By: Bears Butt

After a week of snow storms, potential snow storms, potential winds and drifting snow, my excitement for snow is in the tank!  I can do without snow right now.

Yesterday morning I sat watching it snow, not big snows (new word), but snow none the less.  And my anxiety level rose higher and higher as I watched it.  Then we had to go see a doctor.  Not because of my anxiety, it was a simple check up for Sherry.  Then shopping and suddenly I found myself back at home.

A quick look at the weather and the big storm that was predicted earlier in the day had been cancelled and a warming trend was predicted as coming!  YES!  My anxiety was gone and a new ray of hope surrounded my body!

I can go back to painting!  No more snow removal (12 hours this week alone)!  My life is saved!  And so it went yesterday afternoon, a smile on my face as I prepared to paint the hall and the two closets in that area of the house!  I never thought I would ever say I was glad to paint, but here I am almost giddy about it.

As you know trapping season is on hold until I get the painting done and along with that, God has made it a little easier on me by having everything frozen solid in the trapping area.  Where usually the warm springs bubble forth and flow down toward the frozen ponds, the springs themselves are frozen over so there is no visible water anywhere.  The snow level which normally is one fourth what we have around our homes, is knee deep out there.  The cattlemen are even having to go out at night and spot light the herd to make sure they are surviving the bitter cold and the deep snows.

And so, I am back to painting and loving it.  In fact I am as happy as Dances With Deer in this picture:

BillTheBunny

Certainly a ray of sunshine!  It’s a good thing you aren’t a drinkin man Bill.   Oh my, doesn’t that green grass look nice?

Bears Butt

Jan. 31, 2013…The last day of this month!

Written on January 31st, 2013 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

It’s been 45 years since I graduated from High School and it’s always nice to get re-aquainted with some of the guys and gals I attended school with.  One of the guys I was in school with went on to get his Doctorate in Music and is a high rolling teacher at BYU.

As a fellow student I will never forget at a school assembly he was on stage to perform his usual with some sort of instrument.  It seemed to me like he could play them all very well.

This particular time he came on stage with a small drum, a cornet, trombone, bicycle horn, two cymbals, a harmonica and I can’t remember what else.  Each instrument was being held against his body somewhere so that he didn’t have to hold on to it, except the cornet and trombone.  He was quite a site to see.

If I recall correctly he sat on a chair and when the announcer announced him he began to play, one thing at a time, slowly at first and then the rhythm started to pick up.  Before he was done, he was playing all the instruments at the same time and the tune was incredible.  Funny I’m sure, as he was a funny sort of guy.  I assume he still is, because of this video, which was shot somewhere in France (I think).

Ladys and Gentlemen let me introduce Dr. Steve Call on the tuba.

Give it time to load it is worth the wait!

Bears Butt

Jan. 29, 2013

Written on January 29th, 2013 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

The weather guys got last nights storm nailed down good.  They said it would start snowing and blowing at midnight and I was up at 2 a.m. and sure enough a lot of snow and already drifted to my bottom step.  I don’t especially like a ton of snow but I really don’t like it when it drifts. (See Dream Hunt story from a few years back).

The drifting will make feeding the God-Damits (horses) tougher and will probably force the use of the big tractor to clear the road to the barn.  I had a pretty easy time yesterday, but I just bet I’d get stuck today without some road work help.

Anyway, we have our little dog MaPa’s and of course animals have to go outside on occasion.  2 a.m. was one of those times.  He didn’t stay out long and I was glad for that because I was tired from all the snow moving I’d done earlier.  When it was time to get up and have our coffee, he looked out the door and decided he didn’t have to go that bad at that time.

About a half hour later he just had to go out.  I opened the front door and this was his view of the outside world.

HisView

Not a very welcome view, but when you gotta go, you gotta go.

He ventured gingerly out on the frozen and wind blown snow only a short distance and then decided, enough was enough.

HisTravelDistance

As you can see by his little tracks that the tree was just a bit far for this mornings need to go and he came back toward the house and made his decision.

HisDecision

I’m sorry No Grimace, but that chain saw carved bear was a tree once and to MaPa’s it was enough of a tree to make for a good three legged stand.

Bears Butt

Jan. 29, 2013

 

Written on January 29th, 2013 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

150 years ago tomorrow (Jan. 29) the U.S. Army swooped down upon the tribe of the Northwestern Shoshone camp on the bank of the Bear River and killed nearly 300 innocent men, women and children.

