How about them Aggies!!!!!

That's all I really need to say... oh... and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

The Hound's first hunt

So Pat and I decided to try Conner out on a little bird hunt... And were surprised at how well he actually did... First he found us a coyote den, then a whitetail doe, and finally he flushed a roster pheasant... Pat winged the bird, then Conner took us right to where the bird had hid... After realizing what we wanted... The Hunt was on... Who knew you could teach an almost 7 year old Coon Hound to hunt pheasants... Here is a shot with Conner, my Father's Birthday gift, and the prize roster...

"A SMASHING FRONTAL ATTACK ON ENEMY REAR?!" - Daffy Duck

Wow, once again I am failing at keeping up....

Here is an update on my new job at violating ducks on a regular basis.. Which is quite fun, although not so much for the duck....










We are being invited to go out with federal banding operations, and then sample the ducks after they band them. So I am getting to work with a great group of people, FWS, APHIS, MTFWP, and from the Flathead Reservation.



Other than work;

Pat has been out working the Rocky Mountain Front Country, so he has been home every night. Which has been great, except that means I have to give up some control of the TV....

His father just had his pig valve replaced in heart surgery on the 6th, and so far all has gone well... He'll be at Mayo for up to a week, then it's off to catch the big one out on the River....

Now that Football season has started.... our weekends are full of Sat. college ball, then Sunday and Mon. night NFL. We have to watch the Aggies beat up on Ragin' Cajuns, the Manning boys beating up on each other... GO COLTS.... Then the Vikes take on the Redskins...
Pretty Big Weekend....

New Job

I have finally landed a job!

Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks has decided to hire me as one of their Avian Flu surveillance technicians... I will be spending time traveling between Bozeman, Great Falls, and Choteau gathering data from wetland birds that travel the Pacific Flyway. This will be a great chance for me to get some hands on experience with birds. I can't wait for the new challenge to begin... It is a seasonal position.. I can't just go out and get a full time job.. That wouldn't be me... I'll be working until January collecting both live and dead samples. Here is the FWP web site that has all the info about the project, and some great information about avian flu...
http://fwp.mt.gov/wildthings/avian/default.html

I start in Bozeman on Tuesday to get my main paperwork done, and then it'll be off to the races for a few months. I have a feeling it will be a little crazy in the beginning, as they are still trying to see how this will all work.. It is a large scale National and State interagency project.

Should be fun....

This weeks excitement...

I guess it's about time I update everyone... I haven't been writing, because there has been nothing to write about. Choteau has once again become a sleepy little town. Pat has been off in central Montana fighting wildfires, and I have been home sending out application after application....

Finally after about 6 months of response drought, I have two interviews this week!!!! I just finished with one for the Choteau Acantha, the local weekly paper. It is to be their typesetter, dabble in page design, and other front office type duties... Not close to anything I have experience with, and could be a disaster knowing my spelling talents... but who knows... It would be a 16 + hour week, leaving me plenty of time to play with my photography...

The other interview is tomorrow with the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks... This job would be working in both Bozeman and around Great Falls on MFWP's Avian Flu Surveillance team. Meaning I would be collecting live & dead migrant bird samples.... plus a few fecals here and there... That is where my true talents lie.... I am a pro fecal collector... I really should have that on my resume....

I don't think I could have two more opposite job interviews than these two... One is driving all over the state collecting dead birds and their poop.... The other is a half block commute to sit in an office and play on a computer... Hmmm, whichever will I chose.... That is if I am actually offered even one of them...

Anyway... That's it, that's my exciting life right now... Pat will be home tonight, have tomorrow at home, and then he's off to the Bridger Tetons (hopefully) to a Fire Use fire outside of Pinedale. If we're lucky he'll get more than one day off and we can get ourselves down to the State Fair and bet on some ponies..... They have races the entire week of the State Fair in Great Falls... $2 bets... Can't wait....

I'm not sure if this is a sign of change... but I now have two of my photos up in a local restaurant for sale... (the two on the far left of my display for the Art on the Green). It's a steak and seafood place that was only interested in my traditional work of Montana scenery. Next step is to decide whether I want to set up a web page, be it with E-Bay or on it's own.

Just So people know... I have not yet given up on my wildlife career, it just seems like it has given up on me.. I still have apps. out all over Montana and the West... I even applied for a job in Florida... sticky, buggy, hot Florida-- but I couldn't pass up a chance at a job researching Florida Panthers...

To fill you all in on Pat... He and his crew have been sent out to central Montana on a few small fires that have been popping up all week.. The fact that they are still around is amazing, usually he has been on at least on 14 day fire hitch by now. I last talked to him on Tuesday, and as far as I know they will be back for the weekend... Here's hoping he'll be home in time to go check out Bluegrass on the Bay with me in Great Falls.

