Cheers

I'd like to say "yummy" but it's not. Not yet anyway. Here's to big changes in my life.

Aug 1st - update:

My initial focus is to stop drinking cokes, drink more water, make improvements to my diet, exercise more, etc. For now I've simply added fruit and vegetable juices to my diet. When I know I'll be home for a week or more, I'll try an all-out juice fast.

In the first few days, I've learned this: my body is protesting in a big way about the changes. Juicing is time consuming, but worth it. I don't care for celery in my juice. I've had a headache for three days. I'm hoping this will get better.

Le Meow Meow

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Neko using Suki as her pillow. That extra fuzzy butt in the photo is Cierra.

The kittens were similar in size when we brought them home. We think Neko is about a week younger than Suki. Neko remains smaller and is much lighter in weight.

These kittens are well fed. They get warm rice milk twice a day and they eat Taste of the Wild cat food. I've never seen a wild dog or cat eating corn-on-the-cob and will not buy dog or cat food that contains corn.

Suki and Neko.


Neko has the chair all to herself and stretches out while napping. I think Neko is going to have a petite body and large fluffy tail.

Flat

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Suki is flat...


...and happy.


PJ's favorite hot sauce is Tapatio. For his birthday, I took an empty Tapatio bottle to Fat Cat Pottery in Delta, CO. They "slumped" it. Or, as I like to say: melted that sucker flat.


I was thinking he could use it as a cigar ash try.


Or a kitchen spoon rest.
Pfffttt... he doesn't cook.

Now that I've seen what a slumped bottle looks like, I'd like to find some other bottles and see what else can be done with them.

"The Box" (video)

[Pause the MUSIC, on the right ---> Then play the video].

Cierra, Suki + Neko "The Box" from Hundewanderer on Vimeo.

CO to AZ

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Zzzleepy dog is ready to go home.


Near Monument Valley, AZ.


Near Monument Valley, AZ.


Arizona's Indian country.


I should study geology so I can better understand how this happens.


Arizona's stormy skies.

Rescue Me: Colorado

Today is the last day of our Colorado contract working with Great Southwestern Construction. Leaving is bittersweet when you meet such wonderful people, but it's also good to go home for a few days.

PJ had another opportunity to do a high altitude mountain rescue. A young woman took a tumble with some boulders and suffered a broken arm. She was picked up from Mt. Wilson at 13,700'.

Posted below is an article from a local newspaper and two videos of footage taken the day of her rescue.
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Say hello to my little friend.


I see deer everyday. This is the closest I have been able to get to them.


I'd like to think they were looking at me, but they were really watching my dog.


More sweet people from Norwood, out for a ride over their hometown.


Sleepy girl.


Cierra getting some love.


An MD600 at KTEX.


The MD600 has no tail rotor.


The local sheriff and mountain rescue.


A beautiful day at KTEX.


PJ with Eric after rescuing the injured hiker from Mt. Wilson, CO.

Injured woman rescued from Mt. Wilson

Marks the second search and rescue mission in a week in the Wilsons

By Kathrine Warren
Staff Reporter

Published: Tuesday, July 26, 2011 6:11 AM CDT

With mountain climbing season in full swing, San Miguel County officials performed the second rescue in the Wilsons in less than a week on Saturday.

A 26-year-old woman from Littleton was injured by rockfall around noon while climbing the northwest face of Mt. Wilson. She sustained significant trauma to her left arm.

“Rocks are always falling up there,” said San Miguel Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Mike Westcott.

The climber, whose name was not released, was with two other climbers, and they were able to call for help with a cell phone.

It was reported that she suffered a compound fracture.

San Miguel County Search and Rescue personnel once again recruited helicopter pilot PJ Hunt, of Talkeetna, Alaska, who is in the area on contract with The Great Southwest Construction Company working on the power line project on Wilson Mesa.

He flew last weekend’s rescue mission after a climber fell on El Diente and spent the night in a snowfield with an open leg fracture.

Hunt flew San Miguel Sheriff’s Office Commander and Paramedic Eric Berg and search and rescue member Mark Neyens to the scene early Saturday afternoon.

Once the victim was located, Neyens was dropped off at a snowfield at 12,600 feet and Berg was flown up and dropped off with the climbing party at 13,700 feet. He performed first aid and assessed her injuries while Hunt flew back down to Neyens to prepare the helicopter for rescue. The helicopter’s doors were removed and Hunt flew back up to the victim.

