Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Christopherisms: "Don't do it Mr. Bean, Don't do it!"

I know I can't remember all of today's funnies from Christopher (age six) and I wasn't even with him all day.

But here are a few.

In our canoe on a lake today (the kids were helping me with something loon related for work), heading back to a landmark we were headed to, my daughter asked where it was because we couldn't see it yet.  Christopher says, "don't worry, we can google it"

Throughout the canoe ride (3 hours in the rain), he was in charge of the bug spray, and kept offering it around by asking, "anybody want a peanut?"

Then, as we approached shore, he says:

"Now everyone stop rhyming. Anybody want a peanut?"  (For anyone who hasn't seen princess bride, follow this link to see why this was funny.)

Then tonight, eating home made pizza (courtesy of Greg who wasn't with us on the lake and beat us home and started cooking), watching Mr. Bean, he says, "Is this a reality show, or.....?"

Followed later by "Don't do it Mr. Bean, don't do it!" and something funnier I can't remember

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

No species abandons their young due to human smell

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Mountain Lions Feeding on Wolves (article link)

Mountain Lions Have Killed 2 Wolves Since January

(KECI photo from article)

An encounter between a mountain lion and a radio collared wolf left the wolf dead and its carcass mostly consumed. Since January of this year, mountain lions have killed two radio collared wolves. The most recent kill was just discovered just last week."

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Article Link: Massive Bighorn Sheep Found on Wildhorse Island

Link to Flathead Beacon Article: Massive Bighorn Sheep Found on Wildhorse Island

The fourth-largest bighorn sheep skull on record in Montana will be put on display next fall at the Montana, Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 1 office in Kalispell. - Justin Franz/Flathead Beacon

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Mother's Day ~ Spring Loon Census ("Loon Day") with my kids

I was busy at our local Family Forestry Expo this past Saturday, which fell on the same day as Loon Day (an annual census of breeding lakes in western Montana, coordinated by the Montana Common Loon Working Group, supported by the Montana Loon Society).  So I had to get to some of my lakes on Mother's Day, instead; it was a long but fun and sunny work day for me and the kids.

We (the area coordinators from multiple state and federal agencies) monitor or coordinate monitoring of our respective lakes throughout the breeding/chick rearing season (roughly May to September).  On Spring and Summer census days, we try to see every lake on one day (or at least within a couple of days) to see which lakes are occupied and which pairs are nesting.

We cover some of our lakes on these censuses through 'citizen science' (use of local volunteers) but also usually still have lakes to cover ourselves and/or through our "loon rangers" (hence our Mother's Day work day).

Here are a few of our Mother's Day/Loon day photos.  These lakes are way up the North Fork of the Flathead River, just across the river from Glacier National Park.  We didn't take any Polebridge photos, where we stopped for cookies, but there are a few pictures of that beautiful spot in another post.

One of two loons on a private-access remote lake



Long-toed salamander eggs, Tepee Lake

Loon nesting on platform

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Momisms song ~ Anita Renfroe on Youtube

Take three minutes and watch this, whether you are a mom or not.  This is one of the funniest songs ever.




Sunday, April 22, 2012

Trick bikes, meditation, and health

Christopher (six years old) sounds out words as he walks around the house these days, and today he was up first.  I was still in bed while he ate cereal.  He'd asked me to help him swap the wheels out on the 3-inch-long die cast trick bike we bought yesterday at the dollar store (it comes with tiny tools and interchangeable parts....I've wanted one since they came out....can't really explain why).

At about the right time for him to have finished his cereal, I heard the following as he rounded the corner into my room.

"Nec-e-s-ary.....necessary, necessary......necessary.....is it necessary to be in bed?  We need to work on this."

Then he started to show me how to ride the bike with his fingers.  I tried to show him different things I'd seen trick riders do, but I didn't think he had a good frame of reference.  So we found this video on you-tube (which we then had to watch on the dvr that gets youtube, it was so good).

He said, "Mom, I know why you picked this one.  It's got nature AND the tricks you wanted me to see."



Friday, April 13, 2012

‘A Community To Which We Belong’ ~ Aldo Leopold Blog

‘A Community To Which We Belong’ | Wisdom Voices


“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”
Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Easter 2012 Video


Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Westana Winter Camp 2011 Video