My life for my planet! Doing what I can to make sure our future generations can enjoy the same beautiful Nature that helps make my life complete.

I feel very blessed to live in what I feel is the most awesome place in the world. I am truly blessed with natures beauty.

I have had many experiences through the years and have had a lot of people say I should write a book. Well.... I don't know if this will turn out to be a book but I figure I have a place of my own here on the Internet to throw some words down. I am starting on Sept. 11th 2007 and will add to this as time goes on. 

I am the youngest or as my mother calls me "the caboose" of four kids. I was born on September 5th 1958 in Livingston Montana which is also a beautiful area. My family has very deep roots in the area. There are two mountains named after my Grandparents there. Mt. Rae and Mt. George. My Grandfather ran away from home when he was young from Jersey City and we have not been able to find any family history about anyone beyond him. He ran the "Gentleman's Club" in Livingston from the late 1800's to early 1900's. Both of my Grandparents and two of my Uncles were long gone before I came to be but I heard many stories about them. My Uncles built a suspension Bridge and a Ranger Station in the Boulder Mountain Range near Livingston and also started the first "sanctioned" rodeo there in I believe 1913. I never missed a rodeo there when I was a kid and even participated in life threatening events like catchin' a greased pig! I rode a steer in the "little britches" event when I was 12 and lasted a whole 6-seconds of the required 8-seconds to get a score. That 6-seconds pretty much told me that rodeo'n was not going to be something I wanted to persue adding to those thoughts were all the busted-up cow-hands gettin' ready for their next ride. It seemed like every one of them had a limp or would be groanin' a lot when they were climbin' into the chute for a ride.

Spending my first 8-years as a kid in Livingston Montana was like a childhood fantasy. My Dad worked for the Northern Pacific Railroad as a Conductor on passenger trains and a brakeman on frieght trains. Before that he had pretty much just been a cowboy sometimes doing road building and logging. He was hard working and also knew how to have fun. It seems like almost every weekend we would make a trip to somewhere cool in Montana or Wyoming camping or visiting. I have always been an adventurer and loved spending time in Nature. I guess my parents and brother and sisters did not think of me as an adventurer they thought of me as "lost in the woods."

I always knew my adventure was coming to an end when I would hear distant voices frantically calling my name. I could be 80 feet up a tree somewhere or half-way up a rock that just looked like it needed to be climbed. I never felt "lost" at all... I knew where I was and how to get back to camp! There was no need to be frantic.... I would never miss dinnertime especially when its cooked on a campfire!

Livingston was quite the railroad town they had these huge shops where they would work on trains and I would adventure there often and play on the old engines and climing up on the catwalks of the train cars... I would have a blast running and jumping from the roofs of the cars.

I remember the mechanics showing me how the big diesel engines drove the generators and what each part was. I always knew how to stay out of the way. I even got to pick an engine off of its running gear with a huge overhead crane... holding that control unit was about the coolest thing this kid ever got his fingers on. It had a button for left, right, up, down, forward, and reverse. I felt honored!

I remember going with Dad a few times on the freight train and being able to throtle up the train and one of my favorites was honking the enormous air horns on the cab of the engine... it was a real "blast." I was told by the engineer that I could honk the horn but I had to "do it right" he told me how to watch for signs on the siding showing there was a road crossing the tracks and told me that was when to blast it. I felt important... I was making sure everyone knew the train was comin'. The Engineer told me to watch the siding like a hawk and I did just that... my eyes were wide open and fixed ahead with a stare watching for the next sign. It feels cool just remembering it!

One adventure that has always come up at family gatherings was when I was about 5-years old. Mom was heading into the post office and I asked if I could play on the old cannon out front while she went inside... she said "okay but stay right there.... no adventures" she went in the door and about the time I was gonna climb up on the barrel of the cannon I heard a train "kick a car" and looked over at the tracks about a block away and saw Dad's caboose... I thought "Mom won't mind... I'm goin' to see Dad" so off I went. I climbed up the stairs on the caboose and tried to open the door but it would not budge. Suddenly the train started moving so I figured it was probably gonna take me to where-ever Dad was so I would just enjoy the ride.

Unknown to me Dad had just finished a run and was on his way home! Well I had a cool 130 mile ride to Billings and my folks soon got a call from the yard master there who said he looked up and "there was Frank Jr. takin' a leak off the back of the caboose!"

The next day I was introduced to a "child harness with a leash" I had seen many kids wearing them with their parents but until then had never had the experience!

More to come....

My recent adventures.

I took a break the other Day... I needed some time away from the computer and a good dose of Nature was past-due. My sons Malikai 27 and Frank Jr. Jumped into my rig we call Pepe. It is a 1997 Explorer Sport a short 2-door one so its easy to do some serious 4x4'n I have a 4" Super Lift under it with 33" tires with aggresive treads. Pepe has about every option that was available A/C electric leather seats electric windows remote mirrors cd moonroof.... cushiest doggone 4x4 I ever owned a fun little rig.

We went a
bout 12 miles upriver and took a right up the Upper Finney Rd. The rain was coming down like a cow peeing on a flat rock! But I love stormy days they are cool for finding waterfalls that appear out of nowhere from the heavy rains and the cloud-cover makes for deep greens from the forests. About 3 miles in the sun poked out for a few minutes and there was a double Rainbow.... I stopped right away and jumped out with my camera and took a few shots.... I know when its cloudy like that a rainbow can appear for just a few seconds til' the sun is behind the clouds a little here is one of the first shots:

While I was shooting it I noticed that the arch of the rainbow made it look like if I went just a little further west that I could probably get a shot with both ends of the rainbow touching down in the river. We all jumped back into Pepe and up the mountain about 1/3 of a mile was the shot I was looking for! I put my wide angle lens on and jumped out again holding the camera under the brim on my hat so it wouldn't be exposed to the rain and got some killer shots just like I planned... I was like the "Photo Hunter" heh heh. But here is one of the shots I got from there:

I had to throw this picture in too it shows the barn at a Ranch I have always envied with a double rainbow. I really dig the old barns around here they are proof to the awesome craftsmanship that our forefathers had can stand the "test of time" there are many that blew down in the 105 mph winds we had dec 2006 ones that had been abandoned years ago and have had no upkeep.

A few miles up the road I stopped on a bridge for this picture of a creek that was definitely rushing!

A little further up the road I stopped and posed with one of our Old Growths:

Here's one of the boys with the twig:

Here is one of the waterfalls that suddenly appear during a rainstorm:

A little further to one of my favorites here are two shots of it one showin the road and my boys:

and another instant waterfall:

A little further up the mountain it was snowing:

Then up the road to Gee Lake just below the peak:

This is really strange... look closely at the pine cones... hundreds of trees had them growing upside down!

Here are a few random pictures coming out including a sunset!

Here's a peek at a peak:

A good shot of Sauk mountain in the distance:

A little fall beauty:

another surprise waterfall:

Then the sunset to make Oct. 4th 2007 another beautiful stormy day!

 More to come!

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