Posts from the ‘Bear’ category

Beardog Point: aka Beardog sweet spot v1.2

Mid-October, Bear found the Beardog sweet spot.

Lately, as the weather has turned warmer, I’ve been letting him be and find who he is in this place with me.

Bear has found the Beardog sweet spot… the overlook to the game trail and the road. It is the spot that was Karl’s favorite to keep watch.

Today, after a busy morning in town which included a favorite walk behind Costco, we came home to a sunny and warm afternoon. Bear secured the property perimeter and then enjoyed an hour keeping watch…

…from Beardog Point.

**I have decided that I will scatter Karl’s ashes just below Beardog Point. When, I don’t know. There will be a day and time that is right for that. Bear will be part of it as Karl was part of the scattering of Zack’s ashes on the overlook on Big Mountain Road.

Monday Evening

Monday workday.

Monday afternoon to Calm Veterinary in Kila for a routine checkup for Bear…he passed with flying colors!

A beautiful Monday with air as clear and clean and crisp as it could be. I drove home loving this valley and the mountains that rise from the East.

As the work day ended, alpenglow beckoned…

And then…

the moon.

Monday Evening.

The Emporer’s new clothes

Ok…Bear’s new “clothes” :)!

It is 8 1/2 weeks since Bear returned safely from his 2 1/2 day walkabout. I still have no idea what happened the morning of December 26…the morning that lead to his being gone/lost/stuck – away from home for 55 1/2 hours, 2 1/2 days.

And as noted, we did get right back on the horse – the off-leash horse. But, still…it was hard and scary. We immediately walked the state land. I wanted to make sure that Bear was familiar with it in case he got that far again. And I wanted to see how he dealt with being off the property. As before the walkabout, he stayed near me on his own and followed any directional commands happily, i.e. it did not appear that he’d had such a good time that he thought life on his own was a good thing. And neither did he seem concerned being out from the property. All of his behavior seemed and has continued to seem as it was.

The TAGG collar, shown in the first post– it needs a bit more progress in technology to be truly what I’d hoped it might be. Currently, it probably works best in a suburban setting as it depends on a “house address” for location information. BUT, it does have its functionality as far as letting me know if Bear has left the home zone. (A full review here: TAGG Full Review). It is on Bear’s regular collar 24/7.

As much as I knew it was probably an over-reaction…

I bought a “search and rescue lighted coat” – from the same place I bought Bear’s lighted collar. Bear wears this when we are out in the dark. The lights along the edges are easier to see from more angles than the collar. It is mesh with reflective stripes and makes him much more visible at a distance.

For daytime when it is not hunting season…

a bandana.

And then…

a REAL GPS collar and receiver that go on when we are outside or on an off leash walk.

The Garmin Astro was designed for hunters working with one or up to 10 dogs.

The collar and a hand held unit both acquire satellite fixes used to calculate latitude-longitude (lat-lon) of both Bear and the hand held unit. The hand held unit then displays Bear’s position relative to the hand held.

…via a map interface….

The triangle is “me”. The dotted lines are Bear’s “track”…i.e. a “bread crumb” trail.

This unit will maintain the tracks of up to 10 dogs. It will maintain the location of home/truck. It allows me to follow Bear’s track and/or track back to the home location. It does a lot more, but for my current purposes, it allows me to know at a glance where Bear is relative to where I am which = PEACE OF MIND FOR ME!

The compass interface. This is actually the screen I look at most. It shows instantly, Bear’s distance and direction from me – usually from me on the front porch or in the driveway. It means that I can be doing outside chores and see where Bear is.

Both screens show that Bear has “treed a quarry”…and he had :) !!

There was a squirrel…

The icon changes from “treed a quarry” to running to sitting to walking.

Between the TAGG and the Garmin and the orange bandana/vest/coat…Bear can be a beardog and I can know that he is on the property without hovering over him. Freedom for both of us = win-win!

A Happy Friday

Blue sky this morning over the House Summers! The good folks at NOAA suggest that we are to have a sunny morning followed by a snowy afternoon that is a prelude to a weekend series of winter storms.

Several gaggles of geese flew over headed north…apparently they are also a bit sceptical of NOAA’s forecasts…

Meanwhile, we enjoy clear sky, the rising sun and if you are Bear, a morning treat after the hard work of clearing the property of varmints!

And if you are me, you enjoy one or several “fresh out of the oven” orange pecan biscotti!

And if you are Bob…well, Bob is Bob… Happy Friday!

