Thursday, January 19, 2012

Beyond Montana ~ Sharkfinning (PLEASE watch and share these clips)


These are the links from blimp:

Dan Rather documentary clip: Sharkfinning part 1

Dan Rather documentary clip: Sharkfinning part 2

Dan Rather documentary clip: Sharkfinning part 3


There are various clips on Youtube as well.  While I feel that in some instances "shock-footage" can inspire distortion of issues and acceptance of sound bites as fact (in place of data or at least comprehensive evaluation of credible information), I also feel that there are some things you just can't grasp without seeing.  I don't know where the film makers get their numbers, so there's a risk of my having accepted less than credible sound bites so far, but the images of the fins are pretty compelling.

Penninsula Hotels stopped serving shark fin soup

Alternative Shark Finning Bill (Guam fishermen backing prohibition on finning but also trying to preserve traditions)

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Fish in the sea...better sustainability through 'universal' catch limits?

From the Washington Post article:

"Mark Spalding, president of the Ocean Foundation, said that people on both sides of the debate need to acknowledge that the United States is facing the sort of transformational moment in fishing that it did a half-century ago in forestry. Until the mid-1960s, the government allowed loggers unfettered access to public lands, he said."

Washington post article: 2012 Catch limits for all species

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Ideas to make life easier...from an email message (good tips)

So far I've tried the popcorn and the egg carton.  I saw the egg carton on a shopping channel while flipping channels the other day and already have a bunch of ornaments stored that way that I didn't previously have a solution for.  The popcorn I just had to try when I saw the email, so I grabbed a couple of small handfuls for 2 minutes and it turned out perfect.


Hull strawberries easily using a straw.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Cooke City, an avalanche, and an amanzing little survivor-dog



Missing dog found four days after Montana avalanche

Cooke City is such a beautiful place, with some amazing people and big hearts, but a sad place, too.

Two years ago campers were killed in a nearby campground by a grizzly bear that had previously recieved a food reward.

When I lived there, a long time resident, a restaurant cook and 'town protector' of sorts, told me where he wanted his ashes spread before my friend Jenny and I went back to school.  And shortly thereafter he died.

Saturday, December 31, 2011

What are you doing new years eve?

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Decorating for Christmas

~ A Photo Post ~


Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Forest Jobs and Recreation Act ~ Plea for support from Montana Wildlife Federation

The following is a copy of a letter forwarded by the current President of the Montana Chapter of the Wildlife Society.  I am sharing it here as an invitation to review the draft in order to form an opinion (based on your own review).  I've not researched it yet, but wanted to share it sooner than later regardless of what I eventually find I feel about it.  Please read on and follow the links!

Dear MWF family and Friends.

As you all know, the Montana Wildlife Federation has been a long time supporter of the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act. We were supportive before it was introduced, and we continue to support the enhanced version that is currently introduced. FJRA has long been promoted as a jobs bill, and we certainly agree with that, but at its heart, this bill is about elk and trout, and those of us who wrack our brains and bodies searching for them.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Big Mountain, Danny On Trail, 2007






Saturday, December 3, 2011

Transparent Canoe Kayak---I WANT THIS!!!!

A friend of mine just posted a link to this on facebook.  I can't stop looking at it.  I'm posting it here because...well, you'll see once you've looked at it for a minute.

I thought for a second, "yeah, it's not THAT great...." but then I just couldn't stop staring at it thinking of all the awesome things I could do with this and all of the first places I'd go.

The coolest thing in the world....I want this!

I really can't remember the last time I looked at something and want to own it this badly.  Even cameras and scopes.

Man, this is cool!!!!

Monday, November 28, 2011

My lovely armadillo

A couple of nights ago, I dreamt that my porcelain armadillo holding a bear bottle was destroyed.  I was very upset about it and I saved the pieces, even though it was not salvageable.

I'm not sure why it's so important to me or why I've kept it for so many years or why it suddenly appeared in a dream.  I know that several room mates over the years hated it, and that my husband would rather not have it in the living room (although its no longer an issue, as it's not what I'd pick for front-room display, plus our current sitting room is pretty small, so there's not a lot of 'extra' space).

I forgot the dream until I was cleaning yesterday and suddenly remembered how upset I'd been in the dream.  I was so glad to see it that its temporarily on a visible shelf.  I think I will make him a santa hat and put a wreath around his base and he will be a Christmas decoration this year.

It's odd that I had such a sudden fearful dream about a possession that shouldn't be so valuable to me.  Maybe its subconsciously linked to selling my Subaru recently (my first car) which I'd had for about the same amount of time.  Or maybe its not meaningful at all.  The only 'deep' association or image I have of an armadillo is the one in Rango that crosses the highway and makes prophetic and meaningful statements about "the other side".


I'm sure there's plenty out there to choose from, but this is the first thing I found when I googled armadillo totem (http://www.linsdomain.com/totems/pages/armadillo.htm):


Boundaries, Protection, Empathy
Armadillo wears its armor on its back,
its medicine is part of its body.
Its boundaries of safety are a part of its total being.
Adjust your rhythms and senses
and you will know what is safe and what is not. 
 
Armadillo teaches you how to protect yourself
and when to let your defenses down.


And here is an armadillo very similar, if not identical to mine on ebay for $100 (pictured above), but I'm not selling mine: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lone-Star-Beer-Advertising-Chalk-Statue-Armadillo-Texas-/270814660613?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f0dcfc805

And a taxidermied armadillo with a lone star beer (not a fan of this one) also on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lone-Star-Beer-Advertising-Chalk-Statue-Armadillo-Texas-/270814660613?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f0dcfc805



I think if there was a deeper meaining, it was a combination of keeping my armadillo (literally speaking), learning to protect myself, and the Rango clip about the other side ("we each see what we need to see").