Dual Purpose
Dual Purpose
(Haiku x2)
Antelope family
Intent on finding water
Trek through our field
Sprinklers green the grass
Providing water and food
For neighborhood pets
See Ya Later
Archive for the ‘Animals’ Category
Love our Ennis Arts Festival
Ennis Arts Festival
We had 55 artists exhibiting their creativity at this wonderful Ennis Arts Festival today.
Come and see a few of the booths, artists, and special visitors with me.
One of our artists, Ivette Kjelsrud, designs creative fine, wearable art.
The center of this bison by Ivette is melted wax, a technique called encaustic.
It was fun setting up tents on a beautiful Saturday morning…
Kim’s Photography was/is gorgeous. We are establishing a scholarship in her honor to be awarded to an Ennis High graduating senior who will focus on art as a major
Tiki Contemporary & Western Art by Kathleen Van Diessche is amazing!
John’s Rustic Originals made with old kitchen silverware and utinsels were so clever!
There were several wonderful pottery booths with a myriad of pottery to choose from.
The barbed wire artist was new to us this year. His creations were fascinating.
One booth was for Ennis Arts Association members
who wanted to display one to three items,
but didn’t want to fill a booth space of their own.
The three in the background are the work of Carle McCambridge.
Carla Cavaiani used old spoons to create beautiful art pieces.
I love this bluebird photography by Scott Wheeler (see my reflection in the glass taking this photo with my cell phone?)…Makes an interesting study, doesn’t it?
Come fly on over here next year – second Saturday in August – for another phenomenal festival.
See ya tomorrow.
Visit Yellowstone National Park
Visit
Yellowstone National Park
with my cousin Sofia and Me
Sofia at Firehole Falls
Me at Firehole Falls
Aqua Steam pool
I love the turpuoise, green, and orange.
It was a day of mild temperatures, blue sky with beautiful puffy clouds.
Old Faithful blew about 15 minutes early.
We were glad to be there to see it.
There is no site in Yellowstone that I enjoy more than Artist’s Point.
Sofia was impressed with its beauty, too.
It’s called the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Pictures don’t do it justice!
You can see here the yellow stone that caused the park’s name.
Then we headed for Lamar Valley where the buffalo roam.
It was a pain to get in a half an hour of stop-and-go traffic where the bison were crossing the road in Lamar Valley, but when we had to stop for one to pass right smack in front of our car, that was quite an experience – quite worth the wait!
They are impressive animals.
On the way home, we stopped at Palisades for a rest stop…
and enjoyed the gorgeous scenery there.
It was a great day.
Thanks for traveling vicariously with us!
Do you think Sofia had a good time?
Tomorrow is our Ennis Arts Festival.
Come visit the art and artists there with me.
I love entertaining visitors.
Be my virtual guest!
See ya tomorrow!
July Memories
Another Gerry Mooney
rodeo shot from July 4, 2019
in Ennis, Montana
A bucking bronco
(Too good to keep to myself)
Topples the cowboy
Have you ever been to a rodeo?
Don’t you think they should wear helmets?
Tell me about your experience!
See ya tomorrow.
Marvelous Mountains
Nature at its Best!!
The Gravelly Range
With its wildflower fields
Nature at its best!
Another great day
With super four-wheeling friends
And our pup, TazE
That’s our TazE (Taz for Tasmanian Devil and E for Ears). She’s a love.
The wildflowers were spectacular!
Here are our friends, Barb & Don, brought their dog, Charlie.
And here are Barb & Don with both dogs:
And below I’m the one in short sleeves…
and Bob’s the guy in short pants!
Our buddies are great fun!
Won’t you click the arrow and come join us?
Yes, we got a little rain before we returned home,
but “Lucille” (our red-headed ATV – Polaris Razor –
who is a Ball), kept us dry!
What are your plans for this week?
In the USA we’ll celebrate Independence Day.
It’s a big deal in a Ennis, MT.
Nearly 6,000 extra folks come into our town
– our population’s only 1,000 –
for our Firehouse pancake breakfast,
4th of July parade,
and rodeo.
I’ll post pictures on Thursday. OK?
If you’re in the area, join us!
You have a blessed week.
See ya tomorrow
Montana Mountain Trails
Montana Mountain Trails
I love living in Montana.
I love the opportunities it provides for me
and my husband, Bob, to get out into nature.
I love the mountains, the numerous trails,
and the scenery – everywhere I go…
… everywhere I look,
it’s beautiful in a unique kind of way
Come along with me, and Bob, and our Boston Terrier, TazE,
and three other couples and a single guy with his dog.
We headed north-west outta Ennis
to Twin Bridges and then
turned west, took a break,
and went north into the
Big Hole area.
The ride on “Lucille”
(our red-headed Polaris Razor on which we have a BALL),
was much tamer than the ATV ride I took earlier this week!
We made a rest stop in Twin Bridges
– a little more than 3/4 of the way to our destination.
Then on we went – seemingly forever – off the main road –
headed for some unknown destination
(at least it was unknown to me and Bob and our trusty traveler, TazE).
You couldn’t hear me over the roar of the engine.
I said, “Wide-open country-side!”
We had no idea our destination was a remote graveyard
in what used to be Rochester, MT
and an old abandoned mine far up the trail
in those mountains out there –
where the sky kept getting darker and darker.
