We Are Blessed

ALL YEAR 'ROUND

Real Seasons Up Here

good for neighbors

EVIDENCE

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.. We hear rumblings from some folks about how winter is dreary. We hear how they can't wait for Summer.
.. We wonder why they stay in a place that they cry about. We wonder what overwhelming reasons cause winter anxiety. What is it that, in this mobile society, forces people to live where they have to complain about the weather?

INFREQUENT VISITOR

.. Is it economic entrapment? Are choices made in favor of money?
.. Is it social imprisonment?  Are choices made in favor of neighborhood, friends and family?
.. We do have real concerns for those rare folks that have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD.) It has to do with light and the hypothalamus. This happens to folks from Florida (1%,) to Alaska(12%.) Gray days can be debilitating. There are remedies other than sleeping late, craving sweets and starches, etc. We won't dare a remote diagnosis.
.. Also, we have been told that there are some folks that are perversely happy when they are complaining. So be it. We wish that they wouldn't harangue us with their whining. We can do nothing about it.

YEAR 'ROUND NEIGHBORS

.. For us, the cold season is a blessing. It is full of beauty, majesty, opportunity, and - if we choose - solitude. Up here winter brings snow for our fish. Up here winter allows for recreational opportunities not available elsewhere.  It suits us. We chose it.
.. Our snow is deep on the ground. The temperatures are manageable with the clothes that we own. We are still able to ski, snowshoe, or wander around with a camera. Or, just wander around. We are not trapped in a house or, apartment or, camper or, tent or, cardboard box.
.. We have experienced the monotony of year 'round tepid temperatures. We have also experienced the vitality of change and capricious weather. We'll take caprice over tepid any day.

NOT 4 US

.. For some there is the malaise of cabin fever. We have been lulled into thinking that it even happened to us. It's just a lack of imagination or, activity or, creativity or, volition that engenders the cabin fever. It sneaks up on you if you let it.
.. We send our thoughts and good wishes to those that believe winter is something to be avoided. We send blessings to those that abandon the high country for southern climes. We celebrate their choice that leaves the high country to those of us that relish it's vitality and presence.
.. Time to decide what to do. So many things, so little time. There's always snow to shovel.

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WALLPAPER:  NO PARKING

Winter Entertainment

THE THINGS WE DO

It Helps Pass The Time

watching the snow plows

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.. At 36 below zero it's hard to convince ourselves to get down to the river and molest some fish. So we join the neighbors in several deep-deep-cold activities. One of the most popular is watching the snow plows.
.. The excitement is underwhelming. They come by in a whoosh. The fine powder billows up and settles along the edge of the road. Fantastic fun. We can do it for hours - mostly because our feet are frozen to the ground. Try it, you'll like it!

Apropos Of Nothing

MIDWINTER ESCAPE

The Lowlands Beckon

we respond

Headed into the promised land.
Few folks fish up'ere in the winter.

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.. It's a fur piece of road between here and there. It's a bit of burned hydrocarbons and furry eyeballs to get there and back over a three-day weekend. In the winter with snow in the air and ice on the roads it's a bit over seven hours of safe and sane driving. That uses up most of one day.
.. Getting situated and scoping out the possibilities and contingencies finishes off the first day and demands a bit of well-won sustenance. So that's what we did.

Three Fly Arsenal.

.. Up at dawn to a great breakfast at Pourman's Cafe - chorizo con huevos and other gut bombs to get through a long day. Then to the river road.
.. It's possible to fish downtown but it's better up the road a piece. So we get going to a place where the neighbors know us and the water is clear and the snow ain't too deep.
.. There's ruts and mud and ice and mud and ruts and ice. We knock on the door and accept the invitation for coffee. We're on the water by 9:00 AM.
.. Just three flies are ever necessary here, (well four, if you count the size 8 elk hair caddis that serves as an indicator.) The fish are willing and hungry all year long. The water, in winter, is never colder than about 40° F. Sometimes it gets to over 50° F in the shallow and sunny spots.

The Place.

