I think I deserve a slacker award lately! The great thing about summer is that I can not post in a while and not feel a bit guilty about it.

A little over a week ago we went to Great Falls, MT and did the tourist thing. We stopped at Ulm Pishkun at the First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park. Ulm is the town near the jump and Pishkun comes from the Blackfeet word for ‘deep blood kettle’. At a mile long, it’s believe to be the largest jump in North America and was used for 600 years — much longer than most jumps are used.

We also made it out to Ryan Dam to see why Great Falls is called Great Falls. I’ll admit it — I first thought they should have named it ‘Meh Falls’, but before the dam was built, it would have been a beautiful sight.

Since it was going on, and well, we were there, we went to the Montana State Fair, which was also kind of ‘meh’. We did spend the two bucks to see the freak show, though. It was somewhat entertaining.

Other than that we’ve been doing some more fishing, a little geocaching and other various things. I’ve been making ATCs and plans for altering a candy box I have. Now that Dan has been laid-off from his job we plan on a few more trips around Montana and some major geocaching hunts. The Northwest Montana fair should be going live in a few days, so we’ll attend that and the rodeo as well.

Dat’s all I got!

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

Update: I actually prepared this post on Wednesday night, and for some reason I forgot to hit ‘Publish’.

Instead of uploading a butt-load of photos that always seem to take forever to load anyway, I thought I would just make videos from now on. It’s actually a little less tedious than uploading every individual photo, and it should save you some loading time. Hopefully.

Tomorrow (actually, I guess it’s today, now) we’re heading down to Missoula so Dan can do a little comics shopping and we can do a little geocaching. Oh, and bird toys, Solomon’s stock is running low and there’s just no selection here in Kalispell. Maybe I’ll even bring back a pinkie or two for the Leopard Gecko.

This summer, the famed, 114-year-old Old-Steel Bridge replacement begins. It was a one lane bridge that had many structural problems. This was also a favourite hang-out spot in the summer. Most kids in Kalispell have fond memories of jumping off the bridge into the deep spot in the river, and carving their names into the wooden planks. The new bridge should be complete by summer of next year.

As a side note, last fall there was an auto accident on the main bridge over the Flathead. To get across the river we waited for 2.5 hours while, one-by-one, the backed up lines of cars from three directions crossed this bridge.

If Plato is 87 percent certain that a kneaded eraser should not be used with graphite, can he complete his Narrative Essay using 100 ISO Black and White Film?

Pop. Crack! Smoke! Fizzle!!

Pretty pictures….

Actually classes are going well, and my schedule is easy to manage. I’m merely a little groggy since my planned nap took longer than expected.

These photos were taken at Glacier National Park.

Erm… I haven’t posted these before, have I?

Located just a hop, skip and a jump away from the Flathead Reservation, Lake Mary Ronan is a place I’d always wanted to visit, but just didn’t get around to. But a new geocache was placed there and I had no reason not to go. It was so hot, and the water was so cool, I almost wished I could swim. The ‘parts’ are leftovers from a crawdad that some plucky bird was snacking on.

From Kootenai Falls and the Swinging Bridge. This was most assuredly a scenic stop.

From the road side of the bridge.

Taken from the center of the swinging bridge.

Another taken from the center of the bridge.

This one was taken from the opposite side of the bridge. I had to prove that I did cross it, afterall.

Rocks on the banks of the river.

That’s Dan.

Another view from on the bridge.

Last year it was an alligator, this year it’s a dead body.