Dog Grooming Nightmare

So while Kinsey was having fun at the Event at Rebecca Farm I was left home alone suffering the slings an arrows of grooming run a muck.

This was my first summer jumping in and out of the ponds here at the ranch in order to keep cool. In the nearly fourteen years they were together Kinsey never took Lakota to a groomer. She brushed him out now and again but that was it. As a result she was not paying proper attention to what was going on with her new companion, that would be me. Before we knew it I had matted hair all over. On my haunches I was a real mess.

Before the Grooming Nightmare

Kinsey tried to comb the mats out but it was useless. First of all, I hate to be groomed so it's not easy to groom me under any circumstances. Under the circumstances in which we found ourselves it was impossible. Kinsey did try. I'll give her that but I wouldn't standstill so it was pretty much hopeless.

Whilst we were down in the Flathead, Kinsey took me over to Petco for a consultation. She knew other people that liked the groomers there. We met a very nice young named Jake and we both liked him. Jake said he thought my mats could be groomed out without shearing me like a sheep. How's that for irony? A sheep dog getting sheared. The place felt right to both of us so Kinsey made an appointment for the next day.

We showed up at the appointed hour and some older gal said she would be taking care of me. We had assumed Jake would be doing the grooming. As soon as this woman came out from behind the counter I tried to leave the building. I tried to give Kinsey every indication I did not like this woman. It is the first time in my life I have been anything but thrilled to meet a new person. I know Kinsey was concerned by my reaction but she left me anyway. Thanks a lot.

An hour after Kinsey left. The woman gave up on trying to comb out the mats. She called Kinsey and told her so. She got permission to try and shave the mats off. That's when the real rodeo started. Finally, Jake was free so he tried to help but by this time I was so freaked out I wouldn't even let him work on me. Finally, Jake called Kinsey and said I was only partially shaved but he was not willing to stress me out any further. God bless Jake. I had been in that horrible place for three and a half hours!

I wish you could see what I looked like. Kinsey took some photos but accidentally erased them before she downloaded them. I can tell you I was a sight. Tufts of hair on an unevenly shaved body. I was a mess. I looked like I was moth eaten. Jake suggested I bring Molly in on the following Monday and he would try and finish the job.

So we went back on Monday. She wasn't supposed to but Kinsey stayed and held me through the whole thing. I felt much safer with Kinsey holding me and Jake doing the grooming. It took about forty five minutes to finish the job. A made very little fuss. Below is how I looked after the second go around.

After the Grooming Nightmare-Short Haired Australian Shepard

I can hardly believe it's me but at least I no longer look like a flea bitten refugee dog. I may be a new breed, Short Haired Australian Shepard. Lucky me!

It's so hot right now I think I'm actually going to like it for awhile. It remains to be seen if my hair grows back to the beautiful coat I once had. We were told that sometimes if you shave a dog with an undercoat it doesn't grow back like it was before. We're hoping I'm one of the lucky ones.

Even though we liked Jake we both agreed the vibes in that Petco shop were not right for us and we will not be returning.

Ciao for now,
The very light and airy Molly Montana

©Kinsey Barnard

Fabulous Championship Cross Country Horse Competition

Kinsey went to this event in Kalispell this weekend that got her all lathered up. It was The Event at Rebecca Farm celebrating the year of the horse. The event has been going for a number of years but this is the first time Kinsey has gone. I, of course, did not get to go. This is partially my fault. Dogs are welcome but Kinsey wanted to try an take pictures of the jumpers on the cross country course and, well, that would have been kind of hard to do with me in tow.

Horse and Rider Jumping at the Event at Rebecca Farm

Kinsey was practically raised on a horse and even though she doesn't have any now her love of them still burns bright. Hmm, I wonder if should be jealous?

Sports photography certainly isn't her forte but she was all excited to give it a try especially because it was horses.

She has put together a slideshow of some of the pictures she took and asked me to post the link to my blog. I am a good and obedient little girl so here it is.

Slideshow of The Event at Rebecca Farm Kalispell, Montana 2014


Ciao for now,
Molly Montana

Pinkham Creek Picnic-Kinsey Tangles with a Wasp Nest

Today Kinsey and I had a little picnic at Pinkham Creek. Kinsey some times likes to pick up a Subway sandwich and go to some peaceful place after running errands in the village. Pinkham Creek is one of those places. The weather has cooled off a little so it was quite pleasant. I could jump in the creek to cool off if I got too hot. I hear Kinsey complaining about the Subway sandwiches lately. She used to think they were pretty good. She thinks they're watering down the dressings. She complains a lot these days about prices going up and quality going down. Me, I'm just a happy camper.

