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.

"Chickn Fried"

Summer has definitely arrived here in Trout Creek Montana. My lilac is blooming, my roses are getting some buds on them, my corn is starting to poke up out of the ground, and the pollen from all the lodgepole pine is wreaking havoc on my allergies. The entire valley has this yellowish haze floating in the sky from all the pollen being released. Even my skin was covered in a fine yellow powder when I finally came in for the evening from mowing the yard. At least is supposed to rain a bit tomorrow so maybe this junk will get knocked down a bit and I can put my contacts back in my eyes without tearing up from the crud in the air. I also somehow managed to fry myself to a crisp yesterday and am certainly feeling the affects of it today. SPF 35 my rear end!

As for me I'm still having my ups and downs. Its really hard because everyday I go out in the woods and see things that I know Dad would get a kick out of hearing about and I have no one to share these little insights with. Not in the same way anyway. Even though we didn't spend hours on the phone together or anything like that... I'd always come home and just send him a quick email telling what I was doing or passing on a good "Forester" joke that I'd heard from the timber workshop. There is this big whole in my heart and time isn't seeming to make it go away at all. I don't know if this is normal or what but I still end up crying at least once a day. Never when anyone can see me of course... thats just not my style... but often times before I sleep. I know that time is supposed to heal all wounds but I wonder how much time it really takes.

I know I know

I've been so remiss about posting things on here for the past four weeks. Seems like every evening I get home and say "I really should put something on my blog" but alas I don't feel like it in the end. So here I am on a gorgeous Friday morning (Have I mentioned that 4-10's are fabulous?) spending a few minutes to catch my faithful readers up.

The snow is finally melted off in town here. Its so nice to see grass and bare ground I really can't explain it. I went for a run this morning for the first time on bare pavement and wearing a t-shirt and shorts. Granted its still only about 40 degrees out but with the sun shining so brightly it feels a heck of a lot warmer. There is still plenty of snow up in the mountains though and we are seeing a lot of flooding in the valley bottoms and in all the creek overflows. Mace and I went antler shed hunting this past weekend and really couldn't get anywhere because the creeks that we normally can just take a few steps over in the middle of summer were running too fast and well beyond their typical banks by about 40 ft. I love seeing the water because it means an easy fire season but its pretty dangerous when I know that I'm going to have to cross a lot of those creeks some how to get into my study sites this week. And let me tell you I've slipped in a few and that water is bloody cold... gives me the shivers just sitting here thinking about it..

Mace and I are starting to get our plants sprouting and stronger for our garden. I'm always so thankful that Polly has a green house we can start all our veggies in so that we can extend our growing season a bit. I'm hoping that either this weekend or the next we'll be ready to start our giant pumpkin. I've tried to germinate a few of the seeds from the pumpkin I grew last year but unfortunately at 54 days old the ol gord wasn't mature enough to put out mature seeds. The little buggers rot and don't sprout at all. Oh well, I guess its a good thing that we have a bunch of seeds from a few pumpkin growers back east that have taken pitty on us poor short growing season Montanans. Honest to pete our garden is so much fun and it gives us something nice and relaxing to work on in the evenings after I'm done with work and he's done with his school stuff.

As for what I'm going to do with the rest of my day I don't know. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and a warm breeze is coming our way so I'm sure I'll think of something to do. Maybe I'll take Lane and Gracie (Mace's nephew and neice) for a walk to the park our a mini-picnic hike on an easy trail. Hmmm that sounds pretty good. Maybe I can even convince Mace to break away from his schoolwork for a bit to come along with us. This evening I'll head to Thompson for Good Friday Services. I can't believe that Easter is almost hear already. Time has passed very strangely for me these past few months. Hope everyone is having a great day and I'll try to do better about posting more frequently. Love you all.