SHOUT OUT TO ANSEL - PART TWO (lazy in the second half)

MOMS BIRTHDAY

SWEET LORI


SHELBY

PEOPLE KEEP ASKING

CODY IS ONE of the greatest men I will ever know. He has too many great qualities to list, a few being his sweetness, his unselfish ways, his intelligence and work ethic, and so many others. We had a phenomenal summer together that I would never want to take back, not one single day. We were great together but there was just one thing, one, more important than anything thing...there were three of us. Shelby will always come first and it just wasn't going to work out. Over the summer people kept telling me that it was normal for it to be hard with a kid in the picture but I had tested that theory twice before Cody and it had never been that hard before. She is the best kid anyone could ever ask to be around. Cody did nothing wrong at all, its just complicated, and it just was not going to work out.

WE BROKE UP...officially...over the phone, months ago. It was upsetting and too many people wanted there to be more drama to the story THAN THERE ACTUALLY WAS but I certainly have no hard feelings toward Cody.

SO THAT IS the jist for those concerned who have carefully and thoughtfully asked. I hope Cody has a wonderful Christmas, he deserves it. I also hope he enjoys the rest of his time in vet school and knows what a true gift it is to be there.

FOR VICKI

SHELBY ON HALLOWEEN...
she just really wanted to be a big red flower
(a bit blurry, it was getting dark and im anti-flash)




THE LOOT...

A LITTLE PISSED AT MY MAN OBAMA

I DEFINITELY NEED to do more research on this but from what iv heard about the Interim Report of the new Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force issued on September 17 is that there will be a ban or at the very least major restrictions on sport fishing. Do the people who drummed up this policy have any idea how much money us sport fishermen spend on licenses and other fees that I am happy to pay that go directly to conservation and protection of these waters and wildlife?

ASA Ocean Resource Policy Director Patty Doerr was quoted saying "As with any good federal policy decision, discussions about measures that may restrict public access to public resources must involve an open public process, have a solid scientific basis and incorporate specific guidelines on implementation and follow-up. We are very concerned about the abbreviated 90 day timeline which forced the Task Force to issue this policy document prematurely. The implications of such a policy are vast and nationwide. Therefore, the review process should be very deliberate and go well beyond the 30 days public review and comment period which started on September 17."

I hope they consider this comment before moving any further. Sorry Obama, much love.

CHASING TROUT #3

THIS WEEKEND WAS Silver Creek and the first time skunked this year. It was a beautiful warm day and the least upset I have ever been about not catching a thing.





GEARING UP


BROUGHT A BUDDY this time instead of a pistol

THIS DOG WILL BE THE DEATH OF ME

BRISTOL LEARNED TO dig out from under her kennel. A few weeks ago I got a call at work from Codys brother Logan that he found her hit by a car on the highway. He described her back end as possibly irreversibly screwed up. He said he thought she wont make it another 15 minutes, she had agonal breathing and was "flat as a pancake back there". I was devastated. We felt the best decision as she lay there awake and dying was to shoot her. After making that decision I hung up the phone, went to the vial storage room and bawled my eyes out. About 15 minutes later I called Logan back and he said that when he tried to move her off the road and into his truck bed that she tried to get up and stand for a few seconds. I felt my heart almost leap out of my chest. I asked him to take her to the vet and that I would be there as soon as I got off work. She was miserable but alive. She broke her pelvis in half but could stand. I took her home the next day and she spent the next 15 days in a crate except to drink and pee. She healed up beautifully on my very strict heartbreaking limited mobility decision and is now back to running around without so much as a limp. Bless her heart and heaven help mine. This dog is 8 months old and has already almost died twice (#1 being the rattle snake bite)....Ugh.

CULTURALLY SPEAKING - AN ADDENDUM

I FEEL THE need to write a softer addendum to the before written "Culturally Speaking". While I still believe the same that pieces of certain cultures religious rituals should be left untouched for the sake of preserving tradition and the legacies of our ancestors as well as bringing new born ideas, feelings, and beliefs to those who are open enough to receive the experience without bias. I felt it a bit harsh after re-reading but wasn't sure I would change it.

IT DAWNED ON me today what just might be the internal conflict. While practicing violin I played a few hymns as well as other pieces. I flipped through the hymnal and caught a verse that made sense to my underlying cause. The verse read, "How swiftly round the world his voice reveals...". It is actually referring to the voice of the prophet but at first glance I thought God. This initial thought brought some peace to my little battle. I realize not all religions believe in God but most in a higher power. It was calming to know we can harbor this commonality and still preserve religious culture throughout the world.

