Wapiti with an Arrow

January Flyfishing!

2012-01-11T08:28:00.000-08:00

On the 7th of January my duck hunting partner, Jason, agreed to take me out to learn how to fish nymphs with an indicator. And, pardon the pun, I'm hooked!! Talk about a neat way to fish, and it's just about as addicting as steelheading. Something about watching a float go by you in the river just waiting....waiting....waiting for it to go under water is hard to walk away from. Even at 33 degrees and one leaky leg of some borrowed waders kept me out there for a solid four hours....and I only hooked one whitefish!! Jason got two gorgeous cutthroat, which kept me interested in remaining there as well.

I think I was using a size 28 nymph at the time which is the tiniest fly I've ever had tied on my line. Think pencil tip size!! All in all, it was a pretty good day.

But now it's getting even colder and we're hoping the ice forms back up. Already talking about going to a little frost-pocket of a lake Saturday morning....but, we'll see. I've been playing an awful lot lately.

Jason fishing the Kingston hole

Believe it or not, the water DROPS off right beyond him and he's darn near 7 feet tall!

The side channel is often overlooked

Concentration

Driving Pains

2012-01-06T13:00:00.001-08:00

Boy, sure is slow around here anymore. SO, I've thought about this list for quite a while and I finally put it together. These are very common issues around here that DRIVE ME NUTS. (Ugh, even that unintentional pun bugs me!) I find myself driving around repeating what seems to be my mantra anymore, "I hate people." After reviewing my quick 62 point list, I don't think I'll ever be able to live in a city.

Now remember, these all have happened to me. Some on a daily basis. There are a few that seem the same, but they have very slight differences. And the funny thing is I can ALMOST ALWAYS anticipate what dumb thing someone is going to do before they do it. The sad thing is when I'm wrong and they actually act politely...then I just feel bad for being so negative.

Hopefully no one sees this as an attack or of me "whining." I simply wrote this stuff to occupy some time and have a bit of fun. With that, in no particular order (obviously, it's all over the board) here we go! Now that I'm going through it, I'm going to highlight in red text what I encountered driving around YESTERDAY.

THINGS THAT REALLY BUG ME WHILE DRIVING

1.) Turning left and not getting in the turn lane
2.) Hitting the crosswalk button when I’m the only vehicle coming down the road (couldn't you just WAIT?)
3.) Hitting the crosswalk button at an intersection, then proceeding to jaywalk making all the traffic wait for the lengthier light
4.) Jaywalk SLOWLY across the road
5.) Getting tailed only to have them turn off at the next street from where they entered.
6.) AS SOON as the aforementioned person turns off, to have someone else enter and proceed to tail me.
7.) Driving extremely slowly and NOT pulling over to let traffic by
8.) Bicyclists using the sidewalk and running red lights (especially if I’m turning left. Who’s going to get the ticket if we collide, me or them? Yep, ME.)
9.) Bicyclists riding side-by-side on narrow roads
10.) Bicyclists riding in the middle of the road downhill (less than the speed limit.)
11.) People entering the interstate only to take the adjacent exit less than 100 yards away
12.) Not moving over for traffic accessing the interstate
13.) Not turning brights off
14.) When folks roll though an intersection with their blinker on, then honk their horn after I pull out in front of them (thinking they were going to turn)
15.) Getting tailed at 0400 in the morning on a dirt road
16.) Shoot, getting tailed on a dirt road at ANY time
17.) Not signaling to turn
18.) Hitting the turn signal after the turn is initiated
19.) MEANDERING OR LINGERING at a green light only to make it so only THEY can get through the light
20.) MEANDERING through a light while I’m yielding to turn left
21.) Holding up traffic to turn left onto a one-way street (even though the left lane is completely open)
22.) Opening car doors without checking traffic
23.) Stepping out into traffic (jaywalking) from behind vehicles and then giving ME the dirty look for almost hitting them
24.) Waving me through the 4-way stop (even though they have the right-of-way) only to then tail me (happened yesterday ya'll. No kidding.)
25.) Stopping in the middle of a road on a blind corner to look at eagles
26.) Not slowing down AND/OR not looking right and left at an uncontrolled intersection.
27.) Not yielding at a yield sign
28.) STOPPING at a roundabout for no reason (treating it like a four-way stop)
29.) Not signaling on a roundabout
30.) CRAWLING through a roundabout
31.) Cruising a parking lot to find the closest space (worse if it’s at a sporting goods store.)
32.) Not paying attention to traffic or pedestrians when cruising the parking lot
33.) Backing up from a parking spot without looking / paying attention
34.) CRAWLING over speed bumps (worse if they’re driving a truck.)
35.) Parallel parking on an extremely busy street when side streets have plenty of parking spaces
36.) Passing me on the interstate before I can get into the turn lane to go around the slow car, forcing me to slow to a crawl (most common on passes behind semis.)
37.) Slowing WAY down on corners then going ridiculously fast on straight-aways
38.) Using ME as the pilot car (and usually tailing me on the straight-aways) in bad driving conditions while on the interstate
39.) Tailing me when I’m going the speed limit through a construction zone
40.) Driving 20 mph under the speed limit on a major road just to look at the water (think Coeur d’Alene lake drive or the Lochsa river…for some reason it’s ALWAYS near water.)
50.) Tailing me at 0600 when we’re the ONLY two vehicles on the road
51.) Cutting me off when I’m the only vehicle on the road
52.) Pulling out of side streets before I can even pass through the intersection
53.) Obviously staring at their phone and texting rather than watching the road
54.) Talking on the phone while driving (a given anymore)
55.) Pulling out in front of me when I’m the only vehicle on the road and going slowly causing cars to back up behind me, then turn off the road shortly thereafter….leaving me with someone tailing me
56.) Not waving back after making eye contact
57.) Bizarre increased traffic when it’s sunny out and a decrease in traffic when it’s raining.
58.) Parking so close to me I can barely get in / out of my truck
59.) Braking HARD before exiting the interstate
60.) When there are four people at a four-way stop all waving each other through, only to have one car start, then stop. Another car starts, and then stops. Continue.
61.) Driving in my blind spot, worse when on the interstate approaching busy on-ramps
62.) And finally, driving like an asshole until there’s a cop around. THEN, driving like a saint.

Fun Stuff

2012-01-04T08:02:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been packing the canoe around for the past week or so and decided to take some photos before I took it off. It fits perfectly and rides really well, even on the interstate! But having a canoe on your truck in December gets some weird looks. I've had exactly six different (strangers) ask me why I was canoeing this time of year. I guess most people consider it a fair-weather sport. Funny, most of my time in the canoe over the past 10 years has been during some kind of hunting season!

Perfect length

Doesn't even hang over the hood too much.

On an unrelated note...I got quite a bit of flak over buying a 20 lb turkey for a Christmas dinner for two. I didn't really realize that was SO MUCH turkey. We've done well though, darn near to the soup stage.

But just look at it's splendor!

After six - seven hours, it was finally done!

Ahh, one of my favorite things!!

Duck Hunting 2011

2012-01-03T13:12:00.000-08:00

I'll just save you the suspense...I didn't fully connect with any ducks this year.

*sigh* It's just hard NOT to get so excited when they're coming in. They always seem super-fast, but they're also a BIG target...so it's always a mystery when you can't hit them! I DID pull off quite a few feathers a couple weeks ago, so I know I at least hit once...even if it was in the rear end. The weird thing about THAT duck was that it flat out disappeared! I don't know what it did, but two mallards came into the decoys, I picked out one and shot, then only saw ONE leaving. Who knows, maybe he turned tail and flew straight away and I just payed attention to the wrong duck.

But overall, it's been a pretty fun season! I'm definitely hooked again, and if for nothing else than just getting out after the general hunting season closes!

Lately, since the chain lakes froze up, we've been working on a bay off Coeur d'Alene lake. It gets MINIMAL activity so it's a pretty nice area. The only trade off is that it's a solid two mile paddle in. (Getting the Jon boat in the water this time of year would be a pain because the water level is very low.) But, my brand new lumber rack is definitely serving it's purpose and I have a pretty good method anymore for getting it up there and secured. I can even do it solo, but help is definitely appreciated.

So there have been quite a few mornings of getting up at 3:30, on the road by 5:00, putting in at about 5:30 and then paddling for an hour in the dark. The water was typically glass-calm and the stars have been brilliant. EVERY paddle I've made in there I've seen shooting stars...and one morning I was able to see seven within 30 minutes. We'd paddle through on big bay, cutting off some mileage, and usually once we round the point we'd be putting up gobs and gobs of geese (it's still so dark you can't see them.) That's pretty fun, listening to (what seems like) hundreds of birds starting their morning commute. Shoot, one morning I even had the privilege of hearing a loon!

We've got two spots we'll set up in, one stays in the shade ALL DAY and is just downright cold, but you can see much more of the lake from that vantage. We were just in there yesterday and had (what is likely to be) the last and very best day of the duck hunting season. No, not because there were a lot of birds...because there were none...but because of the OTHER things we saw.

So there we were, right? Sitting there after a 30 minute paddle (we had a nice breeze helping us along) and watching an eagle fish about 100 yards away from us. We watched him pick up a fish and then perform a very entertaining hover-land on a piling. He then proceeded to eat the fish...and then take off to get another. This time the hover-land wasn't really seeming to come together for him and after two unsuccessful tries, he flew over and behind us. All of a sudden, I could hear a lot of wind on his feathers as he flew close and then another odd sound. It sounded like a large rock shwissshing through the air. Then it hit! Right...in...the...decoys! KERSPLASH!! This eagle had dropped his fish in our spread and then came swooping down. The only thing we can think of is that it dropped the fish to try and make the birds (decoys) move and then was going to pick one off. We'd seen him diving at some other ducks (divers) and they'd all skitter out of the way. Perhaps he was irritated that these birds were so bold? Or, maybe he just "dropped the soap" and thought it a loss.

Well, we're sitting there talking about that and some time went by. Over off to our left there is a big frozen mud flat...leading to solid ice, to thin ice, then to open water. Repeat on the other side but in reverse. A yearling doe came screaming down from the hill, onto the mudflat and just running flat out. I didn't even get, "What in the world is..." when the first coyote that was chasing her was on the flat. Then another coyote came down! The doe got to the solid ice and fell, floundering around on the ice while the first coyote caught up and watched her. At this point, I had my safety off, planning on shooting at the coyote (never fired a shot though.) But then I figured, "No, this is nature. This is what happens." That rapidly led to, "But I personally don't have to sit there and watch this happen." The doe finally broke through and started breaking ice and bounding toward the open water. Meanwhile, the coyote backed up and joined his buddy. They seemed to get together, consult, and come up with a game plan. Both Jason and I were up at this point, planning on trying to help get the deer out of the water and cut off the dogs. By the time we got on the flat, the coyotes had left and the doe had made it to the other side. She tiptoed on the ice and then just stood on the mud panting. She SLOWLY started making toward the other shore and then paralleled us as we headed up the creek channel as if she was keeping us between her and the coyotes! I have never really wanted to kill a coyote, but at that point I was wishing I had had a rifle with me. Hey, I'm part of the environment too! If I want to intervene, I will.

Since we were up, we went on a walk up the mostly ice-covered creek and checked out all the beaver lodges and big game sign...making plans for a hunt next September. Imagine an early season bow hunt, using a canoe, in a wetland. Sounds like fun to me! Well, we found a patch of open water that held some ducks. Jason was ahead of me by about 20 yards and I whispered at him, "Jason, get down! Ducks RIGHT THERE. Four mallards." At that point I just hunkered to watch the show. He got up and fired three shots. One hen fell, that looked dead...but then got up and ran into a hole in the bank. It was further than we could reach, so had to fashion a hook out of a stick and yard her out of there. Again, kinda sad, but it was over quick.

After that, we went back to the decoys and had some coffee. It was only 1130 in the morning! Well, we hung out for another hour before heading out. A large, low, black cloud was headed for us and we sunk those paddles deep to battle the wind. And sure enough, rounding the last bend to the launch we found about 30 mallards, maybe 40 geese...all on private property and way too close to houses. *sigh*
Oh, and when we were 40 yards from the dock, the water became glass and the "storm" dissipated. After we got gear transferred and Jason took off, I went on a drive to watch the incredibly impressive sunset over the mirror of Coeur d'Alene lake.

So, no ducks or geese, but like always, I had a heck of time!

How to Silence a Ladder / Lumber Rack

2011-12-19T09:43:00.000-08:00

After many fruitless searches, I decided to write my own "How-To" on eliminating wind noise (buffeting) caused by a ladder / lumber rack that extends over the cab and terminates at the windshield.

Here's the rack I picked up for $150!! I know, a steal.

Very simple design

Tough lighting for pictures (and not an ideal spot)

I was able to buy this cheap, but had to do some work on it to make it fit my truck. It was made for an extended cab Dodge, so it extended past my windshield to about the middle of the hood. WAY too much for my liking. The solution was to simply cut off the protruding part at the point where the angled part began. We welded caps on the exposed pipes and gave it a quick paint job from a can.

Everything was going well, until I drove on the interstate for the 1st time! Up around 65-70 mph, there was a terrible noise right above the cab. Like a loud rumble / hum, and no, unlike what you'll find in the forums, turning up the stereo was not an option.

So of course, I came back and tried to search for a solution. I got all sorts of random ideas with airfoils and whatnot, but it wasn't really anything I wanted to do right off the bat. Then I came across one fella in a forum who mentioned, "an old camping trick" to wrap rope around the front bar to break up the airflow around the tubing. I tried that first with a small rope and really long spirals (about 5 inch gaps) and it WORKED....but not 100%. So, I figured if all I was doing was disrupting airflow, perhaps a thicker rope wrapped tighter would do it.

I was able to find a black (to match) dock rope (to resist mildew and whatnot) that's about 5/8ths of an inch and about 12 feet long that was going to have to work. After wrapping this with a spacing of about 2 inches, I was able to wrap the excess around the vertical post and then tuck the tie-end into the spiral.

IT WORKS! I have absolutely NO noise or buffeting coming from the rack now, and I personally don't think it looks that bad. And for a $7 dollar piece of rope, I'm very pleased.

Cruddy photo, but you can see the wraps.

This photo is a little better. You can see the wraps, the excess on the post, and the tag end tucked in.

The only issue I've found (which I'm thinking is inevitable because the rack is right above the windshield) is the dirt dripping onto the windshield when things thaw out. You can see that a little bit in the above photo. BUT, in the long run, my truck is usually dirty...so...not really a new problem.

Hope this is the kind of thing that can get googled. Again, I saw a serious lack of solutions on the web, so decided to display what worked for me.

On an unrelated note, I was putting away shells this weekend and found something that's always nice to see:

My one and only shot at a critter with the rifle this year produced!

Duck Hunt Success!

2011-12-06T07:57:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday, Jason and I awoke in the wee morning hours and headed down to the chain lakes to try our hand at duck hunting. After a half-hour drive, we were loading up his 13 foot canoe and heading into the darkness. Now, let me tell you, starting a paddle up a deep river, at night, in December, in a SMALL canoe rated at 450 lbs max, is a little scary. Every time I blinked, the canoe would LURCH to the side and make me feel like I was going over. Let's just say I was glad to be done with that 1/4 mile paddle! (Makes me appreciate my large, 3-keel scanoe even more!)

After walking to a pit blind he found, we hurriedly threw out some decoys and collected some brush to beef up the camouflage. After that we sat. And sat. And sat. We were hoping for snow and clouds to keep the birds down, but it didn't pan out. Everything was just too high. Well, after three hours we got kinda cold and frustrated, so we went exploring. It's great country down there and one of the first mornings I've spent in a marsh in six years. It's always nice to be there to watch the world wake up and listen to everyone singing out at the sun.

At one point we heard some shooting up ahead of us and saw a flock of mallards coming at us and in range! We had a strange little conversation at that point. Jason said, "Well Tom, what do you think?" "I don't know, are the in range?" "I think so....what do you think?" And now, Jason's side of the story is funnier, because he said later, "All I heard was your safety coming off and thought, well, I guess Tom made up his mind!" Jason shot once leaning over backwards and I picked out another drake and pulled on him. One shot stopped him in mid-flight and he HOVERED there. TWO MORE shots, and no bird. I can almost positively say I never felt my cheek on the stock. It just seemed like there was no way I could miss! Alas, I'm still good at educating birds.

Well, the morning drug on and we packed up. Ended up at Killarney Lake and went on a little walk down a dike. We got to a place we were going to turn around after not seeing any birds when a hen exploded at our feet. While I fumbled with the sling on my shotgun, I saw Jason pull up and knock her out of the sky. She landed across a slough and started running! Turns out his shot just hit her wing...so we both went over there and gridded until we found her hiding under a tussock of grass. Kinda sad, but it ended quick.

Now that brings us to Saturday morning when we decided to try it again! This time the canoe ride went better and since I knew where we were going, I felt better about the whole set up. This time I was able to enjoy paddling up a river at night. There's nothing like being on the water in the dark, it's very soothing and calm. It makes you use all your other senses (rather than your eyes) and in a marsh...that keeps you pretty busy!

Well, we had to break about an inch of ice from our pond and then threw out the decoys. Yet again, all the birds were really high and never gave us a second glance. SO, on our way out, we decided to hit a hillside to try and get a better view of the country upriver from us. We were trudging up there when I whispered at Jason, "Jason! What IS that?" It really looked like five black clumps of grass. That's when one moved! He said, "I think those are turkeys Tom! I have a tag, do you?" Well yeah! So, our duck hunt quickly became a turkey-stalk. It was pretty loud and crunchy with all the ice, so by the time we got around a little hill, the birds were gone. Hmmph...I'll bet they ran up the hill on private land. JUST as soon as we said that, we walked around the hill and there they were...about 20 birds up in the cottonwoods like they were roosting!

Again, we had a brief conversation that went like, "OH. THERE they are. Here we go." And with that, I watched Jason shoulder his shotgun and decided to follow suit. I picked out the closest bird to me and hauled off twice. The second shot wasn't really needed, but it turns out it didn't hurt anything at all....I'm pretty sure the first shot was a head shot, and while he was falling out of the tree...I hit him again. Meanwhile, Jason was loosing off all his shells and reloading. The birds kinda flew off one by one, but all the branches were blocking his pattern, so he had to walk away empty handed.

I was able to find my first turkey ever in about 2 minutes...those critters sure do blend in with the brush! Well, we checked him out and talked about how strange the morning went, but how fortunate. I never thought I'd say it, but packing a turkey out of the woods (err, marsh) is actually kind of a pain. But it was a pretty pleasant one. The sun was still hiding behind some clouds, the fog was still nestled in pockets, and it was beginning to lightly snow. Huge flights of geese were overhead honking contentedly, and the whistling of duck wings overhead added to the moment.

All I can say about it, is that it was a perfect morning. And of course, I had to get a couple photos down by the river...just because we were DUCK HUNTING.

Happy Tom and his first turkey!

Now isn't that a nice looking morning!?

After I got it home, everyone had a good time checking it out. Actually Lucca and Sarah had a good time checking it out...the cats didn't want anything to do with it. I hurriedly dealt with it, noticing that it didn't have a beard yet and it's spurs were JUST starting to form...which, in talking with Jason, meant it was probably a young Jake from this year. Should be good eating!

With much of the afternoon remaining, I threw my stuff together and met Rod out at the trap club. I was able to shoot one box of shells with my new shotgun...coming away with a 17...first time out. Not as good as I was hoping, but again, talk about a fun day!

Oh, and after getting up at 3:30 in the morning and spending the entire day out in the cold....I slept like a ROCK that night!

I Touched a Dead Guy

2011-12-02T07:25:00.000-08:00

After a nice visit to Lolo to celebrate Thanksgiving and my birthday, Sarah and I arrived home after an uneventful drive. A short time later Sarah had to run some errands (picking me up an awesome ice cream cake!) so I decided to go on a little drive.

It's a very familiar road for me and I'm pretty used to who uses the area and who lives where. I was coming down the road when I looked up the hill to see a hunter sitting against a tree. It was a peculiar spot to set up as it was about 20 yards from the road...and he was looking up the hill. He was pretty good at staying still because I didn't see him even twitch! I thought something looked odd about him, but continued on my drive. Upon circling back (after about an hour) I was making my way back up the same hill. The guy's truck was still parked down the road a ways and when I got up to him, he was still there and in the exact same position! NOW my adrenaline started kicking in and I turned the truck around so I could investigate. I parked below him and rolled the window down. A quick, "HEY!" didn't alarm him so I got out to see what was going on. As I CREEPED up the hill, certain that I was walking into a suicide, this fella remained motionless. I got up to him and sloooowwwly touched his shoulder. WTF!?

Under the layers of camo and hunters orange, he was all straw! That's when I finally looked him over and noticed an empty beer bottle in his "hand" and he was wearing ski goggles. I glanced up past him and saw a house about 40 yards away, with their big picture window staring straight at this guy. The bastards had put up a dummy to keep people from hunting on their land? I still want to talk to them, but within the next two days they had taken him down. I wonder if they saw me creeping up there and then my disgusted look as I stared at their house.

Upon getting home, Sarah had been doing a load of laundry which caused the sink to back up, then the outlet for the washer to overflow. While we were cleaning up the water and soap, there was a knock on the door. Sarah answered it and was out there for quite a while, so I peeked out the window. There was a kid in his 20s talking to Sarah and another guy about 15 feet away with his hood pulled over his head. Now, there have been blatant break-ins around Coeur d'Alene lately. Folks will knock on your door and if you don't answer, they'll kick in your door and grab what they can. If you ARE home, they'll make up some story about selling firewood or something. I know, can't trust anyone anymore right?

Well, I joined Sarah by the door and found out this guy was offering to rake our leaves for $15. His story was that they sold everything they had, were homeless, and trying to get to South Dakota. We told him no and watched them both walk across the street to our neighbor's place...again, the second kid hanging back about 15 feet. Suspicious, I circled around the house to get the license plate...and while I was doing that, noticed the girl in the passenger seat giving me a weird look. I walked up to her and told her that they were likely going to get turned in because of the scam going around; she thanked me and waited for the two fellas with a young kid and two dogs in the back of the jeep.

When they got back in the car, Sarah watched them leave. She said, "They're turning right, nope...going straight...nope...now they're going left!" Suspicious much?

Anywho, it turns out that I called the cops just to be on the safe side. With my report given, I went next door to see what story they had given the neighbor and to tell them that I had called them in. The story they got was that they were homeless and trying to get to North Dakota, and they offered to rake her leaves for $10.

*sigh*

Quite a place anymore. And reading back through this, the stories are more entertaining when told out loud....easier to build up a little suspense...but, I wanted to record them somehow.

But, everything has worked out fine and the roto-rooter guy came on Monday and was able to clean our clog. While he was doing that, a firetruck, ambulance, and cop responded to our adjacent neighbor's house. I still don't know what was going on over there.

Busy around here.

Deer Update

2011-11-22T08:14:00.000-08:00

So using my super-cool GIS skills this morning I brought up a photo and traced the road I used on the drag out. Looks like it was a half-mile drag versus a third of a mile! I must have been hustling right along pulling that critter.

Uhm...I went up to Butch's place yesterday afternoon to begin cutting. After FINALLY getting all my stuff set up, I went outside to cut off the front shoulders. Again, within 10 minutes I touched...touched...that Buck knife to my thumb knuckle and whammo! SUNUVABEECH! So there I was, bandaging myself up...dripping blood all over Butch's shop. Luckily I had brought my own "trauma kit" (i.e. = Tom just cut his hand with a knife again kit), so had enough gear to sufficiently cut off ALL the blood to my thumb. I noticed that after 30 minutes or so when I couldn't feel my thumb...so had to re-bandage.

Now, in my defense, the woodshed is dark and cramped. Combine that with awkward angles and cold fingers...it gets easier and easier to knick yourself. But then again, I don't seem to have much respect for my left hand no matter where I am. I'm beginning to think my right hand has a personal vendetta against it.

After a couple hours I took down all my stuff to get the shop back in order....so all told, I didn't get much done. I'll be back up there this afternoon to finish up, hopefully taking my time and NOT cutting myself again. Overall it doesn't look like I'm going to get very much meat out of this deer. There is the same amount of connective tissue as a bigger animal, but with less meat attached to it. I'm being meticulous per my routine and I'm hoping the hind quarters will have a little bit more substance to them.

Timing is a little more critical now as our "winter" is performing the same way it always does in CDA. All that snow is basically gone and it is POUNDING rain. On top of that is the all-t0-familiar windstorm predicted. Not ideal conditions to store meat in...

Oh, and just to clarify, that last photo in the previous post was just like that. I wasn't posing to say thanks, I had just happened to close my eyes when the timer tripped...but it seemed like a fitting image to tie up the post. Just so you know.

2011 Deer Hunt Success

2011-11-21T08:44:00.001-08:00

After dealing with a pretty substantial sinus infection for the better part of two months, I was finally feeling well enough to start poking around in the woods. Well, I guess I felt good enough prior to that, but the weather wasn't very conducive to hunting. Finally, it decided to snow in CDA and the wind died down...time to hunt!

After meeting with an Ear Nose and Throat specialist Friday to go over the results of my CT scan (everything is fine by the way) I went on a drive to check out activity near a spot I typically hunt late in the season. Fifty yards from where I normally park, I glanced to my left and saw a BIG deer standing in an opening. I backed up, rolled down the window, and this five point buck just stood there staring at me at about 40 yards. When I was JUST starting to think about grabbing a handgun and going after him, he meandered into the woods. Oh well, with none of my gear with me it was a good decision to just keep moving. I knew I was going up there in the morning and was pretty confident I might run into this guy. He's a really distinctive buck as I remember seeing him last year. Nice symetrical rack with short tines...but DARK antlers...very pretty deer.

Well, Sarah's car was making a weird noise and she chose to leave it at work so she could get it towed Saturday morning. This meant she needed a ride up to her office, so we did that early and I headed out to see what I could see. It was peculiar, on the drive up I actually felt NERVOUS for some unknown reason. But, I got to my parking spot and felt better once I started moving around in the new foot of snow. The trees were covered in snow and it was a nice 19 degrees...perfect still hunting weather! Well, I made my way into the seedtree cut and looked back across the canyon to see a deer right above where I had seen that buck the day before! So I hunkered down and got it in the scope...just a doe, but I had already made a decision to shoot the first legal thing I saw. After ranging her at 430 yards, I decided I really didn't want to try it. I was curious about my abilities, but decided a living target wasn't the best thing to test myself with. Plus, it was nice quiet snow and I wanted to poke around a bit more. So, up the hill I went. Within a half an hour I spooked a doe from the creek bottom and she headed up the hill. Rather than follow her through the thick stuff, I cut a road and just started creeping along.

After another 30 minutes I was coming to a drainage and noticed movement on the road...coming my way! I plopped on my butt and waited for this deer to make an appearance, breathing out the side of my mouth to keep from fogging up the scope. When I was finally able to make her out at about 40 yards, she turned to go up the draw. I pulled the trigger on her in a perfect quartering-away shot. When I looked up from the scope, she had just dropped where she was! The second time that's happened in my life, the second year in a row, and about 1/3 of a mile from each other.

This is how she fell.

Looks oddly serene

But kinda sad in a sense

Well, I was just sitting there looking at her when I noticed more movement coming up the road! Shoot! I bet myself it was a buck following her, but it was another doe! This deer went up and looked at the dead deer, looked at me, and just stood there. I moved up to it, and it wouldn't spook. I waved my arms around and told her to beat it, and she still stayed. When I finally made it to the doe, she decided to leave...but I could still hear her crunching around nearby.

So of course, I feel like a murderer. I personify critters an awful lot and could just imagine the confusion on this other deer's mind. "Why did you lay down! He's coming! Get up, we have to go!" *sigh* that's a sad thought.

So, I took some hurried photos and did my business. I hooked a rope up to a stick and drug her the 1/3 mile back down to the truck. Again, a nice easy drag downhill in 12 inches of snow...I'm starting to appreciate hunting in that area.

Within an hour and a half, on my first day out, I was done with deer season.

