Let's visit on the Porch II (Helena, Three Forks: waterfalls, walkable, upgrades)

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by MaBonnema

No.. he still has his jewels. I have been told that neutering him now may not do any good as far as the aggression goes.

It would me.

[montygarlic]

Originally Posted by Reziac

The one thing dumber than sawing off the tree branch you're sitting on...

Oh Baby!

[Reziac]

A good rule of thumb is -- if the advice comes from the "pet rescue" industry -- it's wrong.

Popcorn: Turns out when it was actually researched, rather than just accepted as "common wisdom", neutered male dogs are MORE aggressive toward people, tho not toward other dogs, and they are more fearful as well. (Same with spayed females.) Which has been my experience across 4 decades as a pro dog trainer, too. The absolute worst problem dog to work with is a neutered male. Neutering can take some of the energy out of him, but it won't fix a basic temperament issue; if anything, it'll make it worse.

Modern show-bred young adult GSDs have a very common temperament defect where if you touch them on the rear end, they turn and snap. It is so common in SoCal lines that vets who deal with 'em a lot learn to vaccinate by the "run by and stab him in passing, before he can get you" method. Some outgrow it; many don't. The huge majority of these GSDs in SoCal are neutered, most at 6 months, which goes to show that it doesn't help.

(If you know the origins of the GSD, and what they were actually used for, you aren't surprised. Their history has been greatly sanitized by the modern GSD clubs.)

[MaBonnema]

Thought ya'll could use a laugh.

The Husband Song - YouTube

[MTSilvertip]

Originally Posted by MaBonnema

Thought ya'll could use a laugh.

The Husband Song - YouTube

Lot of truth in that little song there!!

[ElkHunter]

Recreation in Montana! or anywhere else for that matter.

NOAA / NWS has put together a new webpage that shows recreation "stuff" (can't list it all, so for now we'll call it stuff). Looks pretty good and they are looking for feedback on it, so check it out and then drop them a line.

National Weather Service - Western Region Headquarters

I added it to the weather sticky.

[MaBonnema]

Almost there. About 2 weeks left before we get pull outta here.
Trip route:
Libby to Kalispell
Kalispell to Missoula
Missoula to Bozeman
Bozeman to Billings (see cousin)
Billings to Sheridan Wy
Sheridan to Casper
Casper to Cheyenne
Cheyenne to Denver, CO
Denver to Limon, Co
Limon to Hays Ks
Hays Ks to Salina
Salina to Wichita
WichitaKs to Norman OK
Norman OK to Dallas Tx (See daughter and my new Grandbaby)
Dallas to Shreveport LA
Shreveport to Monroe LA
Monroe LA to Jackson MS
Jackson to Meridian
Meridian Ms to Montgomery AL
Montgomery to Phenix City Al
Phenix City to Chickamauga GA.. DONE!

2,966 mi, 46 hours

Thats our route. We plan on pulling out on Aug 2nd (if mom's money is in the bank)

[ElkHunter]

Why not just go East til you smell it, and South til you step in it?

Years ago when I was a contractor for the GOV, I lived in a RV. Two of my kids were with me and I wanted them to experience the US, so we wouldn't plan anything. I would be in San Diego and get a phone call telling me I was needed in Charleston South Carolina. So I would fuel my truck (146 gallons of diesel) and hook on to my 35 ft trailer. Then I'd ask my 12 year old son, which way. All day long we'd go by his directions. We would park early evening, say 5 or so. Bar-b-q something that used to have hooves and get a good nights sleep. Next morning, I'd ask my daughter, which way? All day long, she'd navigate. Some times we'd get pretty far off the beaten track, but we always had a blast. Most importantly, we always found our target. The rules were that my son or daughter could only look at the road atlas, before we left for the day. They were not allowed to open the atlas during that days travel. only before. The Government usually didn't give me a set date, and I was the front man, being sent weeks ahead of the rest of the project, so I could take my time, within reason. Plus, with that fuel capacity, I didn't need to stop for fuel, driving from coast to coast. I had about a 2600 mile capability. The kids learned a lot. We saw lots of things we normally wouldn't. Most importantly, we had fun.

[Reziac]

Heh, sounds like a great way to travel!

Map reading, and remembering where you are on the map, seems to be a lost skill in today's kids.

Me, once I've been somewhere, it gets added to the map in my head, which is overlaid on the atlas I absorbed from being a map freak.

There are two different "Montana detail maps" books out now, that I've seen. Neither shows anything but the most obvious of the unpaved roads, and not a one of the back trails. Gotta get me a set of Forest Service maps again!

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by Reziac

Heh, sounds like a great way to travel!

Map reading, and remembering where you are on the map, seems to be a lost skill in today's kids.

Me, once I've been somewhere, it gets added to the map in my head, which is overlaid on the atlas I absorbed from being a map freak.

There are two different "Montana detail maps" books out now, that I've seen. Neither shows anything but the most obvious of the unpaved roads, and not a one of the back trails. Gotta get me a set of Forest Service maps again!

I have to get my other computer back up and running. I shut it down with a virus and have never cleaned it up. It's a desktop and right now I'm on a laptop. I have a TOPO map installed on it and then I went in and adjusted the ini files. The TOPO program is 9 CD's and it was originally set up so that it asks for a CD when needed. I loaded all 9 CD"s on it, then adjusted the ini's so that it no longer asks for CD's, they are all there. It has all the forest roads on it and is very detailed. What is nice about it is that you can select an area that you want. Then tell it to print, on say 9 pages. It will print out the selected area on 9 sheets of paper and then you have to tape them together to make a big wall map. It is outstanding for hunting camp to print that large area, then laminate it. Each morning, each hunter marks his name on there on what area he is going to hunt in. Makes coordination easy and most importantly, if somebody doesn't show up on time, you know where to go looking. The TOPO program won't run on this VISTA machine I'm on.

We had fun and the kids learned a lot about reading maps. For instance, if you come up I-25, in Wyoming, you'll find that the towns are all 33 miles apart. Hmmmmm. Kind of matches up to the old stage stops. They used to challenge each other with facts on the map. They had a blast.