WHAT HAS BOTHERED me has been persecution and judgement by both or all sides. Mormons should not be judged for being stereotypically that. Every Mormon is still an individual person bringing into the religion a different way to live Mormon but sharing a common belief that deep down there is a feeling and a comfort of truth.
On the other side, members of the church should step out of their bubble every once in awhile and maintain a golden rule-esque quality and keep our own judgements of other religions out of existence. We may not actually be tainted by embracing the heart of another as they explain their own religious and cultural beliefs and without a thought of rebuttal.

I STRUGGLE WITH this because I don't like ties or structural boundaries put on my mind. If I don't find individuality within a belief system I slightly rebel in a spiritual way. Balance is my goal.

CHASING TROUT #2

SAN JUAN RIVER near Farmington New Mexico

look closely


My San Juan worm and line (for wet fly fishing)


Apache Trout

CHASING TROUT #1

A COUPLE OF this years fishing trips. Not as fruitful as other summers but fly fishing is fly fishing, never a waste of time.

BLACK RIVER
Only a couple Brown trout on this day. Caught on hand tied mosquito's.

Wild Turkey on the way up

The Black

Terrible only picture I got this summer

A SHOUT OUT TO ANSEL

IT WAS MY Grandpas 92nd birthday last weekend. He was up from Safford to celebrate at my moms. He brought me up a book that made me really excited. It is a 1948 first edition of Ansel Adams photographs titled Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada. He asked me if I knew his work and I said YES, of course, everyone does. He seemed a little unaware of his fame. Then he proceeded to tell me about shooting with him and how Ansel had an 8x10 enlarger but that he (my grandpa) only had room to house a 4x5, and other details only a personal conversation could tell. I was floored. My Grandpa doesn't lie about things, he doesn't even really ever joke. Still unsure if I should really believe it but he grew up near Yosemite, went to Berkeley and USC and probably ran into people like that from time to time.

I THOUGHT THAT for the rest of the month I would shoot in only black and white for a little bit of fun. I am a little to blue in tint right now and need to adjust my manual settings but this could be a good experiment.
Here are the happenings so far the last two weeks.

GRANDPAS BIRTHDAY AND most guests in attendance

GRANDPA


MICHAEL AND AMELIA


LILY


JOAQUIN


BALLOONS





AFRICAN VIOLET



COOKING



BATH



BRISTOL



WOODLAND WILDLIFE FESTIVAL

RUFUS PHASE RED-tailed Hawk



(100%) ARCTIC WOLF

A FEW WORDS FROM SHELBY

ON A SPIDER in the bathroom that she thought might have been dead.
The spider moves..."Oh, IT'S WORKIN!"


I HAD A sore throat last week and Shelby was trying to make me feel better. Shelby also had just gone to the bathroom...#2, and she said that it hurt her butt.
Shelby: "Can I kiss your neck ( sore throat) mamma?"
Me: "Sure honey, thank you!"
Shelby: "Can you kiss my butt?"
Me: "hahahahahahahaha!!!!"
Shelby: "Is your neck better?"
Me: "Ya, it feels better"
Shelby: "As better as my butt?!"
Me: "hahahahahaha!!! Ya darlin"

PATRICK SWAYZE

WHO DIDN'T SEE dirty dancing?! It made me sad to learn that Patrick Swayzes battle with pancreatic cancer was lost. I was soooo rooting for him. Patrick swayed in and out of my thoughts nearly my entire life. During my 10 years of ballet classes and Company, but most of all as I drove up to work at 5:30am on the Arab Horse Farm in Mesa. Patrick was one of the greatest supporters of Arabian horses in the world. I have an album with magazine rip outs of him and his Egyptian Arab Tammen (pictured above). I was particularly obsessed with him during my ownership of Spooks, a grey arab I had out in Pinedale. Before that we met at the All Arabian Horse Show in Scottsdale (you MUST forgive my outfit), one of the nicest people you would have ever met. I am sad about this loss but grateful for his influence in my life.




image credit to: http://allthecreatures.org/horse/patrick-swayze-and-his-horse-tammen.html

YOURS TRULY IS....

WALGREENS NEWEST PHARMACY tech!









image credit to: http://www4.uwm.edu/shwec/publications/newsletters/Jan-Feb_2009.cfm

RAISING A CHILD SHOULD EARN ME A SECOND COLLEGE DEGREE

A FLASH CARD from one of Shelbys National Geographics for Kids and the Blister Beetle we found in the house.
OH HOW OUR children teach us...every second of every minute of every hour of every day.