BRMassacreSign

Tomorrow at 10 a.m. there will be a commemorative observance  marking that day in History.

From that day until today the focus of the attack has been one of  “Courageous Battle” on the part of the Army, to “Shameful Massacre”.  A sad day in history as far as I am concerned.

Sherry and I are planning on attending, but this upcoming storm may change our minds.

You can read a little bit about it at this site:

http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/american_indians/bearrivermassacre.html

And if you are really interested in reading an historic accounting of it please pick up the book, The Shoshoni Frontier and the Bear River Massacre, by Brigham Madson.  It is really an eye opener.

BRMassacreMonument

Bears Butt

Jan. 28, 2013

Written on January 28th, 2013 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

After yesterdays snow it looks like a full day of plowing is ahead of me.  The horses will have to wait until I clear a few driveways and postal box drives.

SnowDepth

I don’t want to waste gas and that is why I usually chose to wait until the snow has stopped falling before I head out.  Some folks don’t have the freedom I do with their time and do it two or three times.  As long as folks can get out of their drives and off to work I figure then I can get them plowed for their return home.

That was quite the snowstorm.  I told Sherry this morning, maybe I should get the chainsaw out and trim the tree branches on our two trees out front while the snow has them weighed down.

SnowTree

HAHAHAHA!  Notice the little “MaPa’s trail” out to the base of the tree.  That little guy cracks me up!

And here he is at the bottom of this picture with eyes the same color as snow flakes.

MaPasEyes

Enjoy your day, where ever you are!  You know what I’ll be doing!

Bears Butt

Jan. 28, 2013

Written on January 28th, 2013 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

Strawberry On Ice…Bears Butts perspective….

We had a pretty good day on the ice yesterday, the weather wasn’t quite as nice as we had hoped, but it didn’t start to snow until all the events were over for the day.  That was nice!

The UWC setup went pretty good with lots and lots of help to get the tables and ez-ups set and the camp chef cookers put together and fired up.  Coffee was on by 8 a.m. and we were all ready for some of it.  Our volunteers meeting went on as scheduled and then a text message came through on the status of the bus with the Boys and Girls club kids on it….An accident had part of Provo Canyon closed and the bus had to take an alternate route to the lake…delay of one hour.

All Setup and waiting for the kids

So with an estimated time of arrival of 10 a.m., we set up our own ice tent and drilled a bunch of holes in preparation.  Conner even got to drown a worm for awhile…only one small bite.

And so we waited for the kids.  Some of the adults and volunteers went on to do some fishing, while others continued to organize and make sure everything was in order and ready to go.

I was given the assignment to meet the bus at the lodge and make sure it had a big enough space to park.  The parking lots were full or filling fast with people coming to the event.  Snowmobiles and ATV’s were zooming in and out and the whole area looked like a snow carnival.  People were hustling in and out of the lodge, buying equipment and/or licenses, renting machines and in general having a wonderful time.

As I was waiting up by the lodge,  people coming and going were asking me questions about where to park, where to register for the event, where to get this and where to get that.  Then it donned on me that my florescent vest and radio in hand made me look like some sort of official and that I was the one they needed to contact.  All I wanted was the bus to arrive so we could go fishing.  But those who know me, know too I was in my element and did my best to direct them in the best manner I could.

And so, at 10 a.m. here came the bus and the kids on board were all screaming and yelling.  To say the least they were very excited to be there and wanting to get some fishing done…at least that was what I thought, until they all got out of the bus and organized by their leaders.  Then we were told they all had to go to the bathroom!  32 kids and a one-holer…it takes awhile to get that sort of job done.

Jason Lowe was in charge of the paperwork and each kid had his papers in order.  Jason said to stay with the kids and make a radio announcement when we were on our way down to the ice.  As I stood there watching the kids playing in the snow and the leaders trying to keep track of each and every one of them, I decided I could not be a leader in their capacity.  A very tough job and I commend them for the job they did.  Not one kid was harmed!

And then just like magic, they were ready to hit the ice!  LET’S GO!!!!!

On the ice, they got together and were told the rules and then assigned two kids to one ice fishing mentor!  And then it was off to do some real ice fishing!

My two guys were a bit older in the group and both had fished before, just not ice fishing.  Neither was dressed too well for the cold breeze that came up and they spent some time inside the warm ice shelter when they just couldn’t stand it any longer.  They were real troopers however, and spent a whole lot more time fishing than they did inside the tent.