Solemn happiness

Well, I made it to Butch's shop and hung her up in the woodshed...again, using the truck to get her up into the rafters. Per my routine, after less than 10 minutes of skinning, I managed to cut a nice divot out of my left finger. Ahh, wouldn't be complete without becoming blood brothers with my prey I guess. I was able to trace my shot through her vitals and then out to the front right of her neck...again, the bullet passing within 2 inches of her spine. I think that plus catching these deer without them seeing me makes them fall where they stand. They don't have that surge of adrenaline that they might have otherwise had if they had seen me first. For me it's been a blessing as both times I've come away with absolutely no blood shot or ruined meat.

The next two afternoons will find me processing it before heading to Lolo for Thanksgiving. I'm going to make it hard for even a bird to get a meal out of what's left.

Now? I think ducks and geese are on the horizon. I haven't done that since I left Montana, and for some reason, have really developed the itch this year. My goal is to try out duck and goose jerky and sausage. Worth a shot! (Pardon the pun.)

With that, you can join me in thanking this year's deer.

End of Elk Season

2011-10-31T11:33:00.001-07:00

Last Tuesday I got a call from Butch. He was headed back into our elk hunting area and was going to hunt it solo until the end of the season. His quote was, "If you have any FS friends in the area, could you have them swing in and see if I'm still alive?" Shoot. That's when I decided I was going to go and meet up with him on Friday afternoon and come out Sunday.

I DID have a fella drive through his camp on Thursday and he came back in with this report, "Well Tom, it looks like he JUST left camp at about 11:00, so he's still alive. I chunked up his fire, felt the coffeepot and then went through his coolers. Looks like he only has a half case of beer, a couple hotdogs, and some leftover potato salad. You need to go to the store. Oh, and it looks like he only has enough wood for another day, take your saw."

Alright.

Well, I got everything loaded up by 12:00 on Friday and was on my way. On the two hour trip up there, I started to notice a lot of ice in the mud puddles. Hmmm, gonna be cold. And sure enough, it was frigid...upper 20s to lower 30s at night and getting up to maybe into the lower 50s in the afternoon. It was supposed to rain Friday night, so we set up a tarp and unfortunately broke the glass on the lantern in the process.

Saturday we were planning on hunting, but Butch's knee was still bugging him and I wasn't very motivated. SO, we went and checked out some new country by driving. Back at camp, bummed around, and called it a night.

Sunday we leisurely packed up camp and both left at 12:00 on the dot. Butch headed down the paved route, and I took the dirt roads. At about two miles from camp a fella came RACING around a corner, coming at me. I didn't have time to even flip him off before I had to put the truck in the ditch...and I saw the sharp rock coming. Nothing I could do about it, and sure enough, about 40 yards down the road there was a loud rattling noise coming from the bed. I moved some stuff around and happened to glance at the passenger side rear tire...flatter than flat! DAMMIT! For the second time this year I was changing a flat tire with 45 miles of dirt road in front of me. Let's just say I was super-cautious coming out so as not to blow another one. I had a FS radio with me, so I had a backup plan, but I really didn't want to make THAT call. Oh, and on the entire way out, I only saw ONE OTHER RIG. Would have been a cold night. But then it started raining after about an hour...so it would've been a cold WET night. And with snow lingering on Leiberg Peak, I figured it was going to snow. All told it took me about 3.5 hours to make a 2 hour trip...but that included going really slow and changing the tire. By the time I got home my quads were sore from just being tensed up for that long.

And I'm not sure I mentioned it last time, but I wanted to get another spare to mount in the bed. Well, I never did that, but it looks like it'll happen now. The only problem is having to go get a flat fixed and buy a new tire and rim...all before the first predicted snow of the year (that's supposed to hit the valleys Thursday.) *sigh* It's going to be BUSY in there and likely take a lot of waiting.

Today is the last day of elk season, so now it's time to switch gears to deer. But I'm pretty excited about that, especially with the snow starting to move in. Ooh, and the regulations changed this year...I have a month to try and shoot either a doe or a buck. I'm pretty confident we'll have some venison this year.

Old Man Camp - 2011

2011-10-21T09:07:00.000-07:00

Well, that's what I dubbed it this year instead of the typical "elk camp." This fall really did sneak up on me, and the hunting bug really hadn't taken a hold of me. The weekend prior to the season opener, Sarah said, "Oh, you're going to go hunting all next week aren't you?" SUNUVA!!
I hadn't really gotten anything together, really hadn't planned anything with Butch, and was basically was caught with my pants down. Therefore, I dubbed this year as my "old man camp" with the goal of doing whatever the heck I wanted. If I wanted to get up late and go fishing, I would. If I wanted to go on a hell-hike, I would. And, if I really didn't want to do anything more than pick berries, that would be the plan.

So after a pretty stressful week trying to get myself ready, I was finally packed Saturday morning...headed near Magee to meet up with Butch and his son Matt.

I took the back roads up, so I couldn't use Butch's directions of "1.8 miles past the end of the pavement." Well, I was on the road for about 2 hours before I was close to where I needed to be. AN HOUR LATER, I finally found camp. Turns out I drove by in multiple times, but just couldn't see far enough in the trees to tell if there was a camp there. I guess what they kept saying as I was driving back and forth was, "That's not Tom, that's a white Ford."

With two days before the season opened, our only agenda was to get camp in order and put up some firewood.

Camp

Look at the marvels of unorganized clutter

It was actually a really comfortable camp

See? You basically need to be in the camp to see it.

Wow

There WAS a dead lodgepole right in camp that I decided needed to come down for safety reasons....plus, it was ready-made firewood IN camp. We shuffled some rigs around and I was able to not crush the trailer. Getting it out of the regen and dealing with it was a pain in the butt, but we made it work. That wood was just a little too wet (the tree had red needles on it, but hadn't checked yet) so we had Matt cut down his first tree and we drug that back to camp with the truck.

The first day of hunting season we all hit the woods. I managed to get into the only elk I saw the whole trip within a couple hours. I was sitting there in this ridgy little Hemlock stand when I heard a big stick break, and close to me! The first thing I saw was a huge paddle, so calmed right down and thought I was going to have another moose encounter. That's when the paddle turned into a cow elk, who looked like she was looking for me. I had her dead to rights, but cow season didn't open for another five days! The raspy bull over the hill kept calling at her, and she either winded me or just went back to the bull, because she disappeared just as soon as she showed up.

The weather was basically just low clouds and fog, drizzly rain, and cold for the rest of the week. The hikes were all pretty productive, but it sure was a relief to be done at the end of the day. We had been crossing the creek and going up a less-pressured hill, on the return, rather than sidehill to my waders...I just started crossing the creek. The brand new waterproof boots I had bought were pretty good, as long as I didn't get into water over the tops of them. We all ran into deer, we all got close to that bull, and we all walked our butts off.

I came in early one day and started my mission of getting elderberries to try and make elderberry wine. I felt pretty sheepish picking berries though, so it was always a hustle to get the bunches of berries off the bush and into my bucket before anyone would drive by. Overall, I got three gallons by the end of the trip!

Processed elderberries

Kinda look like huckleberries...

Tom trying to be creative with the camera

Wow, I thought it was going to be a lot easier to write this post. We had all sorts of funny little quotes and whatnot going, but now, trying to incorporate them into a story....they don't seem that funny. The "white ford" was standard and we actually heard on my FS radio that there was a white ford, out of gas, with a flat. That got a good chuckle at the time. Now? meh
There was a fella on the radio whose last name sounded like "chowder" so that became pretty funny. *sigh* this isn't working is it?

Let's just move on. So there I was one day, humping up the hill. When I stopped to listen, I still had my rifle on my shoulder and was doing my GQ lean on a tree....that's when a doe stepped out from around a bush at 10 yards! I totally caught her off guard, and she stopped and just eyeballed me. I couldn't do anything, so I tried to scare her away by blinking. That didn't work, and she was bobbing her head around, so I bobbed my head back at her. Nada. Finally, I decided to wave at her, and when I did THAT she was gone in a second. Pretty neat little encounter.

Speaking of deer, we were all sitting in camp one night when Butch looked down the road and said, "Huh. Look. A doe." We watched this doe walk past our camp at about 40 yards with two yearlings...then another doe followed the three of them. That's when we mentioned that Matt might want to go get his rifle, never know if there's a buck following them. Alas, that was the last deer we saw walk through camp. The next morning Matt was checking the regs when he said, "Am I reading this wrong?" We all took a look and found out that whitetail doe was legal in that unit! After spending a chunk of change on an out-of-state deer tag, Matt could have filled his tag in camp! Lesson learned. However, the next morning someone shot one of those does down the road from our camp. We know this because Butch saw them drive it down to near our camp, pull it down to the creek and wash it, load it up, and leave. Bizarre.

Well, come Thursday I got even sicker than I had been already. Just like last year, I had been fighting a sinus infection for a couple weeks. The strenuous walking and rain probably didn't help as I just felt like poo. I think Matt was the only one who didn't come down with any ailments or injuries...because the first day out, Butch had taken a fall. It wasn't an ordinary fall, as his foot got pinned on one side of a tree and his body tried to go the other. It basically almost broke his knee sideways!

But we kept hitting it as best we could. I hiked down the old 407 trail one day and just HAD to stop and take a photo of this spot. Very indicative of what the country was like.

Like hunting on the coast!

My pack and rifle for a little perspective.

So there we are on the last day of the camp. Matt and I decided on a game plan and decided to hit it hard. I went a mile up the bottom of Plant creek looking for a supposed cave (thanks a lot Matt) that turned out to be just a shelf of rock. Well, at that point, I didn't think I was TOO far from the 407 trail which was on top of the ridge. So, I just started humping up the hill. This is what I walked through for two hours before reaching the top! Sorry they're blurry, I was having a heck of a time with exposure.

Yep, visibility is a good....oh...30 yards?

Yep

Believe it or not, there was a LOT of sign in there. Elk are crazy.

Well, after I finally topped the ridge, I started booking it down the hill. I was DONE IN and had 3 more miles to go. So I bopped along until I heard a bull bugle at me and he was CLOSE! I tried cow calling to get him to come in, and even took the safety off the rifle. I thought for sure I was going to succeed! And just like that, the wind did a 180 and he blew off down the hill. It was a neat experience, but then I figured all the elk were out of the country, so I just took off again. About 60 yards down the hill, there was another bout of loud crashing. I had spooked the cows! DANGIT! I half-assed tried to follow them, but again, I was beat and it was getting late. But, I started sneaking, thinking there might be another critter in there. After a while of that, I stopped sneaking, and just like that something else blew off the hill!

At that point, I just started beelining toward the creek. After another HOUR, I came out about 1/2 mile above camp. Rather than going back to get my waders, I just ran across the creek.

Then I walked back down to where the waders were, crossed the creek and got WET. Got the waders and brought them back across. I figured Matt was in camp already, so I grabbed the other pair.

Oh, I almost forgot about this photo! I had left Butch a note a couple days prior when I had decided to come down the 407. I came out a mile and half from camp and didn't want those guys to come looking for me. So I wrote in a mud puddle next to where we parked the ATVs.

Worked like a charm

Hard to miss!

Well, by the time I got back into camp, I found Matt was still on the hill. An hour later...about 1700...we got a radio call from him. He couldn't find the waders that I promised him would be across the creek! Whoops. Luckily he had some trash bags and just improvised some waders using them.

Thus ended our trip. The next day we packed up and I hauled the ATVs back to town on the dirt roads. Matt was in the lead with a radio so he could tell me when traffic was coming. Butch took the camper down the interstate way home. Two hours later, we all met up back at Butch's and said our goodbyes.

So overall, I think I accomplished my task of having a lazy Old Man camp! I hiked around, I was in game, I fished, and I picked berries. Plus, I now have a good idea of that country and I'm confident that I can get into elk next year.

Oh, and after fighting a sinus infection for yet another month, I went in and got antibiotics yesterday.

I know, not much of a post, but, it's pretty much as disjointed as camp was this year!

Retirement

2011-10-05T11:33:00.000-07:00

I have recently experienced one of the toughest retirement parties I’ve ever been to. There were people crying and laughing, serious moments and lighthearted moments, and then there was the internal dialogue you could see written on everyone’s face. It was easy to pick out the more sensitive folks in the bunch, as their eyes darted between the man of the hour and the floor. Red eyes were not uncommon, nor the shiny glint from excess moisture…and they exuded a look of stunned realization.

The man in question is Bob Rehnborg, someone I had the privilege of working with for the past five (of my six) years at the Coeur d’Alene River Ranger District. He started me out working with him as the person responsible for maintaining the tally sheet when cruising timber. That rapidly grew into increasing responsibility by me attending timber cruising school and then getting the opportunity to have a professional mentor at my disposal. I learned more useful, practical knowledge of forestry by being around Bob in the woods than I remember learning in college. His mind was never still and with his retirement date rapidly approaching, you could tell he was trying to cram as much teaching into each day as he could. It was mind-boggling to say the least, and at one point, I couldn’t even think straight because I was trying to process everything he was sharing with me and apply it at the same time.

Bob had an interesting teaching style that he utilized doing everything from managing the creation of maps, to driving to or from the worksite, to actually performing the job at hand. He was gentle and helpful when you were first learning…never raising his voice, never being derogatory, and always asking your opinion. Or, if he didn’t necessarily agree with what you were doing, he’d simply ask you WHY you did it that way. If you could convey your intentions so that it was logical and practical, he might let you go with it. “Forestry is as much an art as a science” is so very, very true and Bob was excellent at fostering that idea. However, if he felt like he’d coached you enough and you continued to get it wrong, he wasn’t bashful pointing out to you that you need to get it, and get it soon. Stern is the word that best describes it, and the interesting thing was that no one wanted to let him down, so when he became stern…people listened. I’m still not sure how he was able to mold everyone’s attitude like that, but it was a lot like the command presence many of our law enforcement and soldiers possess.

He led by example, and never wilted in the face of hot temperatures, thick brush, steep hillsides, or bees. It seemed to simply not bother him. There was work to be done, we were there, let’s do the work…that’s all there was to it. Bob was definitely not a fair weather forester as I’ve worked with him from 100 degree temperatures to sleet-snow-rain-fog, and sometimes even pushing the envelope of daylight. And again, nobody ever wanted to let Bob down, so there we all were, learning how to just get it done. Luckily I managed to not indulge in a pastime of his, working for free….on nights and weekends. But it almost made a guy feel guilty, knowing Bob was still at it, while all I wanted to do was go home and rest…and he’s almost twice my age!

In our last couple of years working together, he and I developed a certain knowledge of each other that only comes from spending a lot of time together. It started light enough, both of us figuring out the boundaries (or lack thereof) of one another. We found that we were cut from similar molds and had similar ideas about a variety of subjects. But we also had enough difference so that we could share experiences and have some pretty darn good conversations. From there, our morning drives to the woods could be about anything from work, to life and death, to marriage, and other pretty existential subjects. For example, we had a discussion about if a head could live after being decapitated…all on our way to check out a potential harvest unit. And Bob even picked up on MY sensitive side, and actually told me he wasn’t going to share some experiences he had, just so I wouldn’t dwell on it and stress out.

So it disturbed me that I was feeling sad at his retirement party. Wasn’t I supposed to be happy for the guy? Why was I being so selfish all of a sudden? Shoot, I had a mind full of happy things to talk to him about, but when I finally got to where I could shake his hand and basically say goodbye, all I could manage was, “This sucks. Stay in touch.” I had to quickly turn my back on this man who led a full career in the Forest Service so I wouldn’t break into tears. So, per my routine, I went on a drive to try and figure out what was going on in my head. I thought about it and alternated between being sad and being happy for about 30 minutes when it finally occurred to me!

Who in your life was a calm and understanding teacher who gave you knowledge that you still use to this day? Who had small habits that now you find yourself doing? Who took you out and showed you their world, let you into their mind, and tried to instill a little education on you? Who was happy, but stern, who you didn’t ever want to let down? Who led by example and demonstrated things that made you want to be just like them…but in your own way? Then, who was there to see you off…after doing their part in training you, as you embarked on the next aspect of your life without their constant guidance? If you aren’t thinking of your Mom or Dad, or a very close mentor…I’m not sure if any of this makes sense. But it became crystal clear to me. Over the course of five years, Bob had become my mentor and my friend. It was hard to see him leave because I think I was scared, much like shaking my Dad’s hand and hugging my Mom when my folks dropped me off at college. After some more thinking, I realized I started thinking about this at the retirement party. I desperately wanted to stand up and thank all the people that trained Bob to be who he was, because he passed the torch to many of us as well. Unfortunately I couldn’t, as I was having trouble composing myself, but I’m better at writing my thoughts anyways.

Overall, it’s life without them. It’s like starting a new chapter in your life using all the wisdom they tried to pound into your head, and passing that on to others. So of course it’s hard, of course it’s emotional, and of course the emotions vary from ecstatic to sorrowful. It’s exciting to be on your own and plan your new future, but letting go is always a tough thing to do. Much like Bob, I need things to make sense in my head…good or bad. I just need the comfort it provides. Once I had that thought in my head, I became much more comfortable and calmed down quite a bit. This is simply the next step in my journey, I’ve done it before, and I can do it again.

And to this day, I still don’t want to let any of them down, and I can easily promise that I won’t.

With that, farewell Bob, enjoy your retirement. See what else life has to offer and be sure to drop us a line once in awhile to fill us in. We all love you and wish you the very best.

What happened?

2011-10-04T09:56:00.000-07:00

September is gone already!? What in the WORLD is going on with this year? Shoot, just the other day Sarah had to remind me that I'm leaving THIS WEEKEND for hunting camp!!

First, let's look at some photos.

Lucca kisses

Spread the love!

Awwww

Sweetiepies

The wedding party

Huh...a happy photo of Tom?

Flippin' gorgeous

Be cool Tom, be cool

Well, that's just a random smattering of the photos we got back. We're still in the process of going through them all to figure out which to put in an album...harder than one would think!

As I can't remember really where September went, I guess I'll just sum it up. Busy. I spent some weekends getting firewood and finally have that split and stacked...AND covered, just in time for the rain.

Rod showed me how to fish for bass so I've been a fixture on the Spokane river in my canoe...paddling around trying to catch fish. I'm usually successful, but obviously certain days are better than others. AND, I got spoiled by his fish finder, so last weekend I picked up a "Fishin' Buddy" which is basically a fish finder you can mount to anything...docks, boats, ice, float tubes, etc. Pretty awesome. So I had to go out test it out this weekend. I caught fish both days but got incredibly frustrated with people. It's hard enough keeping the canoe at a good fishing spot in the wind and current...but add wakes from all the boats and it's almost impossible.

*sigh*

I've got more going on outside of work than in it. Hard to stay motivated.

This is a crappy post. I'll try harder in the future.

What happened to the summer?

2011-09-01T09:41:00.001-07:00

Well, so far this has been one of the shortest summers I can remember.

It is now September 1st and already it's dark when I wake up (or try to) at 0530. The nights are getting colder and on a quick camping trip the other day, we could see our breath. I checked a weather station yesterday and found some of the peaks around here are dropping into the 30's at night! The leaves are trading their bright green for yellows, reds, and oranges and you can almost feel the deciduous trees starting to pull back the chlorophyll. And...hunting season has begun (for bowhunters.)

It's been hard for me to get back into a normal routine after the wedding, but I'm enjoying it immensely! Prior to the wedding, you'll remember, I was extremely nervous about getting hurt or injured in some way...well, it's still on my mind, but I'm able to go out and enjoy the things that have been missing. I went out with a fella at work last week and realized how out of shape I am in! All we were doing was painting a boundary to a couple units, but it was a.) my first time out all season b.) it was 92 degrees and c.) it was all in thick brush and downfall. So when a guy hasn't exercised much in two months and hasn't worked hard in the heat...it leads to trouble. I kept feeling dehydrated, so kept hydrating, and kept working hard. At about 1400, the "crew leader" asked how I was feeling and if him and I should keep working up to the next ridge. I was lightheaded and getting kinda "fumbly" (tripping a lot) and told him I was done. At one point prior, I was moving the truck when I realized my PERSONAL keys were missing from my pocket! I basically flipped out figured I lost them in the brush...but then I calmed down, sat down, and thought about it. Ooooh yeaaa, I put them in my sweatshirt with my phone and sunglasses! Sure enough, they were right beside me in the truck. We were devising a strategy after that, when I had to interrupt him and walk behind the rig to throw up all the water and powerade I had been drinking! Yea, I was touching the hem of heat exhaustion.

Since that little adventure, I've been trying to condition myself. So last weekend I was out cutting firewood! I never got a full load, just one lodgepole per day...but it was good to get out and be working again! I definitely prefer that kind of activity instead of "exercising." And I think that might be why I don't like gyms because there is NO thinking involved. I also don't really enjoy being around that many people, so I'm sure that contributes.

Following the weekend, I was able to get on a wildfire and work that for a day. Again, a really fun way to get exercise. Luckily it was, as Bob called it, "A perfect old man fire" which is exactly what it was. The "Ace of Spades" fire was up near where I had been cutting firewood, 600 feet up the hill, no brush, huge Grand fir stand, and the temperature was in the 70s. At one point when everyone was eating lunch, I had to get up and start digging around again because I was getting cold! Go figure. Oh, and we had an engine that hauled 750 gallons of water...so it was a lot of spraying and stirring. By the end, we had put about 1000 gallons of water on a tenth of an acre....but bear in mind, the duff was deep and we had a lot of "ash holes" to cool down. That's where the dirt and ash gets so hot it bubbles. It's hydrophobic (a real term everyone) and so when you spray it with water it shoots ash everywhere and if you don't stir it, all that water simply evaporates. Good times.

And yesterday afternoon I hustled into the woods after work and went shooting! I've been dying to try a new 7mm mag that my Dad gave me, but with everything going on, I never made it out until now. I packed up that and the 30-06 and made my way to my backwoods shooting range. It's a little tough to shoot there in the abandoned gravel pit as the ground rises in the middle of the 100 yard range. If you're on the ground, the target you have set up at five feet high...looks like it's about 1.5 feet off the deck. So, my solution was to put my workbench in the bed of the truck, set up a chair, and shoot that way. My left earplug wasn't "sealed" all the way when I lit off the first round from the 7mm. HOLY MOLY! Those little critters have quite a bark! My ear ringing, I fixed the plug and kept shooting. All in all, that 7mm is a great shooting gun with a fantastic trigger. The recoil is a little worse than the 30-06 in my opinion and so I'd switch out guns to let barrels cool down between sets. I learned the value of a scope, as the 30-06 got me up close and personal, and after shooting the 7mm, it felt like I was shooting a .223! Pretty fun to drive nails at 100 yards! But there I was, getting everything taken down when I finally pulled my earplugs out. It felt like I was holding my hand over my left ear...I could hear the world in stereo. And the ringing? Yea, the constant ringing was irritating. That lasted into this morning, but after about 14 hours it's been gradually getting better. My saving grace is constantly telling myself about all the concerts I went to when in high school and college. I remember having diminished hearing for days after those...but it was in BOTH ears! Having it in only one ear is more frustrating as you can TELL how it should be. But, I know it'll go away in time. I'm still going to go out and buy some muffs though....better to be safe.

And poor old Lou-dog is getting surgery on her knee today. You should have seen her this morning! The highlight of her days anymore is breakfast and dinner...to tell a Lab that she can't get breakfast just breaks your heart. And no treats as I'm walking out the door? Sad. The look on her face is just confusion and desperation...it's like she's trying to yell at you, "You forgot my breakfast! Don't leave! You forgot my breakfast! I'm starving!" It's pretty cool though, we got a letter in the mail from my sister yesterday. Inside the letter were two pendants of patron saints. One was intended for me...St. Christopher, the patron saint of safe travel. (I hope I got that one right.) The other was for Sarah, it's St. Francis, the patron saint of animals. So without a word, Sarah put the necklace on Lucca! Perfect! She wears it easily and doesn't mess with it, but unfortunately, I'm pretty sure she needs to take it off during surgery.

So that's been my life post-wedding. We're still dealing with paperwork, but we're getting there!

Mawage

2011-08-26T06:59:00.000-07:00

You know, "marriage" like in the Princess Bride?

Unfortunately, we have very few photos of the wedding! I guess we never really thought of that...with a professional it takes time to get you the product. SO, you have to wait (like Sarah and I) until we get those in. I can tell you from the samples he put up on Facebook...they are going to be incredible. Everyone I've talked to agrees with me...Sarah needs to consider a modeling career.

But, back to the wedding! This is going to be short as I don't remember much of it. Nono, not partying....but all I can see are flashes. The morning of the 12th was pretty stressful. I was running errands and generally trying to stay busy. Nervous as hell, but after a great phone call to a buddy of mine, I felt ten times better. I was sitting by the bay when I called him, and before signing off, he was able to ease my mind with a prayer. All of a sudden (and this is what I told him), "I've got someone sitting in the passenger seat with me now. I'm good."

It was a pretty darn cool feeling. I had no nerves after that!

So I rushed back home and Zach and I met the other guys up at Elk Point for our pre-wedding photos. Three hours flew by in a heartbeat and all of a sudden, people were showing up! We had to try and hustle Sarah into the back room so too many people wouldn't see her, but it was tough as the photographer kept wanting "one more" photo! That all got accomplished, and somehow everyone ended up near the ceremony area and I was standing down there in front. I still cannot remember walking down there. I don't remember anyone but my angel walking down the aisle...I THINK her Dad was with her. (Just kidding Jim.) I can't even remember Lucca the ringbearer coming down the aisle with Mayana holding the leash. But, the ceremony started and I heard Sarah whisper to Craig, our officiant, "Can everyone sit down now?" HA! I'm not sure how long everyone had been standing, because I couldn't see them. Seriously, it was only after Sarah said something that I noticed!

Everything was going well, but at one point (during some critical reading) I felt myself start to mist up a bit. NOT wanting to stutter and babble like I did at the proposal and when I was baptized, I quickly searched my brain for something else to think about. That's when my passenger from earlier in the day came over and I am NOT shitting you on this one. All of a sudden, Sarah, Craig and I were in what felt like a tepee. A large cloak if you will. All my concerns were gone, all my nervous emotions were gone, I couldn't see anything but Sarah. I was comfortable and serene. It was blissful and indescribable.

Now, I have had an encounter like this before in Stevensville. There was a gal that couldn't buy groceries because of some issue with food stamps. She left in tears mumbling something about taking care of her Grandmother....after a moment of deliberation, I left my aisle and ran outside after her. It was raining at the time and I caught up to her and told her to come back inside with me. Same kind of feeling...as neither one of us got wet. I bought her groceries and wished her well. But I digress...

Alright, so there I am kissing Sarah and I think people applauded. Then we're in the reception line...shaking hands and hugging a lot of people. Then I can see a plate of food in front of me. Then we're standing for toasts. Pretty quick, I'm dancing with Sarah...then my Mom (and I was right, that was basically the only time I got to talk to her) and I don't even remember what we talked about. I remember being very nervous getting the garter off Sarah while everyone stared at me. I managed to peel away from the activities and visit with my South Dakota friends who traveled all that way for such a short wedding! (Thank you guys.) I then got to visit with Rod and Jonaca...and that was it! All of a sudden, they turn the music off due to a noise ordinance, and we're headed out! (After trying to clean a little bit of the crap off Sarah's car...thanks a lot Thayne.)

We made it to the Hampton after stealing a bottle of our wine from the reception and sat on the balcony and caught up on all the activities.

The next day we slept long enough that we missed our wedding party's brunch. We floated around the rest of Saturday feeling drunk. It's amazing what a down feeling you get after riding an eight month stress-high. I've slept a lot lately, and keep feeling like I could continue sleeping.

That done, I went on a quick camping trip with Butch later in the week. Following that, Sarah and I headed to the Clearwater! Unfortunately, it was very crowded down there...but we ended up at a dandy camp up the Selway about 16 miles. Within an hour, poor Lu-dog twisted her leg and had to hobble around for the next two days. Turns out she basically tore her ACL. Pretty major surgery coming up next week. :(

We picked blackberries. A little early yet, but we got 3.5 gallons in two hours!

Our private little patch

We had a phenomenal swimming hole at camp!

Yea, the rock looks like it's two feet under. Sarah's standing on it! Gin-clean water!

Po Lu-dog

Our early morning view upriver!

And Sarah made blackberry crepes Monday morning!

It was hard to leave

So, we made it home and got things straightened out. I went to get rid of trash at Blue Creek and saw something out of place in the lake!

See that spot in the middle?

Twas a moose! Just hanging out chewing his cud.

