So this is Christmas

This is how we deal with Christmas when it's over at work.  Just put it in a box and take it out back.  Have someone put it in the furnace room when they get around to it..  We don't even bother to take the ornaments off of the little fake tree..

I used to think we should celebrate Christmas every four years like the olympics to keep it special but when I suggested that idea to a co-worker he pointed out that we wouldn't get a day and a half off that way.. Good point.

I really enjoyed being with family and friends but for some reason the Christmas spirit doesn't enter me at work.

Bitterroot River

Here's a picture from the Bitterroot in Montana on a frosty November morning.
(I reserve all rights to my photography, don't use without my permission)

Hipster hunter

Here's a picture of our hunting camp as we left one morning in the jeep to hunt. (I retain all rights to my photography so please dont take them without asking or I'll hunt you down)

And a picture of me hunting.. I'm not exactly a hipster hunter,.  The latest thing in hunting I guess.  Seriously,.I heard it on the CBC. I'm not even sure I'm hip,.. Those are deer tracks BTW.

I almost got a big buck though, just didn't get a long enough look at it to shoot.  There'll be no deer skin man purse for this hipster..

Buddy heater for camper

I have an old Bell slide in pickup camper that I use mainly for hunting. (not to be confused with our Aristocrat travel trailer seen in the pevious post)  Here's a pic of the Bell on the Ford.

For years I've been nursing the old Hydroflame furnace in the Bell camper.   I'd take it apart and clean out the orifice where the gas comes out into the burner.  It's a little hole that gets clogged up.  Then the burner won't burn properly.  I used an old guitar string for that task.  And that worked for quite a while.

Finally after several years of cleaning it out, the thermostat on the Hydroflame quit working so this year I decided to try a Buddy portable heater as a replacement.  

There are thee kinds. Big Buddy, Buddy and Little Budy.  The Big Buddy seemed to big for my camper, and the Little Budy too small as it just screws on the top of a propane canister.  But the Buddy seemed just right for this brown bear.  I tested it out the other night when it was freezing outside and inside the camper was in the mid 60s F with the heater set on low.  It only has low and high.

I didn't want to keep screwing the little propane canisters into this thing as they seem to be sort of an expensive waste to me, so I bought the propane hose and also the filter that you need to use with the hose.  That way I can have a regular propane tank outside of the camper and the heater inside. I'm able to feed the hose through my electrical cord access panel.

These heaters are safe to use inside but they do consume oxygen so you have to keep a window open.  So far this has been a good solution for replacing an old heater.  I'll let you know as I'm going to take this to late hunting camp soon.

***
Update:


It worked great! The temp dropped down to 21 deg F this weekend at hunting camp and the buddy set on low kept the camper in the 60s.  It was actually a little warm so I kept a few windows open a bit.

We figure it will go 128 hours set on low with 4 gallons of propane. (what you usually get in a regular propane tank) And it will use one of those green propane canisters every 4 hours on low.  But I just have it hooked up to a regular propane tank that sits outside of the camper.

Richard Nixon quote

Always give your best, never get discouraged, never be petty; always remember, others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself.

***
That's my favorite quote.  What I want to know is did he just come up with that off the top of his head or did he compose it?  I'd give anything to be able to just come up with stuff like that at the drop of a hat.  No wonder he got to be president..

Others may hate you?  I always thought you had to give people reasons to hate you. Maybe you don't have to give people reasons to hate you.  What do I know?.. 

Aristocrat travel trailer at hunting camp

I took our Aristocrat travel trailer up to hunting camp last weekend.  It's way back in the woods of Washington state.  The larch trees are turning color and it was beautiful in the mountains.  The larch trees weren't in full cry yet but they were getting close and it was still pretty in the forest.

Flathead Lake shoreline picture

Another pic from my morning canoe ride on Flathead Lake.  It made for a nice little realignment to my attitude.

Flathead Lake in the fall

I guess sublime is the best word to describe how Flathead Lake was this last weekend.  I've been to a lot of different places and seen a lot of beautiful lakes.  The color of the glacier fed lakes is lovely, and beautiful mountains along lakes, but there's something really special about Flathead Lake.

Aristocrat Travel Trailer in Banff National Park

Here are a couple of more pictures from our summer vacation in Banff and Kootenay National Parks Canada.  Man that sounded long winded.. Part of the fun for me actually and I'm sure for Queenie was playing with our old Aristocrat Travel Trailer, and what better place than the Canadian parks?  Bow Valley above with a giant copy right stamp on it.