There are eleven graves labeled “UNKNOWN” in this cemetery.
How strange!
In a community of only 2,000 at its max,
how was anyone “unknown?”
Most of the gravestones were well marked. Some even appeared to have had recent visitors. We were way the heck away from civilization… but here were flowers at the grave site of 3 Claridge siblings who died at 3 1/2 months and their sister who died at birth a year before. Doesn’t your heart go out to those parents??
In these harsh conditions, some did live to full adulthood.
I wish they could tell their stories.
I loved Margaret’s tombstone
(as much as “love” and “tombstone”
dare go together in the same sentence!).
Look at it… I think she was 90!
Her story was partially told on this stone:
“Do not go gentle into that good night. ..
Rage against the dying of the light.”
When I die, I am sure I will not “rage against the dying of the light.”
I want to fly toward the Light…
and indeed, that Faith is what keeps me going!
I wanna keep loving extravagantly until I am 90+
Don’t you?
Isn’t this old gate that greeted us
when we entered the cemetery a treasure to behold?
The sagebrush in this area inspired the clothing
I have chosen to wear to my granddaughter’s wedding next month.
I love the earth tones of pale green and beige.
Don’t you?
We stopped at an old mine and had lunch.
Just finished before it started to rain.
Whew!
Those are two of our ATV buddies, Caroline and Gail,
chatting about whether or not to chance
getting the chairs and lunches out and sitting down to relax.
We all did… and finished just in time.
Here’s Bob – looking down at TazE – asking,
“You wanna get back into Lucille?”
She said, “You bet!”
I had her on a leash
because she was not friendly with Boone,
the other dog on this trip.
TazE is an “only child,”
and not used to being around other dogs.
We passed some wonderful white-faced cattle
on our way back to the pickups and trailers.
Some of them ran to get out of our way
(our four-wheelers are noisy),
but others ran alongside to try and race us!
The remains of civilization were everywhere along the way.
Hard to believe there were 2,000 people living back in here once upon a time!
Cattle guards kept the animals from following us out.
We returned to our bluer skies –
getting hooked up and into our pick-ups
just before a huge hailstorm hit.
I thought I’d see dents in the pickup hood when we got home.
But, no… all was well.
It was a fun and an interesting, educational day.
Thanks for taking time to travel vicariously with us!
Someday you need to make a trip to Montana
and come out four-wheeling!!
See ya tomorrow.
Bees, Trees, and Water
Bees, Trees and Water
Bees, Trees and Water
Without them we would all die
Preserve them with care
All God’s Creation
“Loving One Another” is not just about loving people; it is about loving and caring for all of God’s creation. The plants and animals, and all of nature cry for our attention.
How do you show your love for God’s creatures?
Gotta Love Those Beekeepers!
My husband, Bob, is a retired beekeeper. But, like I say about teachers, “Once a teacher, always a teacher,” well, that’s the case with beekeepers as well.
Beekeepers may sell their hives, trucks, and forklifts, and retire from the work, but the spirit of the hive stays with them forever! We moved from California to Montana and took no hives with us. But there are bee hobbyists right here in Ennis – and it didn’t take long for Bob to find them. He was drawn to them the way a bee is drawn to a nectar source!
And, as you know, honeybees have been in the news a lot lately. Bees world-wide are in peril. It’s called CCD = Colony Collapse Disorder. Researchers are busy trying to figure out why whole colonies are dying and beekeepers are losing sometimes up to 1/3 of their hives.
Great Interest in Veteran Beekeepers’ Knowledge
The hobbyist beekeepers, many of whom are new to the scene, appreciate the expertise of veteran beekeepers. Bob was more than happy to lend a hand and get himself back into the groove that was a part of his childhood and a huge portion of his working life.
Jana Bounds, a reporter with the Lone Peak Lookout, was asked to do an article in a local magazine titled, “The Loop.” She contacted Bob and interviewed him. He took her to the site of a local hobbyist beekeeper and spent time describing the situation.
What’s the Problem?
In a nutshell, (or honeybee cell, as the case may be), the problem of disappearing bees is complex, multi-faceted, and not easily labeled. In her article, Jana Bounds quotes my husband, Bob Beekman, as well as Alex McMenamin, PhD student at Montana State University. Both agree, factors like inadequate nutrition, habitat loss, agrochemical exposure, and pathogens are cause for high bee losses.
But, the greatest threat is the Varroa mite. They suck the blood of the larva and spread disease among the bees in the hive. Scientists continue to research, looking for solutions.
Check out “The Loop” Summer edition, 2019, pages 36 to 39.
It is published by our local Madison County newspaper, The Madisonian.
What Can We Do?
Not many of us are retired beekeepers who can help with hands-on experience. But, we can read and learn, and do our part to help lend support to our beekeepers.
- Buy local honey
- Plant flowers and trees that provide good nectar and pollen sources
- Bees need to be near a water source – keep water pure – don’t pollute
- Teach children about the value of honeybees (one in every three bites of food we eat is directly or indirectly dependent on bees and their gift of pollination)
- Avoid use of harmful pesticides
- Support bee-friendly legislation and research
Beekeepers never die – they just lose their stingers!
Hah! 😉
This is Bob in his younger, beekeeper days:
Bee Well – Bee Happy – Bee Sweet – Eat Honey!!
See ya tomorrow
