Wikipedia Trail: From Coyotes to Cougars

Coyotes

Since I wrote a story about Coyote's this week, I thought I would start my trail here. I learned that the Coyote is native to North America and I found that neat being there are so many canines around the world. I also found that they are typically smaller than wolves. The diet of coyotes was pretty much what I expected expect I learned that they enjoy eating porcupines as well.

North American Porcupine

Seeing that coyotes ate porcupines and being that I pretty much know nothing about Porcupines I decided this to be the next stop on my trail. I learned that it is considered a rodent which I wouldn't have thought and that the only bigger rodent in North America is the beaver. I also learned that it is the only Native American mammal with antibiotics in its skin. I learned that an adult Porcupine has about 30,000 quills that cover its body.

North American Beaver

Being that I read about one mammal why not read about another one. I learned that the American Beaver is the same species as the Canadian Beaver which seems wrong as I would like our beaver t choose it's patriotism (that was a terrible joke). I found out that they can be submerged in water for over 15 minutes which I found pretty interesting. Known for making dams in their beaver ponds, this makes the habitat safe for not only beavers but also for waterfowls, fish, and other aquatic animals I learned. I also found it interesting that Beavers are considered monogamous.

Cougar

Being that I saw that beavers predators included coyotes and mountain lions I was lead here. I learned that a mountain lion and cougar are the same thing. Which as a kid my school had to be cancelled a couple days because there was a mountain lion nearby which is ironic now being that the mascot was the Cougars. These are the fourth largest cats which I still wouldn't mess with one. I learned that the hybrid of crossing a mountain lion (cougar) with a leopard is a Pumapard. I also learned that BYU is the mascot of a cougar which I didn't know before.

I found this on Pixabay.

Tech Tip: Hastags and Retweets

https://twitter.com/ctibiletti/status/978112504483270656

This is the tweet I chose to retweet because I searched #OU4993. I did this hashtag since this was clearly created for my class and I wanted to see what others had done. I retweeted Tib's tweet because it was the first one I saw and I too rarely ever tweet but thought I would do it for this class. I found it funny because he was clearly doing the same assignment I am doing now but 12 hours ago when I should have probably been doing this. I do retweet things fairly often although they mainly have to do with sports or music that interests me. I like twitter the most for its humor.

Week 9 Story: Fighting for Love

Fighting for Love

The Power’s family had just moved to their new farm and couldn’t be more excited to have finally gotten some of their animals put in pens. However, they let some of the animals including their dog Duke roam outside the land of the house because they didn’t really have anywhere to go for it was all farm land excluding a small forest about half a mile away.

Andy and his sister Anne were two coyotes who lived in this small forest and they couldn’t be happier that they had new neighbors.

“We must be patient. I promise we will eat some fresh meat, but we don’t know exactly what we are up against.” Andy told Anne as they were discussing when they wanted to attack the new animals of the area.

So, Andy instructed his sister to very carefully try and spy on the animals at the new farm house at night. When night fell, Anne crept her way towards the farm as quiet as possible without trying to be seen or heard by anyone. As she became close enough she couldn’t help but notice Duke sitting under a porch light. She noticed his strong shoulders, defined snout, dark brown coat, and thought he looked like a very well kept handsome coyote at first. As she crept a little closer she could tell that he wasn’t a coyote, but instead the most attractive looking dog she had ever seen.

Anne decided to head back to the forest, but she realized that she couldn’t let her, and her brother attack the farm. She had fallen in love with Duke just by his looks, but she knew that it was true. So, she decided she would go back and make an excuse to delay the attack in order for her to warn Duke.

Anne returned to her brother and told him that they must wait two nights for a surprise attack because she thought a bull might have seen her. Andy understood completely and didn’t want to rush into the attack, so he agreed.

The next day Anne realized that Duke wouldn’t love a mangy coyote like her, so she went to the river to roll around in the clay in hopes it would shine her coat and then bathed in the water. Once she was finished she looked into the water, was impressed by her reflection, and decided to trot over to the farm in order to warn Duke.

Anne after the cleaning in the river. I found this image on Wikimedia Commons.

As she reached the farm she saw Duke and approached him. Duke was at first excited to see Anne thinking she was another dog. They began talking which led to flirting which led to a day full of them hanging out together. Towards the end of the night, they both confessed that they loved each other.

Anne then told Duke about the plans she and her brother had about attacking the farm and how he should prepare before she returned to the forest.

As she returned, Andy could tell that there was something different about Anne. Anne began to tell him about her day and how she had fallen in love with Duke. She then begged her brother to not attack Duke or any of the animals at the farm, but Andy was determined.

“I’m going to get a meal out of those farm animals with or without you!” he told Anne.

The next night came way too quickly, and Duke was prepared with the animals for an attack from Anne’s brother.  As they waited he then saw Anne come sprinting towards the farm screaming “He is coming! He is coming!” To which he saw Andy trailing not too far behind Anne.

Knowing that Duke would be the toughest of the farm animals, Andy immediately ran towards him and tackled Duke. The two began scratching and biting each other until finally Duke found himself on top of Andy. He then tried to very calmly say “Let’s make a deal.”

