This is the Ptychocheilus oregonensis, commonly known as the Northern Pikeminnow, or Squawfish. I caught it on the Flathead River yesterday evening. It was twelve inches long, and we guestimate the weight to be about three or four pounds. They’re very predatory and have done so much damage to trout and salmon populations, that Washington and Oregon have a bounty [pdf] on them. They’re also a very bony fish and do not make for good eatin’, so we threw him back.

This isn’t really the first fish I’ve ever caught, it’s just the first one I’ve caught in Montana that wasn’t what I call a remedial fish. I often get frustrated when fishing; either my line gets tangled, or I just don’t catch anything, so Dan takes me to the well-stocked childrens’ pond. Y’know, the one that had the alligator in it, and then the body. There I can easily, usually, catch a little trout and feel better about fishing in general. Hence, remedial pond/fish. This year I did a little reading on river fishing, and applied the techniques I’d been reading about and caught a real, wild fish in a real, wild river. I was grinning all night long!

And a pretty river, too:

Flathead River; Kalispell, MT; July 27, 2008

M.O.P’s Ante Up set to Bert and Ernie! Endlessly entertaining.

Estelle Getty, the matriarch of the Golden Girls, has died.

If you haven’t noticed, there’s a new tab at the top of the page that reads, “Galleries”. After the quality of photos seemed to go down after making them into videos, I thought maybe a gallery might be a better option to share photos without slowing load time. I only have one gallery up so far, but in the future there should be more (I’m already working on one). I might still look for better gallery software that allows comments, but so far, Web Album Generator works OK. If you check it out, let me know what you think, or what could be better.

I dearly love Christopher Nolan (just watch Memento), and the direction was fantastic. Batman just doesn’t do it for me. I didn’t dislike Heath Ledger (prior to Batman), but he was never in my radar of adored actors. But, yes, Heath/The Joker, was… The movie. A twistedly-beautiful, final completed performance.

Accent: Standard Midwestern with a hint of Southern twang.

Breakfast or no breakfast: That depends on whether Dan eats all of my Special K with Red Berries.

Chore I don’t care for: Insert chore here: __________.

Dog or Cat: Yes.

Essential Electronics: Yes.

Favorite Cologne: Chanel No. 19.

Gold or Silver: Platinum.

Handbag I carry most often: I don’t carry a handbag. I’ve tried it, I don’t like it.

Insomnia: Guaranteed!

Job Title: Feeder.

Kids: Five cats, one dog, an African grey parrot and a leopard gecko.

Living Arrangements: Let’s not go there.

Most Admirable Trait: Um… I’m nice to people I like. I’m loyal. I once rescued a woman, her three kids and their dog from drowning. Hell, I don’t know, I’m a cranky, snarky misanthrope who hasn’t done much. I have a short attention span and no patience to complete things. Wait a minute, I got it! I’m honest. Some who have met me might interpret that as tactless, but still. It works for me. Besides, that guy really did need to buy a stick of deodorant.

Naughtiest Childhood Behavior: Um… I got in trouble in second grade for drawing naked women. The other stuff? No one has found out so far, and I’d like to keep it that way.

Overnight hospital stays: Twice when I was eighteen. First one kidney took a dive, then the other.

Phobias: Water, car crashes, centi- or millipedes.

Quote: Please refer to the handy quote thingy at the top of the first sidebar.

Reason to smile: When Solomon (the bird) makes burping noises.

Siblings: One brutha, one sistah.

Time I wake up: Around noon. If I go to sleep at all, that is.

Unusual Talent or Skill: It’s hard to describe, but I can turn my tongue over sideways.

Vegetable I Refuse to Eat: Not applicable.

Worst Habit: I pick and chew at my cuticles.

X-rays: I’ve had a few. Never for a broken bone, though.

Yummy Stuff: Avocados, raspberries, a rare tenderloin steak, Claussen pickles, pork rinds, home made mac and cheese with gravy, sashimi… I think it’s time for lunch.

Zoo Animal I Like Most: Elephants.

On Tuesday Dan and I went out to do a little Geocaching. Our second stop for the day was on the Bitterroot River, a little south of Hubbart Dam, near Marion, MT. I had forgotten to get camera batteries, so Dan remarked, “Since you don’t have your camera, we’re probably going to see a moose.” It’s almost a guarantee, if I don’t have my camera, we’re going to see wildlife. It always happens. After about a minute of walking up the trail we hear, “Sploosh, sploosh, sploosh, sploosh”. Moose. Yep, a huge moose bull is just dopety doh’ing down the creek (yes, I know it’s called the Bitterroot River, but seriously, it’s a bleedin’ creek). Figures.

