Closed Again...

Hey – can you believe it? For the second time in a year, WKC has been attacked by Invaders. No kidding. It’s a real bummer, too, because we have lots of great stuff lined up. Not to mention we’re right in the middle of a bunch of other things. The staff says it’ll take at least a month to clean the site and replace the files that were lost, so, we’re on our own out here. Seriously.

 

As captain of the patrol, all I can say is for any of you Wilderness Protectors out there to keep taking care of your piece of the wilderness while we wait. Do some of your own research on anything you find interesting, and keep a Wilderness Journal of your experiences that you might want to share later on when the club gets back online. The last issue of the magazine is still up, and you can write to me if you have any questions or problems, by sending an email to the address on our About Us page. Just make sure you put “for W.K.” in the subject line. I’ll answer you back as soon as I can.

Meanwhile, I’ll be updating my wilderness journal (that’s on a different site and wasn’t wiped out) next week with some other interesting wilderness links you might like to look into. Especially one where you can read the rest of the story we had going on the feature page. You can write to me there by just making a comment at the end of the entry.

In the meantime, don’t give up the wilderness, because we can still do this if we stick together. Seriously. Oh, yeah – and don’t forget to keep feeding your birds, on account of a lot of them depend on handouts during winter.

Till later,

  W.K.

Alone in the Wilderness...

   My turtle friends are gone, now. I guess when it gets this cold out, they dig a nice hole and hibernate. Wait for better times. I say wait for better times because they can hibernate for other reasons, too. Like during a draught when there isn't enough water. Or if someone puts them in a cage they can't get out of and it looks like the end of the world to them. Pretty cool actually.

   Especially when you realize how long turtles live (some have been around since before the Civil War!) and how long they can go without food. A whole year. So, I guess they don't mind waiting around for better times if things don't look too good for them.

   You can learn a lot of things from watching wildlife that textbooks can't tell you. Like if my turtle friend will still recognize me after being asleep for so long. That's just another one of the reasons why I'm on a quest to find out more about turtles than anybody ever knew. That and the fact there's nobody else out here in my piece of the wilderness, today. Because it's too cold to go outside. Which I way do not agree with.

   Some bunch of adventurers -- not to mention WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHERS -- when it only takes a measly little bit of cold to scare you off the trail. So, here I am out here on patrol all by myself. Been out here... about fifteen minutes. No turtles, no squirrels, and even the birds are holed up with their feathers all puffed out for extra warmth. Hmmm... maybe they know something I don't...

   Whoa -- it's starting to snow. I better head home instead of look for porcupines. Or at least over to Buddy's for some hot chocolate. Hey -- maybe he'll help me with my map case. Oh, yeah, and if you're looking for an extra Mystery Guest clue...  he was a specialist on glaciers.

   Seriously coming down, now.
              W.K.

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An Amazing Story...

   Hey -- there's an amazing bird story up on the WKC Feature page, and it really happened. I like anything about birds. Next to reptiles, they are my favorite wildlife to watch. The guy that wrote this is a great storyteller. Only he's sort of old-fashioned, so you have to read through a couple paragraphs before your brain picks up the language. It will, though, so trust me. The human brain is better than a computer. No kidding.

   We're gonna see this story in several different parts, but I should probably warn you that some parts are only for the strong-hearted. Because the real animal world is not the same as ours when it comes to things that are most important. Which is all I have to say about that, right now.

   Oh, yeah... and my extra clue for the Mystery Guest Contest today is:

The guy who wrote the bird story is NOT our new Mystery Guest. He'd make a pretty good one though, if you ask me.

Later,
W.K.

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Hint, Hint...

   My Mystery Guest contest clue for today is more of a tip than a clue. But if we're talking about head-starts, this will get you one. It's about googling. Which is mostly how everybody finds things out these days. So, here we go...

   I learned this little trick last year, when I was spending way more time looking at stuff I WASN'T interested in than the things I was. That's because droids (computers) aren't human. THEY DO NOT THINK. They can only give you back information that has been put into them, and the way they organize it is by the most popular. Which is good enough most of the time. But if you're really into research (like I am), you gotta be way more specific about what you're looking for.

