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The Swirl
Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
2024

Lake grass being moved in slow motion by the weak current in a slough on the edge of the lake.

Leaf Boats
Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
2024

Emergency leaf boats protect raindrops’ autonomy for at least a little while before they are assimilated into the watery “borg” of the lake. (The strange use of the term borg here is a loose reference to the evil Borg of Star Trek renown.)

Bare Tree #126
Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
2024

Exhumed
Bozeman, Montana
2024

Probably the most charitable description of my workshop is that it has existed long term in a state of controlled disarray. It certainly doesn’t look all need and tidy like all the ads you see for workshop cabinets and equipment. But everything more or less has it’s place and I’m more or less always able to find what I’m looking for with little or no searching. Similarly, cleaning of the space follows a “good enough” policy. I sweep the floors fairly regularly, but usually only the readily accessible space, not behind all the tools, workbenches and stacks of pipe, lumber, etc. that crowd every corner. But once in a while I do spend some time moving things and getting out all the accumulated detritus from around the edges. So, although it was a first,  it wasn’t much of a surprise to me when I unearthed this well preserved skeleton buried in a corner under a pile of sawdust behind a collection of pipe clamps and wood cutting guides. I assumed at first it was a mouse, of which we have plenty. But it was really too big for a mouse so I assume it was a chipmunk, which we also have plenty of and which I’m periodically having to chase out of there (along with squirrels, rabbits and the occasional marmot) when I work with the shop’s garage door open in the summer.

She’s Got Legs
Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
2024

You ever see a four-legged bird?

Boathouse Row #2
Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
2024

Boathouse Row
Lake Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
2024

Camp Cookie
Grant-Kohrs Ranch, Montana
2024

A chuck wagon demonstration complete with a camp cookie brewing coffee over an open fire they way they did back in the day. He certainly looked the part and was very knowledgeable about the job of being a camp cookie. I imagined him to be an old Montana cowboy who may have never gone on a drive with a chuck wagon but who would likely certainly know folks who did. Alas, on query he turned out to be a retired businessman from Alabama who was there on a volunteer gig with the National Park Service for the summer.

Here’s a song about the life of the cowboy as well as a mention of the camp cookie:

The White House
Grant-Kohrs Ranch, Montana
2024

Tools of the Trade
Grant-Kohrs Ranch, Montana
2024

Some serious work has been done on this workbench over the years. On a good day my own workbench approaches this level of organization/disorganization. Just enough organization to be able to put your hands on the tool you need fairly quickly (most of the time anyway) but with no obvious anal-retentive tendencies on display at all.