Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I keep trying to get Mom to type in the blog for me, but she's always doing something else or Schultz thinks he's going to get food and he gets in my way – I have such a tough life! I wish I had opposable thumbs.

Anyway, it's been a pretty quiet fall. Mom and Dad say the colors were really nice this year – no early cold snap – and we've gotten quite a bit of snow already, although we haven't gone cross country skiing yet. Mom went downhill skiing (for the first time in 2 years) with a friend from Church last week – 9” of fresh powder – at Lost Trail Powder Mountain. It's a nice little hill, has great snow and is very reasonably priced.

Dad left me with Mom and Blockhead to visit his Dad in Missouri earlier this month. He saw his Dad's new house, met his brother's kid and played bingo – nope, I can't see Dad playing bingo either!

The fire department has been pretty quiet, although there was one 24 hour period with four car wrecks. None were particularly difficult, just a lot of directing traffic, which is actually a pretty dangerous thing to do – everyone's on their cell phone instead of paying attention to where they are going. Dad and Mom have both had to move pretty quickly to avoid being run over – which is not the easiest thing to do in the clown boots that are part of a firefighter's gear.

Mom also got herself elected to be a fire department training officer – she's a glutton for punishment – and Dad has elected himself to write up an initial training plan for new firefighters – I guess they're both gluttons for punishment! But they both have a lot of experience with training and training plans, so they're the right folks for the job.

Mom is still singing with several choirs at Church – the Christmas Vigil Mass was a rousing success – and has been asked to join the Pastoral Council. Just before we moved here, her parish had just finished building a big parish center, so they're looking for some folks to help refocus parish planning to more “normal” ministries rather than capital campaigns. Mom's background in strategic planning should come in handy.

We also added another member to our family – a new pony! No, not a real pony thank goodness, a 1965 Mustang coupe. I guess when Dad started working at O'Reilly's Auto Parts, he started remembering how much fun it was to have a classic car, 'cause all the other guys working there have project cars. So, a relative of one of his coworkers was selling their low-mileage, no-rust, two-owner '65 Mustang, so Dad HAD to take a look. Well, he liked what he saw, so now it's in our garage up on blocks. Dad's already replaced the front suspension, converted the brakes to disc brakes, and has an engine in a crate ready to put in. He's also remembering how much he hates working on cars! Especially since our garage isn't heated, so working out there this time of year isn't the most fun thing to do, for Dad anyway – I have plenty of fur to keep me warm, and Dad put a dog bed out there just for me.

While Dad's been working on the car, Mom has been attempting to implement some of the techniques you see on those 30 minute home improvement shows – without a lot of success, I'm afraid. She tried to sponge paint the loft wall so it would have a nice forest green look, and it turned out more like a swimming pool! Unfortunately, it's just paint, so she's going to try again – more things to make me sneeze, and more chances for Schultz to track paint around the house!

Speaking of sneezing, Dad and Mom were getting worried because I started coughing a lot – kind of a gagging cough. So we went to the vet (I hate going to the vet, even if she is a really nice lady) and they took an x-ray and put me on more drugs. The drugs didn't work, so up to the Internal Medicine vet in Missoula we went. Right after he came in, he stuck his hand way down my throat – I really don't like him! But, it turns out I'm pretty much OK – I just have this weird thing that only happens to larger-framed dogs – the nerves in my esophagus have gone dead, so when I'm lying down, there's nothing to tell my swallowing reflex to work to clear the saliva that normally occurs. Then, when I get up, all that saliva goes down my windpipe instead, causing me to hack and cough – it really makes it difficult to run outside fast and protect the house! Fortunately, the doc said it's just a nuisance kind of thing, not anything horribly serious – and that I'm just going to drool and cough a lot now. Like there wasn't enough drool around this house already with Blockhead around!

So, that's all the news for now – we hope you have a Very Happy New Year!

Glacier Grumbles

Well, Mom and Dad did it AGAIN! They took us to a cool place with lots of dogs, and I thought we were going to just play like last time, but no, they LEFT US THERE! For days and days - I thought they were never coming back - and they were having fun hiking! Stupid National Parks don't let dogs on the trails, so when Mom decided to re-live her youth they had to leave us in a kennel. Did I mention it sucked? Especially since I had to room with Blockhead!

So, they went hiking in Glacier National Park for four days. The pictures are are here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Daphne.ItchyDog/Glacier2010?feat=directlink

They don't all have captions yet, but that should happen shortly.


