Clementine Throws A Fit, Squirrels Find a Home and A New Book Gets Published

Well, what a time we have been having. This is the time of year when we start battening down the hatches here at the ranch and start checking out gear for our winter photo safari. Clementine and Shadow are our most important participants. Regular readers will know that Clementine is our Winnebago motorhome and Shadow is our little Ford Focus tow car.

This week I went out to fire up Clemmie and her battery was dead. Not to worry I just boosted the engine battery with the house batteries and let her charge for twenty minutes. But, a couple of days later it started to rain and I noticed I had left the the driver's window down. When I went to put it up the window moved like glue. The battery was dead again. When I checked under the hood what did I find but a million pine cones some industrious squirrel had squirreled away for the winter. It appears we aren't the only ones preparing for winter. I was convinced the little varmits had chewed the wiring so the next call was to AAA. Away went Clemmie to the Dodge dealer in Kalispell 75 miles away. Clemmie's chassis is a Dodge Sprinter with a Mercedes diesel engine.

The Dodge people spent a day rooting around in the engine but couldn't find anything amiss. Apparently, it wasn't the squirrels fault after all. So, they sent me off to an RV dealer to check for a wiring problem and/or a battery drain. That is where she remains. Hopefully, we'll find out what the problem is next week.



We did manage a little trip to Lake Koocanusa. That's the Koocanusa in the back ground and Koty Bear looking handsome as usual. KOTY'S KORNER



The picture above shows Mt. Baldy across the Koocanusa and as you can see it already has snow on it. Those mountains are actually in British Columbia. Not only is fall in the air but a little bit of winter too. Now is when I start worrying about not beating the snow on my way out of town. If there is anything that gives me the terrors it's driving on snowy, icy roads. MOUNTAIN and LAKE LANDSCAPES



On our way home from Kalispell we did take time out to take a walk along the Whitefish River in Whitefish. The above photo is of a beautiful old willow bending it's branches down along the river. With the exception of the leaves on the right hand side the entire photo is just a refection of this stately old tree.



This last photo is of a giant sunflower. It was still in great shape. It seemed to be leaning over asking us what we were up to on this fine fall day. It reminded me a little of "Day of the Triffids" a story I once read in grade school. FLOWERS are among my favorite subjects to photograph. They are so colorful and alive.

The Fine Art o...

A few of my favori...

By by: Kinsey Barnard

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Last but certainly not least I finally got my book THE FINE ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY published and I'm quite pleased with the results. Check it out if you have a chance.

That's it for this week.

Ciao for now,
Koty & Kinsey

©Kinsey Barnard