Sad but true.....

There is a bit of truth and quite a bit of irony in this cartoon. Just so you Midwesterners know, this has been prophesied, so don't act surprised if it happens.

God also has a sense of humor

So you know how I said in my last post that it might snow in the mountains, well, it' s snowing here in the valley right now. Not just a little bit either, we're talking snow like it did in February. I know that it'll probably melt by this afternoon, but it's hard for me to deal with snow and a sunburn at the same time. It's just screwing with my head, and as we all know, I don't need any more of that. Just wanted to let you all know the latest and greatest from MT.

God's a Montanan

Yesterday I went fly fishing with a buddy and we had a great time. It was such a beautiful day. Blue, clear skies, the mountains were covered with snow still but the valley was really green and the water was crystal clear. It was one of those days you're just thankful to be able to enjoy it and happy to not be trapped in an office. The day got even better when I caught the first fish of the day, and the first fish I've been able to pull out of the blue ribbon fly fishing waters that surround Bozeman. It was just a little (12 inch) rainbow trout, but it had amazing coloring and fought like a champ. My buddy caught the next fish, a beautiful brown trout, and then I finished the day with another little (10 inch) rainbow. It was great fun, but I got myself a horrendous sunburn on my neck, ears, and arms. The worst part was when we got back to my buddies truck, there was sunscreen in one of his gear bags. Oh well, lesson learned and we still had a blast. The craziest thing is they are predicting snow again tonight, at least in the mountains, but then it will be back to sunny and 60's by Monday. Montana in spring, there's no place I'd rather be.

Happy Easter indeed

I hope that all of you had a good Easter. I went out Easter morning and did a little bit of fly fishing. I wasn't able to convince the fish to bite what I was throwing out there, but they were sure feeding on something. It was pretty cool just to see the trout surfacing, but I wish just one would have tried to eat the fly I had out there. I also saw a pair of sandhill cranes, a bunch on Canadian geese, some red-wing blackbirds and all kinds of ducks. It was fun and it was nice to just be out in nature. Sunday night it snowed and then for variety's sake it snowed all day Monday and a little bit Tuesday morning. It didn't really stick down here in the valley, but I know that mountains got quite a bit. This is actually a pretty good thing since the longer the mountains and rivers have moisture the further back the fire season is pushed. I think that MT is finally out of the six year drought we've been in and we're looking good for this summer. So, to clarify, if you were planning a trip to MT, this might be the summer to make it happen as we shouldn't be having the huge forest fires that we'd been having. Maybe we'll see you out here this year.

Mother Nature is an Ice Queen

She has a cold, cold heart does Mother Nature. It is a gorgeous seventy degrees and sunny today, but all weekend it will be rainy and in the high forties. I've tried begging, borrowing, and stealing to get the rest of the day off, but my co-workers have no sympathy for the fact that my golf clubs need taken out for walks fairly regularly or they get pouty. And once my clubs get pouty, my game goes all to hell, or more truthfully, goes closer to hell. I'm not very good to begin with. I think what I'm going to end up doing is getting my outdoorsman's license (hunting and fishing) and do some fly fishing this weekend even if the weather sucks . I'll just throw on my duck hunting gear so I'm warm and dry and see if I can trick some trout into eating a fly that I've tied. If nothing else, it'll get me out into the great outdoors and maybe I'll see some wildlife. Have a nice Easter weekend and I'll tell you if I catch anything when next I post.

Wilderness First Aid

So, just to keep you all in the know about what's going on in my world, I am attending a Wilderness First Aid course this weekend. It's a sixteen hour course and I believe it will be a three year certification. I'm already CPR/AED certified and Basic First AID certified, but I think that this class will be a useful addition. Since I'm planning on doing a lot more camping and hiking this summer along with fly fishing and hunting this fall, I think this would be useful info to have. Plus it will look good on my resume.

BWM asked in a comments section on a previous post if I had managed to lose any weight. Well, my friend, the struggle continues without much to show for it, but I will carry on. My truest hope is to get down to around 200 even in time for my sisters wedding in August. I'd like to look nice for her on her special day. I know that no one will be looking at me, but I think it would be nice for her to not have her brother/usher carrying an extra first grader around his middle. I love you KT. We'll see you all real soon.

This weather is....

really messing with my head. On Monday, I went hiking in a t-shirt and jeans and it was gorgeous weather. Today, snow. Not just a little snow. We're talking up to two feet of snow in the mountains in the past 24 hours. There was probably more than three inches here in the valley, on top of another couple of inches of rain. Craziness. Not much else to rant about here. I'll talk more later.

An apology that needs to be heard