4th of July Montana Style

Wow am I glad this last weekend is over... I'm exhausted... It all stared Friday night. We headed out to view Tanner & Faith's new goats out on Meadows Ranch... You might all be wondering how interesting is it to watch goats.... Well, to answer that question.. Very... All of the mamma's have at least 2 if not 3 kids, and boy are they a blast to watch play... bouncing around, head-butting, and bailing off the creek edge cliff... it really was quite entertaining. After sunset we headed down to one of the local bars to check out some live music...

On Sat. I had my Art on the Green show... The reception of my work was great, I received an invitation to hang a few photos on commission at a local restaurant, but I only sold a few prints to friends. You have to start somewhere and I'm glad I have friends who are willing to support my hobby... Thankfully Pat went to get our umbrella to save me from melting in the Montana sun. Sat. night we went to listen to the band yet again.... plus make an appearance at the other bar in town.







Sunday night was the first annual Choteau Boxing Smoker... I've never been a big fan of boxing... I just didn't get how it was fun to watch two people fight... But this event was so much fun... There were true boxers from Great Falls and the surround area, plus a few grunge matches between locals. One of Pat's Forest Service fire friends, Lacy "Native Sweetheart" also fought. She fights regularly with a club in Great Falls in the off season. So we had to go and cheer her on, booster sign and all.. I'll add my photos of the night as soon as I get them developed...

Monday started with a good competition of Keg hockey. That is a game where 3 person teams use fire hoses to try and get a keg past the other team's goal line... Very entertaining sport... We didn't enter ourselves, but if we are here next year, it's on..... Then the night began with a good old fashion pig roast... I know, I don't like pork, but this was for a good cause, so why not par-take.... Then we got treated to an awesome free concert... Provided by an anonymous donor (Letterman, I presume....) For those of you who don't know... David Letterman has his ranch retreat outside our small town, and is a very nice supporter of local events.. The opening band was Shane Clouse and Stomping Ground, of Missoula. http://www.shaneclouse.com/ They were a great country, bluegrass band... Very entertaining... The Main Headliner was Tom Russell http://www.tomrussell.com/index_flash.html Who was incredible... He has a voice like Neil Diamond, plus sings & writes like Lyle Lovett. Pat and I will soon be investing in at least one of his many CD's... I recommend having a good listen for yourself, if you like Americana, you'll Love his stuff. That night was the Choteau Street dance.. It was pretty hard going from such great music to a not so good local band, but we still all had a good time..

Tuesday was the final day of activities, thank goodness.... Starting with the 4th Parade... Nothing too out of the ordinary. Although we have a hunch that Letterman was dressed up as Uncle Sam riding in a convertible... The Rodeo was next... It is sanctioned by the Northern Rodeo Association. Most of the riders were from Montana, and had not yet entered into the PRCA. Even though it's smaller than the Augusta rodeo, it's still fun. By the end of the day, you might have had a cowboy fall in your lap plus you're covered with arena dust & dirt. The night concluded with the community fireworks. Pat's AFMO ( assistant fire manager) lives right below the hill they set them off from. It makes for a great place to sit and enjoy the show... This year there were no exploding watermelon, and lessons were learned from last years attempts at blowing up the house... {one of the bought fireworks tipped over spinning wildly and sending missiles at everyone (including through the legs of my Dad into their garage)}.

Now I can finally relax and recover... I'm not sure Pat is as lucky... His crew will be sent off on their first fire any day now and then it's off to the races for them...

Night Wings

Yesterday while waiting for my rig to get fixed at the Nissan shop in Great Falls, I chose to be dropped off at the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art. http://www.the-square.org/ It is located in an old high school building downtown... I was the only visitor during the hour and a half I was there, making it a great, peaceful time to for me to walk around. It's very small, and only had 5 small scale exhibits.. But they were all very enjoyable... Especially Night Wings: Moths in Sight and Sound, by Joseph Scheer. He has taken photos, digitally enhanced and enlarged them (some up to 4 x 8 feet) to the point that you can see every individual hair on the moth... To get a great interview see... http://www.photoinsider.com/pages/scheer/scheer.html
Most of the display was set up as prints in frames, but one small room was set up with the prints on canvas, hung randomly with tiny speakers inset in the canvas. The sounds of moths and other forest music was played as you walked through-out the room... Very peaceful and relaxing... What a cool experience.. I highly recommend the show if anyone is lucky enough to find it in their area.

Another great exhibit they have permanently at the museum is Lee Steen's Menagerie... It is a collection of Tree sculptures from cottonwood branches and found objects he collected near his home in Roundup, Montana. One of the most unique exhibits I've seen in a while. A true Montana original. All of you who know my Dad, this exhibit is right up his alley..

