Montana Voice

Day of the Dead, Missoula November 2, 2011

admin — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 04:46:05 +0000

Day of the Dead, Missoula November 2, 2011

What are These??

admin — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 01:02:46 +0000

October 3rd, 2010.
There are suddenly swarms of these very slow flying, hoovering, insects. Some kind of soft bodied fly. When they are flying they look like bits of blue fuzz. Until you get within a few feet of them, they look like bluish cottonwood fluff. About 2 to 4 mm long, very easy to catch. Hoovering about 3 to 10 feet above the plants that are growing near the side of the rattlesnake creek.

Dim light, so the photos are a bit grainy…

Salt Mine Show

admin — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 04:14:51 +0000

October 1st, 2010 — Saltmine Show at Montana Art and Framing – a first friday show with art by Bev Beck Glueckert, Stephen Glueckert, Stephen Krutek, Peter Keefer, Cathryn Mallory, Edgar Smith, and Karen Rice.

My hermit ways, but tonight I went to my friend and co-worker Karen’s art show, and took a few photos before I left. It was a nice place, since it was not in downtown, and thus not crowded. The space is some kind of converted auto shop, with a large garage door, which was wide open and people were sitting outside talking. I spent time talking with Stephen Glueckert about Jim Crumely and how we missed him, and traveling in Montana on not-so-traveled roads. I then asked him to come inside and stand at the end of a line of his interesting sculptures so I could take a photo of him. I like his smile so much, that I have to include several of the photos… I also asked Karen if I could take photos of her. So here the photos are…

Bad Book

admin — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 22:54:54 +0000

I went out and shot a .45 today. Bad books make great targets. You can see the paper fragments fluttering and you feel good about the shredded words.

This book was esspecially bad. They got nearly all of their recommendations wrong! I paced back 45 feet, shot at it 7 times, and didn’t miss once.

September 27

admin — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 03:12:59 +0000

Walking at sunset…

September 2010

admin — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:07:33 +0000

September, 2010

Sep 21st – 22nd, 2010.

Equinox, where day and night are exactly the same.

light and dark will be exactly equal tonight.
and tomorrow night will be longer than the day.

From a recent note I sent: “Remembering the one time i worked on a ship in the south pacific and we were on the equator, exactly on the equator, on the spring equinox, and how at at noon the sun was center of sky, top of the world and that night there was a nearly full moon and phosphorescent green glow in the splash of the bow break. This September feels the same.”

Thursday, sep 23.

Neighbor Julie came over this morning to tell me that she and her kids had just found two birds which had flown against a window and were dying. Two. At the same time. I went over to see, and the birds were laying next to each other, less than a foot apart, and about 10 feet beneath the upstairs window that had tricked both of them.

The larger bird, a hawk (I think it is a Sharped Shin Hawk), was already dead, but the smaller one, I think a young Cedar Waxwing, was still alive, but just barely. I gently lifted him up and held him in my closed hand, thinking that maybe just like a hurt person, warmth would be important. Thought maybe it could be a concussion, and shock, but the bird slowly stopped moving, and cooled.

I think that the hawk was after the waxing, but it might have been the other way around. They had to be very close to each other and going almost exactly in the same direction to have landed next to each other. The first photo shows both birds exactly as they were found.

I weighed both birds. The hawk weighed 177 grams (6 and a quarter ounces). The waxwing weighed 29 grams (one ounce). Their colors were beautiful.

Thank goodness for kids… even teenagers….

little moments where they distract us parents. Suzanne made me laugh this morning, because as part of Hellgate ‘spirit week’ a lot of the kids are dressing up all week long. Today, Thursday, is superhero day.

Friday, September 24th
Walking on peace/water-work hill. Spray of bluebirds. Lovely, alive, flying…
Calms me…

bob-corbett-oxo

admin — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 20:23:33 +0000

From the Archives… Bob Corbett, also known as Oxo, in front of his home sometime in 1990. Wow, do I ever miss him.

end-of-august-small-things

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:14:38 +0000

Noticing small things.

	Beetle…. not sure what type. Flew away as I was taking photos.
	the way my re-learning the wheel is good. How porcelain has to be consistently walled, otherwise the cups and bowls warp as they dry and fire. But i still like these…. bisqued, and probably will figure out the glaze experiment to try, and will fire in the morning…
	A very young garter snake that sam caught and kept for a few days. Here he is (well his hand) holding it just before letting it go.It went fast into the creek and swam perfectly like it was born in water, and then got out of the water on a sun-warmed rock.

Great Horned Owl in Middle of August

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 21:24:11 +0000

On the pottery wheel island…
August 20, 2010.
I noticed a two foot tall owl in a tree, about 15 feet above the ground. He stayed around long enough for me to get some photos, then flew to another tree, hung out there for about 20 minutes, and then was gone.
(Click on the photos to see them larger. Then you can click left/right of photo to move to other photos).

Humming Birds at the Beginning of August

admin — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 01:52:12 +0000

In Phil’s back yard.

(click on the images to see them much larger).