Outdoors
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Written by Grampa Will
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Wednesday, 26 December 2007 |
Another addition to the outdoor department, for this here site, the continual search for the allusive mountain lion. If you have read before then you know that it seems to always start way early in the morning and this adventure was no different. I awoke at 3;30 am with much anticipation. It had snowed the day before, heightening the chances of finding a track. Things went a little slower this morning then usual, but though it all, I had a friend picked up and back on the road by 5. It was looking pretty good, a little bit chilly with the temperatures down around 18 degrees or so. When it gets to the the stage of coldness that the snow is crystallized. It is harder on the dogs, on there feet, there breathing and also the sent that the lion produces is frozen . It is allot easier to run a track when the temperature is hovering around the freezing mark, The snow today was on the verge of being too crystallized but not quite. |
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Written by Grampa Will
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Thursday, 14 June 2007 |
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It started at 4 am and that probably should have been the first clue that it might not be " just another day". But for a day set aside to see the majestic cougar, it was none too early... |
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Written by Grampa Will
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Tuesday, 23 January 2007 |
On a cloudy day with an ever so slight mist settling to the ground, it did not even seem like one would get wet. The air pressure was fairly high which lent itself to a cheery day. It had been so cold the last few weeks but that warm southwest wind had brought the mid winter thaw and the southern sloped hillside was alive with life. The birds were signing and fluttering about while they searched for bugs and small pine nuts. Squirrels darted from tree to tree and I noticed one by an old stump, digging in his cache of pine cones that he had so diligently hidden away for this exact moment.
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Written by Grampa Will
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Tuesday, 16 January 2007 |
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It it now 6:50, breakfast is over and tea is drank, the dogs have been released from their chains, ready to load up for the days hunt. We are not after anything to kill, it will be a photo opportunity if I can remember to take the camera. Will write more upon our return. Yes, yes, the first successful hunt of the season. Of course, as every year, it seems like it was somewhat of a cluster. The tracks we found were of a female Mountain Lion and at least two kittens, maybe three, there were tracks everywhere. Oh to add to the cluster, the tracks were three days old and had an inch of new snow in them. Being unable to determine which track was which and where they went last, whether it was up the mountain last or down the mountain first, guess that would be the same thing though, would it not? Anyways we took the oldest dog and turned him loose on a couple of tracks headed down off the point of the steep ridge. The old pooch seemed to take on more and more interest as he went from us and to the right. He bawled a few times but with the long drawn out chores it was easy to tell that it was an old track for sure and he was having trouble working it out. It has always seemed like if there is more than one lion, then the job for the dog is harder also. |
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Written by Grampa Will
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Monday, 08 January 2007 |
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Where is your out doors today? Is it just the sky, for all else around you is man made or are you at the other extreme where every thing is God made and you can not even see any thing else? Assuming then that you at least have your computer and like all others there is very little time to spend where there is nothing. We must work with what we have and make the best of it. |
I must admit that, if left up to my own devices, I would choose to be where there is nothing but God-made things in a wilderness of life as it should be. What was that place? The garden of eden, yes that was it. I can almost feel it now. The light of the sun as it covers your body, touching the depth of your very soul, warming the heart and mind with the comfort of peace, and the promise of a new day. Your eyes are filled with the glories at hand, the viberant colors of the many flowers that abound. From the small yellow butter cup, so closely tucked to the ground nessled so closely and in prefect harmony with the ever so lovely Bitterroot with its clock of purple petals. Higher than those and closer to your eyes come the Indian Paint Brush and its striking red blossoms. Not really in a flower shape and different in its own right, standing but a foot high, it has an heir of strength. Many shades of green make up the background, the many different kinds of grass all dancing so slightly in the gentle breeze all holding thier ground in the various shapes they were made. We can all find that gentle peace where ever we are and though this column I hope to bring some of that to you all and a whole lot more. God bless to all Grampa Will
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