I know this is a very choppy post. I just wanted to catch up and fill in some gaps. I plan to write a better story about the wedding in the future. Perhaps it'll go better when I have some photos to refresh my memory!

But real quick. So there I was, on the Tuesday after the wedding...thinking, "I want to get some exercise and some sun...I'll go check the trail cam!" Well, I got to the trailhead pretty quick and headed down to the camera...changed the card and boogied out of there. I was about halfway to the truck when I looked down at my ring finger...ooooohhhhh sssshhhhiiiiiitttt!! I didn't have my ring anymore! I lost it on a two mile walk in the woods! Okay, deep breaths. That's exactly when my phone rang...my Dad, just checking in to see what was going on. I was pretty short with him and started gridding my way back to the truck. I was staring at the ground and about 150 yards from the truck when I heard, "Hi!" I damn near had a heart attack when I finally looked up and noticed some guy about 5 yards from me! He asked, "Do you get cell reception up here?" Yea, I was just talking to my Dad...have you seen a ring? "Oh, you must have verizon huh?" Uhmmm, yea. Have you seen a ring? Then he said something else and I came back with, "I AM GOING TO ASK YOU ONE MORE TIME. HAVE....YOU....SEEN....A.....RING?!" All he could say was, "Oh, no man. I'll look for it on the way back to the car though." Whatever, I left him and headed to the truck, thinking, "Who do I know with a metal detector?" No ring.

First things first, check the truck. I searched the cab and then realized the first thing I did was to get stuff out of my pack before heading out. So I pulled everything out of my pack and searched. NADA. So I'm reaching in the bottom of the pack and I feel something small, metal, and round!! Getting it into the light...."DAMMIT. Bottlecap." I did this one more time with the same result. Pack empty, no ring. Panic attack. Heart attack. Light head. Check the pack ONE MORE TIME. Feel something small, round, metal...with a hole in it!! I felt like Frodo when I pulled the ring out of the pack and held it up to the light!

Disaster averted, I went back to the fella up the road, "I REALLY have to apologize for my behavior man. I just got married four days ago and I had already lost the ring." He came back with, "No problem. I thought you were just keeping to yourself." We talked for quite awhile after that. I left and got to the bottom of the hill and called my Dad to explain what happened.

Since then, I now have a bright red lanyard for it that I can wear around my neck...when I'm in the woods of course.

Well, gotta sign off. More to come later!

It Keeps Getting Better

2011-08-11T07:36:00.001-07:00

Sarah got home at about 7:00 on Monday night. We had just started to catch each other up on the day when we started hearing a lot of sirens. And they were CLOSE. Pretty quick Sarah said, "They're parked outside!" I asked her to stick her head out and see what was going on...turns out the shed of the newly-vacated house beside us was on fire!

I started spraying the side of OUR shed (since it was so close) while the firefighters continued to hose down the burning building. We opened up our shed to get the ladder out, when we noticed it was FULL of drifting smoke! Well, the side of our shed that was closest to the neighbors is where we were storing a LOT of stuff for the wedding...as well as all our valuable camping gear! Sarah hauled stuff out of the shed while I continued spraying down the outside and generally just get in the firefighters way. And of course, I put the ladder right on the bald-faced hornets nest that I was going to get rid of on Tuesday. Got one dandy sting and I'm not sure about others...kinda had a lot of adrenaline going.

So when it was all winding down, this fella comes walking into our garage and says, "Hi Tom." Uhmmm, hi random guy. Turns out it was Buddy, Sarah's uncle and Ryan, her cousin! He recognized me from photos...and when they heard all the sirens, they knew it was close to the house and decided to mosey up. Sarah and them went to dinner...while I sat down and attempted to finish the dinner I had sitting there and to calm the hell down!

We're thinking firecrackers started the old X-mas tree and 2-foot tall grass on fire. The flames started out there, but quickly started burning the INSIDE of the roof.

This is how close our sheds are.

At least I'M firesmart

But we DID inherit their awesome grapes and tomato plants!

Okay, that gets me to yesterday...uhm...the 10th. So I'm all over town running errands when I get a call from our minister. He was up checking his dock and said the wind came up making our rope "sing" from tension. This rapidly led me up to his shop to grab more rope and put another line on. Things were going smoothly until I got an automated call telling me my debit card had been locked! It said, "Please press 1 to unlock your account." Funny...I just used my debit card to get propane.. Then it said, "Please enter your 16-digit account number." Hmmm, wait a minute! I know this game!

So there I was, sitting in my hot truck calling the bank and asking about my accounts. They checked them all out and said it all looked good except for something trying to charge my Visa account but was denied because of an expiration date! Shoot. I got phished and found out about an attempted hack! After the wedding I'm changing out all my accounts. Just another thing to think about!

But overall, people are starting to flow into town and the phone lines are getting busy. I think the rehearsal today will help...help me at least get a feel for how this is all going to happen. AND, we're getting the tuxes fitted and BROUGHT HOME today. THAT will make me feel better!

I just hope this developing zit on my darn face doesn't decide to make an appearance! SONUVA!

Wow

2011-08-08T09:43:00.000-07:00

I never believed that one of the most stressful things a person could do in life was to get married. Isn't it supposed to be a fairy tale, lovey-dovey, float on clouds kind of thing?

Not a chance.

Then you add the stressy Tommy you already know and love and you get quite the basketcase!

It STARTED off being pretty easy. There were a lot of Internet searches, phone calls, and meetings. There was plenty of time to do this and that. You could actually go camping or fishing and allow each activity do what it was made for...NOT thinking! Leave the rest of the world behind for a bit, recharge the batteries, and RELAX.

Hmm, I guess that brings us to the past two months. With all the big things taken care of (or most of them) it was all about coordination, payments, final head counts, pick up odds and ends, finish the projects, etc. This is easily one of the longest tests of endurance that I've ever had. Mental endurance that is. Even with Sarah taking the lead on most of this (I do not know HOW she has maintained her sanity) I have become a shaky, tense, twitchy wreck. I've learned quite clearly that I HATE having a to-do list that never gets fully completed, and once one task is crossed off, another two rapidly replace it. (This literally happened one day...I erased something and when I came home two hours later...the whiteboard was full again.) I took last Friday off thinking I'd head into the woods, pick some huckleberries and chill for a bit. Well, it was requested that I take Lucca...okay, but with a lot of spots taken at 0930 in the morning...we ended up walking a ways. The berries are late this year, so I didn't do much picking. Having a hot lab sitting three feet from you...staring at you...and panting for an extended period of time while the flies buzz around your head isn't much fun. Plus I couldn't concentrate! I finally gave up and headed home...where I was busy doing projects until 4:30 in the afternoon. I worked harder on my dang-ol day off!

I never thought I'd plan out a lawn mowing schedule...but even that wasn't easy. First, how does one get rid of old saw gas so you can use the container for weed eater gas? Solution...use old saw gas (50:1) in the weed eater and "eyeball" more oil into it...assuming it will get you down to the required 25:1 mixture. I know, I know, probably the worst thing I can do for the machine...but at this point...whatever. Now you have to weed eat a week in advance so any bad cuts have time to grow in. Then you have to mow. Then you have to plan on mowing days before the rehearsal dinner so there are no unsightly clumps of grass...which leads you to believe you need to mow in a different pattern. (With a small yard, that's going to be a tough task.) You have to plan on a potential raking...and time to take the grass to the dump. It required me to get up early and watch all the automatic sprinklers and figure our why there are dry spots. Which means I'm doing some pruning tonight. And the whole time, you're worried about getting any cuts, blisters, sunburns, etc. AND THIS IS JUST MOWING THE LAWN!! I anticipate all of you reading this will think, "Tom, it's not that big of a deal. Just mow it and call it good." Sorry, can't. Already I'm worried about the garage. Should I clean it? Grrr.

Hair is another story altogether! I've been in the process for months...finding a decent barber who can "learn" what I like and record it. (Which I managed to do...a guy we shoot withs wife is an awesome barber.) Okay, so that done...how to keep up on the beard? I look like Bart Simpson if I shave completely, so that's not going to happen. I finally figured out which guide to use on my trimmer to maintain a length we like. Alright, so now for the first time in my life, I'm on a daily shaving schedule. Already I'm worried about razor burn...which I have right now. I need to make some time to try and lay in the sun to get at least a little color under my chin. I figured keeping it shaved for a couple weeks would do that...but no. I've got a "touch-up" haircut planned for this afternoon...and I'm worried about something bizarre happening.

Going back to a subject...the thought of getting hurt is constantly on my mind. My knee has been "crinkly" and so I want to start taking fish oil. But I'm waiting until after the wedding in case, for some unknown reason, I have a reaction to FISH OIL. I'm VERY concerned about cutting my hands...which you all know I'm good at...consequently, cutting any vegetables is out of the picture. No taters for me this week! I'm extremely careful about wearing sandals, as a twisted ankle isn't my idea of a good time...but again, I'm good at those too. Boots it is...not a big change from normal...but still on my mind. I almost hit my head on an edge of the shower this morning drying my feet, so now I have to pay very close attention to anything that can bonk me on the head. I constantly have achy muscles as I never truly relax, even sleeping! I've been going to bed uber-early (last night I went and read at 7:30) but I still wake up exhausted. I spend all night DREAMING about everything under the sun, and this has been going on for weeks. I've had to "clear" an attic, I've been shot in the head, I've yelled at people, ran from people, gotten lost, gotten in trouble, etc...and the whole time I actually realize that I'm asleep! And even knowing that, I can't turn it off. I've done a lot of planning for the wedding and I've been in the wedding a number of times. I've had discussions with Sarah and then been confused as to why she can't remember them...well, it's because we've been having them in my dreams! Ugh.

Any kind of rafting or boating trip is out of the question, which leads me to an interesting story that tiers directly off of the above paragraph. So, Saturday morning as Sarah and I are finishing up some arts and crafts, I got a phone call from Rod. Turns out they were out on his boat fishing...and catching some dandy smallmouth. He offered to pick me up somewhere and I quickly realized that's what I was going to do. But first I had to battle all the people that were crowding downtown for "Art on the Green" a three-day nightmare for those of us living downtown. (I was dropping our finally-finished vows off with our minister.) Well, I got to his shop to find him in a panic, turns out his dock on Hayden lake had lost a cable and was floating into the neighbors dock! Obviously, I called Rod and told him I couldn't make it...maybe Sunday...grabbed Butch and a bunch of rope, and headed up there. It turned out well as I had a nice new LONG rope that we used to tied it off to a tree...disaster averted. I waited around Sunday trying to get in touch with Rod, but neither him nor his son called me back so I bagged it. Talking to him this morning made me very thankful I didn't make it on the boat with him! His drain plug was old and worked it's way out of the drain hole. It filled the boat fast causing the bow to head to the sky like the titanic! When the motor FINALLY caught, he was able to power it to the dock...almost underwater by the time he got it there...and this is driving it nearly vertical! He managed to wrestle it onto the trailer and let it drain for...wait for it...30 minutes (it's a big boat)! The rest of his day was spent dealing with all of that.

I'm glad I wasn't there.

So. That's my life as of now. I can't concentrate on anything because I'm thinking about everything all at once. Both Sarah and I are very excited for Saturday...the day AFTER the wedding!

Solo Northfork of the Clearwater (aka Tom's Bachelor party)

2011-07-28T10:15:00.000-07:00

I made a decision last week to make a solo trip to the Northfork of the Clearwater in order to clear my head and relax! It was also my pseudo-bachelor party...I never wanted anything over-the-top and this seemed to be right up my alley. Shoot, you all know me by now.

But, it began Friday morning with me having to clean cat urine off my dry bag. I had all my gear staged near it so luckily it didn't get "soiled." Tate is catching a lot of our stress...and consequently peeing on things. It's bizarre and we're hoping that'll be over once the 13th rolls around! Following that I went down to the label makers to straighten out a botched order and headed out!

The drive on the interstate was stressful for some reason (with all the people and whatnot) and I was glad when I finally hit Superior. Pretty quickly I was the only one on the road and felt 10x better...and my mood just kept improving as I got further and further into my old stomping grounds. Oddly enough, about 4 miles past Kelly creek is one of my favorite camps...and it was open!!

My driveway

The driveway is on the left...hidden camp.

See? Driveway on the right. HIDDEN camp!!

The approach.

After the final turn you can finally see my truck!

Even from the truck, the camp is hidden

My tent nestled on the sand under some big cedars

Ain't she purty!?

The dining room, kitchen, and living room.

I'm sure you can understand why I like this camp. It's quiet (except for the river noise), it secluded, there's NO ONE nearby, and...it's just plain awesome.

High water, looking downriver from camp

Upriver from camp

Well, I got everything set up and proceeded to wash my dry bag in the river. It still had a little "stink" to it. Turns out the river is high and cold, but it's an excellent washing machine!

Washing machine

I hung out for a very short while then decided to go fishing when I saw the hatch starting. I have a little honey hole down near the Bear Butte trailhead and it always produces. Sure enough, I must have caught about 12 fish in quick order. The finale was three fish in five casts...all over 14 inches! Perfect way to end the evening.

When I got back to camp I noticed some ATV tracks going down my driveway. No worries, he probably saw my tent and turned around...sure enough, that's what he did. But there was something in the middle of the driveway...something small, dark, and square. I turned the truck around and investigated. Turns out he dropped a lot of flies!

Unfortunately, they're hand-tied and not the best quality.

So, I watched the sun creep up the opposite side of the river and relaxed!

Classic view on the Northfork

Well, the night went well and I got up with the sun. I moved the chair down to the river and hung out in the sun for a bit. I wasn't entirely sure where to start with the day, so finally headed out on a drive down memory lane...which led me all the way to Canyon. There were people everywhere! Most of them had Washington plates (I only saw about three Idaho plates) and everyone had their fishing uniforms on. It just pisses me off when I see that everywhere...you do NOT need all the new gear and be loaded down to fish that river. Seriously, these guys were never very far from their truck...it probably took them longer to get "dressed up" then it did to fish a hole. And the waders? I didn't see ONE person further than five yards from shore...the water is that high. Geez, learn to roll cast and save yourself some trouble. (Gosh, I sound an awful lot like a snob don't I?)

But, all was good. I turned around at Aquarius campground and decided to fish my way back upriver. Hmm, it was noon by that time though. Many of the better spots and nearly all the turnouts had people in them. When I DID get down to the river, it wasn't that productive. Too hot, no wind, and not a lot of bugs on the water. But I splashed around for a bit and made it back up to my camp. Not really wanting to sit around, I kept going and headed up to Mush saddle. I don't know why, but I go up there every time I go into that country. It gets you away from people I guess.

There was a lot of Indian paintbrush blooming!

Vibrant flowers

Up on top I finally got into beargrass

Just kinda interesting

There's a fern field up there that I WILL go up to someday. I was going to jump up there and take some photos because those ferns will grow to about five / six feet. But, seeing as how our growing season has been screwed up, they were only about two feet tall.

Doesn't that just look inviting?

I'll bet there are some good views up there.

I headed back to camp and was just starting to think about getting dinner ready to go...

This photo is from the morning...but it was a standard occurrence.

When I heard some DEATHLY screaming coming from up on the main road! Over and over screaming. Without a thought, I grabbed the handgun and headed up there. I honestly thought someone was getting beaten up by a bear, and I wanted to be able to help. When I got to the entrance to my camp, there was a truck with four fellas in it coming down. They stopped and I asked them if that was them screaming. "Yea it was us man, we're just having a good time. Why are you packing?" I told them and the driver kept asking about the caliber and whatnot...then said, "We're just looking for firewood." I told them I couldn't help them and they took off. All of them were BLITZED out of their skulls.

But, as I was hustling up there I passed the truck and noticed my front passenger side tire was flat. CRAP. I remember continually thinking, "you should check the spare's tire pressure. Nah, what can happen to a spare under the truck?"

Hmmm, so after getting the tire off I pulled the spare down and THANK YOU LORD it wasn't flat!! Well, by this time the jack had sunk in the mud and I couldn't get the spare on. Okay...drop it back down on a piece of wood, get a rock under the jack, and put it up again. That did the trick and I successfully got the spare on. By this time it's about 8:30, but not wanting to take chances I checked my other tires. That's when I noticed the driver's side front was looking pretty low. I tried pressing my ear to it to listen for a slow leak, but couldn't hear anything over the roar of the river. After a brief consultation with myself, I made up my mind.

I THREW camp into the back of the truck and blazed out of there. With no other spare, I needed to at least be on the other side of the hill in Montana (if nothing else closer for the tow truck) if it came to that. So there I was cruising up Black Canyon in the dark right? (By the way it was pretty nice...NO ONE on the road...everyone hunkered in their camps.) I stopped to pee and when I finished my business I saw some black spheres on a bush. Imagine me, in the dark...with only the light of a half-moon...eating huckleberries by the side of the river. After a few seconds I thought, "Tom. This is retarded. You're hurrying to Montana because of your tire. GET A MOVE ON!" I must have been hungry and I still get a chuckle out of that little event.

Well, I was planning on camping in that big basin just beyond the pass (because it'd be a pretty place to be stuck if it came to that) but it was taken. So I made it all the way to the bottom before I found another available spot. It wasn't the best, but it was late enough I didn't care. I had thrown some sticks from the road in the truck on the way over, so I made a hasty fire and cooked some dogs for dinner. I was in bed in a hurry. (And the tire was still good.)

In the morning I putzed around for a while and then started organizing my stuff for the interstate trip home. That's when I noticed it. I had taken my spinning rod as a backup if I broke my flyrod. I hadn't touched it and it had just ridden around in the back of the truck. Until now. Someone had stolen my rod! I have a pretty good idea where it was because when I was fishing the day before, I was pretty far from the truck, but I heard a lot of cars on the road. When I got up to the truck after that didn't produce...I was digging around in the cooler and thought, "I COULD NOT have drank that many beers! Did I?" I remember checking my empties and thinking it didn't add up, but, whatever. So, all I can figure is someone stopped to raid my cooler and decided to acquire a new rod at the same time. SONOFABITCH. And the worst part? I had JUST bought that reel on the Selway trip....remember? An $80 setup gone. I would have never expected that from folks on the Northfork.

But, it seemed as though I had everything else and since there was nothing I could do about it, I made my way to Superior. I stopped and checked the tire before getting on the interstate...still good. Did I just do all that worrying for nothing? Ahh, it's better to be prepared.

So back on the crowded interstate and stressed out after being robbed and worried that the "CAUTION: ROUGH ROAD AHEAD" signs weren't lying. Well, they weren't lying and the road was rough. I kept pulling over and checking other pieces of gear that just happened to occur to me, "Do I still have my tripod?" Stop, check, yep. "Where's my good camera?" Stop, check, panic, find it, move on.

I was VERY glad to get to the top of 4th of July pass so I decided to ditch all the bad drivers and take the slow roads down the back. That helped calm me down and I made my way to Blue Creek to dump garbage (there's a dispersed dump site there.) That's when I saw this:

Blue creek bay FULL of boats. Redneck yacht club much?

Everyone was just anchored there...hanging out. Ugh, I am so tired of tourist season around here. I guess it just makes the fall that much better though, and the winters are very quiet and blissful!

I HAD been trying to wait until after the wedding to get new tires, but that wasn't an option now. So I went in there Monday and the guy asked if I had 2.5 to 3 hours to wait. Nope. Obviously everyone got flats that weekend. (And I saw plenty of them on the interstate, which didn't help my stress level!) So I was in there Tuesday morning and the gal said, "You'll be out of here in an hour." Sweet. My truck didn't move out of the PARKING LOT for an hour, then another hour to get $880 of new tires put on. Meanwhile, I'm starting to fume because I was surrounded by people MUNCHING LOUDLY on popcorn, constantly, for two hours. Add loud cellphone talkers to that and let's just say I was irritated.

But it DID get livened up by me getting to witness my very first high speed car chase. A red Dodge charger went blasting up government at about 60 mph...in a 35 (turns out it was stolen.) He was followed by about a dozen police trucks, cars, and motorcycles...bouncing over curbs, coming out of the woodwork and racing after this guy. Pretty impressive...but there were people in there that never looked up from their papers! Bizarre. I guess the cops gave up the chase due to safety (he was clocked at 100 mph in town) but caught up with him later that night.

All in all, I feel like I need a vacation to recover from that vacation. Tempting...oh so tempting.

But THIS sure was nice!

Cedar Boards

2011-07-19T07:37:00.000-07:00

Remember the cedar boards I ripped off a downed log about a month ago? Well, I finally got them finished!! The more clear board is sanded on both sides and all things told, probably took about four hours of work to get it looking like it does. My new orbital sander is a dream and did it's job. I began with 60 grit to get the bigger saw marks out, then progressed with the sandpaper until I hit 320...the finest grit I could get for it. Following that, I threw a couple coats of clear lacquer on it then hit it with a 2000 grit sandpaper. A couple more coats of lacquer and it's so smooth it feels wet!

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with myself. The final product is fun to look at and it was a neat way to occupy my time.

The two finished boards.

The board on the left is basically how these started. That's a LOT of sanding! (Mind you, the other faces weren't that badly divoted.)

My pride and joy. This thing has been done for a couple weeks...doesn't it still even LOOK wet?

The backside of the good board. You can kinda see the shadows where the bigger saw divots were....especially on the top right.

Interesting photo of a knot and the grain

Bad lighting made this photo glow!

Contrast

Meanwhile, the wedding planning is going smoothly. We have a full afternoon planned this Wednesday with a visit to the courthouse, a fitting for the tuxes, and we'll likely be picking up liability insurance that evening. (I was clued in to a website that'll give you $500,000 of coverage for $175. I'm all about peace of mind.) We're getting close to having most of the big stuff over and done with...which is a nice place to be a month out.

It's coming quick everyone! Can you believe it's already almost the end of July!!?

Humor for the Day

2011-07-13T07:59:00.000-07:00

This was too good not to post. That's one funky bear!!

Warning: the song will get stuck in your head!

Karma

2011-07-11T13:07:00.000-07:00

On Saturday the 9th, Sarah and I decided to take a trip out to Cabelas to get some incredibly comfortable chairs and some shirts. A pretty simple trip right? Nope.

We were just about to the Pleasant View exit when we started noticing a lot of semi-tire pieces on the road ("gators" as the wide load escorts seem to call them.) So of course, everyone in front of us was slowing down and swerving. That's when we noticed one of the gators trying to stand up, then fall, stand up, then fall. SHIT it was a chocolate lab that's been hit! Sarah jumped on the brakes and got out to see what she could do. By this time, we notice another pointer mix that was milling around his buddy...and wouldn't respond to calling or whistles. I tried to get him off the road as Sarah went to assess the injured dog. There were a lot of people backed up by this time (think noon on a Saturday between Coeur d'Alene and Spokane in July.) Folks were generally being pretty good and we had a decent number of folks trying to herd the pointer as well as direct traffic to one lane. Well, the pointer just kept running west down the middle of the interstate so I left the chase and decided to keep an eye on traffic instead....that's when I noticed my angel wrapping the labrador in a blanket and begin carrying him toward the car.

We popped the Subaru's hatch and put the poor guy in there on Lucca's bed. Sarah mentioned some road rash on both his hips, a hurt leg, and the fact that he kinda crapped himself. (I would have done the same thing if I was hit by a car.) But he ended up laying there, then standing up and looking out the window....doing good and not whining which I thought was amazing. The gal that hit him was still milling around her car looking at us, so I went to talk with her. I told her we were headed to the Post Falls Animal Hospital and that we'd call her with any updates. She handed me her husband's card and said her number was on the back. (Of course, the husband owned "Touchdown Tuxedos" in Post Falls....what are the chances of THAT?)

Well, we ended up at the Animal Hospital and this guy didn't want to get out of the car....looking pretty scared to be out in the open again. But, despite the danger of getting bit, Sarah scooped him up and hauled him inside. The folks there checked his heartbeat and weighed him, checked for a micro-chip, got our information...then animal control came in. Sarah was asking if they were going to do x-rays or anything and they said no..."unless you want to incur the charges. Otherwise, we have to hand him over to animal control." Hmmm, odd...what happened to just doing the right thing? ie) At least cleaning him up. After confirming that he had more than three days for the owner to find him before they put him down, we left...promising to follow up on Monday. Unfortunately the animal control guy said they could only put him up and give him some pain pills. Can you imagine? A possible broken leg and all you get is some aspirin?

So obviously we were jacked up and rather disappointed in how things were playing out, but we made our way back toward Cabelas. There we bought everything mentioned and I had to pick up a nice North Face jacket under the "impulse buy" influence....it was a spendy coat. But, I now had seven shirts that didn't have holes in them, something that has been driving Sarah nuts. When the fella rang me up, the total seemed pretty darn reasonable for Cabelas...but I just figured those other $25 shirts were on discount. In the car, Sarah mentioned that the tiller's meter hadn't moved after the first shirt was scanned. I checked the receipt and found out that I had just acquired six shirts for the price of one! Hmmm.

I weighed the choice before me and realized this was a pretty significant decision. Was this our payment for helping the lab out? Or was this just another test of our morals?

What would YOU do?

I went back inside. I HAD to. I found the first available teller as the dude that helped us wasn't around, and as it turns out, she was a manager of sorts. So she called him up and I told her I didn't want to get anyone in trouble, I just needed to be honest for my own well-being. She kinda reamed him and he held up his hands and laughingly said, "That's the last time I touch one of those things." (So it obviously wasn't his normal job there...just trying to step in and help out.) She told him, "Well, I'm going to give him a discount for being honest." My hopes rose, until she said she was going to give me 10% off. Bummer, but at least it kept my remaining total below $100!

So things all worked out fairly well, but we were still pretty concerned about the dog. When we got home I called the gal up and told her what happened and she mentioned that she was going to go down to animal control and check on him. That was pretty nice (and darn responsible...a lot of people wouldn't give a shit.) I told her Sarah's plan for Monday and we said our goodbye's.

This morning I got a bizarre text from Sarah asking for my work's fax number....so I gave it to her. Then she wrote, "I just sent you a fax. :)" I ran downstairs and found this:

SUBJECTIVE SECTION
A neutered male chocolate Labrador was struck by a car and presented to the emergency clinic by good Samaritans Tom Elliott and Sarah Kaufman (employee of Mountain View Veterinary Clinic.) ...Animal Control took responsibility of the dog after arrival.

OBJECTIVE SECTION
At presentation the chocolate lab is in good weight with abrasions to both hind limbs, worse on the right. The right hock folds and seems rather unstable suggesting tendon rupture. He can bear weight on it and is moderately painful to palpation of the limb. Heart and lungs auscult clearly. Mucous membranes are pink and moist with good refill time. No bruising in the ventral abdomen and no suggestion of a fluid wave or pain pain on palpation.

(Now the best part)

PLAN SECTION
NOTES
Animal Control took the dog to a holding facility. A few hours later the owner arrived and claimed the dog.

Awesome!! Now I'm just hoping they took him into a vet to get a full workup. Who knows, maybe the owners will give us a call to let us know he's doing fine. I've already called the lady that hit him and left her a message sharing the good news.

All in all, some good feelings came out of both situations.

Unfortunately, Sarah was on a run Sunday morning and heard a THUMP followed by a yowlp yowlp yowlp and turned around to see yet another lab rolling on the pavement in front of a car. Fortunately he got up and ran into an open hotel door, "yowlping" all the way. I guess he looked fine...just a little scared.

Lucca's going to be under a tight leash for a while, I can tell you that.

Self Potraits and Other Things

2011-07-07T13:33:00.001-07:00

Well, I set up the trailcam again this past weekend. Looks like the herd is back! Here are some funny photos from the past week.

Kinda a goofy pose

Looks like a lot of party photos

This just makes me laugh

So as I was walking in there this afternoon, I bumped one spike and then just hunkered down for a little bit. Pretty quick I noticed the bigger bull up the hill from me about 50 yards away. I stayed there for a while and just watched him mosey around and eat...but then kinda wanted to get going. So after the spike crossed in front of me and took off (warning NO ONE else by the way) I started eeeeasing up to the bigger bull. Got within 20 yards before I just started walking. He ran up the hill about 50 yards and just stopped broadside and stared at me. Hopefully he's still running around this fall. By the way, after this photo was taken he walked up to the camera and moved it a full 90 degrees. (That's why the photo above is a different angle.)

