On the Road Again...

Today I leave for Santa Fe, NM and grad school residency. I'll miss out on the Kalispel's Pow Wow this year-which is always one of my favorite times in Pend Oreille County. The fancy dancing and the stick game tournaments are dazzling and hypnotic. But at the same time, the adventure of a road trip through Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah...well, what's not to like about that?

I've spent the last two weeks struggling through Dante and Augustine in prep for the trip. I feel like I've gone through some sort of dark ages repairative therapy. I'm a little over hell and purgatory and sin...at least for the next 1400 miles.

Kevin will be keeping the home fires burning. Which means he gets a break from the visual assault of me walking around in sweats or shorts and lace up cowboy boots. A look he says is way beyond disturbing.

As I have time, I hope to post whatever seems interesting...

Butterfly Kisses

Done!

Well there ya go-We finally finished the last bit of work on the house. The final two ceiling fans are installed and now we can relax. Or not. Anyway this is what a living room looks like when a rodeo explodes in it. With a Ralph Lauren twist.

The paint that is...

Mikey Likes It...

A few weeks back Mikey was back in town. He's real camera shy but I finally persuaded him to sit still and smile. Keep him in your prayers...fuel prices are making trucking a very real challenge...Mikey's fuel bill last month was well over $14,000.

HMR hat-after a month of hard use...

So that's my friend Timmy. He and his wife Sarah, with help from son (four -year- old) Ethan have spent a lot of time up here helping us burn slash, limb trees, and various other fun stuff. I thought the "worn in" look of his hat, after a month of use, was just about perfect to show what kind of abuse HMR gear can stand. Let's see-so far the hat has survived welding, sandblasting, slash burning, limbing, staining, dock building and a four year old kid.

Need we say more?

Dog Days

We've been dog sitting. That is Sally, watching Kevin wash windows. She's a "pointer". A true huntin' dog. Right now she's pointing to a spot Kevin missed.

Wildflowers Cometh

Not known for growing things well...these are a few shots of the color we've seen this year. Maybe all that snow had a purpose afterall.

A Hi Line Life

My friend, wheat rancher Les, sent this to me a few weeks back. It was taken from his farm, not far from where my great grandparents homesteaded in Montana. I thought it was a beautiful shot. Just click on the photo to get the full effect.

Photo credit: Tami Thueringer

The miracle child Ayson

For those of you that have been following this blog for a long time, here is my cousin's kid Ayson. He is a miracle kid, born premature and with all sorts of complications. Yet he's doing just fine...Talk about an answer to prayer.

Big Sky and Big Water

The following shots were taken from Schweitzer Ski Resort. The resort is about a half hour from where we live and this view looks east across Sandpoint Idaho, over Lake Pend Oreille and out toward the Monarch and Cabinet Ranges. This lake is one of the deepest lakes in north America. The Nuclear Sub propulsion systems that the US navy uses were developed here and there are places on the lake where the depth is well over a 1,000 feet deep.

If Kevin and I win the lottery we plan on buying a condo on the hill.

We aren't holding our breath. That's up to the boys in the Navy.

We Have A Winner

O K folks-we've given away all the hats for this year's contest...Next out the gate will be a Carhartt custom jacket complete with the winner's name embroidered on the right chest. O K ooohhh and ahhhhh just like on The Price Is Right.

FYI -The answer to the last question was the story Studio 54. You can read it here: http://www.highmountainranch.com/Book/C7.shtml

Congrats' go out to Dave in TN who was the first to correctly guess the last question...

Stay tuned for HMR Jacket give-away to post sometime after I get back from grad school residency.

The Lush Life...

The Lupins are really late this year. Taken out the dining room window...

Got Peterbilt?

The following set of pictures is among the biggest reasons why I didn't do much blogging in June. Over the last several decades, I've been involved in many aspects of the trucking industry from trucking, to ethnographical issues relating to trucking culture, to truckers health. My passion has always been large car living. That passion has incoporated many versions of 18 gears and a dozen poses-whether its been spent running Arizona produce up to Edmonton or Airfreight from Seattle into Montana, I've covered a lot of miles and fell in love with about 10,000 big road sunsets.

That will never change. I still live and breathe and dream trucking.

Long before my accident, truckers health felt like an issue that needed serious attention. Post accident, the dynamics involved in putting in the long haul are out of the question-My vision just isn't stable enough to last for 24-hour-a-day periods that are sometime a basic part of the job dynamic.

So, to satiate that addiction to perpetual motion, I've been involved in several research efforts led by some of the countries top academics, all of them focusing on mobile population health issues. Some of those efforts are already published, but even more are in the pipeline. Finally we have serious momentum going forward for the trucker's health project and researchers from all across America are working on various projects that will someday make life easier, safer and healthier for the nation's long haulers.

Below are shots taken while a documentary was produced in June. That's Mikey there with the Petercar. As soon as I know when it will air, you'll be the first to know. Until then remember this:

There ain't no feelin' like Petercar mobilin'.