Great Spirit PrayerWhose voice I hear in the wind, Whose breath gives life to all the world, Hear me; I need Your strength and wisdom.Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset.Make my hands respect the things You have made and my ears sharp to hear Your voiceMake me wise so that I may understand the things You have taught my people.Help me to remain calm and strong in the face of all that comes towards me.Let me learn the lessons You have hidden in every leaf and rock.Help me seek pure thoughts and act with the intention of helping others.Help me find compassion without empathy overwhelming me.I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother, but to fight my greatest enemy... Myself.Make me always ready to come to You with clean hands and straight eyes.So when life fades, as the fading sunset, my spirit may come to You without shame.A Gift From Those Who Walk the Spirit WorldI give you this one thought to keep: I am a thousand winds that blow, I am the diamond glints on snow.I am the sunlight on ripened grain, I am the gentle autumn rain.When you awaken in the mornin's hush, I am the swift, uplifting rush.Of quiet birds in circled flight, I am the soft stars that shine at night.Do not think of me as gone, I am with you still, in each new dawn. ~ unknown Author ~
My earliest memories of any wild animal was around the time when our grandparents took my sister and brothers into their home after our father died - and it was in my dream before for my first day in kindergarten. I dreamed that a wolf with light blue eyes was looking directly at me. I only saw his big fluffy gray-white head with heavy snow whirling around him. The next morning, our grandmother was serving us breakfast and I looked out the kitchen window and saw a grey-white wolf walking by creek and keeping close to the forest. This wolf looked right at me with light blue eyes. I don't know if my brothers or sister saw him. I sure remember him though.
I am from the Laksilyu Clan (Small Frog) born in the House of Many Eyes (Gineh'Lhli'yex from the Wet'suwet'en Nation.
Here are some of my early life experiences in my hometown.
We grew up without electricty and running water until my Grandfather during his term as Band Chief brought these conveniences to our reserve. We had tv with one channel only, wringer washer machines, and we still hang dry some laundry (prefer that to fabric softner perfumes Ick Eeew!!) I remember using oil lamps, listening to stories and listening to old clocks ticking loudly and cooking in the kitchen, going camping and fishing with our grandparents running and playing in the forest my sister and brothers. I can't believe my sister and brothers did this. We never thought of bears, cougars, snakes, wolves and coyotes or other dangers. We would watch the train go through our reserve under the bridge. Collect rocks. Eat plants and steal vegetables from our grandparents garden LOL. I would sometimes help my cousin with wringing hides on a frame with a wringer attached to it (Le stinky. I always wretched from the smell, keeping the fire going in the ba' (smoked salmon) house (and helping ourselves to some ba' too LOL). I remember we once ate each whole smoked salmon LOL. Another time we hollowed out freshly baked bread loaves LOL.
Animal lover but quite chicken-freaked when it comes to wild animals. I'll leave the cuddling of wild animals to people like Steve Irwin. My reasons are in my experiences noted below.
Bearsmy run ins with
The first time I ever saw a black bear (two- or three-year) was when I was with my grandparents checking their nets by Bulkley River. My grandmother was showing us how to cut and clean fish. My grandmother told us to hurry up. So we did. I asked her why. She looked across the river and I saw a big black bear pacing on the riverbank and swinging his head side to side. The smell of the fish was making him crazy. I was so scared and my grandmother just laughed when she saw how scared I was. When we were done, I saw the bear trying to cross the river. Grandmother told us not to run. So we walked towards the highway and when we got close to the highway. They said that we could run. We ran up the ditch so fast with the fish that it made our grandparents laugh so hard.
I recall when in elementary school, a neighbour had a baby bear cub (under a year) in his house. I think the mother bear was shot and they found the cub near her. This cub's fur was so smooth and coarse. He had brownish black fur. He seemed kind of bald, but his fur was light in those bald-looking parts of his fur. He was playful and sometimes got scared. The wildlife conservation found out about this cub and they took him away. He looked like the chocolate-coloured cub in this photo.
