One More

Tonight!

Just before dark, whew!

Artsy Sonora Print

This photo now graces our wall, thanks to pal Dan Fruechte who printed it BIG on his Epson 2880! It's in a frame now, Sonora the Aplomado Falcon in an artsy version. For those of you with PhotoShop, just hit "posterize" some time with your images and see what you get. We might even make this into a t-shirt with Peggy Woods, whatayou think?

Devil Dog

Mookie the English Black Lab has been a treasured member of our family for two years since she joined us from our friends the Frederickson's of Hamilton. Her AKC certified pedigree shows that parents are Landmark's Boss Dog and Lady Duchess of Landmark, with siblings called Sage's Dizzy Lizzy Lou and Greenviews Duke of Sapphire, among others. Mookie sounds so Bohemian in comparison. Today she was "hunting 'em up" and this photo of her having the time of her life with a smile on her face, not at all a devil dog like the 1980's song from the band X!

In Flight

GBH in the Bitterroot

The Guy!

Owl Today

I took this photo with Sibley the Peregrine perched on my left knee after a little pheasant hunt. I was leaning way over with the camera to "shoot" this Great Horned Owl, standing in a cottonwood thinking he was invisible, blending in with that cryptic coloration. He then fled from the two dogs below the tree, pretty clever.

Bald Eagle Nest Update

A photo from the deck on the house. And this is what I'm worried about - the new Florence bridge will be built just 200 yards from the Bald Eagle nest. Destruction. Construction. Pile drivers pounding away. But the eagles seem to be hanging in there, bless their hearts as my Mom would say.

Sib Stoop Today

On A Lighter Note

Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge today. Cool place!

Geeze,U.S. Postal Service

My brother Jonathan sent me a special gift for my birthday, and look how it arrived today thanks to the U.S. Postal Service: packing tube ripped in half, taped together, art destroyed, and no apologies. This was a Bald Eagle print that Jon had for 30 years, our friend John Ruthven the artist. How to restore this? I have no idea. Next time go UPS or FedEx.

Yep

The promised winds blew out our power for four hours, and we installed batteries in the ghetto-blaster to listen to the last half of the Seahawks game. Candles in the dark and then VOILA! Power on again to watch the  Patriots win, and they will. Two sheets of 8 foot 16 gauge steel that I use for welding sculptures blew out  in the yard, a few aspen trees down, and the eagle shelter needs some work. But everyone is safe now, and whew! Both Bald Eagles on the river were hanging on for dear life in the wind, one here.

Bracing For the Storm

It's all over the news - a winter storm warning and high wind watch. The Bitterroot/Sapphire Mountains win the worst weather award, with gusts to 70 mph! It has just started as I write this, and I'm waiting for the eagles to go in their shelter. They aren't stupid, usually. In 2001, our carpenters Mike Hupe and Dave Plummer had a great suggestion for these buildings I had designed - tie them down. They are anchored to the ground with cables for just this reason, the high winds of the Bitterroot Valley. Somehow I forgot about the cables for that last enclosure  built for Chesty in 2003, but's pretty well frozen to the ground. That's where Sonora the Aplomado resides, and she's inside for the night just to be safe. We just hope the power doesn't go out so we can cheer the Seahawks and Patriots on to certain victory!

Internet Disaster

Again, the connection has been on and off, mostly off again for days and a few words with the powers that be. This all has to do with the Deanstone Mountain towers.  A little dish on the house is in direct sight from the office at 12 miles away. Somehow they got a snowmobile and helicopter up there and LOOK! Now it works and a photo of Sonora. Tom sawed the right-of-way to Deanstone back in his logging days in '93, and I told SpeedConnect that he went up today and rattled the towers, hence the fix. Lots of laughs. Hope it's fixed now...

Year End

Amazing how we have become so comfortable with cyberspace. Our internet connection has been on and off and mostly off, a new company in Michigan taking over for Missoula. No finger-pointing, but difficult to run a business with such an unreliable way to communicate, getting "blacklisted" because of one person's virus, unable to send any email. Frustrating, but very kind people on the phone, unfortunately every day. Hope this is fixed. I am finishing up the year-end reports for our federal and state permits, which are Rehabilitation, Possession and Eagle Exhibition, and counted the years - 26 total since 1988. Ooops, I thought it was 25. And no rehab anymore. I was asked to include a photo of our eagle enclosure, and here looking northeast on a nice autumn, frosty day. Thanks Raptor Backers for the best year ever!

Happy 95th, Bill!

What a day, and Bill Ohrmann had visitors to celebrate his 95th birthday, a tiny bit late as it was actually on January 2nd, but perfect timing. Steve and Bev Glueckert and I made the trek to visit the Ohrmann family in Drummond, a photo of Bill with an owl hanging I made as a gift in 2006. He is my mentor, hero and pal. Pre-order the superb book featuring his paintings and sculptures - and life, written by Joe Nickell with photos of his artwork by Doug Day. The book Tainted Revelations will be a best-seller from the greatest megastar in the west, and stop by his gallery in Drummond. "Usually Open."

Kestrels

A crummy photo but I'll get some better ones. We now have two new American Kestrels in the program that were confiscated from someone in Helena who thought they would make nice pets. Against the law, folks. Maybe have a nice pigeon or English Sparrow, perhaps a European Starling, but not native protected species. These falcons were imprinted, or permanently fixed on humans as parents or mates. This male and her sister, Ella had their debut on Montana Public Radio Pea Green Boat and were pros from the get go. Both rode in the travel boxes, stood on the glove, and vocalized for the listening audience as if they had been doing it all of their (short) lives. Great!