It’s been a few years since I’ve raised wild caterpillars, and I thought I had retired from caterpillar wrangling for good. But a spur-of-the-moment trip to the Walden Pond wilderness united me with this young buck of a caterpillar named Buddy:

Buddy was just a tiny little caterpillar, probably the runt of the litter. But after just one day of non-stop eating, he has almost doubled in size to a whopping one inch in length (pictured above). Stay tuned for more adventures of Buddy the Caterpillar. In the meantime, please enjoy photos of my previous caterpillars/butterflies.

THE RUNNING OF THE BRIDES starring MANDIE FOX with a cameo by WENDY CHAO will premiere on The Learning Channel!

I didn’t realize it was April 1 until Victor sent me this photo of his bicycle. It appears that his staff decorated his bike so it would go with his outfits. How cute!

APRIL FOOLS DAY

An observant telemarktips reader sent me this tip yesterday:

I stumbled across this on ebay and recognized the pic from a teletips thread, suspected that this wasn’t a legit use of your photo, and thought you might want to put a stop to it:

That’s a screenshot of the original listing from this eBay seller, who put HIS trademark on MY ski bunny / snow bunny photo from Easter 2005. Nice. Since I didn’t do anything the last time someone used the photo in an advertisement without paying up, I decided to take action this time. I sent photographer/bounty hunter Alexander Scott on the trail:

Dear Scottyharmon1: Quick note to let you know that you are using a photograph I took of my friend Wendy Chao for your eye wear image. As a power seller I am sure that you are aware that eBay does not approve of unauthorized image use. I would be happy to sell you limited usage rights to this lovely image for $375. Look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Alexander Scott www.alexanderscott.com“

The reply:

Alexander, just a note to commend you on your fine work. We viewed your website and love your photography. We are also professional photographers and appreciate great work. We have suspended the use of the gallery photo until our decision is made as to how we will decide to use it. Best regards, Scotty Harmon”

And another reply:

Hello Alexander and thank you for your email. I was not aware that there was a problem using this photo and will be happy to pay for the use of this photograph going forward. I would like to discuss this with my graphics department and we will get back to you with an answer as to our decision. Thank you again, Scotty Harmon”

Sounds like a reasonable guy. I hope he sells a lot of sunglasses and pays Alex for the photo. I also hope he’s not selling those sunglasses I’m wearing in that photo – they put a big gash on my face when I crashed at Alta a few years ago.
MORE SKI BUNNY BLUES: THE PRICE OF BEING THE #1 SKI BUNNY ON GOOGLE

I’ve been making pilgrimages all summer to Coney Island, the last great American icon. Tomorrow I make my final journey to Coney Island’s Astroland amusement park, as the land underneath it has been sold to the evil Thor Equities. After September 9, Astroland will cease to exist. The Cyclone rollercoaster and the Wonderwheel are historical landmarks and will continue to operate, but they just won’t be the same without the boardwalk, the fortune tellers, the junky booths, and the $0.25 toilets.