Way back in February, which seems like years ago, we heard of a buffalo farm near our house. We had already found the one near the Post Office, but this was the other direction and... it had 'WHITE BUFFALO'. I didn't even know there was such a thing. I realize that in Utah we had been part of the Boy Scouts White Buffalo district, but I thought that was just a name or a distinction such as the green, the yellow, the red buffalo districts.. frankly I'd never questioned it nor thought much about it. Until NOW.
We lived within a 30 minute drive of white buffalo. A definite field trip. Winter makes exploring complicated so we took down the directions and waited for spring. But Covid came before spring and we stopped thinking of outings. Our friends called us one morning and asked if we wanted to join them. They had been in on the conversation about the white buffalo and had decided they needed an excursion also. So... we said yes. We could social distance in our own heated cars as we drove to the buffalo.
We knew we were close when we saw these guys. Then we discussed the idea that perhaps they weren't white in the winter, but that would be the opposite of the arctic fox and rabbit. Plus, they wouldn't be called the white buffalo if they were only part time white buffalo.
We continued along. Chatting with our friends on the cell phones. It was fun to get out and explore with friends, (sort of).
It was another mile or two and then we saw them... How to describe the moment. We just sat and stared. We rolled down the windows and listened. We heard faint grunting, the calling of Canada geese, a few other bird sounds but mostly intense silence. They didn't do much. We gazed for a while longer and then we remembered it was only 20 degrees outside and boys needed a potty. We waved to our friends and we headed for home. But then I told Pat to stop. "I'm tired of having odd photos of animals, we need to be in the photos. So the boys obligingly hopped out and braved the cold for a photo. But you can barely see buffalo in that shot. Oh well.
We returned home... our white car now also a beige colour... Perhaps the buffalo have a similar winter fate.
April, May, June and July... Jim moved in, Covid hunkered in to stay but the snow finally left and the temperatures lifted. Somehow the conversation in July turned to white buffalo. With our recent dilemma of Whittaker finding Sundays, "boring", we decided a Sunday drive to see how white the buffalo are in the summer would help to 'unborify' our next Sunday.
I had a few zoom meetings for stake callings so we scheduled our Sacrament, Zoom meetings, Come Follow Me Study time and meals carefully so we would still have a two hour window for our Sunday Buffalo quest drive.
These brown fellows greeted us first just as they had the previous visit. I think they appreciated that we stopped to enjoy their grandeur. I'm sure it must be frustrating to be overlooked just because they aren't the rare variety. They are still quite an impressive beast. Jim and the boys attempted to gain their attention by making 'buffalo noises', but they preferred to lounge in their grassy field.
Quest completed.
They are indeed whiter now than they were in winter. The white herd is substantially smaller than the brown. We don't understand the brown calves being among them but they were rather tight lipped when it came to answering our questions.
Again the boys attempted to get their attention. After many attempts at strange noises, we're convinced they were looking at us and not just in our direction.
We could hear the delightful sounds of the river, the birds and the light breeze. Once again the boys needed to potty. (What is it about visiting buffalo?) While the boys found an accommodating bush, I turned the car around. They returned with a bouquet of wildflowers.
How's that for unborifying!