   For instance, if you google "survival guy" because you're looking for that guy on TV that gets dropped off in wilderness places, you'll have a whole page of other things pop up (like survival games, or how to survive, or people's blogs about survival) before you ever even see his name. Then you gotta really be on your toes, because if you forgot his name in the first place, you might not even recognize it (by the way, it's Bear Grylls I was thinking about because he's my favorite). That's why you gotta BE SPECIFIC when you're googling for the Mystery Guest. What I mean is, USE THE CLUES.

  And that's all I'm gonna say about it now, because I think I might have just given the whole contest away. Uh-oh. I hope too many people don't read this journal entry today.

   Seriously.

     W.K.

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Surprise, Surprise...

   The new Mystery Guest Contest is on, and wait till you see the prize. And -- don't worry -- I won't be sabotaging any of the clues, or anything, because EVERYBODY WHO GUESSES RIGHT WINS. No kidding. I mean, we're not even gonna draw out of a hat. So, is that a cool contest, or what.

  
   Starting today, the clues will be listed on the Mystery Guest page over at WKC. But -- like I said before -- I like to give my Wilderness Protectors a head-start. So, I'm gonna give a bonus clue right here in my Wilderness Journal every day, too. So, let me see...

   Here's a good one:

   This guy was so smart, that he talked some important scientists into changing the way they think about geology (study of the earth and how it was shaped). Now, we all think that way. So, I guess he was right. Heh, heh, heh...

   Either that, or he was way good at talking people into things.

   Don't anybody forget to vote.

                W.K.

P.S. Oh, yeah. And if you want to know what the prize is, you'll have to look on the Mystery Guest page. Mostly because I need a head-start over to the voting box.

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Just A Hint...

   Tomorrow starts the new Mystery Guest Contest, and -- just like last time, I'm gonna give out the clues here in my Wilderness Journal before they show up on the Mystery Guest Page. Hey -- I like to give all my Wilderness Protectors a head-start on stuff. Heh, heh, heh...

   So, here's the first clue:

   This new Mystery Guest is an American man who spent a lot of years wandering around in the wilderness all alone.

   Sheesh, can you believe that? I can see a couple of weeks, or something, but if I had to spend YEARS all by myself IN WILD PLACES, I'd get way lonely. Not to mention way scared. Seriously. But that's the truth, and that's what this guy really did. Which should narrow it down a little from all the other famous Americans.

   Any ideas? Well, you better get with it, then, because the prize is THE SURVIVAL BOOK (it tells everything about how to survive on your own) and I really need one of those. So, I'm outta here to do a little googling and put in my first vote. But don't worry -- anybody who guesses right, wins.

   Later,

   W.K.

P.S. Oh, yeah -- and don't anybody vote for Sherlock Homes. He's just a logo picture for the Mystery Guest page, on account of he was practically the best mystery solver anyone ever heard of. In books, that is. Because he isn't real. And all our Mystery Guests are real people. Ooops -- I gave away another clue --

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Way Happy Holidays...

   Hey -- if you're like the rest of us around here, you've still got one more week of the holiday season before getting back to school, again. So, take advantage of it! Get outside whenever you can, and if you haven't found a piece of the wilderness to claim, yet -- let me know. I'll give you some tips about how to do that.

   I'll also tell you how we made our Observation Outpost, which gets cooler every time we add more stuff. No kidding. Sometimes I think I could actually live in this place (only my mom would probably miss me). Anyway, it's a great place to spend time and do projects I usually can't do at home. Not to mention getting together with the rest of my patrol.

   I hope you all had a great Christmas because we sure did. But you'll have to wait until next year to see the new things we got, on account of we only let that information out once a year. In the meantime, we're gonna have some way cool wilderness stuff you can make yourself, along with a few wildlife studies with real scientists.

   Seriously.
     W.K.

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P.S. Oh, yeah... and just because the holidays go by, don't forget to keep feeding your birds. On account of the worst of winter hasn't even hit, yet.