Queenie took this picture as the Aristocrat went under a tunnel.  Of course when you go through a tunnel on vacation you have to honk the horn.  Bad form if you don't.

To end things off proper,  we got to hang at Flathead Lake on the last long weekend of the summer for some boating, sailing and guitar playing. Hey that could be a western song!..  Who rocks the party? We rock the party!

Kawasaki H2 750

Years ago I bought this old 1974 Kawasaki H2 750.  It was pretty much a barn find and the original owner just had it in storage.  I always wanted one of these and had to scrape up $400 to get it, money I really didn't have at the time.  I only had about $200 but some how I managed to come up with the rest of the money before someone else bought it.  I rode it around a little but it needed a ring job so then I just stored it too.  I'm thinking it's time to breath some life back into it and maybe ride it back and forth to work now and then.  It's a pretty special bike, and very fast for the day.

Herbert Lake Alberta

Here's a picture I took of Herbert Lake in Alberta.  Pretty lakes everywhere you look up there in the parks.  We didn't go out on this lake but one time when we went by people were floating around on it.   Notice my copyright stamp.  I guess I'll be putting those on my pics now, however I do retain the rights to all of my photography with or without a stamp on it.

Let me see,.. I can't think of anything else right now.  I've been sleeping in the trailer some of the time when it's hot in my house.  How did those people get those jobs working in national parks anyway?.. and how did I end up working at the salt mine,..

Cool cool water

Here's a pic of Queenie after taking a dip in the cool cool glacier fed water of Bow Lake in Alberta.  Now that I'm back at the salt mine and it's been 90 degrees for days in a row, I'm longing for a cooler days and cold water.  Another pic of her kayaking on Bow Lake below.

Aristocrat in Kootenay Park

I loved this picture Queenie took of the Aristocrat Travel trailer as we decended into Kootenay National Park.  And who knows, perhaps this old trailer has been up here before way back in the late 1960s.  

Queenie and I met up there so she followed along in her car and we talked on the little family radios as we drove along together.  It didn't take too long to move from one camp to another and it was nice to have the car to go on longer trips out of camp.  Plus it was a nice safety factor to have the car in the event the truck or trailer broke down, which thankfully never happened. 

Aristocrat travel trailer in Canada

Queenie and I camped with the Aristocrat travel trailer in Canada last week.   We had four different campsites from Radium Hot Springs to North of Lake Louise. The picture above is from Redstreak on the hill above the town of Radium.  You can see my shadow in the picture on the right. Below is our camp at Marble Canyon.

We had a great time as usual, and it was a great way to escape the heat down in the states.  The 1979 Ford F250 purred like a cat towning the trailer, and one dude driving a new F350 even complimented us on old yeller. They just don't paint trucks yellow like that any more. The 1968 Aristocrat travel trailer worked well too.  We stayed comfy and and warm as temps dipped down into the 40s F at night.  The picture below is our last camp at McLead Meadows.  I didn't get a good one of the camp at Mosquito Creek. ( it had less mosquitos than Marble Canyon actually)

I almost hesitate to post any of my photos now as I don't want them ending up on someone else's site.., but it's hard to go into the Canadian parks and not be inspired.  It's a great place to do some vintage camping, and there's nothing like the smell of propane and coffee in the morning.  Has to be in Melmac to get the full effect...

My photos taken without my permission on HD wallpaperfresh.com

Despite stating on my blog that I reserve all rights to my photography, and to not use my photography without my permission HERE ARE three of my photos taken and being used without my permission. (as of 7-16_13 the photos have been taken down per my request or so it would seem.)

Who knows what else they've taken without asking or paying for?  Maybe they've taken one of yours?

UPDATE:  the site owner has taken one of my pictures down.  The one with clouds reflecting on the water.  But there are still two of my pictures up on the site.  I've asked that those be taken down too.  We will see.

UPDATE: 7-16-13  It looks like the site owner has removed my photos taken and used without my permission as per my request to remove them from the site.  To make sure I'm going to leave this post up for now.

I guess I'll have to water mark my photography now.  I can't figure out a better way to keep this from happening again.  None of this is fun.  I don't want my blog to be about a bitter dude running around trying to police the internet.  My first thought is to go back to keeping my pictures to myself.  The idea here was to share the photography and the associated experience.  It isn't about self promotion.

When I was in art school, I was really put off by the self promotion of it all.  I never liked the idea of self promotion when it came to self expression.  People would have a show and it was like, this is my art work, I'm so cool.  I really hated that.  At the same time now I don't want people taking my stuff and laying claim on it or selling it.  That's the other side of bother. 

