Here’s what you can do with a couple buckets of sand, a bristle brush, a silver cleaning cloth, a tooth pick , a can of compressed air and $40,000 of exquisite Native American jewelry.

An upcoming promotional piece for Turkey Mountain Traders

The Colorado Homes & Lifestyles Circle of Excellence Awards honor individuals who have had especially significant careers in residential design in Colorado.

Winners included Don Ruggles, D.H. Ruggles Architects-Denver; Yvonne Jacobs,Slifer Designs-Edwards;

David Barrett,Barrett Studio-Boulder and Kurt Culbertson and Richard Shaw, Design Workshop-Aspen.

I suppose like most photographers something will occasionally catch your eye allowing you to stop, pause for a moment and analyze what it is you are seeing that totally intrigued you.

The temperature at daybreak hovered near zero degrees Fahrenheit. Overnight ice crystals formed on an outside door. As I went outside to fill up the bird feeders this morning light caught this panel of crystals just right. After tending to the winged-ones,  I came back to examine this beautiful piece of frigid art for a  minute or two viewing it from various  angles. It was worthy of the pause in the daily routine.

On further review: Curious about the formation of ice crystals I did some further reading.

The theory by scientist H.K. Weickmann intrigued me.

I always wonder ” What’s he thinking? Or what’s he seeing?

Gandalf, our 8 year-old male Weimaraner ; Flower, our 6 year-old female Weimaraner and I took about an hour hike on a nearby mountain trail yesterday during a late lunch break from the office.

With an impending winter storm heading into Colorado with the potential of throwing a powerful punch, I decided I wanted to get the pups out for a good hike in case the next couple of days really turned nasty.

Weimaraners need lots of exercise and daily hikes are the norm for our crew.

When we hit our favorite trail we were buffeted by hefty winds and the dogs had to leap frog through snow drifts for about 30 yards in chest to neck deep snow…ears flapping all the way. It didn’t faze them and the rest of the hike was spirited with lots down hill lunging toward the trail as they weaved through the trees like ski slalom racers hell bent sniffing for four-legged furry little critters.

There were even some face plants where snow had built up and the pups had no clue how the gullies along the trail had filled. The episodes made for some pretty good laughs along the way.

For me part of the fun is to observe the dogs on the way home. Often if it’s a good physical hike they will sit or sometimes lay on the cars seats with eyes half open and heads bobbing -a sign they had a thorough hike.

Then other times like yesterday, their golden-yellow eyes are scanning the horizon or the shoulders of the road on alert as though they know something I don’t.

Gandalf appeared almost “people-like” as he sat staring out the window. And I always say to myself, ” I wonder what he’s thinking or what he sees”?

Note: Advice from Gandalf, Flower and all dogs, “Delight in the joys of a long walk”. 

A cover image for the 2015 Evergreen Chamber of Commerce Visitors and Business Guide.

Most trips to the mailbox usually disappoint. Like just about everyone else the arrival of bills is kind of a downer and the abundance of junk mail just frustrates me because even though we recycle all our junk mail here at our Evergreen, Co. dwelling , it just seems to me there has to be a better way to do business.

Surprisingly this week I did receive a magazine I don’t mind greeting me at the mailbox. I think it is one that deserves to spend sometime in households and there is a mobile version as well. It was the latest edition of my hometown chamber of commerce business and tourism guide “Explore Evergreen”. On the cover , five feature photos were laid out with the one shown above. Thirty one others were sprinkled about the publication and complimented nicely written articles or tidbits about Evergreen.

I have contributed photography for the magazine for well over ten years. It gives me a sense of pride to help show off our mountain community and offer my services. I am offered a stipend for my contributions for which I am grateful but the small-talented staff of EasyChair Media who contracts to organize, create and distribute the publication is well aware I have many more hours  invested than what I get back monetarily. And that’s just fine with me.

Local writers Jo Ann Colton, Jane DeJonghe and Wendy Burt-Thomas also spend countless hours researching, whittling and eventually delivering great words to the pages.

We are all proud of our community and honored to share its splendor.

P.S. If you are interested in more information about Evergreen check out the online version.

http://www.evergreencoguide-digital.com/evergreencoguide/evergreen2015#pg1

Sandhill cranes, with the help of their sentinels, scope out a roosting spot on the North Platte River near Kearney Nebraska at twilight.

