Stillwater River

I still have more stories to tell about our trip to Yellowstone and the Tetons but getting Kinsey to give up the photos is like trying to pull teeth. I'm hoping the one about the Bridger-Tetons will get done next week. The is the one where the week before there had been a grizzly attack and all they had found of the guy was a hand and a foot.

Molly on the bank of the Stillwater River

Ciao for now!
Molly Montana

My Mom Knew Clark Gable

Here is the link to a kind of a cool story that my mom Kinsey Barnard wrote about Clark Gable. She actually knew him. Which pretty much tells you she's a old duffer. :)

If you'd like to read it just follow this link Clark Gable the King of Hollywood

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

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

The Woodswomen Kinsey Barnard Is slashing and Burning

It's that time of year again when Kinsey goes into the woods and works like a madwoman, slashing and burning. She takes managing her forest very seriously. Some people may just let their land go au natural but not Kinsey. She is a firm believer that one needs to lend Nature a hand if they want Nature to return the favor. She also believes "To be worn out is to be renewed." ~ Lao Tzu

Open burning starts in March and by May it is permit season. This year it was so wet during open burn it was all Kinsey could do to start a fire. One day she just flat threw in the towel. First time that's happened in 12 years.

Don't like to get too close to those fires

Kinsey is out there for four to five hours at a whack. It's all hot fires and chainsaws. I'm not really crazy about the chainsaw especially since Kinsey one time forgot to holler "Timber!" when she cut down a tree and it nearly beaned me. It was a small tree but I was a puppy so it looked plenty big to me. I'm very slowly getting over it.

Now, I'm all for looking after the health of the forest but what is a little girl supposed to do for entertainment? I mean golly gee whiz. But, I came up with a great idea ..... frisbee! I love to play frisbee!

Please. Please. Please. Toss me the frisbee.

Kinsey is constantly mumbling about how nice it would be if I could put all my pent up energy into something productive like helping with the slashing and burning. But, that is not what Nature intended for me. Now, if she'd get me something to heard I could shine.

I have to hand it to Kinsey hard as she works she still takes time to toss me the frisbee and finds time to try and take a picture or two of me. I hate having my picture taken but I have to admit I am a lovely creature.

Sitting on a blow down tree trunk

After she's done I must also admit things do look so much nicer with the added benefit that the fire fuels have been reduced.

Cleaned up area

So, as you can see not much has been going on as far as I'm concerned. I'm looking forward to June. There won't be anymore marathon days of burning. Maybe we can get out and have some fun. I'm hoping to get to take my first road trip one day soon.

Be sure and check out Kinsey's new blog The Liberated Photographer.

©Kinsey Barnard

FALL MAKES ME FRISKY

Fall is clearly in the air. The aspens and cottonwoods are showing color. I am full of mischief! Must be the cool air.

Kinsey continues to work like a madwoman. Saw, saw, saw. Chop, chop, chop! She's busier than any beaver. I continue my supervisory duties. When not supervising I busy myself chasing squirrels which I have no chance of catching. But, they chirp and I chase.

Speaking of squirrels, they may be busier than Kinsey. If the amount of pine cone workings I see is any indication this is going to be a bigger than normal winter.

Kinsey continues to wonder if I will ever leave puppy hood behind, personally, I have my doubts. It's just too much fun to steal things I shouldn't and chew things I know aren't meant to be chewed. In three days I will be eleven months old so one year is right around the corner. Some days I drive her to distraction and she can be heard mumbling "I'm going to give you to someone who lives in an apartment and works all day. See how you like that!" It does give me a wee moment of pause. But, I know this is an idle threat, she loves me too much. Could you imagine?!

In order to keep her off balance I do things every now and again that make her so proud. For example; the other day a friend came to lunch. We were just coming in from working in the woods as the guest arrived. We both jumped out of Mr. Toad to go and greet her. Naturally, I go there first. Then Kinsey ask me to go back and get the Frisbee. We take a Frisbee along when we work so Kinsey can toss it whilst she works. You'd think I would be plenty occupied by the woods but no I still like to chase my Frisbee.