I recently had a university student who felt entitled to take my photography without asking linking back or giving photo credit.  She even tried to convince me she had the right.  Her prof acted like it was an oversight and yet all of the non visual intellectual property had proper citation? What the heck?  If they had asked first and given credit, I probably would have allowed that use.   Others have taken my photos to make a buck where I'm sure it's hard to make ends meet.  I can actually understand that a little more but it still doesn't make it right.  

There are some people ask to use my pictures and for the most part I won't allow my pictures to be used. I'm not taking pictures to sell products or services, but to their credit they at least ask first and that's how it should be.  I'm always impressed when someone asks first.

This blog is about sharing a viewpoint.  I hope people come here and look around and share in my experience without taking bites out of me.  That's what we have insects for.

Copy Right Issues

I reserve all rights to my photography.  What do I have to do, put a big watermark across every photo?!  If that's what I have to do I guess I'll do it.

Despite putting a statement on my blog in each post stating that I retain all rights to my photos, I found these three of my pictures on a site called HD Wallpaper Fresh.  I've requested that they remove my pictures and we will see how they respond.  Who knows what else they've taken and without permission.

Here's my picture on HD Wallpaper Fresh taken and used without my permission.

Here it is again: I retain all rights to my photography.  Do not use my photos without my permission.

Bird is the word

So I was in the thrift store last week looking for Melmac and other various mid century things and I came across one of these vintage wall art birds.  I'm looking at this thing deciding how cool it is and this lady comes up and says "here's another one that goes with it."  So then there were two..

I walked out of the store without the birds and I thought, If I don't buy these birds, I'm always going to regret it.  So I looked in my wallet and found the ten bucks I needed and went back in and bought them.

I have to wonder a little about the old bird who used to own these birds..  The wing is coming loose on one of them but it just needs a machine screw nut. They say Style House, Japan on the back of them.  They're gonna ad style to my house!  I'll add them to the Gochenour collection. 

Kootenay National Park photo

Here's a picture I took in Kootenay National Park from when I went there right after all of the flooding in Alberta.  The river is usually a mineral blue color but it was running brown this time.
I reserve all rights to my photos please do not use without permission 

Mid Century Desk Lamp

My mom downsized and I just had to have this mid century desk lamp that is in the shape of a flower.  There's something really corny about it, maybe the green leaf, but at the same time there something really cool about it.  It's not trying to convince you it's a real plant or even a good representation of a real plant.  There's a certian honesty to it in that respect.  And if you put this lamp in your home, it wasn't like you were trying to impress everyone.  It was just fun and it's still just fun.

I can imagine sitting around back in the early 1960s watching the Judy Garland show on a black and white TV with this lamp on the end table.  And of course you'd want an ashtray right next to it in case someone wanted to smoke..  Where's my ashtray?

Mid Century Coolness

Mom had these mid century milk glasses so I appropriated them for the 1968 Aristocrat travel trailer. They will be perfect for camping.  At the end of a long day on the hiking trail we can pop open a carton of milk and relax by the camp fire.

Queenie picked up this cool retro Coleman water cooler.  It was made in Canada and that might explain why I've never seen another one exactly like it.  We can put our, Tang, Kool-Aid or even just cold water in it.

Retro camping retro cooking

So I've been thinking,. We have the vintage Aristocrat travel trailer,.  We have the vintage Melmac dishes,. Queenie loves to cook for me,. We just need vintage food for when we go camping!

I recently got a couple of vintage cook books that are small and will travel well:  
7-up Goes to a party, (everthing is made with 7-up in it, how fun!) and it includes a savory jello recipe that I'm curious to try: Shrimp Aspic Ring.

 And I also got a vintage Presto pressure cooker recipe book.  I have a pressure cooker, and with it you can make a fast and hearty meal in minutes including a recipe for squirrel that will be handy for camping as there are squirrels everywhere!  Here's all you need to make it:

1 squirrel

salt and pepper

1/4 cup of fat

1 cup of water

2 tbsp. flour

Wait a minute,. a quarter cup of fat?  Where in the heck are we gonna get a quarter cup of fat when we are camping!?  I'm not even sure if you can buy just plain old fat any more.  I guess we will substitute the fat with olive oil.  Or substitute the squirrel with a more fatty rodent, like beaver or marmot. Of course you'd probably only need half a beaver for two servings, and you'll have to fight over who gets the tail! 

The flour is in case you want to thicken your squirrel au jus, so you don't even need the flour really.

