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<\/p>\nAnd a personal story involving a very good friend.<\/p>\n
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A week ago today on Antelope Island I found this bison bull scratching his chest on one of the large Tintic Quartzite boulders that are so prevalent on the north end of the island. He was rocking back and forth and alternately throwing his massive head upward, which made the long dark hairs on top of his head stand on end momentarily.<\/p>\n
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I was unaware that a bison, particularly a huge bull bison, could lift his head quite this high.<\/p>\n
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Then he started with some impressive and long-lasting tongue gymnastics. Bison tongues are longer than one might expect and they’re mostly blackish gray, with a…<\/p>\n
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pink underside so their tongues are often described as being bi-colored. He waved that tongue around for a long time, until he eventually started to…<\/p>\n
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clean the inside of his right nostril with it. He did this repeatedly, sometimes with more of his tongue inside his nostril than we see here.<\/p>\n
I see various explanations of why bison do this – from conserving the water that seems to drip continuously from their nose to cleaning mucus that attracts flies.<\/p>\n
But I have my own theory. Perhaps they do it just because they can. If I could do it, knowing me I would on occasion, just because I could. Perhaps not in public though. Or maybe only<\/span> in public…<\/p>\n Which brings to mind a personal story that I simply have to relate.<\/p>\n For most of my 33-year teaching career, Val Davis was a colleague and one of my very good friends. Val was a brassy, sassy, very smart blonde with a wicked sense of humor and I adored her – as did most everyone else. One of her highly unexpected skills (she had several) was the ability to stick her unusually long tongue straight up into her nose – just like bison can and often do. But she only did it on “special” occasions and she refused do it for free. She always required a donation of a quarter before she’d perform.<\/p>\n In 1979 my wife and I took our 6-year-old daughter Shannon to a social function, in a restaurant if memory serves. Val was there too but Shannon and Val had never met. On a whim, I handed Shannon a quarter and told her to walk up to “that lady”, hand her the quarter, and see what happens. Val took the quarter and without hesitation stuck her tongue up her nose – way<\/span> up her nose.<\/p>\n When Shannon returned to our table her mouth was hanging open, her eyes were as big as saucers and all of us adults were falling off our chairs laughing. Shannon never forgot it.<\/p>\n Val is no longer with us but knowing her, she’d have no trouble at all with me telling this story. So tell it I did.<\/p>\n Val was like no other. R.I.P. my friend.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" And a personal story involving a very good friend. (5 photos)<\/p>\n