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Show The Park Record A-16 Wed/Thurs/Frl, January 12-14, 2005 PARK SUNDAY I N By Teri Orr YOUR RESOLUTION SOLUTIONS JANUARY BOOT (AMP The space between T 3 PACKAGE OPTIONS OR YOU QW SIGN UP fOB ALL TORS -TRADITIONAL BOOT CAMP -TRADITIONAL PLUS MEALS -TRADITIONAL WITH SPA OPTION CLASSES HELD 5 DAYS A WEEK FROM 6-7:30 AM REBECCA ROBERTS - SIGN UP NOW! ^35-6^0-8695 OR 658-5115 cc HOT TUB SALE! *04 MODEL CLEARANCE COMPLETE 6 PERSON SPA S REG. 4995 ••} •*?: 7 Delivery • Cover • Chemicals • Step HUGE SHOWROOM 8801 S. 700 E. SANDY Viscounts! 4 3 5 - 6 4 9 - 0 0 9 1 SPA COVERS here is a nakedness to the house this week. The characters. I was relieved I had gone to a matinee by tree is down... though the.dried needles will myself and didnt have to feign excessive enjoyment remain hidden between couch cushions and under to someone else. table legs for montjis. The velvet-cloaked Santas have Conversely. When a friend and I (and me? And I? been packed away along with the glass balls and the Oh dear. Aunt Josephine would be soooo annoyed) shiny bells. The mantle and tables that were, for went to see a matinee of "Lemony Snicket's A Series weeks, a magic land of ribbons and candles and dish- of Unfortunate Events." We laughed out loud, really es of candy are, for the most part, stripped down to loud, at the lines that were so far above children's bare wood and glass. heads as to make one question, why anyone would I say not entirely stripped down because J leave out take a child to see this film. The movie, based on the things that are red, without bding Christma^y. I do this, series of underground popular books about three as was the tradition in my house growing up,-because orphan children and their conniving uncle hoping to the next major holiday is my birthday, Valentine's Day. steal their inheritance, is dark and creepy and eleYou may think this is a very long ways off; •- jUst imag- gantly shot. And it is so damn funny, I was finally, just ine leaving your tree up until then. My parents and slightly, embarrassed by my own laughter, along with their best friends used to do just that because jny birth- my friend's, in the otherwise silent theater. day was the same as their best friends' daughter, also I should note, I am rarely, as in almost never, a Jim my age. (Which, as an adult now, I find begsthe ques- Carrey fan. I am always a Meryl Streep fan. I had no tion, just what kind of part^ did these two couples idea, prior to the film, anything about the three perattend the previous fectly cast children May?) who play the orphans. The cameo by Dustin In general, I decorate was just a earlier and pack up earli•• My friends... always leave their Hoffman bonus. Do not take er, but this year was just a tree up until Jan 6, the Twelfth Day or small children to this blur. I didn't finish decoThey will be rating until the day Epiphany. Well, here's an epiphany, itfilm. alternately scared and before Christmas. It doesn't matter what day you pick, uridec- bored. Middle schoolseemed such a crime to undo all that the day orating is never as much fun as decorat- age kids who are after. So I followed suit . . ' clever and smart will ing." :•; of my friends, who are love this romp where one's wits are the key religious, and always • • M M N H B H H M M H M M I •^•••MMaaaHMWMiiM to survival, not forleave their tree up until ;;. • Jan 6, the Twelfth Day or Epiphany. Well, here's an tunes or even predictable traditional families. After we parted ways I returned home to light the epiphany, it doesnt matter what day you pick, undecfire and a few candles and dive into the latest Alice orating is never as much fun as decorating.. On Sunday, when most of the trappings were Hoffman book, "Blackbird House." A series of short boxed away, I built a fire witb the second l^iad of fire- stories thai all tie together, from the author of such wood I have had delivereAhis season: J threw in popular books as, "Practical Magic" and "Turtle some of the branches of evergreens I had u$ed to dec- Moon." I was lost for hours, traveling back in time to orate with over the past few weeks. They were crispy a place that was so powerful and centering for generdry and crackled with a music all their own as I tossed ation after generation of the slightly odd people who them in. They burned hot and . quick .:and I was lived there. -I drifted off, more than once, thinking reminded, once again, I really should invest in having what a great movie il would make. a chimney sweep come out one year and lopk at my By Sunday night when the fire died down and the Greplace. • red glass balls were reflecting the glow, I was feeling ; '. In this between season, locally, between The. re-charged. The red candles and ribbons and gold Holidays and before The Festival, I did something I beaded tassels helped me transition from one season, won't be able to do much in the next few weeks - I well recognized, to a season rather less celebrated, and went to a couple of movies. I had listened to friends more of my own making. The next few weeks serve as and critics all sing the praises of "Sideways1" declaring a kind of personal advent where I measure the past it the best thing since, oh I don't know,?'