Newspaper Page Text
The ADVANCE, December 20, 2023/Page 2A
Stye Aiiuance
Hoofin' It
continued from page 1A
boot camp I told you
about a few weeks
ago when we spoke
by phone."
And that's when
I first saw the giant
creatures. The rein
deer (or caribou
as some call them)
were much taller
and more mas
sive than Georgia's
white-tailed deer.
For reference, I am
5 feet 8 inches tall,
and they seemed al
most eye level with
me. Their thick fur
ry coats were dark
brown with white
and pale gray ac
cents. Their dark
marbly eyes resem
bled those of cows
and horses, and
some of the rein
deer balanced large
branched antlers on
their heads, while
others did not.
"Think of this
place like the train
ing ground for SEAL
Team Six or Delta
Force, but instead of
training big, strong
men for special
military missions,
we are training big,
strong reindeer for
one of the most im
portant missions
there is," Annika
continued. "This
is the place where
Santa's reindeer
are transformed
from frolicking
forest dwellers to
precision flying
machines. This is
where they hone
their abilities and
learn tricks of the
trade that will pre
pare them for their
Christmas Eve ex
cursion with "The
Boss," and Fm not
talking about Bruce
Springsteen. Fm
talking about San
ta!"
Annika chuckled
at her own joke as
I continued to take
it all in. Some rein
deer pranced along
a slushy trail, while
others ate from a
pile of mosses and
grasses. Reindeer
are herbivores, by
the way, and eat
vegetarian diets.
Seemingly out
of nowhere, a large
caribou made a
hard landing a mere
10 feet from where
we stood. I flinched
at the sudden com
motion then stead
ied myself, and An
nika laughed.
"Don't worry,"
she said. "WieVe
gone 50 years with
out an accident or
incident here at
AAA. That's a pretty
good safety track
record, don't you
think? Please men
tion that in your
newspaper story.
We need good pub
licity."
Annika turned
and walked toward
the entrance of the
barn.
"This way," she
said. "Fll introduce
you to our head
trainer, Yanic. He'll
answer any and all
of your questions.
REINDEER
RECRUITMENT
Inside the barn.
as my eyes adjusted
to the dim lighting,
I noticed a phrase
written in huge let
tering across the
back wall. It read,
"Teamwork makes
the dream work."
Several reindeer
huddled in different
areas of the covered
space — all eyes
following me with
great curiosity.
"There he is!"An
nika said, pointing
to a man shuffling
toward us. "Amber,
this is Yanic, our
reindeer trainer ex
traordinaire. Yanic,
this is the writer I
told you about."
In his late fif
ties or early six
ties, Yanic was tall,
muscular, and very
hairy — like a big
ger, beefier version
of Grizzly Adams.
His beard and mus
tache were so bushy
that I wasn't sure he
had a mouth. His
big leather boots
laced all the way up
to his knees, mak
ing him look a bit
like a giant lumber
jack standing next
to pixie-like Annika.
And on the top of
his head, he wore a
thick knitted cap,
like the kind you
wear on an Alpine
ski trip.
Sensing he was
a no-nonsense kind
of guy, I quickly
launched into my
questions after the
introduction.
"How many rein
deer train here?" I
asked.
"We have 49
reindeer here now,"
Yanic remarked.
"We've had as many
as 80 here before,
but right now, there
are 49."
"Why so many?"
I followed up. "I
mean, Santa only
uses nine reindeer
to guide his sleigh
at Christmas
time, right? Why
are there so many
here?"
Please see Hoofin’ It
page 3A
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