The first big black bear (six- or seven-year or more) that I remember coming very close to and not on purpose was when I was walking home from work. It was sunny and very hot and after 6:00pm. I was so tired that I was looking down while walking home. From the corner of my eye, I saw something big and black and its fur shimmered when it took a step. I thought it was our neighbour's dog. He was very big and black. I looked up and the bear swung his head towards me at the same time. It was taller than me on all fours and about 30 feet away from me. I stopped walking. I couldn't breathe. The bear was halfway across the highway. No cars were coming at all. The bear ran towards the forest very fast. It seems it took only four steps from the middle of the highway to the forest line. I could hear the trees and bushes crashing very loudly. I was so scared and shaking so hard that I was surprised that I could run. I ran up the same side of the highway the bear ran towards, but I ran on the driveway towards the old nursery school and nearby houses. They seemed so far away. I was so afraid the bear might decide to run towards me and attack me. I ran to the first house, but no one was home. I ran to the store across this house while looking out for the bear. The owner was busy on the phone. She got off the phone and asked her if she could drive me home. She said that she couldn't leave the store and there was no one to watch it. A customer came in and I asked her for a ride home. When I was telling her and her husband what I just experienced, they just laughed at me. The husband said that the bear was more scared of you than you were of him. I said that my heart is still pounding hard against my chest.
Black and gargantuan grizzly bears run behind or in front of our house to get to the river for some fishing. One time a black mother bear (three- or four-year) and her three tiny cubs walked across our front yard to dig for some grubs in this old tree. My Gramma, mom and I just watched them from the living room window. The mother bear growled and whacked the smallest cub when he or she tried to look for some grubs. The poor little thing ran a little ways to the forest line and watched the mother and siblings eat behind some bushes. After they finished eating and started walking towards this highway, the tiny cub ran to the tree stump and couldn't find any grubs to eat. He just followed his mother and siblings.
Another time I forgot my slippers after I arrived at work. I worked from someone's home. I walked home and noticed a small blue car and a black truck parked across from our driveway entrance. A white truck was passing by and stopped and drove away. As I got close to the creek that is behind our house, I noticed that the black truck took off and the small blue car was still parked. I thought they were having car problems. Then a black bear raced from behind the small blue car and closely following her were three little black cubs crossing the highway. I stopped and froze on the driveway on the other side of this creek. The mother and her three cubs ran towards the creek really fast. I could hear the cubs crying and the mother growling. I ran towards the small blue car and found three old ladies talking excitedly. The one in the back was telling me she got some pictures when the bears were behind the car. Of course, I was scared so I asked them for a ride home. They asked where I lived and I just pointed at our house. The driver was from Washington DC and the two passengers were from Victoria BC. They were telling me what happened before I came along. I told them that there were always bears around here - black and grizzly bears. I thanked them for the ride home. LOL. I asked my employer to pick me after explaining to him what happened to me. LOL.
One morning, my mom, my Brother Ivan and I were having coffee at the kitchen table. I looked outside and I froze. I just pointed outside. I couldn't say anything. I tried to. My brother and mom were talking. Ivan looked at what I was pointing at and he ran outside, grabbed some rocks that mom and I picked from the creek behind our house and threw them at the black bear, who was just crossing our driveway and walking on our lawn. This bear looked like a two- or three-year black bear. The bear was shocked by my brother yelling and throwing rocks at him. The bear got scared and ran back across the field into the forest. I was shaking so much. I ran outside to check on our dog, Coda Cuu (Cuu means baby puppy in Wet'suwet'en). He was in his house looking out.
When I was working in a treaty office, the fisheries department rangers showed me some photos of a black bear cub who drowned near the Moricetown Canyon bridge before I started working at this office. Some community members and tourists saw a black bear and her cub (one- or two-year) swimming across the river. The cub got caught in the strong currents and was being swirled towards the canyon rocks below the bridge. The mother watched helplessly as her cub was going down the canyon. She was pacing back and forth on the river bank. The strong current pulled her cub into the strong swirling currents by the bay before the bridge. Gaffers were fishing near here and were trying to save the cub with their gaffing gear. I don't know that it would have saved the cub!! The gaffers knew the cub was dead because he hit his head against the canyon rock wall before he was sucked down into the swirling canyon. The gaffers and fisheries rangers got the cub with their gear. They couldn't help the cub as he died right away. The poor mother bear watched after they pulled her cub out of the canyon and took off when she saw that he was dead. Poor little cub. The rangers and tourists took pictures of this poor dead cub. Ewwww!!! Who do they think they are CSIs?
