FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 2016
THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 7
Outdoor Rec / Sports
Letting the cats out ...
away, were
hit by a
vehicle, or
were pos-
sibly shot.
Two im-
mediate ex-
amples come
to mind:
my motley
crew of five
consists of
Harry, Jr. and
Harriet, the
accidental
THE OUTDOOR COLUMN
father and
mother
(also
By Todd Arriola
brother and
Observing the emer-
sister), and
gence of new, colorful life
their three miracles of
breathed into our environ-
parenting gone wrong-
ment, prompted by the
-Abby and Little Girl, the
arrival of Spring, caused
two females, and Dylan,
me to reflect on a domestic the male. Harry, Jr.’s uncle
situation, one that’s been a
(I think), Harry, one of my
concern all Winter: my cats brother, Ryan’s, and sister-
need to go outside.
in-law, Anje’s cats, has
This isn’t to say they—
been missing, as well as
all five of them—stayed
Harriet, though, they went
indoors the whole season,
missing at different points
because, that would cause
in time.
me to be labeled insane,
When Harry, Jr. was
and them anti-social
younger, he would play
freaks.
with and hang around Har-
I did have a few consid-
riet, a calico, frequently,
erations, though, includ-
sort of her “protector,” and
ing how to remedy the
since birth, he looked like
issue of their water being
a lion, compared to Har-
a constant chunk of ice in
riet, with her small, skinny
the bowl, with freezing
frame. Actually, Harry,
temperatures outside. I
Jr. looked like a lion,
didn’t resolve that annoy-
compared to the rest of
ance, because I don’t have
them, too. Anyway, they
one of those fancy, heated
both came home with me,
water bowls.
and the other kittens went
Another obvious concern elsewhere, since there were
was, and is, that for what-
simply too many total cats
ever reason(s), pets haven’t for Ryan and Anje to keep
had the best track record,
around.
when it comes to survival
Both Harry, Jr. and Har-
in that area. I’ve seen too
riet are accomplished hunt-
many simply “disappear”
ers, so I didn’t really worry
out there, whether they
about their lack of outdoor
were picked up and taken
skills, in that respect,
away as “strays,” had run
anyway. Before the duo
Basketball
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
On the boys’ side it
came down to a head-to-
head competition between
Cove and Powder Valley.
At the half it was Powder
Valley 17 and Cove 10.
During the 3rd quarter
Cove came out strong and
drove the score up to 24
but couldn’t hold back
Powder Valley who took
the trophy home with a
final score of Cove 24 and
Powder Valley 30.
Trophies were given out
as follows:
Girls
First: Powder Valley;
Second: Cove; Third:
Jordan Valley
Consolation: Prairie City
Boys
First: Powder Valley;
Second: Jordan Valley;
Third: Cove; Consolation:
Prairie City
Sportsmanship Award:
Willow Creek
All-star Awards
Girls:
#22 Emily Ennis Prairie
City, #1 Ashley Jacobs
Willow Creek, #33 Derrick
Rothenberger Hunting-
ton, #10 Sydney Johnson
Harper, #25 Josie Clark
Adrian, #4 Madilyn Neil
Cove, #20 Tylie Garfield
Huntington, #21 Josie
Krieger Powder Val-
ley, #14 Autumn Davis
Powder Valley, #20 Kiana
Quintero Jordan Valley,
#14 Baylee Davis Jordan
Valley.
Boys:
#22 Lucas McKinley
Prairie City, #33 Derrick
Rothenberger Hunting-
ton, #15 Riley Bradford
Adrian, #15 Ethan Lunt
came to live with me, one
day, I noticed Harry, Jr.
growling and chewing on
what was left of a squirrel-
-its tail. Harriet can be just
as tough, if not more so.
They taught their children
how to hunt, too, and they
don’t appear to be slackers,
either. It should be noted
that I haven’t clipped any
of their claws at any point.
Everything in the house,
including my skin, is testa-
ment to that fact.
All five display some odd
quirks. One notable one,
mentioned by my wonder-
ful, and startled girlfriend,
Brandi, was practiced in
true family fashion, early
each morning.
I had no doubt that cats
can practically annoy one
to death with their varying
meowing, and general self-
ish attitudes. I expected
that. What I didn’t expect
is for the group-clearly at
Harry, Jr.’s prompting--to
sprint down the hallway,
in order to form a feline
battering ram, in multiple
attempts to open my door.
Sometimes, without prop-
erly closing the door, they
would succeed.
Harry, Jr. was stationed
as the head of the ram, I
would assume. The others
must have been there for
morale.
