R.I.P. Earl Scruggs

The first concert I ever went to other than orchestra or symphony and that sort of thing was Earl Scruggs. My old man took me to it, and it left a pretty big impression on me. My old man used to play the old time music on the banjo and I backed him up on mandolin and later guitar. I played sister's classical guitar actually as it was the only guitar we had in the house. Even though she had that guitar she never learned to play and I think Dad must have forced her to let me use it. I recently bought it from her after all of these years since it was the first guitar I ever played, I missed it.

Even though I ended up going in different musical directions after that, when I hear Earl Scruggs I always think of my old man and going to that concert. I remember it like it was yesterday.
Here's an old pic of me playing my sister's guitar with my old man. Um.. Don't mind the hair..

Seepay Creek Montana

I stopped at Seepay Creek in Montana today as it's one of my favorite places to stop along that stretch. The sun started to peek out so I decided to wander around with the camera even though I was sort of in a hurry as usual. I think Ponderosa Pine trees are my favorite trees to take pictures of. There's just so much texture in and around them. And what's a Montana photo without a few old tires here and there? It's almost as if they morph from trash into an artifact in places like this. I'll go up to tires like this, check the size, and speculate as to what vehicle they might have been on back in the day., and what was the mindset of the person who stopped here and threw them out.. curious..

Well a tire is one thing, but I can't feel quite as nostalgic about the other trash that was near..

Flathead Lake photo

I was recently asked to use one of my Flathead Lake photos in a magazine called Zone 4 to illustrate an article about gardening in microclimates. So my picture is in the spring issue and I think it's the first time a picture of mine has been published. I'm kind of stoked about that, and I think my mom will be pleased too. (I'm always taking pictures that don't have relatives in them and I don't think she understands why,..) Anyway, I don't garden myself, but my uncle used to have a really nice garden along the shore of Flathead Lake. My dad also knew how to grow things in Montana because they both grew up on a ranch / farm in Montana. Sadly I didn't learn anything from them, so if you want to know how to do it you'll have to subscribe to Zone 4.

I retain all rights to my photos.  Please do not use any of my photos without permission.

Gondola picture

With the exception of one weekend, it's been pretty wet up in the mountains lately. Kind of reminds me of my childhood winters in Montana. Soggy wet snow and log trucks rolling through town. Wood smoke hanging low in the air. Dark after school, and slogging through the slush on the walk home. I always wanted to wear my best sneakers to school and then I'd pussy foot along in tracks left by cars, trying not to get my feet wet..

These days I suffer through the winter skiing.

Tree skiing

One thing about skiing, it gets me outside in the mountains in the winter, and that's a nice place to be on a sunny day. Can be anyway.. I usually like to ski fast on the groomers but now and then I ski in the trees when the snow is fresh and the sun is out.

Hobie 16 on Flathead Lake

I guess about half way through the winter I start thinking about summer things again. I was going through the card on this little camera and found this one of my Hobie 16 on Flathead Lake and thought I'd post I little bit of summer here in the dead of winter. Don't get me wrong,.. I'm enjoying the season and whatever else.., but I'm looking forward to sailing and camping in the Aristocrat too.

New Years resolution

Man,.. I hate having my desktop cluttered,.. so today I spent a little time sorting things out. I know,.. I should have been skiing but it looked nasty on the mountain today. At the end of the day yesterday the snow came in and it was pretty much a blizzard up there and so today I decided to be domestic. The snow was hitting me in the face and it wasn't pleasant. Anyway today I cleaned up the house and this sort of thing. So when I turned on my computer and saw all of these icons on my desktop screen I decided to extend my cleaning to my computer.

So there's that.. I realize I haven't been blogging that much lately. Haven't been doing that much photography either. I think part of that is because it's winter and sometimes that doesn't always make for the best pictures. I did go to Walmart today and bought some NiMH batteries for an old Nikon 5600 point and shoot that I've been wanting to use. So I'll carry that camera around with me and perhaps it will motivate me to take more pictures. Great little camera... They just don't make em like that anymore... (who would have ever thought I'd say that about a digital camera..?) Things change so quickly these days,. or so it seems.

