Cute kids and smokejumpers

Parachutists in training from the North Cascades Smokejumper Base.

It's been a couple weeks now since I saw blue and white parachutes drifting down in the vicinity of the fish hatchery.

I was on my way to an editorial meeting at the newspaper, saw this incredible photo op, and made the decision to be late.

I'm so glad I stopped to shoot photos; turns out the editor didn't run any in that issue (apparently "the News has told that story before"), but I hope you enjoy them anyway.

Here's the cute kids part: kindergarteners from Little Star Montessori were there watching too. Sheesh!

Natural history encounter #2

So here's the other thing I've been meaning to tell you about.

I was out working in the garden and had stopped to straighten my back and enjoy the view, when I noticed a strange, solid, football-sized shape in a chokecherry bush in our field. I had a hunch what it was, but I wanted to be sure . . . .

Yup, I thought so.

Here; let's get a little closer.

So, honeybees are awesome in so many ways. Without them we basically wouldn't have agriculture. Well, I guess if we wanted to limit our diets to lentils and wheat, but you like apples and nectarines and zucchini - stuff like that, right? Gotta have bees.

Honey's good, too.

So I called local bee keeper and all-around-great guy, Dave Sabold, and asked him what these bees would do if left alone. He said they'd either find a hollow tree to move into, or the walls of our house. Repeat: the walls of our house. I told him to come on over with a hive box and get them.

Dave's supplies - those are gloves.

By the time Dave arrived, Frank and I were already feeling kind of attached to the little buzzers, so we asked about leaving the bee hive (after they move into the box) on our property. I mean, we have apple trees and a garden and an enormous alfalfa field next door. Well, Dave explained that bears love nothing more than a bee hive - we knew that, right - and we'd have to put it inside a sturdy fence or on top of a flat roof. No flat roof here, and the only fence is my now-looking-very-small garden, so we decided to let Dave take them.

Dave is excited to get wild bees because they've survived the Methow winter without added food, so they should be more cold-hardy and resilient than imported bees. He would like to get a "Methow strain" going - pretty cool, huh?

Dave suiting up. Swarm in chokecherry bush. Hive box at his feet.

Dave pruned the branches around the swarm and removed the mass by hand.

Gently lowering the branch and bees onto the hive box.

The bees are now entering their new home.

Dave put a lid on the box and left them for a couple of days to make sure that the whole hive moved in. He came and carried them away at dusk when he knew they all would be tucked in to bed for the night.

The bees are now part of Dave and Marilyn's home honey and skin salve business, Gardner Gardens.

MVSTA thanks its workforce

As with all Methow Valley potlucks, the spread was plentiful and delicious.

Methow Valley Sport Trails Association held a volunteer appreciation barbecue at the Mazama Community Center on Sunday afternoon (June 5). Around 75 volunteers were fêted at the celebration, along with board members, ski trail grooming staff, and ski patrol. MVSTA Events Director, Mike Pruett, said the barbecue was a way for the organization to “reach out and show our appreciation to various members and ambassadors. It’s also a chance for them to meet each other.”

Mike Pruett serves up brats.

Pruett took a break from his barbecue grill duties to recognize the MVSTA workforce. He stressed the importance of member/ambassadors who interact with visitors at events and on the trails and “share their passion for living in the Methow.”

According to Pruett, around 175 members are involved in the currently-at-capacity trail pass program, which awards an annual trail pass to enrolled volunteers who work 20 hours over the course of the year. Bridge building, trail maintenance, racecourse marshal, and trailhead ambassador are among the various duties performed by volunteer workers who also support eight to ten events per year, from running and ski races to the annual Sports Swap.

Don Portman, MVSTA board president, awarded  Michael Prichard a lifetime trail pass for his years of dedication to the organization and for starting the ski patrol program.

Associate director, Danica Kaufman, reported that MVSTA is now the largest cross-country ski area in the nation, with 190 kilometers of groomed ski trails. She lauded the past year as having the second-best trail pass sales as well as the best lifetime pass sales ever, despite the continued economic downturn.

Midge Cross, Kristen Smith and Mike Real

John Owen, Sam Owen and Michael Caldwell

Natural history encounter #1

We live closer to nature here in the Methow than most people do in most places.

This fact becomes obvious at times, and rarely more so than during this last week. (Spoken in slow country twang.)  We have had us some nature, folks: up close and personal.

On Saturday morning, our nearest neighbor Joanne phoned and said that she was watching a doe with two newborn fawns under her willow tree. I sneaked over there with my new Nikon and the following photos depict some of the morning's adventure. (Keep reading . . . .)

If you look carefully, you can see #2 fawn's ears on left.

#1 is up and ready to go.

Bath time.

Mom and baby #1 have now moved to the opposite side of the big willow tree from baby #2. I'm wondering if baby #2 is going to stand up.

So I go over to where baby #2 is lying very still.

 It responds to my presence, as you can see.

From here, the photos end. You see, baby #2 rises from the ground and decides to imprint on my legs. It sticks right next to me, wobblingly following me as I move slowly toward mom, who is around 100 feet away. As baby #2 and I walk out of the shade of large willow, I make soft deer sounds (yes, they call to their babes). Mom figures out what's going on and doesn't like it ONE BIT. She charges me; I have at my disposal a fist, a brand-new camera, and neighbor Joanne - hero of the day - who distracts the doe from across the yard. I am able to exit the scene; doe runs frantically between her two babies; eventually the family is reunited. I don't have pictures of that part because my hands were shaking.