Lake McDonald

A picture of Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park. I slipped away from the evening program to get this picture as the sun went down at Apgar campground.

Chief Cliff at Flathead Lake

Here's a picture of Chief Cliff above Flathead Lake in Montana taken from the canoe one evening. It's hard being off of vacation now. It seems like I don't get enough vacation time. Well we have a lot of pictures to go through and it won't be long until I'm back at Flathead Lake anyway.

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

Wild Horse Island and Flathead Lake

Here's a picture taken from Wild Horse Island in Flathead Lake. This will make a nice addition to my Flathead Lake photos on the side bar. Queenie and I had an amazing vacation in Washington state, Idaho and ended up in Montana where we went out on Flathead Lake and then up to Glacier National Park. We went camping, hiking, sailing, cycling, kayaking and you name it. Well we didn't go to Vegas,.. but who needs it!? Of course we took many of the same pictures, but they are all slightly different. More pictures to follow.

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

Paradise Montana

Here's a picture not far outside of Paradise Montana. Queenie and I stopped to take pictures along the Flathead River. It's a beautiful drive but there are quite a few mosquitos in that area right now,. not right here where I took this picture but along the river and also in the forest along the Clark Fork. It would have really been paradise except for them.

Lake McDonald Lodge Auditorium

Directly across Snyder Creek from Lake McDonald Lodge in Glacier National Park is a building called the Auditorium. At least that's what I think it's called. I'm fascinated with these old buildings in the park. They are sort of like a window into the past. So I walked up to this building and look in the window since I've never really noticed it before. It was locked up and like a dance hall with a dusty old pool table off in its own wing with sunlight filtering in. I had to wonder the if the walls could talk, what would they say? It was dreamy actually.. All of the tourists were walking around outside looking at the lake and I was pointing my camera into this old building trying to pull something out of someone's past vacation. Maybe when I die I'll come back here in the dead of winter and haunt these rooms. I'll float up and down the stairs in Lake McDonald Lodge and sit by the empty cold fire place and have it all to myself.

I like this picture anyway. You can see my reflection taking the picture, some tourists and trees behind me, and the inside of the auditorium and outside of it beyond. I think it's kind of cool. Click on the picture to make it bigger.

This is a picture of the Auditorium with Snyder Creek between it and Lake McDonald Lodge. The pool table is in the wing with the row of windows.

Here are interior photos that I took of Lake McDonald Lodge

The Flathead River

The Flathead River is as high as I've ever seen it. There's still a ton of snow up in Glacier Park too. The good news is that Flathead Lake hasn't flooded yet. Not yet anyway.. And heck,.. I got a mosquito bite while taking this picture. The darn bug.. Now it bugs me.. I guess I've figured out where that term came from. I wonder where the term cute as a bug came from? They're really not that cute.

I did see two ladybugs copulating the other day. That was kind of cute.. They must enjoy it or they wouldn't do it. I guess the one behind was actually a gentleman bug.. I heard on TV that reptiles don't have emotions. All they think about is food and getting warm. I'm not sure about insects. I did hear that the oxygen content in the air is why insects aren't giant. It has to do with the way they breathe and get oxygen into their body. They just can't get any bigger and still get enough oxygen. If there were more oxygen in the air they could get bigger.. So there's that.

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

Canadian doll

Some little Canadian girl left her doll on the window sill at the wildly popular (in Canada) Tim Hortons. The line in the morning often goes out the door, and the drive through line is long as well. The little girl must have been from Calgary I thought as I took this snap.. The doll has the Calgary Stampede thing going on. When we went back the next day it was gone.

I wish we had Tim Hortons here as I'm sure it would be very popular. I like the coffee and usually bring a can back with me to the states.

Kootany National Park picture

I've been in Canada the past few days and on my way home I got a little lost taking pictures in Kootenay National Park. I always feel sorry for people who are on vacation and don't get a pretty day to be in the parks. I always want to tell them to just hang around for a nice day as it's totally worth it. There are vast areas of recent forest fires, and it's really interesting to walk around in it. There are plenty of green areas too as this is a really big space.

I'll post more pictures soon.

