Dogs

Like bursts of energy
that instantly put a
smile on your face and warm
your spirit.
Dogs can wash away your day
with one wag of the tail,
an attempt to talk in a bark
saying "Let's Play!"
Dogs light up our lives in
no other way.
They are special and
selflessly giving.
BeauBeau was just this and
today I wish that
he is resting in peace
eternally chasing deer,
rabbits and all things FUN.
We loved you ole' boy.
Take your dog for a walk,
run or play some fetch.









In Memory of BeauBeau "beaubs"
Our Friend ~ Our Faithful Companion
2004 - 27 January 2009

The Doctor Emmett Brown Project

"Emmett Lathrop "Doc" Brown, Ph.D. is a fictional scientist and is the inventor of the first time machine, which he builds out of a De Lorean sports car. His earlier inventions met with limited success, but got the De Lorean hover-converted and installed a "Mr. Fusion". The Mr Fusion reactor eliminated the need for plutonium, and allowed the time machine to operate off of ordinary household garbage."1.

Back to the Future may be a fictional story but this concept of harnessing energy from garbage is the now. Methane gases are being captured and processed into energy all over the country. The future of our landfills have a bright rainbow spanning over them. It's people like Brian Stocking, project manager with TD&H Engineering Consultants out of Kalispell who are engineering projects of the like. In cooperation with Flathead Electrical the county landfill is building a methane production facility.

Methane (měth'ān')
n. An odorless, colorless, flammable gas, CH 4 , the major constituent of natural gas, that is used as a fuel and is an important source of hydrogen and a wide variety of organic compounds.2.

"Montana: Co-op plants to get power from landfill."3.
Energy innovation is possible when people willingly learn new ways of producing, delivering, and consuming energy. That means companies assume significant financial and technological risk when exploring the use of non-traditional fuels to produce power.
Today, America's rural electric cooperatives are taking great strides to change the way they provide power for their member-consumers. Because innovation is often expensive, there are benefits in partnering with others to get the job done. Recently, Basin Electric joined with other G&Ts and distribution cooperatives to form the National Renewables Cooperative Organization (NRCO).
Every day Innovative ideas for using Mother Nature to produce more clean power are born - biofuels, solar energy and harnessing more hydro power are just a few evolving trends in America's energy industries. People have become more energy conscious and they are supporting efficiency goals and energy conservation.
Some Basin Electric members have boldly taken the initiative to look for new ways to capture and use energy:
• South Dakota: Sioux Valley Energy's Project E2
• Montana: Co-op plants to get power from landfill
http://www.basinelectric.com/Environment/Efficiency_and_Conservation/Energy_Innovators/index.html

It is also with the help of private citizens and proprietors like Downtown Pizza in Whitefish (550 East 1st Street) who use biodegradable take-away products. These vegetable based products include large clamshell containers, salad containers, cups and forks, knives and spoons. You can reuse the small salad containers and cups as seed starters, germinate and plant straight into the ground or toss in garbage. These products will aide in the process of decomposition at the landfill. Bravo! Kudos to all the other business not mentioned here.


"Vegetable Based Take-Away Container"

Sources: 1. http://www.wikipedia.org/, 2. http://dictionary.reference.com/, 3. http://www.basinelectric.com/

Hellroaring Basin

Skiing on the hill that you know like the back of your hand is always a pleasure. It's like getting on that favorite toy you're really good at.
Taking runs that take you back to high school when all the good skiers were guys and your girlfriends couldn't keep up.
Every year my dad would take me up to the ticketing office and get me a season pass to "The Big Mountain Ski Resort" then to the ski swap. I look back now and am really glad he did because now I have a deep rooted love for the sport. That and camping, hiking & backpacking.

Over the years I have visited my hometown many times. Mainly because my parents still resided there. Home for summers and holidays and if it was winter we would always be on the mountain skiing. It has changed over the years...new lifts, new runs...unfortunately big strips of trees gone but still the mountain I know and love.
This past month I was back home to take care of my brother who had had back surgery. I was able to get in a few ski days and ran into old friends who showed me the newest development on the mountain, West Bowl. Well at least that's what we used to call it. I never liked going back there because I was always afraid I would ski too far down the ravine and have to hike out for hours. Well now it has lift access! It's incredible! They cut a 3.3 mile long cat track that accesses' all the double diamonds. The only name that stayed the same (I believe) is "Picture Chutes"

And let's not forget the snow ghosts. Because it's snows a lot & because it stays so cold. Their beauty I have never seen anywhere else and this is what makes Big Mountain Big Mountain. My mountain.

The following is the foreward from the book I will be submitting to the 23 Sandy Gallery in Portland Oregon this month.


Reno Motel Life.
This book was inspired by a novel written by a Portland author and follows his story set in Reno Nevada in the late 1980's.


The Morris Hotel on East 4th Street

Reno Motel Life is a photographic story as the novel depicts a number of locations from local drinking holes, motels to the casinos. These landmarks and establishments have shaped Reno into what it is today, part bustling tourist destination part quiet town thriving on a good ole' entrepreneurial spirit.
I invite you to browse through and enjoy Reno through the eyes of a photographer inspired by a great novel about a time when Reno was a bit simpler. ~Sue Tomlinson


St Mary's
This project marks a journey for me which is exploritory, arguous and a bit spiritual in my search for peace and recovery. I am an artist and my creative outlet is always tugging on my sleeve to be released.