26!!! WTF!!!

I have come to the conclusion today that I'm an "old fart". Both my 13 year old niece and my 13 year old nephew made it a point to say that I'm twice their age today with and extraordinary amount of shock and awe. When did 26 become old you ask? When I get to be twice the age of my own family members. Now I know how my siblings felt when I said the same bloody thing to them. I guess its only fair then right? No actually I'm digging being 26 even though I'm only about 12 hours into my new age its been treating me well. Can't say as I've done anything all that spectacular but I am getting to spend it with my Dad, Mom, and the whole Hancock crew. Can't say thats a bad deal at all. Just wish Mace was here to share the day with me as well. I guess since we're going to married and all there are plenty of years to make up for a couple missed birthdays on both our accounts. Anyway... hope everyone else out there is having a great day where ever you may be. Love you and miss you all.

Long Couple of Nights

It has definitely a few long nights here in Denver. Mom had to go deal with some stuff up in Cheyenne with Brain so Robin and I have been staying overnight in the hospital room with Dad. I don't think we have slept for more than about an hour over those 3 nights. The oxygen that Dad is on constantly makes him super thirsty and he somehow manages to ask for a sip of water in the middle of the night even when he is completely asleep. So one of us has jumped up and made sure he hasn't been getting too parched. And I thought I drank a lot of water over a 24hr period. Dad has been putting me to shame in that category lately *grins*. When Dad's awake we've all been cracking jokes just to get him to smile a bit and when we are successful it makes each day seem worth while. Sadly the smiles are harder to come by these days since Dad has been snoozing quite a bit. Healing from multiple surgeries over the past month takes the piss and vinegar out of a person. Our hope though is to take him back home to Brenda's within the next few days. The idea is that he will be less stressed and more comfortable there with just family taking care of him and a nurse coming every few days or so to make sure everything is alright. Hope all is going well with all of you and that you are enjoying each and every minute of your days.

The theme for today is "Foresters Rock"

So one of the new things that the hospital in CO that my dad is in has added over the past few months is a white board in each of the rooms and an accompanying marker to go with it. Now most people would probably leave this alone thinking that it was just for doctors and nurses to write details about the patients on such as goals for the day and goals for discharge. My family on the other hand has gotten crazy with this little piece of easily changeable mode of art at the end of dad's bed. Each day since it has been up on the wall I write the basics on it such as the date,who Dad's nurse and CNA are for the day, and how many reps of his PT he has to do for the day which takes up very very little of the space. SOOOOO I've gotten creative much to the amusement of dad and my siblings. Anything to put a smile on dad's face. For the past couple days its been drawings and messages related to the New Years celebration but today it was time to get creative and reflect dad's roots at UM. In big bold letters I wrote Forester's Rock and then drew a pine forest that had gone through a selection cut... stumps and all! Dad thought it was great and that just made my day. Just have to start thinking about what I'll have to draw on there tomorrow to entertain my father and distract him from the pain. I'm taking suggestions so feel free to contribute. Keep smiling and keep us in your prayers.

Happy New Year!

So I just wanted to take a minute to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I would love to expand on this a bit but frankly I just don't have it in me since I've spent the last 16 hours in the hospital. But please everyone be safe in your celebrations and ring in the fabulous new year in style! Love you all.

Snow Day!

I used to only associate snow days with going to school in the winter in Wyoming but apparently they are much more encompassing. I awoke to over 3 feet of snow this morning and a call into my boss that said work was cancelled for the day. Talk about awesome! Normally 3 feet of snow wouldn't hinder any of us rough and tough Montanans but the stuff is still falling and we literally have a white out going on. I can't see out 10ft past my bedroom window so its understandable not wanting to make the folks from Noxon and Thompson Falls drive into work in those kinds of conditions. The local weather station is predicting that we get another foot or so before the days end and then the day after tomorrow we're supposed to have another big storm. It definitely looks like its going to be a white Christmas after all. Woo hoo. Boy do I love winter! And you should note there is not one iota of sarcasm in that statement... I really do love winter. So if you are curious about this picture this is PRE current snow storm at one of my higher elevation study sites. I took it after the first snow storm we got down here in the valley and there was about 7 feet already up at the site that I had to snow shoe over. The tops of most of those trees you see are probably covered completely now and will stay that way til at least March. So for you Cali folks thinking about moving to Montana... you might want to reconsider!

The Doty's Are Coming Horrah Horrah!

Kami and Kenny are coming down from Kalispel Saturday morning to spend the weekend with me and Mace and I am sooooo looking forward to the visit. Not exactly sure what we are going to do but it will most definitely be the same ol "up to no good" game plan that we usually succumb to. Just kidding. Our time is probably going to used wisely by cooking together, catching up, and just being happy together. Its been way too long since I've seen the two of them. And out here in the middle of nowhere, visitors are a super big deal, especially ones as nice and sweet as the Doty's. As you can tell by the picture above they are a couple of wild and crazy kids. That's why I love em!

Something is not right... something is quite wrong!

So here I sit in my office today thanks to management meetings that go on adnausium once a month on Mondays and I realize something just isn't right. Anyone want to venture a guess what it may be? Stumped? Well today is December 1st and I'm looking out my window on a bright clear sunny day and its nearly 50 degrees out! This is just messed up. Now as some of you know already I'm am the ultimate winter baby. I love snow, I love cold, and I even dig the shorter darker days during winter that most people bitch about. So having this sunny warm weather on the 1st day of December is just nuts to me. I keep hoping that one of these days I wake up to about 3 ft of snow on the ground so that my winter field work can get underway. Its hard to snowshoe into a study sight when the snow keeps melting on the tops of my mountains. Its slushy and slippery and flat out dangerous to work in. I'm just praying for those days of nice firm, compact snow that I can troop over the top of in my Alaskan Guide Series snow shoes. That's right... my office actually decided to go high tech this year. The snow shoes that I have been using would make any Eskimo say "what the heck?". So maybe I just want to get out and try the suckers out I don't know but I need some snow to make it happen.

On a more personal note. I didn't shoot any deer this year. I shot at one yesterday on the last day of hunting season but missed. I actually pretty mad at myself though I'm not sure there are too many people out there that could have made the shot I was going for. I was up on a ridgeline and saw a doe running across the powerline about 400 yards away. I cranked up the power on my scope and started leading her as she ran but she stopped dead in her tracks the second I pulled the trigger and I knew it was a miss since I was aiming about 6 inches ahead of her hoping she'd keep running. I cranked another shell into the barrel and hoped to have gotten a second try at her but she had already ducked into the timber. Smart deer! Oh well... a couple of the guys I was hunting with got some does so it wasn't a complete loss and of course Mace filled his deer tags but no elk for any of us. Oh well some seasons are better than others and the warm weather and lack of snow didn't help any. All I have to say is Bambi better watch out next year *jokes*