The season begins...

Sometimes I am amazed that I am here. How the hell did I get out here to the wilds of the big sky country to live and work with buffalo activists? Well, that's an easy enough question, but still...it's funny to think how my life has changed in the past several months. From simply existing in a college town where few knew me or even cared, working just to live, to belonging in an open community of activists trying to actually do something good for the voiceless buffalo. Strange but awesome. I am quite happy to be where I am. It feels good to be doing something I believe in. Despite being financially poor, not having health insurance or really anything I can call "security", I am much happier being a buffalo hippie than I was when I was just another drone. Sometimes I remember the quote my last roommate had posted on her door, "activism is my rent for living on this planet."

So, things are well here. The season has officially started, though we are still only sending out one patrol a day, as the buffalo aren't moving out of the park yet, at least not where we are. Although unfortunately a bull has already been taken in the state hunt north of the park near our other winter outpost. The cabin is still relatively quiet as we are slowing starting to get back into the swing of things. I began my stint as the official cook a couple of days ago and I'd say while the food I've made so far hasn't been amazingly delicious it has overall been pretty decent. I've found that I still have troubles keeping to a schedule when it comes to cooking. I don't know what it is, as I am punctual in almost every other situation, but I find it hard to get food on the table at a predetermined time. It seems to stress me out more than anything else. Something I will have to work on this season...

It is beautiful here. Chilly to cold, although we've had a few pleasantly warm days that were good for hooping. The sun doesn't hide too often. We are still waiting for that big snowfall that will cover the ground until spring, although the mountains are already covered. The nights are so very still and quiet. I am still used to the noise of cities, so the calm always makes me stop for a moment when I go outside at night. For some reason it makes me feel full, maybe even expectant, but of what I don't know. There has been a mountain lion prowling about again, which is always exciting. Another volunteer who has been spending time hunting in the "backyard" (the property butts up to a big national forest) has reported seeing wolf tracks, a group of at least five. They must be hunting as well. It's wonderful to live in a place with so much wildlife, even though some of those critters are more than capable of killing or maiming people. Kinda exciting really...

In Montana for the Winter

Well, I am FINALLY back in Montana, huzzah! I arrived on Saturday, after a ridiculously long bus trip (an extra 24 hours long thanks to a storm in the dakotas) and was greeted by my good friend Yampah (yay! I had missed him!) As soon as I got off the bus the smell of sweet pine trees and cold mountain air washed over me. In that moment I was immensely happy I was back. I am still very happy to be back! It is good to see everyone again. It didn't take me long at all to fall back into things. I feel quite at home again. The season hasn't officially started yet, so we don't have a schedule, aren't going on patrols or having meetings, which is leaving some of us wondering what to do with ourselves. I've already been cleaning quite a lot, ha. There is only one other person here who is as crazy about cleaning as I am, so there is typically plenty of cleaning to do. I'm sure I will be able to keep myself occupied until the season starts up.

Yesterday I helped Yampah carry necessaries up to his new house in the woods, a fancy 10x12ft wall tent. We covered the floor (really just the ground) with tarps and carpets, put in the bed and the stove and covered the top with tarps. There are a few more things to get ready and to put in, but it's already looking quite cozy. Actually, I'm just a wee bit jealous of his awesome little home ;-) It's in a beautiful spot and since it's away from the cabin, it is very quiet and private. Ahh...maybe I will be lucky enough this winter to enjoy its luxuries every now and then.

I'm planning on being here all season, at least until April or May. Right now it's a little cold, and cloudy, so not too bad (actually I've been enjoying it). I've picked out some good gear, boots and thermals and such, so I've been warm. It will only get colder though, so we'll see how that goes ;-)

Montana-bound

Finally! I'm leaving for beautiful (and cold!) Montana this evening. I'm not exactly looking forward to the bus ride (the whole trip should take around 33 hours) but I am SOO excited to be there again! WOOOT! I am hoping I will update at least occasionally when I'm out there, but I won't make any promises. I don't think I posted at all the whole time I was there this summer ;-) Au revoir!

Election thingie

I took a long walk yesterday to vote, then I came home, and practically forgot about the election until past ten o'clock. I thought, "oh yeah, there's a presidential election happening today!" so I got online and saw that Obama had won. WOOOT!! I almost didn't think it was possible that he would get elected. I think I've been becoming a little too cynical, and I've never been a big fan of the government. I'm actually quite glad I forgot it was going on, otherwise I would have been obsessively watching the results and preparing for bad news. I think it was better to just wait and find out when it was all done.

I found some of these exit polls interesting....

So, anyways, WOOT, HUZZAH! Maybe there is a little hope left...