The bull I spent some time next to today...about the same distance even! Pretty cool stuff.

OH. And as I was walking out of there, I spooked something VERY big, VERY close to me in the brush...I'd say what, four yards away? It made such a racket just getting going that I actually started running away to gain some distance! I honestly couldn't tell if it was coming or going. Never done that before, but after seeing this photo, I wasn't taking chances. Luckily (I assume it was her) she went DOWNHILL and I went UPHILL. Ugh, gonna just have to start packing every time I go down there.

Cutie calf

Days of My Life

2011-06-21T06:27:00.000-07:00

After about 10 days of rain and cold...the kind of weather that makes it feel like November...it finally got nice. On Monday. It's not really a big surprise is it? Seems like that always happens, but at this point, no one seems to care. It's sunny, that's enough.

This past weekend found me cleaning gutters before the throngs of people showed up for the annual Car d'Alene. It's a hot rod show where they have a parade Friday night, then a walk-around-show on Saturday. Being two blocks from the activity means it was crowded and noisy around our house all weekend. But on Saturday, I couldn't take it and made my way into the woods. I was on the hunt for a downed cedar tree that I could cut some small planks out of. (Don't worry, I had the ecosystem staff officer give me permission to do this by writing on my wood permit...luckily she's my boss.)

My saw was recently worked on, so I had a new carburetor put in, bought a new bar, had the chain touched up, and five gallons of fresh gas. It ran like a dream! Which was good, because making a four-foot long diagonal cut along a waist-high log is tougher than it sounds. But I managed to cut two decent boards and screwed up about six others due to getting tired. Went through a whole tank of gas and called it good. I was covered in cedar sawdust and wet from the rain that started as soon as I exited the truck. But that was all good...cedar sawdust is some of the best smelling stuff I know of. Consequently, after I put the boards out back to dry...I had to bring them inside. It smelled like cedar in the house for two days! Love it.

That led me to buying myself a present on Sunday. (Which, by the way, was a good time to be out running errands.) Obviously the entire town partied waaaay too hard on Friday and Saturday because the town was empty! So, after about $100 on a brand new orbital sander and assorted sandpaper, I'm set up to finish the boards. I don't think I'll give away what I'm doing with them until I get a finished product. I have to say, I'm dying to try my new toy. (Which is odd; at what point in my life did buying a power sander become exciting?) Ahh, I guess I'm growing up.

But my big news is my doctor visit yesterday. I've been walking around like a bear and rubbing my back against door jams, walls, cabinets...those stitches were starting to itch and I couldn't reach them! I was impressed they didn't charge me my typical $25 co-pay and I was in and out in 20 minutes. But, I didn't realize how much I was concerned about the pathology results of that mole! I was sweating by the time the Doc came in and fidgeting while he slowly clicked away on the computer. All I needed to hear was, "Well, it looks like it was a beni.." That's all I needed!! I can't remember the entire scientific name of it, but it doesn't matter. They took my stitches out (and I didn't want the nurse to stop cleaning it...it felt so good to get it scratched!) and then put some steri-strips on it. That's when it happened!! I got the green light to take showers! Hallelujah!

So, that made me want to tackle cleaning the grill, so after a stop at the hardware store I was into it. Two hours later and I had only made a little bit of progress, but it's better than it was. Honestly Butch, did you EVER clean that thing? I guess I can't argue with a free, used gas grill, so nevermind. I ordered some new parts for it and then was able to take my first shower in 10 days! It was blissful!

And my thumb is healing quickly. I never did get photos of it, and I'm kinda bummed, but I'm still pleased with how it's progressing.

But of course, I think some of the dry grease from the grill got into my eye or something. I feel like I have the start of a stye. But you never know, it could just be a little irritated. I have a tendency to jump to conclusions.

*sigh* If it's not one thing it's another with me.

Who cares. It's sunny out.

The Morning Schedule

2011-06-14T07:01:00.000-07:00

So recently I had a "suspicious" mole removed from my back. It was actually fairly interesting as it was performed in the backroom of the Doctor's office and was over within 30 minutes. I couldn't feel a thing due to the local anesthesia, but could smell and hear the cauterizing...which was just plain bizarre. Much to my amazement, I got three stitches to boot. As I'm leaving, they told me to keep it dry...which basically means no showers. Well, it's at a spot on my back where I cannot reach it, so even if I did get it wet, "patting it dry" and "reapplying a bandage" would be pretty much impossible (as Sarah typically goes to the gym before dawn.) This basically means I'm taking a sponge bath for ten days.

Since the bathroom off our bedroom doesn't have a bathtub...I have to use the upstairs-kinda-creepy-bathroom as well as the kitchen sink. The animals continue to help as best they can, and it's led to some trying mornings. I will attempt to convey the absolute frustration that can occur around 0530 when one with stitches on his back lives with three cats and a dog.

- Lucca wakes up at 0430 and scratches her neck, licks her lips, and paces around...waiting for Sarah's alarm to go off and feed her.
- Cats get let out of the room and I'm able to enjoy about 30 minutes of quiet.
- My alarm goes off and I begin the morning ritual
- First the bathroom, then the contacts
- Grab a towel and shampoo and open bathroom door
- Tate is waiting within two feet of said door, and will meander one step in front of me...escorting me to the kitchen sink.
- Lucca sleeps on the couch
- Tate jumps on the kitchen stool to watch
- I warm up the water and proceed to wash my head (yep, face too) with shampoo.
- Blue sits near the sliding glass door (opposite side of the kitchen than Tate) and stares in amazement as I dry my hair.
- I take the towel and shampoo back to the bathroom...with Tate in the lead...one step ahead...then she FLOPS in front of the bathroom door.
- Step over Tate, get hissed at, and put stuff away.
- Come out of bathroom with Tate in the lead yet again...she ambles upstairs...yes, one step ahead
- Fix rugs that Blue has tussled up in her normal morning "rip snort" around the house
- Lucca watches the procession with uninterested eyes
- Blue chases her tail and finds something incredibly interesting under the rugs...messing them up for the second time
- Tate keeps watch when I go into the upstairs bathroom
- Fill tub with about six inches of tepid water and basically have a very unsatisfying sponge bath
- Step over Tate leaving bathroom and get hissed at
- Tate enters the bathroom to lick the remaining water from the tub...then she follows me downstairs. (I know, bizarre right?)
- Straighten out rugs again while Blue tears around.
- Put shake on the blender and get a BIIIIG sigh from Lucca when I turn it on
- Meanwhile, Tate waits in the sink for a drink of water
- Have to force Tate out of sink while pouring coffee (damn thing drips all over the place.)
- Meanwhile, Tate is never more than two feet from my feet...she runs to my pack...one step ahead of me while I put the thermos in
- Hearing the pack straps click is Lucca's signal to get up off the couch
- I sit on the steps and start putting on my boots. Tate is laying beside me desperate for petting, Blue watches the shoelaces dance around with an enraptured look on her face, and Lucca sits down one foot behind me.
- Give Lucca an over-the-shoulder-hug, finish tying shoelaces, and get up
- Tate hisses at me
- Lucca's up in a flash, tap dancing over by the treat jar
- Tate sulks away and typically chases Blue (who is back to chasing her tail and playing in the rugs.)
- Give Lucca a treat which she takes with a huge inhale...munches loudly...then returns to the couch.
- I head to the backdoor and look out the window to the cat door in the garage (Loki goes out in the morning and just sits in the garage....it's weird.)
- Open screen door and let it go so it slams.
- Loki sloooowwwwwlllyyy comes out and tiptoes across the lawn, smelling every blade of grass, every leaf, and every bug on the way in.
- Hold door while he oozes inside and jumps up on the freezer for a snack (it's where their food dish is.)
- Lock door and head to work.

Seriously, this happens

Every. Single. Day.

A "Fishing" Trip

2011-05-17T11:16:00.000-07:00

The sun was shining, the wind was calm and there was NO ONE at work last Friday. After talking with a fella at length about fishing, I couldn't take it anymore and left around noon. I had seen a very large fish jump in Blue Creek Bay a couple days prior, decided it was a pike, and concluded that would be a good place to try.

I raced home and got my gear together and headed out to said spot. The little dispersed fishing access was flooded more than I thought it was, so I kinda had to perch on the bank, which jammed my toes into the front of my boots. Incredibly comfortable. There was also a log about 10 feet or so from shore that I had to cast over, then JUMP the lure over it on the retrieve. After getting rigged up with a steel leader and a rather large spoon I started hucking. Everything was going really well for about...oh...five casts, when I got hung up on that damn log.

Hmmm...I'll just wade out there and get it unstuck! I emptied my pockets, then noticed the water was a LOT deeper than I expected...dropping off sharply right before the log. To do this correctly would require stripping down a little more than I wanted = nekkid. There was no way to move positions on the bank to shake the hook because of the high water and brush, so I just stood there and wiggled the rod back and forth furiously to try to free it (yeah, despite NEVER having that work...we all continue to try.)

Well, all that did was to wiggle the top half of my rod loose and down the line, up against my lure, on that damn log, ten feet from shore, in five-feet of icy water.

Fan-f***ing-tastic!!

Alright, stripping was now becoming a very likely possibility. The idea of swimming in snowmelt must have triggered my neurons into working just a BIT harder when I finally figured I could rig a handline with a heavy jig to toss over the rod tip and at least recover that. After a few tosses I became tangled in all the brush around me and out of frustration, pulled on that 30lb test monofiliment (it was all I had) until it broke...launching my expensive steelhead jig into the icy depths...never to be seen again.

By this time the folks out on boats were probably wondering what in the hell I was doing. Up to the truck digging around in the tacklebox, down at the shore stringing line in the brush like Christmas lights, back to the truck, back to the shore unstringing line from the brush...pacing, sweating, cussing. I imagined hearing, "What's he doing with a handline? Why doesn't he use his rod? He's been here for an hour and all he's done is mess with his gear. It's not fishing unless it's in the water buddy!" I started to sweat...and get REALLY frustrated with my obvious inability to figure out a simple problem.

So I finally got the 800 yards of line untangled from the brush, got another expensive steelhead jig, and finally managed to lasso the rod tip. Who knew, just moving the position of my pole so the rod tip was PERPENDICULAR to me would work better! Kind of an indication on how frustrated and pissed off I was. I darn near cried out, "I just want to FISH!" I finally got the pieces together and still couldn't do anything about the lure. Long story short, I broke the line and put on some bait. Hucked that out there, sat around for about 30 minutes before a.) the clouds moved in, b.) I was bored, and c.) really tired of all the boats milling around. Overall, I got a good 35 minutes of actual "fishing" out of two hours.

*sigh*

So I went home and did some yard work so I could feel like accomplishing SOMETHING that afternoon.

Spring has Finally Sprung

2011-05-17T08:51:00.000-07:00

Saturday May 7th found me on highway 95 headed south. I had the bed of the truck full of camping and fishing supplies and a vague idea of where I was headed. Rod had indicated a place called Spring Valley out of Troy (Idaho) that would be a great place to spend a weekend just fishing and relaxing...so I was headed there.

The trip seemed to fly by and pretty quick I was on roads I've never seen and getting excited to see this reservoir that was supposed to be phenomenal fishing. Well, once there, it was very apparent that I would never be able to survive. First of all it was CROWDED. People in house-sized RVs, some tents, folks on the docks, and the reservoir itself was just a small pond (think White Sands for those of you familiar with Powell.) Plus, I was in need of more trees around a potential camp so I could rig up tarps against the anticipated rain. No good.

I poked my way out to the main road and had to make a quick decision. Left would take me to St. Maries and the St. Joe...but I knew you couldn't get too far up the Joe before the road was closed. Recall last year's trip up there...not bad but not great either. The plus was that it would be closer to home i.e.) less driving. Turning right would take me south toward Kendrick and eventually the Clearwater and the Selway. Didn't take me long to decide and before I knew it I was headed south.

I came up out of a valley and had three messages waiting on my phone and two of those were from work!! WTF? So I called the guy at work and asked if it was so critical that I came in immediately...he said no, he just wanted to give me a heads up for the following week. Hmm, waste of time much? People get pretty excited about things around my office. The other was from Sarah telling me how much she wanted to be with me, camping in the rain, and generally just milling around the wet woods. She apologized for not being able to make it, but it was totally understandable. SOMEONE has to take care of the wedding stuff!! ;)

Well, I hit Kendrick and then took another road that I wasn't familiar with...the Cavandish road that leads up and over hill and dale...eventually dropping you at the fish hatchery in Orofino. It's a slow, curvy, but scenic road that takes out going through Moscow, down the Lewiston grade, and that whole mess. I liked it, plus the traffic was light. After a couple hours I made it to Two Shadows and wandered around for a bit. For some reason it just wasn't working for me that time, I needed less traffic and more privacy for a relaxing weekend...which only leaves the Selway!

So I went up to the Falls and the end of the road scoping out campsites along the way. Fortunately, the camp that Rachel, Krista and I had on our first night of the Crags trip was open, so I dropped into that fairly quick! It's a nice little place tucked into the trees with a BIG beach, it's own toilet and a picnic table. And the sun was starting to shine...perfect!

Saturday afternoon

Not too shabby!

My view downriver...look familiar?

View upriver

After getting camp set up, I hauled out my fishing gear and decided to throw some lures into the nice eddy near the camp. (I had forgotten my flyfishing gear.) That's when I noticed my reel handle was broken off! One of my big, unsecured boxes full of camping stuff must've got it on one of the many curves of the road down there. I dug out some "extreme tape" (which is like super-electricians-tape) and repaired it as best I could. It didn't do too bad, but every time I'd get a strike, I seemed to always pull the handle back off. Reeling in a fish without a handle on your reel is interesting...but it still worked. I hauled in some cutthroat and a single whitefish that I kept for dinner.

I seemed to be the only person on the river except for some bear hunters that cruised by once in awhile. It was a nice relaxing evening and the weather just kept getting nicer!

Until Sunday morning, when around 0700 it began to rain HARD. I got up and mosied around for awhile and decided if I was going to fish, I'd need a new reel...so I was off, headed for Dale's Cashway. New reel in hand I decided to stop by Smith Creek road and look for some morels...with no luck. Pounding rain. I stopped in Kooskia and called my Mom to wish her a happy Mother's day. Pounding rain. Made it back to camp and tried to fish in....the...POUNDING....RAIN. I had called Sarah from Dale's to let her know I was going to stay another night...counting on the rain to stop and the fishing to pick up again. I was confident it couldn't last all day!

Well, it didn't quit. The fishing stunk (I managed to pull in a single 5-inch cutthroat.) That got boring, so I pulled out the camera and got nice and muddy taking photos. While I was stomping around I managed to find the only morel of the trip...almost stepped on it before I noticed it. It blended in with the grass it was growing in perfectly!

My only morel

Heart leaf

Not sure what this flower is...

Neat against the black background though...

Horsetail along Slide Creek

More horsetails

New growth

I always call this stuff skunk cabbage...even though it's not right. But it fits! (This is the young stage obviously.)

Well, that's about all that happened. The rain never stopped and I never really dried out. I DID discover some holes in the fly of my tent though! Made some nice wet spots on the inside...time to do some repair work I guess.

Kinda sums up my attitude. Cold, wet, and lonely...plus you can see the rain!

Cold, wet view upriver

I was up early Monday morning to the rain continuing to fall. I packed quickly and was on the road. Now, Highway 12 on a Monday morning isn't fun as it's full of commuters...by the time ONE person would get off my butt, another one was there to take his/her place. Consequently, I turned back up the Cavedish highway and took the backroads home. It took awhile to make it through Boville and the like, but I made it to St. Maries and then took the backroads the rest of the way home. It was great...good scenery and NO TRAFFIC!

I'm not sure if it's fortunate or not, but by the time I got home, the sun came out and I was able to dry all my gear prior to putting it away. It was nice to have company and some sunshine. Overall, it was a worthwhile weekend...always good to get out of town for awhile...even if it does rain the whole time.

The next week I went on a short hike and found some morels! Too bad when Sarah and I went back up there this past Sunday, there were very few to be found! (Someone must have been in there...it was barren.)

Not a lot for a couple hours of looking...

I'm happy to report that the weather is improving around here...as are everyone's attitudes. Amazing what a little vitamin D can do for a person! However, we've gone from snow and rain to 70-degree days! Winter to summer...hard to transition, but I'm NOT complaining!

Month of Fishing

2011-05-03T09:44:00.001-07:00

The fishing bug seems to have taken hold of me this year. After learning how to rig powerbait, and then catching fish on said rig, I can't seem to get enough of it. Not sure if it's the relatively nice weather we've had the past two weekends, the way the time flies by, or the company, but it sure has been a nice distraction from my winter blues.

Two weekends ago, on the one nice day, I made my way to Rod's house at o'dark thirty and took Dusty out turkey hunting. We could hear them, but could never catch up. We saw a couple elk and some deer was all...and two other hunters. That would explain why the birds shut up so quickly. Then we (Rod, Dusty, and I) decided to fish Fernan. Pretty quick Sean showed up...followed by Rod's wife dropping off Dusty's best friend. We even caught a couple fish!

Pleasant, but a little chilly.

Sean and Rod

Then the weather moved back in. This was April 29th.

Ahh, five straight months of this is what CDA has to offer this year.

April 30th up the 499 road

New snow! Around the corner there the road is blocked by two feet of snow on the roadbed. Awesome. Access into the District is a maximum of 4 miles.

This past weekend caught us out fishing Fernan again on Friday. Again, we caught a couple fish and had a relatively pleasant day. The only thing was that we attracted all sorts of people who just wanted to talk. One fella stayed for three hours talking about EVERYTHING in the world. Then some younger girls needed directions. Another older fella was out there fishing with his grandchildren...so we helped show him how to rig up powerbait, gave him powerbait, and just kinda chatted. Busy day, but 9 hours sure did fly by!

Rod at Fernan when the weather started to turn

So while Sarah was running Bloomsday on Sunday, we decided to cut out at try Kelso Lake. We got there early enough the dock was ours and the fish were jumping AND biting! Once the sun came out, the dock got really crowded...and again, we had a lot of visitors just wanting to talk. I managed to get a nice sunburn on the lower half of my face.

Just a little bird

Of course, we got a photo of one of the SMALLEST fish we caught! Go figure.

Overall it was a nice weekend...but it leaves a guy pretty wore out! But, I guess being worn out from fishing and being outside all weekend is a good thing. I think all our company the past couple times out is urging both of us to drag a boat out. Between the two of us we have three boats, and there we were on the shore. We'll see what happens in the next couple weeks.

Oh, and a fella came in to work this morning and said he picked half a grocery bag of morels over the weekend. Seems like the guy on the dock was right, when you start seeing trilliums, it's time to look for mushrooms!

Fishing Weekend

2011-04-18T09:24:00.001-07:00

Saturday morning found me and Rod up at Butch's house getting the Jon boat ready for the first run of the year. It took a little bit to flip the boat, get the motor on, yard it over to where I could get the truck to it, and change out the stickers...but we managed and were headed out in about 45 minutes. We decided to head up to Hayden lake since it was a shorter drive than to Fernan, and the many bays led us to think we could escape the wind. Got the boat in without a problem and after a few tugs on the pullcord...the little Yamaha came to life! Always a good thing after being in storage for close to a year.

We skipped over to some coves and started to troll a bit. The weather was TRYING to break, but every time we thought the sun would come out...another black cloud was waiting to block it. So it was cold, the water was still very chilly, and the wind was blowing...but definitely easy to deal with.

I'm obviously enjoying the first boat trip of the year

Short story short...we didn't catch anything and the above is the only photo I have. We DID have two tame mallards following us around while we trolled. Bizarre, they came right up to the boat begging for a handout. Then they'd fall back and seem to swim right over our lures...occasionally looking down at them. Then they'd fall further behind and literally fly to catch up...landing in the water next to us...and continue to beg.

So there we were about halfway up the lake...when we both looked to the south and noticed whitecaps!! SHOOT. The weatherman was correct when he predicted the wind to shift to the southwest at about 1400! That's also when we noticed we had about 1 gallon of gas left! That little motor sure does like to eat. With Rod at the stern, he gunned it to the dock....both of us slamming on the seats after each 2 foot wave. But, everything worked out, the boat got a workout, and we made it back to the put-in.

Now, seeing this trailer without the boat on it is difficult...because you CAN'T see it. I have since learned how to take the tailgate off, so did that and tossed it in the bed. I had an exceptional view of the trailer and got it backed up easily. Boat loaded...we then noticed one of the trailer tires was VERY low. By the time we got to a gas station to fill it up, it was almost flat. I'm now considering just investing in those solid-rubber trailer tires. I'd never have to worry about them again.

Then on Sunday while Sarah was running the Spring Dash, I took off to Fernan to do a little shore fishing. Pretty quick both Tick and Rod showed up and we battled the blowing wind and cold for a couple hours. Again, we didn't catch anything...but saw some other folks pull in a trout. The fish are THERE, at least that's good to know.

But, the wind was out of the west blowing right down the lake, and from the spray put up by the few boats out there...I'm glad we didn't try to do that again. Then right before we took off, we noticed a boat across the lake from us, obviously dead in the water...with someone waving a red flag. Hmm, dead engine in those winds and they were about halfway down the lake...coulda happened to us on Saturday. It didn't look like much fun, but being in no position to do anything...we just sat and watched until another boat came by and towed them to the dock. (At least in the Jon boat, I could oar it into the shore...but this was a big boat that woulda been hell to paddle.)

Overall, it was a good weekend. A little too much wind for my taste, but it's funny how quickly time goes by when you're fishing. Makes me wish the weekends were just a little longer.

Jon Boat Edit

2011-04-15T06:35:00.000-07:00

This post will make it fairly apparent how LITTLE time I spend with my Jon boat.

I got a board and headed up to Butch's to measure out what I needed to cut to make a backing plate for the motor to mount to. Well, the boat is upside down on the trailer still and I shimmied it off to where I could take a look at the stern, and that's when I noticed it! The smart people at Alumacraft already HAD a backing plate built in! It's even covered with aluminum as a weather shield! Go figure.

I never noticed it before because a.) I never looked and b.) When the boat is right-side up, where you hook the motor on just looks like the hull itself.

*sigh* I need to start paying closer attention I guess. I sigh, because driving the 4 miles or so for this project took 45 minutes due to all the schools releasing their children at that exact same time. Waste of an hour for my lack of observation.

Now I guess there's really no other reason for procrastination. They keep changing the darn forecast on us though. Now tomorrow is almost guaranteed rain...and Sunday is holding onto that chance of snow. Might be a cold, wet day on the water.

Welp I'M sure boring anymore

2011-04-13T11:05:00.000-07:00

Yep..."welp" about sums up what's been going on the past couple weeks. We're going on our fourth month of rain / overcast / gloomy weather. Don't get me wrong, there have been two sunny days in there. One of those sunny days was yesterday and I spent most of the day at a meeting in the basement. Funny though, once I left work I was in the one of the best moods I've been in for months...don't know why, just finally feeling alright. Rather than tell ya'll what I haven't been doing, how about what I HAVE been doing? Trap league is over and I made it to the banquet this year. It was a decent time as I shot better than I have all season. Rod paid my way into an Annie Oakley game and the first thing I did was shoot him out. (I was out three shots later.) BUT, I still had a box of shells so I walked over to where Rod was trying a round by himself. So, just the two of us there shooting, everyone else watching the game going on, and I came out in the 20's! Best round of the year...good way to leave it. (And unfortunately this was the first year I didn't "win" anything. I musta really sucked.)

I went out fishing once so far this year! I finally got Rod to show me how people rig up to fish lakes...as I'm totally clueless when it comes to that. I can use a bobber and I can throw a spinner, beyond that I'm lost. Turns out, all you need is an inline swivel, a weight, and a small treble hook. Weight above the swivel, leader out beyond that to a hook...with a big ball of powerbait covering the hook is all it takes! The powerbait floats, so you can imagine what that looks like in the water. Well, we didn't catch anything, but time sure flew by!

Uhm...wow. Getting down to that being pretty much it. Access into the woods is still lousy but improving daily...there are still morons getting stuck out there, so I'm letting them have it for the time being.

I'm TRYING to get motivated to tie flies and load bullets, but haven't fully succeeded yet. I kinda want it to get just a little warmer out before I go sit in the garage for hours at a time. I know, I could just bring that stuff in the house...but would kinda like to have a setup that's out of the way.

I was also kicking around the idea of building another flyrod. Kinda want a four-piece again...and this is relevant as I just put in for a mountain goat tag! There is ONE tag given out in the unit I want to hunt (on the St. Joe) and another fella and I applied with the idea that if one of gets it...we'll both go and spend a week or so in the woods. Lotsa lakes up there, so the idea would be to get some fishing in as well.

I'm slowly getting the boat ready to take out. And when I say slowly, I mean SLOWLY. A month or so ago I finally did all my registrations online. A week later all the stickers and whatnot came and are still sitting on the counter. Meanwhile, I made it up to Butch's house (where the boat is) and got the gas tank. Several days later (ie..yesterday) I was able to get GAS in the tank. So basically it's ready to go. Just have to go flip the boat over, take the trailer off the jack stands, put some stickers on it...and haul it to some water. I'm secretly appreciating the weather for that first day. It'll be nice because there won't be anyone around. (People around here are definitely solar powered. Once the sun comes out, so do all the people.) I'm thinking that day is going to be Saturday. Looks like the best day of the weekend with only a 30% chance of rain...unlike Sunday, which has a 30% chance of rain/snow. Ah hell, it's all the same at this point.

Oh shoot, I just remembered I want to put a board on the inside of the boat for the motor to mount to. I'm a little worried about just having it hanging on the aluminum. So I guess I have more work to do...get some wood...get some gorilla glue...etc.

And turkey season opens Friday. So hopefully that'll motivate me to get in the woods a little bit more. We'll see. (I already have a standing order to go turkey hunting with Rod's son Dusty. Dusty asked months ago if I would go with him and he will NOT let that go! He's super-stoked so it should be fun if he can shut up for a while. HA!)

So that's about it. Just thought you all might like to see how boring I am this time of year.

200,000!!

2011-03-25T09:06:00.001-07:00

Well, the ol' Chevy made it. Not hard to imagine as I've replaced nearly everything in it but the motor. Just think, I put 140,000 miles on it in 7 years! Do the math...not too shabby!

Lucca the Snow Dog

2011-03-04T13:09:00.000-08:00

I had promised Lucca Wednesday night that I would take her out on Thursday....so I grabbed her after work we headed to the woods. Access is still limited around here, so we ended up at our normal spot on BLM ground. The hike started off and the six-inches of heavy wet snow proved to make walking a bit slower than I wanted. But, Lucca was able to turn on her 4-leg drive and run up the road, up the hill, down the hill, around me, always culminating in her dropping her front legs and skiiiiiding across the snow (usually conveniently on a pile of frozen deer crap.)

She's pretty fun to watch in the snow as you can see JUST how much she loves it. She gets a huge grin on her face, her ears "pook" up a little bit into what I call "smiling ears," and she runs around like a puppy. One thing is interesting and I'm not sure when it started (or how) but she will run around for a bit, then circle back around me briefly. Either she or I will initiate her desired "face-touch" and then she'll be back off again. I don't know if that's just a physical way for her to tell me she's loving life, or if it's just checking in...but it's cute...and it's just between her and I.

We got up the hill aways and I glanced down the slope to see a coyote running along. I've seen them up there more than anywhere else and they're always close. I wonder if it's the same one I keep seeing? We saw a lot of deer the further in the timber we got and found their beds and areas they scraped the snow away to get at the grass. Topping the hill at a little saddle, I saw a dude running down the road...away from me. I thought that was pretty odd, as there were no other cars down on the road...but then I finally saw enough of this guy to figure out it was an elk! (It's weird, there's a lone cow that hangs out in there during the winter. I've never seen any others with her.) But, once I knew what it was I broke into a sprint to try and see her again. Anytime I run in the woods, Lucca gets REALLY excited and chases me. This usually ends up in some sort of (pardon the pun) dog-pile and we have to wrestle around for a bit.

