I Am Lord of the Gourd

Again I've gone through a major slump where I haven't written in either of my blogs for a long time. I knew that summer was going to busy but I figured I'd still have time to put in my two cents on here every once in a while. Apparently its been over a month since my last posting and I apologize to everyone out there that might be even the least interested in my little life.

Work as always has been keeping me on my toes. Eli's (my intern) last day was Friday and we all said our goodbyes at the office picnic out at the Bull River Pavilion. I meant to take my camera along and get pictures of everybody leaving but forgot. Good thing some other folks remembered theirs and I'll be able to get copies of them. I have to say I miss the days of my Dad's old BLM picnics. While we had a nice time, there just isn't the same sense of camaraderie out here that there should be in such a small office. Heck, most of the full time people didn't even show up. There is a lack of caring for one another that really annoys me. You would think that in a small town it would be easier to get people together but that doesn't seem to be the case.

I've also been slaving away in the garden in my spare time. My pumpkin is growing a little more everyday. Its been set on the vine for about 17 days now is weighs over 50 lbs. Its about 2.5 ft in diameter and about 2 ft from stem to butt end so far. I'd like to beat my 272 lb pumpkin from last year but I'm not sure the weather is going to cooperate. The nights are getting colder and the days are starting to feel like fall. I have a sinking suspicion that we are going to have an early freeze and the plants will be done for. I'm keeping my fingers crossed though. This is my first year of growing corn and I have to say I'm pretty damn excited about it all. Every stalk is standing well over 8 ft and has multiple ears to it. I'm not sure how Mace and I are going to eat it all. I wish you all lived closer and I could share it. It just makes me glad that both Mace's niece and nephew love corn on the cob and should put a big dent in our harvest. I'm even already getting beautiful ripe tomatoes and peppers. Hopefully within the next week or so I'll have some time over the weekends to start canning salsa and beets. I'll need to ship off a few cans of beets to my mom down in Cheyenne. She's just crazy for them.

Polly has gotten jealous of my bread maker and so Mace and I decided to buy her one as a belated birthday present. Not exactly sure why she needed it right away except for the fact that if we both have one we can make more cinnamon rolls, raisin bread, and french bread in one sitting. When we all get together for dinner there just isn't quite enough with the one machine. Hopefully it will arrive some time this week and I'll be able to sneak about and rap it without her knowing.

So thats about it on my home front. I'll try harder to update all this a bit more often. Love you all.

Mmmmm Pie!

So yesterday was a pretty dull day for me. Did the normal Sunday stuff. I got up early and went to church. I keep wishing they'd make a mass time later than 8 in the morning but no such luck. After mass I came home and the house was still pretty quiet so I went for a nice jog down by the river. There is just something so peaceful about running by water. There were even swans paddling around in the ponds with their little bambinos. How many people in big cities can say they have that kind of beauty and wonder near by. After my jog I was able to talk to my friend Kati online for a while. She's still having so much fun in S. Korea and I know she's getting a little sad that her first year over there is coming to a close. Who knows though she will probably go back for round two after a few short weeks of coming home to the States. We're planning on having some old time fun in Missoula together and I seriously can't wait. I'm just hoping the weather holds this nice cool temperature so I don't end up on the fire lines while she's going to be in country. The rest of my day consisted of baking Mace a coconut cream pie (with extra cool whip), doing laundry, dishes, and cleaning up around the house. While it wasn't a super exciting day I have to say it was nice to calm down before another long week of working nights. Its back to bat surveying and my circadian rhythms are going to be all messed up from working until the wee hours and sleeping what little I can during the day. Wish me luck. I'll try and get some cool pictures of the bats I capture over the next few days. They are pretty cool critters. Have a great week. Love you all and God Bless.

Happy Fathers Day

Although this holiday is particularly hard for me this year with the recent passing of my own dad in January, I did want to take a minute to wish all you fathers out there a wonderful Father's Day. You are all your kid's hero's and you don't even realize it. I certainly know that my dad was mine.

I love you Dad!

Grrr Deer!!!

Last night deer ate all the buds on my roses that were just about ready to open. I knew it was going to happen but there isn't a whole lot I can do about it. But I have to say that it really is frustrating. I get so excited to see these gorgeous flowers in full bloom (Mace and I have planted some really unique and pretty ones over the years) yet I rarely get a chance to see more than a few blooms in a season. Its just such a shame. I think this fall we need to just invest the money and refence Mace's yard so that deer can't come in. As it is the fence is only about 5 ft tall with a 4 ft gate... certainly low enough for these summer hooved pests to jump for a tasty rose bud treat. I think my roses must taste better than Polly's because her's aren't fenced in at all and the deer never pester them. So not fair. But at least I have my other flowers in bloom right now to keep me happy. Like the columbine, iris, and peony below here.

