Where to get your tickets???

I know this picture is ridiculous but it will hopefully help sell lots of tickets to the 113th annual 49er Ball. This year it is a fund raiser for Community Resource Center, that's where I work. I am running for King of the Ball which is determined by who sells the most tickets. So if anybody wants some tickets they cost $15 and put you in a pot to win $1000! Plus there will be 2 Poker Tables, 3 Blackjack Tables, 1 Craps Table, Silent Auction, Live Music, and Costume Contests.

Change in the weather

After nearly two weeks of sunshine and sub-zero temps, some clouds finally started to roll in yesterday afternoon. We have a good chance for new snow over the next few days through the weekend. I am happy about this not for snowboarding reasons but more for the ability for our laid off community members to get some work shoveling snow! I hope we get lots and lots! The snowboarding should be fun also... Here are a few shots of the only clouds we have seen for sometime. No they are not snow clouds but those are coming on in today!

Also, this was a coyote I found out on the prairie. He was hunting a mouse, which was very fun to watch. The mouse was fearless! He would wait until the last second and then run through the coyotes legs and into another hole in the snow! It was pretty cool. Sorry I could not get better shots of him.

He is in the House! The White House!!

I have just finished watching the inauguration of our 44th President Barack Hussein Obama. That's right I said his middle name because it makes me so proud that our country could come so far as to elect a black man with a Muslim name in my lifetime. As many of you know, I have been pretty down in the dumps lately. Primarily due to my job and witnessing the suffering on a personal level. But after hearing that ceremony, I have a new spark of hope within my chest! We will get through this horrible situation because look at what we have already overcome in this country! These were a couple of pictures I took at last years State Democratic Convention: I guess whoever said Obama could not get rural, white, gun owners did not meet this guy.

more pictures

These are some pictures I have taken while trying to learn how to use this amazing camera...

Our House at night. Notice the ice spikes guarding Katrina's Ice Castle...

The Swans

So this is the Kelly warmspring which is about two miles north of our house. This and other warm and hot springs are the only open water that doesn't have a significant current. (all the rest is frozen)These swans came dropping in while Murphy was in the middle of a photo shoot. I adjusted the settings as quickly as possible and got into position. The shoot did not last long though because in the excitement, I was not paying attention to Murphy. She could not resist that many warm feathers attached to such big birds sitting a couple hundred feet away. She flushed them off the water after only a few minutes. The pictures show the progression for themselves. Enjoy...

Update on Murph

For those of you who

didn't know, Murphy had a golfball sized stone removed from her bladder last week. Thats a pretty intense surgery for a dog who will be turning 12 this year! She is doing much better now. In her older years Murphy has mellowed quite a bit from the wired, anxious hunter of her youth. She now spends her time napping on her favorite blanket, dreaming of the old adventures we had together. Sometimes barking in excitement as I am sure she is diving out of a boat in some swamp or marsh only to make a triple retrieve of freshly fallen mallards. Or maybe she dreams of running in the pastures with Katrina, helping her round up and feed horses by eating as much horse poop as possible! She goes to work with either of us everyday. At my office she musters up feelings of calmness and affection that many of my clients have forgotten. Sometimes if someone is really wound up, I will leave them in my office with Murph for a few minutes to let her work her magic. At Katrina's office, she takes a different approach, she help the kids to trust something or in her case someone. With the help of her favorite teaching device (a stick, ball or frisbee) she allows Katrina's clients to "teach" her how to play fetch. You would never know her age when you watch her work with these kids. Although she often is stiff the next morning, she will never let a kid down, she' ll keep going and going as long as it takes. Murph came to work with me yesterday. We had a beautiful afternoon with warm sunny skies, so on my way home I decided to take a few pics of Murph. We drove out to Kelly Warmsprings to get some shots. As I was taking these shots, I heard whistling wings overhead and a group of six Trumpeter Swans dropped into the water. It was all I could do to keep Murphy under control. Those instincts don't fade with age! Anyway check back soon for pictures of the swans...

Stella the Christmas Kitty

This is Stella. She is Katrina's new kitten. She turned out not to be a gift for just Katrina. She and Atticus are good friends now and she is actually helping whip old Atticus back into shape! He was getting a little fat and lazy. But not anymore! I wake up to the rumbling of feet tearing through the house. On the couch, over the lamp, off the chair,then back through the kitchen to the bathroom. Then a roll around on the floor in a blur of claws, teeth, and tails, only to be interrupted by another lap around the house...

Welcome to the hole picture

Thanks for looking in on what is going on out here in Jackson. My intent with this blog is to record thoughts pictures and ideas of what life is like in the "hole". I am not sure what will end up in here though. If you have thoughts or ideas for a post just let me know.

So this being my first post, I am learning to take pictures with a "real" camera. No more point and shoot for me, no I'm gonna drive myself crazy with all of the knobs, dials, and settings you can adjust on this new camera. (By the way, thanks to my lil bro Brian for the use of such an amazing piece of equipment!) Brian told me this would become more addicting than a new video game. All I have to say is "Anybody want an old PS2?" As I continue to get new shots I will try to add those to this site.

This shot is on the road to my house. I love this butte because it always looks different. The shadows are always moving and with the low white balance, it makes for an icey feeling.