.. We fish all day and even take a few. Big rainbows of 14" with shoulders like Gibraltar. They look like lake fish with their small heads and substantial girth. The air is cold. It freezes our guides, and hands, and ears, and warms our epitome.
.. Dark comes a little later down in the lowlands. It still comes too early and we're back in town by 7:30 PM. At our age it means an early dinner and bed. We do it.
.. We get up on day three and have the same breakfast. We fish a bit closer to the highway and downstream from town for a few hours. Then back in the trusty horse and gas up.
.. It'll be dark as we enter the mountains at 4-corners. That's O.K., we know the road and it's treachery very well. We look forward to the vacant wheat fields and the company of monster trucks and the neighbors' pickumups.
.. Home at 9:00 PM. Crash shortly after eating a couple of racks of Baby-Back ribs from the deli, (got there just as they were locking up - perfect timing.)
.. We'll sleep-in tomorrow.  Don't have to be at the salt mine until 2:00 PM. Our stomach growls as we snooze on the couch - typing this is exhausting.

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Heading home. A view for Mark in Texas.

Waiting For Spring

Diversions

A DIFFERENT CUP OF TEA

Winter's Haze Enhanced

not for everyone

Digital Pinhole Image: 1/60, on camera flash, f256, distance 1".

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.. The winter is a bit on the long side up here. Fishing becomes a greater chore than usual. We tend to fish less and extemporize more. This winter was the perfect example.

Mahogany Pinhole: 4x5, 79mm focal distance, f156.
Shutter speeds by thumb.

.. During one long evening we stumbled onto an old pinhole camera project in the corner of a long forgotten trunk. Hmmmmm? It sparked interest in this, the earliest of photographic techniques.
.. We diverted our lachrymose moods of winter into useless busywork and puttered with the concept of, and application of pinholes to everything.
.. One bit of silliness involved yards and yards of Duct Tape, black paper, and a hole in our window shade. Thus we turned our front room into a camera obscura.

Canon EOS 30D pinhole.

.. Sheeze, what winter does to the mind. We averted cabin fever with cabin obscura. And, it did pass the time. Given the irregular viewing wall in our 'cabin camera' it brought to mind the weltanschauung we held during the 60's.
.. Lately we've adapted some of our large format gear into primitive hulks that we call cameras. We've also transformed a couple of digital cameras into digital pinhole devices, (the sensors needed cleaning anyway.) It's amazing what you can do with tin foil, electricians tape, a short extension tube, and black card stock.

Indulgent friend.

.. We've even adulterated the view camera with a pinhole. Now that is pure sacrilege! They all will make pictures. The images however, are not for everyone.
.. Today, with post processing, photoshopping, and enhancements - both in and out of camera, images tend to be presented in a cookie cutter fashion: overly sharp, overly saturated, over the top. We call them good and go on down the road.

Indulgent friend's dog.

.. Pinhole images require a bit of engagement. They are not starkly identifiable in an instant. This means that the viewer takes a bit longer to decipher them. It's not what everybody wants or needs. It is fun though.
.. We have badgered our friends and neighbors, (and neighbor's dogs,) into enduring our follies this winter. They endure and indulge us and admire the ethereal images that happen. We nod and accept their friendship.

Back door.

.. Done with panache and aplomb, the images can be quite charming or very disturbing. We've not reached either stage yet, but we're looking forward to opening day in Yellowstone National Park.
.. Our scouting trip this year will combine stream observation with vista observation. Not in the name of art, rather in the name of getting to the best places first.
.. The big images are going to be challenging. Exposure times in the minutes, reciprocity failure, temperature corrections, apertures in the hundreds, and aiming with crude sighting devices should make the venture rewarding. In our case it's as much about observing as it is about the final image.

.. We'll not be posting any fuzzy, ugly, indecipherable images during the season, (we make and break promises with ease,) but we shall take a fresh look at some of the iconic images in Yellowstone Park before the fishing starts.
.. And, why mention this at all? Because Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day is just around the corner. It happens on the last Sunday in April, (that's April 24, 2011 - Easter Sunday, this year.)

.. Pinhole fanatics around the globe will take a picture and post it to the website. A snapshot in time that happens every year. We're sending them one from the high country and, meager as it is; it's our contribution.
.. P.S. The fishing and catching, by the way, is now going great guns in the Gallatin River Canyon. After we've fished out all the good holes we'll let you know where it was best.