So, for those who don't know, Mom worked for two summers at Many Glacier Hotel in 1982/83. She was a maid the first year, and a singing waitress the second - this was back in the days when the employees also provided the entertainment - there were "Hootenany" Monday nights, a musical theater production each summer, multiple other evening entertainments, and the wait staff in the dining room sang 4-part harmony songs twice a night. There's a nice display in the Many Glacier Hotel lobby about those years, but Mom isn't in any of the pictures. BTW, for those who have a hard time believing Mom was a maid or waitress, she freely admits she was BAD at both of those, and was not invited back for a third summer, due to her "poor attitude" - big suprise, huh?


They spent the first night at the Belton Hotel which is just outside of the park in West Glacier. This hotel was orginally a dorm for the railroad workers building tourist facilities in the park. It has an awesome restaurant! They also drove up towards Logan Pass that afternoon/evening since the weather was so nice and Dad had never been in Glacier before. This turned out to be a very good idea, because the weather quickly deteriorated and was downright lousy the next day. Unfortuately, they had to hike the next day because Mom, trying to fulfill her childhood dreams, had booked the next night in Granite Park Chalet, which you have to hike to - there is no other way to get there, so they hiked in a cloud (and rain) all day. They did get to see a bighorn sheep up very close, and there weren't very many day hikers on the trails since the weather was so bad. They also got to do something else Mom hasn't done since her Glacier Park days - hitchhike! The park shuttle shuts down after Labor Day, so they had to leave the truck at "the Loop" lot, and hitchhike up to Logan Pass. Fortunately, a VERY nice couple from Lake Tapps picked them up (in the rain!) and got them up to Logan Pass in style! Thanks again folks!


So, even though they were hiking THE iconic Glacier trail, they couldn't really see anything - fortunately Dad was a good sport about the whole thing. It helps that the trail, although it's 7 miles long, is pretty easy hiking. He wasn't so thrilled with the "Chalet" - even though Mom had warned him it was basically just a hiker's shelter - he was still expecting cute girls with hot cocoa and a mint on his pillow, which needless to say, didn't happen. The other historic, hike-in chalet is like that, with full service meals etc...but Granite Park doesn't have a certified water system (although they did lots of testing this summer, and that's probably going to change) so they can't offer full service. What they do have is bunkbeds (you can bring a sleeping bag or order linens), a full kitchen for guest use (you bring your own food or pre-order it and it will be waiting for you), a pretty extensive list of basics for purchase (water, cocoa, candy, etc), a wood stove in the main dining room area and lots of boiled water for use in the kitchen. While the main dining area is warm and cozy, it did get a little confining - if the weather had been better, we would have spent most of the time outdoors. The bunkbeds are in individual rooms (unheated!), but the walls are pretty thin - you can definitely hear your neighbor's conversations - and they give out ear plugs before bed time! Mom slept pretty good in her cozy sleeping bag, but Dad said he was cold in the rented linens.

The next morning had better weather, but it was still pretty socked in - they did get to see a black bear in the distance, and lots of mule deer by the Chalet - and they got "attacked" by an aggresive grouse on the trail out. Evidently people have been feeding the grouse, because it was very forward, pecking at everything and climbing all over the packs. See the pictures at the link above.

So, Mom and Dad hiked out, then checked into a cabin at the Glacier Outdoor Center - they're very nice cabins and quiet - then bummed around West Glacier a while, and drove to Whitefish for dinner. The next day they went back to Logan Pass and hike the first part of the Highline Trail again, so Dad could actually see it. He was pretty impressed with the scenery - said it matches or beats Colorado - and Mom was really happy he got to see the real beauty of the place.

Then they drove to Many Glacier Hotel - it was REALLY windy there, so they didn't do much outside - but they fulfilled more of Mom's childhood dreams by eating dinner in the hotel dining room (the food is still kind of marginal) and explored the hotel. The employees don't put on entertainment anymore, and the basement area where they had the musicals and dances has been cut up into banquet rooms, so that was kind of disapointing, but it was still fun to see. They also drove over to the Swiftwater area (the other side of the lake) to see the motel and camping areas, then drove back to West Glacier. Dad took lots of "Hail Mary" photos out the window of the truck, and got some nice ones!

On their final full day, they drove up and over the pass again, and hiked 4 miles up the Piegan Pass trail on the east side of the park. They were planning on going back to Many Glacier to ride horses or hike, but the wind was going to be howling there again, so they decided to stay closer to the Pass area. But it was good decision - it was a beautiful day, and a beautiful hike - next time they plan to go to the top!

The next day they drove back and picked us up - finally free! - and we all got home safely. Mom and Dad say they're going back next year, which sucks for us, 'cause we'll be back in the kennel. Stupid National Parks and their stupid rules!

