Apache the Wolf Dog

Apache enjoys playing keep away with the tennis ball now. He gets the ball and then bobs and weaves and slides around to keep from letting you get it back. The fur along a line from his shoulder to his tail comes up and is quite interesting. He is becoming to look more and more like what he really is and it is very beautiful.
He is also very good therapy for me since I am afraid of big dogs. At the last dr visit on Saturday, April 19, he weighed between 66 and 71 pounds, couldn't get him to stand still long enough to get a definite reading.
He is learning to sit and wait before he takes his treat from my hand, I can hold it over his nose and he waits until I say ok and hand it to him before he takes it.
So we are both learning, he is 18 weeks now and I am glad that we have gotten him his shots. His brother and sister from the same litter have died, because they didn't get their shots. His sister was the runt and was the exact image of a wolf and was a beautiful little girl and so sweet. I am very sad that she is dead, his brother was more of a loner and flighty.
I have been working very hard trying to teach him and train myself not to be afraid of him.

I am waiting for him to get a little calmer, but then we are going to get a harness and a wagon and teach him how to pull it. Thinking of then decorating the wagon as the Captain's Yacht and use it to raise money at charity events. First thing we have to do is teach him not to get so excited and jump on people.

See you all next time.

USS Ulysses Has Lost One of Her Adopted Children

These pictures are the pictures of Reno at his 22nd Birthday Party, apparently the last pictures taken before he died.

I know that some of you are new to our ship, but for those of you that have been to the Living Desert and have been to Eagle Canyon, you remember our beloved, Reno.

My husband and I went to Wildlights last night and when we stopped by to see Reno we were told the very sad news that he is gone. Reno died in June of this year, shortly after his 22nd birthday.

For some background, for those that didn't know him. He was the oldest mountain lion in captivity, and was of our early adoptees at the Living Desert. Some of our members were able to have what is called a one-on-one with him. Which is time with him in his feeding room, with just a cyclone fence between you and him.

We were so very close, that I could have reached out and touched him, and boy did I want to, but they wouldn't let us. I know that I will miss seeing him when I go there, and I am very, very sad at his loss.

His mate, Sedona, has another mate now, but she is also getting up there in years, and yes she still does get that sore on her tail the keeper told us. The keeper said that the staff took his passing very hard, which is understandable, he had been at their facility for most of his life.

The Ulysses will be running with lights dimmed for the rest of the holiday season in honor of this great and majestic animal.

Sincerely,
Juanita Gamble, Vice-Admiral
CO, USS Ulysses

An Evening With Robert Picardo

OK, I admit it, I'm the token Original Series fan on the Ulysses, with a meager history of watching TNG, DS9 and Voyager episodes. Even so, the wry and intelligent Emergency Medical Hologram "Doctor" portrayed by Robert Picardo on Voyager was memorable like no other character on that show. "7 of 9" was memorable, but only in the sense that any stacked "actress" in a silver jumpsuit would be, and Chokotay was memorable as yet another Hollywood magical Injun whose wise aboriginal paganism confers the mystic power to commune with animal spirit guides. I'll grant aliens all kinds of superpowers, but unless the Virgin Mary gets equal time, don't throw tribal vision quests at me, OK? Anyway....

I've been in Vegas the last few days helping the IFT recruit at the Star Trek convention and I was thrilled to be invited to dinner with Mr. Picardo last night, as a guest of the IFT chapter USS Las Vegas. Dinner at the Stratosphere restaurant "Fellini's" was excellent and Mr. Picardo was very gracious, patient and generous in his dealings with the 25 or so in attendance. He took time to speak to everyone, posed for endless photos, and signed anything handed to him. He spoke to the group at large, recited passages from his book, and even sang a bit! And he indulged all questions from the audience politely and humorously. Need I mention that not all Star trek fans are socially adept? :-)

Looking a little more into his career today, I see that Picardo also crosses over into my comic-collecting life- he voiced both Amazo and Blackhawk in the Justice League animated series, and plays the Principal in the cartoon "Ben 10", about a superpowered kid. Anyway, a great time was had by all. While many actors I have met fall into the category of "dancing bear with ego problem", Picardo distinguished himself as a nice funny friendly guy. Unless of course he's really an SOB - he's a really great actor, so who can tell? :-)

Remembering Scotty

The very first rocket to launch from Spaceport America in New Mexico successfully delivered James Montgomery Doohan's ashes into space today, along with messages and condolences from his fans around the world, myself included.

