Doug Mahugh

Jamie Samoyed

Isaac's 2023 road trip

In the fall of 2023, Isaac and I took a road trip from Butte to visit some friends and family and woodworking shops in the Midwest. Isaac had previously traveled to a few Western states – Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California – but this was his first experience of

The Reality of Retirement

I'm sitting on the deck with the dogs, on day 105 of my retirement, and I've decided to write a blog post. Not sure where this is headed, but blogging was one of the things I was looking forward to doing more of after retirement, and tonight feels like a

Jamie Samoyed

Sauk Mountain

Nine years ago, I had a post on my old blog entitled "Alice Knows What To Do," about an incident that happened on a hike at Sauk Mountain in the North Cascades. In this post, I've included the full text of the original post and added an intro section with

Jamie Samoyed

Being Jamie

This is a post from the past: a blog post we published in 2010 that got deleted when this blog was migrated to a different platform in 2015. I've recovered the text from a backup, and added a few photos from the month when it was originally posted, as well

Jamie's Legacy

One year ago this morning, Jamie and I went for a short walk. He had been moving slowly ever since our trip to Eagle Guard Station (a Forest Service cabin in the Elkhorn Mountains) a few days before, but he seemed to be doing a little better that morning: happy,

Settling down in Butte, America

How can I be turning 65 years old in May 2023? I still feel like I'm trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up, but I'm about to officially become elderly. In keeping with the tradition of old people blathering on about what they've learned

Jamie Samoyed

Finding Jamie's Photos

I take a lot of dog photos. After spending nearly 13 years documenting Jamie's life, since his passing I've been continuing to document the shenanigans of his pack in a similar manner. These activities have led me to publish tens of thousands of photographs on the Jamie Samoyed Facebook page,

Big Butte

Two striking landmarks come into view when you drive into Butte on I-90: the massive terraced walls of Berkeley Pit, and the rounded peak of Big Butte, the hill towering above the west side of town. Berkeley Pit is a relatively new phenomenon, an artifact of Butte's shift from underground

Jamie Samoyed

Life without Jamie

Thirteen years ago today, we picked up an 8 week old puppy from Summerhill Samoyeds in Canada and drove him south across the border to his new home with two humans and three cats in Seattle. Megan named him Jamie. This post contains a few memories and thoughts about Jamie

Jamie Samoyed

Isaac in the Highlands

Last night Isaac and I spent the night at Hells Canyon Guard Station in the Highland Mountains south of Butte. Originally built as a line cabin for local ranchers in 1906, the cabin has been owned by the Forest Service since 1910. It was first used as a guard station

Jamie Samoyed

Taking Jamie Home

We scattered Jamie's ashes today. It was fun to bring Isaac to this place that meant so much to Jamie and Alice, and it was also nice to bring Nancy back – she had only been there once as a pup. But most of all it was fun to see Alice's

Jamie Samoyed

Nancy's Seattle Days

After seeing the way Jamie welcomed and raised Alice as a pup in 2010, we were eager to see him welcome Nancy into the pack a decade later in 2020. It was everything we expected. Looking back over the photos of Nancy's early days with the pack, I'm struck by

Jamie Samoyed

Through Jamie's Eyes

I was always fascinated by Jamie's perspective. I wanted to see what he saw. In hindsight, it's now clear to me how posting on social media "as Jamie" became an outlet for my obsession with seeing the world through his eyes. Jamie and I drove countless miles together over the

Jamie Samoyed

Raising Isaac

Jamie raised Alice at first, but they're close enough together in age that after a year or two their relationship was more like siblings than a pack hierarchy. When Nancy came along, she was fiercely independent and looked up to Alice as the older female, so Jamie didn't really "raise"

Jamie Samoyed

Exploring the Highlands

During the last year of his life, Jamie and I spent a lot of time exploring the Highland Mountains (aka the Highlands), a small mountain range 20 miles south of Butte. Just as Jamie's pre-Alice road trips long ago helped prepare us for all the road trips the two of

Jamie Samoyed

In the Mirror

Every time I walk down the little hallway to our main floor bathroom, this mirror reminds me of a Jamie story. One that seemed sad at first, but the more I've thought about it the more I take comfort in this memory of Jamie unflinchingly staring in the mirror, like

Jamie Samoyed

Jamie's last road trip

Jamie's death was sudden and unexpected. Just five days earlier, I had taken him to a cabin in the mountains, as we've done many times. Everything went smoothly and he seemed to be a happy and healthy old dog right up to the moment we got home, when everything started

Jamie Samoyed

Jamie Samoyed, 2009-2022

Today is a day I have dreaded for years: Jamie is no more. For nearly 13 years, he's been my sidekick and the leader of our little canine pack, but those days are over now. What an amazing journey it has been, taking us all over North America and enjoying

Wordle Art

Wordle took the Twitterverse by storm during the winter of 2021-2022. Within a month or two of the game's release in October 2021, millions of people were playing every day, or making fun of those who were. People post their Wordle scores every day, often to brag about how few

social media

Terminating Twitter

I deactivated my Twitter account this week. They give you a 30-day grace period to change your mind before it's permanently deleted, so May 25 will be the day I toast the fun I had on Twitter, looking forward to all the hours I'll be spending on other stuff going

Jamie Samoyed

Diamond Butte Lookout

Diamond Butte Lookout is a fire lookout in southeast Montana, about 40 miles from Broadus. The structure was originally located at Yager Butte, but in 1958 it was moved 20 miles south to Diamond Butte, where it was an active fire lookout until 2001. It's available as a rental, and

Our Lady of the Rockies

Our Lady of the Rockies is a 90-foot statue along the Continental  Divide looking down on Butte, Montana from a few miles away and over 3000 feet above the Mining City. There is controversy around the statue because it's a religious symbol, and its position high on the East Ridge

Jamie Samoyed

Night hike with Nancy

This evening after dinner, Nancy and I went for a hike up to Maud S Canyon viewpoint. We started about an hour before sunset, so I knew we'd be coming down in the dark, but we've done that before. I brought a headlamp, trekking poles, and a big bottle of

Butte

The Original Silicon Valley

There's an area of the United States that has played a unique role in enabling the use of modern technology across North America, attracting workers from around the world and creating unparalleled wealth for entrepreneurs. I'm taking about Butte, Montana, of course, "The Richest Hill On Earth." The discovery of

Calibrating a new lens

My go-to telephoto lens is the Nikkor 70-200mm F/2.8 VR II. It's an amazing piece of equipment: sharp, fast, and sturdy enough to take a beating and keep on working. At $2400 it was (and still is) the most expensive lens I've ever bought, but after 11 years