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Winter's Toll

IT'S NOT CABIN FEVER

What Is It ?

town fever

.. The neighbors are becoming a bit too familiar. They are going to restrict my libations for saying it.
.. We haven't had much of a winter yet. The snow is low and the temperatures aren't. Visitation to Yellowstone National Park is sparse, (down about 20%,) and visitors to the neighborhood don't stay too long, (bless 'em all.)
.. Fishing the Madison River between the lakes has been better than it usually is most winters. Catching has been even better. And, it's getting to be time to think of staying out of the water and letting the next generation have a chance.
.. It's not been a winter, so far, that restricts one to the couch. It's not been a winter that wears out the remote. It's not been a winter that demands penguin behavior or anything close. It's been a winter where the loaders are parked too much to earn their keep.
.. So far it's been pleasant. More sun that in recent memory. Sunsets as they used to be. Sweater and shirtsleeve days outnumber the parka parades. Cars start with little trouble, and don't need to be plugged in very often. What's not to like?
.. The 'cold' has come and gone in a day or two. The mush in the streets is frequent - given the sun and days in the 20' and 30's, (and even 40's.) Puddles of water spread and get icy just after sundown. Last night was a bit on the chilly side, (-33,) but today was still and very sunny.
.. Yet, as nice as it's been, and as good as this town is in the winter, -- winter is still a mental constraint. There's no swimming in the rivers. There's no tubing to be done in skimpy clothing. A walk is not just a walk. And, perhaps the most mental of all for us; we can't just dash to the river for a couple of hours of sport.
.. There are folks up here who can ski everyday and call it glorious: we can't. There are folks up here who can cruise the 700+ miles of groomed national forest trails every day and call it wonderful: we can't.
.. We do cruise the forest trails a few times each winter. We do ski a bit more often. But it's the little things that begin to wear.
.. Constantly scraping the windshield, parking in the sun, avoiding the icy spots, walking in the street, hauling wood, shoveling snow, adjusting the thermostat, keeping the tires at the correct pressure, opening the frozen fuel cap door, dodging falling cornices from overhanging roofs, perpetually sweeping and vacuuming the frozen debris from the floor, are constant and continual chores and habits. It's all just a list of small nuisances, but they do add up.
.. Winter shoes and pac boots take a chunk of time out of the day as they are donned and removed. An extra layer and a heavier coat do the same. It just slows a body down.
.. We don't just 'go to the store.' We plan, prepare, dress and then go. Most of the neighbors walk around town in the winter. It's only the rich and inconsiderate, and visitors, that drive from block to block. Funny; that takes just as long.
.. The pace is slowed by the conditions and it's not all together unpleasant. But the summer folks are gone, (a mixed blessing,) and the faces in the pubs are fewer and more than familiar. The Chamber of Commerce population figures are a maximum summer number, not a year-round population number.
.. The post office, grocery store, hardware store, gas station, library, etc. all hold the prospect of another encounter with the same folks. "I'm following you" is a common greeting amongst neighbors in the winter. It's not a coincidence - it's an inevitability.
.. It's not a real cabin fever - it's more a town fever. As nice as our town is - the confining conditions begin to become apparent by this time of the year.
.. We could leave, (many do,) - but we won't. And, as familiar as they are - the remaining folks are still our neighbors. And as much of a nuisance as it is; Winter in West Yellowstone is still better than Winter in 100,000 other places. And, of course it's the neighbors that make it so.
.. We just wish the snow was a bit less mammaform.

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We Love Firefoxes

ESPECIALLY THESE

Cabin Fever Reliever

wallpaper edition

Are You Mature Enough ?

GOT NOSTALGIA ?

get it !

GO WITH IT !

.. Do you remember Killroy? Were you there? Have you ever seen a Jeep pulling a plow? Just what is the Hiller-Haller-hallelujah twist?

.. Ever listen to Spike Jones? Just how big was that trout you landed before they dammed the Truckee River? -- OH, you ran down from the bleachers and caught its flopping and dying body from the empty river!