Some things don't really change that much. Guitars and mandolins haven't changed that much over the years. I spent a little time playing today. Not at all enough but it was something. I really need to set aside x amount of time to practice without distraction each day but who can find the time?.. So maybe that's my new year's resolution,. set aside some time to practice each day. No way could it be to keep my house uncluttered.. That's just not going to happen.

Equal time for the Snark Tuner

So my mom and my girlfriend both bought me the same Christmas present.. A guitar headstock tuner.. Mom bought me a Crafter, and Queenie bought me a Snark. I've blogged about the Crafter so this is equal time for the Snark.

I love them both. They each have features I like. The Snark seems to have better display resolution when you are on a note, and it also seems to have a quicker response time to each note. It also has a metronome, which keeps you on time. The Crafters displays the frequencey and also has some pre-sets for guitar and bass as well as cromatic. They both have capo features and allow you to alter the pitch. (I think they both do anyway)

All in all I'm very happy to have them both. I have more than one guitar so why not have more than one tuner hey? This way I can have one tuner on my mandolin and one on my guitar and that sort of thing.

I've found that my Seagull mini jumbo guitar has the best intonation of all of my guitars up and down the neck. Even better than my Martin (not counting the telecaster as it has an adjustable bridge) I sort of knew this Seagull was good that way when I first picked it up as I knew I had to have it. It doesn't have the full tone of the Martin though as it doesn't have solid back and sides, but still for the money the low end Seagulls are nice guitars if you are picky about intonation and don't have a lot of money. I haven't played any solid wood Seagulls, but I'm pretty sure they must be good. Plus they are made in Canada!

Skiing in Kootenay National Park

I went for a quick ski along the Simpson River in Kootenay National Park on my way back home from Canada today. It's a bit of a long drive so it was nice to get out and stretch my legs. It was a little colder than I thought it would be however. The temps were above freezing in Calgary and also in Cranbrook but back there in the parks it can be pretty darn wintery.

I've been really enjoying my trips to Canada. The people have been really friendly especially when they find out I'm from the states. It's a different culture than here in the states though for sure. Different holidays, different ways of doing things, saying things and looking at things. It's the same but different. I'm enjoying that difference.

But the Northern Rockies are pretty much the same. The animals and the trees don't know that they are Canadian,.. and as I skied along in Kootenay National Park I saw some rather big looking dog tracks back in there.. They weren't fresh but they didn't look domestic. Let me put it this way, I didn't see them in the parking area, only way back in there... Made me watch my back a little.

Still it was nice to be on my skis out there all alone in the wilderness.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all. I brought it in with Queenie in Canada and went ice skating for the first time since I was a kid. We used to have a pond like this to skate on in Montana where I grew up, so this was a real flash back. I fell once but then started to get the hang of it after a few laps. We rented skates, and I had to give my driver's license number as a deposit. The rental guy was a little short with me until he saw that I was from Washington state, then he's like, wow you're a long way from home and wanted to talk. I've never used hockey skates so that was also a new experience. They turn really quickly and I really enjoyed how they felt, almost like little slalom skis. Guess I'll have to get my own skates now.. Queenie is a good skater too even though she said she wasn't. Then we roasted some "smokies" (hot dogs) at a fire pit next to the pond. It was a very nice family experience on a beautiful winter day and something I'll long remember. I have to admit though that I probably should wear a helmet when I skate..

Oh,. that's not us by the way,.. we were just skating behind these guys.

Headstock tuner

Well I got what I wanted for Christmas,.. A head stock tuner.. A pretty cool little thing. Man I wish I'd had one of these back when I was out on the road, but the technology just didn't exist. When I was in orchestra the conductor would tune us all to an old strobe. I can see why he did that now.

A 440... and for my Canadian friends, 440, A?

Pine Cone Christmas Wreath

I made myself this pine cone Christmas wreath thing for above my door. Well I just found it in the forest and thought it would show some holiday spirit. I put a screw in the back and I tied an old guitar string on to hang it up with.