Getting cool in Pinkham Creek

When we got back this afternoon Kinsey needed to clean the drain pipe at our pond. The pond is about 3/4 of an acre and the drain pipe is about 15 feet from shore so she has to paddle a kayak out there to get the job done. I swam a couple of strokes over at Pinkham Creek but I'm none to fussy about this swimming thing yet. I just watched Kinsey paddle around from the shore.

A funny thing did happen. After cleaning out the drain pipe Kinsey cruised along the shore picking up dead cattails floating on the water.  All of a sudden I see her flailing around swinging the paddle about and generally acting like a madwoman. Turns out she practically stuck her hand into a wasp nest that was embedded in the bank. Those wasps came flying out after her and she really got her knickers in a twist. Nearly, turned that kayak right over. Luckily she didn't get stung. She's kind of allergic to insect bites. One summer a bull hornet bit her and her hand swelled up like nothing I have ever seen. We had to make a quick trip to the Urgent Care place for that one.

After Kinsey was done fooling around in the kayak she played a little "frisbee" with me. It's not really a Frisbee but it's like one and I love to play with those flying disk things.

Yee Haaa 

Gads I'm good looking

All in all a pretty darned nice day.

Ciao For Now
Molly Montana

©Kinsey Barnard

Blackfeet Dancers at the 2014 Pow Wow

Last weekend we went over to Browning to attend the annual Blackfeet Pow Wow. We took Clementine and did an overnighter. It's kinda cool because you can pretty much pick a spot to park and park. As you might imagine I'm not allowed to go into the arena where the dancing was going on. There's not much for me to to tell you. I thought I'd just post a few of Kinsey's photograph so you can see what I missed.

Kinsey has a bunch more photographs she has uploaded to an online gallery. If you'd care to see them "click here".

Ciao for now,
MOLLY MONTANA

©Kinsey Barnard

Chief Mountain saves life - my first grizzly bear encounter

Since it was our last day on the reservation Kinsey decided we should try one more time to figure out which trail leads to Chief Mountain as in one that we could navigate without a machete.

Chief Mountain

Our first stop was a trail over to a water feature that Kinsey had been wanting to explore. Turned out to be a great stop. Not so much because of the water feature but because we continued on the path until it opened up into a meadow where we found a mare, her yearling and foal.

I totally made a nuisance of myself jumping and tugging on the leash. I dare say, Kinsey was very unhappy with my performance. The horses wanted to come to Kinsey but my shenanigans kept spooking them away.

Despite me she got some decent photos of the horses.

We continued on up the road until we got to one of the last trails we hadn’t tried this trip. Turned out to be the winner. This trail takes right off going up. We hiked in for a couple of hours. That got us to where the flora turned alpine. The trail started to get a little dicey so Kinsey decided it was far enough. She’s not one to take chances when alone in the wild. I wasn’t making things any safer with my continued lunging after ground squirrels and failing to pay attention to her.

We turned around and headed back. Normally, Kinsey looks back on a trail, every now and again, to make mental markers. A trail can look very different going in the opposite direction. Turned out I wasn’t the only one not paying attention. The trail ran up and down ravines. While we were following one trail we were passing others behind us without notice. It wasn’t long before Kinsey was unsure of which trail to follow. I could tell she was getting seriously spooked.

We were probably the first ones up here since last year. With new grass and no traffic there were places where the trail disappeared altogether. We came to one of those grassy places and suddenly there were trails all around us. We tried one but it wasn’t too far before Kinsey was sure it was the wrong way. We returned to the grassy spot. Kinsey wasn’t even sure we supposed to be in this spot. We tried another route but the flora looked wrong, alpine instead of sub-alpine. We went back to the grassy spot yet again. This time Kinsey looked up at the “Old Chief” and said out loud “Chief, I need your help. I have lost my way. Can you help me?” No sooner were the words out of her mouth than she saw an innocuous wood block that for some reason she had mentally marked. She recognized it immediately. We went over to it and not far from it we found the trail down. From that point on there was no doubt we were on the right path. Maybe the Chief appreciated the dance she did for him the other day?