.. Are your memories trapped in a dusty corner of the garage? The basement? The attic? Worse, a storage facility? Get them out and enjoy them.

.. With the need to remember comes a glorious joy in being alive. Fly fishing, indeed, all fishing helps us remember. It provides a respite from the grind of day to day living. Fishing gathers together a bit of the past every time it is indulged -- enjoy it. Do you know what a 'hand line' is? Ever use one? On a big fish?

.. Have you ever fished the 'hot corner' during a big bite between Catalina and Pier Point Landing? With an un-split-cane-pole? Yes, pole!

.. Do your remember the stir that the Feralite Ferrule caused? Do you still have a square x-section Ames steel fly rod? Why did you ever give up on bamboo for that new fangled glass stuff?

.. Where were you when Mad Man Muntz said:

"I'd give 'em away - but my wife won't let me
. . . she's crazy"?

.. Have you kept dozens of flies that time and abuse have reduced to nearly bare hooks? Good for you!

.. Just where is that old B&W of you and dad and your first fish? Or the second fish? Or the first bait bucket, or that card of flies; the scarlet ibis rules!

.. Did you ever have a 'fish car' or 'fish truck?' Was it a corn binder, Volkswagen, Studebaker, Diamond Reo?

..Did you let your girlfriend in it or did you subscribe to the "true-fact" that wimmen spoil fishin'?

.. Well, 'Bunky,' there are some interesting places on the web for feeding your nostalgia. Besides our own individual memories there are a raft of cultural memories to be had, and they're just a click or two away.
.. Although the Rams and Packers and Saints are fun today, what about "Tank Younger," "Bart Starr," "Deacon Dan" Towler, and the other old or dead farts of the past? What about Wulff, or Kelson? Who was Corey Ford?
.. Many of our cultural memories trigger personal reminiscences and they can be found on the web. Try a few of the links below for your own personal, (public and private,) journey into memory lane.

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.. The Saturday Evening Post (nearly 2,000,000 images in a Google search; including covers,) is an obvious place to start: but, have you tried the Curtis Publishing web site? It's fully indexed and has the post covers, some Country Gentleman images, and even has some fine nostalgic videos. If you aren't fishing get off the couch and click a few (HERE.)

.. Should you have a hankering for the deep blue, there's a couple of places to grab your attention. Try the "old photos page" at Antique & Classic Fishing Reels. Of for you left coast fans travel, (by click,) to the photos on the Balboa Pavilion web site.

.. For the curious and exploratory there's Bibi's box. This is a blog from 'a curious girl blogging to share and enjoy.' Everything from "HOT PANTS HOMO," through Garbo, to fishing art is displayed and indexed. The posts ended in January, (a video blog and carnival is the excuse,) we hope that they resume soon. Bibi's vintage category is HERE.

.. Should you feel the need to be trapped by strictly fishing nostalgia, try Google for about 150,000 images or nearly 300,000 entries of various kinds of prose.

.. There's even nouveau nostalgia by Alan Metz if you want to encapsulate some contemporary memories.

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.. Want some Andrew Sisters? CLICK HERE. Want some more? Click HERE, & HERE.

.. Maybe some Annette Henshaw?

	Annette Hanshaw - Happy Days Are Here Again 11-2-1930
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

.. Straight from BeeMP3
.. How about some 1940's music? Click HERE.
.. Too old for you? How about some 50's gems? Click HERE.
.. The Time Machine will provide you with custom recording restoration and compilation. They will convert your old movies and restore your old wax cylinders, (they came just before wire recorders, flat platter records, 78's, 45's, 33 1/3 LP's, and tape recorders: not to mention 8-track, beta, cassettes, Cd's, DVD's, and the stick!) They do this by precobobulating the turbulators. Visit the site for some free MP3's -- whatever that is.

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.. Well, it's about to cloud up after a fairly bright day. We can hear the fish crunching crustaceans from our couch. Sound like scuds or sow bugs, (oops -- shouldn't have said that,) and we know that there will be a few caddis fluttering about the slow spots down-canyon just a bit.
.. Our chair is too hard and the sun just got warm behind the clouds. Reminds us of . . .