Anyway, Kinsey says, in off hand way, "Go get the Frisbee out of the car" and returns to greeting her friend. I trot off to the Toad way over in the shed, retrieve it and bring it back to her. Now see, it's things like this that keep me out of that apartment. I'm no dummy. I give her just enough to keep her in love with me. The rest of the time I delight in driving her nuts!

©Kinsey Barnard

Me in Shadow, our little tow car. Noticed how the thing I'm resting on is crooked. I chewed the string that holds it up off so I could stick my head out. Aren't I clever?!

See, even when I'm bad Kinsey can't resist me! Cuz I'm just so cute!

Up periscope. I always like to keep an ear out so as not to miss anything.

NEW BEGINNINGS - CRATE TRAINING

The passing of Lakota Sunrise was the end of an era. The best era of my life so far to be sure. But, now there is Molly Montana and a new chapter begins. This blog will be turning into a journal chronicling Molly Montana and our life together. From a puppy to wherever and whatever life leads us.  Oh, I won't be able not to throw in a rant every now and again but this blog will mostly be stories about Molly Montana and the roads and trails we travel together.

I'm finding that I can't remember a lot of things about Koty's puppy days it was so long ago, either that or I've got early onset. I can't recall things like crate training and house training. My memory is that Koty didn't require any of that which I doubt is correct.

First let me just say, egads, I also forgot what a life changer having a puppy is.  She will require house training as well as crate training. Molly is a blank slate and the responsibility of raising her properly weighs. If a dog doesn't turn out right it isn't the dog's fault ninety-nine percent of the time.

It's hard to imagine but Molly has only been here four days and five nights. It's seems a lot longer. Especially, the nights. I've set up Koty's crate in the bedroom and Molly is barely a fly speck in the thing. Too big a crate is not productive for training as puppies are loathe to sleep in their own excrement. If the crate is too big the puppy can just move to the back to do it's thing and have room left with clean bedding. Molly certainly agrees with that theory.

The first night Molly went right in the crate. Once I closed the gate. She started howling and never stopped until I let her out the next morning. I am not a person that does well without at least eight hours of sleep. I hadn't slept Friday night because of the impending trip to Three Forks. Saturday night was spent in a strange place, no sleep there. Sunday night I spent with a howling banshee in my bedroom, no sleep there. I was wandering around in a fog. Have you ever been so tired you couldn't sleep? That's where I was. I tried taking my usual naps and nothing.

Koty's crate clearly needed a partition and I didn't get it in the crate until Tuesday. I cut a piece of plywood to size, drilled holes in the top corners and lashed it to the side of the crate. I used those zip tie things. I stuffed pillows behind the board to keep it stable. It worked like a charm as far as the soiling was concerned but the howling continued unabated. I read an internet article on crate training that suggested one salt the crate with treats and sure enough Molly went right in for those treats and she howled her head off as soon as the gate closed. Mama Mia that girl has lungs!

One thing is apparent, Molly and I had one thing in in common, we are food motivated. As far as I can tell Molly has never meet a treat she didn't like, me either! I began to think Molly was playing for treats. She wasn't focusing on the message.

I started looking for a new strategy and found it. This one played to her mind and emotion instead of her tummy. It made a lot of sense to me. I decided to give it a go. I put Molly in the crate and myself to bed. She immediately started whining. I let her go on for a few minutes. Then I told her "Enough!". When she kept on I got up and left the room soundly closing the door. I went to the living room couch and waited for her to stop.  When she did I slipped back into my bed. No sooner did my head meet the pillow than Molly began flexing her vocal chords. This went on half the night and finally I got up from the bed, and with no thought to puppy training experts who say use a stern voice, I simply said as sincerely as I knew how "Molly, I'm leaving this room and if I do I'm not coming back".  She immediately stopped. I slipped back into bed and we both slept until it was time to let her out. Crazy as it may sound that is exactly what happened.

Uh Oh! Busted!

©Kinsey Barnard

FINDING MOLLY MONTANA

For the past several months, well meaning friends have suggested that I get a puppy before Lakota passed so that I wouldn’t have to spend any time alone. Whilst I appreciated the thought it just didn’t feel right to me. I had been the center of Koty's universe for over thirteen years. I couldn’t do anything that had any chance of diminishing his quality of life.