Spring like all the seasons has special meaning to all of us. It’s  a time of intent. New beginnings, rebirths and regeneration. The initiation of a new cycle. And it too, has it’s smells and sounds. One event in particular defines spring for me.

Like they have for centuries, the majestic Sandhill and Whooping cranes, with out-stretched wings, recently made their migration from Mexico through America’s heartland on their way to more remote regions north.

Unfortunately, due to work conflicts, I wasn’t able to witness the spectacle this year.

My wife and I have had the privilege of visiting good friends Jerry Kenny and Bridget Barron ; Executive Director and COO, respectively, for Headwaters Corporation in Kearney Nebraska to see first hand shrouded skies and corn stubbled fields amassed with these beautiful creatures. Headwaters has been overseeing the Reclamation of the North Platte River Project for nearly seven years. It is a program dedicated to reclaiming, revitalizing and sustaining  the river and river habitat for a myriad of migratory birds  and wildlife. It is a life belt of water in central Nebraska.

Kenny, Barron and their entire staff reap the benefits each spring and summer as they witness activity in the flyway and nesting grounds.

Though we weren’t  able to make the pilgrimage, we did, however, see  Dean Reynold’s CBS’s segment on April 1 featuring the crane migration with wonderful appearances by University of Nebraska emeritus professor Paul Johnsgard and Jane Goodall as well as Joel Sartore’s piece on the March 30 Sunday Morning program.

I emailed Jerry and reported just hearing on the news programs that incredible ancient call the birds reveal on their migratory stop in the heartland of America made ” my juices really flow”.

He responded with a classic Jerry Kenny response.

“There has been excellent viewing this year, but they will do it again next year. And, Nebraska is open all year, so you don’t have to wait for cranes to come on out and enjoy the Good Life!”.

Indeed the Good Life!

Lacing the sky at sunset like well strewn ribbons, the Sandhill cranes move with precision westward along the North Platte River near Kearney, Nebraska during migration.

Jean Devera, my “Cover  Boy” for Boy’s Life Magazine, is captured paddling through Elkhorn rapids prior to reaching camp at Deadman on Day Three of the scouts’ whitewater rafting trip down the Salmon River in northern Idaho.

I often get asked, “What’s been your favorite assignment?”.

The response is usually pre-empted with a chuckle and  a smile and a rather bewildered reply of “That’s a hard one.”

Much like with a bucket list there are assignments you hope to cover in a career and then there are the ones you have encountered and register deep in the memory bank.

Just about a year ago one of those occurred. I joined a group of seven senior scouts and their four adult leaders from St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands on a river expedition of the Salmon River in Idaho. I was assigned by Boy’s Life to document these young men’s adventure. The story was just released about a week ago.

Living in Idaho years ago I had heard many tremendous stories of the “River of No Return” but never had a chance to explore the river until last summer.

The five-day float took the expanse of 94 miles of the Main Salmon River. We covered nearly 80 miles of the most scenic and raft-gobbling white water this giant flow of water could offer.

Verle Dureden, guide and owner of Action Whitewater Adventures, who orchestrated the trip, told me during spring runoff certain sections of the river would crest at 40 feet. And I bared witness to the scarred walls of the canyon to prove it- shivering at the thought that over 100 years ago the first explorers of this river floated it in raw-timber rafts.

Each day presented incredible experiences and it definitely gave me a chance to relive my youth. It’s hard not to when you are amongst some well-mannered, experienced scouts that are total thrill seekers.

Camping on pristine sandy beaches carved and manicured by the powerful river, sleeping under the stars with an occasional call of an owl and the ever-present rushing sounds of the river complimented with daily roller coaster rides of white water rapids engulfing your raft with names of the likes of Split Rock, Salmon Falls, Big Mallard and Elk Bar made for lifetime memories.

When the expedition came to an end and we pulled our supplies from the rafts and deflated the crafts to be ferried back the AWA headquarters, I kept mulling in my head,  “couldn’t we just go a couple more days?”.

I am pretty sure the scouts felt the same way.

Awquen Irish from Boy Scout Troop 227, from St. Croix , U.S. Virgin Islands gets blasted from a wave on the first day of river running during the their whitewater rafting trip down the Salmon River in northern Idaho.

