Wedded Bliss ...

This morning we finally took our mattress off the box spring to search for the source of the creaking and groaning under our bed. Hold your excitement ... it wasn't nearly as exciting as it sounds. And in fact, the discovery is quite disturbing: our box spring has become increasingly unhappy about holding our weight since we've put on a few pounds. The good news is that we must be happy; the bad news is that we're FAT and happy.

Censorship

On a regular basis, I get a report from my email spam blocker at work that lists the addresses for those emails that have been blocked from my Inbox. Thankfully, it keeps me from getting regular emails from JCrew, Amazon and the fun quiz website entitled Tickle where you can self-assess important qualities about yourself like "What Breed of Dog Are You?" or "Who's Your Celebrity Soulmate?" (By the way, I'm a St. Bernard and my celeb soulmate is Orlando Bloom).

But you can imagine my disappointment when I noticed that the spam blocker was keeping such emails from me like "How to get a bigger penis" or "How to keep your woman satisfied." However will I get along in this world without this information?

Access, Access, Access

I’m not a hunter. But I work for an agency that manages wildlife populations for the people of Montana so that they are healthy and thriving … and huntable. I am a passionate advocate for the environment; the habitat it provides for critters and the majesty it provides for my spiritual health. But, I didn’t realize until working here that hunting is an intricate part of keeping healthy and thriving wildlife populations in this state (and other states, I suspect). My zealous advocacy, personally and professionally, for the environment now includes the same fervor for the legacy of hunting. So if you think hunting is just a sport for rednecks and their blood-thirsty, testosterone-charged, trophy-game-lusting ways, you’re probably right. But it’s more than that. For those that treat it as a way to be a part of the age-old natural duality of prey and predator that keeps our ecosystem thriving, I subscribe whole-heartedly.

In these changing times, however, where new landowners don’t recognize the value of hunting as a tool to manage a population, the populations are exploding. The elk population in Montana is increasing every year due to mild winters and the creation (intentionally or not) of safe-havens for large herds. As the population increases, the whole system is thrown off balance and the wild, natural habitat threatens to be trampled and can no longer support the increasing elk populations. The populations move to greener pastures to forage and feed – the crops and fields on large ranches. Those ranchers who don’t allow access for hunting, harbor the elk and charge hunters to take trophy elk that is supposed to be available for veiwing, enjoying, and hunting to all the people of Montana; not just the rich who can afford it. Cabela’s is an example of just this type of problem.

I can’t say it any better than the Montana Wildlife Federation said it in a letter to the CEO of Cabela’s requesting them to consider some alternatives to selling ranches that were traditionally open to public hunting. Rather, MWF request that they exercise their private property rights in a manner that could take into consideration the hunting and fishing legacy of access and conservation in Montana; the legacy and conservation that has made their coporation rich:

“The MWF Executive Board finds that Cabela’s is trading on its trusted
reputation as a merchant of sporting goods to engage in a real estate marketing
activity that is calculated to subvert and destroy the very system of North
American wildlife conservation that has provided Cabela’s with the
hunter-and-angler markets that gave your company life in the first place.”

Never too old for cartoons ...

Hubs and I went to a Halloween party last night. We struggled a bit with our costumes, but in the end, they came together nicely. We went as the Scooby-Doo Gang.

I went as Daphne and Hubs went as Fred. The rest of our gang consisted of Scooby-Doo and Velma, complete with Scooby snacks. Shaggy, the clues told, took off with our van. ZOIKS!

My favorite part of the whole charade was when a ghost walked into the party and Scooby-Doo, frightened, jumped into the arms of Fred.

Stewards

Yesterday, I travelled to Havre, Montana for work. I was there for a Fish, Wildlife & Parks Commission meeting where I was available to answer legal questions that generally come from outer space. It's a good time for me to practice thinking on my feet so I actually enjoy the opportunity. And when I can travel to a new place, it's an added bonus. Havre was one of those new and beautiful places.

Another added bonus yesterday was to be there for the presentation of an award that is called The Good Neighbor Award. The award is intended for a landowner who has lived a life as a good steward of the land; that is, treats it like the special place that it is - away from development - and enhances the habitat and unique character that Montana offers. Additionally the award recognizes a legacy of allowing public access for recreation and hunting without charging for that access or allowing outfitting on the property. It is essentially an award that recognizes the folks who, without provocation or compensation, protect our last best place.

When the 80-plus-year-old fella was presented with the award yesterday, he was asked if he wanted to say a word. He seemed surprised and caught off-guard. But once given the opportunity, he seized it and spoke for 10 minutes. In those 10 minutes, he told a story. He said, in his gravelly, gruff, hard-to-understand-old-man-muffly way,

When we got this award, it brought a memory. About 75 years ago, I wasn't very big or old. The hired hand took me fishing. When we got to the fishin' hole on our land, someone was already there. I had to impress our hired hand, so I marched right up to the fella and asked him how in tar-nation he got the permission to be there and told him he should just get on down the road. He left and we fished and I was pretty proud of myself.

Within a week, my father sat me down and taught me a good lesson that I've lived with my whole life. He said, 'What made you think you could tell that good man to leave the fishing hole?' When I tried to convince my father that it's our land and that we could tell him to get out. He told me, 'This isn't your land; it's ALL of our land. We are stewards of the land and that means that we get to share what this beautiful Earth gave us with others who want to enjoy it. Now you will go and write that man a letter and apologize.' That letter was one of the hardest I've ever
written. But I learned a valuable lesson that we've passed on to our
children: The Earth owns the land and we are here just to take care of it.

