MONTE WOLFE REVISITED

Last night, a friend of mine offered to share some information he has worked on about Monte Wolfe.  I’ve known Mark for some time, but what I didn’t know about  Mark Bonar was his  long history of interest in the reclusive Hermit, Monte Wolfe.  Since I’d written about Wolfe in the 1980′s,  Mark  came by with materials and we enjoyed an evening of ruminating about Wolfe. Mark had the good fortune of living in Calaveras County in the 1950′s.  His then father-in-law, Paul LaTeer had met Monte and later wrote stories about Monte and influenced Mark and his family to engage the vast, mountainous arenas and rivers that Monte called home. I promised Mark I wouldn’t write anything from our interview until I passed it by him, first.

For those who don’t know the legendary Monte Wolfe story,  I’ve provided two  links  to my  blogs of 2009 as an introduction to Monte Wolfe.
http://marysramblins.blogspot.com/2009/03/disappearance-of-monte-wolf.html

http://marysramblins.blogspot.com/2009/03/monte-wolf-legend.html

Wolfe spelled his names two ways, sometimes as Wolf and sometimes as Wolfe. Mark uses Wolf with an e and thus this blog is consistent with that spelling.
Wolfe lived like an Indian, surviving completely in the wild with no services. He didn’t have a totem, that I know of, but on a recent walk, I took a picture of a neighbor’s totem that I’d like to share today. I’m always looking for ways to display my amazing pile of junk and this totem  inspired me to build the bottle fence I’ve promised myself.  I only save bottles and jars that are embossed with writing or insignias of some kind, or that have unusual shapes. Anyway, here goes. Don’t tell me. My kids have already informed me that I’m weird.  And, they ought to know.

You  might note that the top of this totem is made of  carved wooden feathers.

What else can you do with rusty tools and broken pieces of tile?

A true totem has a face.

Two faces, optional.

Since I’m part Indian, and I approve, three and four faces are also appropriate.

I also took a picture of a chicken coop.

My brother, Norman, told me he will come back in the spring and build me a chicken coop. (But, what I really want is a totem.)