“Well the truth about a mirror, is that a damn old mirror… don’t really tell the whole truth. It don’t show what’s deep inside. Or read between the lines. And it’s really no reflection of my youth….” (George Strait, “Troubadour”) Everyone has a story and it is difficult to guess what that story is when all you see is what is reflected on the outside. I can only imagine the difference between how I see myself and how the younger people at work see me. Maybe…
One thousand miles across Alaska. No, it wasn’t me. I haven’t even been to Alaska. It’s on my bucket list, but haven’t gotten there yet (and when I get there, I don’t see a 1,000 hike in my future). This past December, I noticed a presentation notice that interested me in the back of the most recent Green Mountain Club magazine, under “News & Information.” Kristin Gates was speaking at the Green Mountain Club Visitor Center on December 21st. Kristin,…
Black Skimmer at Milford Point, CT Back on December 17, 2014, I published a post about a “big year” birding contest several friends and I started amongst ourselves. The idea was to get off our butts, get outside, have some fun, and maybe learn a thing or two. Keeping in the spirit of any guy undertaking, Jim and Tom immediately went out and bought new binoculars. No doubt the new “bins” will be crucial in securing a win. Perhaps not….
Back in January, I decided to take advantage of an unspoken-for weekend and take a short drive down to Sevierville, Tennessee to visit my father-in-law, Norm Kallemeyn. The timing wasn’t completely arbitrary. For years Norm and my mother-in-law, Bobbie, had been talking about Wilderness Wildlife Week, which they had attended and volunteered for many years. Bobbie passed away this past June and I was due to visit Norm. I thought January a good time for me to try to break…
Here is my not-too-secret confession, I love gear – particularly outdoor gear. Whether it’s a new fly box, GPS, hunting vest, fly rod or reel, tenkara rod (a whole other blog post there), or backpack…, I love new gear. Not just any kind of outdoor item will do. It has to be well-made and well-designed stuff. Jim Boucher helping Kirk land a fish Several years ago I was fishing the West Branch of the Ausable River in New York with…
My first Salmon fly – the pheasant-winged head-knocker When I started tying flies back in my 20s some people thought they were too large to be practical. Maybe I’d have better luck knocking out a fish than I would have in actually hooking one. Such hurtful words were painful and launched my 20+ years of suffering from fly-tying PTSD. My only form of solace was, of course, my mother. Once I determined that I was tying-challenged and suffering from PTSD,…
I was disappointed in the performance of the plastic clip on the tree strap that came with the Bushnell® HD Trophy Cam. Disappointed in the way it broke in the cold. My solution was to use an old kayak tie-down (left). OK, confession, it wasn’t old, but it was available and I could replace it by the time it was warm enough to kayak in Vermont. It is generally a good idea to question your own cleverness. The new strap…
My name is Kristopher Boushie and I have a late-night television problem. It is an accepted fact that most people need a solid eight hours of sleep every night to stumble through life barely conscious of their surroundings. I, however, due to my unique genetic make-up and dietary intake, can stumble through my day on less than six hours of sleep. My reduced slumber provides me with additional time in my day to worry about an unending number of actual,…
Step one, watch The Big Year movie with Steve Martin, Owen Wilson, and Jack Black. Step two, get a couple of your friends together to hold your own (very little) Big Year birding competition. Step three, have at it for bragging rights…and it is a pretty healthy diversion. First, we should define a Big Year. A Big Year, according to Wikipedia (which contains the sum total of all human knowledge), “is an informal competition among birders to see who can see or hear the…
My family and I spent a lovely Thanksgiving at my brother Jim’s house in Woodbury, Connecticut. We were outside setting up for our annual archery tournament and the kids and I discovered some interesting tracks in the backyard. Being trained scouts, they started following the tracks by carefully walking directly in the tracks. I managed to take this picture with my iPhone before it was stomped out. My nephew, Jack, was the lead tracker. He followed the tracks under the…