We tried everything I could think of to get them hooked up with a fish, but it just wasn’t going to happen.  Both boys wanted to go “way out there” to try it, but I told them about my responsibilities where we were and that we would just have to pull a fish up through the holes we had around us.  They were great kids and tried everything I told them.  Still no bites.  So, I said to them, Why don’t you guys show ME how to catch a fish.  You jig when you want, lift your lines higher in the water column, let it sit, reel it up and drop it back down.  Whatever makes you think a fish will grab it.

And they did.  Reeled up, changed bait, dropped back down, cranked up one turn, cranked up 5 turns, cranked up 20 turns, let it sit on the bucket, jerked it up and down….and then the smell of burgers came wafting our way….poles up and over to the burger line we went.

From that magic moment through the rest of the day, they wanted hot chocolate more than to catch a fish and so it was a pretty tough deal for me to keep track of their where-abouts, but we did pretty good.

When the announcement came that the DWR was going to demonstrate ice safety and how to save a person who has fallen through the ice, the boys were anxious to go watch it.  Especially since the trip to the demonstration was going to take them right past the hot chocolate.

This is Jason, one of the organizers and officers of the United Wildlife Cooperative organization as he is cutting the ice with a chain saw.  The idea is to cut the ice and then push the big chunk of loose ice down and under the shelf of ice that makes up the rest of the lake.  After the demonstration is over, that big chunk of ice is pried back into the hole and allowed to re-freeze.

A large chunk of ice is not easy to push down and under the edge of the ice.

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources has some very dedicated people who specialize in many things.  This officer explains to us about ice safety.

The demonstration went really well for two of the three people in the ice suits.  The one with his back to us is the famous Adam Eakle with the KSL Television Outdoors show, while the two across the ice hole are ladies.

The lady on the right is Adam’s co-host and is the Utah DWR Public Relations Laison, her name is Tanya, I don’t know who the other lady is, if you know, post up a comment on this site.

When they first entered the water, Adam suddenly realized his suit had a hole in it, near the rib cage on his right side.  He was reluctant to go back in after that cold water hit his clothing and soaked him up.

And even though Adam got out of that very cold water, he was a super trooper and got back in for his parts of the demonstrations.  Here he pulls himself out of the hole using ice spikes.  Ice spikes are basically nails protruding about an inch out of handles and the handles are connected by a  piece of rope.  The rope goes around your neck and are readily available, one in each hand, should you fall through.  I like to have mine going down and out the sleeve of my coat while the rope goes around the back of my neck.

Tanya watches how Adam shows off that technique.  She got to do it as well and it does not look easy.  And, even though these people had floatation suits on, the normal person would not and so that very cold water will soak up your clothing very fast and so not only are you going to be pulling your own body weight out of the water, you will have the added weight of wet clothing to pull out as well.  I think my ice fishing is going to be on very solid 4 plus inches of ice.

So, since Adam is already cold, let’s throw him a rope and show how to pull a person out of the hole and onto the ice.  Throw the rope over and past the person in the water.  Get assistance to help pull on the rope if there are others around.   The person pulling on the rope needs help and if this ever happens, make sure you are the one doing the pulling and not the one being pulled.

 

The day ended quicker than it started, another case of time flying when you are having a good time.  But the kids had to get back on the bus for their ride home to the Provo area.

The Upper Bear River chapter of Trout Unlimited made sure each of the kids were given a fishing pole to take home and use for their next fishing expedition.  They were quite happy about that.  I have to give a hearty THANK YOU to Tim Gorman and the UBR group for doing this for the kids!  Here you can see Tanya, Adam and Tim in the picture with the kids.

And while most of the kids didn’t have any bites by fish, some of them were lucky enough to be mentored by someone who knew what it took to catch a fish.

The kids had a really good time.  But I’m not so sure I didn’t have more fun than they did.  Anytime you can get out of bed at 5 a.m., spend the day on the ice trying to catch a fish and have the day end at 4 p.m. and it seemed like you just got up, is a day of having fun!

If you like this sort of thing and think you want to make a difference in a young person’s life…please consider joining us next year when we do it all again!

Bears Butt

Jan. 27, 2013

OH!  I almost forgot.  In an outdoor show like the KSL Outdoors show, the host gets all the attention and the one who does so much more running around than the host and gets the least attention at all…Here is the camera man for Adams show…Meet Mike!

Thank you Mike for doing such a wonderful job!  We love you man!

