On 2022-06-27 18:15:51 +0000, Technobarbarian said:

> This probably isn't a good combination. I suddenly have some free
> time that I'll be spending at home and some stories to tell. I've
> actually started with the easier stories and I'm working my way up to
> the more complicated stuff.
>
> This story starts late in the last century. I was a volunteer at
> the High Desert Museum for a number of years.
>
> https://highdesertmuseum.org/

We haven't been there is well 20+ years. Looks like we need to go back

> I had enjoyed visiting the museum and they were offering free
> classes. It ended up becoming a big part of my social life. You met all
> sorts of interesting people. They had fantastic parties, with live
> music and food and wine. After you put in enough hours you could go to
> the donor parties. Those people appreciated good stuff. And back when
> Don Kerr was running the place the volunteers had a lot of leeway, as
> long as you stayed within the guidelines. If the staff trained and
> trusted you, you could work with the animals. One of the things I got
> to do was talk about and free fly a red tailed hawk. It's awesome when
> any bird lands on your glove. With the hawk you had to be careful to
> hold your glove so that the hawk wasn't flying at your face. He wanted
> the food you were holding and, when he was ready, he wanted it now. He
> would land on your glove about the same way he would land on his prey.
>
> I could also play a little with the one somewhat tame otter they
> had at the time. She was a rescue animal who became to used to people
> to be released back to the wild. I was sort of a kid in a candy store.
> I got to do all sorts of stuff I had not expected to do. Working in the
> old sawmill was another fun activity.
>
> The way things worked out it had been over 20 years since I had
> seen the museum. They have made some excellent changes. I don't think
> Doris and the Bhagwan ever met, but they're now sort of living together
> in the museum. I was a volunteer out there when Don convinced Doris
> Bounds to donate her collection to the museum. There must have been a
> lot of competition for it. Don was just a nice person and very
> charming. Doris had been a banker in Hermiston and a collector from a
> young age. As she said, "she collected beautiful things." Some of them
> were so culturally significant that they had to be returned to the
> tribes. The museum used to show parts of the collection, and I've been
> down in the vault and seen stuff that wasn't on display. Now they're
> able to show most of the collection at the same time. That alone is
> worth the price of admission.
>
> https://www.indiancraftshopsales.com/native-arts-of-the-columbia-plateau-the-doris-swayze-bounds-collection-of-native-american-artifacts.aspx
>
>
> "Native Arts of the Columbia Plateau: The Doris Swayze Bounds
> Collection of Native American Artifacts"
>
> They have also built a beautiful birds of prey exhibit
> appropriately dedicated to Don Kerr. It had been in the planning stages
> when I was there.
>
> By now I hope you're wondering how the Bhagwan got into this
> story. It was one of the nicest little surprises of the whole trip. The
> museum has one of The Bhagwan's Rolls Royces, appropriately blinged out
> for the guru. It's a freakin' hoot and part of their exhibit on
> attempted utopias in the west.
>
> "New High Desert Museum exhibit focuses on intentional communities, utopias
> 'Imagine a World' opens Saturday at High Desert Museum
> By DAVID JASPER • The Bulletin Jan 26, 2022 Updated Jan 26, 2022"
>
> https://www.bendbulletin.com/lifestyle/new-high-desert-museum-exhibit-focuses-on-intentional-communities-utopias/article_c9419b10-7ad1-11ec-a05d-b3932b1875bb.html
>
>
> TB