In other, somewhat related news, our veggie garden in its entirety is now planted, including our giant pumpkin plant. Its really starting to take off now that its not root bound in a pot and getting plenty of love and attention. I'm trying to decide what to name it this year. Maybe George.... don't ask me why. Last year's pumpkin was terrific and really tipped the scales at 272 lbs but I want to grow an even bigger one. We have about a months head start from last year so we should have a few more weeks of growing time as long as we stop having anymore super cold nights. I'm hoping for at least 300 lbs and no cracking. The state record is just over 500 lbs so I figure within a few years we might know enough to do the same or better. Again I plan on making some fantastic design and carving it for all the little tricker treaters to see when they come to Mace's house. Polly is also growing a pumpkin this year but unfortunately she is way behind the power curve. She couldn't get a seed to germinate until this week. I'm praying that hers catches up and she can have just as much fun with this project as we all did last year.

I'm Expanding

Ahhh so I decided I don't have enough to do. What does this mean exactly? Well I just came to the realization that I'm getting a lot of experience through work and love the woods so much that I might as well share some of my knowlege with others. I'm by no means expert on anything but I do have some good insights and thought that others in my field and related fields might appreciate having somewhere to share similar interests and meet others that are the same. So I created a new blog that talks about the wonderful world of working and playing ing the great outdoors. If you are interested go to http://montanawildlifebiologist.blogspot.com/ Feel free to check it out and leave comments or share my URL with friends that might be interested. Love you all lots.

Flowers Flowers Everywhere

*happy sigh* Though I'm not the biggest fan in the world of summer it definitely has some good points. Like all the gorgeous flowers that are starting to bloom in my garden. Mace and I share a great garden space. One end is dedicated to massive amounts of vegetable plants for us to harvest in the fall and the other half is dedicated to flowers. Mace and his mom planted a bunch of different kinds of peonies the first summer that he an I started dating and while the intent was to grow them for Polly's nursery I have reaped the joys of caring for them all and seeing the results. I have pretty much taken over the plot and expended whats in their to include tons of iris, columbine, ground covers, bleeding heart, asters, clematis, lupin, veronica, etc. I've also take over various other parts of Mace's yard for my flower growing adventures. Mace doesn't want to admit to it but he loves the flowers as much as I do and I've caught him out there looking for new blooms and putting some water to them to make sure they thrive when he thinks I'm not around. Everyday I'm able to go out and find something just opening up and reading to be cut and put in a vase. There is just something so soothing about having flowers in and out of the house. My only problem is all the town deer that seem to love to come around at night and eat all the blooms off right before they open. Thats what keeps happening to my roses year after year and I'm about ready to tell Mace to just let loose with a pellet gun on their rumps just to detour them a bit. Just so very frustrating. My rose plants look so good and have so many buds on them that I just know that in the next week or two some stupid doe is going to jump the fence and nibble them right down the ground. Oh well... tis my cross to bear. Above is some of the pictures of my peony that bloomed last year. I should have even more this year. Hope you all are having a fabulous weekend so far.

Chain Saws 101

The day I had planned today doing some field training with my "grunt" did not actually happen. Unbeknownst to me my little intern had chain saw training this morning and I had my "refresher class" this afternoon. I got my initial certification the summer I worked up here as an intern myself and I guess I just assumed that once you knew how to run a chain saw that you didn't have to go through training again, but I was wrong. Every three years you have to have a refresher just so you don't cut your own leg off. I suppose thats a good thing. Every spring there are tons of trees that blow down over the roads we use and we all need to know how to cut them properly out of the way. Dad would be so proud of me with a Stihl in my hands and the woodchips flying every which way.

So I spent the morning going over a bunch of old mining maps and discovering some possible shafts that might serve as bat monitoring stations this year. The new spots are now programed into my GPS and Eli and I will go hunt some of them down tomorrow and see if they are suitable habitats. When I first started working we had 8 registered shafts and I've been able to find 9 more that I've put on the yearly list to monitor as well. I hope to add a few more this year and find more suitible habitat for the various species of bats that we have in the area. It should be fun teaching Eli how to use the Harp Traps over the summer too. He already told me that Kerry Foresman (my old mammology prof) talked about them in one of his classes and is excited to actually see them in action. He'll have plenty of opportunity... including packing the equipment through the woods in the dark.

In closing I'll leave you with a picture I took this afternoon overlooking Noxon. Everything is leafed out and its getting nice and toasty out. Woo hoooo!!!!!