Pay Off

I know , I know, that was a long two weeks between posts. It's just that I'm settling in and there's not been much to write about...we'll be on the road soon and all that will change. But the good news was that after all the emotion and adjustment it's taken for ol  # 003 to change his life now it's starting to make sense. Sam and Haily drove over for a few days and it was sooooo good to see him. We played music and hiked and well, it was just wonderful and now we all see how easy it is to get together, if everybody is in the lower 48 of course. Of course with the covid crisis we weren't able to dine out or hot spa like we would but the visit was wonderful....Thanks Sam and Haily for the effort.

We had a good laugh on our River walk hike. Sam noticed the signs warning people about the moose, they seem to think that these animals are as dangerous as they are rare around here as compared to deer which are everywhere. Hardly a hike goes by without someone who has spotted one warns you....well, growing up at Mile on the World Famous Sam has had as many Moose encounters as we have so if there's any ' moose encounter experts' around here it's us.

I tell folks here what we all know. It's the spring of the year when they have calves that is the most dangerous and if you see them lay their ears back like MP and I had happen when we found ourselves between a cow and a calf on the river last year there's only one thing to do....run like hell and get a tree or something between you. But if the moose are well fed and without nursing calves, no worries, admire them and don't be scaredy chicken.

We see them here routinely and they are certainly different than those in the frozen north. For one thing they have lots of habitat and seem to stay along the river although we have had them in our yard like back home. Being a guy who's hit 3 of them with a pick truck I'm glad to report that we've yet to see one cross the road. The pic below is something I've never seen before, a moose with two calves from different years. In Alaska you always see mom give the yearling the boot when she calves in May but here they just all hang out together. Here's 3 generations all together, strange !

One of the reasons I came to Montana is that I want to work on my music and be around a bigger musical community and maybe find a venue to howl. Well I've been working hard on my sound but because of the virus the only musicians I'm meeting are the ones who left the music behind for the rest of us. One of my all time favorites right here in what we're calling ' Hammy' .....' alimony, alimony, you married men might think it's funny, till one fine day you wake and find you're paying for your mistakes... every friday when I get my pay...I put it in an envelope and mail it away...same old song with a little more  blues in it... I'm paying for it while someone else is usssssing it !

When I was a kid there was a ' one man band ' guy who we'd run into everywhere in Helena named Lee Goodspeed. Lee had Miguivered his guitar and had a cymbal that works when he nodded his head and even a keyboard sound when tapping his foot. He was utlra talented and you couldn't help to smile to see and hear him, through the years I've told many a person about Lee's magical sound and.....when I went to Piccolo's Music Store to get a light for my music stand there he was, his custom Strat and the Story. The owner was his friend and searched out the Strat, we had a nice visit and I left feeling connected.

I always thought a  Used Cow  was a hamburger.  But here in Montana they have a special parking garage or something for them that I haven't quite figured out. So if any of you know just what the heck this is all about how's about letting me know in the comments below....I need to be able to speak the language ya know. 

Here's a short list of a  few things I learned that I didn't know about moving.

1. Boxes stack, rubbermaid totes don't.

2. Don't move old stuff, there's old stuff everywhere.

3. Don't put something in the 'kitchen' box from somewhere else just because it fits. You'll never find it.

4. Hard things in life take time. You'll get used to it and feel better.

5. It's good for your marriage.

6. You'll lose 15 pounds

7. You'll gain 15 pounds

8. Happiness  ain't a location.

9. A 9 weight fly rod is huge.

10. The world is a big place.

Thanks for reading. I really do enjoy writing so I'll carry on , especially when we find new things. Thanks for reading, I'll do at the very least every two weeks....

LOSER

 In the movie Hardtimes Burgess Merideth's character said about his life " some of us were born losers and some of us had it thrust upon us "....And losing is something I know about, like most people I really haven't won a heck of a lot except for when I was a first ballot inductee in the Kenai River Hall of Fame. What I know about losing is you get used to it, in fact you can come to expect it and walla, there is the key to losing.  Don't worry about nothin because nothin turns out right anyway.

It's how you react to losing that's the key. Do you really want to be the guy who's so surprised he bites off part of Evander Holyfield's ear ? Wouldn't you rather be like Tex Cobb when after taking a horribly bloody beating from Larry Holmes and having lost all 15 rounds on the judges card he said he'd have won if they just had one more round. One interviewer told Tex it must have been frustrating to fight a guy with arms a foot longer than his. Tex said " it seemed that way to you too ?"  And the famous Joe Louis when his corner man tried to fire him up during a losing effort by saying " Joe he ain't touching you " replied " keep an eye on the ref then because somebody is ". 

I remember years ago at Mile 14 I was sitting on the couch with NFL legend Roger Craig watching the special post Olympic foot race between Michael Johnson and Donovan Bailey to decide the fastest human in the world. The gun went off and as Bailey pulled ahead at about the 3/4 race point Michael Johnson pulled up with ham string injury and limped off....Roger howled ' he quit, he quit ' and yup he just couldn't do it or so it appeared, another way to lose.

As a kid we lived close to Canada and being an average swimmer who's lost a lot I was interested in the swimming preliminaries which were on TV from Lethbridge Alberta. When the Canadian swimmer failed to qualify for the finals but was just one position out the announcer said " he had the fastest losing time today ". 

Just a couple years ago I had a brush up with losing. Me and Stewart were fishing the Surf Tournament with hundreds of Mexican fishermen. I caught a nice 3 pound Toro just minutes into the event and waved over the 4 wheeler who we were told to send the fish to the weigh in station with. Well the driver tried to ignore me and drive off and I was frustrated thinking this could be the first fish, or biggest fish or maybe even the only fish of the tournament...Finally I got my translator on the phone  fired up and he spoke into for me to read " sir, do not embarrass yourself by weighing in that fish ". mmmmm....

So now you're probably wondering where the hell is retired guide #003 going with this exercise...Well it's simple, I think I'm a losing expert and there are some real complexities to it . So if you know anybody who needs some counsel on losing just have them give me a call at BR549 and I'll walk them through the process...and I'll do it slowly and in an understandable way so as not to confuse them...anymore that is...

Me and MPeasy on our continuing quest to find the best Hot Water in Mooontana found a new favorite, kinda funny how my favorite changes but Lost Trail is a contender for sure....and it's right next door to our new Middle America Mile 14 bureau. Like all the others we've been to this one is off the beaten path and kind of funky, the old buildings and camp setting is cool.

I made a friend named Dale who helps run the place and used to be an educator in Alaska, we'll be coming to this place often. We were at an uncovered Hot Springs a few weeks back which had cold water so we were happy with 98 degree healing waters with just a simple covering...so nice, thanks Dale.

The big news at Mile 14 is that me and the staff will be going to Arizona soon to hopefully use it as a jump off spot to drive on to Mazatlan if all things converge into a big ol ' let's go '.  We've rented a casita in and active adult community so I should have some fun stuff to write about. With this covid spiking everywhere we feel like we need to be outside more and of course we have no schedule and very little direction in life so a new adventure is coming to us soon. So please come back to Mile 14. I'll be on a 2 or 3 issues a month schedule and if I get that phone call for losing advice I'll let you all know how it goes....we'll be leaving the hats.