Wildest One-Day Rodeo in the West

Augusta Rodeo pics from 2004


The Augusta Rodeo was this last weekend. And yes, we all had to head on down to par-take in the festivities... Augusta, where Pat is now based with the Forest Service, is about a half hour South of Choteau. The official rodeo is on Sunday, but the party is all weekend long, with the slack rodeo on Sat. For those of you who have been to the Houston Livestock & Rodeo, or any other large scale rodeo... This is nothing like it... It is an official Pro Rodeo, so it does bring in big name riders. But as a small town (pop. 300) which multiplies by ten for the weekend activities, it makes for a great fun. Even if you are on the top of the stands (which only go to row 15....) you still eat the dust from the arena.

The weekend started with a group of friends heading out to Lake Eureka for some fun in the sun. Then down to Augusta to BBQ and check out the Slack rodeo with the Forest Service Crew that lives there. Ate lots of Indian Tacos (a taco with Fry Bread instead of a tortilla) and partied '"till the sun come up" with the town at the street dance.

On Sunday, Pat and I were up early, due to a neighborhood dog's charming wake-up barks... So we decided to go exploring... First we drove around checking out houses, then headed up into the mountains... Where we ended up dead-ending on a trail-head that was only 6 miles from the Scapegoat wilderness... A must do hike for some future date...


But not then, because we had to get back for the Rodeo!!!! So in the heat of the day we all watched the cowboys and cowgirls strut their stuff, even as they participated in the annual wild cow milking contest, which is a hard event to look good in... Buy supper time we were all shot, so we drug ourselves back to Choteau to sleep off the weekend before everyone had to go back to work today...

This weekend is Choteau's 4th of July festivities, including another "in your face" rodeo... Everyone will be resting up this week, to make sure they're at the top of their game for another rodeo weekend... The Summer Festival on Saturday is Choteau's arts & crafts show... So I will be gathering my "art" up to prepare for my first attempt at a show... I will let you know how it goes...

photos of the Xpress ride

Jesse hanging out in Atlantic City before the mail came in.


Jesse riding off with the mail
Changing the Mochilla Phyllis telling us Peace, as she leaves with the mail

Pony Xpress

I have just returned from my 3rd Pony Xpress re-ride in Central Wyoming. We had 58 miles across South Pass to ride the mail... A young woman and two younger girls took 6 of those miles, while the 7 of us took the rest.. The mail came into Atlantic City at 8:40pm, and we handed it off in Jeffrey City at 3am. Averaging 10 miles an hour... The past 2 years we carried the mail from 2am until dawn... So this was a nice change to get the mail early enough to ride with a little light, in the beginning at least. The mail came into Wyoming an hour early and left an hour and 45 min. early...

The way the re-ride works is that riders leap frog with each other in there rigs.. The average rider does 2-5 miles at a time. We tend to take 2-3 miles each, due to our horses conditions... We don't do a whole lot of preparation... I rode with my friend Phyllis, her son Jesse, her niece Jenn and sister in law Janet, Jesse's good friend Tom, and our area coordinator, Stan. The mail comes in a Mochilla, it's a leather sheath with pockets that fits over every saddle, so when a rider comes in all you have to do is lift the Mochilla off and transfer it onto the next rider's saddle... I have included some photos that should show what I'm trying to explain...

My time in Wyoming was great... Before the ride, Phyllis and I went out to the McCullough Peaks (the Wild Horse Herd Area I used to work at in Cody) for a good 6 hour ride to go horse and fossil hunting.. We got to check on some horses and found a great cache of bones and even found some great teeth. ( most are from a prehistoric boar creature). And then after the Pony Express ride, we got a call about some rouge yearling steers that had escaped and need to be rounded up... so off we went with the ponies again to chase some steers...

Way to much fun for 4 days... there are times when I wonder why I ever left Wyoming... I have a feeling it will call me back soon....

Where & What

I have come to the realization that I have become so bad at staying in contact with all of you, that most of you have no idea where I am, or what I am doing... So I thought it is time to join the age of blogging to keep you all better posted...

So to answer the question of where.. Pat and I are living in Choteau, Montana... Where???? About an hour south of Glacier NP... For any of you who are looking to travel.. You have to go through our small town to get to the East Entrance of the park from Great Falls... We are always welcome to visitors... Hint Hint...

As for what I am doing.... At this point I am telling people I'm retired.... But the truth is that I moved up here to be with Pat ( instead of 7 hours away, like before) and have yet to get a wildlife job... Which has allowed for me to dabble more into my photography, and I am actually going to show some of my work at an Art in the Park here in town over the 4th of July to see if there is a chance I can make some $. I feel like I'm entering a new stage of self- invention... and I'm not quite 30... (close, but not there yet... Give me the few last months I have...) Makes me wonder how many of these I'm going to go through...