Happy Halloween Blog!

Happy Halloween everyone! In keeping the Halloween spirit everything is in Halloween colors.

It looks to be a cold evening in Missoula for the trick-or-treaters! BRR! The high today is no above freezing, and we are seeing lows in the single digits. Oh mercy, things are getting cold around here in a hurry! I don't enjoy the cold temperatures when we can't make it above freezing. For one, it's harder to do anything outside, and two, the ponds freeze over and the ducks and geese move on.

Speaking of ducks and geese, yesterday I went out for a scouting trip to see what the recent snow had brought from Canada. I saw a lot of ducks and geese, and I even came upon a swan. Not let me clarify my swan permit. I am only allowed to take a swan in certain counties in Montana - only a few counties actually. Anyway, this was not one of the counties and I don't think I would have wanted to take this swan anyway. It was acting a bit strange and didn't have any fear of me. The Trumpeter Swan is the largest swan and boy, this thing was enormous! Oh, and here's some information my brother will enjoy. The swan had a neck collar and matching leg band, and it also had a metal waterfowl band on the other foot. It was loaded with information!
All the snow in the Missoula valley was gone by noon when I left for my little trip. When I started scouting about 50 miles from Missoula I put my feet into about five inches of fresh snow! The great thing was, no one was around to make any noise and I was away from all the hustle and bustle of the city.

Mountain photography becomes rather easy after a snowfall. You really can't take a bad picture of mountains when there aren't any modern buildings in the way and you have a nice lake in front of you.

I took a minute to do some research on the Trumpeter Swan and I found it was released near the area I found it - either in 2005 or in 2006. They are trying to establish a local population in the area and they were banded with these numbers. After reading some newspaper articles in looks like a swan was found dead at the same lake last November. What a strange coincidence.
I don't have a lot planned for Halloween. I need to do some maintenance on the vehicles and then clean some dishes! I have been boiling water in the morning to try and keep some humidity in the apartment. Some of the plants are not enjoying the dry air and I personally find that my skin dries out incredibly easy here. Perhaps I will make a trip to the store some time and look into getting a humidifier. Dry air increases static electricity and static electricity is bad news when working on computers - in fact, if you touch the motherboard and get a static electric shock you can actually ruin the motherboard and then the computer won't work...and in that case I can't even fix it!

Here's some Halloween pictures from years past.

Ah, good times of Halloween!

I have enjoyed having some time away from work. I am able to listen to Talk of the Town on KGFW in Kearney, Nebraska. Although, the election is the top story everywhere right now so there is no way to escape it. It's nice to stay up-to-date on things happening in Kearney. I am looking forward to seeing all the things in Kearney that have changed when we go back in December. We leave in 46 days! It seems like a long time, but it will be here in no time! Then it will suddenly be 2007!!! In the mean time, remember to take is slow and stop and enjoy the time going by. Everything will get here in due time. Until again

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

-=Nolan=-