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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Here's a picture I took in Banff National Park between Banff and Lake Louise last week.
Ok, now I'm getting excited to go skiing myself. Here are a couple of pictures I took at Lookout Pass last year.
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.
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.
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.
I've been spending all of my free time building a new countertop for my 1974 Bell slide in pickup camper. 
Last week I drained the water in the cabin so the pipes wouldn't freeze this winter. Then I stopped at Paradise Montana to meet with Rick who agreed to put a new bone nut on my Martin D16 guitar. I don't think he usually does this sort of work as he's busy building beautiful guitars, but a rancher friend of mine turned me on to him, so I think he's doing me a favor. Anyway, it was making a weird sound on the high E string when played open. So a new bone nut is in order. I can't wait to get the darn thing back as this issue was keeping me from playing that guitar, and it's really my best guitar. You'd think that Martin would have cut the nut better on this level of guitar but I guess nut.,, I mean not..
I love being at Flathead Lake any time of the year but fall is really nice. It's like a breath of fresh air after a hot dry summer. Those picnic tables are going to be vacant for several months now. How I wish I could transport myself there at lunch on any given day. There's just never enough time to be all the places you want to be.
It was hard taking pictures last weekend in British Columbia as it was overcast most of the time we were there. Hree is a picture I took of the call colors near Wasa B.C. just outside of Cranbrook. Panorama is getting some snow though.
Since I got the Aristocrat, I've taken more of an interest vintage travel trailers. I always had one actually. They are so cool! I just want to live in one.. I want to hear the rain on the metal roof.. I want to play my telecaster and hear the natural reverb.. I want to wake up in the morning and smell the propane burning as I perk my coffee. I want to eat spam for breakfast in a canned ham!
I wish spring and fall would last longer. I love the crisp fall mornings along the river. Here's a picture of the valley as the sun came up. I work over there in the distance. There's actually a river between me and the mountains in the background but it's out of view. Soon the state line bridge will be open and that will make my commute to work much better. I might even put the headlight back on my bike as it's going to be dark after work soon. I find myself trying to finish up things I should have done during the summer, but then it was too hot and now it's too cold. I did crawl up on the roof and paint my chimney at lunch though.
Here's a picture of the Aristocrat travel trailer and the old Ford F250 up at hunting camp. It was a good first test of the trailer. It got down below freezing at night and I stayed warm thanks to my Hydroflame furnace which worked perfect. My friend helped me start the propane fridge and that also worked great. Those things if working are worth more than what I had to pay for this whole trailer. So everything works except the tail lights. I used some magnetic trailer lights for towing a vehicle and just stuck them to the bumper of the trailer for this trip. And below is a shot of my bunk. Since it was just me in the Aristocrat, there was no need to make down the table.
Here are interior pictures of the new/ old Aristocrat travel trailer. I took them when I first went to look at it so the owner had a bunch of stuff in it. The dinette is in the front with bunk above, and the kitchen in the rear with toilet room on the right. I wanted a dinette in the front or rear with windows all the way around because when you are inside it's a great view of the forest or whatever and it makes a great place to sit and sleep. That was a major priority for me. 
Queenie and I took the 1968 Aristocrat travel trailer out for its first road trip over the weekend. We made a tour of a couple of the little lakes here in eastern Washington and had lunch in it along the shore of Hauser Lake in Idaho. We are going to have fun with this! I got a screaming deal on it too ($450) and it really doesn't need much work inside. The paneling and cabinets are nice, the upholstrey has been re-done and it has new curtains. It's not perfect, but It's very clean for how old it is and I found that they can be advertised as clean and be totally filthy. The wiring needs some work and it has one broken window but other than a few minor things it's good to go.
Here's a vertical version of a tree I took a pic of on Wild Horse Island. I'm using three different browsers and they seem to have a mind of their own when it comes to blogger.
Here are some pictures from my recent trip to Canada.
Abraham Lake
A vintage Chrysler. (Most people had nice new cars actually, I just liked the way this one looked.)
The view from East Glacier Lodge. You can't tell how windy it was in this picture, but it was really a blow.
I finally got to cycle in Red Deer Alberta with Queenie which is something I've been wanting to do for some time now. It's the farthest north I've ever cycled, and we had very warm weather for September almost 29 degrees, (whatever that is...?) There are lots of bike paths that are part of the Trans Canada Trail System, and they are really beautiful this time of year with the leaves changing. I was really impressed with quality and quantity the trails.
Here's a picture of Queenie at McKenzie Trails. I got her into cycling and now she's hooked! She might as well be as Red Deer is a very bike friendly city. You can get a map of the trails at Kerrywood Nature Center, and if you come to Red Deer, bring your bike!