Well, we've done other stuff since then, but Mom wants to get this part posted, so I'll write further updates shortly. Have a great fall!

Catch Up Time Again!

So, it's been a busy summer! The patio and walkway from the house to the garage is almost done - just need to add the gutters and fence it off so Blockhead and I can hang out there during the heat of the day. Ok, so we'll be inside where it's even cooler - but Mom will enjoy it! We've added some new pictures so you can see the progress:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Daphne.ItchyDog/HousePatioAddOn?feat=directlink

We've also done some hiking. Mom did a LOT of hiking, but without us - boo! Here's the last hiking trip we all took:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Daphne.ItchyDog/Summer2010Hiking?feat=directlink
It's on the Watchtower Pass trail - since the spring was so wet and cool, the wildflowers were still blooming in July. It was a great day - not too hot, lots of water to drink from the creek and hamburgers after the hike!

Then Mom went backpacking with the Selway-Bitterroot Foundation on an eight-day trail maintenance trip - and she didn't take us! They started from Indian Creek Campground on the Idaho side of the Bitterroot Mountains - the Forest Service packed their big backpacks up the first day on mules, which was good, because the trail was really steep! Unfortunately, Charlie and the mules didn't get to go the whole way, and the group had to pack all of their gear and the trail maintenace gear (2 big crosscut saws, small saws, and pulaskis) for the rest of the trip.

The biggest problem on the trip was finding water - while they had a map with campsites and springs on it, actually finding the springs was sometimes really difficult, and involved some serious bushwacking. Finally, with the lack of water and the afternoon thunderstorms, they decided to make 'a run for the border' to the Montana side, and try to work back a bit on the trail. Day 5 of the trip was a tough one - a six-plus mile hike at 7000-8500 foot elevation - and the thunder and lightning started just before they reached the pass. They literally sprinted (as much as you can with a heavy backpack) down the pass until they reached some healthy stands of trees. Then there was just enough time to put up tents and get something to eat, and the deluge started - it stormed most of the night.

Fortunately, the next day was nicer, although they couldn't go back to the Idaho side to work on the trail due to the thunderstorm threat - but Mom and Rachel, the crew leader, did go back to the top of the pass and work their way down, while the other three crew members, Cassie, Stephen and Ben worked their way down. Fortunately for them, some Backcountry Horsemen had cleared a good bit of the trail already. Mom and Rachel also went down the trail from their camp to find an old log cabin, which had been destroyed by a falling tree. It was pretty neat to see.

So, Mom came back a day early - yeah! She was pretty tired, and said she had muscles in new places from all the sawing, but also said it was a beautiful trip and she had a good time. The pictures are here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Daphne.ItchyDog/SelwayBitterrootFoundationTrailMaintenanceJuly2010?feat=directlink
The picture locations on the map are extremely approximate! If anyone wants the actual GPS locations of our camps and springs, they're here (in UTM format):
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Aq5idZX2fIPidGhUbjdlM0hVdWZCSnVYNFZlWnBweEE&hl=en&authkey=CIOhnukC

Dad and Mom have also been up on their first Forest Service fire. They helped on the Victor Fire water tender with the Dominic Point fire, and were really, really bored. Fortunately, the weather was very cooperative, and basically put most of the fire out - so there wasn't much need for water. It was a good experience, but I don't think they'll be volunteering to do any more of it anytime soon!

Well, there's a little summer left, and I hope we get to do some more hiking - when we do, I'll post more pictures. Have a great summer!

Finally Summer!

We've finally gotten to summer here in the Bitterroots - with a bang! It's been cool and rainy, and then, wham, Monday we had 93 degrees! It's been kind of busy too - all kind of projects.

Dad is working at O'Reilly's quite a bit - he's filling in for folks on vacation - so he's been gone up to 4 days a week, which leaves me stuck at home with Blockhead! He still likes his job for the most part, but gets annoyed at people who thinks he can read their mind, or magically know what part they need without a make and model.

Mom decided she was tired of getting rained and snowed on between the garage and the house, so she decided we were going to build a covered walkway. Dad said "Whatever you want, Dear!" Then, she decided as long as we were going with a walkway, why not build a covered patio back there too? So, since this would take forever (and probably several more trips to the hospital) if they did it on their own, they hired a friend's company (Turner Remodeling, co-workers at the fire dept) to do the job, and Mom and Dad help out with muscle and non-skilled labor. This keeps the project from turning into an unfilmed version of "Renovation Realities."

