DOUG'S WORLD

Halfway to Table Mountain

We can see several mountains from our backyard deck, and the highest one is Table Mountain, 10,223 feet sea level. It's the highest point in the Highland Mountains, and also the highest point in our county, Butte-Silver Bow county. I've always wanted to hike

Viewing fireworks from a drone

Butte has a longstanding tradition of a massive fireworks show above Uptown on July 3rd and then a 4th of July parade down Harrison Avenue at noon on the 4th. In recent years, Town Pump – one of the largest businesses in Butte – has sponsored the fireworks show, and for 2026

Acquiring an action camera

The action camera product category has been growing and evolving for over 20 years, and after being tempted many times, I've finally acquired one. Last month, I picked up a DJI Osmo Action 6. This post is a few first thoughts and reactions after a month of using

20th anniversary photos

To celebrate 20 years of marriage, Megan and I decided to spend a few days in Seattle at the beginning of May. It was the first time we've visited Seattle without the dogs (thanks to Aaron for taking care of them!), and we kept a low profile and

Lost dogs, found dogs

Everyone loves a happy ending. What an incredible week we've had! Shortly after the above photo, I let the dogs off leash to run in an alpine meadow at 8200 feet elevation. Nancy is sometimes hard to get back when she's off-leash, but she had

Photos of Tom

It's still hard to believe my friend Tom is gone. Just a month ago, I had texted him some thoughts on things we could do on his planned visit to Butte – he was scheduled to arrive this Saturday – and his last words to me were a text about

Pounding those keys

I've been told many times that I type unusually loudly. I'm not sure how much of that is because I started writing back in the 1970s on manual typewriters, and how much is due to years of playing pianos and keyboards with stiff action. (My Fender

travel

Traveling with Mom

“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” – Dr. Seuss In the spring of 1999, Mom and I took a 5-week trip to Cambodia, Nepal, and India. This post and the others linked below cover that trip in more detail than I&

Cocaine, caffeine, and carbs

After a year of knee surgery recoveries, I feel like that's pretty much under control now and I've shifted my focus to working on losing some weight for summer hiking season. I decided to put my goal in writing here to add to my motivation, and

Timelines of Blood Meridian

"The man who believes that the secrets of this world are forever hidden lives in mystery and fear. Superstition will drag him down. The rain will erode the deeds of his life. But that man who sets himself the task of singling out the thread of order from the

Sunrise at Big Butte

Today was a milestone on my recovery from infection cleanout surgery: I hiked up Big Butte, for the first time since last summer. I took it slowly (especially on the way down), and all went well. This is Day 128 since the infection cleanout surgery, and for comparison, after total

2025 photos and videos

It's that time of year when I often do a blog post looking back on the year in photos. In recent years, that usually that meant travel photos or photos of hiking with the dogs in Southwest Montana, but this year has been different because of my two

knee

My knee in 2025

Last week I started putting together a "the year in photos" blog post as I usually do in late December, and as I looked back over my photos it was clear that my replaced right knee had dominated the year. I took fewer photos in 2025 than I

social media

New website

I'm generally an upbeat guy, but my last post (F*ck Facebook) was definitely an angry rant. After getting that off my chest, I spent a bunch of time (and a small amount of money) setting up a new website where I can post photos of our dogs

F*ck Facebook

Happy Monday morning! Ever since I retired, Mondays aren't much different from any other day for me, but today I awoke to an experience reminiscent of starting the work week with an annoying email – the first thing I saw online this morning was Facebook notifying me that my

Doc Lynde

Beginning in 1939, Reader's Digest magazine had a recurring feature entitled "The Most Unforgettable Character I've Ever Met," in which a writer would tell the story of an unforgettable person they'd known who had a big impact on their life. From the

knee

Struck by lightning

This week hasn't gone as planned. Well, Monday went as planned – Nancy and I took the spectacular hike up to Highland Lookout – but that evening things started heading in an unexpected direction that led to me posting this from Saint James Hospital five days later. This post is

workshop

Blanket Chest - BEFORE

I mentioned in my last blog post that I was planning to make a blanket chest for storing Megan's quilts in the parlor. But that plan has gone out the window, because instead I'm restoring a 19th century steamer trunk! I bought it for $80 from

workshop

Using up scrap wood

“There is no scrap wood, just pieces not yet used.” – Woodworkers’ Guild of America Everyone who builds woodworking projects will eventually have more leftover wood scraps than they know what to do with, and every woodworking channel on YouTube has videos on why you should burn your scrap wood, or

Keeping in Touch

Communication technology has come a long way since 1876, when Alexander Graham Bell famously said in the first telephone call “Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you.” The first hundred years of telephone history was mostly about land lines connecting homes and business, and then cell phones changed

Passing the Part 107 test

Today was a day I've been preparing for and looking forward to for several months: I passed the test for the FAA's Part 107 Remote Pilot Certificate, casually known as a drone pilot's license. It's nice to have this done – I had

Pattern regurgitators

AI is everywhere these days. It's at the heart of countless new products and services, and also in the marketing of older products and services that are now "AI-enabled," "AI-powered," or "AI-enhanced." Technologies that have been around for decades,

drones

Drone Drama

I've had a lot of fun with my DJI Mini 4 Pro in the 5 months I've had it. I had been thinking of getting a drone for a while, and then after our new President made some threats on February 1 about putting big tariffs

knee

The knee at six weeks

Today was a long-awaited milestone for my new knee: the 6-week follow-up with my surgeon. This post is an update on how that went, and a few thoughts on how things are going and what I've learned along the way. 0:00 /0:06 1×

Books

Holiday reading

It's a sunny Memorial Day afternoon in Butte, and I'm kicked back with my knee on ice, reading Volume I of the 4-volume series The World of Mathematics. We usually take the dogs for a hike on Memorial Day, but that's not an