Philip Edwards ,left, and his father scoutmaster Dale Edwards of Boy Scout Troop 227, from St. Croix , U.S. Virgin Islands get swallowed up by the Five Mile rapid on the morning of the third day during the their whitewater rafting trip down the Salmon River in northern Idaho.

A dragonfly rests atop bow rope on a raft during the St. Croix Boy Scouts,Troop 227 whitewater rafting trip down the Salmon River in northern Idaho.

A scout knocks sand from his cot as he preps his camp spot for the night on the raft trip.

A watered down inverted raft made for some awesome play time for the St. Croix Boy Scouts at a campsite on their whitewater rafting trip down the Salmon River in northern Idaho.

Awquen Irish pulls a wake up prank on one of the scout leaders who overslept one morning on the trip.

On the morning of Day Five a pair of scout’s river sandals sits idle in the sand on the Maxwell river bar on Day Five of their Salmon River whitewater rafting trip in northern Idaho.

The most impressive part of that title is the 47. My professor Dennis Morimoto dedicated 47 years of teaching, enlightening and inspiring students. That’s phenomenal.

Dennis  was my industrial arts- graphic arts professor at UNC. I was a wide-eyed sophomore trying very hard to find my career path. I had rejected or turned from several earlier paths of interest. I chose to pursue a career in journalism. My minor however was in industrial arts as the university referred to in that day.

A concentration in design, photography, layout and print making were the main focus. It complimented my main focus of journalism because in my still developing mind I thought if I ever became involved in a newspapers or publications it would be to my advantage to know about photography, design and of course print making and presses.

His courses weren’t easy but he made the curriculum fun and the end result made for better grades and in my mind a more effective way of storing valuable information I would certainly use at a later date in a future career. And in fact it did just that. There very first job I had a week from graduating demanded many of those skills.

The show itself was comprised of students Morimoto considered to be  influential and reflective of his tutelage in his  47 years  of instruction at the university  and those  he felt had an impact on his career. The truth of the matter is he had an enormous impact on my education and career path.

I can honestly say he instructed me at a pivotal point of my pursuit of higher education  and a career and provided a major impact.

We all go through a period of  ife where certain people open your heart, inspire you and provide  the catalyst to do good things. Dennis was one of those individuals.

Dennis gave each of us a few small momentos for participating at the exhibit. But the one that touched my heart and will forever be a keepsake for me was the small inscription he wrote in a personalized show catalogue.

It said: ” Eric- Thank you for sharing your great images and for being a very special part of my career.”

Wow, talk about tugging at the heart. The fact of the matter is it’s just the other way around.

These are the photographs I chose for the exhibit. Proceeds from the exhibit are going to a newly established Dennis Morimoto Scholarship fund for aspiring visual artists.

Thailand Salt Harvest

Manning Intro

A sow black bear and her two cubs foraging at night in a spring snow storm.

I have been diligently monitoring the higher altitude weather patterns , reading wildlife reports and checking with locals to see if the bears have been coming out of hibernation.

There  have been no confirmed reports of activity in our  area though certain regions of the state have definitely seen bruin movement recently.

With an armory of bird feeders scattered about our property, I generally begin retrieving the feeding stations at  night about mid April. However, with all our late spring snow storms I thought a could fudge a bit.

I told myself the other day, “Ok, Eric remember to start bringing in the feeders this weekend ( as in three days from now). I was pretty confident this last couple of storms carrying unseasonably cold weather would perhaps give me a reprieve.

WRONG!

About 10 p.m. this evening our two Weimeraners exploded into horrific blood curdling howls and barks which from past recollection warned us there were either bears, fox or coyotes in our midst.

Sure enough a sow black bear with two cubs in tow discovered  one of our rather tall “squirrel-proof” feeders in the back acreage.

Mind you “squirrel-proof” means nothing to a hungry bear. This fuzzy, snow crusted trio was seen tumbling and spinning the wire contraption all about the ground before burying their snouts in the fresh blanket of snow picking out morsels of bird seed.

Knowing I all but lost the battle on that  tall feeder, I started scrambling about the property in my untied Sorels in the extremely dark cover of night peering over my shoulder at every feeder I grabbed fearing the worst. In short order all  the remaining feeders were safely placed in the garage and all that was left was to grab a photo of the spring marauders.