Unfortunately, as normally happens with these kinds of projects, things have gotten added, changed and found, which is increasing the cost and time of the project - Dad now refers to it as "The Eighth Wonder of the World" - and means that we're stuck behind our temporary fence longer. Of course, that means we have new people to bark at everyday, so that's not so bad!

Mom and Dad started the project by removing the vinyl siding on the house, which isn't hard or physically tasking, except when you have to yank on things when you're standing on a ladder 20 ft in the air. Then the contractors took off some of the house wrap to find a the right place to tie the addition into, and route some wiring (one of those add-ons!) and dug out the patio area and framed it. The first unpleasant surprise was the amount of clay in the soil - they had to dig out quite a bunch and replace it with gravel to have a good patio base. Then there was the second unpleasant surprise...

You may recall from a post over a year ago that Mom and Dad had a Heat Recovery Ventilator installed in the house to improve theair quality and prevent mold build up. Unfortunately, when they tore the house wrap off the lower part of the house (which was conventionally framed, not foam panels like the rest of the house) there it was - mold all over the OSB. So, that all got torn out, and new foam insulation was sprayed in. And that's not cheap! But it will be a much better solution in the long run.

The concrete pour went well, as did the new OSB. Mom sanded all the new beams and pillars for the patio, and then Mom and Dad stained them. There are still a few to go, but the biggest ones are done. We're now at a waiting point - Mom and Dad told the contractors that our project could be done inbetween the other projects they have from the start - so we should see beams and posts going up sometime next week or so. You can see all the pictures so far here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Daphne.ItchyDog/HousePatioAddOn?feat=directlink

In other news, Mom went to a class on how to cut people out of cars with Fire Captain Scott. Modern cars are really safe and strong - but because of that, when you get into a really bad wreck, it's harder for the Fire Dept to get you out - the reinforcing materials in today's cars are very strong - so the tools referred to as the "Jaws of Life" aren't strong enough sometimes. Fortunately, this class specifically focuses on how to cope with the new car designs. There are a couple of pictures here - the last three in the album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Daphne.ItchyDog/VictorVolunteerFireDepartment?feat=directlink

Mom also volunteered on National Trails Day, June 5th, with the Selway-Bitterroot Foundation to do some trail maintenance. She helped install new turnpike (timber framed walkways across boggy spots) on the Rock Creek Trail at Lake Como with a bunch of 20-somethings. She's going to take an 8-day backpacking trip with them in early July to clear a trail from Indian Creek campground on the Idaho side of the Selway-Bitterroot National Forest all the way over to Watchtower Campground on the Montana side. She'll be sure to post lots of pictures when she gets back. Here's a couple of pics of the Rock Creek Trail Maintenance - Mom's hiding behind a tree branch, second from left, in the group photo below.

And while Fire Season has been very mellow so far this year, with the warm weather, the problems have started - Mom and Dad fought two "wildland" fires yesterday! One was a controlled burn from April that restarted yesterday afternoon - in 9o+ degree heat - and the other restarted at 0130 in the morning - they didn't get home until 0400!

Hope your summer is a happy and safe one!

Burnin' down the house 2

Dad and Mom went to another intentional structure burn a couple of weekends ago - this one was organized by Corvallis Fire - they're the only ones in the valley with yellow trucks. We all make fun of them of course. Anyway, this burn was well organized and the building construction was interesting - the entire building is made up of mill end 2x4s stacked on top of each other like bricks!

Evidently, back in the day when there were a lot of mills around here, the mill workers could bring home all of the mill ends they wanted, and they just stacked them up to build houses! The mill ends looked like they were 1 to 4 ft long on average, and stacked on the outside of a frame. Anyway, it takes a while to get it burning, but once it starts, it really goes fast and hot. See the photos here (starting at photo #6 in this album): http://picasaweb.google.com/Daphne.ItchyDog/VictorVolunteerFireDepartment?feat=directlink

In other news, Dad is employed again, which makes him happy and me sad - more time alone with Blockhead! Dad is working 2 to 4 days a week as a counter person and parts delivery guy for O'Reilly's autoparts store in Hamilton. He mostly likes working there, but does find some things rather annoying - like people expecting him to magically know what make, model and year of vehicle they have, where the part they asked for and purchased goes in the vehicle, and how to diagnose a vehicle's problems from the sound over a cell phone! But he likes helping little old ladies install windshield wipers.

