The natural world, life, and dogs.
Cairns are piles or stacks of stones constructed by humans. We’ve done this over millennia and across continents for a variety of purposes: burial monuments; spiritual ceremonies; marking the location of buried food or objects; way finders; astronomy aids; solstice celebration markers; land boundaries; battle memorials. The word cairn is Gaelic, meaning “heap of stones.”… Continue reading A Heap of Stones
This morning, we saw one. A wolf. In the wild. Running a trail in a remote part of central Idaho’s Payette National Forest in August 2006, my two Malamutes and I were allowed to commune with nature in a way most can only dream of. First, the wolf and Maia exchanged direct looks. Then Meadow… Continue reading The Wolf Visit
(Warning: Long post - book chapter length - because I’ve dealt with several dog-skunk incidents over the years, and because the stories are too funny – after the fact – to keep to myself.) September 2006 – Maia and Meadow at the Flying U Ranch, British Columbia The Flying U Ranch is a dude ranch… Continue reading Skunk!
Last night around 1:00 am, a plaintive howl woke me from a deep sleep. Many years ago, I awoke to a wolf howling from the nearby forest. I haven't heard that since it became legal to kill wolves in Idaho. But this wasn't a wolf. It was my Malamute, Conall. I was instantly reminded of… Continue reading Call of the Wild
Traveling through the forest with my dogs allows me to observe and learn so much more about the natural world than I could alone. In addition to my own senses, as rudimentary as they are, I benefit from the boys' highly specialized senses of smell, sight and hearing. They alert me to other creatures nearby,… Continue reading Dogs: My Wildlife Alert System
Living and playing in the mountains teaches one to expect weather surprises. Tomorrow is Summer Solstice - the first day of summer - but today, the boys and I ran trails in flurries of corn snow, temperatures hovering around freezing. And we loved it. We're all three of us early morning creatures. Good thing, because… Continue reading Mountain Weather
Wild Sensibility 