Girl Scout Project - the conclusion

(photo taken near Grand Prospect, Rattlesnake trail, Winery approach, two days before the August full moon)

I thought people would be interested in the conclusion of the Girl Scout Project I posted about last month. Reprinting with permission (be sure to check out her photos; it looks like she had fun):

Dear fellow knitters and members of my community,

Warm and heartfelt greetings to all of you who helped me with my Girl Scout Gold Award project, whether you knitted squares, blankets or donated blankets, helped with publicity, spread the word through your personal or business networks or allowed me to put up donation boxes, Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Because of you I exceeded my goal of donating 30, mostly hand knit blankets to UGM Women and Children's Shelter. On August 7th, I delivered 45 blankets. I couldn't have done it without each and every one of you contributing good wishes, blankets, squares and yarn.

You may be interested to know that help came from California, Sweden, Minnesota, and many communities from around the Puget Sound. Children to Seniors, male and female all pitched in. Some of you included touching stories and thoughts when you sent your squares. I have certainly learned that knitters are a warm and caring community!

If you would like to see pictures of many of the blankets from the project, they are available for viewing.

Thank you for making this an unforgettable experience!

Sincerely,

Mia Cooledge

Sweet little baby and mom

Today is the most I have got to see of this baby deer. The elk and her calf have also been around, but she still isn't letting her baby any closer than glimpses through trees.

As long as I was looking down on them from a higher deck they seemed to tolerate me.

I tried to get down to a lower level to get a straight on shot. It was interesting watching the mom gear up to run, but then pause so baby would keep up. Don't worry, I didn't purse and once around the tree they slowed again.

Apples coming in

I don't eat the apples on my trees, but the wildlife definitely does.



The elk are so loud when they are pulling back on the branches that I can often get closer to them unnoticed (not too close).

This particular elk came repeatedly all day. I have another one that seems to be nearby with the youngest elk calf I have seen yet; but I can't even get close to her to get a photo and I don't want to stress her or make her run.

It is still horribly dry, hot, and hazy out here so I am glad the fruit is starting to come in for the animals. I am watching a lot of them shred at some pretty sad looking grass.