New ski race boots

So My friend Rog, who is a masters ski racer turned me on to a pair of Lange World Cup 150 race boots, and he pointed me in the right direction as far as size and fit. My old boots are getting packed out. The new ones are new old stock. I've always been a Lange guy when it comes to ski boots. So I've been wearing these around in my house to try and get used to how they fit. Race boots have to be really tight because if your foot is moving around in them you loose control, or have less control of the ski. At first I had trouble even getting them on. They do fit BTW, but they are screaming tight. Tonight I decided to put my custom foot beds (which were sculpted to the bottom of my foot) and that made a huge difference for the better. I thought there wouldn't be room for those in there but it totally improved the fit of the boot. So now my next step is to put them on with some very thin ski socks. And then after that I'll set up a pair of GS skis and ski with them for a while this weekend. I can tell that these are really going to improve my racing. My other boots were too sloppy.

Ask first

Back in 2006 I went out on the bay as the sun came up and took this pic with my little point and shoot as I drank coffee and fished and made this THIS POST as a result. Someone used the pic on their blog without my permission and didn't give me credit. So I thought I'd share it again with you. I do reserve the rights to all of my pictures, and I have a vast archive.

I also had Seeing Bears on my side bar for a long time and due to this I'm going to put it back up over there.

I don't mind at all if people open up the pics and look at them, that's what I post them for, but please ask first if you want to use one for something or if you want to post it online. I'll leave it there for now and stop short of linking to the blog that used my picture until they have a chance to remove it.

I've been in kind of a bad mood lately and this isn't helping..

***

The blogger removed my pic at my request. And the water calms...

Carhartt art

My friend's father in law painted these pictures on the back of his jacket. (believe it or not I do have a friend) I thought it was pretty cool.

Banff National Park photo

Here's a picture I took in Banff National Park between Banff and Lake Louise last week.

Lookout Pass photos

Ok, now I'm getting excited to go skiing myself. Here are a couple of pictures I took at Lookout Pass last year.

Forest pictures

Here are a couple of more pictures from hunting camp. A brief break in the weather allowed the sun to shine. It made for a pretty morning in the forest, but it wasn't long before the next weather system moved in.

I like to walk up this trail. It used to be used as survival training, then it became an ATV trail. Now that ATVs are banned from this area, it's just a trail that I like to hunt on. That big tree in the foreground is a cedar. There's a creek below to the right. There wasn't much color in the forest here when I took this picture so I removed what what color was left.

Retro camper pictures

I wanted to post a couple of more pictures from my weekend at the late hunting camp. It was really cozy in my 1974 Bell slide in camper as the snow closed in. I could hear the snow coming down and hitting the side of the camper and like I said I was snug as a bug in a rug in there. (and there were probably a few real bugs in there too..) Now the camper is off of the truck in my back yard and covered with a tarp, and my hunting buddies are still up at that camp in the snow.. Wish I was there with them. I might drive back up with the truck for the last day of hunting season, but we will see. If my guitar is ready I might drive back to Montana and spend the night at the cabin on Flathead Lake. I'll sit by the fire and play my guitar as winter closes in. It doesn't get much better than that.

Below is a picture of the forest view outside the back door of my camper the next morning as the sun came up. It was really something as I drank my morning coffee. Nabob coffee from Canada BTW...

Vintage Camper

Don't you wish that some things would never change?.. I love to camp, but I'm not a big tent camper. Don't get me wrong I have a small tent, and I like it unless it rains. What I really like is camping in a vintage camper, from the 60s or 70s. There's just something about them that is different than the new campers. There was an economy about them and well, the price is a lot lower now than a new camper, I couldn't begin to justify the cost of a new camper or a new pickup truck for that matter, but I don't think I'd enjoy a new one any more actually. The systems in the old campers are simple and work well. Of course nothing lasts forever.

Last weekend I took my pickup camper hunting and I was snug as a bug in a rug in there as the weather closed in around me. The sun came out after the storm and it was beautiful in the woods for a while. But another weather system moved in and I think winter is starting to take hold of the mountains in the northwest. I really like the way the picture above captures the snow coming down. I was looking through all of the pictures I took on this trip and this one really stood out to me.

The sun came out the next morning and it was really beautiful in the forest. But the weather didn't last very long and another storm system moved in.