In retrospect I think if I had been going to get another husky puppy it would probably have been OK. Koty always seemed to respond to other huskies as though they were long lost pals whilst encounters with other breeds were generally met with indifference. Long ago I knew Koty would be my one and only husky. No other husky could ever take his place.

Though I wasn’t prepared to get a puppy whilst Koty was still with me, I did do internet research on the different dog breeds. I decided the Australian Shepard would be a good fit for me and my lifestyle. I knew a little about Aussie’s. When I was a kid I had an Aussie. I hunted around on the internet bookmarking different breeder and puppy sale sites but took it no further. I felt a little guilty doing that much.

Even though I knew Koty wouldn’t be with me much longer, that even if the Cushing’s Disease didn’t get him old age would. It still came as a painful shock to my system when he died. It really took the wind from beneath my wings. I didn’t really want to think about another dog. Learning of Koty’s passing, my sister Jane Ann wrote, “ Find your new Pookie as soon as possible. It really helps.” Pookie was my childhood Aussie’s nick name. It came from the Soupy Sales Show. Pookie was Soupy's lion puppet. My sister’s words gave me the push I needed. Or maybe it was the permission I needed.

Horses were my life growing up. I was taught that when your horse throws you, as they invariably will, you must dust yourself off and get right back in the saddle. I have found over the years that philosophy works on just about anything life throws at you. With that ingrained philosophy, and a push from my sister, I started looking in earnest for my new “Pookie”.

First I visited the puppy for sale directories. There were so many puppies all over the country. It was overwhelming. What I was able to determine from looking at these puppy photos was that I especially liked what they call a Black Tri-Color. My childhood dog had been a blue merle with blue eyes.

I talked to a number of breeders from various states. They were all kind and helpful. Their puppies adorable.  I know that puppies are shipped all over the world all the time with no apparent ill-effects. But, I wanted to be able to choose my puppy in real time not just from a photo. I found a breeder in Washington State with nice looking puppies that I could have driven to and very nearly did. I went so far as to tell the Washington breeder I would call her back to make arrangements to visit. But, something made me want to a little more looking. I ended up calling the Washington breeder to say I wouldn't be able to make it.

I couldn't get the idea of a Montana dog out of my mind. On Thursday I found Out West Aussie’s in Three Forks, Montana. On the Out West website was the photo an adorable, black tri-color girl.  Her markings were striking. The look in her eyes showed presence and poise. So bright and attentive. She looked like a keeper. I spoke with Kelly Cooke, the owner, and made plans to drive down to take a look on Saturday.  That same afternoon, whilst I was taking my regular afternoon nap, suddenly my eye lids flew open and the name Molly popped into my head. I have never known a Molly. I have absolutely no idea where the name came from. I did know that if the pup in Three Forks turned out to be “the one” her name was going to be Molly.

I asked my friend Faith to drive down to Three Forks with me. Faith is also the tried and true friend who came to help me pick Koty up off the side of the road and take him to the Flathead for cremation. As luck would have it Koty’s remains were ready Saturday morning so we picked him up and took him with us. Silly as it sounds, I think he liked being included. I know I liked that he was along.

The drive to Three Forks is a little over six hours from my place. When we got to the breeders the two pups I’d seen on the Out West Aussie site were freshly washed and frolicking in the house. When I first saw the puppy I thought “Cute dog. How nice.” I honestly didn’t feel anything. I was ambivalent, empty. After about ten minutes watching her puppy enthusiasm and reckless abandon, hallmark qualities of Lakota Sunrise, something inside of me shifted I was suddenly sure I had found my Molly.

Kelly graciously offered to put us up for the night. Molly slept with me on the bed. In the middle of the night the word Montana popped into my head.  Molly Montana. Eureka! The puppy's name was complete. Miss Montana was born November 12, 2012.

So that’s the story of how I found Molly Montana and a new beginning.

A few first day photos below. I think you will agree she is a beauty. I also think Koty would approve. I'm not alone and he hasn't been replaced.

©Kinsey Barnard