It's one of those things that ya gotta WANT to do

 Freeze out Lake . They don't call it that for nothing . This year we were prepared and brought all the Alaska gear and still...I ain't been that cold since end of September Silver fishing with Chris Fejes when I pored hot coffee on my Extra Tuff's. We get there in time to watch the Geese return to the water for the night after eating in the farm fields all day and then it was off to the motel so that we can be back at the lake for sunrise and see the Geese lift off to repeat the daily process, 20,000  of them. If you might know me to exaggerate a bit just check out this pic.

That would be an icicle on the back-up camera of MP's car....When we got to the motel we went straight to the hot tub where we were joined by a young German woman who had just returned from the Lake with here photographer husband. She had me in stitches : " It's just ridiculous, sooo cold, ridiculous . Oh Helga look, click, click click....click click click, just ridiculous ".  

So in the morning with a temp of 18 degrees and wind at 15 to 20 we got to see the show. The Geese lifted off in three different groups but very impressive. I shot this video with my Samsung Tablet and the quality isn't what I would have liked, maybe poor light as it was 10 minutes after sunrise or maybe the lens was fogged up as it was a -45 chill factor....but you get the idea. Heck, we're out in nature. 

 

So they say we had 7000 Swans and 20,000 Geese. I think last year my pics turned out a bit better but hey, I'm learning.

And Choteau Montana , what a wonderfully welcoming place.  We found two second hand stores for MP. We stayed at the Stage Stop Inn that is privately  owned and is about the nicest / funnest / cleanest place we've ever stayed. They have 2 dollar gin + tonics , MP won 35 bucks while I watched Montana State lose to Grambling in the NCAA tourney and they had the best waffle fries . The hot tub is like they  incorporated it into their business plan knowing that Freeze Out Lake was going to be big draw...It's a great place,  so down to earth , Montana like....this pic tells it all...Now in some towns the Future Farmers of America might raffle a cord but in Choteau, no way, it's a cord and a half. 

So having taken a 7:00 a.m. Lakeside hike, snapped 6 successful pics and 47 failures while drinking 5 cups of coffee we head back to Helena...the long way of course . It had rained the day before so with the temperature drop there was an eerie ground fog . As we drove a long  highway 408 we could hear Geese and bumped into these guys for more pics. I don't know what they prefer to eat but I kinda figured most Farmers here would wish they's find another field.

If you haven't been to Augusta Montana you're missing one of the most beautiful towns in the USA. Nobody cares if you stand in the middle of main street and fiddle with your camera for a blog shot,  in fact I had a Northwest Energy guy wave and give me a thumbs up...you folks over in Jordan Montana could take a lesson.

And now for your semi weekly ' how the hell is 003 doing ' report.

Well : I've seen 5 different doctors and given blood to all five of them. It seems that even though I carry the Factor V Lieden gene mutation they did not feel that would be the cause of such a huge late in life blood clot. So, that rules out one of the three things that could cause that type of clot ( genetics ) with injury or a malignancy being the other two. I've had no injuries or surgeries so they had to rule out cancer. 

My last cancer screening was in this baby where they looked for lung cancer. It did show a 3 mm sized nodule in my lower right lung that they categorize as non-suspicious . weew, were we relieved or what ! It was a CT Scan with contrast where they inject you with iodine type of thing to show everything better and I'll be a happy man if I never have to go through that again . SO...They have decided that my DVT was ' unprovoked ' which is very unusual but in this case it is so . I'll be on the blood thinner Eliquis at least until August when I see my 3rd doctor again to chart the rest of my life, maybe thinners everyday, maybe not....In the meantime I see the neck guy on Monday and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they will allow and do surgery ASAP .  I continue to wear the compression socks as you can still see some edema....now those socks are a big pain in the ass but they certainly help, you can see it. And MP always being the loving supporter of this side show found me this deal at one of her 2nd hand stores. Thanks baby for the nod to the old guy.