Mom is keeping busy doing grant writing and strategic planning for the fire department. Both of these are challenging and keep her brain engaged without putting much of a strain on her free time, which is important to her! She's also working in her CSA garden on Friday mornings (see the link to Clearwater Farms) and continuing with her music ministry at Church. Mom also completed a First Responder's course for the Fire Dept this spring, and just has to take the Montana state test to get her license. First Responder is the lowest level of medical training/licensing you can get, but is perfect for her position in the fire dept - it would be very rare for her to be on her own with a patient for more than 5-10 minutes before the ambulance shows up, at least in the district. She's considering adding on a Wilderness First Responder's endorsement, which requires a little more ingenuity and self-sufficiency, but would be good when we're all hiking in the backcountry.

So far, fire season has been pretty quiet - it's been a rainy and cool spring, we had hail and snow yesterday - so we're all happy about that! We hope your spring is as beautiful as ours!

More hiking photos

Hi all - I've added some more photos to our Winter Hiking album. See the link below. We hiked up Bass Creek and Sweathouse Creek - only a couple of miles on both because the snow is still pretty deep up there. Mom and Dad are pretty happy about that - hopefully it will snow some more!

Happy Mom's day to all the Moms out there!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! And Happy Birthday to Handsome Shrek!

It's a White Easter here - we got two inches of snow yesterday morning and another trace this morning, but since it's going to be in the low 50s this afternoon, it's not going to be white for very long. Mom and Dad are happy though - more snow, less fires!

They've been to quite a few fires in the last couple of weeks - lots of folks not too smart about when to burn - one burned about 20 acres of pasture, but fortunately we stopped it before it got to any structures.

Mom is off to Church to sing, and then there's a brunch - I wish I could go to the brunch!

Hope your Easter is as blessed as our is - Alleluia, He is Risen!

Burnin' Down The Field...

(apologies to the Talking Heads)

Dad and Mom did a controlled burn with the Fire Dept for training on Sunday evening. You can see all the pictures at the same link as the last post. Although the pictures look pretty wild, there was no danger and everything went very well. Good training!

Well, sorry it's been a while since I updated my blog - Mom has been very frustrated with our slow connection at home, and I'm not allowed in the Fire Hall (dog discrimination!) - but there hasn't been a whole lot going on anyway.

It's been a very warm and wet winter. We only got to cross country ski three times, and the snow is all gone at our house already. Mom and Dad are NOT looking forward to fire season - it's been quiet so far (open burning started 1 Mar) - and they're hoping it stays that way. Dad is seen here doing his 'fire dance' to the gods of fire to keep them placated. I'm not sure it will work - Dad's dancing skills are, well, interesting.

Dad and Mom have been busy cutting up trees and gathering slash from around the yard - thus the big burn piles. There's still a lot to do, but they put a pretty good dent in it.

Our cross country skiing and winter hiking adventures are shown here: http://picasaweb.google.com/Daphne.ItchyDog/Winter2010?feat=directlink

Our last x-country ski trip was unfortunately very painful for Dad. Blockhead did it again - just as we were getting back to the trailhead and the truck, a big white dog came down to see us. Well, Schultz overreacted (again) and went for the submission hold on the back of that poor dog's neck. So Dad grabbed Schultz around the back end to get him to let go - there was a bit of a struggle - and he finally let go and the other dog ran back up the hill to its owner. Unfortunately, the owner skiied off before Dad and Mom could say more than "check your dog's neck" yelling "it's OK, don't worry about it" and that's when Dad found out he'd been bit. It was just the tiniest scratch, but you just can't take any chance with rabies - it's 100% fatal. We drove around looking for the lady and her dog, but no luck, so off to the emergency room we went. Poor Dad - his butt was pretty sore, because it took 4 shots of the immunloglobulin (sp?) and then a series of 5 rabies shots - he gets the very last shot this week. Fortunately, they're not in the stomach like they used to be!

So, last week we took a ride up to Dog Werks in Rock Creek - when we first got there, I was pretty worried about all those dogs being there, because one Blockhead is enough, we don't need more - but we just got to run around the yard with the dogs, which was fun! Well, it was fun for me - turns out Schultz is a big chicken, that's why he attacks other dogs - who would of guessed a big 110lb GSD would be a fraidy cat! So, Mom and this nice lady worked with Schultz to get him calmer around other dogs, and we're going to go into town for walks a lot more so Blockhead can confront his fears and realize not everyone is out to get him. Of course, that process is pretty painful on the ears - he constantly squeals at the top of his lungs when he get scared or doesn't get his way - he's just embarrasing to be around. I'm sure it will work eventually, but it's going to be humiliating for me! And of course, it's all about me!

Well, that's all the news for now - we'll keep you posted!