Brandi, who adores the
tribe, is also the one who
mentioned that I didn’t
really have names, or, the
proper ones, anyway, for
two of the three kittens.
Little Girl, as may be
assumed, is the little
female, a bit shy, straight
haired, and mostly white,
with some orange. She’s
the only one I had truly
named, and hers remains
the same. Abby and Dylan
are named as such, cour-
tesy of Brandi. I incor-
rectly identified Abby, the
cuddly one, who is basi-
cally a clone in personality,
and hairy looks somewhat,
of Harry, Jr., as a male at
first (it helps to actually
check the gender). The
sole male, destined to be
eternally tormented by his
sisters, all orange, hairy,
and gentle, was crowned
Dylan.
Noting little concern
with current temperatures,
though, still aware that
this is eastern Oregon, and
anything can happen, I’m
able to keep a full water
bowl outside for the group,
mostly unfrozen, daily.
They supplement their
daily dose of cat food with
multiple-course meals of
mice, moles, birds, and
squirrels (and whatever
else is within range of their
paws and mouths).
I’m “cautiously optimis-
tic” regarding Harriet’s
eventual return to her
family. Anje’s cat, Simba,
had returned at some point,
after an extended absence
of a year and a half, I was
told, so, there may yet
be hope. Maybe, Har-
riet wanted to get away
from the kids, see the rest
of the County, and make
new friends. Who knows.
Brandi asks periodically
if Harriet is back yet, and
I dread relaying the news
that the absentee mother
hasn’t called, or, even
texted.
Maybe, I can help fa-
cilitate a reunion with the
group, as I let the others
wander outside this Spring,
as my father would say, to
“blow the stink off...”
Eileen Driver / The Baker County Press
A healthy crowd turned out for the tournament this
year.
Harper, #2 Braden Gregory
Willow Creek, #20 Kort
Skinner Jordan Valley, #21
Gannon Carreiro Cove, #4
Dawson Gaertner Cove,
#24 Reece Dixon Powder
Valley, #33 Roper Bing-
ham Powder Valley.
Huntington School
Principal Scott Bullock,
who was honored to give
out the awards, expressed
his thanks to Amy Jones
for co ordinating the event,
to Shellie Guerri for her
hard work at the event, to
Chuck Guerri for making
the ranking boards and
helping at the event and
the Lion’s Club along with
community volunteers for
manning the gates year
after year.
Swimming:
Empire short-
course
championships
Submitted Photo.
Riana Scott.
The La Grande Swim Club brought eight swimmers to
Moses Lake, Washington February 26-28 for the Inland
Empire Swimming Short Course Championships. About
300 swimmers from Eastern Oregon, Eastern Washing-
ton and Northern Idaho competed. All swimmers at the
meet were required to make qualifying times to compete.
This is the final meet of the short course season for most
swimmers. Here are results:
Riana Scott (13-14 girls): 3rd 500 free (5:29.15), 3rd
400 individual medley (4:48.66), 2nd 200 individual
medley (2:17.10), 4th 100 breast (1:11.89), 3rd 200 free
(2:04.30), 3rd 200 back (2:16.54), 4th 100 free (57.41),
4th 200 breast (2:37.19)
The girls 14 and under 400 medley relay (K Jensen,
R Scott, L Ricker, R. Ricker), placed 6th with a time of
4:47.32.
The girls 14 and under 400 freestyle relay (K. Jensen,
R. Scott, L Ricker, R. Ricker) placed 4th with a time of
4:08.99.
Kids now need
fishing license
at age 12
As families venture to the outdoors this spring, the
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife remind parents
that youths between the ages of 12 and 17 need a license
if they plan to hunt, fish or shellfish.
Although fishing now requires a license two years earli-
er than in the past—at age 12 instead of age 14—the cost
of the license is significantly less than it was in years past.
Now a combination youth hunting/fishing/shell fishing
license costs just $10. For just $5 more, youngsters can
also purchase a tag that will allow them to catch salmon,
steelhead, sturgeon and halibut. The $15 combined cost
of a youth license and tag in 2016 compares to a cost of
$41.75 last year, a cost reduction of 64 percent.
The youth license was developed to simplify the youth
license requirements for hunting and fishing. “There was
way too much complexity involved for parents to get
hunting and fishing licenses for their kids,” said Rick Har-
grave, administrator of ODFW’s Information and Educa-
tion Division. “We ... came up with a single, significantly
discounted,youth combination license for kids 12-17.”
Under the new fee structure, a single license permits
youth license holders to take part in all three activities –
hunting, fishing and shell fishing. Previously, a separate
license was required for each of these activities.
There is no distinction in the fee structure between resi-
dent and nonresident youths.