Montana Landscape

Here are a couple of pics of the Montana Landscape and highway 382. The colors are nice this time of year before everything dries out. (all photo rights reserved)

Happy Father's Day

A pic of my Dad playing the mando in our old house years before I scampered around in those rooms.

And a pic of my grandfather having a smoke while my Dad did a little picking.  Those guys were cool, and they were well respected.  They carried themselves in a way you just don't see very often these days.  They set the bar pretty high for someone like me to follow.  I'll never be half the man those guys were.

Aristocrat travel trailer water system repair

I've been working on the water system in the vintage Aristocrat travel trailer.  I've camped a lot in vintage campers and have come to realize that all you really need is one of those large green plastic water containers.  They will last forever and it's easy to manage them, but I wanted the water system in the Aristocrat to work.  I've been trying to get all of the trailer's systems to work.  The water pump was disconnected when I got the trailer and when I put it back together it didn't suck.  Which sucked..

So I took it out and took the pump apart.  The gasket was pretty much shot and the blades on the impeller were somewhat bent over.  Still I thought it should work because the motor ran, and it's a simple device.  Plus the pump is a 4+ gallon per min pump which is a lot just for a sink by todays standards.  We have scrap gasket material at work so I cut out a new gasket.  The main thing was getting the diameter right which was 1.75 inch.  I got it to fit perfect and tight, and then I drilled the holes for the screws.  Then tried to make the blades on the impeller straight by bending them back.  After a day or so I put the pump back together with the new home made gasket and used clear silicone to seal it.  I let that dry over night.

It had to work right?  I gave it about a 60% chance and Queenie crossed her fingers.  I did not like the idea of buying a new pump if I didn't have to.  So I soldered all of the electrical connections, wrapped the water connections with teflon tape, and shazam! we have water in the sink!

Oh yeah.  I used a 1967 Ford pickup gas cap for the missing water tank fill lid.  It fit the existing fixture perfect and looks retro.  I had to grind down the inside flange a little but then it fit like a glove and locks into place.

And for drinking water I recently picked up a vintage Coleman water cooler.  It will sit ontop of the fridge cabinet.

Sold our old house

My mom finally sold the old house I grew up in.  So after the garage when everyone else had left and the house was empty, I walked around alone and took some pictures. Above is the view outside of my bedroom window.  As luck would have it a vintage school bus came from out of nowhere and into my picture, as if to take me away.

Here is what it looked like inside my bedroom.  I never had that plant thing over the window BTW, that's something my mom put up in there when she used this as a guest bedroom.  I used to hear the rain on the roof and listen to the wind in the trees from this bedroom.  In the 1930s the  original roof burned off and they gave the house a different roof line.  It also lost it's lap siding and a pointed spire.

There was a stairway from the upper floor to the back yard.

I looked around in each empty room before I walked out of the house for the last time. It had a personality with sights sounds and smells all its own.  In the morning sun would shine through the beveled glass and make rainbow colors on the floor and walls.

Our house, was a very very very fine house.. I hope its new owners value it as much as we did.  I'm really going to miss it..

Melmac dishes

I found myself hunting through a new thrift store (after I made a deposite) and came across this set of vintage Melmac dishes for our vintage Aristocrat travel trailer.  We found a gold set earlier that is more complete, but I couldn't pass this up. It will match our mid century trailer decor perfectly.  The picture shows the Melmac on our an old dinette not in the trailer.  Works pretty well there too!

Boat dock on Flathead Lake

Since we have different long weekends than Canada has I stopped by Flathead Lake on Memorial day on my way back from BC.  If I were president I'd introduce legislation that would align holiday weekends in Canada and the United States.  It would increase trade and tourist revenue.

I retain the rights to all of my photos.  Do not use my photos without prior agreement!

Anyway I got up in the morning and took my coffee and camera down to a very calm Flathead Lake.  And the coffee maker worked very fast BTW.. When people want coffee in the morning, they want it now! Everything else can wait.

British Columbia pictures

Here are some pictures from our weekend trip to British Columbia.  The ones above are outside of Wasa and the one below is along the Crow's Nest Highway east of Cranbrook.

I remember a conversation I had with a friend years ago while we were in Glacier Park.  I was taking pictures and the sun wasn't out.  I think it was actually raining.  He said you can't get a good picture if the sun isn't out, you're just wasting film.  I never thought that was true, but it sure doesn't hurt to have the sun out.  I think of that conversation all of the time now when I'm taking picutes no matter if the sun is out or not.