Cromwell island in Flathead Lake

I don't remember when I took this picture from Wild Horse Island looking west to Cromwell Island. I gave my sister a ride around Cromwell Island the last time I was at Flathead Lake. She told me that one time the water was really low when we were young and there was hardly any water between Wild Horse and Cromwell. I find that hard to believe but I know it's really shallow to the south end of Cromwell.

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UPDATE 6-17-11 the Codger of Cromwell

Well well well.. The Missoulian reported that the codger (sportsman as the Missoulian called him) who owns Cromwell Island has groped one of his nurses.. According to the report when she told him not to do it again he reportedly said he could do anything he wanted because it was on his airplane.. Good Grief..

This is what I was getting at in the post below. Gone are the days of modesty and decency. I liked what one Missoulian commenter said:

This man is not in a nursing home and not senile. His comments make it pretty clear that his mind is working just fine. He's a rich pr##k with a major entitlement problem. I'd sue his #### too.

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UPDATE: 1-12-12

The codger was sentenced to 180 days of probation, 30 days of home confinement, 60 hours of community service at the humane society, received a $5000 fine and had to pay $431.25 in restitution and issue a letter of apology.

His republican Nevada state senator friend among others issued letters of support... (one of them describing him as a "stately gentel man"..)

After all, care givers are pretty much just servants right..

Hey, I wonder if he knows Haley Barbour..?

Flathead Lake morning

A spring picture of Flathead Lake. I like this time of year. The air is cool in the mornings and somehow that improves the coffee.

I rode my bike along the shore after breakfast. It felt good to be on a bike again. I rode past many new large expensive homes. I guess I should admire their size and the wealth of their owners, but it just made me sad. One guy had a yard fitting of the finest neighborhood in town. Many places had fine green lawns actually, but this guy was spreading fertilizer or weed killer on his perfect lawn. All I could think was how out of place it seemed. How the fertilizer would end up in the lake. How no average guy would ever be able to afford to live there after this old codger croaked.

Well I guess that's just the way it is. Flathead Lake is going to end up being one big expensive front yard for the wealthy. I guess it already is. Gone are the days of Aunt Mildred in her little modest cabin throwing pots on her potter's wheel. Gone are the days of modesty.

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

Flathead Lake picture

Here's a picture of Flathead Lake from my morning kayak outing the other day. I think it was one of the only moments I was actually calm and not in too much motion this weekend. Got to hang on to that moment... Live in that moment when you're in that place where you want to be.

That's kind of a hard thing to do actually. It's sort of a moving target..

Cedar trees

Here's a picture of some Cedar trees in Idaho. They usually aren't in the water like this but it's been raining a lot lately.

Kootenay National Park photos

Queenie and I went to Kootenay National Park to see the "Paint Pots" It's really beautiful there. The actual paint pots are pretty cool too.. or something... They are more yellow than Yellowstone.. But they're not exactly like Yellowstone.. More like yellow mud. Stay on the trail,.. that's all I have to say.

In contrast here is a picture of Queenie's foot taken at our Inn after a long day of paint potting.. You're probably not supposed to get IN the paint pots like I did..

The view as we hiked out of the paint pot area. It's only a 20 minute hike in to the three "pots". They don't exactly tell you that.

I liked this picture because it showed the color of the dirt/ mud... It's totally worth checking this out if you are in the park.

End times

If tomorrow is the last day on earth,as some are saying, then I'm going to be a little upset that I went to work today.. Well if I get sent to hell tomorrow at least I won't have to go back to work on Monday..

And with all of this "modern" music in church these days I think more than a few people are going to be disappointed when they get to heaven and have to sit and listen to harp music for eternity.. Cause there aint no electric guitars in heaven my friends..

Hey, that could be a country and western song!..

There aint no guitars in heaven..
Don't let them tell you there is..
If you want to crank up the volume..
Get off that that no fly list..

Um.. or something like that.. maybe it should be get ON the that no fly list..

UPDATE:

It's Monday... Stan says there's accordion music in hell so I guess I'm just back at work..

