Martha Perantoni dot com

Origins       Escapades       Pen to Paper       Plans       Homeys        Connections

All Marmots are Named Fatty

And other vaguely anthropomorphic observations of Colorado mountain wildlife

I was hiking up through Elkhead Pass on my way to bagging Mt. Missouri a couple of years ago, admiring the flora and fauna of the region. I began the scramble up through the rock and talus above treeline and came eye-to-eye with one of the largest marmots I’d ever seen – easily the size of a mature bulldog and just as ornery as one named Kaiser. Without thinking, I softly proclaimed “hullo, fatty” in a shabby attempt to appease his apparent ill will against my intrusion on his terrain. For the remainder of the trip, any marmot that came within eyeshot received the same greeting, and it has stuck now for all marmots everywhere. It is a completely endearing term, and the assessment is 100% correct. Marmots are fat. How they not only get that way but stay that way is beyond me, given the starkness of their habitat. But they have personality and lots of it. And appetites, apparently.

Dances with Marmots

A friend from England and I were hiking once – she was completely taken by her first Colorado tundra experience and proclaimed wildly at everything she saw with the enthusiasm of a second grader on a carnival ride. I had, before our hike, described some of the critters we might see and apparently gave a clear visual description of an alpine marmot, Marmota marmota. She declared upon first sight of the alpine squirrel in that lovely British drawl of hers, “Oh, look, Maahhhhtha, theah’s one of those maahhhhhhmuttih things.”

Brits can say the darndest things and make them sound like they’re defending their dissertation topic on The Analysis of Search Failures in Online Library Catalogs. All because of that accent. And just as droll.....

_____________________________________________________________________

Full article available for perusal and/or publication negotiation upon request.

Please contact Martha@marthaperantoni.com.

All work is copyrighted. Any reproduction without author permission is strictly forbidden

and if you think even trying is a good idea, think again.

Respecting copyright laws and my hard work is good karma.

Please contact Martha@marthaperantoni.com for prices and permissions.