my new nephew

today i become a proud new uncle. my nephew was born this morning at 0608 hours in great falls, mt. my brother josh and sister in-law heather named him 'brecken charles', he was 5lbs-6oz, and 18in in length. Despite the fact that he was impatient and was born nearly one month premature, he and heather are doing quite well, tg. be sure to check out his pictures and sign his baby book online. Congratulation josh, heather & brecken. i love you three and can't wait to come and see the little guy...

moab, utah

this past weekend (15-18 sept) my roomates and i went to moab, utah to check things out. this is the farthest west i have ever been and let me tell you it was absolutely amazing. the size of the canyons were ridiculous. we started off driving thurs night to our camping spot which we reached late. this was a free spot that zeb had located on previous travels. the spot was hidden, up a cayon wall a ways and under a rock ledge. we camped there all three nights. the weather was beautiful, sunny during the day and in the 80's. at night it was clear, probably down in the 60's and no rain, the moon was full and lit up the entire canyon.
i did some hiking around the canyon at night and found myself sitting on rock overlooking a secluded bowl that was illumniated by the nearly full moon and just being absolutely baffled by the size of these canyon. this rock was sort of an overhang into the canyon, sort of like that machine on the x-men movie (where he reads others minds). it puts things into perspective of how small we may be in this vast world.
we camped under the stars all three nights. on friday we went to canyonland national park where we did some hiking around the canyons. we hiked up on top for the most part overlooking the canyon bottoms. we did climb down the walls where possible. on saturday we went to trail that followed a river through the canyon and we ended up at this amazing swimming hole were cliff diving was possible. the hole wasn't too deep itself, 7-8 ft in spot that you had to make certain you hit, and very cold. the cliffs ranged from about 25-30 ft in height. this place was positively beautiful. although i took pictures of us cliff diving, they give no reference to the amazing sights around this spot, it looked like something out of a movie that most people dream of seeing. i was there.
throughout this weekend of exploration i went off on little hikes of my own where i found myself thinking a lot. this land is so large when you sit in it. it makes you feel so small that you wonder the priorities of your own life. yes, planning i good, but to an extent. from now on i am going to try and seize every oppurtunity to get out of the norm. meaning, the typical planning of anything, which leads to typical routines without creativity. i strive to become more flexible with my time, so when these spontaneous oppurnities arise, i will be able to grasp...

fall is near

fall is near and i gradually start feeling empty voids. i'm talking to hunting friends, seeing hunting pictures passed on through emails, and i start missing the midwest tremedously. sure there is plenty of hunting out here, but i'm still new to the area and haven't found the connections i need in order to make proper hunting trips. sure i can go out on my own, talk to people about places to start hunting, but there enlies a problem. i don't have the right equiptment and basically now-how to hunt this way. i must learn...fast. in nd bow hunting opened up a couple of weekends ago as well as early goose season. those weeks were fun, it generally started with hours of scouting prior to the season opener. then on friday afternoon we'd go out and scout for geese for the next morning's hunt. saturday would come and we were up early, setting up decoys and blinds and taking the short nap until the sun started to rise. the geese would then pour in. we would generally leave the field between 1030 and 1100, go get b-fast and start cleaning geese. the day would pass by quickly and before you knew it, it was time to head to the tree stands and watch deer pass by...waiting for the big boy. those were the typical days of hunting when fall is near.
i miss the midwest and the fall, but now i have many other adventures to fulfill. learning how to hunt here will be an experience of it's own. i recently purchased a fly rod and have started fly fishing more. voids are being filled. i've talked to people at work and they informed me of all the people hunting grouse around their house. even telling me about geese they have around there. so now i have a place to start bird hunting. voids are being filled. i plan on taking a trip to sd the end of october to pheasant hunt for nearly a week with a good friend of mine. voids are being filled.
i am continueing to meet new people everyday and i am certain that by the time fall is near next year i will be hunting deer and elk. and even though this will continue to fill my voids made from lack of hunting, i will always have a little one left from missing the hunting in the midwest and the friends i hunted with. but hope is always near because i no longer have to plan my vacation days for snowboarding trips, backpacking trips or just trips to visit the vast moutain ranges because i now live there...