The Wild Trees

Last night I finished reading The Wild Trees. I loved it! The writing did leave a little to be desired, but the information about the redwoods, sequoias and other giant trees, was fascinating! (and the story wasn't too bad ;-) I had no idea there was such a huge diversity of life in the redwood canopies. I found it amazing that up until the 1960s to 1980s most botanists and scientists didn't even know what was up there and didn't think the canopies were worth exploring. The just assumed it was all branches and limbs. Then people started actually climbing up the redwoods and finding all sorts of life up there that no one knew about. All of it was like uncharted territory. And there is so much more still to learn! Wow, just...wow. The capacity of the redwood canopies to draw in and store huge amounts of water and soil to support so much life is just amazing. Lichens and mosses galore, ferns, berries, shrubs, even other trees! Salamanders, voles, owls, worms, even tiny aquatic creatures called copepods that usually live in the sea and that no one knows how they got there. There are literally gardens growing in the canopies hundreds of feet in the air. How cool is that!? The fact that these trees are so old and so amazingly huge just makes it that much cooler. It makes me want to climb trees :-D

Cleaning House

Since I've been at my parents' house (and consequently the house I grew up in) I've been trying to clean out all the junk that I accumulated while I lived here and that has just been collecting dust. I'd like to think I've been fairly successful, but honestly there's still a lot of crap I don't need. I found a box of old bank receipts and important papers and other things that I felt I needed to keep because of something my mother instilled in me long ago. Some odd desire to keep these things because someday I might need them. Well, I brought it upstairs to send all the papers through the shredder (another thing my mother instilled in me: to tear up anything that has my name and address on it before throwing it away, it's like an obsessive thing I can't stop doing). I'm going along, throwing in payroll stubs, receipts and the like, pulling out random photos and other things I'd tossed in there as I went along that I wanted to keep. Then, suddenly, I pulled out a photo of Owl. I paused, then set it with the other photos. I shredded a few more things and thought how it might feel good to toss that picture of Owl in as well. That is apparently all I needed. In it went and I felt no remorse seeing the little bits of it fall into the pile. Ahhh, cleaning house is a good thing.

"There's probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."

I've been wasting plenty of time online recently, and I found something rather amusing: The Atheist Bus! The words they chose for the ad I thought were perfect. The point of this though is that I enjoyed the campaign's collection of quotes so much I am going to shamelessly steal borrow them...

• “Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored” - Aldous Huxley
• “An atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An atheist believes that deed must be done instead of a prayer said. An atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death” - Justin Brown
• “If anything, an atheist has to be more morally responsible precisely because we don’t blame a god for our own actions” - Ivan Ratoyevsky
• “The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they’ve found it” - Terry Pratchett
• “Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned” - unknown
• “The foolish reject what they see and not what they think. The wise reject what they think and not what they see” - Huang Po

Sapphire Portal @ Burning Man

My most enjoyable day at Burning Man was spent wandering about with Faun, exploring the deep playa. For a while, we ended up here at the Sapphire Portal (known to me since then as "the blue thing" as I hadn't yet heard its proper name). In Faun's words, it was "an oasis of Peace in a sea of Chaos" and I find that quite fitting. Circular, all blue, with some odd geometrically shaped sculpture fitted with mirrors in the middle, out of which came a somewhat mysterious, yet soothing humming noise. It was quiet, relaxing, peaceful. One could almost forget they were in the middle of a desert with 50,000 other people. We lounged in the shade enjoying the nearness of each other and a respite from the noise of a city that never sleeps. I felt completely peaceful and content luxuriating in the blue with Faun, and would have stayed there all day had we not had need to leave. Of course we left right as a HUGE dust storm started to kick up, and we were still quite far from home!

(Thankfully we found shelter from the storm not too far away, where we tried to wait it out, talking until we decided we really did need to get back, as our water supplies were running low. What an adventure that was! I was quite glad that Faun knew where we were going, as I surely would have gotten lost had I been alone. Visibility was poor at best. Getting back to camp, I heard rumours that it was one of the worst dust storms experienced at Burning Man, and it was making headlines, ha!)

Happy Samhain!

I have spent an inordinate amount of time this evening playing around with my fancy schmancy new flickr and goodreads widgets, for no good reason other than to entertain myself. At least they're pretty, right?

Owl came and went this afternoon. It was strange and uncomfortable. It felt so odd. While talking with him I didn't see in him what I had loved so much before. I felt different this time, like he no longer has any power over me. That felt good, really good. I would have preferred to not see him at all, but it is good to know I will no longer fall into that old trap. Huzzah!

It is November already. Sigh. The summer is over, and thus begins the dark half of the year. I always feel a little sad as the days start grow shorter and the nights start getting cold. I am such a sunchild and I know I will miss the green and the warm weather. Although after having gone through the long winter, I always appreciate the spring and summer so much more. I do enjoy watching the world change through the seasons! I would have liked to celebrate Samhain with my pagan friends (a feast and a bonfire perhaps!) but sadly they are all far away and scattered about. Maybe next year if I am among more like-minded folk... Last night I went next door for a party where I mostly just sat around a fire pit eating junk food and talking with neighbors new and old. There was talk of my infamous outhouse costume I wore when I was little...I'll never live that down. It was enjoyable, and the warmest Halloween I can remember!