Of Wolves and Men and Eagles and Ceremonies and Redwoods and Stuff

Having not posted about what Rebecca and I have been doing over the past two weeks leaves a lot of ground for me to cover in this one. I'll be brief.

Another WWOOFer arrived. His name is John. He is 27 year old college grad from Maryland who is nice and helpful. He plans to stay about a month.

Sherri's heart attack was reportedly stress induced. The doctor ordered her to take it easy. Meaning no working, heavy lifting, and especially no baby sitting. She continues to do all three insisting she feels much better. Rebecca, Charlie, and I are not happy with her. We try to do stuff before she is able to so there is not much for her to do.

Charlie got his heart examined during one of Sherri's checkups. His heart is working at a mere 40%. He is scheduled to go in for some tests next week.

A lot of local volunteers have been showing up responding to an add in the paper promising $10 a day for gas there and back. There is a lot of poverty and unemployment here, so the volunteers have been an interesting collage of people. It is kind of a crummy situation since a lot of days three to four people will show up to volunteer but only a handful of patrons will show up to see the wolves. Since the tours cost only $8.00 a pop with discounted rates for seniors and children, Howling Acres has been operating at a loss most days.

One of the volunteers is a 16 year old local girl named Peachy. Peachy just arrived back in Williams, OR after having run away from her mother to Arizona for about two months. Her mother is essentially a retired professional hippie, so now she volunteers at music festivals leaving her daughter alone to be taken care of by a commune of unemployed, back country, hippie folk. Working with the wolves is her life. She is a part of a gang (and didn't know it until I explained to her what a gang is) and works for $10 a day feeding wolves at a job she has to walk nine miles just to get to.

Living in a tent is getting difficult. I thought I'd be getting more used to it, but it's actually starting to really wear on us. However, we bought season 4 of The Office which has helped at least that situation.

Right now we are dealing with how to clearly, tactfully, and righteously refuse being made part of an Eagle Ceremony. Charlie and Sherri "believe the Indian way," and thus turn to local medicine men to pray for them, direct ceremonies, and give advice at certain times in their lives. With the recent heart attack Sherri suffered and the news about Charlie's weakening heart, they are turning now to Willie Whitefeather who plans to come Thursday night to do an Eagle Ceremony, which is a healing ceremony. During our time here, we have become very much aware of the spiritual warfare that is ongoing in this realm of existence. Believe whatever you want about the activity of demons and angels concerning the lives and souls of men, but I believe that "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Meaning that there is demonic power in the spiritual beliefs Sherri and Charlie hold, as well as in the ceremony they have scheduled for Thursday and we must take no part in it.

When Willie comes, Rebecca and I will not be on the premises. That much is CERTAIN. However, the way in which we present the matter of our not participating in the ceremony is not clear to me. I suppose the worst that could happen is that Charlie and Sherrie get angry with us, but we are leaving the next day anyway. If any of you reading this have had any experience getting out of an Eagle Ceremony, please feel free to email me or reply to this to post your advice.

On a lighter note Rebecca and I both finished two books in less than 24 hours. Rebecca finished Donald Miller's Searching For God Knows What and John D. MacDonald's A Key to the Suite. I proudly read Dave Harvey's When Sinner's Say I Do and John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men

I almost forgot. Today, we used our day off to check out Oregon Caves National Monument. It was the first time either Rebecca or I had been in a cave. The place was beautiful and incredible. Following our exit from the water carved tunnels we traveled back into California to visit a redwood tree forest. I was blown away by the size of these trees. Though they are no sequoias, they retain a majesty all their own.

Thanks for sticking with us. We will keep you up to date as we move on to the next destination.

Also. Our cell phones have apparently been freaking out while we are out of service up in the mountains, and we have not been able to see the hundreds of missed calls we receive daily...I mean hourly. So please, if you do call, try to leave a message so we know who wanted to get in touch with us.