We were both panting and never saw the elk again, so we headed back down the hill. After a little bit, Lucca took a beeline up the cutbank. It was a thick little patch of timber, but she was obviously on the scent of something. Curious, I watched her creep up to something I couldn't see and kinda poke at it with her paw. That's when she looked at me with a look on her face like, "TOM! You've gotta check this out!" So I walked up there and the hair on the back of my neck stood up, "what the HELL?" It looked like a snake...about as big around as my arm and covered in scales. (See, it was kinda buried in the snow.) Of course I picked up a stick and poked at it, wondering what in the world a big snake was doing out during the winter. But with a little effort, I freed it from it's icy tomb and it turned into a pike! Some poor bird must've been flying along with it's 18-inch dinner and dropped it! Weird thing to see in the middle of the woods. Lu got a lot of praise after that since she a.) didn't eat it and b.) didn't roll in it. Now if I could only teach her to find antlers!

We kept going and got to a patch of snow she rolled in on the way up. I had scolded her the first time because there was a lot of deer droppings there and REALLY didn't want to have to give her a bath when we got home. She ran down there and rolled in it again...and I again shooed her away. That's when the ripsnorting began! She ran down the road in play-mode so I took the bait and chased her, which led her to circle around to roll in the same spot again...rise up...and grin at me like, "Whatcha gonna do NOW Tom?" What a taunting beast! (I've never seen her do that before.) This just got both of us riled up and racing around in the snow. We both turned into kids and started tackling each other, rolling around, and generally just being morons.

Well, we both worked up a sweat and decided it was time to head out. In the truck, she just sat there and stared at me with a big shit-eating grin on her face. She likes to say thanks after walks, and will keep putting her paw up to get a shake. I grabbed her paw and we drove down the road for awhile just holding hands (bizarre but cute if you think about it.) But I was listening to a good song, so inadvertently started squeezing her foot to the beat. After a second I noticed that she was flexing her foot after every squeeze like she was trying to squeeze MY hand!! I darn near had to pull over and give her a bear hug for that one.

She's quite a pup and always knows what to do to make me smile.

(I know, this isn't a real interesting story, but I want to remember it.)

Steelhead FAIL / Tom WIN

2011-02-25T13:03:00.000-08:00

Sunday night found me in the grips of cabin fever, the whispering in my ear was, "Take some time off, go to the Clearwater alone, camp and fish...reconnect with yourself....RELAX!"

I listened, and even though I didn't have a fishing license, any camping or fishing gear together, or even a real plan, I was stoked!! You'll see me Wednesday night world! So long suckers!

I tossed and turned that night with visions of steelhead dancing through my head. That's when I woke up and reality pressed upon me, forcing me think and plan. First things first, let's check the road conditions! After a couple weeks of warm weather, I was certain the roads would be dry and clear. Hmmm, not so. Down around Moscow the Idaho Transportation Department was telling me it was "difficult" driving conditions. I started to feel a little anxious and nervous and then turned my attention to the weather.

What's this? Snow? Blowing snow? Winter weather watch...blizzard conditions likely...wind gusts of up to 40 mph...hazardous road and travel conditions predicted...and finally, "expect the lowest temperatures of the winter with temperatures in the single digits during the day and below zero at night." Not sure about you, but that doesn't sound like any fun; that doesn't sound relaxing. That definitely doesn't sound like weather I want to CAMP in....been there, done that.

I've got a peculiar trait of feeling obligated to do things once I say I'm going to do them, even if it's supposed to be for my enjoyment. I was torn. But, I took a shower and started getting stuff together like the little trooper I am. That's where the lists came in. I needed:
- Fishing license
- Food
- Organize / pack gear
- New line put on the reel and extra steelhead gear
- Firewood!
- Don't forget to take clean water
- Tarps!
- COLD weather gear!
- Better pack two sleeping bags...again, been in that situation before

I could go on and on.

About that time, I realized I didn't want to go. Somehow that was turning into entirely more work than I wanted it to be. One of the main reasons a guy goes to the Clearwater this time of year is to enjoy a preview of spring. To sit in the sun. To look at all the green grass and budding trees. With all that not in the cards, I made the inevitable decision to trust my gut and stay home. Almost instantly, my anxiety was gone and I felt "in control" once again!

So that's what I did, but since I was up and dressed (it was only about 0700 by that time) what should I do? I started by cleaning up stuff I left out since Christmas...which led me into the garage. I cleaned the garage, organized my hunting gear and finally put it away, I did a survey of my fishing stuff and made a list of what I needed, I cut target backing from a lot of boxes...it went on and on like that until noon. I made more to-do lists because somewhere in there I had decided I was NOT going to work on Tuesday. Finally, around 1600 I got some meat out to thaw...burgers for dinner! That's when it happened.

I was passing through the bedroom and flopped on the bed at 1700. Sarah woke me up at 1900 thinking I was dead since I was fully dressed, on top of the covers, and not moving. I kinda rolled over and said hi, then fell asleep again. I woke up the second time at 2130 and groggily walked out to the living room to see if it was Tuesday....nope, still Monday night. Dinner didn't appeal to me, so I finally took out my contacts, changed, and went back to bed! I didn't wake up until 0600 the next day! THIRTEEN hours of sleep. THIRTEEN straight!

That night we got a couple inches of wet snow, which made all the roads in northern (and central) Idaho very treacherous. So, I just poked around town and did all the things I DIDN'T do on Monday. Since then, we've received about 12 inches of snow, lows in the negatives at night...highs in the teens...howling wind...and basically just solid winter weather (enough to delay opening the office by four hours on Thursday.) The positive is that I used that time to get ready for when the next "head south" urge comes on. I'll be able to just grab stuff and roll.

It was nice to get confirmation that I DO have a head on my shoulders! And, my mood was immensley improved by the sleep. Something everyone can enjoy!

Wedding Planning and the Dreaded Doldrums

2011-02-07T09:26:00.000-08:00

Ahh, Alpine Glow and all it's splendor has now transitioned into a high peak shrouded in clouds. The hills that seemed to lower to my feet, gently elevating me higher and higher have been replaced by a vertical ascent of ice and rock. There are countless spectators watching and offering so called "help" and "direction" while I struggle trying to find the path. Some of the advice is so poor I can't help but ignore it, while the other advice is welcome...leading me to that small crack in the face...just large enough for a foothold. It's precarious and progress is slow, but I have done fairly well in replicating my last mile to Duffy Lake, "One foot in front of the other."

Luckily, I have become close with my lead guide whose knowledge seems to appear out of the mist cloaking the path. She doesn't pack light, as I've seen scores of books, magazines, and print-outs from websites in her arsenal. I don't question the source of this information, but I've found myself (twice now) judging the route and getting fairly emotional about how I am right and everyone else is wrong. My patient guide just sits quietly until the rant is over, then gently offers a hand and pulls me up to the next ledge. As I rest, she's quietly working through alternatives in her head...figuring out ways to make it simple for me to follow her. Genius!

In the rare instances when the clouds part, the path becomes unmistakeably clear and together we move forward quickly and with purpose. This invariably leads to yet another pitch or storm system moving in, so that we must slow down and consider the options. We divvy up gear and separate, each following a path, and when conquered, leads us to each other a little higher up the slope.

As it is now, we are staging below another pitch...getting our ducks in a row (have you ever heard that joke about the three ducks in the bar? My favorite.... but I digress...yea, how would YOU like to be my guide? Harder than you may think...you can kinda tell how my mind works by reading my writing...random much? And yes, my mind has a LOT of periods in it as it's the best way to transition between the thoughts that sail through my head.)

But overall, the summit is always over that next rise...kinda like hiking up Mount Sentinel in Missoula. As soon as you think you MUST be at the top, you find yourself only halfway there.

Alright, enough code.

Initially, we were looking at a Montana wedding venue. The Front Range near Choteau, the Gallatin, the Mission...Swan...Bitterroot...all big mountain ranges that competed for the backdrop of our special day. This quickly became a tough situation as the venues near those areas are a little beyond our price range. This led us closer and closer to home and we found a place, toured it, and signed the contract last week. It's in Coeur d'Alene (two miles from the house) and overlooks the lake, Tubbs hill, and the fancy Coeur d'Alene Resort golf course. Following that, we went to the "3rd annual wedding expo" at the resort last Wednesday. I was able to talk to some folks about tuxedos, we were able to figure out who will likely be our caterer, and RIGHT before we left...we located the photographer I wanted to talk to!

That was an interesting experience (and little does he know) his attitude was 50% of our rating system. So, a lot of people at this "expo" were dressed up...or at least looked presentable. I was wearing dirty old carharts and now that I think about it, I had a carhart sweatshirt and a carhart coat on! Hmm, a walking advertisement. BUT, I mentioned to him that out of all the photographers I looked at, I liked his photos the best. His response was, "As soon as I saw you guys walk in the door I knew you were my kind of people." That was based on our "look" and probably more accurately the way we were dressed. Well, the more we chatted, the more we liked him. He's got a laid-back attitude, smiles a lot, obviously REALLY enjoys fly fishing, and spent two years doing stand up comedy. (That came up because we want a lot of candid shots...smiling on command is not one of my strong suits.) When we asked if he had Friday, August 12th at about 6 p.m. available he said, "Wow, I actually DO have that available." So we signed on the spot!!

Did you notice the subtle "date drop" in that one? HA!

Then, the other day the magical whiteboard in our kitchen had another note on it for me. (Every morning it has a new message for me, it's MAGIC I tell ya.) This note asked me to talk to a close friend of ours about being our "marrying guy." I guess their called "officiants" or "ordained ministers." (I'm learning but still kinda like "marrying guy.") Well, that afternoon I called him up and he said, "Of course I'll be there man. You couldn't keep me away!" (And this is after not talking to him for probably a year.) I was so excited I called Sarah right away and luckily she was on her lunch break so I could just babble on about how things were clicking into place.

And it looks as though I got my old gang together to help send me off on this next stage of my life. The additional third doesn't know it yet, but I have to wait until he returns from the southland trip to surprise his Dad on his birthday. Gosh I'm subtle today!! You'd better say yes, you bastard. :P

See how I am? Geez, it STILL amazes me she said yes.

So the next big pitch on this climb is the caterer. But like I said, we're getting our ducks in a row and spending time thinking about questions to ask them, what we need, and finalizing getting a guest list together. Stand by, you'll likely be getting requests for addresses...then some mail from us (it's always fun to get REAL mail.) But since I'm on the subject...if said mail does NOT arrive in your mailbox...it's because we ran out of money for this extremely expensive party and couldn't pay to have all the people we've ever met to be there. Not a reflection on you, just a reflection on how much these goofy things cost. I'm thinking getting into the wedding business wouldn't be too bad of an idea...you can make money off darn near everything. I can see it now: "Do you want a lawn for your outdoor wedding? That'll be extra...but I have some lovely gravel you could look at if money is an issue. Oh, and come over here and check out our selection of flowers! Judging by how you were eyeballing that gravel, how about a nice dandelion and knapweed bouquet?"

That's the story so far...hopefully when this is all said and done, I will be able to put together a humorous account of the planning effort. But for now, the summit is still out of sight.

As far as the Dreaded Doldrums? Well, it's "winter" in Coeur d'Alene. What this means is that we got enough snow in November to close all our Forest roads...which severely limits access unless you have a snowmobile. No surprise there...but it's done nothing but feel like spring for the past two months. They'll predict heavy snow, but then change the forecast hourly until it turns into just a rainstorm. Any snow we DO get is rapidly replaced by rain which melts it all...creating a slushy mess on the roads...then it will either warm up and get springlike...or freeze, creating hazardous driving conditions. For example, I was STOKED last night when I went out back to get more firewood and noticed it was snowing! This morning I threw open the blinds to see only wet grass. SONUVA!

The only places we can get out to walk around are in the low country, and to tell you the truth, they're getting relatively mundane and repetitive. Trap league has started again and it started off strong! Well, I started off strong and have been going downhill ever since. This creates a mindf**k which (as much as I try to let it go) hangs over me like a wet wool blanket. Add that "I have to do better" attitude with about 40 people telling you what you're doing "wrong" and it overloads my puny hard drive causing me to do EVERYTHING wrong. Gun fit and placement, loads, sight picture, foot placement, elbows up, head on stock, lean forward, don't peak, don't flinch, don't "cheat," don't shoot too fast, don't shoot too slow, let it go, move on, laugh, want to throw the gun, wanting to yell at the guy scoring behind you who says, "LOSS" entirely too loud (got it, dude ), etc. All that makes it hard to concentrate and leads to low scores.

On an unrelated note, I was pretty much at my wit's end for the past three weeks. Multiple ridiculous deadlines and a line of people wanting things wrapping out of my cubicle and around the building....made it darn near impossible to get anything done. But people DID respond to me and my boss telling them I didn't have time to work on anything else...and to quit requesting things until February. I got comments like, "Oh, now you're like the rest of us. We're all overworked with no time to get it all done. Can you make me this map by tomorrow?" Those kinds of comments came from people with TWO specialists per resource area, and folks that spend most of their time NOT at work (come in late, have looong lunches, leave early...yet still have plenty of hours from "working at home" to have Fridays off. Odd.) I was able to push through that crisis and BEAT the ridiculous deadlines. As much as I want to claim that as a victory, it went relatively unnoticed...even from the folks giving me hell who always seem to MISS their deadlines. Hopefully at least my superiors noticed it.

On another unrelated note, I managed to set up dual monitors at work, so that means I can get twice as much work done right? I'm sure that'll be the resounding thought in the office...I can't wait to see the fallout. Will EVERYONE find it necessary to have two monitors? It's petty like that around here, "Well, so-and-so got it. I need it too." (That happened when one person got a large monitor...all of a sudden everyone needed them.) I set up this setup (HA! I'm leaving it) from prodding (nagging) by our server guru as well my boss...didn't think I'd like it, but it's actually really handy.

But, like always...I'll power through and keep you updated on the progress. This post is entirely too long, but I had fun. Hope you could laugh at my expense.

By the way, it's sleeting now. S O C L O S E !

Finished European Mount

2010-12-28T09:06:00.000-08:00

Well, after a whirlwind of a Christmas...I remembered that I said I was going to post photos of my finished whitetail european mount.

Oddly enough, now the "whitewash" of Elmer's glue looks a little shiny...but I don't think it detracts anything. For now, part of what I like about this set up is the imperfections. Gives a good show at a first try and I'm curious to try it again and see how it turns out! Alas, that may be a couple more years down the road the way things are going...

But, not too shabby...not too shabby.

Front view close

Side view close

Good spot on the wall!

Roughly 30 days from the hunt to this!

This deer must really mean something to me. I still like looking at the mount (or even photos of it) and thinking back to that fateful day. And I kinda had an idea for a little side-job. When trying to decide on what to mount this skull on, I was kinda thinking about using barn wood. Couldn't find any of that I liked, so then I thought perhaps the crook in a branch of Ponderosa pine (as I shot the deer in a shelterwood unit of Ponderosa.) Then I thought about a round of pine...which led me to think I should try ripping a board out of pine with the bark still attached on the sides... etc...

The point is, you can't find that kind of thing pre-made anywhere. All I could find were polished plaques...so, I thought quietly to myself, there may be a market for it! Just think, different species, parts of trees, and cuts that you could choose from and match to where you harvested your critter. All mounting hardware (and instructions) included! How about THAT?

Google it!

2010-12-21T08:05:00.000-08:00

First of all, I want to share the progress of my european mount! I will need to take, edit, and post a photo of the finished product later. But last Friday I procured a laminated birch board and a pattern for a plaque. I took that up to Butch's place and he helped me use a jig saw to cut out the pattern while we made a whole sleugh of firestarters. Following that, we started talking about how to attach the skull to the plaque...that led to drilling holes and mounting said deer skull...after putting a stain on the board of course. Overall, it turned out really well!

Saturday found me drilling holes in the wall, hitting a stud when I didn't expect it, dealing with TWO nearly dead drill batteries, ruining drywall anchors, rigging up a copper wire to hang it...having that not work, quick run to the hardware store, 30 minutes to find something right in front of my face...then 5 minutes to get everything assembled and hung on the wall. I suppose it would have paid to just do it right the first time, rather than trying to fake it. Oh well, it turned out fine in the end.

But the reason for this quick post is because of something I did this morning. I got into Google images and typed in "Neckus rufus" (sans apostrophes.) For SOME REASON, neckus rufus is something unique to me...as I (nearly) dominate 3 pages of Google images!! There are a couple other strange photos in there, but for the most part they're all mine! It's bizarre though, it has the photos from the neckus rufus post...but has photos of Glacier, camping on the Clearwater, Northfork photos, etc.

Try it, it's kinda fun!

Even though I knew better, at first glance some of the photos didn't look like mine! But they were! Not too shabby Tom, not too shabby.

Arts and Crafts

2010-12-09T11:11:00.000-08:00

So last weekend was spent doing arts and crafts around the house!

First I made some firestarters. Pretty slick little things...they're made out of the bottom of a paper egg carton, some sawdust, some lint, and a LOT of wax. I've tested these things and they still burned (producing a 6-10 inch flame) in winds of 15-25 mph and rain! They're basically just candles with huge wicks.

If you care, here's the process:
1.) Cut the egg carton so only the bottom remains.
2.) Fill the divots about 1/3 to 1/2 full of sawdust
3.) Cover the sawdust with lint. Yep, just lint straight out of your dryer...hair doesn't matter.
4.) Melt a LOT of wax using a double boiler on the stove. It helps if you shave it first (melts faster) and it'll take about a full brick of canning wax.
5.) Pour the hot wax over the divots. What you want is it to soak through the bottom...saturating everything in wax. (It makes a mess so put some foil or something down.)
6.) Once cool, break off the individual divots and throw 'em in your pack.

If you SOAK them in wax, no amount of water on them should matter. I would imagine if they didn't light on the outside...just cut it open and light the dry part. I should do some more testing! Ahh, more experiments! Perfect.

Well, I made two dozen of those things...so I should be good for quite a while.

Meanwhile, I was making a European mount of the deer head outside. I bought a galvanized bucket and was using a loaner hot plate. Well, temperatures under freezing and the thin metal on the bucket didn't allow the water to get to a boil. Hmm, switched to the campstove and that got things going! I had skinned the head, dug out the eyeballs, and took off the lower jaw the night before...I heard the less time you boil it, the less the bones will start falling apart. But, I had to go through two little tanks of propane over two days to get it cleaned up to the point I liked it.

I heard about all the stuff you can add to the water to help. Sal soda, Dawn dish soap, sodium carbonate, etc. But 'ol Tommy was wandering around and couldn't find any sodium carbonate! (Thinking about it now...isn't baking soda sodium carbonate or something like that? Quick search said yes...sodium BIcarbonate. Oh well.) Hmmm. What about OxiClean? So I bought a bag of those things you add to your laundry to "boost" the cleaning process. The plus is that it makes the neighborhood smell like you're doing laundry rather than boiling brains and skull tissue. The negative is that I can no longer use OxiClean as all I think about is boiling brains and skull tissue.

Okay, so there I was, boiling this skull. (Antler bases wrapped in foil.) Every once in awhile I'd take it out and pick pieces off...which was pretty simple since I cut a lot off when I was skinning it. I made the mistake of pulling the brain out of the spinal "hole" with an old bent tent peg. That was a fairly disgusting job. The back part of the head then held onto the remaining goodies for way too long...so I cut that part off. NOW the brain cavity was wide open. Hmmm, next time it'll be simpler I guess.

Well, I set it out to dry overnight and I was surprised by how white it looked already! I had planned on going to a beauty supply store and getting some Hydrogen Peroxide that the professionals use (30-40% peroxide vs the 3% you get at the grocery store.) But to tell you the truth, it was white enough already so I skipped a pretty big, caustic step! I finally did a quick search on the active ingredients of OxiClean and found this out:

"The active ingredient in OxiClean is sodium percarbonate (Na2CO3•H2O2), an adduct of sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)."

See what that means? It had the sodium carbonate to loosen the tissue and dissolve fat and whatnot. But it ALSO had the peroxide in it already! Two birds with one stone! Go figure. I have yet to see anyone who has tried this, so I'm fairly proud of myself for my guess.

Pretty nice for a 1st try!

Still had all the fine nasal bones too!

You can kinda see how the bases got slightly discolored...perhaps it'd be a good idea to spend more time covering them in foil...and HOLDING the foil in place with something. Again, next time.

Well, I got looking at this thing...feeling pretty proud of myself when I noticed there was still some goobers in the sinuses. Hmm, no matter how much I tried (using Sarah's dissection equipment) I couldn't get it all out without taking out those fine nasal bones. So, I cut them out. I mean, this isn't a museum piece...it's a way to celebrate the deer as well as provide my kind of house decorations.

The more it dried out, the more I was noticing that I boiled it too long. The stuff holding the bones together was boiled out to a certain extent...making it fairly brittle and "wiggly." What to do? I thought of just using superglue...but then remembered seeing something about painting it with Elmer's glue. Yeah, no kidding! I went to the store and bought some cheap Crayola brushes and found the perfect glue! CLEAR Elmer's glue! Who knew?

After painting the bottom, I noticed it dried without becoming too shiny. So I proceeded to coat the entire thing in glue. It holds everything together and seals the bone...especially the jagged pieces...making the whole thing relatively smooth. I also don't ever have to worry about the teeth falling out; pretty slick!

Now, I just need to find a suitable piece of wood to mount it to....something I haven't quite figured out how to do yet. I'm thinking a couple drywall bolts (to expand onto the inside of the brain cavity...out of sight) and countersunk holes in the back of the board. We'll see. It may just come to some pilot holes followed by some wood screws.

Overall it turned out pretty well for just a little bit of work. I had fellas at work asking why I didn't just take it to a professional. $200 vs $40 and a little bit of elbow grease?

If nothing else it was more interesting my way and I have a good story to boot.

Odocoileus virginianus

2010-11-29T09:53:00.000-08:00

Sarah and I made our way to Missoula on Thanksgiving day, and after 4 hours of tense, icy driving we arrived! My typical request of only wanting, "A hug, a handshake, and a Thanksgiving meal" came true...but it only got better. My sister blessed me with some much needed wool hats (one of which has already become my daily wear), Sarah got me some nice GoreTex rain pants and a web belt, and my Mom got me some of those cool Sam Adams beer glasses. My Dad wrapped it up with a box of 7mm shells. Uhmm, sorry Dad, I don't have a 7mm! When he returned from the back room, he had an unused 7 mag! No kidding! It was all shock at that point and I'm pretty excited to get out and shoot it. It's a great looking rifle and I already decided to keep the iron sights on it. After dealing with all the snow and trying to protect my scope, it would be a welcome option to have open sights.

We made it back Saturday, and I headed into the woods Sunday at 1030. I had seen a lot of deer movement the other day around 1300, so figured I'd go out a little later. I made it up the skating rink of a road and headed up the hill at 1100. I decided to check out a corner of the clearcut where I had spooked a deer earlier in the week after not being able to make it out with the stumps and whatnot. I looked up there and saw something that looked like a deer, but then I concluded it was just a tree bole. WAIT...that tree bole just moved!!!

I hunkered under a big ponderosa and made myself a little nest. The deer was a doe, but after the other day of gridding that whole area looking for the deer I missed, I knew it was a popular spot with them...and there MUST be a buck nearby. So, I set up my pack as a rest and layed down to keep an eye on her.

My quick hide

View from my rest...the deer was at the far timberline...240 yards, doesn't look like it does it?

I ranged her and saw she was at about 240 yards! I figured I should hold a little high if I did see anything. So, I'm laying there watching this doe when she looked back in the timber. Uh oh, game on! Sure enough, there was a buck! He turned and chased her out of the clearcut and was just cresting the ridge himself, almost out of sight, when I made some sort of grunting noise to get him to stop. He stopped! With basically no time to think, I held high on his chest and pulled the trigger!

After the shot, I scanned and scanned the area, but saw no sign of the deer. DAMMIT! The recoil felt like a .22 and the report sounded like a small crack. Hmm, again, I pulled the bolt and looked down the barrel...no obstruction. Well, I checked my watch and it was 1120 or so; I took my time going up the hill because I figured I'd be tracking if I did hit him and I wanted to give him time to bed down or at least to die close by. It was a long walk up there in 12 inches of snow and I spent the whole time praying to find evidence of a hit. I got to where I thought he was standing and didn't see anything! REALLY?!! Did I miss completely again? Is my scope off? That's when I took a couple more steps and saw his back! He hadn't taken a single step, just dropped in his tracks. I have NEVER had that happen!

My first thoughts were of relief and thanks. My next thought was, "I need to call Sarah!" (I had the odd privilege of cell service there.) After that quick phone call and having to sit down to keep from shaking too much, I took some photos of my first deer in 5 years!

Great place for contemplation

Beautiful critter

I then began the task of getting him cleaned up. I strung his legs out so they wouldn't be in the way, then touched the knife to his belly and the hair moved! Now, I have heard of guys starting to cut on a seemingly dead deer, only to have them jump up very much alive. SO, I touched his eye again. Okay, he's dead, but what the hell? Nerves? I touched the knife to his belly again and again, the hair moved. Curious, I pulled the hair back only to see TICKS! Hundreds of ticks...I'd say easily 10 per square inch. Well, work was still work, so I began. Within 15 minutes, I had everything taken care of...after only gutting an elk and a moose in the past couple of years, I was amazed at how easy it was.

I was so excited I forgot to put my tag on him! So I dug around and found my tag...then rapidly became confused...aren't these things supposed to have little month/day things to cut out? Hmm, in my excitement I had grabbed the license/receipt for my deer tag. Slow down Tom. I got the tag cut out and used about 10 feet of rope to secure it to his antler, I was NOT going to lose it on the drag out.

The buck from where I shot

I drug him down the hill to my little nest and took some more photos, totally forgetting to pick up the shell casing that I was trying to remember to pick up. I got to the pickup and was pulling out at 1230. When I shot, I was about 200 yards as the crow flies from the truck. The deer fell at 240 yards from there. The total drag was only about 500 yards, downhill, in a clearcut, in 12 inches of snow! Pretty darn nice! And all told, I was in and out in 1.5 hours!

Just an interesting photo

So I negotiated the treacherous roads on my way to Butch's house to string this guy up in the woodshed. As I'm driving I noticed a little yearling doe come sprinting toward the road on the driver side...she missed the car in the other lane and I tried to speed up so I wouldn't hit her. Well, she connected with my rear quarter panel and gave me a nice dent. She fell in the road and thrashed around...I felt bad because I figured she was injured. But, I watched her for a bit and the thrashing was just because of the ice. Once she got her feet, she ran off into the woods. A relief!

I used the truck to string this buck up into the rafters to skin it out...it was a little heavier than I thought it would be. I kept feeling something on the back of my neck and finally found the tick that was crawling around. Talk about having the creepy-crawlies for the rest of the evening! But, I got my work done and looked at my watch....it took longer to hang him up and skin him than it did to get him out of the woods...2 hours!

I had found my bullet inside the hide on the far side and put it on the tailgate to save. I forgot, of course, before I left so I'm hoping it's still in my truck bed. Turns out I really didn't need to hold high, because the shot hit him high and pretty much destroyed the lungs...but it passed close enough to the spine on the far side that I think that's why he didn't go very far. The shock must have done it.

I'm really glad things turned out in the end...it feels good to get rewarded for the hard work and time I put into it. I figured out the country, figured out where and when the deer were moving, and made it work. It was my first ever shot at an animal from a prone position, it was the longest shot at an animal in my lifetime, and it was the only animal that dropped dead in it's tracks. Can't ask for a better belated birthday present than that!

I am pleased.

Polar Bear Blood

2010-11-24T15:59:00.000-08:00

...Is something I do not have.

Quick note about yesterday's hunt. I hiked around for a coupla hours then set up in a spot to just kinda see what was moving. I heard a tree groan...bluuuhhhat...but there was no wind! Finally figured out it was a buck who heard me walking in the uber-cold-squeaky snow and grunted at me! I blew on my little grunt tube and looked over my shoulder to see said deer, at 40 yards, leaving the county. That was weird....I guess I sounded bigger than him. I poked around some more and then set up in the clearcut again to watch the entry point into it...

I sat there for 30 minutes in 0-5 degree temps when finally I heard a branch break! In 8-10 inches of snow, that means something! But, it echoed, so I was looking the wrong way when a doe busted me at about 50 yards...downwind! It scared me so much I damn near shit my pants. I left since it was pitch black out, and was cold enough that even after a 45 minute drive home, I still wasn't completely warm! (How many of you have tried to warm your fingers in a truck's defroster? Sucks doesn't it?)

