Moonridge Celebrity Fundraiser - July 19th, 2003
===================================================

To be honest, I thought it would be almost impossible to top 
last year's wonderful event, but -- at least for me -- this one 
absolutely did, for a variety of reasons:

1) The Sentinel/GM fans donated a tremendous amount of money this 
year (over $12,000 as of 7/19, with more to come!)

2) Garett was looking happy/relaxed most of the day, not to mention 
just plain fine (I love the current haircut/sideburns combination, 
and the lack of spectacles showed up those lovely eyes to great 
advantage).  He seemed to really enjoy himself... hamming it up 
for photo ops and joking around with various folks and generally 
being all kinds of fun and, occasionally, loud, which is usually 
a good sign  ;->

3) Despite forecasts of potential thundershowers, lightening and 
hail, the day was damn near perfect -- partly cloudy for the warmest 
part of the day, then clearing later in the afternoon, making for
a delightful drive home (*before* dark, thank you very much!)

4) I chatted with a bunch of folks that I saw/met briefly last 
summer but wasn't bold enough to talk to at that point.

5) Some people I didn't want to see didn't show, and those that
did were easily avoided.


And my two personal highlights:

6) I got to pet not one, but two, adolescent cougars!!

7) I got to hang out with several friends who made this one of my 
best damn "days out" ever  ;->


Misc Notes
===========

The animal auction:  we apparently invented a new form of bidding 
-- cooperative rather than competitive.  For instance, if person 
A bids $75 and person B bids $100, the park gets $175 instead of 
$100.  And then if other folks jump in and donate $10 here and 
$20 there... well, it can really add up!  It's a truly win/win 
situation because (1) it brings in a lot more money per animal 
and (2) gives everyone a chance to contribute.  It made it feel
like a big party, actually, plus everyone who chipped in got a
photo taken with their animal.  Debbie Richardson says they'll
definitely remember that for next year so... save those pennies!

Speaking of Debbie -- she's a smart cookie in another way as well, 
seeing as she very deliberately had Garett come down to help 
auction off the third and final cougar cub, who just happened to 
be named Cascade  ;->.  As you can imagine, she was quite the hot 
item.  I believe her grand total was somewhere around $1600, thanks 
in large measure to a $700 donation from the wonderful Arthur Rand 
(of Ink Spots fame).

Photos:  they had a lovely new collection of professional 8x10s
of Garett with various animals for sale.  They're also available
on the web (along with over 100 photos of this event) at 
http://www.proeventlab.com/ (ID=fletcher Password=moonridge).

Donations:  this was one of my favorite moments of the day, other 
than when I actually had my hands on a cougar  ;->. 

Phase 1 - As many of you already know, a scant few weeks ago, 
Alyjude got the inspired idea to have an auction to raise money 
for Moonridge and, with lots of hard work and help from her 
friends, pulled it off in brilliant fashion.  Folks from both 
The Sentinel and Stargate fandoms immediately jumped on the 
bandwagon, donating a variety of items and then bidding their 
socks off.  Partway through the auction, the original host site 
was hacked and all records lost.  After lots more hard work and 
stress on the part of Alyjude and her cohorts, a new host site 
was found, the items went back up and everyone (or damn close) 
stepped up to the plate and honored their 'lost' bids.  The grand 
total at the end of the auction was just under $8000, and a 
beautifully calligraphied certificate was made by Agt. Spooky 
for presentation to Garett.

Phase 2 - At the event itself, word got around about the total
being just under $8000 and in a very short time that had changed
to just *over* $8000.  Wonderful news!  Except that now the 
certificate had to be changed, which was -- from what I heard
-- handled both gracefully and humorously.  So... the certificate 
is presented to Garett (who was thrilled and amazed at the amount) 
and he steps out for an amusing extended-length photo op with the
certificate and the presenters, hearing the story of the auction,
the hacking, etc. from the crowd as he does so.   He asked the
presenters if they were responsible for organizing all that and
they said "Oh, no, that was Aly's doing."  Garett, of course,
asked where Aly was, and when she was pointed out (seated a bit
up the hill, keeping an eye on the festivities while not taking
any of the credit), he promptly marched up the hill to thank her 
personally.  Which led, of course, to another photo op, with 
poor Aly looking quite red.  Oh, did I mention that he was being 
particularly loud & playful by that point?  Cuz he was.  Very.

Phase 3 - during the photo op with Aly, Debbie Richardson 
informed us that the overall total to date (I'm not 100% sure
what all that includes... donations made in his name directly
to Moonridge + the auction + ??) was over $12,000.  At which 
point Garett proclaimed that the certificate had to get changed
again, so off poor, long-suffering Agt. Spooky went again to find 
her pens (Note: this was all done in a playful, joking manner... 
I certainly don't want anyone to think this guy is arrogant!)

Hearsay (aka: Aly, take 2):  I didn't see this personally, but
I have it on very good authority that sometime after this, Garett 
snuck back up the hill while Aly was getting photos taken with 
various friends and casually slipped into the crowd, eventually 
working his way to right behind/next to her.  Folks kept quiet 
for a few shots, then told Aly to look behind her.  I gather
she was quite startled, to say the least.  I know that later on,
back at the autograph table, he talked about sneaking back up
there again, but then decided not to because he didn't want to
make her mad.  See, Aly... he *can* behave... sometimes  ;->

Animals:  I didn't get a chance to visit everyone (I skipped the 
indoor stuff this time, knowing that I'll be back for another 
fundraiser in late August), but I did, of course, visit the wolves 
(Navarre has gotten *huge*, but Debbie says he's still a big ole
wuss, which she figures he'll grow out of since he's only a little
over one year old), the cougar triplets and the three-legged bear, 
Huckleberry.  I went by the snow leopard exhibit, but didn't see
Kali or Genghis.  I did, however, get to see a bunch of eagles, 
hawks and owls, plus the raccoons, foxes, coyotes, coatis, black 
bears, bobcats and mule deer.  Whew!  No wonder I was so tired
when I got home.  I think next year I'll book a room someplace
in Big Bear so that I can stay and enjoy more time with all the 
great folks who make the trek up the hill each year.  Not that
staying in such a gorgeous place is a hardship, ya know?

Ok... I think that's about it, at least for now.  Be sure to visit 
http://www.moonridgezoo.org and keep those donations rolling in!  
They now even accept Paypal at this address:  MoonridgAP@AOL.com 
(Note that there is no "e").  Or you can donate while shopping 
online via http://www.moonridgezoo.org/lfwc/supporthfl.html