I Have the Most Excellent Son

I was having problems putting some of my photos on my blog and called my son to complain. He taught me how to compress my files, now I can upload all of my pictures. He is a very patient teacher. I know he thinks I am a techno-dinosaur, but he is kind enough not to mention it.

Somewhere between Browning and the park

My good friend and partner in crime for this trip, Shauna

I think these are the coolest trees in the world. They look like pine trees, but their needles turn yellow and fall off. They are a Larch or Tamarack tree. They are a deciduous conifer. You can see a better picture here.

Waterloo

Once again, my work has taken me away from home. I left home yesterday at 7 am, picked up an associate in Winnett and drove pretty straight through to a symposium in Whitefish. The roads were clear and the weather was decent so it made for a nice road trip. We were very close to the eastern border of Glacier Park when we nearly met our waterloo. A fully loaded semi-truck was headed straight for us on a two lane road. I had already picked my ditch when the driver either woke up or got his head out of his ass. He managed to get his machine into the proper lane at the very last moment. To say we were relieved would be a gross understatement. In fact, our very next stop was a road side rest area--speaking of gross...

The outhouse of doom--pee-eeeew

Stubborn Norwegian "Boys"

I went to my dad's house last Thursday and had so much fun that decided to stayed an extra day. My brother and I had numerous projects planned and actually got most of them accomplished before the weekend ended.

One of our tasks was to help Cousin Danny hook onto a tree across the river and bring it over to his property to cut up for firewood. The tree was dead and dislodged from the earth, but hadn't fallen into the water because it was hung up on the live tree next to it. The plan was to have Danny cast a fishing line across to my brother, Mike, on the other shore. Mike would then hook a rope to the dead tree, tie the fishing line to it and Danny would reel the line in, bringing back the rope. The rope would then be affixed to the bumper of Dan’s vehicle and he would drive forward, bringing the tree with him across the river and onto our shore. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it?

I was late getting to the rendezvous point and by the time I arrived, the Norwegian boys had determined that the original plan wasn’t going to work. The fishing line broke as it was being reeled in and the rope went into the water. I joined the ensuing brainstorming session and we came up with several plans, none of which worked at all well; although I imagine they were quite humorous to watch. If I hadn’t been so involved in our attempts to put the plans into action, I would have taken pictures. I could have used them for blackmail purposes later on.

Suffice it to say, by the time we figured out that we weren’t going to succeed, both my brother and I were soaked to the waist and things were looking quite bleak. Cousin Danny said he thought stronger fishing line would work and I set off in my car to locate 20# test line. There was none to be had in the town of Absarokee so I drove off to Ole’s Corner Convenience Store (yes, I am not making this up) outside of town and located some 12# test.

Back to the river I went and yes, we did, against all odds, succeed in getting the rope across the water, the tree dislodged from its neighbor and across to the other side without any loss of life or limb (ha-ha).

The tree is at the shore

but the branches caught on the rocks

so of course, they had to go.

And finally, success.

They Say It's Your Birthday....

My co-workers surprised me for my birthday by decorating my workspace. It was definately a shock, because my birthday isn't until Friday. Can you feel the love?

(Please excuse the quality of the photo, I used the work camera)

Wordless Wednesday

Click HereTo get the Wordless Wednesday Code

Beautiful Day on the Stillwater

There's snow in them thar hills.

Someone needs to tell this guy that it's almost Thanksgiving!

Although momma and baby were watching us; they didn't seem overly concerned.

Autumn

My son and I took a road trip when he was here earlier this month. This is the Stillwater River at Woodbine Campground.

This is my son and best friend in the universe!

The fall colors were beautiful.

My son never could pass a rock without wanting to climb it.

The trees were all really heavy with pine cones. My son calls this picture "The Over-achiever".

I like the fall colors in this one, though my hand wasn't very steady while I was taking it.

I've got a "thing" for dead trees lately.

Derby Fire Aftermath Photos

This picture was taken a couple of miles from Absarokee. It was still quite smokey, but the fires for the most part, were out.

This was taken on the lower Stillwater River Road.

For those of you familiar with the Stillwater River Road, the pictures above and below were taken near where the pavement ends and the gravel begins.

A lot of homes were lost in this subdivision.

The bridge to nowhere

This propane tank was one of dozens that exploded during the fire. The house it serviced burned to the ground.

The fire burned over 1/3 of Stillwater County.

What a tragedy. Most of this could have been prevented if they had been able fight the fire in the beginning. Unfortunately, all of the available resources were being used to fight the Emerald Hills fire in Billings.

Ahhhhh, Sweet High Speed Internet...

This is my son, Nels, at the Beartooth Nature Center in Red Lodge. He volunteered at the center in high school

This photo series is of Boomer, a racoon at the center. Like the other animals there, he cannot survive in the wild.

Dial-up, Harumph!

I have all kinds of new pictures I would love to post, but alas, the dial-up connection here in Absarokee is prohibitive. You will just have to wait for a few days to see the cute cat, family fun and Derby Fire pictures.

In other news, we found out this week that my favorite male cousin has acute leukemia. There is absolutely nothing "cute" about it. He is in the hospital having chemo right now. The docs told him that if he chose not to take the treatments, he would be gone in 2 weeks. It doesn't sound very good for him, so please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. We are going to spend some time with him in the hospital tomorrow.

Now on to better news; it is my dad's 83rd birthday! I am making a turkey and all of the trimmings because that is his favorite meal. My son came from Colorado to spend 5 days with him and we are all enjoying the visit very much. Tomorrow, after we visit Dale in the hospital, we will go to Forsyth for 2 days. We will take the new car for a cruise and dote on cats! I will post numerous pictures, i promise.

See you then.

Drum roll please.....

And now, finally, pictures of the new car!

1938 Chevy 2 door Sedan

Better pictures to follow, I promise!

A Short Walk on the Wild Side

HHDDD and I took the most sedate of our inside cats outside for the first time. Prior to this, she had only been outside in the cat carrier.

She really seemed to enjoy it.

There were all kinds of new smells,

and tastes (note tongue).

Her mom (the only cat that goes outside alone) watched over her the whole time. I don't think she trusted H and I to watch over her daughter.

Welcome to B Bar

I spent most of last week at a watershed coordinator training conference up Tom Miner Basin. Even though we spent a lot of time learning, there was still time for fun.

Yes,that is smoke in the background.

There was an opportunity to hike.

Best of all, an opportunity to take photos,

which we all know I love to do.

Smoke from the jungle fire was in the air, but it was still breath-taking,

and I feel very fortunate to have been able to attend.

This is for Courtney (The Daily Cat Chase)

This picture was taken by a co-worker. I thought it was cool so he said I could post it. Thanks Larry.

In Anticipation of Furry Friday

TGI(almost)F