 

 

 

 

Written on January 27th, 2013 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

OK!  Before I head off to the lake I have one last request of each of you!  Check out this photo of this cute little girl fisherperson!  How can you possibly not love her?

And now read what it says.

The UWC is taking donations for their Youth Fund!  This includes the Spring Turkey Hunt as well as this Ice Fishing event.  Please check them out on Facebook and donate a few dollars to their cause!

Thanks to all!

I’m out of here!

Bears Butt

Jan. 25, 2013

Written on January 25th, 2013 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

Today is the day we head for Strawberry in preparation for the ice event happening tomorrow!  I’m stoked.  You won’t have anything new on this site until I get back and then I’ll post up a bunch of what happened.

Temps here around town and down in the valley smog calls for highs in the low 30’s and ugly fog.  Fog means 100% humidity and it’s colder than all get out even though the thermometer says it’s 30 degrees.

Up at the ice event the highs are expected close to 40 degrees, partly cloudy and a slight breeze.  It should make for a wonderful day on the ice.

Until Sunday!

Enjoy yourselves and have a great day!

Bears Butt

Jan. 25, 2013

Written on January 25th, 2013 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

This was posted up on Facebook by one of my friends and I thought you might like to see it as well.  Watch it to the end, it’s pretty cool!  This guy is a magician and he sure does make it magic.

Bears Butt

Jan. 25, 2013

Written on January 25th, 2013 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

On a recent extended hunting trip where two of us shared the camp trailer for the most part of the trip and more than three fourths of the time there were three men in the trailer, it got down right “homey”.  We really had a great time just being men and not caring about how we looked, acted or smelled.

Don’t get me wrong, we do care about all those things, but when you have been hunting for more than 5 days, those things tend to take a back seat to the quest to bag the quarry.  I did note however that as the hunt progressed the deer seen were a considerable farther distance away from us than they were the days before.  Some of the locals said it was because of the nice weather and that the migrating animals had moved back across the border…B.S.  I have the right answer.

Scientifically speaking when your nose quits smelling the odors around you they call that “Olfactory Fatigue”.

Stand and take the direct blast of a skunk at close range and you will experience exactly what that means.  At first you can’t stand the smell, you gag, choke, cough, spit and otherwise not like what has happened to you.  Your eyes will water beyond belief and you will no doubt think the next thing will be death.  I’ve been there.

But soon, you realize the smell just isn’t as bad as what you thought it was just a minute or two earlier.  Life begins to come back into your body and you decide you escaped death…wonderman!

Now walk over to the neighbors house and ask if you can come in and talk awhile.  As they open the door to let you in they will back off quickly and demand that you not step any closer and tell you things like “YOU STINK”!  And other nasty things that neighbors should not be sharing with you when you are standing so close.

Olfactory fatigue.  Here is Wikipedias definition:

Olfactory fatigue

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Olfactory fatigue, also known as odor fatigue or olfactory adaptation, is the temporary, normal inability to distinguish a particular odor after a prolonged exposure to that airborne compound.[1] For example, when entering a restaurant initially the odor of food is often perceived as being very strong, but after time the awareness of the odor normally fades to the point where the smell is not perceptible or is much weaker.

—————-

After the hunt I knew I had to clean out the trailer and get it ready for winter.  I cleaned out the perishables the day we got off the mountain and the valuables that were stored in it were also taken out and put in their safe places around the house.  But the main cleaning was going to have to wait until I had more time.

It’s funny how time slips away and it was a full week later that I finally got back to cleaning the trailer up.  I walked in and was almost floored from the odor!  Oh My Heck!  It smelled like a gym locker, roadside bathroom and Podunk Cafe all mixed together!  Wholly mackerel did it smell bad!

My cleaning job went to the next level in order to rid the walls of the residual stink that had to have permeated the wood paneling.  Yes, I really cleaned that badboy up really good.  And so as not to fool myself into thinking I had cleaned it really good and that it was not still stinky (suffering again from Olfactory Fatigue), I chose to leave it and come back the next day to give it the “sniff test”.

It passed.

So there you have it.  After nine days of hunting with your buddies and thinking life is just about as good as it can get, maybe you should consider a bath and a change of clothes, even if you can’t smell yourself.

Bears Butt

Jan. 24, 2013

Written on January 24th, 2013 , Hunting/Fishing/Trapping Stories

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Just some of my old stories, new stories, and in general what is going on in my life.