Keep Missoula Beered

In a recent national competition by BeerCity USA, Missoula finished fifth, ahead of Denver, Boulder, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Milwaukee and many more--and tops in the Rocky Mountain West by far.

Firefighters battle brush fire in Sleeman Gulch

This hits a little too close to home. It's a bit early to be having things running to the ridgetop. The aspect (SW) that this burned on is usually tinder dry, so I guess its not surprising. Careful, careful..

More than 35 local firefighters battled a wildland fire that erupted Sunday afternoon in Sleeman Gulch, a piney drainage off Highway 12 west in Lolo.

The fire is believed to be the result of a homeowner's controlled burn that became unmanageable when afternoon winds arrived around 1:29 p.m

Some pictures and video from KPAX.

Any thoughts on the color change?

Anybody?

Changed the background to black, whad'ya think? I'm not sure if it's too hard to read, but seemed like it was time for some change.

Huge front flip to crash - NAKED

Wolf killed just north of Missoula

A buddy of mine happens to be neighbors with this guy, where a wolf was shot recently. Pretty close to town really. The incident occurred April 29 about a mile northeast of the Wye intersection of Interstate 90 and Highway 93.

From the missoulian site:
A homeowner killed a wolf that was threatening his dog northwest of Missoula last week, and state officials confirmed a new pack has moved into the Evaro Hill area.

"The wolves were within 6 feet of the dog - they were real close," said Allen Lake, whose yellow Labrador Belle was chained to her doghouse about 10 yards from the family home. "She wasn't backing down. She's a great watchdog, but that wouldn't have been good."

April photos

Some fun images taken with my new Sigma 10-20mm



I survived my 5th branding, although it wasn't without soreness. We ended up doing 185 head, all Charlet. This number was down from the usual ~250 head. But this year with the mild winter and good feed, the calves were big. I asked the ranch manager what he thought the weights were on a few calves, the bigger ones were 300-320lbs! If it wasn't for the real cowboys that come over from Mountain Sky Guest Ranch we would have got absolutely worked over. They've got technique.

Spring storms in Western Montana

Did winter just start? Huh, kinda weird we are getting our biggest dumps of the "season" and it's May 1st. The Stuart Peak SNOTEL shows they got 27" of snow and 4.4" of SWE (snow water equivalent). Translation = a lot of heavy snow. Ideal conditions around here are 12" of snow = 1" of SWE. But we need the moisture and the snow for the rivers this summer, otherwise we may not be fishing or floating. The local snowpack was at about 50% average before this last storm.

We've had some great weather, shorts and flipflops. Lettuce, onions, peas, and broccoli were planted well over a month ago and seem to be doing well. I had my doubts when T was putting things in the grounds mid-March. They seem to be holding up well to the frosts we've had since then.

I've got a new lens and should be putting up some more images soon. I'm loving the Sigma 10-20mm.