Off down the mountain we went. I could tell Kinsey was really relieved. I continued to be a brat pulling and tugging, still wanting to get one of those squirrels. I totally wasn’t paying attention but those squirrels. Kinsey is really good at spotting game. She says it isn’t so much good eyesight as it is a good eye. A good eye to notice something that out of place in the landscape. While I was being a brat she was noticing something very red in the green grass just in front of us. She knew it was either a cow or a grizzly.

It was a grizzly peeking through the bush at us.. Kinsey tried to get closer. She isn’t a wildlife photographer. Her longest lens is 300m. That is not a wildlife lens. Wildlife photographers use lenses 3 times that to get their photos of grizzlies. While she was trying to get closer I was catching on. I saw that bear and I went bonkers. Jumping, barking and growling. Well, so much for Kinsey’s photo op. That grizzly took off like a shot and disappeared into the forest. I’m in big trouble now. She told me in no uncertain terms we are going to get some professional help with my prey drive issues.

Big Grizzly Bear

I do get why Kinsey always keeps me on the leash when we are on a trail, letting me off only when we are in a clearing where she has high visibility. If I hadn’t been on a leash when we came upon that grizzly I would have chased it and somebody could have gotten hurt. Most likely me. But, Kinsey too. I could have high tailed it back to Kinsey bringing the bear with me. Hate it or not having me on a leash in certain environments is probably not a bad idea.

Well, for my last day on the Blackfeet Reservation this one was by far the most exciting. Tomorrow we will be packing up Clementine, hitching up Shadow and returning home. Honestly, I can’t wait for our next trip. This road tripping is fun stuff!

Ciao for now!
MOLLY MONTANA

©Kinsey Barnard

Russia Loves Molly Montana - We love Russia!

Kinsey was just going over the Google statistics for my blog and she is telling me that of all the countries in all the world we get the second highest readership from Russia. The Google map only shows the former Soviet Union so I mean Russia in the broadest sense. The US  is number one and Canada is number three.

We think that is really special and worth mentioning.

So, to all our Russian readers we both want to say thank you for reading our blog. We truly appreciate your support!

Ciao for now!
MOLLY MONTANA

Running Eagle Falls - Two Medicine - Rising Wolf - Glacier NP

Today, June 1, 2014, we headed over to Two Medicine. Kinsey likes to tell the story of the last time she traveled 49 to Two Medicine. The wind blew so hard it nearly blew Shadow (Ford Focus) right off the road. No joke. I can tell you for sure it's a narrow winding road with very steep drop offs. A road you'd want to be careful with on a calm day.

Kinsey always likes to check out Two Medicine and Running Eagle Falls. Running Eagle Falls is a beautiful waterfall and the story of Running Eagle, aka Brown Weasel, equally as beautiful. Water was just gushing over the falls.

RUNNING EAGLE FALLS

Of course I had to take Kinsey's word for it because we were back inside the park. My kind are not allowed in US National Parks. This is one of the few places Kinsey visits inside the park. She much prefers staying on the reservation where I am welcome and the trails are filled with spirits that make us both joyful. The US Government just never tires of telling people what they can and cannot do.

RUNNING EAGLE FALLS JUNE 2014

After paying homage to the falls we headed up to Two Medicine. Everything was closed up there too. So far no campground on the east side has been open.

TWO MEDICINE CAMPGROUND

Even though everything was closed the view of Two Medicine Lake and Sinopah Mountain were worth the drive. You can't ever discount the privilege of seeing, with your own eyes,beauty like this.

TWO MEDICINE LAKE AND SINOPAH MOUNTAIN

It turned out, the most beautiful site we were to see, this day, was yet to come. We headed back down the mountain driving along Lower Two Medicine Lake to 49. At 49 we turned north. About a half mile or so up the road Kinsey slammed on the brakes and swerved across the south bound lane to the siding. She grabbed her camera and jumped out of the car. She does this all the time. Frequently, scaring the heck out of me. I seldom have any idea what all the hub bub is about. Today what lit her fire was this image of Rising Wolf Mountain.

RISING WOLF MOUNTAIN

Pretty darned nice image if I do say so. Sometimes I have to say nice things because you know who is in control of the vending machine. Not this time. RISING WOLF MOUNTAIN

In my last post I said this was the last in the series but I got all mixed up. The last one comes next and it's a doosie.

Be sure to check out Kinsey's new blog The Liberated Photographer. Her essay on labels has been particularly popular. 

Ciao for now!
MOLLY MONTANA

©Kinsey Barnard