But, my usual lack of optimism wasn't present, so I decided to take today off and hunt! Up early, I was leaving the truck at shooting light...around 0700. About 600 yards from the truck..still in the clearcut, I looked up the hill near the timberline and saw a deer! Shoot, that was quick! I got behind a rise and closed the distance to about 250 yards...hunkering under a ponderosa blowdown. I scanned and scanned, but couldn't see the deer (what looked like a little buck.) Well, no worries...I stood up and walked a bit and glanced up long enough to see the white flag of the deer leaving. DAMMMMMMMIT. Despite what you may think, spotting deer in a clearcut in snow isn't as easy as it sounds. They look like all the other stumps out there.

Okay, well, I poked around the hills for a couple more hours (5 to be exact) and saw nothing. No fresh sign (well a little) and no real good leads. So, I finally made my way back to the truck. However, I wanted to see if anything crossed my tracks in the morning, so I went back down that way. Sure enough, a lot of deer HAD been milling around in that area since I passed through and I was relatively pissed. If I COULD, I WOULD have sat down and made myself a little sniper nest...but as it was only about 5 degrees...after 15 minutes of sitting, it was enough. Well, there I was, walking down this road when I heard something running above me! I looked through a very small opening to see a doe run past! She was tearing out of there like something was chasing her...and after a heard the grunt, I knew a buck was on her tail!

I saw a flash in the thick underbrush, so knew the buck would reach the opening quickly. Rifle up, safety off, I waited. He passed the narrow opening and I saw him in the scope...there was no squeezing of the trigger, I was to the point where I needed to throw lead! I saw the crosshairs on his body and PULLED! And...it will be known...I actually REMEMBER closing my eyes! I had that perfect shot-picture in my head and figured I was dead on! Upon reaching the tracks however, I found no blood nor hair. I tracked this pair for a good 45 minutes, then gridded the countryside for a dead deer. NOTHING. Well shoot, I guess I missed clean. A standing/off-hand shot at a deer running flat-out at 50-60 yards...through a narrow gap in the brush? I think I did well even recognizing what was going on enough to put it all together in about 3 seconds. To flip the scope cover, take the safety off, see the opening and shoot at a running target? I'll take a little bit of pride in that...but also wallow in shame for missing! I actually took the bolt out of the rifle and looked for a lodged bullet in the barrel, I was THAT confident in the shot.

But, seeing the tracks of fleeing deer going straight up the mountain helped me realize I missed clean. Then I saw some more running tracks going downhill to the creek! Perhaps that's my buck and he's headed toward water...bleeding internally! (Small chance I know, but I always have to do my best to figure out what happened to the critter I shot at...if I shoot at all.)

So I followed this track down to the creek, across the creek, and up into the thick timber. I kept tracking, hoping to figure out what the deer were doing and if I could catch up to this buck again. But, I was still hustling and spooked a DIFFERENT buck who tore through the brush so fast all I could see were antlers and snow flying! He was a pretty buck and big to boot!

I hustled after him, and knowing the trails, set up in a spot I hoped to see him cross. Before I knew it I was looking at a doe with two yearlings...right out in the open...eating. No buck with them, I just kept them in the scope trying to will them to grow antlers. By this time, I realized that all my chasing, tracking, and gridding left me pretty sweaty. Because I got COLD. I called it even though the deer were moving. My thought was that perhaps I could get home, change my wet long underwear and head back out! On my way home I saw a BIG buck that looked like it stood seven feet tall, in the middle of the road, staring at me. Right next to a couple houses. REALLY? Are you EFFING kidding me?!!

Well, by the time I got to the house it was about 1430. To get changed and head back out would give me only about 45 minutes of light...and only about 30 of those would be legal shooting light! I took a hot shower and called my folks.

All in all, it was a good...but bummer of...a day. I'm glad I missed clean, but I'm still disappointed that I missed. The game continues!

So What's the Best Way to....

2010-11-23T08:51:00.000-08:00

...hunt during a blizzard?

Hmmm, with a temperature of 7 now...it's gonna be chilly! And I WANT to hunt?

Priest lake resulted in nada, so now it's back to hunting my late-season areas here near town. I didn't mention it before, but I've been fighting a sinus infection since around the beginning of elk season. I finally went to the doctor on Veteran's day and got an antibiotic called "sulfa-somethinoranother." After a week of taking that and generally feeling like poo, I woke up and discovered my body was covered in a light rash! Ahh, another antibiotic that I'm allergic to; awesome.

So I went back in and he gave me Claritin, a Rx for a serious steroid (used for severe allergic reactions) and a Rx for Zpack. I didn't have to use the steroids or Zpack, so that's good. I finally feel better and am much less dizzy, so I'm itching to hunt! (No pun intended...the rash is gone.)

We've had a pretty good snow storm moving through the past couple of days...I think we have about six inches or so in town. Yesterday the wind stopped around 1000 and I kept staring out the window thinking I should go hunting. I finally couldn't take it and left at 1300, changed, grabbed my gear, and was hunting by 1400. With only about two hours of shooting light, I needed to get moving. I kept crossing tracks of deer that must have been out just hours prior to me getting there, but I didn't see anything.

Well, it was 1600 and getting dark, but I set up in a clearcut and was watching the timberline...trying to will something out into the open. Nada. So at about 1630, heading back down to the truck, I saw a little buck run off the road I was heading for. It was so dark that I could FEEL the snowflakes but couldn't see them...so I figured that was a little too late for a shot.

This morning is the end of a blizzard warning (I think it goes through 1000.) I'm already thinking about when I should get out again...hmm, probably right when the wind dies like yesterday right? Yah. My goal is to just have more time to hang out in the woods as there were deer tracks everywhere one might think there should be deer. Set up in a likely spot and wait I guess. Luckily, I figured out a system of clothes that kept me toasty warm, even when sitting...but do that for six hours vs two? Not sure how tough I am, but it's better than being at work with very little to do. (Can you tell?)

All I'm doing is making reference calls for a hiring panel I'm on, and not many people are around to take my call, but I still managed to get four of seven done yesterday!

With that, send me all the luck you can muster. I'm to that point now. Ooh, but I do have a week in December where I can use the bow to try and shoot either a whitetail doe or buck...so I may still try that. Bowhunting on snowshoes? Hell yeah!

The long-awaited 2010 Elk Camp Post

2010-11-19T10:05:00.000-08:00

Alright ya'll. I've drug my feet for long enough...but I'm sure you all have figured out what didn't happen on the annual elk trip. Pictures will have to come later...but even then, I think I only have a handful of decent ones.

Butch and I took off Saturday the 9th of October and headed for the place we've been going to the past couple of years. We came around the corner to "our" camp and found it taken! A little down the road we found a do-able place, but figured a little scout down the road was in order before we settled down. So Butch took off on an ATV and I swatted aphids and secured some firewood for the night. Well, there were no other spots within about five miles...so we made this spot work.

We leveled the trailer, took care of the ATVs, and set up a tarp...banking on the heavy rains they were calling for on Sunday. And boy did it rain Sunday! We strung up some more tarps and then went logging behind camp. It was pretty convenient to get firewood...I think I had five or six trees on the ground and they were within ATV winching distance of camp! So Butch yarded those next to the trailer and we then cut them into rounds and had a nice windblock made in no time. With so much wood and so much rain...what to do? Well, we did our best to just burn wood and stay warm of course!

Monday we hiked into our secret spot..."the hole" if you will. We sidehilled from camp and didn't see any fresh sign, didn't jump any deer...absolutely NOTHING. We made it to the far saddle and headed up the hill to cut a road that would be easier walking down to camp. Up close to the top of the hill I found a huge deer skull with some serious antlers...but it had been there a pretty long time. Still a neat find though.

Tuesday, we drove down to the (now blocked off) road that led us into the area where I killed the elk a couple years ago. We walked down the road for a couple miles and didn't see much fresh sign, didn't see any living thing except maybe some birds, and so were basically just on a walk. After a couple hours we turned back and again returned to camp empty handed.

Wednesday we headed back to the same closed road and tried hiking down another road that led along a nice long ridge. Not too long into it, we ran into some guys coming up the way we were going. They had been to the end and hadn't seen anything...so after some deliberation...we headed back to camp. From there, we headed further down the main road to a little spot that overlooked the Cabinet Mountains just for something to do. Butch made some phone calls and I made a smudge fire to keep the aphids down. Returned to camp...that was it!

Thursday was a break day, so we headed into Clarkfork to make some more phone calls and get some supplies. One of the things we bought was a cheap can opener that, when tested, simply didn't work. Such a simple piece of equipment and it was still a piece o' shit. The can opener on the leatherman was the tool of choice.

Friday was the opening day of the three day cow season...so we went back into the hole and poked around some more. We saw the same thing we saw on Monday...NOTHING. We were a bit lower down on the ridge, so had to push through a lot of brush and blowdown to get back up to the road. But at one point we found that we stopped in the EXACT same spot that we had taken a break four days earlier. Bizarre. But, then we couldn't find the deer head...go figure.

Saturday, we were having some coffee and trying to get motivated to hike around in the critter-devoid hills when I heard some crashing in the brush near camp. I immediately jumped up and got my rifle...but by the time I came out, Butch was saying, "It's a moose and it's big. Get your camera!" Got some crappy pictures of a HUGE bull and I'm confident it was the same big moose I saw last year in the same spot. Pretty cool that he's still around. Later that morning we went out to a little deer-ridge that Butch knew about and split up. Didn't see anything, but I thought I had heard a doe snort.

Sufficiently tired of not seeing anything, we broke camp Sunday and came out.

Saw a few elk racks in the back of pickups on the drive back to Coeur d'Alene...just enough to get the blood boiling.

So that was it! We're still wondering where we're going to go next year. Where are the elk?

Ooh, but we're headed to Priest Lake in a couple hours to look for deer! We'll stay the weekend and battle the predicted frigid temperatures...but at least be able to hunt in some snow! I'm ready to go!

An introduction to "Neckus rufus"

2010-10-22T10:22:00.000-07:00

In continuance of our tradition of sharing the trail cam photos from Wildlife Monitoring Site #1, I wanted to share a species I haven't captured on cam until recently.

Never seen here for the past couple months, it miraculously began appearing on October 10th, 2010. A herd of this species has obviously migrated into the area once occupied by elk...(last elk sighting in mid-August) as personal communication related approximately 15 of them in this area for one week plus a couple days.

This is an interesting species as it only seems to move during the daylight hours, so we can assume it's diurnal. For the most part, it's fairly observant as many of the photos display these critters showing an interest in the camera. Perhaps it's just attracted to shiny objects (camera infrared bulbs / lens.) Not included are close-up photos of sleeves and fingers...but it definitely has opposable thumbs as shown in photo #5.

It appears to travel alone, but one instance of "pack-instinct" is demonstrated in a rare photo of two traveling together! Scientific deduction leads one to believe this species has either an unpleasant odor or creates an environment of noise pollution that other animals are afraid of, as all the other animals seemed to have shifted their patterns to become nocturnal (except the moose...they don't seem to be intimidated.) Markings are varied, ranging from a light green to a bright red. All have some sort of protrusion extending above the eyes.

Since this is the first sightings in this area for the course of the monitoring sight, I made the assumption that it must be a species unique to this area. I took the liberty of naming it "Neckus rufus" common name: North Idaho redneck!

An unobservant member of the herd

Subject #2

A mature member of the herd (notice the protrusion shifts to the back of the head with age)

Herd instinct

Interesting behavior but camera exposure issues!

For the past couple of months, I've also picked up a species from the same family but obviously a different genus. This species seems to be well-adapted to a woodland environment and has been captured on the camera day and night for the past couple of months. It always travels alone, but occassionaly it's been noted traveling with a member of the canine family, so one can assume it is a friend of all creatures (but personal communication also revealed it has something of a stubborn attitude as it tried to have a face-off with a large bull moose. Obviously, it isn't the brightest knife in the drawer.) The animal behavior of other creatures never changed with this species roaming in the area, so it must have good noise discipline and a likely unobtrusive odor.

The markings rarely change, but there was a period in September where it molted it's typical black topcoat and tan legs, to a light green that covered the critter's entire body making it very difficult to see in images. Close observation of the photos revealed this odd change in markings and the scientist in charge became concerned when it didn't show up again for a couple weeks! But lo and behold, it returned in it's traditional coat and is now frequenting the area as the herd of Neckus rufus have seemingly left the area for the winter. These species obviousy don't intermingle.

Deciding on a name for an animal as incredible as this one was a difficult task. But, as I have spent a great deal of time studying this creature and it's habits, I decided to call it "Silva umbrus" common name: "Northern Wood shadow." I toyed with the idea of "Silva maiestus" or "Majestic of the woods" but determined that to be going a bit far...

An incredible specimen!

The reported moose Silva umbrus faced off with. That's a BIG boy!

As always, I will keep you updated on any new discoveries. I am currently in the process of writing a technical report on Neckus rufus and it's habits, as I have returned from a research-oriented haitus in which I immersed myself in it's habitat for a week. Stay tuned.

Tis the season

2010-10-08T09:44:00.001-07:00

Believe it or not, October 10th is just around the corner! Consequently, the seasonal migration of campers, ATVs, pickups, and rednecks is beginning to occur. The grocery stores have a mix of people in them not seen at any other time of year; middle-aged men pushing the same cart, talking over foodstuff, and looking very intent. The interstate is choked with old and new pickups loaded to capacity and dragging entirely too much stuff behind them.

And yours truly is about to be a part of it all.

Luckily I was able to get the last-minute work done at the office and was able to take off early today. Why is it that people load you up with work when they learn you're going to be gone for a single short week? I guess they all just assume I'm always going to be around. AND, the folks that needed this information immediately (by today) didn't even show up for work today! WTF?! Makes my eye twitch....seriously, my eye has been twitching since yesterday.

I have a lot to do today. Need to make a grocery store run and then pack everything up so it's ready to go bright and squirrely tomorrow. Unfortunately I cannot pack the truck as our parking situation isn't very secure, so I need to stage everything in the garage so all I have to do is toss it in tomorrow morning.

Butch and I are headed to the same spot we've been hunting for the past three years. We'll be up there for about 9 days (coming out on the 18th), hopefully chasing the elusive wapiti around. I say hopefully because last year they were simply NOT THERE...despite how much I walked and looked for them. But it was about two degrees the whole time, so maybe that had something to do with it.

So, cross your fingers and hopefully I'll have an uplifting post in a couple weeks.

And, for the sake of safety...our "no-tellem camp" is located at the base of Whitetail peak:
Lat: 48.0247 Long: -116.1416

It's a main road up there, so it's not like we're out in the boonies. But still.
Wish me luck and pray for less rain than they're predicting for the weekend!

Das Moose

2010-09-24T08:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally captured my diabolical friend on camera the other morning!

All I've been seeing down there anymore are moose and deer. Wonder where the elk went?

He's a big boy

This one does the antlers justice

Glad I wasn't walking in to set up

Okay, so he's at about five yards here.

Imagine what it would feel like sitting where the camera is...

And have THAT staring at you after he was ripsnorting around

He's been tearing swatches of ground up along the road into this spot. Easily five feet by five feet and covered in urine. He seems to be at the peak of his rut! And remember what I said about them moving through the woods slowly? This set of photos takes in about 15 minutes and he's only moved about three yards. That is PAINFUL when you are actually there.

Close Encounters of the Moose Kind

2010-09-08T06:56:00.000-07:00

"I went to Sportsmans to get a new shirt, a belt, and some Depends. Quite a story. See you soon."

Do I have your attention?

After a lot of preparatory work for the past couple of weeks, I was able to embark on the first hunt of the year on Labor Day. I arose at 0330 in order to be able to get my shit together and be at a predetermined spot (that I’ve been monitoring for the last two months) before the sun came up and before anyone could poach “my” spot. All went according to plan…except I found out my camouflage shirt has shrunk and is now uncomfortably short. But, I was on the hike in at 0430, spooking something big on the way in…figured it was probably a moose I’ve seen in that spot before.

I got set up and rapidly realized that long johns would have been a good idea as I began to tremble with cold and excitement. My trail cam had shown elk in that area consistently for the past couple of weeks (except when a lone wolf made his way through…after he appears they usually disappear for a couple days.) I pushed the cold out of my mind and continued my vigil as the woods started waking up. It began with the squirrels, who all lit up to see who made it through the night. Then the birds started in as 0530 rolled around. The forest was FULL of noise and it was tough separating footfalls from heavy White Pine cones being flung from the treetops by the busy rodents. Do we call squirrels rodents? Hmm. Needless to say, every noise became elk moving around and I heard a lot of sticks breaking in the draw I passed on the way in where there was a major trail… “no worries, they’re probably on their way up here” I thought.

I was sitting there, silent and still, when I heard a squirrel rustling around a couple feet behind me. I must have moved a little bit because the brush behind me BLEW UP!! Once I knew that I wasn’t having a heart attack and climbed down out of the tree near me I realized it was a pair of grouse who had come to check me out. After an hour or so, everything started quieting down and the squirrels were busy picking up the cones they threw from the treetops. I finally was able to differentiate the sounds of cones dropping and squirrels in the brush from actual big game….since I hadn’t seen or heard anything of the latter in three hours of sitting. But then the unmistakable, guttural “eeeUHNK” noise from a rutting bull moose reached my ears…I thought, “Wow, he’s only like 40 yards behind of me from the sound of it! I’ll let him walk past and get some photos on my trailcam!” That’s where the trouble began.

When I first spotted the black and grey mass moving down the road I had the thought, “WTF? That’s not a moose, that’s a grizzly and it’s HUGE!” Illogical thoughts were dismissed when I confirmed it WAS a moose by finally being able to make out his antlers with their approximate 36 inch spread. (Actually, thinking about it now, he kinda looked like the bull I shot with two more years of antler growth on him…odd.) He stopped and sniffed where I had walked into my “blind.” Hmmm, he’s only 10 yards away and he already looks like a horse with a couple end-tables attached to his head. How many hands is a six foot tall horse?

Now, critters move through the woods much differently than people…meaning they move extremely SLOOOWLY. He’d take a couple steps and stop, listening and smelling. He mosied up alongside me at 4-5 yards and eyeballed ME. He wasn’t looking beyond me, or at the small tree between us…he was staring into my bugged-out eyes. He moved forward a couple steps and stopped again….smelling and listening. He calmed down enough to start chewing his cud, while staring at me sideways almost like he was thinking, “Hmm, what IS that lump? What should I do to it? Maybe I should push it over…” That’s when I blinked twice…too quickly. He stopped chewing and turned his massive head to have a staring contest with me. I made myself into a frozen rock for the next two eternities. I thought again about the moose I killed two years ago and figured this was my punishment for killing him on a road. I was going to get killed by a moose while sitting helplessly on my ass. FINALLY, he moved further away and in front of me, but still at 10 yards. Now there were no small trees between us…there was only some dead alder that formed the front of my blind. Clear shot.

This went on for a long time, probably two more years, while he kept circling around me…seeming to head down the other road that dove down the hill. I wanted him gone. I wanted him gone NOW. But he strategically moved to where he had an even clearer shot at me (thimbleberry won’t even slow down a butterfly) while my mind was churning furiously. Why did I knock an arrow? He’s TEN YARDS away…there’s no way I can draw and loose an arrow if he decided to come at me! So, I managed to use my peripheral vision to locate a tree I could clamber up or at least get behind. Now, I did what everyone does in a terrifying situation…I pleaded with God to move the moose and as it turns out, God has a sick sense of humor.

The wind kept changing direction that morning and he must have caught a whiff of me or just got frustrated with not being able to figure out what a frozen rock was doing where it never was before. He ran over in front of the camera (and about 30 yards from me) and started destroying a tree with his antlers. I was thawing out having him a little further away and gloried in the fact that the trailcam was picking up some GREAT shots of the action! Nonetheless, I slowly reached down into my pack and got the .40 caliber out…which coincidently had been an afterthought that morning.

When he was rolling around in the dirt he just tore up with his huge hooves and paddles…and grunting like a gorilla…I managed to eeease a round into the chamber…just in case he came back. He was really working himself into a frenzy and got up to “ripsnort” around like a dog does (or a cat, after they just pooped. My cat is weird that way. Her pupils get completely black, her ears lay back, and she just tears around with absolutely NO common sense.) Making this connection in my mind and knowing the kind of damage a cat can do…I was trying to imagine what a bull moose could do. I trained the CZK on him but luckily he ran further away and around the corner, still making those gorilla noises. “And stay gone!!” I thought in a very macho manner as I lowered my weapon.

My mind was getting the inkling that it could begin to process the situation when I heard those damn gorilla noises again. OHH SHIT.

Safety off, finger on the trigger, I drew a bead and tracked his forehead as he barreled to me. Not angled to go BY me, or NEAR me, he was heading DIRECTLY at me…full throttle. 50, 40, 30, 20 yards…not slowing…nothing but some piddly dead alder between me and 1200 pounds of fury. For some reason I stood my ground and was trying to figure out a.) How close do I let him get before I start shooting? b.) How many times can I pull the trigger in that distance before he hits me? Luckily I found myself unable to do mathematics at that point and didn’t do anything at all. When he was 10 yards away; he changed direction and veered back up the road he initially came in on. He stopped at 5 yards where there was the same small tree between us and again eyeballed me. I found my mind completely focused; there was no cold and no shaking, there was no thought to footing and escape routes, there was only my front site tracking this irrational, sex-starved critter. But I didn’t see the rage I usually see in my cat’s black eyes when she gets like that…I saw the calm in him as well. It was bizarre. Did I just pass a test? Did we just make a connection? “Waaait a minute…was that a devious glint I just saw?”

He moved on up the road and started into the brush behind me. “Oh HELL NO! That leads to a corridor pointed straight to me!” In order to keep this guy covered, I finally arose and was thinking of ruining my hunt and putting a round into the ground to get him moving along when he finally turned tail and took off up the road…disappearing around the bend. I thought I heard him crashing up the hill, so made my way out of my hidey-hole and onto the road. “Clearing it” in a sense. I tried to walk back to my chair, but didn’t make it. I began a violent shiver that you typically only see in people with severe hypothermia. There was no part of my body that wasn’t shaking uncontrollably and I developed an intense, burning desire to urinate NOW.

I managed to let the hammer down gently and put the pistol on the ground. I frantically fumbled around with my zipper and luckily got it down before I lost it. I’m sure it would have been funny to watch, as I was still shaking while I was going. But, I peed on the road where he first came around the corner and figured if I was going to ruin my scentless area, I was going to make damn sure the moose knew it was me there. At least the aggressive shaking helped me cover the road, the adjacent trees, the brush, and nearly all the squirrels.

It took me close to an hour to calm down. I wanted to leave immediately, but stuck it out like a little trooper and nothing at all came by. I timed the wind shifts and noticed it could do a 180º direction change within 15 seconds…that’s not good for ground-blind hunting! When I started to fall asleep, I finally just got my stuff together and headed out. On the way, I saw this moose bedded down in the road! “You sonofabitch! You are NOT blocking me from my truck.” (I still don’t know what caused the changed reaction…I was actually mad.) That’s when the dark shape and antlers became a flock of turkeys and they flew into the trees down the hill. Yep, it was time to be out of the woods.

After dodging all the holiday traffic, I got home and Sarah was off walking the dogs. I wanted to go to the store, so I left her this note on our whiteboard. “I went to Sportsman’s to get a shirt, a belt, and some Depends. Quite a story! See you soon.” Talk about a captive audience for a storyteller dying to get something off his chest. I’m sure I got on her nerves as I recounted pieces and parts of the experience all evening.

Unfortunately the trail cam had stopped taking photos at some point and I have no coverage of the moose. However, after fiddling with the batteries I was able to get it to “wake up” and get a picture of a tree.

You get some of the most interesting experiences bow hunting…and I guess sometimes they are yours and yours alone.

Alpine Glow

2010-08-18T12:23:00.000-07:00

Friday August 13th, 2010 found Sarah, Lucca and I headed to the Selway-Bitterroot wilderness to get a little backpacking in before the fleeting summer was entirely gone. We agreed that the Sweeney Creek drainage would be a good one as the hike wasn't too long (about 6.5 miles) and it would put our camp in a good position for other exploratory operations.

We left Coeur d'Alene at 0900 and made the 3 hour drive to Florence. The road up to the trailhead was fairly narrow and just kept going up and up...my GPS showed us at 5700 feet when we finally got to the trailhead! Pretty nice to have a lot of the elevation gain accomplished via the use of the truck...because as it turned out, I'm definitely out of backpacking shape!

We were getting our packs ready and preparing for our assault when Lucca caught a whiff of something interesting and took off. Hmmm, wait a minute...it was a pretty intent bee-line she had made so I trailed her so we could get her pack on. When I called her from over a little rise, she popped her head up and, sure enough, had coated both sides of her face and neck in human shit! Right before the hike and us without very much water or towels to clean her up. Let's just say we were fairly upset with our four-legged companion and forced her to sit there while Sarah dumped water on her and I used a towel to clean her as best I could.

With nothing much more we could do for Lucca's "condition" we set off up the initial steep portion of the trail. I had been treating an eye infection at the time and was in my glasses...so, add two miles of uphill hiking, at around 1400 in August, a heavy pack, with an out of shape Tom and that equals sweating uncontrollably and foggy glasses. I tried hiking without my glasses, which was do-able but less than ideal so I had to try and control my poor attitude and just deal with it. Catching Lucca's ripe aroma every once in awhile didn't help.

But, we kept on going and the country kept getting more and more interesting. After two miles, we topped out at a little spring and then began our decent down into Peterson Lake. By the time we got there, Sarah was having issues with her boot digging into her ankle bone and I was rapidly losing energy. The last mile up into Duffy lake was slow and was really one of those "put one foot in front of the other" kinds of things. But, we arrived at last and searched for a campsite...which led me to find that we were actually parked by a puddle just underneath the REAL Duffy Lake which had a dandy camp near it! Glad we didn't settle down right away because that discovery would have been fairly annoying the next day.

Lucca checking out Duffy Lake

Looking southwest toward the basin that holds Holloway Lake

Tucked in amongst the heather and subalpine fir

It was an interesting little camp as there was a large barren area next to an inky black pool / spring with a little old cabin near it (just the walls were left.)

The strange little cabin

We were fairly beat that night and the sun went down within 30 minutes of us setting up the tent so we had a little dinner, watched the fire for a bit, and turned in. It was funny, Lucca kept whining near the fire and looked a bit on edge. Turns out she was just exhausted and wanted us all to retire to the tent! She snored heavily all night. (Even though she was still soaking after her necessary bath in the cold water. Peppermint scented Dr. Bronners was a better smell than the alternative.)

The next morning was fairly cloudy and chilly, so we took our time getting stuff straightened out before our little hike to Holloway and Mills lake. Our original intent was to go up there, hit the ridge and then cruise the two miles over to Lolo Peak. But, with Sarah's boots being the source of a lot of pain she was confined to wearing her sandals...hiking four miles cross-country was out. But, we figured we'd go up to the lakes and have lunch, slow down a bit and get into the wilderness groove, and just relax.

Looking back down toward Duffy lake.

We made it up to Holloway Lake in no time and tried to find a warm spot out of the wind to get some lunch. My typical backpacking lunch, despite the weight, was introduced to me via Zach and I encourage everyone to try it! There is something about bagels, pepperjack cheese, green peppers, and pepperoni that just tastes really good in the woods. Unfortunately, the only bagels I found at the store were pretty "doughy" tasting and it kinda ruined the sandwich, but Lucca liked them.

We decided to mosey over and look at Mills lake for something to do. We found a nice spot on the rocks there which turned out to be pretty warm and out of the wind. Perfect! The 10-inch cutthroat trout kept us entertained and we gazed at the cathedral before us. We were quiet for a bit and I asked Sarah what was going through her mind. She told me and asked the same question back.

All of a sudden I was shaking like an aspen leaf in a tornado! Hmm, that's odd...so I took a drink of water which only seemed to make things worse. That's when I noticed this little box in my hands and figured perhaps THAT was the cause of the hypothermic-type shivering. The only solution was to try and give it away so I turned to Sarah and said, "I was also trying to think of the right time to give you this." I opened the little box which caused an amazing reaction in my body as I couldn't seem to talk coherently, but managed to sob out, "wihil yoob marramarry mm-mmee?"