Doohan is beloved by all Star Trek fans for his portrayal of Mr. Scott, stalwart Chief Engineer and 3rd in command of the Enterprise. But Doohan wasn't just a fictional hero. And since it was Doohan who died and not Scotty, let's honor the man instead of the character. Doohan was a true hero of WWII, fighting real-life Nazis before he ever met his first Klingon.

Here is an excerpt from his biography at Wikipedia: At the outbreak of the Second World War, Doohan, aged 19, joined the Royal Canadian Artillery, and was eventually commissioned as a lieutenant in the 13th Field Regiment, part of the divisional artillery of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. Doohan went to the United Kingdom in 1940 for what became years of training. His first combat assignment was the invasion of Normandy at Juno Beach on D-Day. Shooting two snipers along the way, Doohan led his unit to higher ground through a field of anti-tank mines and took defensive positions for the night. Crossing between command posts at 11:30 that night, Doohan took six rounds from a Bren gun fired by a nervous sentry: four in his leg, one in the chest, and one through his right middle finger. The bullet to his chest was halted by the silver cigarette case he carried, and his wounded finger was amputated which he would conceal during his career as an actor.

Despite his injuries, Doohan remained in the military, trained as a pilot and flew an artillery observation plane. He flew Taylorcraft Auster Mark V aircraft for 666 (AOP) Squadron, RCAF, as a Royal Canadian Artillery officer in a flying role in support of #1 Canadian AGRA (Army Groups Royal Artillery). All three Canadian (AOP) RCAF Squadrons were manned by Artillery Officer-pilots and 'aircrewed' by Artillery personnel serving as observers. Though never actually a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force, he was once labelled the "craziest pilot in the Canadian Air Forces." One of the many legendary stories of his flying years tells of Doohan slaloming a plane - variously cited as a Hurricane or a jet trainer - between mountainside telegraph poles to prove it could be done, which earned him a serious reprimand.

Rest in Peace James Montgomery Doohan.

Spring Is Here!

Can You Believe That We Even Had A Winter?

I guess we had to just make-believe this year, that we had a winter, which I think was more like summer for most of the time. These pictures are from 2004 when it snowed in Beaumont in April, can you believe that!
This year we got one day of snow, and it was gone before I got home from work, we even had to go high on the mountains to find any to drive in.
Well for those Californians, I hope that you enjoy these snow pictures, for those Mid-Westerners and Easterners, I know that you got more than your share this year. So just pretend that these are palm fronds flying around.

Hope that all of you have a good SPRING, and that you all remembered to set those clocks ahead, 3 weeks earlier than usual.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Juanita

Daylight Savings Time

Do you ever feel like time is stalking you? Do you feel like it is creeping up on you silently like a predator? Are you afraid to turn around in fear that there might be that large animal behind you, like our friend over there?

Well, don't look now, but Daylight Savings Time is stalking us again, and it is coming to get us tonight! So my friends, don't forget to set those clocks forward this weekend, and lose that one precious hour of sleep.

Don't let our little, or should I say, BIG, friend, TIME, get you, by forgetting to "SPRING FORWARD" for Daylight Savings Time.

Don't forget to join us for the Living Desert Away Mission on March 17, 2007 at 10:00 am.

Juanita

Here, there be whales...

A few weeks ago I joined our sister ship the USS Athena on a trip to watch whales off the coast of Long Beach. Although we spotted a few, they were a little shy. The sea lions were amusing and the weather and ocean were beautiful. Here's a short video: