Funniest Cat Photo

I'm proud to announce that I'm the winner of the Funniest Cat Photo in the 2012 Dog and Cat Photo Contest at the Winthrop Gallery. Here's the winning image:

Wanted: for rodent rustling

Frank gets credit for the funny caption, which is part of what's funny about the photo.

I think it's a technically good image because the resolution is so high on Vito's face, a fact that has more to do with luck than anything (I think he was about to sniff the lens), but that's photography for you.

The other thing that's funny about the photo is Vito himself, who is a complete goofball, but you'd have to know him. Let's just say he is the Cosmo Kramer of the cat world.

I also entered the photo of Chica below.

Wanted: for butter burglary

It's not as technically good, but a really pretty image. Both prints are 8" by 10" and are visually powerful, I think.

The Dog and Cat Photo Contest is held by the Winthrop Gallery each year to raise money for Okanogan County low-cost spay and neuter clinic (OK SNIP). It is a really good cause and is constantly on the verge of shutting down for lack of funds, so I'm proud to support it.

When Chica and Vito were dumped as kittens and showed up meowing and hungry on our property a few years ago, Dot Schank of OK SNIP helped us trap the kitties and set us up to foster them. Then she transported them to Okanogan to be fixed - at a nominal cost to us. We weren't planning on keeping them, but somehow we never found a home for the furry monsters . . . .

So anyway, Dot has asked if OK SNIP could use these images in its advertising, and I said I'd be honored. These fine kitties are paying their way in life, one way or another.

Victories large and small

I've been speaking out for gay rights and working for marriage equality for "oh these many years," and I want to take this moment to celebrate a big victory and a little one.

The big victory is that Washington's governor, Christine Gregoire, signed legislation on Monday to make marriage in our state "a civil contract between two persons who have each attained the age of eighteen years, and who are otherwise capable." Until it gets held up in the inevitable referendum process, we can all celebrate the fact that any consenting adult can marry the person whom they love.

Just to clarify, I am honestly not that stuck on the idea of marriage. In fact, I would prefer it if the government would get out of the marriage business altogether and strike the 1,110-some rights and responsibilities that are linked to the institution. But THAT would be much more costly and time-consuming and will never happen, so we have to commit ourselves before God and everyone - including the state.

With contributions from my fellow reporters Marcy Stamper and Ann McCreary, I wrote a story about how marriage equality will affect gays and lesbians in the Methow Valley. I am proud of the reporting work on the story; I learned a lot in the process of interviewing people and putting the story together; and I am happy to be able to share it with the world. Please click on Marriage Equality to read the entire piece on the Methow Valley News website.

The little victory is that I was invited to an impromptu celebration of the marriage equality law tonight at Carlos 1800 restaurant in Winthrop. The gay network sent out texts and emails to all the valley queer folk, and when I walked in, they occupied a good portion of the otherwise empty, bar/restaurant. I estimate around 50 to 60 people were there and I was the only straight person! I was welcomed with hugs and smiles and pats on the back and lots of thank yous. I met some new people, learned that one person (who wasn't there) is gay, and had a fun time laughing and talking with a very cool segment of our little community.

Thomas (front left) and Tony (front right) will be unable to live together in the United States until the Defense of Marriage Act is repealed. They are making their way through life, on their own terms, but when will they be able to settle down?

Here are my thoughts on marriage equality from a previous post - almost a year ago - on the same subject.

Walking around scared

            Gay people are walking around scared, and they have been walking around scared their whole lives.

            How do I know? When I asked four gay couples in my community to lend their voices to a story on Washington’s marriage equality bill, SB6239, only one pair agreed to be featured in the story - and those two agreed with fear and trepidation.

            Marge and Pat, John and Carl, Sunny and June, (names changed) each went home to their partner, discussed the interview seriously, and opted out. John and Carl initially agreed - we even had set a day and time to meet - and then they backed out.

            Carl said he had read the comments to a thread on the Methownet.com bulletin board and “got nervous.” He said, “We own a business, and we are not comfortable putting ourselves out there for scrutiny.”

            The bulletin board thread he referred to started as a positive remark - someone posted that they were proud to live in this state. Subsequent comments were mostly supportive until it got to the guy who basically said, “Next they’ll want to marry their dogs.”

            Sunny said, “We've only been met with kindness in this valley, and it would be very sad for us to read any hateful backlash letters pointed at us as a couple and parents in the following week (or even worse, have [our son] read the letters).”

            Pat is in seminary and said it would be “complicated.”

            So, I get it. We all just want to live our lives, not stick our necks out too far - god knows gays and lesbians already stick their necks out just by being themselves - and continue to live in this welcoming community. We don’t want hate directed at us.

            But who is going to tell this story? And how long must people walk around in fear?

Winter around here . . . .

Looking south on Monday afternoon.

The seasons around here are so distinct, and sometimes harsh, but I sure do like the way they help you mark time passing. And you can't really get sick of the weather because it changes so often. Other places aren't like that . . .

I thought I would share some winter photos with my reading public. (Hey, public: Are you out there? I haven't heard much from you lately . . . .)

Some of the following I think are pretty good shots; others just tell a good story.

Looking out the bedroom window . . . .

. . . . mule deer bed down under the pines.

Yup. That's a "No Trespassing" sign in our neighbor's field. Well at least it's posted . . . .

Dawn alpenglow on Cougar Mountain. Lewis Butte in front. Looking out the living room window.

Conconully Super Mush 2012

Musher Roy Etnire of Seeley Lake, Montana finishes a 23-mile race.

On Saturday (Jan. 21) I explored the world of Northwest sled dog racing in Conconully, Wash. with fellow Methow Valley News reporter Marcy Stamper. It was the first time either of us had been to the Conconully Super Mush, which is now in its 11th year. We were thrilled to be there, and I would recommend it as an unusual addition to the many snow sport events available around here.

The three-day event attracted mushers and their teams from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana in four events: the 32-mile 12-dog sled race; the 23-mile (mid) six-dog sled race; the 12-mile (sporting) six-dog sled race; and the nine-mile one-or two-dog skijor.

The Okanogan National Forest terrain is forested and hilly with the highest point of the race being Scheiner Creek at 4400 feet elevation. The steepest section gains 1000 feet in three miles.

Alaskan huskies (a mutt breed to be sure) alert to the possibility of treats while recovering from their exertions.

Matt Hamel of Seattle and his team come in strong after a 12-mile run.

Thad McCracken and his huskies traveled to the race from Hood River, Oregon.

McCracken prepares a hot meal for his team in the parking lot shortly after the race.

Kimberly Blanchard of Seattle came in smiling along with her happy dog after the solo nine-mile skijor.

Mikki Douglas gives her labs some love after the skijor.

Kevin Creager of the French Creek neighborhood in the lower Methow Valley, finishes the skijor.

Kevin Creager was the only Methow Valley contender. This was his third year in the Super Mush and his first time in the skijor event. The last two years he entered a six-dog sled team.

Creager described the conditions as "really mushy and super slow with six inches of fresh snow on top of the groomed trail."

Creager is a fisheries biologist working on salmon recovery on the Entiat River near Chelan. He got into sled dog racing eight years ago. The dogs he raced on Saturday (pictured) were rescue dogs from Idaho, he said.

"The coolest thing is to take a dog from a bad situation and let it do what it was meant to do," Creager said.

Resting up under the truck after a day of racing. 

Nordic team snowball fight

Mazama Corral trailhead

Thirty-seven kids ages 6 to 11 participated in last week's three-day Nordic camp in Mazama. I observed their comings and goings from my post at the Corral parking lot, working as a trail ambassador that day.

After three hours of skiing, the kids and coaches came in for lunch at the Community Hall and parked their gear alongside the trailhead.

I was in the right place at the right time after lunch in order to photograph an impromptu snowball fight outside the Mazama Community Hall. Here is what transpired.

Don't shoot the photographer!

Today in the 'hood

This quaint sign stands at the "T" on Maughan River Road to make sure you get where you mean to go. Of course, if you ended up at someone else's house, that would probably be OK too.

This afternoon I went for a  typical walk around our neighborhood, locally known as "Cy Maughan" for the guy who originally owned the whole place and eventually split it up - good ol' boy style (pre Comprehensive Plan) - into some of the most non-conforming properties around. We're basically trailer trash around here, with a few fancier houses thrown in.  If you build a fancy house in Cy Maughan, you have to be OK with being surrounded by double-or single-wides, converted school buses and junked cars.

This downy woodpecker got me to bring my camera on the walk. Thanks for the suggestion, dude!

Aspens with bright spots of color: rose hips!

So my wanderings took me to the lookout over the Chewuch River canyon; it's one of our walk stops year 'round. The view is ever-changing and we always have to make sure the river's still there. It is.

The Chewuch flows toward town, cutting through bedrock on its way.

To get these shots, I clung precariously to a deer trail that cuts across the river bluff. Somehow it seemed less scary on the snow than the bare dirt; I'm probably nuts. Here you go.

It looks different in the summer.

Ice, ice, baby.

And now for a mackerel sky. Good night, day.