111 (the newborn calf who died shortly after birth). The losses of J11 and L111 hit me the hardest. I had a great encounter with J11 in the beginning of July, shortly before her disappearance, when she swam right up to our boat and rolled over, showing us her perfectly white belly. She left behind her two sons, J27 (seventeen-year-old Blackberry) and J39 (five-year-old Mako) and a daughter, J31 (thirteen-year-old Tsuchi). I hope Mako returns next year, most youngsters that lose their mother don't survive. When we saw Mako later in the summer he was swimming in the slip stream (a calf position) of his big sister Tsuchi. J11 was estimated to be thirty six years old, too young for an orca to die. Orcas can potentially live into their nineties, and losing a 
producing age female is a hard hit not only to her offspring, but to the Southern Resident Community, which is at is lowest number since 2002. Another J Pod female, although quite a bit older, named Speiden (J8) appeared to be losing weight throughout the season and there is little hope she will return next summer. Speiden is a great grandmother and estimated to be seventy five. Baby L111 was another sad loss because I saw her shortly after she was born (she was a bright pinkish-orange and still had obvious fetal folds from being scrunched up inside of mom). I was hoping to see her reach maturity. It's still hard to believe she didn't make it after seeing her rolling around and playing with her family. L111 is the fourth calf her mother, L47 (Marina) lost in the past eight years. Researchers are concerned she is unable to nurse her calves for some reason and that they are dying of starvation. This just goes to show the problems are real and something must be d
one.
hooked on new shows... thanks to my naughty Auntie Jen. Jo had a hard soccer game while I was in town, and despite the loss, her team looked good and Jo had some great plays. It seems like all the little cousins aren't so little anymore... pretty soon I'll be the little cousin. Dang.
Please feel free to check out to following links to see what I'm interested in and give your input:
will apply for PR jobs in the entertainment industry near the Burbank area in December. I'm going back to Michigan for the month of November to celebrate the holiday and Michael's 16th birthday as well as to visit friends and of course Dancer. (I'm really missing Dancer after seeing all these horses nearby.)
