Just because

Nothing out of the ordinary going on with Hunter and Pika or any philosophizing about the past. Just wanted to write about the boys since I'm happy to see them. I just got home from the weekend up at the family cabin with my brother and nephew. Although most of the time was spent scrubbing and cleaning the 84-year old cabin (note to family, plastic bags over a big bucket of bird seed will NOT keep the mice out over a long, cold winter) it was a great time. Tae caught and ate a couple of fish, dug a hole to China looking for worms, filled it back up, he also beat both of us fair and square playing both Go Fish and Texas Hold 'Em. Taesan was digging his hole in a hooded sweatshirt and his boxers. All around just doing what 12-year olds do.

When we tried to kid him about his attire, bent over his shovel with determination all he replied with was, "A new shirt 60 bucks, new pants 20. Diggin' worms in your underwear, priceless." In the end, he was just as proud of filling it up as he was diggin' it.

Tae had me take a photo of his "Neil Armstrong moment" once the hole was properly filled in. Of course Neil didn't scrawl his name in the dirt next to the footprint.
Anyway, despite the fine time with family, I am pretty psyched to be back and see Hunter and Pika. Thankfully the house wasn't too hot in the 85 degree heat. It get's brutal later in the summer.


They've been following me around, sorta acting independent and all looking around but more or less right near me no matter if it is in the backyard, the side step drinking a PBR left over from the Friday BBQ or here in front of my computer. Although I'm sure Hunter will skulk off later to check out the neighbors yard if I leave him out too late. Once home I called back a friend that had called while I was away. He invited me to a dinner featuring "a pile" of wild morel mushrooms they harvested earlier in the day. As tempting and rare of a treat that this is, I politely declined using the recent 115 mile drive home as the excuse. In reality I just want to hang with the boys tonight. Even if you've been somewhere special and unique and beautiful with family or friends, with Hunter and Pika it's always good to be home.

Defining Moments

How many moments are truly life changing?

By my count, not many.

Back in 1989 I was offered a Wilderness Ranger job with the Forest Service on the Lake Plateau in the Absaroka/Beartooth Wilderness. Throughout my youth I would have listed that right up there as my number one dream job. No fire fighter or secret agent spy stuff for me. Yet that same summer I was also offered to be a glaciology assistant on Mount Logan, in the Yukon. At 19,540 feet it is the highest point in Canada and I could get paid to go to one of the wildest amazing places on earth. Tough choices, eh?

Well I took the Logan job, drove the Alaska Highway non-stop consuming 7 cases of beer between three of us, spent 43 days straight in the same long johns and it's safe to say my life ended up quite different as a result. I spent the next 10 years in Canada, went on expeditions all over including another 6 to Logan, made a name for myself, became a writer and photographer, ad nauseum.

So for years I had considered that to be a life changing decision - to take the Yukon job over the Wilderness job in Montana. Well not so fast. Looking back, I had already made the transition to Canada to go to University, was climbing all the time, and beginning to dream of big trips to big places. Getting to Logan was just an extension of a path I already had wandered onto. Distilling it down and following the crumbs of life back toward the opening; the defining moment came in the winter of 1987.

My University of Montana college buddy Rob Macal had taken the semester off to be a ski bum at Big Mountain. For some reason unknown to me (probably had something to do with a girl), Rob was back on campus and I randomly ran into him. As we caught up for the 5 minutes I had before class, Rob told me about this dude he met on the ski hill that. "does avalanche research and got a degree in outdoor stuff somewhere in western Canada." Uninspired as a physics student (this WAS during Regan's star wars insanity. Oh wait... still have it) and horrible at calculus and itchin' to spend more time in the mountains, I wandered over to the Mansfield Library and searched the college catalogues on microfiche to do some research on this western Canada Shangri La. This WAS before the internet existed outside a few military installations and google was something we did on nice spring days when the hippy chicks took their tops off to play hacky sack. I found the Outdoor Pursuits program at the University of Calgary. At the time there were only about three of these experiential ed programs around. Imagine an entire college degree in fun with some science like advanced physiology thrown in to keep you honest. Sadly, the Alberta government isn't much into liberal arts and the program no longer exists. Cutting to the chase, I applied, I got accepted, I went, I thrived, I lived, I loved, I mourned, I can't imagine any other life.

So looking back, it was that 5 minute random "good to run into you" moment that is one of the true life changers I can count on one hand. Thanks Rob. What does all of this have to do with Hunter and Pika? Well, it just shows that sometimes the biggest things in life start with the smallest encounters and decisions. Even the most mundane moments might make miracles (sorry for the corny alliteration). More succinctly, don't take anything for granted.

I'd never had a cat before (I can't say "own a cat" because I've since learned the proprietary rights run the other way) and didn't really consider myself a cat guy. So the unassuming moment I decided for no particular reason that we should finally get a cat–Nichole had been suggesting it for some time–was another of those precious and fleeting switches were everything changes.

Within days we had found Hunter and Pika. I can't imagine any other life. More on the "getting day" later.

Hunter hunting

Since moving into a neighborhood in the fall of 2006, Hunter has had fewer opportunities to go hunting. His favorite prey, pocket gophers and voles, are simply in short supply here, if at all. He's never been much of a birder, although he did once bring a live magpie into the house (more on that fiasco in a later post). Thus he mostly brings home mice, of which there are tons.


If I'm lucky enough to see him coming, I'll rush to close the window or door to keep him from bringing it into the house. They are typically alive and all Hunter really wants to do is show off to daddy and get some attention. Of which I give him tons but he then drops them, forgets to chase them, and they get behind stuff. Here are some images of his latest conquest on a great spring day, Cinco de Mayo, 2008.

Sorry for the airbrush look. Not sure what is wrong with my camera. In the video here, I love how Hunter is torn between gettin' some proud loving and playing with, and ultimately eating, his catch.




For more video of Hunter tormenting the mouse, go to the YouTube Channel.

Pika Eating Kibble Video

I feed Hunter & Pika Iams along with another prescription food from the vet called TD that is better for cleaning their teeth. No crappy, cheap cat food for my guys. Plus I totally spoil them thinking Hunter & Pika, like us, deserve some choices in their diet and shouldn't be stuck with just one taste their whole life.

Pika has this unique way of eating his dry food, which I generically call it "kibble" (more on how he ate as a kitten in a later post). Friends with cats are always tickled when they see it. It is quite adorable and apparently is somewhat unique. Pika even taught Hunter to do it too. Has anyone else seen this behavior?



A longer version of Pika eating his kibble is posted on YouTube.