Andy, as stubborn as he was decided that since he was losing the fight, he might as well listen.

Duke then explained how he loved his sister and promised to take care of her for the rest of his life if Andy would leave him and his friends alone. He then also offered to every now and then steal some of the beef that the Powers family had and give it to Andy.

Seeing that Duke was such a strong dog and was more than capable of taking care of his sister, as well as truly loving her, he agreed to the deal.

Andy and Duke never truly became friends with each other, but they did learn to respect each other, for Duke kept his promise and brought beef to Andy every week or so and Andy realized how happy his sister Anne was that she got to continue loving Duke.

Author’s Note:

This story is based off Hidimba and Baka from The Indian Heroes: Mahabharata - The Princes of Elephant City. The original story includes more plot, but I will only provide the information on what I based my story on. In the original story Prince Bhima leads a group of Pandavas through a forest disguised as Brahmins. Nearby where they were staying, two sibling monsters, Hidimba and Hidimbi, lived and smelled the humans and began planning an attack in order to eat them. In order to prepare for the attack, Hidimbi went to spy on the humans where she spots Prince Bhima and falls in love with him. She then transforms into a beautiful woman and tells Prince Bhima of her brother’s plan of attack, which he too falls in love with her. As Hidimba attacks the Pandavas, Prince Bhima personally handles him by throwing him down and killing him. Surprisingly, Hidimbi still loves Prince Bhima and runs off with him for a little while until he ultimately leaves her. In my story, I use Duke to resemble Prince Bhima by having him protect his farm friends and falling in love with Anne. I had Anne represent Hidimbi and Andy represent Hidimba in their quest to eat the farm animals. All in all, I kept the story the same except I had Anne just clean herself up rather than changing form. I also modified the original story by having the ending be more peaceful than Duke killing Andee, as well as having the two stays in a relationship together.

Bibliography:

 Hidimba and Baka from The Indian Heroes:Mahabharata - The Princes of Elephant City written by C. A. Kincaid

 1921 

Reading Notes: The Indian Heroes: Mahabharata - The Princes of Elephant City, Part B

THE DEATH OF KING KRISHNA

Out of the Part B readings, I chose this one because I enjoyed the foreshadowing. I haven't really written a story with too much foreshadowing, but I think that this could be a good example of a story to base one off. I think that foreshadowing is a very strong tool in telling stories, because it can either go as unimportant in the first mentioning or it can be made a strong warning. In this case it was a strong warning, which I feel was made perfect by the King's realization. I felt that by the king explaining his reasoning that men only fight and kill each other when they are drunk and then coming towards his ban on wine showed that this was a developed idea. If I am going to write a foreshadowing that is intentionally supposed to be noticed at first, I think that it should be explained why this point is being made just as this story does. One thing that I didn’t like about this story was the change of events seemed to be very un smooth. I feel that while things did connect, there should be more description into why certain events take place. This story is a reminder that if I want to write a story that leads into sub plots, I must explain how they connect either at the beginning of the end.

In terms of writing my own story and keeping with the dog theme, I struggle to truly pick such a foreshadowing event. I was thinking that maybe a dog could be warned not to drink out of the toilet for dogs only get sick from this action. I’m not necessarily sold on this idea but I think that it could be great way to foreshadow as well as show symbolism between drinking wine in the story. I would like for there to be a confrontation involved like the men fighting and killing each other, but I might just have to settle with a simple sickness and “I told you so” message.

I found this on Flickr.

Bibliography: 

Title: The Indian Heroes:Mahabharata - The Princes of Elephant City
Author: C. A. Kincaid

Year: 1921 

Reading Notes: The Mahabharata by C. A. Kincaid, Part A

Hidimba and Baka

Out of the stories in the Part A section, this one stuck out to me mainly because I had an idea for my own version of the story, but also because I enjoyed the descriptions throughout it. 

In my idea, I would shorten the story to mainly the part where it involves Hidimba,Hidimbi, and Bhima. As I have done all semester, I would relate this story to dogs to fit in with my portfolio by making Bhima be a dog handing out in a country setting where two coyotes (Hidimba and Hidimbi) want to come and eat the animals. I was thinking that instead of the Hidimbi (or the coyote that represents her) transforming into another form like a woman, I would have her try to get a hair cut and look nice like a dog in order to approach Bhima and make them fall in love. I was thinking that I could have Hidimba and Bhima still fight like they do in the original story, but instead of Hidimba dying, I was thinking of a more peaceful ending like making some kind of deal. I think this would allow for a more modern style of this story as well as a better story fit for a younger audience which I have tried to reach out to. I probably wouldn’t continue to story and involve the Baka though.

This is an image of two coyotes I found on PxHere.

In terms of the details that I enjoyed in this story, I really enjoyed the part where Hidimbi first sees Bhima and describes how handsome she thinks he is. I felt that I could truly picture what he looked like and also through the detail was able to understand the attraction level she had. I also felt that I could imagine the action of Bhima killing Hidimba by throwing him against the ground. These details made the story great and remind me how a story can truly capture emotion by being descriptive and adding details.

Bibliography:

Title: The Indian Heroes: Mahabharata - The Princes of Elephant City
Author: C. A. Kincaid
Year: 1921