It warmed my heart to listen to this man tell the story of his life and how he treated the land, OUR land. And then it reminded me that this landowner is in danger of extinction and made me want to work harder and in earnest to continue saving the last best place.

The Office

My particularly crazy busy and therefore stressful week has continued into this week. Thus, I’ve been having some difficulty leaving work at work, especially when I go to sleep at night. Last night, I dreamt that I was the Director of our Department. All of my staff were dogs that spoke English. I always knew when they were frustrated because they would grunt loudly as they plopped onto their dog beds; which were their “offices” from what I could tell. It appeared that we got the business of running an agency done well enough. But I don’t recall ever paying particular attention to whether I was a dog too.

If I was, I hope I was a Bernese Mountain Dog. Aren't they cute? What dog would you be?

The earth laughs in flowers.
~ E.E. (Edward. E.) Cummings ~

Pumpkins

Pumpkins everywhere this time of year! I love pumpkin; the color, the taste, carving them, eating them, roasting seeds, the symbol for Fall... everything about pumpkin is awesome. Every year I rediscover my unnatural affection for pumpkins. So, tonight I think I'll make this: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Harvest-Pumpkin-Soup-2/Detail.aspx

Mmmm, doesn't it look good?

Nap-Thirty

Fall: I love this season. I love it because it's a time when Nature is vigilant at recruiting advocates. This is the time when Nature launches Her most persuasive campaign for life-long adoration. Those who never felt this sense of devotion before can't ignore Her brilliance; and those who have lived a life of devotion are reminded of its fervor. She doesn't spare a measure of energy in displaying her glory: snow-capped mountain tops, brilliantly-colored deciduous trees, and clouds so full of precipitation that their appearance demands respect.

And I love this season because it creates days like today. Overcast skies, cool and breezy, leaves of many colors flying about - all the perfect recipe for cozying up in my bed with a book and not fighting the urge to sleep.

Ahhhhhhhhh.

Need for an Inner Voice

I've had a particularly crazy busy week. I've reviewed, drafted, edited, redrafted, re-reviewed and re-edited a single 40-page document for three days in a row. I could recite it word-for-word but I'll save you the gory details. And then I had a particularly stressful meeting about this same 40-page document today that lasted all of this morning and some of this afternoon.

Needless to say, my brain is spent and I should have gone home about 5 minutes ago to save myself a collossal embarassment.

My secretary walked into my office a minute ago. Barely realizing she was in my office and certainly not connecting that fact in my exhausted-beyond-comprehension brain, AND talking to myself like I do so often, I inadvertently said out loud, "Oh I have gas."

Time to go home.

I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority.

E. B. White US author & humorist (1899 - 1985)

MY Spoon

Each morning I come to work, I bring my breakfast with me. It consists of one of two things: 1. Brown Cow Low Fat Vanilla Yogurt with fresh berries or strawberries and muesli that has chunks of goodness like almonds or carob chips in each bite; OR 2. Cottage cheese, frozen raspberries, blackberries and blueberries and pineapple with slivered almonds to top it off. I can’t really say which is my favorite but I have become quite fond of the Brown Cow vanilla yogurt so I might lean that way if asked….

And each morning I use the same spoon – it’s one of those with the thick, colored handle that has been discarded for regular use at my house because it’s old and well, ugly. It’s perfect to leave at work to eat my breakfast. The spoon has now become crusted with chunks of purple cottage cheese, stained by the berries in each breakfast. I can chip off the large dried chunks but I’m afraid the sheen of purple stain and crusty globules are permanently affixed to the spoon. I figure that if I’m eating the same thing every morning and I’m the only person using my spoon, why wash it?

This morning, I was enjoying my vanilla yogurt and muesli combination and another attorney walked in with a sour face and asked, “WHAT IS THAT?” I began to explain, understanding that my breakfast doesn’t look so appetizing (my hubs calls it slime),
“Brown Cow low fat yogurt …and,” “NO! What you’re using to eat it with.”

OH THAT – it’s my spoon.

He left my office all incredulous and appalled even after I explained my perfect logic that I’m the only one to eat with that spoon.

I think I’ll wash it today.

Threshold

Beginning, commencement, inauguration, inception. Have you ever tried to think of as many words synonymous with the word beginning? Birth, kick-off, starting point, opening ... I was tempted to look it up at www.dictionary.com but I wanted to test myself instead. I made a list of 14 words and I’m sure there are many more.

I liked the synonym threshold the best. It has a particular fitting relevance to the name of my blog, ‘The Brief.’ And the name of my blog, suggested to me by my savvy blogger sister, Jdoc, has a particular fitting relevance to me. So let me connect this all by first telling you a bit about myself…

1. I’m a lawyer and I write legal documents called briefs for a living;
2. I am NOT brief in any sense of the word;
3. I like to put articles of construction (the) in front of descriptive words as if they are nouns in themselves; like The Lively or The Charismatic or The Brief; and
4. Well, there isn’t a fourth but I’m trying to prove the point I made in # 2.

And thus, I chose 'The Brief' for the title of my blog.

Finally, the reason I liked threshold to describe the beginning of this personal endeavor is because, in the legal world, a threshold question is usually the seminal question one asks to begin a query into whether a certain legal standard applies. Simply put, it’s the beginning of an important foray.

And such is the case for me and this blog.