Spokane Bike to Work Week

So I figured I'd better ride my bike to work during the actual Bike to Work Week here in Spokane. It turned out to be a very nice morning ride. There wasn't too much traffic until I got into the community where I work, and then the insanity of everyone driving cars or should I say great big trucks to work started to sink in again.

Lately there are more small cars on the road, but there are also a lot of people who drive trucks big enough to haul freight with to and from work. That's just insane.

Police report

This is why I love Montana. I picked out a few entries from the local police report. The names and places have been removed to protect the innocent..

Apparently, but not surprisingly, there was a creepy short man with missing teeth at a bar.

A resident reported that the neighbor’s rabbits are out of control “again.”

A woman on reported that a man is holding her lawn mower hostage because her niece owes him money.

A 19-year-old male admitted to driving like an “idiot” after a fellow driver tattled on him.

A cow, a red Angus to be exact, was standing in the middle of the Road. Deputies were unable to find the cow.

Two big Burmese Mountain dogs, according to a resident, are always standing around in traffic.

A man reported that he left his camera on the top of one of his vehicles and now it's gone.

A mom reported that her neighbor was filming her kids. He claimed he wanted to record them doing annoying things.

A woman complained of a local stray cat that has attacked her cats twice in the last year.

Someone said they saw a mustached man who smelled like pot riding a bicycle that was too small for him.

Someone reported hearing screaming and yelling. The disturbance turned out to be a man talking loudly on his cell phone.

A man in possession of a pot pipe explained that he did not have a medical marijuana card yet but was anticipating getting one soon.

A pack of feral teenage boys were excessively rude to the mother of one of their friends.

A 14-year-old in a purple halter top yelled and cussed at her mom.

People on Main Street were mooned by a man in a white truck.

A man reported that his wife’s intrusive mother was at his home, refusing to leave and threatening to take his T.V.

A scruffy-haired, toothless drunk was spotted driving his Buick through town.

(Hey, I wonder if that was the same toothless drunk who was seen at the bar!?. If they catch him they'll have to rush him off to the barber and dentist for treatment..)

Mini Cooper eyelashes

It turns out I know the woman who owns this mini! I'm a little gealous too except if I owned it I'd have to take off the eyelashes, as well,. I wouldn't be able to drive it up to hunting camp like that..

Old lady perfume

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately. I've had a lot going on. I removed some old shrubs from the front of my house and have been mowing lawns and bla bla bla..

Yesterday, I went and got my hair cut because my hair was growing like my lawn and getting out of control. So I go to my hair stylist gal, who is moving out of town BTW which sucks for me because I liked her so much. She just seemed to know what to do with my hair without me having to tell her and I was always really happy with the way she cut it.. Anyway I go there and she was busy cutting some old lady's hair so I had to wait.

Well the old lady (bless her heart) had old lady perfume on creating a strong old lady smell. My hair stylist gal got the smell on her and transfered the smell to me when she cut my hair.. I went home after I got my hair cut and washed my hair, mainly to get all of the little cut hairs off of me because that drives me nuts, but I coudln't get the smell off and had to deal with it for the rest of the day.

So there's that.. I always wonder what poor labratory animal they squeezed to make that perfume..? I think there are two kinds of perfume.. The kind that they squeeze the gland of a small animal to make, and the kind that they make out of leftover chemicals from the chemical factory. Some of it smells a lot like what I spray on my lawn to kill weeds, and some of it smells like insecticide. I noticed that mom had this sunscreen/ insect repellent. I suspect that it was made to be just sunscreen but they figured out it would also kill insects so they just advertised it as sunscreen/ insect repellent. They should make a perfume/ herbicide ..

***

Picture of the pictures in my hair salon above. And the message in that picture is that if your worried about getting your hair cut, bring a hat with you..? I might have to do that now that my gal's leaving..

Flathead Lake picture

Yet another morning picture of Flathead Lake. I always take the same picture over and over. It's always a little different though. It's finally starting to warm up. Grass is growing, weeds are growing, lawn needs mowing... I'd better get going.

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

Calm morning on the lake

I usually like at least one cloud in the ski, and there's one about to come up in the distance.