CULTURALLY SPEAKING

ON THE DRIVE up to Fort Collins with Cody as we passed through the mountains swallowing Silverton and other quaint towns Cody made a comment that Brigham Young must have passed the beauty of Colorado searching for more, got to the Salt Lake Valley and said "That's it! No more! That's as far as we're going!".
I WAS SILENTLY pleased that Brigham Young did pass it up if the humorous quip made by Cody was truth. I would hate for Colorado to be another Utah. Not that Utah is bad, it is just its own world; its own culture. I like that! I also like to observe and learn about a more liberal Colorado.
REALIZING THE POINT of mission work as being conversion...REALLY THOUGH?! How terrible would that be if the entire worlds sole religion was Mormonism? Not terrible on a moral level but a cultural level. So much of culture hinges on religious belief. To take away from the ceremony and ritual of other cultures would be educationally and culturally devastating.
THERE IS A lot I agree with concerning the LDS church, most actually, but one thing I don't or have a lack of understanding for is the seperation of souls based on conversion refusal.
SHARING THE MORMON culture is a wonderful wonderful thing that I hope is more accepted one day as that...a respectable religion and foundation of a beautiful culture. But I sure hope that one day when I travel to Ireland; land of both sets of my ancestors that I wont learn about Joseph Smith. Instead I hope to breath in the differences between the Native Irish Catholics and the British-sponsored Protestant immigrants and the blood spilt fighting for a belief they felt just as strongly to be the truth as Mormons feel Mormonism to be. Respectfully.

SHELBYS NEWEST HOBBY

COLORADO

CODYS SUMMER VACATION is over. Last weekend we packed his things and drove up to Fort Collins so that he could start on his third year Vet School at CSU. We left Saturday and I flew back on Monday.
We took a 5 hour detour and got into Fort Collins 15 hours after starting our journey. We went Snowflake-Gallup-Durango-Silverton-Montrose-Gunnison-Salida-Leadville-Denver-Fort Collins. I am so glad I went, it was amazing!

THE DRIVE

JUST OUTSIDE MONARCH







CLIFF FACE OUTSIDE Ouray, nicknamed the Switzerland of America. So true, Ouray sits snugly tucked into Alp like mountains.



NEAR MONTROSE



EISENHOWER TUNNEL








CODYS LIFE

WHERE HE "LIVES"







A RUMENFISTULA - THIS spoiled famous little cow has on its side what is called a rumenfistula. This hole allows students to reach in and feel the stomach of a cow, the unique to bovine part that allows the fermentation of feed.



WYOMING

THE MOST UNCLOSTRAPHOBIC I have ever felt in my life. Something invisible and free identifying with my insides; every microscopic crevise leaving no space untouched. Every excuse to stay longer. Every blade of golden grass needed to fit into my luggage lasting years until my permenant return. When I left Wyoming I left my home.





THE STREETS OF Cheyenne



THE CAPITOL



AN OBSESSION







AND BACK

FLYING OVER THE Rocky Mountains (BUMPY!!!)

EPISTAXIS

TODAY SHELBY HAD a bloody nose for the 4th time in 24 hours. In this picture she had tried to wipe it herself before I could pull the truck over. She is also a little ticked that I am taking the time to snap a picture. A little bacitracin up the nostril is all it needed but DANG, it was a freaky day for Willy and her mamma.

NEW GELDING

CODY DID A castration at his family's ranch that Shelby and I had a chance to watch. He did a beautiful job as always. Some of these pictures are fairly graphic but for all the members of PETA out there, this was a surgical procedure done humanely with anesthetic, using sterile technique, and much care. Dallas is a happy, very unaware yearling.

DRUGS

PREP


EMASCULATORS

I'M SURE YOU can guess



EXTRACTING THE WOLF teeth while he's out (or, killing two birds with one stone)


EXCUSE THE FAR off look on my face but I really wanted a picture of us up.

JULY LOOKED LIKE THIS

SHELBY SHOCKED US all in her astronaut suit and my old Stetson by proclaiming without any help from us that she was a "Space Cowboy"! We all stopped and died laughing!

MY SCIENCE KID

PLAYING WITH BRISTOL

SHELBY AND HER Tyler

UMMMM, SCIENCE KID again

CODYS DOG BAILEY

A NOTE FROM Cody

FLOWERS FROM CODY on 4th of July. Brought them into work.