She whispered, "yes!"

Being out of possession of the box containing a little celtic ring helped me regain my faculties and I politely asked if I could have one more try at it. This time it came out correctly and I got another "yes!" With a happy Labrador and God being the only witnesses, we decided some photos were in order.

The new family

A little closer

Lucca trying to get back in position

I just realized Sarah was displaying her new ring!

Well, Sarah and Lucca hiked while I floated down the mountain back to camp. I then decided to roam around and take some more photos as the sunlight was finally starting to cooperate.

Trout rising at Duffy

Flowers near the pond...anyone know the actual name of these? I like 'em.

Update: Found the name "Mountain Bog Gentian"

Dramatic lighting

Close...

Dark, but interesting

Lucca headed back to camp

We had a bit of time before the sun was to set so Sarah and Lucca relaxed by the lake to read and live in the moment while I went off in search of firewood. I wanted to be up a bit later to catch the tail end of the Perseid meteor shower and was going to be warm that night no matter what! I broke out the little folding saw and collected more wood than we could use.

After dinner we waited until it got pretty dark and layed in a patch of heather next to the dying fire. As our eyes adjusted to the blackness, more and more stars started popping out. We called Lucca to us and she laid ON Sarah, with her head resting on my chest. I didn't have to worry about needing a fire to stay warm, I had all I needed right there. We finally caught sight of a dandy meteor that streaked across the cold sky and Sarah said, "Make a wish."

I said the only thing I was thinking, "It already came true."

Alright, now I need to dry my eyes and collect myself yet again. I've been funny that way lately, I can darn near cry on command. I'm a very lucky and happy man.

Ehhemm. Okay, so, the next day we woke bright and squirrely and had a quick breakfast followed by getting our packs loaded for the trip out. I don't think anyone was really looking forward to putting those things back on. But...we knew what we were in for and Sarah had figured out a way to wrap her foot so the pain was tolerable...off we went! The mile down to Peterson lake was a good warm-up for the steep climb up to the spring.

View from the trail between the lakes

Sarah and Lucca headed out

Having not been doing any cardio for the past couple of months became pretty apparent to me as Sarah was smoking me going up the hill. But once we topped out, I was able to jog along behind the gals and grab some photos of them in their packs. I don't know if you've ever tried to jog on a trail, with foggy glasses, tired legs, while wearing a heavy pack to try and take photos of moving targets...but it's kinda harder than it sounds. I got tired of that and had to ask if they'd both move in slow motion for a minute. THAT got me the shot I wanted.

Pretty section of trail

The girls at the wilderness boundary. Lucca looks HAPPY!

After another hour or so, the glinting of sun off the truck hood was a welcome sight. Not wanting Lucca to take off again we put her on a lead and tied her to the bumper. While we took off our packs and tried not to float away, Lucca disappeared underneath the truck in the shade. Sarah decided to see where she was and poked her head under there only to find the dog in question laying in one of the ONLY puddles in the small parking lot. Awesome.

We made a quick stop in Lolo to share the news with my folks who seemed fairly pleased. I think everyone was just waiting on me, so it wasn't a huge surprise. It was interesting though, talking to Sarah later that Saturday she had said while we were sitting there at Mills lake...one of the things she had been thinking was, "Is he EVER going to ask me to marry him?"

I guess my timing is better than I thought.

(...and no, there isn't a date set yet. But no worries, I'll make sure the entire world knows when that time comes.)

San Juan Float

2010-08-06T09:52:00.000-07:00

The annual float trip, the "boys trip"...though delayed till later in the year...finally occurred the last week in July on the famous San Juan River in southern Utah!

Friday morning found me pretty stressed out, I kept feeling like I was going to oversleep and miss my plane...consequently, I didn't sleep really well. I got up, putzed around the house, and finally left for the airport early. Sometimes I just have trouble trusting that my plane e-ticket, that I purchased online, that I don't have in my hand, will have some sort of issue surrounding it. However, that wasn't the case and I got through security and to Denver in no time. I was catching up on sleep on the two-hour plane ride...when one hour into it I got nudged awake by the dude next to me, "Hey, do you want a coke?" I looked at him in sleep-heavy eyes and politely said, "No. I was sleeping." Weird.

Zach picked me up and we ran some errands...a stop at REI and at the liquor store. We got enough booze to last us for months! It ended up being the first float that we had alcohol left over even after giving some away on the river. We ended up back at his house and with his Dad in town, we had a barbecue and stayed up chatting until 0100. The next day, the trip began at 0600!

Our plan was to head down I-70 to Grand Junction and then hang a left to take the scenic route to Bluff, Utah...our launch site. We weren't out of town more than an hour when we thumped a deer on the interstate at 75 mph! The outcome was pretty poor for the deer who went winging across a lane of traffic and then in the ditch. We were lucky that we didn't wreck, the deer didn't hit anyone else, and the truck wasn't damaged! But, it definitely woke us up.

It was a long hot drive until we started really climbing the pass after Ouray on the "Million Dollar Highway" which was basically a paved goat trail. There are mining remnants everywhere up there and I'm amazed at the tenacity of the folks who worked there, at over 10,000 feet, year-round. We stopped and took some photos, but the overcast sky caused some issues with exposure.

Red Mountain gold mine between Ouray and Silverton

Columbine

More Columbine

Exploratory mines

Fireweed

Private basin near Silverton

Silverton's a cool little mountain town

After spending some time around Silverton, we headed out in a rainstorm and passed through Durango. It was weird, Durango seemed to be flooding like Ocean City was...consequently, I wasn't able to really see much of the town. Part of my interest was research...always on the lookout for a nice place to move. We finally broke out of the rain and headed out into the desert. We passed one junction that had a sign saying, "Four Corners." Hmmm, about a mile down the road we both thought, "wait a minute...what's four corners doing up there? I think we were supposed to take that turn!" Back on track, we played leapfrog with an old guy who didn't mind driving 43 mph...but at least he was consistent!

Near Four Corners

Desert

We finally pulled into the launch site after about 13 hours of driving and met up with Paul, Phillip, and Arial (sp?)....leaving promptly to get some dinner. The next morning the guys got their boats ready and we leisurely packed up for the trip. After two days of travel, I was excited to get started.

Classic San Juan photo

Zach floating

Paul knew of a big petroglyph wall, so we stopped there to take some photos.

They're holding hands!

Quite a foot

Bighorn Sheep

He's pretty stoked about the Bighorn

A little ways down the river, there's a spot called "River House" with some ruins. This easily became one of my favorite parts of the trip. It was interesting to crawl around and imagine what life was like back in the day. (I imagine it was pretty much the same as what we were experiencing...HOT...but probably without all the beer.)

Zach screwin' off

River House

River House again

Interesting view from inside

View from River House

Well, we made it to the site of our first camp. I don't have any photos of it...

Let's just say it was kind of a foggy camp. I woke up in the morning with my tent just baking me alive in the sun. I went to put my contacts in and could only find one in the case! My heart started racing when I dug through my gear and figured out that I left all my extra contacts in Zach's truck at the put-in! I had my glasses, but couldn't wear sunglasses with those on...so it was fairly important that I had two contacts. LUCKILY, I found the lost plastic disc on my thermarest...dried to a crisp, but after a little soak I was able to make it work. Panic attack diverted. It was a pretty quiet float that Monday as Paul and I really didn't feel real good...but Zach was doing fine somehow. (High octane beers while dehydrated isn't a good combo. fyi)

Rare photo of floating in shade

Shady lunch spot

After a hotter-than-hell float, we made it to our second camp with ever-clearing heads and just kinda took it easy that evening. The cliff that was beside us was nice because it provided shade when the sun was up, but it held the heat and radiated it back on us all night. It was 88 degrees at 2130, just so you have an idea of what I'm talking about. You'd just lay in your tent and sweat...which became fairly common.

My tent - Camp Two

Camp life - Camp Two

I think this is out of order...

The next morning we got on the river and headed down to Mexican Hat. There's a Shell station about 500 meters from that launch site...so Zach and I walked up there for a cool drink, some ice cream, and a couple bags of ice. I'll tell ya, chugging a quart of powerade never tasted so good!

Mexican Hat

After leaving Mexican Hat we came to a little trail that led up to an old cabin. Paul kept an eye on the boats while Zach and I went up to take some photos. This guy Mendenhall obviously saw more promise in that country than I did...but reading some of the history, it didn't last long. Kind of a neat place for a little house though...but I think I would've mimicked the Indians a little bit more and found a more sheltered spot. That's just me I guess.

Mendenhall Cabin

Bigger view of Mendenhall Cabin

Well, it's going to get pretty hard to write much about the time on the river. It was hot and the water was generally flat. The surrounding country didn't really change too much, and the sun always seemed to be in the wrong spot for photos. Actually, the sun seemed to "stick" in one spot, no matter which way the river turned us. Overall, it was just hot. I compared it to Afghanistan with an 80-degree chocolate milkshake river running through it.

Kinda looks like Afghanistan doesn't it? It's hot enough...

Just a nice photo

We found a nice camp with about a foot of mud/silt that tried to steal your sandals whenever you'd walk around the shore. We stood in the rain and took photos, skipped rocks, played games with rocks and sticks, and...had some cocktails. For some reason, the drinks tasted good again! I personally think it was the salt that made it to the rim of my mug...because I damn near had to keep myself from licking it clean! Who knew that rock salt could taste so good?! Dehydrated much?

Camp Three

Camp Three again...storm brewing

My tent at camp three

I don't know why this photo intrigues me...common sight on the river

Well, something with the mud, the heat earlier that day, and the cocktails had an interesting affect on Zach. After smearing some mud on himself, a comment about the movie "Predator" brought on some interesting antics.

Zach playing in the mud - great pose!

Zach helped me out

Predator camo plus some errr, decoration

Zach cleaning up - I like this photo

Well, that went on for a little bit and then it turned into Zach's turn to have an interesting night. Paul and I stayed up that night and solved all the world's problems while Zach caught some sleep. We all skipped dinner as the heat had stolen our appetites. The heat stayed with us until darn near midnight...so Paul and I did a little late-night skinny dipping. All of a sudden, I had a great idea to swim across the river. I was pretty far downstream making my way back when Paul came around the bend looking for me. I didn't THINK I was gone that long...but...I'm glad he came for me.

That night I couldn't locate my sandals or shorts, so left them till the next morning. Again, another close call as Zach found my sandals below the raft (in the water?) and I found my shorts pretty close to the water's edge. It would've been pretty crappy to have lost my sandals that early in the trip! We all agreed from that point we needed to take it easy...just because you HAVE the alcohol doesn't mean you have to try and drink it all. I was pretty ashamed of myself...I was doing too many stupid things...so decided to reign it in a bit. We had made good time the day before, so we turned Wednesday into a layover day.

Layover day - morning view of camp

I found a little ledge above my tent in the shade, so pretty much stayed there the entire day. Every once in awhile I'd go down to the river and get soaked, letting evaporation keep me cool. Then I had a great idea to take my sleeping pad up there and just relax and read. I'm pretty sure I slept.

Self portrait at my ledge

Just a little bird - kinda sums up the feeling at the time

That night, around 0400, the temperature finally dropped a bit and it was the first time the entire trip that I actually draped PART of my brand new 40-degree bag over me. Our goal that day was the Honaker trail and we made it there quickly and went on a hike to the rim. It was a good trail given the country it was in, but something about being able to see the river out of the corner of my eye...a thousand feet below me...gave me some pretty good vertigo. Zach was bouncing around like the mountain goat he is, jumping gaps and standing with his toes over the cliff edge. Just watching him from 30 yards away made ME lean back from the edge for him. It was funny though, going back down I was fine. Must have gotten used to it...but I was still happy to be back on relatively level ground.

Paul on Honaker Trail

Zach coming up Honaker Trail

Viewpoint on top of the trail (our top)

View off the peninsula

River view from the Honaker Trail

Collared Lizard

We relaxed near the boats for a bit and watched some collared lizards catch bugs...they weren't concerned with us at all! On the river again, we rounded the bend to the camp Paul was gunning for and found it was taken. It was a big camp and the folks that we gave beer to offered to let us share it...but sensing that could be annoying with the most vocal gal in the group, we headed on downriver. Paul found a dandy camp under an overhang....shade and shelter! Perfect!

Just interesting

Just upriver from camp five

Camp five...not too shabby! Shade! Shelter!

My tent under the overhang

Sunrise from camp five

Boats at camp five - early morning

So the next morning, Friday, we pumped some water and had a relatively leisurely morning. We had a reserved campsite that night at Slickhorn, but only had about seven miles to get there. After floating down to our tamerisk and willow-choked camp (that looked oddly like a tiger run at a zoo) we wondered why we left our shady overhang! To avoid the 98-degree heat (in the shade) we spent a couple hours up to our necks in the river. It was getting muddier, if that's possible, and instead of not being able to see your hand two inches under the water, it went to one inch! Slickhorn canyon is famous for having some big rainwater pools in it, so we went on a little hike to try and find a bath. Unfortunately, the pools were pretty scummy, but interesting nonetheless. We did find one little dripping section that we could rinse off in.

Just getting to our reserved site at Slickhorn - Camp six

One of the pools up Slickhorn...not as pristine as we wanted

Tryin' to be artistic at the pool

Headed back to camp

On our walk back, we found a ninja-lizard who ran straight up a wall and then flew into the air to catch a cicada...right as Paul was walking by! It was bizarre...I didn't think lizards would jump and do flips for a bite to eat! That night we made curry and watched the bats catch cicadas as one thunderstorm was passing by. Then all of a sudden, all the bats disappeared as if someone flipped a switch! We sat there and talked about how weird that was, when the SECOND thunderstorm descended on us and released a TORRENT. Everyone scattered to their tents to attach the flies we had so adamently refused to put on this one time. It must have rained an inch in the hour-long storm...causing flash floods and overland flow in and around camp. I had to put my sandals under the corner of my ground cloth to keep the running water going UNDER me. Fairly exciting, but it was still hot in the tent. And I was fairly bummed that I'd be packing wet gear, but at that point...whatever.

My wet tent the morning after the storm

Early morning tent view - camp six

So, the next morning we wanted to get an early start...so everyone was up and at it when I went down to get some coffee. I had left my tent open and took my second cup of coffee up there to pack everything up. I grabbed my sweatshirt (I had been using it as a pillow) when something small fell from it and ran under my glasses case. Curious, I picked up the case and found a 1/4 inch scorpion! None of us had seen a scorpion before, so I called the guys up...we all got a look, but no photos. (Doing some research later, we agree that it was an Arizona Bark Scorpion...which is one of the most poisonous ones down there! One hit from this little bastard would have caused "severe swelling and pain / numbness / frothing at the mouth / respiratory difficulties / muscle twitching / and convulsions." Hmmm, how long was he in my tent? Dodged a bullet on THAT one!) Google it...fairly interesting.

Well, we had about 17 miles to go that final day so made it on the river by 1000. It was HOT. The river was FLAT. It was quite a trick finding the main current / channel to avoid getting hung up on the sand. When we did have to pull off a sandbar, it was weird to find the water only mid-calf deep!

Classic photo of the final day

Uhm...again

Grand Gulch...what IS that to the lower right?

Ahh, it's Grand Gulch flooding...that ledge is a designated camp!

With the recent storm, a lot of the side channels were actually carrying water. We found one tucked up a canyon (that we could actually row up to) with an impressive waterfall. Perfect spot for lunch!

Entrance to our falls / lunch spot

Parking available!

At least it LOOKED clean!

Interesting mud below the falls

Well, did I mention it was HOT? The float seemed to take forever. At one point we could see the clay hills near the take-out...but they were four miles out! With our speed averaging 3 mph, it was a brutal end to the day...being able to see where we needed to be, but not getting there for over an hour.

Kinda the view the whole last day

Hills are getting lower

We made it to Clay Hills and had the whole she-bang taken down and loaded in an hour and a half. All of a sudden, the float was over.

Take out at Clay Hills

View north from Clay Hills

Paul hauled Zach and I back to Zach's truck at Bluff and went on his way. We went back to the same restaraunt and had a late dinner, set up our tents, and called it a day. It got cool again that night, but when I woke up I was getting rained on! Sonofabitch! We packed up all our gear in the rain at about 0600 and headed back towards Denver. Taking the route up through Moab made it quite a bit quicker than through the San Juan mountains, about 8 hours total, but we ran into stop-and-go traffic right past the Eisenhower tunnel. THAT was annoying! So close, but so far!

We got back to Zach's house with some time to spare before my flight. We took showers and I made some phone calls to let everyone know I survived. Zach left me at the airport and security went smoothly. I got on the plane and was stoked to find out that the middle seat next to me was empty! And they were closing the doors! How did I luck out!? Hmm, too soon. Two parents and their child came running on the plane and pretty quick (after some seat shuffling) I had her and her noisy daughter next to me the whole time. Pretty much negated any sort of sleeping as they decided to talk, whine, and EAT the entire two hours we were in the air. Ugh, I was DONE with people by the time I got to Spokane.

The drive home seemed to fly by, and I was glad to not sweat while I slept.

I think I can speak for the guys...this trip really didn't do it for us. All our attention was on the heat. I think Paul summed it up the very best, "I don't really want to be done with this float, I just want to be comfortable."

Amen.

Maryland Trip - July 2010

2010-08-06T08:26:00.000-07:00

Wow, this is going to be quite the game of catch up. I finally "borrowed" Sarah's camera and got some photos of our east coast trip from it.

We took off Thursday the 8th and headed to Phoenix...which went well. That was followed by a trip to Charlotte, North Carolina...luckily we had two folks behind us who talked for the full four hours! That made it pleasant. Then a quick layover turned into a long layover AFTER we had all boarded because, as they put it, "This is a bad plane and needs to go to the hanger." We finally made it to Baltimore where Sarah's Dad, Jim, picked us up. Finally made it to their house at 0100! Sixteen hours of travel was enough.

The next morning we got up relatively early and headed for Ocean City. On our way, we met up with Sarah's brother Matthew and his wife Liola. Sarah's Mom, Nancy, treated the four of us to a sweet suite for the weekend...right on the beach and on the 10th floor...we had some views!

Bay side view from hotel

Ocean side view from hotel

So that night, Jim treated us to an all-you-can-eat crab feast! There's definitely a technique to taking crabs apart...by the time I was done with one, Jim had four down! "I've been doing this since I was 10, Tom." It showed.

Saturday had some ominous looking clouds brewing and the forecast called for an 80% chance of showers. Well, when it rained...it RAINED! Jim, Sarah, and I headed to Assateague Island with the roads flooding. Seriously, there was probably 18 inches of water on the roads...which made it quite the adventure. So much concrete and nowhere for the rain to go = clogged drains.

Well, we made it to the island and saw the famous ponies...and saw them getting rained on. We decided since we were there, we might as well go out on the beach despite the rain. Jim and Sarah taught me how to dig for sand crabs which became oddly addicting.

Assateague ponies

After we had gotten soaked, we headed back to the hotel, got cleaned up and then headed out to the famous boardwalk. After a long day spent in the rain, I was fairly tired. The CROWDS down there got to me after the first hour and I kinda shut down. But, Jim convinced me to play one of the games with him...the shooting gallery...and the salesman running the place got us for $20 and we left with nothing.

The next morning I took some photos of the beach...bear in mind that this was 0700 and there were already people setting up for the day!

Das beach (north)

Das beach (south)

Later that day, Nancy, Matthew and Liola left to head back home and Sarah, Jim and I stayed to enjoy the best weather we had the whole weekend. We waded through the throngs of people and settled in. I can say I have now been in the ocean beyond my knees! I always thought it was weird that people could just stand in the waves and find it fun...well, having done it now...I know it's really addicting! I got rolled once and finally learned how to go UNDER the waves. I could have spent the whole day there doing that. Bizarre.

Same beach, about 1400 (north)

Same beach, about 1400 (south)

After a long hot ride back to the house, Sarah and I got cleaned up and headed right back out the door. We met up with her friends Sarah and Charlie who took us to dinner in downtown Annapolis. These are great folks and from the instant I met them I felt comfortable...like I had known them for years too! Turned out to be the most relaxing time I had there...and after $160 of incredible sushi...I was ready for bed! (Annapolis is pretty cool, I would have liked to spend some more time around there exploring. Next time.)

Monday morning led us onto my first legitimate subway ride (I don't think they count in airports.) We ended up in Washington D.C. and exiting the subway I was shocked to see the Capitol building, the Washington Monument, and the Smithsonian all in the same area! Who knew!? We checked out the natural history museum but the crowds and rude people who seemed to be there just to say there saw it (rather than learn anything) started to really get to me. I can say I saw the Hope Diamond and wasn't really impressed. It's a rock for chrisake!

After that, Sarah and I headed over to the Vietnam Veteran's memorial...on the way passing the Washington Monument, the new WWII memorial, and the reflecting pool. And oh look, there's the Lincoln memorial! Oh, the White House! I never thought everything was so close to one another over there.

Proof I was in D.C. (the reflecting pool was a slimy cesspool of duck shit...fyi)

Sarah and I reflecting

The Vietnam Veteran's memorial hit me more than I thought it would. What a sad, sad wall...but so artistic and perfect. I got very irritated with people not showing it the respect I thought it deserved...on one side you have a guy sobbing on his wife's shoulder...and the other side you have people shouting at one another and a kid sliding his greasy body along the names. A little French kid...I ALMOST bounced his insolent head off the wall, to make HIM cry...make HIM pay attention to where he was. Well, after four hours in D.C. we headed back to the house to wind the trip down.

At 0445 we were up and headed to the airport. We were surrounded by kids for four hours and I had a gal next to me that was REALLY nervous to fly. Acted like a tweaker that you'd see on Sherman Avenue. That should be enough information to figure out my attitude.

It was a good trip, but I definitely needed more time over there. It was good to get it in a small dose though...now I have an idea of some other things I'd like to see or do the next time. And perhaps plan some down time into that next trip...I was going into bathroom stalls to be alone. I'm amazed at the volume of people over there, but overall...people seemed nicer than I expected....but they are EVERYWHERE.

Here are some interesting funny things:
- I saw a bar called "Dr. Unks" (I like it!)
- There was a fishing boat called "Happy Hooker"
- Saw a shirt whose theme was "Master Baiter" that I almost got for Rod
- There was a sign on the main drive that said, "Have you figured out who's weird yet?"
- Koon's auto sales (seemed a little blunt)

So, the following weekend, Sarah and I headed to the Joe for a relaxing weekend.

This is about all we did!

Lucca taking a break

What a pup

Lucca and I have been monitoring a trail cam I put in a place I want to bow hunt this fall. On the way in there, there are a number of sediment trap / wallows for her to cool off and play in. Which she does and seems to enjoy immensely. I've been getting some good photos out there, the best had to be deleted the first time...and I had photos of about five different bulls! Plenty of critters using that spot, but they are there in the middle of the night or really close to dark. Gonna be a tough spot to set up in, but I guess I'll see how it goes!

Lucca enjoying the mud

Moose sighting? (Lotsa moose in that area, yesterday I set the camera back up and saw a DANDY bull where this photo was taken.)

Don't be fooled by the time...my clock is set wrong. I think this is actually 4:24 a.m.

This happens a lot. All the critters are interested in the camera!

Death and the Forest Service

2010-07-01T10:09:00.001-07:00

About two years ago, I got an unexpected call from a friend at 2200. He was coming over, he was already on his way, and he was crying.

We sat on the couch together and he brokenly recounted giving his Mom CPR on his living room floor after she had a heart attack. The rest of his family watched as he frantically performed his duty as a first responder, a friend, and a son for 30 minutes until the paramedics came and took her away.

He thanked me for letting him come over and said, "this is the only place I could think of going."

And he just called to see

how Sarah and I were holding up today.

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At the beginning of this month, another friend lost his mother in a car accident. She was driving alone at night, headed home, and for unknown reasons she left the road and flipped her car. The first person on the scene was a friend of mine, an EMT and Forester...it happened outside of his house.

This story tore me up even though I didn't know her personally. They would always wave when you drove by their house, accompanying it with hearty smiles. They had no idea who I was, but I knew them.

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Two weeks ago we had a District meeting and everyone gathered in the Silver Valley. The meeting went like meetings go and everyone was driving back to Coeur d'Alene. I was driving home and passed a tow truck dragging a Forest Service rig behind it...one that was obviously involved in a rollover. I pulled a u-turn and followed it into the station...shaking by the time I got there. I had no idea if it was someone I knew, if everyone was alright, if it happened on the way back from the valley...I knew nothing except there was a totalled FS vehicle. Little was known at that time, and little is still known as it's under investigation...but thank the Lord, no one was hurt. They went off a Forest road and were caught by a tree after what looked like a couple rolls. This was no simple accident.

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On Monday of this week, I came in from the woods to news of a senior volunteer who worked on the silver valley side passing. It was about as brutal a way to here about someone as you can think, a gossip session was occuring at our front desk: "Did you hear about ____? He died this morning. Well, he shot himself this morning."

He had worked late on Friday taking care of the grounds around the office. He walked around the office after everyone had gone home and left notes for people. "Thanks for always making me feel like one of the family." "Here's my pocketknife, I know it'll be in good hands. Goodbye." Monday morning rolled around and he got in his car, drove to Shoshone medical center, and took his own life in his cadillac.

This was the guy who worked diligently and quietly, but always had a smile and a smartass comment for his friends. He would come to after-hours District parties and take photos of everyone...he left at the age 78.

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I got out of the shower this morning and found Sarah trying to make the bed. She was crying hard enough to make her body shake. She had thought the alarm on her phone was going off, but it was a coworker who told her a good friend of hers had passed away this morning of a heart attack. This woman with, "such a kind heart" had called out to her husband for help around 0300 when she had trouble breathing. He performed CPR after calling 911, but she passed before they arrived.

Her husband works in my office and we've all spent time together, inside and outside of work. They sent his crew home.

----------------------------------

I was strong this morning. I was empathetic, compassionate and caring...but I didn't know what to do or say. I think I probably had an aloof attitude, professional one could say...but it hadn't really hit me yet. It's definitely been building on me all day as I almost lost it this morning talking to my friend, who called from Arizona, because he had heard a rumor. He called me because he knew Sarah and this gal were close. He wanted me to give his condolences to Sarah and to see how I was holding up.

When the word came into the office it was spread around like wildfire under an irregular wind. Gossip.

The attitude of some people really surprises me. How can they be so nonchalent about death? Death of a coworker? Death of a friend? Death of a family member?

I've noticed that after each of these events I'm having some dark days. My mind wanders, I can't seem to focus, I get lost in the world of my subconscience thought. After the incident on Monday I drove for about an hour and a half after work...I don't remember half of it. I've had to go outside on numerous occassions today when my eyes well up, I don't want folks here to see me cry.

Am I too sensitive? Have other people had enough experience in this realm to know how to handle it / themselves under the news that hits with that kind of force? I find myself thinking a lot about people close to me and I fall further and further into despair. These latest events occurred to people I knew through others...they were not close friends, yet I react like they were.

The Forest Service is a family. Every day we come together under the same mission and band together in good times and bad. It's interesting to be able to go to a different town, start talking about the Forest Service and have someone ask if you know so-and-so. More often than not, you do know that person or you know of their name and possibly even the places they worked. My current boss worked with my Dad back when I was a really little guy in Kamiah. I cut my teeth in the agency on a District that had groomed other people I now work with. Countless people know my folks, and now work with me. They remember me as a little kid, and I'm sure in some way they all helped raise me.

Growing up, I was always more comfortable with adults than with a group of kids. I had grown up knowing they were around...looking after me. I remember the relief I felt at scout camp, when I was scared to death and had no clue what was going on, to see a man in a Forest Service uniform. Even as a 13-year old, I went up and talked to him because I knew he would understand me. He didn't know my folks like I expected he would, but he offered to make up a care package when he got back to town and send me some steaks. (The food up there was awful.) The care package didn't pan out, but the fact that this guy, this STRANGER in a uniform would instantly offer to help a little boy out was enough. His name was Bill Terrill (ironic because it was the same name as a guy I worked for tending fields and horses.)

It's hard to see your brothers and sisters in pain. It's hard to not know what to do or say, but sometimes it's enough for them to know where to find you if you are needed. Anyone in this agency will drop what they're doing to help you, no matter what the weather is doing, no matter what time it is, no matter what the job is. They'll even take a break as a Type 3 Incident Commander, in Arizona, after hearing within hours of a death in our family, to see if you are alright.