.The Little year of my life and put it in a book bound with emoTramp." Cynic that lean be, I should haVe known it tion. The year ahead is that blank book I received, had been built up too much, and indeed, for me, it had leather covered, for Christmas, just waiting for stories been. It is a good film, independent in feel, meaning a and adventures to be written there. Only one more bit slow to engage and beyond quirky. I didnt feel any week before the town gets crazy again, which is good, connection to either of the guys except in thekind of on all accounts. So sneak away to a matinee, curl up creepy way one reminded me of my ex^husband. and read a new book, jot down a few thoughts and Pretentious, without understanding, the comic figure wishes and be grateful that of all the places you could was a pretentious snob of any kind, be it cars, food or be this Winter you are among friends, here, reflecting in this case, wine. At the end of the film, it was well, in the glow that can be Sunday in the Park... the end of the film. I didn't cry, laugh out loud or feel Teri Orr is a former editor ofThe Park Record and an unresolved pathos of what might be in store for the director oftlie Park City Performing Arts Center. CUSTOM REPLACEMENTS ^ WRITERS ON THE RANGE • • • ' ' • ; . * ' • ' : . . ;;; By Becky Lomax • Bears in the backyard, oh my grizzly bear lumbered through my herb gar- rlic table wears a list of no-nos stapled to it with fines den before winter set in. It was a striking visu- that will be incurred for failing to comply. People are al experience. His muscles powered under his fur told that all their food and pet food, dishes, cooklike an overloaded freight train, and his eyes swung ware and garbage belong inside vehicles when people are not present at the campsite. Backcountry hikto take me into his scrutiny. Northwest Montana is bear country - grizzly bear ers are provided with poles or bars to hang food up country, to be precise. Unimpeded by fences, high and sleeping sites are separated from cooking unaware of boundary lines, grizzly and black bears sites. These precautions train bears to find food tromp across our property. Our house, like many sources apart from humans. others around us, is simply a speed bump on their Glacier also uses bear-resistant garbage cans and feeding-ground highway. .. dumpsters. As park biologist John Waller recently This is country where garbage and pet food easily told the Hungry Horse News, "Instead of putting become animal attractants, though most people your garbage in an open dumpster. put it in a bearknow that opening a backyard McDonald's for resistant dumpster. We've done it here for decades wildlife is taboo. . and it works." Because bears are So; I was surprised opportunistic and when 2004's human• • WhilS a variety of factors may canny feeders, they caused death toll of have ledyto an increase of bears gravitate to ready food grizzlies topped any of similar to the the last 30 years. The marauding garbage dumpsters... it's sources way people grab a most recent high talsad wheriia bear loses its life due to quick munchie when lied 19 deaths in 2000, hungry. But Glacier's but this year's kills human laziness. What is so hard about enforcement of food rocketed to 31". taking car§ of garbage correctly?" and garbage policies While some grizzlies ^^^^^^^m^^a^^mmm has drastically reduced met their demise, at wm^^^m^^^^^m^^mm ' • *! the bad-bear syndrome. the hands of poachers, i';. •' Bears arc quick learne'rs. It's the job of Tim most were delinquents in rural areas --over half on private land -- where they'd become hooked on bird Manley, abear management specialist with Montana feeders or pizzas ingarbage cans. Unfortunately, Fish, Wildlife and Parks, to re-educate the ornnibears that rummage through human stuff eventually vores away from humans. Using Karelian dogs to find themselves at the wrong end of the bear-man- haze bears, firing beanbags and rubber bullets at the agement game -- transport^ to bth^r locations, or animals, firing shots in the air or just making a lot of noise, he tries to teach bears that humans are to be killed if they can't change tneir ways:..avoided. And many bears learn, unless they have Equally disturbing is the number of females killed -- 18 grizzlies. For a species listed as threatened, the been already conditioned otherwise. We have a lot to learn, too. Many folks plop a loss of females is serious for futures populations, especially when a grizzly's reprpductiye capabilities house down on wilderness fringes but fail to assume are the least productive of all the large- mammals. To responsibility for the wildlife blundering - so to maintain a viable population, government guidelines speak - across their property lines. So, a chunk of Manley's education efforts targets homeowners who assume only four female deaths per year. • While a variety of factors may have led to an may be new to the West. Storing garbage - along increase of bears marauding garbage dumpsters - with Fido's food and livestock grain -- inside the including a bad berry season and an increase in peo- house or garage is an effortless solution. And while ple building houses in grizzly corridors -r'.it's sad bird feeders are fun to watch, birds don't need seed when a bear loses its life due1 to human laziness. in summer when bears are apt to raid backyard feedWhat is so hard about taking care of garbage cor- ers. rectly? . Perhaps we ought to copy Glacier National Park This year. Glacier National Park, an enclave of and impose fines on those who fail to take precauprime grizzly bear habitat, reported no human- tions with their garbage or pet food. The message, caused grizzly deaths. Considering that nearly two "Do Not Feed the Bears," has been around a long million tourists annually enter its borders, that's a time, but bears have one-upped us. Clearly, grizzlies big feat. Though Glacier's roadless areas and its no- learn faster than we do. hunting policy go a long way to protect b^ars, here's Becky Lomax is a contributor to Writers on the s what the park really does right: [ Range, a service of High Country News (hcn.org). Glacier imposes strict fines for mishandling food She lives in Whitefish, Montana, witfi grizzly bears in outdoors. Every front-country campground and pic- her backyard, A What's on Toot Clyde's mind this week? Don't miss More Dogs on Main Street' in Saturday's Park Record! |