She was loaded into the helicopter and flown down to Neyens where he performed a full head to toe exam. Hunt returned to the scene of the accident to pick up Berg and he was flown down to the snowfield where the doors were reinstalled and the victim and both rescuers were loaded.

They arrived to the Telluride Regional Airport at about 3:30 p.m. and she was transferred to the Telluride Medical Center by ambulance.

Wescott said the sheriff’s office sees at least one or two rescues from Mt. Wilson each summer. The mountain is located in Dolores County, but San Miguel County operates high terrain rescues because it is better equipped and has more personnel.

“They’ll do what they can and we’ll do what we can,” Wescott said. “We’ve always had an excellent relationship with Dolores County.”

In past summers, the sheriff’s office has used a helicopter pilot out of Olathe, but he was unavailable for the past two rescues.

“It was very handy to use Hunt,” Wescott said. Berg saw Hunt flying overhead last weekend and was able to use a radio from the ground to contact Hunt and he agreed to fly the rescue operation.

“He’s familiar with flying in nasty conditions,” Wescott said. “It didn’t take long for [Berg] to realize this guy knows what he’s doing.”

Wescott said it was unclear if the climber had Colorado Outdoor Recreation Search and Rescue Card, which helps cover the costs of rescue missions. “As long as you’ve paid into that fund, that helps counties out,” he said.

The CORSAR card is available at the sheriff’s office and local outdoor shops for just $3 a year or $12 for five years.

El Diente Photos

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Photo courtesy of Ken Nolan.

Photo courtesy of Ken Nolan.

Photo courtesy of Ken Nolan.

Photo courtesy of Ken Nolan.

Photo courtesy of Ken Nolan.

Photo courtesy of Ken Nolan.

Climber rescued from El Diente

Arizona man suffered a broken leg after 20-foot fall

By Kathrine Warren
Staff Reporter

Published: Tuesday, July 19, 2011 9:35 PM CDT

San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office and Search and Rescue personnel rescued an Arizona man Sunday morning after he fell while descending the lofty El Diente Peak the night before.

Joe Yearm, 28, of Mesa, Ariz., was climbing by himself down the 14,159-foot peak at dusk Saturday night when he fell off a 20-foot cliff into a snowfield and suffered an open leg fracture — a broken bone and laceration.

He lay in the snowfield all night and Sunday morning crawled down to a scree field where he was discovered by two climbers who performed first aid and bandaged Yearm’s leg.

One of the climbers, Kenneth Nolan, of Buena Vista, activated his personal locator beacon, a small device backcountry users can employ in an emergency to send a signal with the beacon’s GPS location. The location pinpointed them about half a mile southwest of El Diente’s summit, perched at 12,200 feet.

At about 7:40 a.m. Sunday, San Miguel dispatch received a call from the International Emergency Response Coordination Center after it received Nolan’s beacon signal, and Dolores and San Miguel county officials organized a search and rescue mission.

El Diente lies in Dolores County, but Dolores County officials turned the rescue efforts over to San Miguel County because crews were better trained for high-altitude rescues.

Eric Berg, operations commander for the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office, said overall it was a smooth rescue mission. They contacted Great Western Construction Company, a contractor for the power line project on Wilson Mesa, which released pilot P.J. Hunt, of Talkeetna, Alaska, from his contract to fly Berg to the injured climber.

Berg and Hunt took off at roughly 9 a.m. on Sunday and followed the coordinates provided by Nolan’s beacon. Storm clouds were looming above El Diente and the pilot couldn’t see the tops of the peaks surrounding him.

“El Diente is a formidable peak, even with the coordinates of where that beacon was going off, we didn’t immediately see them,” Berg said.

Hunt eventually spotted the three climbers and made a “toe-in” landing — a hazardous maneuver in which the helicopter skid barely touches the ground and the rotors are very close to the mountainside. Berg was able to exit and traverse the scree slope to the party.

“We had a highly skilled pilot and altitude helicopter,” Berg said. “It can be pretty treacherous.”

Berg used the rescuing couple’s hiking poles and duct tape to splint Yearm’s leg. They then dug a short ledge in the rocks so the helicopter could get more stable for another landing to evacuate Yearm.