We found the cache easily enough, we got to see the dam off in the distance, and we didn’t get eaten alive by mosquitoes (vicious little effers that they are!), and we made it back to the car and were ready to head to cache number three. Then Dan got us stuck in the dirt. Dan, of course, can get any car stuck, anytime, anywhere. It always happens. After I got us out, yes, I got us unstuck (OK, he pushed, but it was my genius that provided the proper traction) we headed down to the highway and on to the next cache. Figures.

Cache number three and four were located eight and a half miles up Haskill Mountain at a long-since-gone wildfire lookout. It was a bumpy, sometimes scary drive up, but the views were excellent, and we were excited to find the cache at the top of the mountain. When I opened the rear door to get my camera (we stopped and got batteries), I heard hissing. Punctured tire. It always happens. Dan’s key is new and never worked to open the trunk (where the spare was, of course); we were pretty much SOL, so we went and got the cache, anyway. We found the cache, took some pictures that I’ll post later, and booked it back to the car. The tire wasn’t flat yet, so we sailed down the mountain, constantly checking the tire, and finally made it. We weren’t driving on the rim until Kila School, but we could handle that. Just to give it a try, Dan tried his key in the trunk, and… it worked. We get more flat tires than anyone I have ever met. Figures.

What, did you think I was done? Oh no…

We found our four caches for the day, got our tire switched and headed home to get some chow and log our cache finds. Oddly enough, when I sat down at the computer, the power was off. So was the power to everything else. I checked the power strip, and sure enough, one of the cats must have stepped on the power button. “Alright then, I’ll just turn the power back on and reboot.” Here’s the problem: Sometimes when the power goes out, and a computer is shut down improperly, the processes open at the time of the improper shutdown become corrupted. And then little works. Figures.

After two days of running every diagnose and fix function I could think of, I finally gave up and prepared for a System Recovery which resets the computer back to its original factory settings. System Restore (which resets the computer back to a restore point) was corrupted, so I couldn’t think of anything else. Ah, but wait! The recovery discs I made when we got the computer can also perform a System Restore! D’oh! Why did I forget about that. I popped the disc in, ba-da-bing, two minutes later everything is as it should be. I wasted a whole lotta time backing up files, passwords, bookmarks, game saves, etc., when all it needed was a two minute fix. Figures.

Things aren’t all bad. I finally got a KVM Switch, so I have both computers up and running. One of the USB ports on the old computer doesn’t seem to be working, though. I’ll have to check that out. But it’s still up and running enough that I can do things-I-probably-shouldn’t-tell-you-about, that I can’t do on Vista. Stupid DRM. Arrrrgh!

Most exciting for me is that I finally got my hot, li’l hands on a Wii Fit. I did a half hour of exercise with it yesterday, and I’m um… Well, I’m a little out of shape. And I’m a little sore today. But I’m still motivated, and it is fun.

Anyway, that’s the dilly. I’m off to continue organizing computer discs and um… that stuff I-probably-shouldn’t-tell-you-about.

I saw my first bear on my first trip through Glacier National Park, but here’s a look at what they do when no one is watching. And no, they don’t pick their noses. Well, they might, but that wasn’t caught on video!

I spent the majority of last night in Hungry Horse, arguably one of the more dangerous places in the nation to be on the 4th of July. I don’t think they’ve beat Eureka, but the residents sure seem to try. This year I did not hear the tell-tale sirens that signal the A.L.E.R.T. helicopters, which means it may have been an injury free 4th in the canyon.

Not so in nearby Columbia Falls. I was driving home and had to wait for a bit while ambulances carried a couple of celebrators off to the hospital. The smell of sulfur was a little thicker than usual, and I’m almost certain that a fireworks catastrophe had occurred. I think the lights from the firetrucks, police cars and ambulances were brighter than the fireworks.

A good time was had by all at the festivities where I was at, and no one got hurt. Well, mostly, but I’m not going to tell you how a crackle ball in the cleavage area happens.

Here’s one of my favourite photos of the night, which I took during the finale. A slide-show of the rest will happen within the next few days. I have to make one slide-show for friends, and one for you guys, so it may take a few…

And finally, I hope everyone had a safe and fun holiday!

Edit: And oh, Darn! Jesse Helms is dead.