Pat & Sharon O'Toole

Welcome to the DNC
Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Pat and I got to be part of the excitement of the Democratic National Convention this week. Pat is President of the Family Farm Alliance, a group which represents Western irrigators, and the FFA helped sponsor a reception to educate folks about the issues faced by those who produce basic commodities, such as food and fiber. We plan to head to Minnesota later this week to help host a similar event at the Republican National Convention. It will be interesting to see if the R's have a convention as filled with energy, nuttiness and heavy duty security as that presented by the D's. Through sheer luck (my choice of lunch parters at the reception) we were able to score tickets and attend Tuesday night's speeches at the Pepsi Center. We truly had nose-bleed seats, and were there with 20,000 of our closest friends, but the electric atmosphere was something that could not be captured on TV.

Seamus, Pat & Siobhan with donkey
16th Street Mall
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Superman the Super Delegate
16th Street Mall
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Really hot vegetarian
16th Street Mall
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Crystal Pepsi demonstrators
16th Street Mall
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Who's flip-flopping now?
16th Street Mall
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Mounted Patrol
16th Street Mall
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Sharpshooter keeping watch
near the Pepsi Center
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Our view of Hillary's speech
Pepsi Center
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Bridget, at the Pepsi Center
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Pat & Sharon after the speeches
photo by Bridget O'Toole

Posted by Sharon O'Toole at 3:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pollination
Upper Smylie Place, Home Ranch
photo by Sharon O'Toole

If tomorrow were the 4th of July, I would feel like we were almost caught up. As it is, we are haying away, with more in front of us than behind us. The ewes and lambs are on the forest, and I spend a lot of quality time in discussions with the trappers and the "bear guy" who confirms kills. The cows and calves are minding their own business and getting fat, which is their summer job. The scary thing is that we had a light frost this morning--and our last snow was the 11th of June. It is cold and raining now, so I feel like we had a very short summer and we will soon see yellow leaves and the entry of autumn. Before it gets away, here are some images of summer 2008.

Seeking romance
Dudley Creek, Routt National Forest
photo by Pat O'Toole

Counting on, Government corrals
Savery Stock Driveway
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Uncle Eamon helping Siobhan with her pig
Dixon rodeo arena
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Eamon & Megan in the ribbon roping
Dixon rodeo arena
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Seamus & Meghan preparing for the chicken chase
Dixon rodeo arena
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Siobhan practicing for mutton busting
Routt National Forest
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Tossing the garter
Ten Sleep town park
photo by Angeli Skalburg

Waiting for the garter
Ten Sleep town park
photo by Angeli Skalburg

Sharon dancing with the groom
Ten Sleep town park
photo by Angeli Skalburg

Pat checking the hay
JO field, Home Ranch
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Big Round
JO field, Home Ranch
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Posted by Sharon O'Toole at 3:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Eamon with his bride and his family
Ten Sleep, Wyoming

Our son Eamon married Megan Stocklin on mid-summer's eve in Ten Sleep, Wyoming. It was a joyous occasion for both families as these two fine young people joined their lives and their hopes before their families and friends.

The Stocklin family
photo by Angeli Skalburg

Brian Lally and Chris Abel (our sons-in-law) grilling lamb
Rehearsal dinner, Ten Sleep town park
photo by Bridget O'Toole

Siobhan Lally and Matthew Marthaller prepare for their duties
Ten Sleep, Wyoming
photo by Angeli Skalburg

Father of the groom
photo by Angeli Skalburg

Eamon & Megan
photo by Angeli Skalburg

It's done!
photo by Angeli Skalburg

Megan tossing her bouquet
photo by Bridget O'Toole

The next day
photo by Bridget O'Toole

Posted by Sharon O'Toole at 4:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Modesto
Johnson Place gate
Routt National Forest
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Sometimes Mother Nature tells us something so loud and clear that we cannot ignore it. Today, we tended sheep camp on our Big Red Park allotment. The landscape there and the changes in it are so dramatic that they sweep away all illusion that natural processes are static.

In October 1997, an unusual weather phenomenon, a high altitude hurricane, swept in from the east—opposite of the usual prevailing winds—and blew down some 13,000 acres of trees in the Routt National Forest. We saw it from the air the following spring. It looked like a giant had cast down pickup sticks through drainage after drainage.

I forgot to tell our sheepherder, Victor, when he went up with the yearling sheep the following July. Soon I got a note on his grocery list, “Patrona, a lot of trees fell down!”

Some of the trees were logged, but many were too difficult to reach. In July and August of 2002, the Hinman Fire burned along for a month or more after lightning lit up the downed and dried timber. Finally, the blaze blew up, bringing out firefighting crews in full fury. Meghan and I went in two weeks later to pick up the tent that Pepe had abandoned as he fled the fire with all his sheep, horses and dogs. Charred stumps were still smoldering.

We did not graze the fire areas for three years, while the burned over areas recovered. Many of the pines had burned, leaving blackened standing timber. Most of the aspen survived, singed but intact.

Enter the pine beetle. Most readers of this blog have probably noted the increasing number of red trees as the pine beetles have made their march from dead trees into healthy stands. This is not a localized event, although the blow-down timber provided perfect conditions for the voracious beetles. Trees are dying from Alberta to New Mexico, and the visual impacts are graphic. The lack of cold winters, which kill beetle larvae, and the effects of drought have exacerbated the change in the forest.

We observed several things. Contrary to an earlier study, the area which had been logged, after the blowdown but before the fire, appear healthier, with more growth and ground cover regeneration. The pines which survived the fire are succumbing to the beetles.

The result will be a forest that is profoundly different than the one we always knew. The bare standing spires that will be left when the last of the red needles fall will eventually blow down, fall, or burn. Young pines may or may not take their place. The forest we have known used to be primarily Engelmann Spruce before a round of fires in the 1800’s. We have a lot of aspen, although many of them are ailing from “aspen blight.” Still, many of aspen will regenerate. All of this will leave a forest with a lot more grass cover since the pines will no longer keep light from reaching the forest floor. Water experts tell us that more runoff will occur.

Here are some of our observations.

Trees: blown down, logged and burned
photo by Pat O'Toole

Dead pinnacles
photo by Pat O'Toole

Root ball, Indian paintbrush
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Aspen carving by Victor
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Deadfall with lupine
photo by Sharon O'Toole

Posted by Sharon O'Toole at 3:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)