Chiver's Cornice Craziness!

Today was the perfect day to take the camera out into the backcountry for the first time. We had blue skies in every direction and a great crew who were ready to jump off stuff. These guys were on top of Chiver's Ridge, in the wind, jumping 15 to 25 feet off a cornice, just so I could take some cool photos, and that, is really cool in my book. Thanks to Seamus & Amon McKinney, Matt Donovan, Niel Albert and Nick from Maine for bieng patient and goin as big as possible!

This was the first jump of the shoot, and holy crap did Seamus go far! This was also the BIGGEST jump of the day...

Above-This was his landing. WAAAYYY down the hill! Below- Nick from the great state of Maine. . .

Above- Amon Below - Niel

Below- Matt surprises a couple of hikers...

The following series is of Seamus doing a "Twistie-Flippy -Thingy". He nailed it if its supposed to look like the name implies. You'll see...

He did land this! I just missed the shot. Still pretty freakin cool huh???

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...