***re biscotti: I really like biscotti over cookies for several reasons. My favorite biscotti recipe which is adapted from Pam Anderson’s (the cook not the Baywatch babe) “My Favorite Biscotti” in her book “The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great” has no fat other than eggs and my adaptation is less sugar as well. The basic recipe allows for substitution of whatever extract or zest you feel like as well as dried fruits and nuts.

My basic version:
3 eggs
1 tsp extract of your choice
2 cups flour (I use a mix of King Arthur’s white whole wheat and Wheat Montana’s all purpose white)
2/3 cups sugar (I often use 1/3 cup white and 1/3 cup brown)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt finely ground
1 cup nuts and/or dried fruit or chocolate chips (dark chocolate bittersweet)

Mix the dry ingredients through salt in 1 bowl, the wet in a separate bowl. Mix together finishing with hand mixing. Toss in whatever else from the nuts/fruit/chips category and incorporate with your hands. It is a fairly sticky dough. Form into 2 logs (about 12 x 3 each) on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake at 300 for 50 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Slice and put back on the baking sheet on their sides. Bake on each side at 275 until your desired hardness. They will harden and crisp as they cool. I typically do 6-8 minutes per side for the second baking.

And that is the last reason I prefer biscotti over cookies….You bake the entire bit of dough in one fell swoop for 50 minutes meaning I am not up and down putting cookies in the oven and taking them out. Even the second baking, they are all on the sheet and you are just turning them. Easy!

They keep in an airtight jar, supposedly for a month. I wouldn’t know as they don’t last a month…

I’ve made lemon pistachio, cherry almond, coconut almond with chocolate chips and this morning the orange pecan. The orange pecan – actually clementine pecan….I used vanilla extract, 2 T clementine zest and the juice of 2 clementines in with the egg and extract.

The bedroom war and MT-Mex cook-a-thon, cont’d.

hee…payback!

“Who cares??? Let the *%&$! dog have the bedroom. It is warmer in here”

Back in the kitchen…

Tortilla production line – my favorite part!

This was maybe the best batch of corn tortillas I’ve ever made. Although they always taste good, this group held together in perfect circles out of the press, I didn’t burn any and oh…the corn aroma!! It is fortunate that they made it into the enchiladas!

However, after 2 batches of chile gravy, the tortillas, cleaning up the kitchen and all the pots and pans involved – I was running out of steam.

I made a mini enchilada of each type to test and make sure all was edible. WOW! – the chile gravies were packin’ a bit more heat than I anticipated. Medium chile powders from Hatch, New Mexico cooked up to the hot side. It is a good and flavorful heat but I wasn’t sure how my neighbors would like it so in light of the heat and my waning energy, I made some quick enchilada casseroles, put all leftovers in the freezer and while there is not a supply of frozen enchiladas, there is a supply of the fixin’s and easy MT-Mex meals for another day.

Today, Sunday, will truly be a day of rest. It is snowing lightly under heavy overcast and a small fire is burning in the woodstove. I will be joining whoever has possession of the bedroom for an afternoon nap.

Saturday morning

Oh, Bear!!! Why so glum??

Just in from the morning perimeter patrol/out and about…on a Saturday morning with a light snow falling…

The last several weeks, I’ve opened the bedroom to Bear during the day as Bob has elected to stay in ‘his (!!!)’ front room. From the bed, Bear can survey most of the woods from a spot he finds most comfortable.

Bob’s front room has the comfy daybed complete with comforter and several fleece blankies, the ‘craft desk’ which has food, water and yet another fleece blankie AND in a private corner: a most commodius litter box. For some time, Bob has deemed this room as fit for HIM.

But….in the perverse nature of cats…Bob has cottoned on to the fact that Bear loves the bedroom during the day.

For the first time in some weeks, Bob decided he would have his morning nap on the bed.

Hence, Bear’s pout. I wish I could have recorded the heavy sigh Bear emitted when he saw the bedroom was closed to him and Bob was on the bed.

Life can be tough here at the “casa” Summers…

Meanwhile, in the Saturday morning kitchen…

A Montana-Mex enchilada cook-a-thon commences.

Pictured above is 10 cups of lucious, rich chicken broth from 2 roast chickens. It is the prelude to both green and red chile gravy which hopefully will grace a number of enchilada dishes…some for now, some for my neighbors (the neighbors with THE TRACTOR!!!) and some for both of our freezers.

Hoo-rah!!!

“WHAT???”