At 10:12 a.m. Berg radioed that they were en route to the Telluride Regional Airport. Yearm was then transferred to an ambulance, which took him to St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction.

“It was a good, smooth mission,” Berg said.

This is the first rescue mission San Miguel County has operated on El Diente this summer. Last year, El Diente took two lives and injured others. The peak, which means “the tooth” in Spanish, is notorious for its difficulty and rockfall.

Berg said there are a few key ingredients to help rescue missions go smoothly. First and foremost, have a Colorado Outdoors Search and Rescue hiking card. CORSAR cards cost just $3 for one year and $12 for five years and can be purchased from the sheriff’s office or outdoor shops around town.

A CORSAR card helps cover the costs of rescue missions on behalf of the rescuing agency. “The card allows us to bill a state fund to pay the rescue,” Berg said. “Now Dolores County is faced with a formidable helicopter bill.”

Berg was unsure if Dolores County would bill the injured climber or absorb the costs.

“To be a responsible user of the backcountry, you should have one,” he said.

Berg also recommended hiking with another person. But solo hikers should tell a friend or family member exactly where they’re hiking and when they should be back.

Berg also recommended an emergency communication device other than a cell phone because service is so spotty in the mountains. “That personal locator beacon was the only technology that was working there,” he said.

This is the first time the Sheriff’s office has received a beacon signal, and Berg admits he was initially skeptical of the technology.

“We simply would not have known there was a problem. This guy wasn’t going to get down on his own,” Berg said.

Quiet Day

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My puppy.


There's a helicopter in this photo, you just can't see it.

Grand Junction, CO Via Four Wheels

We drove to Grand Junction to visit with Joe, the young man PJ helped rescued from El Diente Peak. Joe's story was published in several newspapers, I've posted the news article below.

PJ's version of Joe's mountain rescue, with some awesome-possum photos: TheHeliBase.

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PJ with Joe and Joe's mom. She was adorable.


There is no love greater than that of a mother for her son. I know that if that were my son, I'd hold his hand too.

The following photos were taken along our drive from Naturita, CO to Grand Junction, CO.





























Joe's story via Telluride Daily Planet:

Arizona climber rescued from El Diente

Suffered open leg fracture after 20-foot fall

By Kathrine Warren
Staff Reporter

Published: Monday, July 18, 2011 12:27 PM CDT

San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office and Search and Rescue personnel rescued an Arizona man on Sunday after he fell climbing El Diente Saturday evening.

Joe Yearm, 28, of Mesa, Ariz., was climbing by himself down El Diente after dark Saturday night when he fell off a 20-foot cliff into a snowfield suffering an open leg fracture.

He lay in the snowfield all night and Sunday morning crawled down to a scree field where he was discovered by two climbers who performed first aid and bandaged Yearm’s leg.

One of the climbers, Kenneth Nolan, of Buena Vista, activated his personal locator beacon, a small device backcountry users can activate in an emergency to send a signal with the beacon’s GPS location. The location pinpointed them about half a mile southwest of El Diente’s 14,159-foot summit, at 12,200 feet.

At about 7:40 a.m. San Miguel dispatch received a call from the International Emergency Response Coordination Center after it received Nolan’s beacon signal and Dolores and San Miguel county officials organized a search and rescue mission — El Diente lies in Dolores County’s jurisdiction.

San Miguel County Search and Rescue was activated and a helicopter owned by Heli-Dunn of Medford, Ore., and piloted by P.J. Hunt if Talkeetna, Alaska, was brought in. Heli-Dunn is in the area on a construction contract and suspended operations to help with the rescue.

At 9 a.m. San Miguel Sheriff’s Office Commander and Paramedic Eric Berg went up in the helicopter. Hunt spotted the three climbers and was able to make a “toe-in landing”— a hazardous maneuver in which the helicopter skid just barely touches the ground and the rotors are very close to the mountainside. Berg was able to exit and traverse the scree slope to the party.

Berg used the rescuing couple’s hiking poles and duct tape to splint Yearm’s leg. They then dug a short ledge in the scree so the helicopter could get a bit more stable for another landing.

At 10:12 a.m. Sunday Berg radioed that they were en route to the Telluride Airport. He was then transferred to an ambulance, which took him to St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction.

Read Tuesday’s Telluride Daily Planet for more information.