Eaglecountry
This is eagle country too. We have to watch our cats when they go out to wonder around behind our house.
There are foxes behind our house too. So I have to make sure I am outside to make sure my cats are not going to be eaten by those foxes.
One hot sunny afternoon, I was going to eat while watching TV. I looked out the window and saw our neighbour's small son, about six- or seven-years old, cycling on our driveway to his house next door. About 10 seconds later, I was just about to sit down when I saw a huge brown bear with a big hump behind his massive head in our living room window facing the highway. I just freaked out, because I saw our neighbours' son just cycling on our driveway. I ran to the big living room window and looked for the little boy. I didn't see him at all. I just freaked out and saw that the bear was walking on our driveway. It seemed one step was moving at the rate of 60 km/h. He was gargantuan and fast. I ran to the front door and looked out to see where the boy had gone and the brown bear must have heard me because he stopped and growled in annoyance and turned around. I started opening and closing the entrance door very fast and hard. I couldn't see the bear from the front door. So I ran to the living room. By the time I got to the living room window facing the highway to see where the grizzly bear went to, he was already gone. I didn't know our neighbour's phone number, so I had to phone their parent's to find out what their number was and they weren't home. So I phoned my niece whom was friend's with the little boy's sister. I phoned our neighbour's house. I told her that her son was cycling and I saw a grizzly bear. I saw her running out the door carrying her baby and her other kids running into the van. She went to look for her son. I phoned my auntie to let her know what happened and to ask if she had seen our neighbour's son. She didn't. Then the neighbour and her family came back and she said that she found her son next door to my auntie's house. He was cycling around. He was so lucky he never got attacked. After mom came home from my auntie's house, I showed her where they grizzly bear ran to in the forest. It looked like a medium-sized car drove into the forest but didn't hit the trees but flattened the grass and bushes towards the forest behind our house. Mom said that I shouldn't have slammed the door as the bear could have attacked me. No!!! Really!!!!!! I was so scared for our neighbour's kids after this. We looked out or stayed outside until the kids went back into the house after this incident.
Our Cats Mustachio, Dirty Nose, SnitchOne hot summer day, my cats went outside. I heard my cats running into the house through the basement. Mustachio came into the living room and just laid down and was panting very hard with his tail hitting the floor. Dirty Nose was hiding downstairs. I don't know whether Snitch came running into the house. I looked out to see if stray dogs were hanging around and there weren't any. I looked towards the highway and saw a big brown bear with three cubs in tow running to cross the highway. I guess they must have heard my cats running through the forest to our house. I ran outside to look behind the house for Snitch and she was sitting on an old homemade canopy behind our dog, Coda's house, looking at the pond behind his house.
Mustachio~Birth Name: Groucho Marx AKA Papparazzi Reporter, FBI, Greeter, Broom, NuisanceDirty Nose~Birth Name: Charlie Chaplin AKA Two Tons, Round Circle, Squirrel Tail, Russian Pants, Beaker, Always Eating, Jar Jar BinksSnitch~Birth Name: Ethel AKA Snitch, Bits, Cross-EyedOur Dogs Coda & MochaMyspace Layouts
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In the summer of 2006, during a heavy rainy day, mom was outside cleaning up behind the house. Mom started screaming at me. I ran to the room close to our dog's house. Mom told me to come out and see this. So I ran out the back door and mom told me to look at the big tree behind our dog's house. I couldn't see what she wanted me to see. So I walked towards the forest and saw black bear laying underneath this big trees branches. He looked tired because he didn't even move when our dog Coda was barking like mad. Coda couldn't see this bear. Cuu was straining his leash by standing up and smelling the air. He started running back and forth barking excitedly. The bear just laid underneath this canopy of branches. I guess the bear was so tired and probably sick of the rain pouring down on him that he didn't even let our Cuu's barking bother him. LOL. After awhile, this bear left.
Coda AKA Dakota, Big Baby, Sus Kyo because he looks like a big bear. LOL.Mocha AKA Muzz, Baby, Little Mick, Rod Stewart, Monsta, Eee-Wok