Anonymity

One of the trick-or-treaters tonight recognized me from last ski season - "Omigod, I see you all the time at Bridger Bowl!". Of course, I had no memory of ever seeing this girl before. One of those things that remind you Bozeman is still a small place, I guess. And that I have a memorable appearance ;-)

The other day, I got to the counter at Mackenzie River Pizza, and the guy already had my order put in and my drink waiting. What was spooky was that I didn't even begin to recognize the guy. (I have a much better memory for female waitstaff.)

Of course, sometimes I'm misrecognized. The other day, a girl at Burger King mistook me for the MSU football coach. And I have the same name as the high school basketball coach, which sometimes causes confusion.

Lewis & Clark Motel

Looks like they're adding on to the restaurant/casino.

(FYI, the Lewis & Clark Motel serves a pretty good Thanksgiving dinner.)

Bridger view from Baxter Rd.

The Bridgers are showing a bit of snow again (the previous snowcover melted around 10/25).

This photo was taken about 50 yards west of the Kelly Morgan roadside memorial (see previous blog entry).

Memorial to Kelly Morgan

I don't know who Kelly Morgan was, but I did notice this roadside arrangement in her memory. It is located along west Baxter Rd., northwest of Bozeman.

11/1 Update: Kelly was a he, not a she. His untimely death was covered in this newspaper article.

Well-protected flock

Can you spot the donkey and llama protecting this flock of sheep?

(For help, double-click on the photo and look for the "notes" at Flickr.)

Malcolm Story

This statue is located in front of the old Willson School on West Main St. in Bozeman, Montana.

Bozeman Scuba

If Houston has ski shops, why shouldn't Bozeman have a scuba shop?

Jack

Here is Jack just before I released him into the wild.

Tuesday kitchen blogging: Halloween candy

I might have to do some "quality control testing"...

Update (Wed.) - the miniature Hershey bars are top-quality.

Update (Thu.) - the 3 Musketeer bars are pretty good, too.

Is it possible...

to put too much feta cheese on a salad? Yes. Hard, but possible.

Moose on the loose

Some nice yard art down the street from me.

Cooling real estate market?

This house in Bozeman was on the market for about six weeks, but apparently never sold.

Mountains and trampoline

A view of the Bridger Range from the northern end of Sweetgrass Ave., Bozeman, Montana.

(Where's the snow ?????)

No outlet

This is the eastern terminus of Cascade St. I think the basketball hoop is an "orphan" - I've never seen anyone use it in the past three years.

Leaning tree

This lovely tree has a pronounced lean.

Jumbo cat

My neighbor's cat wasn't especially excited about me holding him, but he tolerated it longer enough to have a picture taken.

Bad Astronomy blogger visits MOR

The blogger behind the Bad Astronomy Blog visited the Museum of the Rockies (Bozeman, Montana) on October 13. Sounds like he had a good time.

I keep meaning to buy a museum membership, but haven't actually done it yet...

I write letters

From the October 18, 2005 Bozeman Daily Chronicle (warning: somewhat snarky):

An excellent parody of creationist ignorance

Jason Kimm (Oct. 8 letter) writes an excellent parody of creationist ignorance. But, would any creationist really hold his beliefs up to mockery by willfully misinterpreting and ignoring the facts available to any schoolboy?

Michael Cole
Bozeman

Tuesday kitchen blogging: Basmati rice

I like the image of the mahout and his elephant.

Looks like a good DIY project

brokenshelves. (via BoingBoing.net).

Deep-fried

I can feel my arteries hardening just looking at this treat from the 2005 North Carolina State Fair. (via BoingBoing.net).

Clearing brush

A man thinks he's in shape - goes to the gym, etc. But a half-day of clearing brush tells the true story. I'm bushed.

Tuesday kitchen blogging: outdoor edition

I love to grill (at least moreso than cooking inside ;-)

The grilling season will end soon - probably around Halloween (?) Until then, there are plenty of steaks and pork chops to cook.

Brush pile

There's a strip of city-owned land behind the houses on my street. This brush pile is uglifying that strip of land. I plan to demolish it this weekend.

House demolition

Compare to this previous photo.

Rainy day birds

It's a rainy day here in Bozeman, Montana. Not much to do except grade papers, watch DVDs, wash laundry, and blog photos.

I recently put in bird feeder. It's quite popular with finches and sparrows, even in the rain.

MSU: Roberts Hall

My office is on the third floor of this nice old building.

Mostly perennials

My front garden.

Wallace & Gromit

I just saw Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Highly recommended if you like clever animation and animation in-jokes. For instance, Gromit listens to "Bright Eyes" on the radio ("Bright Eyes" was the theme song for the animated Watership Down).

Meta: blog search

I recently had occasion to search for a particular Montana blog (I had seen a posting that just cried out for a comment comprising an unusual word I just happen to know). Google was completely unsuccessful. I eventually found the blog by trial & error via the Big Sky Blog blogroll.

I did a keyword search for bozeman-mt.blogspot.com. "Google: bozeman montana blog" currently returns this blog as the first hit, via my listing at globeofblogs.com. Google Blogsearch currently returns this site as its second hit. My tentative conclusion: if I use the words "Bozeman", "Montana", and "blog" in the occasional post, I will stay near the top of Google's searches.

I'm not sure if that's a good thing, or not ;-)

Yoga

I've been doing a very simplified version of the yoga sun salutation twice a day for the past couple of years. I highly recommend it.

They say yoga's a great way to meet flexible women, but it hasn't worked out that way for me. Maybe because I only do it at home, alone?

Citizen outcry gets results

Compare to this previous photo.

Meta: blogrolling

I use the Big Sky Blog's blogroll of Montana bloggers (http://bigskyblog.com/index.php?p=199/) rather than maintain my own blogroll.

My favorite feature: blogs are marked by an asterisk if they have recently added content.

(I asked them about the order of the blogs - the blogroll is shuffled randomly every time one accesses the page.)

Tuesday kitchen blogging: Pink countertops

Kinda pink with a light purple tone. I've never seen any other kitchen with countertops this color. I like it OK (very relaxing), but I don't know why the builders selected this color.

Autumn foliage

Near the Deer Park Chalet at Bridger Bowl.

Snowflake Lift

I bought my season pass yesterday at Bridger Bowl. The photo shows the Snowflake Lift sans chairs. Looks kinda naked.

Kestrel

This sparrow hawk was an "ambassador" at the 2005 Bridger Raptor Festival.

A working dog

Get your dishes "Montana clean": www.sfolife.net.

View from my bedroom window

The first snow of the season! Woo-hoo!

(I bought a ski pass and ski boots yesterday...)

Another old shed

This old shed is located along the Babcock Meadows Trail in northwest Bozeman, Montana.