Winter?                                  First Moon of the New Year

Lone wolf crosses into California from Oregon

This head line, reassuring and hopeful as it is, still seems sad.  An animal, an apex predator, that used to roam freely throughout the West now receives newspaper attention for returning, on its own, to the old habitat.

May these kind of experiences become common and unworthy of public attention by the time Gabe and Ruth grow up.  Make it so, Mr. Sulu.

(read full story in the LA Times here)

The young animal is the first wolf known to be at large in California since 1924. Wildlife authorities in both states have been monitoring the wolf since it set out from the Crater Lake area in September.