It's quite a thing.

June happenings

2010-07-01T08:09:00.001-07:00

I hope you all are with me when I ask, "Where the HELL did June go?!"

Like typical Junes of the past the seasonals have come on board and the month consisted of a lot of bustling around and training. The parking lot is full at 0600 and people are roaming around until around 0700, when the army heads into the woods. This leaves the office ominously quiet, but provides a great environment to get some work done.

The past couple of weeks I've been helping mark and cruise a salvage timber sale up at Lookout Pass. It was nice to get out in the woods and it made the time fly by. This week is getting the package and the map together...short timelines are the norm anymore. But, when you have a lot of work to do it sure is nice to put your head down in the morning and get surprised by quitting time!

A couple weeks ago, Sarah and I made another try at hiking to Revett Lake off of Thompson Pass. You may remember how two years ago when we went up there, we ran into a dude who claimed to be lost. He had spelled SOS with pine boughs on the lake ice...he had a little minimalist camp...and a poodle which was wearing his tighty-whities for some unknown reason. He told us, "they'll be looking for me. Get in touch with search and rescue. We can't make it out because my dog is so weak...we've been up here for five days with only 8 ounces of food." Meanwhile the dog is running around and obviously excited at having some normal visitors. (Sure enough, he was on the missing person's list and I was able to get some deputies up there that night.) Weird.

So we returned. It looked about the same as the last time...a little puddle in the hills. We had our lunch and headed back down the trail. About three hours of driving for a short hour and a half hike (in and out.)

Revett Lake...about as alpine as it gets on the District.

Revett Lake

Sarah was signed up to run a 14-mile race up at Lolo Pass last weekend. Due to an injury she wasn't able to participate, but we went ahead and made our way over there Friday afternoon for a relaxing weekend. It was also Ironman weekend, so it was nice to get out of town and let the populous do their thing without us. Unfortunately my sister was in town that weekend and we were only able to spend one evening with her...but she came over to the house and cuddled the cats for us...which was greatly appreciated. (Makes the house look lived in too.)

We started our drive in the middle of the day and it was HOT. I've put off getting more freon (or whatever they use in air conditioners now) so we had the windows down on the interstate. I just had the truck in the shop to get new catalytic converters and I kicked myself for not having them do that. Turning onto highway 12, however, led us to TRY to see if we could get some cool air out of it. Sure enough, good ol' Scott had done the job for me....hmm 2.5 hours of heat. Always check I guess.

We had our choice of campsites, but many were entirely too buggy. I wanted a campsite next to Packer meadows, but along with the bugs it was very wet...so we ended up at a great little place down on Glade creek...about 1/2 mile from where Lewis and Clark camped. Pretty darn cool if you ask me. I'm positive they walked through our camp at some point, even if it was just poking around in the evening.

Our meadow

More of our meadow (my camera was kinda foggy that morning)

Campsite (post camping...dropped the ball on photos.)

Friday night a guy came rolling by and told us, "there are a lot of bears around here and we've got a couple bait sites pretty close to your camp." Great. We thought of bears the rest of the time we were there, but had no troubles whatsoever.

I spent the evening being a kid and flyfished the 4-foot wide Glade Creek catching fingerling cutthroat trout. It was nice to leave my 30-year old body for a bit. The next morning we watched everyone run by then snuck out a back road and headed to Powell to check a map. From there we made our way up toward the Lolo Trail and Indian Post Office. We came up on some serious snowbanks before reaching the top and there was no where to turn around! No matter. We just parked the truck, chocked the tires, and walked the rest of the way. It was chilly on the top, but the scenery made it all worth it. And our little snowdog had a great time rolling around in her favorite medium (sans poo of course.)

Sarah and I plus our view off Indian Post Office

Funny picture of Lucca smiling for the camera

Lucca doesn't understand cameras and photo-ops

She makes me smile though! Not a common photo of Tom...

We made our way back to the truck and had high hopes of being able to shovel through the snowbanks so we could access a turnaround about 30 yards in front of us. After looking at the four foot high berm, we rapidly changed our minds and I simply backed down the road. Obviously if I couldn't find a place to turn around, you can imagine the road was pretty damn narrow. We drove backwards for a mile and a half before finding a wide enough spot to do the deed. It made things interesting and gave me a crink in my neck! Good times.

After that, we headed to White Sands pond to toss a couple flies in the water. It was the heat of the day, so the bite wasn't really on. Sarah caught a trout on her first cast with my spin rod and I dabbed around the shore with a fly until I caught a finicky fish as well. We went back to camp and drove the race course. My Dad was right...there's a hell of a hill climb in there! Three miles (more?) at a steady steep grade! Looks like it would have been a hard race...next year. We drove by Packer meadows and I again didn't take any photos of the camas. The light wasn't quite right and I had hopes that I would remember to come back up in the evening...but no.

Sunday we packed up and headed back the way we came with a brief stop at Lolo Hot Springs for breakfast.

Lucca ready to go Sunday morning

Come ON Tom! Time for breakfast!

It was an entertaining weekend for me. Growing up in the country sealed it in my being and whenever I go back I can almost feel the weight drop off my shoulders. Sarah had to yard me in from fishing Friday night, "Can you get a fire going? It's 8 o'clock and I'm hungry!" Totally lost track of time. I dabbed in a tiny creek with a flyrod like I did as a little guy. I fished the pond like I used to do every night when living in Powell. We went to a place I remember being at as a kid...I couldn't remember getting there in the past...but I still kept the view with me for all those years. I had a good enough idea of what it looked like from the cache that I could see where we needed to be from a couple miles out. I like stuff like that.

Kind of a somber tone to this post. I have some bigger things on my mind today, but wanted to get this done before getting into that. "Not all those who wander are lost" kinda applies to my thought processes this morning. (And I cannot get the formatting for the captions to "stick" and I really don't want to get into HTML right now. I apologize.)

Something I'm going to start doing...

2010-06-11T07:59:00.000-07:00

I had to share this and proclaim my new mission in life.

There's a road I use frequently and a couple weeks ago I noticed something spraypainted on some rocks at a relatively good viewpoint of the lake.

What the hell? (Viewing west)

That's what I thought it said!!

View to the east

View southeast...not too shabby.

Kind of risky business given the proximity to the interstate and this goat-trail of a county road, but to blatantly identify where you did your business is interesting. Why did this Tom (not me I swear) choose to a.) crap here and b.) decide to monument it? It's also a shame that key piece of rock fell off. I thought about finding it and rigging it back up, but decided to let nature continue it's spring cleaning.

Doesn't matter, because I will now follow suit. So if you are wandering around in the woods and find a rock in a secluded corner with a symbol that looks like a capital T and E mashed together, do NOT flip the rock! I will document each site by this symbol and acquire my exact GPS position. I will then host an Internet site that will hold the coordinates and situation of each "time." I envision this will become a strange game of find Waldo mixed with geocaching.

Invite your friends and neighbors, bring the kids and the dogs, and make a weekend out of finding the elusive "Tom shit here" markers!

You're trying to figure out if I'm serious or not aren't you. AREN'T YOU!? mwahaahaa!

Another catch-up

2010-05-27T15:58:00.000-07:00

All I can say is, "Well shit..."

I know! How's that for a greeting?!

For some ungodly reason I have felt busy, tired, incapable of getting on the computer after work / remaining in touch with people / truly relaxing / or even honestly smiling consistently. It's been a bizarre coupla weeks. Part of that I know is work-stress, but the rest is just me. I feel like I'm constantly busy, but in reality I'm not. I always have a list of things to do but a lot of times I just cannot convince myself to do them. I peck here and there at the list, then do something that is entirely unrelated. If anyone has a revelation, you'll be talking to welcome ears!

So, to catch up...what's been going on with Tom? Well, the fishing never took hold of me but it sounds like it's picking up on the area lakes and rivers, so that may be a possibility in the future. Honestly though, I can ask, "what are the chances?" Probably pretty low unless I seriously commit to it. Spring turkey season is over as of the 25th. I went out pretty strong in the beginning and then just started taking the shotgun with me on walks with the dog, drives, and morel foraging outings. Oddly enough, I saw more turkeys on the drives...because they all seem to congregate in people's yards or where hunting isn't allowed...go figure! But I had some neat experiences. The best was probably with Lucca (again.) We were headed into an area to look for morels and me taking the shotgun was a serious afterthought. I had to go BACK into the house after loading up the truck to get the gun. We headed down to burn area and sure enough, there were three toms around the corner feeding down the road. Another classic Lucca-sneak got us to within 50 yards when they spotted me through the brush and ran and took off into some pretty tall trees. Well, no luck there but we were both pretty excited and proud of ourselves for being able to sneak in the open! No morels were found, but heading out I heard a gobble! Down the hill we went to just check out an opening. Sure enough, the sound of feathers and a large bird flew down to where we were going. The odd thing was that there was already a tom down there and the bird that flew attacked him! Never saw a turkey fight before! After those two rounded the ridge, another tom flew down to join them. I thought they were long gone so Lucca and I poked around for a bit looking for mushrooms. As we sauntered up the ridge I saw three turkey heads! A winter of trap shooting had the shotgun to my shoulder, the safety off, and me tracking the lead bird at about 30 yards within a second or two. I couldn't tell if they were males or not so I held off long enough to watch them fly off...tracking the one the whole time. It would have been an easy straight-away, but I couldn't convince myself of the sex. All things told, after they were roosted in an EASY 125-foot Grand Fir another turkey decided it had enough of me being so close and took off...clearly a hen. CLEARLY! Dammit all. Sometimes it makes me think I just need to start pulling the trigger and hoping for the best. But, I was taught hunting ethics at a very early age so I guess it's ingrained in my soul.

I planted our "garden" last weekend. It consists of a lot of large pots in a corner of the yard, but I'm thinking perhaps this weekend I will build some raised beds. REAL raised beds...on 2x4 stilts. (We still want the grass to grow under them.) As it is, we have a couple sick looking tomato plants that a fellow coworker raises in a greenhouse entirely too early. They are all pretty spindly and don't seem to like the harsh reality of outside life too much...even after a lot of babying. Alongside those we have a couple green pepper plants, jalepeno, habenero, a zucchini, some herbs, and a new tomato plant in one of those topsy-turvey things working along nicely. My goal is to get those raised beds built and fill them with carrots, lettuce, spinach and whatever other seeds catch my fancy. Then I want to invade our landscaping with some snap peas...covertly. Match all that with some sunflowers by the bird feeders and we'll have our own little backyard industrial garden. I desperately want a place with some land to work with...but that's in the future.

Other than that, I've spent a bit of time collecting morels. Sarah and I went out a couple weeks ago and got about a gallon. Since then, it's been pretty sparse...but following the mushrooms up in elevation seems to be keeping the pace fairly well. Last night was the first time I've ever breaded them in cracker crumbs and fried them...who knew!? The plate was gone within a minute! Awesome.

The weekend before last, we headed down to the Joe for a camping trip. Unfortunately, roadwork kept us from the campsite we were shooting for by about 500 yards! Son-of-a-gun! But we found a good one next to the main road and after the bad weather cleared around 1600, we put up the hammock and just lazed around.

Camp in the grove

Firepit RIGHT next to the river

Perfect relaxation conditions

Ahhhh how cute is that?

We are NOT going out this Memorial day weekend, which I think will be a good thing. Most folks will be gone and I believe town will be fairly quiet even with the forecast of rain. Perfect time for us to use the three days to be comfortable doing whatever the hell we feel like. Sarah is running the CDA 1/2 marathon on Sunday and I'll be helping as a cheerleader and waterboy. Doesn't sound like a relaxing time to me, but then again, I don't understand the joy of running.

I've got to tell ya, I've done a damn good job of not bitching in this post. You're lucky I didn't spout off about my job and the little stuff that people just assume I'll do because, "you're kinda like the computer guy right?" ... "Why can't you take notes at our meetings? What do you do in them anyways?" ... uhm..that's taking me down a bad road. I'm done.

I need a break and am missing my yearly rafting trip that typically comes this time of year. HOWEVER, July is going to be a good month. Sarah and I are headed to the east coast on the 8th for about five days. We'll be on the Maryland beach for a couple days, then spend a day or two around her hometown and D.C. A family-visiting trip. I've never been to D.C. and am fairly excited about that...not to mention the food! Maryland's famous for crab! Following that, the crew and I managed to finally pull a launch date on the San Juan! July 25th through whenever! Paul had a great quote and said, "Well, packing should be easy. Just bring a pair of shorts." I'm desperate to resume my post as a hood-ornament, bobbing along a muddy river and doing nothing but drinking beer, taking photos, and taking it easy!"

So, with that....cheers.

Random thoughts

2010-04-01T19:54:00.000-07:00

...err, just because it's supposed to be random.

There are some mornings when I first venture out the door on my way to work that CDA feels almost like a coastal town. When that happens, it's around 0615 with a rising sun shrouded by a thin fog. This seems to make all the vegetation appear luminous but dark at the same time, kinda like the recent photos from my camp on the St. Joe. Top that off with seagulls flying around calling out, the smell of the lake in the distance, and a general dampness = coastal! It's peculiar though, because I cannot ever fully immerse myself in the thought and "be" at the ocean for that brief time. After thinking about it for a couple weeks, I came up with the answer. The coast has a distinctive smell...something about the salt and fish smell, and that's missing. The vegetation is "wrong" as well as the architecture of the houses in my neighborhood. Isn't that funny? It's the little details that make it incomplete despite the majority of my senses trying to make it true. Interesting.

I'm missing some old posts. They are still there in my "dashboard" but they don't show up on the web. It's a known issue that others are having problems with and that Blogger isn't responding to as of yet. Like one person said on a forum, "Well, Blogger is free. I guess we get what we pay for." So true. I believe it has something to do with storage and the size of a given month's posts. It's frustrating, but I'm glad to see that I at least have access to them. I like to go back in time and read about what I was doing that month in years past. For example, I still can't believe I paddled across Lake Coeur d'Alene in March two years ago. I think of that every time I drive past my old place and all I can do is shake my head. I can look over to Arrow Point and see some large fishing boats...they look very small at two miles. Go figure.

I shaved off my beard last night. I didn't necessarily do it on purpose, I was just trying to clean it up a bit...seems as though the setting on my clippers was lower than I thought. It's been so long since I've completely shaved that I now look like a goober. I feel like I look like Bart Simpson. Babyface. At least I can rest comfortably knowing it'll grow back and I'll look normal again.

We've had some wicked little cells passing through the area lately. One little cold front after another and despite having temps in the 40s - 50s, we still get some thunderstorms (saw lightning yesterday.) These squalls bring a rain/snow/hail mix and some serious winds that gust into the 50 mph range...the proof is in the woods and around town, there are trees and branches laying all over. Some poor shmuck had a tree fall on his vehicle the other day because he wanted to watch the last two laps of Nascar before moving his Suburban to a safer area. I feel sorry for him, not because he likes Nascar or that his priorities are screwed up...but because his "story" was in the newspaper!

I've been trying to get back into some kind of exercise routine lately. I read about interval training, so I'm giving that a go, but I modified it to interval / hill work so I can be in the woods. So the idea is to run as fast as you can for about four minutes (up the hills), then stop until your heartrate returns to normal. Repeat. And being in the woods let's me have my new workout partner off her leash, adds the element of unstable footing, uphill and downhill sections, logs and puddles to jump, etc. All in all, it keeps it from being too boring...like distance running is to me. Lucca has a great time but she doesn't avoid the puddles. The other day we were running down a ridge and had to jump some logs, but hidden beyond them was a massive puddle. Lucca was in the lead and LAUNCHED off the top log like she was jumping off the dock. All I saw was a splash followed shortly by a smiling yellow-lab face poke up above the log (That made me laugh. Labface.) Ahh, she has fun...it's a game to her...but at least we're both getting a workout. I follow this little adventure with some basic exercises at home. My goal is to finish doing my floor work before Lucca finishes her dinner because otherwise she likes to come over and help keep the sweat out of my eyes. Kinda hard to do planks with a dog licking your face.

The wine is coming along well. Ha! I make it sound like I'm actually doing something with it. All it's doing right now is fermenting and sitting there for a month at a time. I racked it the other day to get the sediment off the bottom, and in another month I'll do that again. So in about a month and a half I'll be ready to bottle. But talking to my boss the other day, I may get about 20 pounds of cherries from her. Cherry wine would be interesting. I just need to go get the equipment for a five gallon batch (primary fermenter that has room for the pulp) It's not that spendy and the process is identical to making a gallon, but obviously the reward is greater.

Oh, and that IPA I made about a month ago has passed some taste-testing by friends and family! It doesn't have as pronounced of a hoppy taste like some IPAs which makes it really smooth. The funny thing is that I'm not drinking it! Every now and then I'll have one, but I'm almost hoarding it. They say it gets better with age, but I'm just enjoying basking in my accomplishment I guess. More fun giving it away anyways.

I'm getting a lot of pressure to get the boat up and running for the season. It's pushing that time of year when the water warms up a bit and the spawning starts. I'm fairly interested in pike fishing this year (for some reason) and I want to try trolling for salmon. Hopefully in a couple weeks I'll have some stories about that. But the weekends are filling up quickly and turkey season opens on the 15th.

Ahh, it's nice to break my winter-funk.

March Camping

2010-03-29T13:54:00.000-07:00

Doesn't that look pleasant? St. Joe 2010

Well, on the 19th of March I skipped work and made my way over to Lolo. My truck has developed a nasty hesitation which made me sweat all the way over. I can't "load" it at all before it starts bucking like a rabid horse...needless to say, going up the pass was an adventure. The rest of the way is basically all downhill, so that calmed me down a bit. My Dad and I spent some quality time cutting down one of the apple trees in the yard, shooting, and going out to dinner.

The next day I made my way over Lolo Pass and didn't have much trouble with the truck. I knew the Lewiston grade would be a pain in the butt on Sunday, but tried to push that out of my head. I made it down to Two Shadows quicker than I thought I would and kicked around camp for a bit (picked up all the trash other folks seem to like leaving there.) That was followed by a hike up the hill on the other side of the highway, just exploring and letting my curiosity lead me further and further up the hill. It was peculiar, I found half of a walnut shell up there! Either it was an industrious squirrel or more likely a raven. The afternoon was still young so I went to get some fishing regulations from Lowell. Much to my surprise the little store was closed! I've never seen it closed...wonder what was up? Well, I went across the river to the Inn and found someone who was able to help me get the 2009 fishing regulations. I was using barbless hooks and releasing what I was going to try and catch anyways, so I figured I was alright. On the way back to camp I stopped to get some sand from a little sandbar. I took a gamebag and a shovel down the fill slope and loaded the bag up. The first attempt lifting it led me to realize that I didn't gauge the weight of sand very well, so I dumped some out. I was able to get this bag up on my shoulder and start up the hill but it kept pulling me backwards down the slope and made traction impossible. Alright. So I just hoisted it up in front of me and waddled my way up the steep hill...I was sweating pretty good by the time I got it in the truck. (You can always use sand.)

Note: Got to work the following Monday and weighed the bag...115 pounds! Not too bad!

I spent the rest of the afternoon in a chair down by the water, reading and writing. It was pleasant and very welcome. At about 1.5 hours till dusk I couldn't take it and grabbed the rod and went to a DEEP hole below camp about 500 yards. It was a nice little spot: hidden from the highway, a nice pool to fish, and on rocks warmed by the afternoon sun. I had two long releases on some decent trout and fished until dark. Something about hooking that first fish leads a guy to the inevitable, "One more cast" do-loop.

The drive home went well until the grade up from Lewiston and the hills around Moscow. I quickly learned how to manipulate the pickup and judge when I needed to downshift and carry speed so it went well. But going up the grade, at 50 mph, in 3rd gear was definitely not good for my engine. I had it looked at later that week and it seemed to be a intake manifold gasket! Two days later I had my truck and all seemed normal.

So last weekend I cruised down to the St. Joe to camp, look for antlers, and do some fishing. I was cruising up a back road (I've found the county roads that will connect a guy from Wolf Lodge to Harrison making it less of a slalom course than the highway.) Okay, so I'm cruising up this road and off to my left, a lone goose in the timber tries to run onto the road. It kinda ate it at the road edge, got his feet back, then took off! The grade of the road was such that he couldn't gain altitude faster than the road bed, so I followed this goose for a ways while it flew 5 feet off the deck. It rounded a corner and I backed off hoping it would calm down and land somewhere. When I came around the bend, there was a truck pulling a tractor in front of me, and in front of him was the goose! Imagine him stopping at the intersection of a side road and watching this goose fly past! Weird. The wayward bird eventually took a dive into the timber beside the road and thus ended our chase.

After a couple more hours I made it to the end of the road. I had heard you could drive all the way to Red Ives, but here was a sign that said, "Road closed to winter travel." Hmmm, rather than be that guy (that FS guy) that gets his name in the paper for going around a barrier I decided to find a camp much lower than I anticipated. I located a good spot tucked back into a very narrow, dark valley...for some reason I didn't want to be adjacent to the highway. That little chore accomplished I went fishing. There's one hole I've always wanted to try out, but it requires a substantial walk (including some bouldering) to access. I hefted the pack, grabbed the rod and headed down. I flailed around in the hole for a while, then cut my losses and decided to move on. Back up the hill I went! Well, I drove back down to the camp to double-check my decision on that being the "best" place, then again turned around to go fish some more. I glanced down at something in my lap and damn near ditched the truck! I flew up to a landing next to the highway, shut the truck down and leapt outside. I was COVERED in ticks. These weren't just any ticks either, they were HUGE. Easily the size of a pencil eraser and I pulled about 10 off my trousers. That led me to check my sweatshirt which held about 10 on the outside and another 10 on the inside! Ugh, I really don't do well covered in ticks. I pulled out the pack and cleared them off of there and then basically stripped right there to check the rest of me.

I felt things on me for the next couple of hours even though I was clean. Creepy.

Camp approach from the landing

Camp with my "perched" truck

Little tent with big surroundings

Camp at about 1700...colder than it looks!

Fishing led to more disappointment so I called it a day and went to set up camp. There was no chance of me going up the hills to look for antlers. I avoided all brush after that. At 1630 I was cold up in that valley and the downslope breeze kept it pretty chilly well into the night. But, like Dad always says, "It's still springtime in the Rockies." Luckily I was prepared and put on my longjohns, donned my wool coat and hat, put one sleeping bag in another, and got a fire set up to be sparked. I could only make it until about 1800 before I started the fire...I was worried that I didn't have enough wood to last me very long. But, I did and had some left over the next day.

The night went well. I heard a tree give up the ghost and crash to the ground. Then later I swore I heard a wolf howl, but after completely waking up and listening I found out it was an owl. Bummer.

The next morning showed me a sky that looked like it was poised to rain. I hustled around camp and got everything packed up by 0830. With really nothing left to do and not wanting to just sit around I headed out. After being home for about an hour and taking care of my gear, I realized it was too early to call it a day and sit around, so I grabbed Lucca and headed out for a hike. It was nice and we were able to both make it out without any ticks!

Unfortunately, the truck has a slight hesitation still..but it's definitely better than it was. I guess when I take it in for some new brakes I'll mention that they still have some research to do. Rapidly approaching the point where I need to just get a new truck.

But, that's been the past two weekends! Nice to get out and do something different.

Campaigning

2010-02-26T08:46:00.000-08:00

Saw this the other night and it applies so perfectly that I had to share.

"...I believe the outstanding trait in any campaign is the terrible weariness that gradually comes over everybody. Soldiers become exhausted in mind and in soul as well as physically. They acquire a weariness that is mixed up with boredom and lack of all gaiety. To sum it all up: A man just gets damned sick of it all."

From: Brave Men by Ernie Pyle

Within two hours of being at work yesterday I could feel my heart pounding, I could sense my blood pressure was topping out, my eyes were already becoming bloodshot, and I was irritated at a couple folks. I could tell that my tipping point was rapidly approaching and I personally didn't want to blow up at work. So I gave up. I left and took some time to get feeling better. I was able to do a little soul searching with 100 rounds, a walk with the dog, and in running errands that have been put aside.

But, it doesn't look like I've quite got the job done as I just woke up at 0815.

I think sometimes a guy just needs to call it for no particular reason. Perhaps that's not what I meant to say as I really am wondering about my health....it's just that sometimes our priorities get so out of whack that the only thing that will fix it is to spend some time alone with your thoughts. When work is affecting your health, your lifestyle, and your relationship...something needs to be done. There's only so long you can get me to perform at 110% (while adding on more and more duties) before I'm going to need to stop.

After all, it's only work.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

2010-02-24T06:27:00.000-08:00

It was January 15th the last time I wrote here. I had high hopes of a winter full of ice-fishing, shooting trap in the snow, telemarking, x-country skiing, hare hunting, packing up hills, going to the gym, perhaps painting, making beer, and perhaps getting out and doing something more exciting so I could write about it.

Since that day approximately 5 weeks ago I have accomplished none of those things except brewing beer. I guess we can see where my priorities lie.

Ahh, it's been a typical winter for me...at least as far as my mental state goes. I have such a hard time this time of year, but I'm starting to question whether or not it's because of "winter" in and of itself. For longer than I can remember it's been bluebird weather. No snow, no rain, barely crossing the freezing point at night. Nothing is changing except our snowpack which keeps dropping at a significant rate. The NEPA season is definitely upon me and I think that is the reason I get in a funk this time of year. I work on every project this District decides to pursue, because for some reason EVERY project needs a map (I personally disagree.) Right now we have two large projects progressing at the same rate and at about the same stage of analysis. Last Thursday I had an all-day meeting for one, then spent Friday frantically making all the updates so the specialists didn't have to wait (because our timelines are so freaking tight.) Then, following a very short weekend, which are all like that anymore, I had another all-day meeting for the other project (no shit...10 hour day and spent 8 hours of that in that meeting.) Yesterday was spent making THOSE changes. It's been like this for weeks. In and out. Needless to say, it can easily make a guy crazy. On the weekends, Sarah and I try to get out on Saturday since we see so little of each other during the week and I spend Sunday at the trap club shooting while Sarah studies. The weather doesn't change, the work doesn't change, the pattern/routine after work doesn't change, the weekends are all the same...before a guy knows it, it's Monday and the whole thing starts again. It's tiring, frustrating, irritating...any synonym will work here.

Okay, got that out of my system, let's look at some accomplishments.

Not sure if I mentioned it or not, but I went out with the guy who does our snowpack surveys one day. That was a good time spent getting paid to play in the snow up at Lookout Pass. At the time they were only sitting at 5 feet total and it was STABLE. Fun to ride in on sleds, cruise around on snowshoes and dig holes. Makes me question my career choice, but I suppose given my current situation I'm still available to go out with folks who DO these fun things...so it's not all bad!

Dan checking the layers

Where we were!

Boy this is sad, I'm drawing a blank on other things that happened. That's not good.

Uhm, the beer making thing went well. By far the most time-consuming part is the cleaning / sanitation. The pre-packaged mort definitely took a lot of work out of it too. But, the process took a good couple of weeks and I just bottled it on President's day. I'm taking my time and letting it age for a solid month before trying it out. Fortunately that's working out well with St. Patty's day!

I just started a gallon of wine too! For some reason I'm still a sucker for the wine-process...probably because it's simpler. I was hoping I'd have enough leftover blackberries for a full five gallons, but I don't. I had exactly four pounds, which is what it takes to make a gallon...so that's what I'm doing. I'm guessing it'll be fairly decent come next fall / winter. Turned out very well last time so I'm eager to see if I can replicate the results. If I can, I'm going to try and get 20 lbs of blackberries this year.

I got my MVUM approved Monday. The first one ever made on this Forest and the culmination of four years of work! Cheers.

Boy, I'm having a terrible time writing this. I just cannot think of things that have been going on.

As an indicator to what I deal with at work, I created this yesterday:

I'm tired of the last-minute "I need this NOW" crap because it interrupts my workflow and makes me sloppy. I'm rapidly realizing that I need to learn to say "no" and only do what I can if I want to put out a quality product.

Reading back through this it's fairly obvious that my job is stressing me out.

But at least it's snowing outside! First time in months!

Whoops.

Nope.

It turned to rain. Welcome to Coeur d'Alene.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!