We arrived in Venice after our stop in Austria and had to leave our trusty car behind because no vehicles are allowed in the actual city. From there we took a train into Venice and had an adventure trying to locate our hotel. This city is so alive and constantly moving that dragging your luggage up and down stairs and canal walkways is actually quite difficult to do. Eventually we found where we were supposed to be staying only to find that the office was closed and the owner gone away. Luckily we begged a vendor next door to hunt down the hotel clerk so we could actually get the key to our room. After some serious anxiety over possibly not having a hotel, we were able to check in safe and sound.

The hotel was very nice, basically a small apartment with two bedrooms, a bathroom, a dinning area, and a lovely little courtyard out back surrounded by the tall walls that build up Venice. Our first order or business? Not unpacking, but mosquito hunting. We had to hunt down and kill every mosquito in the room. Like crazy people we were running all over the rooms smacking mosquitos and rejoicing in their demise. It was a satisfying experience.

After we settled for a small while we decided to go out and get a taste of Venice Nightlife and grab some real italian food by the Grand Canal. It feels like no one sleeps here, even late at night there is life everywhere. We sat right on the water and were enjoying a nice meal when all of a sudden hell broke loose. Two men started fighting right next to us. at first I thought someone had fallen into the canal and that was what the ruckus was all about. I was sorely mistaken. Two men, I believe to be opposing restaurant owners started screaming at each other in italian and get way to close to each other. One even chased the other down trying to get a good hit in. It died down as quickly as it started however and one of the men walked away in a storm. Believing it to be over, I went back to my room. Little did I know in the few minutes I was gone, the real fight broke out. Apparently as soon as I left, the guy came running back and attacked the man he was earlier fighting with in front of us. They literally attacked each other and at one point one of the waiters had to beat the guy with a stick to get him off of the other man. By the end everyone was bloody, face torn, shirts ripped, and overall, an interesting first night in Venice.

This really is a case of saving the best for last. In February I went to Yellowstone on a photography mission where I followed coyotes, river otters, bison, elk, bighorn sheep and wolves for a week in the snow. I saved my best shot as a present for one of my very best friends. So here is the grand unveiling of my best shot: the coyote headshot.

I got this close up headshot of a coyote when we were driving along the road and happened upon a coyote trotting down the middle of the road.

We slowed down as he weaved in and out of the road. It almost seemed like he was trying to make sure we didn’t pass him. During this time I had whipped out the four hundred lens and was hanging out the window trying to get a good shot of him. It was painful and pretty ridiculous looking as we stopped and went; me being jerked around the whole time yelling at the driver to stop the car. Just in time, I got my shot.

He was beautiful but I could tell he had been in some sort of fight recently because his ear was bloody and gnarled. He had some mean scars on his muzzle as well. So that’s it, that raps up my Yellowstone trip finally, with my best shot of the trip.

Black striped nails
Fox with nine tails
All our efforts fail
Time to let our dreams sail

Black striped claws
Staring calmly into the lion’s maw
Trying not to cry with a locked jaw
Forever remember the horrors you saw

Black striped hair
Leave behind those who care
Stepping off a cliff if you dare
Walking into darkness unless you’re scared

Black striped skin
The game you play but never win
Look at your face you’re guilty as sin
This is my hell go on jump in

I am black striped
I will always have to fight
I am the darkness inside of light
I am blind but do not lack sight

This story will end here tonight
I keep on fighting using all my might
Please hold on and squeeze my hand tight
This is going to be a very long night

The razor runs over the boy’s head
He doesn’t move or flinch
Just stares ahead into oblivion
With deadlocked eyes
Into a future of unknown miseries
With eyes held firm in a choice
He had no part in making
They shave his head
Put a warm gun in his hands
And teach him how to kill
Teach him to steal a life without remorse
They say Learn fast boy
Or get ready to die young
They smack him around
Take the boy’s soft exterior
And turn it into cold hard stone
Rip out his heart and memories
Of a time when safety was a given
And love was always near
Take all that he ever knew
And throw it away
The boy soldier hefts up his gun
His lips sealed and dead eyes
He has nothing left
But the eternal fight for his soul
Everyone runs from him
Like he is a monster
Because he is a monster
One they made him into
Ripped him from his home
And gave him hate
To battle an unknown enemy
There is no escape for him
Just a bloody sentence
That he has no choice but to accept
They label him and fear all like him
And run at the sight of his gun
Run they yell
It is the boy soldier come home again
But he won’t let it continue
As he stands over the body
Of a little girl the same age as him
A bullet in her chest
Blood blooming on her white dress
Like a ruby flower blooming
A bullet he shot from his gun
The tip of the gun digs into the earth
As he falls to his knees beside her
He grips the dusty earth
As he watches the last breathes
Leave the dying angel
Look how far he has fallen
And for what, for whom
No more he swears to the dry earth
No more blood
He turns the gun around
In his rough scarred hands
Covered in dust and blood
They belong to an old man
Not a twelve-year-old boy
He put the gun to his head
And pulled the trigger
That he was taught to pull
One more time
The boy soldier fell
Next to the dead angel girl
There will be no more wars
For this tortured soul
No more rivers of blood
Just the peace he never had
But always deserved