Not very many sailboats spending the night in Skeeko Bay these days as summer comes to an end on Flathead Lake. I anchored my boat and went for a hike on Wild Horse Island in Flathead Lake as the sun went down.
I sat up on the top and enjoyed the cool wind and clear air for a change. Other people can have summer. Spring and Fall are my favorite times of year.
I thought the pattern on grandpa's old chair matched the curves on my mandolin as the sun peeked into the cabin. Corned beef hash and eggs for breakfast with plenty of hot sauce. Fall seems to have found its way into Montana now. Might be a good day to just sit around and play the darn thing. It's not quite cold enough for me to want a fire, but maybe later. Coffee's hot and the beer's cold.. 
Here's a picture of Chief Cliff above Flathead Lake in Montana. I only say all of that because someone might see this and not know what they are looking at. Anyway, I have this bad habit of taking pictures when there isn't enough light, but I thought the sky was interesting that night.
When I go north to Canada I drive through the Purcell Trench which is a vast valley going north and south in the Idaho Panhandle. It's pretty amazing and these pictures don't really do it justice. Today there was a forest fire burning just to the west and it was creating a lot of forest fire smoke that was filling the valley.
This is the view from our recent hike on Wild Horse Island. We sat in the shade of the ubiquitous juniper tree at the top of the west side of the island.
This Hobie 16 was getting good speed on Flathead Lake. This boat looks great with its colored sails. I love it when the spray is washing across the boat like this. It feels good on a hot day like it has been in Montana recently. At one point there were 5 Hobie Cats on the bay, and one larger catamaran. It's been great sailing lately.
Here's a picture I took from Wild Horse Island the other night with Flathead Lake in the background. I actually saw the wild horses. Well the aren't too wild as they will walk right up to you. I saw the new baby horse too that is so well known now in these parts. They recently put some new horses on the island not realizing that one of them was pregnant. I got a snap shot of it and might post that later.
Sorry for not posting lately. Or something.. Why am I apologizing for that? It isn't like I don't have anything to post or say.. I have to admit that I haven't taken the best pictures or anything lately even though I have gone to Canada and it's always nice up there. I did run across this picture from a set that I took going up there last year. I posted a horizontal version of it and I remember at the time thinking I should have posted this one instead. So here it is. The vertical picture.
My Garmin GPS is a dead soldier. I'm very disappointed with the Garmin GPS I purchased. It konked out just a few months after the "Limited one year Warranty" expired.
Here are some pictures of boating on Flathead Lake over the weekend. It's like summer just got started and it's already two thirds over.. So I took my big boat out for the first time this summer. Queenie says I'm a "water baby".. Well she might be right. What I don't understand is why all of those mornings fishing at Flathead Lake with my dad seemed to be hours and hours long? These days it feels like I never get enought time to enjoy the lake in the morning. But I did get to launch my 1976 Cruisers Bonanza (cool retro boat BTW if I do say so myself..) and take a tour of the bay as I drank my Tim Hortons coffee. It was a real treat. You can see Wild Horse Island on the left in the distance and Melita Island on the right with "mac alley" inbetween. That's were we used to fish for the big Lake Trout. Ok I realize you aren't supposed to take pictures into the sun but what the heck, that's what it looked like! (I always take picutres into the sun.. cause I just don't care, and I hate rules like that.)
Here is a picture of Melita Island on the right and Wild Horse Island on the left in the distance. There were scouts on the island just getting up and it reminded me of my time on the island all of those years ago. What a great experience for those kids to spend time camping on the island like I did. Scouting has changed a lot since I was there.
Here are some pictures from our hike to Dog Lake in Kootenay National Park British Columbia. Above is Dog Lake (AKA Lac Dog..) It could be named Lac Mud on the bottom, but you'd never know as it's so beautiful on the surface. Queenie and I went for a dip and you sink way in to sediment at least on the west side. I don't get the whole dog thing. Not one thing about this lake reminded me of a dog except for the dog we saw while we were hiking in.. It slobbered on my hand BTW, and I didn't get an alergic reaction to that. The dog wasn't native to the lake however.
We had to cross over the Kootenay River with two different bridges. That was kind of fun actually. Then the trail starts to climb over a ridge and decends on the other side to Dog Lake where this moss was in the forest. It was really pretty there.
It's only a few kilometers but kind of a steep climb both in and out. I think it took us about an hour each direction. Of course we were taking our time taking pictures of everything we saw as usual.. I think it's totally worth it if you want a short hike while in the park. You'll most likey have the lake to yourself and it doesn't get much better than that.
