Wild Arizona(bite this Marty Stouffer)

Mike spends most of his working days at the helibase located on the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Mostly whiling away the hours between medivacs and short haul rescues and fighting wild land fires by reading, riding his bike, reloading bullets, and holding down the couch.


Some days though he really goes to work. This is the stuff he truly enjoys.
He gets to mix his love of flying with his love of the outdoors and wildlife.


Papillon contracts their helicopters and pilots(mainly Mike) out to the Arizona Game and Fish.
Recently they were over on the Arizona/Nevada border doing a sheep capture to monitor migration with the new road construction around the dam.


Usually they hang some under paid wildlife biologist(gunner) out of the helicopter with a loaded rifle(modified to shoot game nets instead of bullets). This poor guy sits and waits as Mike flies around the desert while another AZ game and fisher acts as the mugger. When they find the poor animal the gunner shoots,

and then the mugger jumps out of a still flying helicopter. After the helicopter lands the gunner then jumps out and runs to help. Normally they draw blood and put on a tracking collar,

and then the animal is released, at which time the unharmed sheep stands and shakes him/herself off and runs back to the herd with nothing more than a great story and a new expensive necklace to show off later that night while grazing with the fam.

But sometimes things don't go as planned,

and the sheep go a little wild,

especially if say, you had previously survived a mountain lion attack,

then all bets are off. At which point the sheep start showing off their moves.

The moonwalk seems to be a favorite,

and the two step with a little shimmy and a twist

always scores extra points with the judges.

and going all Shawn Johnson really works at putting a little fear into the guys that just pushed your fight or flight button really hard.

and if you really want to make those guys wish they had never left the office,

it is always a good idea if you can look'um in the eyes,

while going all kung fu fighting while issuing the dance off challenge


and then step back and watch the pumpkin boogie,

and the gunner/mugger doe-si-doe,

and after obviously winning the great wildlife dance off,

it is always best just to run off into the sunset,

while they dust themselves off.

Last week

Last week,

we ate doughnuts from J.D.'s espresso,

drove to Flagstaff, watched a movie,

and ate pizza in the car.

Carsten and Ardynns' baseball team played,

and won two games,

we made smores on the stove top,

while we listened to the wind blow.

The kids and I played a 12 inning softball game,

that ended only after the mom hit it out of the park,

and lost the ball in the 100 acre woods.

We bought a new softball,

a bright green one.

Mike stained and painted the porches,

and two chickens and one dog.

Kallison learned to ride a two-wheeler,

and how to put on many band-aids,

she also learned that older sisters make patient

and loving cheerleaders.

the brave ones slept on the trampoline,

with a pile of kitties,

the not so brave slept on the family room floor,

with a smaller pile of kittens.

Braxton purchased his first hunting licence,

and put in for his first deer hunt,

good luck my little hunter.

Mike took lots of fishies on a tour of the Grand Canyon,

and helped to reestablish a healthy population of endangered chub,

into the Greater Colorado River.

We cried over and buried our last goldfish,

well some of us.

We have sat out under the stars,

while listening to the coyotes howl,

we ate watermelon,

and spit the seeds at each other.

we ate boxes of popcicles,

that dripped down our chins and hands,

and then skipped baths and showers,

just because it was summer.

Canyon wide pandemic (The Mule Flu)

Poor wee Angus was just hanging out while the men worked on the trail. His rope got loose on one side and Angus went for a bite to eat. As luck would have it Angus slipped and fell over the edge and hung himself. Now Angus is mostly dead and on his way out.

When pigs fly Mom always said. But in a pinch a mule will work.

Angus checking the tail gate before he climbs in (safety first).

P.S. MIKE HIJACKED MY BLOG.

A little update

Wow, what a busy week, Thursday I saw my ob/gyn, lovely lady, she sadly confirmed that we had indeed lost another little one(we already new that, but we both cried anyway).

Ultrasounds are no fun when all you get to see is a still heart or this time an empty womb, but at least they were able to confirm that uterus and ovary wise it all looks okay, they were even able to see/find my right ovary that apparently was "lost" at the last ultrasound back in December(which for me was good news cause after all I think I would have noticed that one leaving).

Tuesday I met with a new Dr., a wonderful Dr. of internal medicine(she is also a new chicken farmer) she checked out everything including my nose/eyes/throat, because after all reproductive wise they are super important. She agrees with both myself and the very peppy ob/gyn that it is most likely related to my thyroid or should I say half a thyroid. So she took blood to check its(thyroid) level and also kidney and liver function, hormone levels, and complete blood counts.

Results will be back tomorrow and honestly I am a little nervous, I want it to be so simple, a tiny little pill will help regulate the thyroid and some progesterone cream used until 14 weeks will help maintain a healthy pregnancy. But then there is the guilt that if only I had given a little thought and had it checked every six months like I was supposed to that maybe my babies would not have died and that really does lie heavy on a person.

So tomorrow when the phone rings I will pick it up but only after it has rang a few times and I have had time to breathe.