October 2020

A Work in Progress
Bozeman, Montana
2020

A month or so ago I placed this recently deceased pack rat in this pot in our yard where I can hopefully recover it when it is nothing but a skeleton. The plan was to photograph it at that point. But walking by it recently I got the idea it might make an interesting, although gruesome, still life in mid-decay. I suppose I could have been working on a whole sequence of photos documenting the decay process but for now I’m thinking one mid-process photo is perhaps more than sufficient.

Old and Not-So-Old
Bozeman, Montana
2020

Even before last month’s close call from a local wildfire, I’d been slowly working on improving the defensibility of our mountain house by cutting grass and sagebrush, as well as limbing and thinning trees. Well, I was slowly working on it before the recent fire, the speed of my efforts has increased significantly since there. As a result I’ve been creating a good stack of firewood for our woodstove during the cold weather. This part of the stack shows some of what I cut earlier this summer stacked on top of some from last year. The old vs not-so-old moniker applies both to how recently they were cut and the age of what was cut, i.e., smaller trees this year, larger last year.

Dreamweaver
Missouri Breaks, Montana
2020

This critter may or may not be responsible for weaving the dreamcatcher in the POTD from two days ago.

Dreamcatcher #3
Missouri Breaks, Montana
2020

Dreamcatcher #2
Missouri Breaks, Montana
2020

A spider’s version of the classic protective charm.

Fire Extinguisher
Missouri Breaks, Montana
2020

Smoke enhanced sunset reflected in a pond.

Not Getting Away From It All
Hobson, Montana
2020

One reason we headed east to the Missouri Breaks last month was to try and drive out of the pervasive smoke we’d been experiencing in Bozeman every day. It didn’t really work–we saw some relief for some of the days but others were pretty bad. More recently weather patterns have shifted and we’ve been blessed with beautiful, crystal clear skies. Alas, that did not last as a new fire 30 miles from here has burned a couple thousand acres or so the last few days clouding the skies with haze and smoke again. Thankfully it is not nearly as bad as it was previously, yet anyway.

Greeting the Dawn
Bozeman, Montana
2020

A photo from early in September, ominous look courtesy of smoke from both our local fires as well as those from the west coast. We never had orange skies like California did and this photo, exposed for the sun, makes the whole scene look darker than it actually was, but it was certainly bad enough and smoky enough for us!

The New American Gothic
Hobson, Montana
2020

A lot has changed since Grant Wood’s day; in particular the small family farm has all but disappeared.

American Gothic
Grant Wood
1930

The Hobson Twins
Hobson, Montana
2020

They weren’t identical twins but people still often got them confused.