Marmotville. Art Show.

No, this is not a stuffed marmot that Merle and I set up for a photo shoot. I took this picture from our car up on Fall River Road up in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) here in Colorado. This particular panhandling marmot was a very tame one due to the fact that many tourists had probably been feeding it (feeding the wildlife is illegal). It was beside the road and we stopped the car to look at it. He/she came over presumably to beg for some chow. None was given, but I was able to get some very good pictures. Here's another one picture and a quote from the RMNP website about feeding wildlife.

"Despite their good intentions, some wildlife watchers are loving park animals to death. Feeding junk food to wildlife reduces its ability to survive the long mountain winter. When they panhandle by roadsides, animals fall easy prey to automobiles. As they become habituated to humans and lose their natural fear, the animals become aggressive and may be destroyed. Harassing or feeding wildlife is illegal in all national parks."
This is a link to the Rocky Mountain National Parkwebsite: http://www.nps.gov/romo/index.htm. We live quite close to the park and therefore benefit from all of the wonderful activities and sights there. I have hiked many of the trails. It is a very popular park and a lot of the areas are overused although the park personnel strive to keep everything maintained and as pristine as possible They do a wonderful job.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about Marmots

"The Yellow-bellied Marmot (Marmota flaviventris), also known as the Rock Chuck, is a ground squirrel in the marmot genus. It lives in the western United States and southwestern Canada, including the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. It inhabits deciduous and coniferous regions, typically above 2000 m of elevation. Yellow-bellied Marmots usually weigh between 5 and 11 pounds (2 and 5 kg) when fully grown. They get fatter in the fall just before hibernating. A marmot’s habitat is mostly grass and rocks with few trees. Their territory is about 20,000 to 30,000 square metres (about 6 acres) around a number of summer burrows.

Marmots choose to dig burrows under rocks because predators are less likely to see their burrow. Predators include wolves, foxes, and coyotes. When a marmot sees a predator it whistles to warn all other marmots in the area (giving it the common name the whistle pig). Then it typically hides in a nearby rock pile. Marmots reproduce when about 2 years old. They live in colonies. A colony is a group of about 10 to 20. Each male marmot digs a burrow soon after he wakes up from hibernation. He then starts looking for females and by summer has 1 to 4 females living with him. Litters usually average 2-5 offspring per female. Marmots have what is called “harem-polygynous” mating system, which means the male defends 1-4 mates at the same time. Yellow-bellied Marmots are diurnal (1) like most mammals. The marmot is also an omnivore, eating grass, leaves, flowers, fruit, grasshoppers, and bird eggs. Marmots are not hunted for sport but are sometimes killed by farmers. Yellow-bellied Marmots include “toilet rooms” in their burrows as well as living rooms, bedrooms and eating rooms."

Note: All of the underlined items in the text above are highlighted on the Wikipedia web page and they are links to information about the underlined word. (1) Also, diurnal means an animal that is active during the day and rests during the night as opposed to nocturnal Day/Rest, Night/Active.

ANOTHER TOPIC.

I was invited to show some of my work at an art show this weekend, so I'm busy getting 4 paintings gathered, all of my prints packaged and priced properly and my display apparatus (easels, print holders, etc.) in order so I can deliver it to the folks who are hosting the booth there. Merle and I are going camping this weekend, so I won't be around to see what happens. Hopefully, something in the way of a sale or two. Here are a couple of pictures of paintings I will be trying to sell at the show.

This acrylic painting is 24" X 30" and is very textured. It's on a wrap around canvas that is 1-1/2" thick. None of my paintings are framed. They are ready to hang. The title of this painting is "Lunascape". I also have prints of it (not textured) that are 11"X 14".

This painting is entitled, "The Art Mill". It is 24" X 24". I use red heavily textured circles or ovals in some of my work. I find them very vibrant and fun to paint. I hope that I don't ever regret posting my art on this blog. I don't think that many people are reading it but if some are who are that desperate, then there is nothing I can do about it.

I tried to use Babel Fish Translator to write "Till we meet again" in Japanese just for fun, and although Japanese showed on the preview mode, it did not show up on the published blog. The Babel Fish link is on My Favorite Links. Anyway, catch ya' later!