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I met a man named Richard at a party and he told me his Catalina Island Buffalo story.  I took his true story and added some of my own thoughts to it and retold the story to my nephew Andrew and his friend Hunter. 

Several years ago Richard and his friend Mike were hunting on Catalina Island.  They used old fashioned cross bows, the kind you can buy at that great place in Newport Beach called “Grants for Guns.”  Richard has a winery in Newport Beach and he told me that when he gets bored he shoots rifles at targets in his underground 100 foot wine cave.  I believe him because he seems like the type to scare the Newport Beach police into leaving him alone, a real traditional “man’s man”, handsome and very macho.

Richard goes hunting with his friend and in those days you could hunt wild boar, fox, deer, and other interesting animals on Catalina Island.  The boars were scary with big fangs sticking out of their mouths.  They would attack you if you weren’t careful and run right at you from out of the brush.  The day that Richard and Mike went hunting there were very few wild boars or other animals around.  They really wanted to use the new cross bows and were anxious to kill something.  All of sudden they see this wild buffalo coming at them.  Now I have actually seen wild buffalo out by the airport in Catalina.  They scared the life out of me as I was hiking on a path.  The buffalo are HUGE and they have been living on the Island since they were dropped off to make Hollywood movies back in the 1920’s. 

So Mike decides to shoot the buffalo.  He ends up KILLING the buffalo with the arrow.  Well, the Catalina Island Conservancy, and the “powers that be” on the Island do not think this is ok.  They tell Mike that he has committed a crime by killing the poor buffalo and that he better replace it.  They fine him $5000.  Mike feels bad and goes about trying to find a new buffalo.  He searches all over and finds a buffalo way out in South Dakota, back on the mainland.  Of course he has to figure out how to get this buffalo from the Indian reservation in South Dakota to Catalina Island.  He finally manages to get the buffalo on a train and into the Long Beach Harbor to load onto a boat.  The buffalo is rather traumatized by the whole journey.  He did not want to leave his native lands and as it turns out there was something wrong with him.  Either way the poor buffalo DROPS DEAD on the dock while waiting to load onto the boat.  Now the shipping company, Mike, and the authorities in Long Beach have to deal with a stinking, rotted, carcass of a buffalo.  This costs Mike more money AND he now has to buy ANOTHER buffalo to replace this dead buffalo!  Mike ends up finding another buffalo in South Dakota that has a better health record and ships it over to Catalina successfully.  The new buffalo, named Rick, is now a happy airport buffalo.  You can visit him if you are brave enough to go hiking around the airport, and don’t bring your bow and arrow or you will be sorry!

 

Kathy Hamilton

May 2012 

I met a man nam…

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Trade Shows

Let’s review the last month since Easter Sunday.  I took my son and three of his friends to Catalina Island for spring break and we all had a great time.  They got lost on a big hike, spear fished, snorkeled and caught fish off of Avalon Harbor with veteran fisherman Rich Knowland. After settling back into the regular routine I took my mother to her DAR meeting in San Juan Capistrano and met an artist named Monika.  Now I am representing 2 Monikas and their art, more about that later.  Went to a Relay for LIfe Meeting at El Cholo (event is June 2nd at the Great Park) April 17 and on April 18th had my last PBS SoCal Gala Committee meeting.  Later that day on the 18th I met the most amazing man through Mona Nesseth (my WOC jewelry lady).  His name was Richard and he owns the Newport Beach Winery.  I told his funny Catalina Island buffalo story to my nephew and his friend, that is great one!  That same night we moved on to the Trefethen Winemaker dinner at the Balboa Bay Club.  The winemaker dinner was great, as usual, and Hailey Trefethen was adorable and talked to us about the history of her winery.  Love their Chardonnay!  It is almost as good as our “Cougar Crack” Rombauer Chardonnay…

That was a busy day and the next day, April 19th, we had our Women of Chapman event at Shady Canyon with Cathy Whitlock.  Cathy lives in Nashville and wrote a beautiful book, “Designs on Film: A Century of Hollywood Art Direction.”  On the 20th I had an event at Chapman’s Dodge College called “Women in Focus”.  I was invited to the luncheon before the talk and met so many interesting people. The panel discussion included Debra Martin Chase (The Princess Diaries, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, The Cheetah Girls), Leslie Dixon (grandaughter of Dorothea Lange) who wrote so many screenplays, including “Limitless.”, Nina Jacobson, Jennifer Yuh Nelson (Kung Fu Panda 2 highest grossing female director), Stacey Snider (Steven Spielberg’s partner), and Dawn Taubin, the moderator who is now a Chapman professor.  It was so interesting and I did not fall asleep at all!

The next week included a neighborhood dinner party on the 21st, bunko, and a lovely dinner hosted by Dean and Kaly Corey of the Philharmonic Society at their home.  Box Ladies on May 3rd was an opportunity to get together and put together 10 boxes of college goodies for our kids at school.  We then had our PBS SoCal gala on Cinco de Mayo.  It was a blast and I ended up giving my home made gala mask to Marcia Cross (the beautiful redhead from Desperate Housewives).  I’ll have to show a picture of us together.  The next night we went to Big Canyon Country Club for our annual Golden Baton award for the Philharmonic Society. Big Canyon overlooks the golf course and has great sunset views, and good food and wine.  On May 8th we had dinner at Scott’s Seafood and went to a concert for the Philharmonic. Now this week is very busy!  Newton Winemaker dinner Tuesday May 15th at the BBC was one of the best.  Chef Josef outdid himself with wine paired halibut and a huge short rib.  We ordered some chardonnay of course.  On Wednesday we had our last meeting for the Women of Chapman and our Christmas at the Ritz meeting.  After that I went to the Philharmonic House of Design in Laguna Beach.  It was a long drive up a winding road to a very modern house.  The house was 11,000 sq. ft. with panoramic ocean views and the shops were great.  Too bad they ran out of food and the shuttle took forever up and back from Dana Point.  Had a nice glass of wine with the 2 Monikas, that was very fun!  After that we had another dinner at the BBC for a farewell to Beverly Ray.  She owns the club and is one of the most amazing women.  More on her later. The history of that club needs to be updated, especially since it is sold.  On May 17th we went to a spectacular Chef Yvon Goetz dinner at the Winery Restaurant.  Had some 2 Sisters Pinot Noir and Rombauer (did I mention cougar crack?) and his famous pizza.  Yesterday, May 18th, we had our first scholarship luncheon for students at Chapman’s Dodge College.  We ended up giving $5750 to each student because they were all so enthusiastic, smart, and had such potential.  Sheri Nazaroff and Dean Bob Bassett have done a great job with the film school and it was such a pleasure to be able to give students money to help with their student film projects.  Picked up nephew Andrew for chocolate chip cookies and then on to dinner at Shady Canyon for the Philharmonic Board retreat. Tonight is another gala – the Black and White Ball for CASA.  What to wear???

Let’s review t…

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