sheep_herder

A beautiful card, Thank You and Merry Christmas!!

Are you going to let me in to P&R??

Check out the Triple D game farm in Kalispell, MT.

Did you notice that I posted some photos for you?

Did you read about the little lamb with the hurt leg?  It was still running up and down the manure pile this afternoon, packing its leg in between runs.  We just came in from working with a young ewe and her twin lambs.  That was the first time my wife has been out of the house in a week.  These respiratory illnesses hit her hard.  Hope you are feeling better.

Glad you are having a nice trip.  I know a lady that lives in Prineville.  I think the two of would enjoy visiting.  Stay safe and have fun!

Here is a link to ColuberBiker or Emily O'Brien.  She was fairly active on the LF. I've always enjoyed reading about her adventures, but lost track of her overtime.

Here is a bit of information I provided to my high school graduating class a few years ago.  You might be interested or maybe not, as it might be too much information.  Thought about this after responding to your detention thread.

I have certainly enjoyed reading the bios and memories written by the Robert E. Lee ‘60 graduates. It is indeed uplifting to read about the exciting careers and families of others. Kay asked me to write a bit about what I have been doing since ‘60. I attended Lee Jr. College for 1 year and then moved to Fort Collins, CO to attend Colorado State University. While at CSU, I met and married Gwen Beggs in 1962, and we had a daughter, Frances Jalene in 1964.

I majored in several areas of natural resource management and finally settled on range management. I found college courses challenging, particularly chemistry and zoology, and stumbled a few times during my early years. That probably comes as no surprise, since I did not take college prep classes at Robert E. Lee.

I should mention here that Mr. Woods (home room and civics) had a great influence on my attending CSU. He knew that I was interested in wildlife and resource management and suggested I should look into their programs. During my BS program I earned money by fighting forest fires and working with graduate students and professors on research projects. By 1964, I knew I wanted to become a researcher, so I had to work pretty hard to overcome my chemistry problems and compete for an assistantship for graduate school.

I completed my BS in December 1966 and was fortunate to begin working on my masters program in range management during summer 1966. My Masters degree was financed by working for the Forest Service during the summer and teaching laboratories for range plant identification and managing the range plant herbarium during the school year.

I spent summers on an experimental forest near Woodland Park, CO. My thesis project was a study of big bluegrass, a native grass that is used in range restoration or seeding projects, but is often pulled from the ground by grazing animals. We investigated how fertilizer affected stem and root development and ultimately affected plant pull up.

We lived in Brookings, SD from September 1968 to September 1970. While there I worked as a technician for a range ecologist. I was home during the winters, but our major research areas were in western South Dakota, so I traveled a lot during spring, summer, and autumn. We enjoyed our stay in South Dakota, even though the area received 100 inches of snow the winter of 1968.

We lived in Tucson, AZ from 1970-1975 when I worked on my Ph.D. in range management. My thesis project dealt with physiological changes that occurred in seeds during wetting and drying cycles that mimic seed bed environments during spring. We were trying to determine when was the best time to plant seed of Lehmann lovegrass in the arid environment of southern Arizona. At the time the grass was used to reduce erosion on deteriorated rangeland.

We lived in College Station, TX from 1975-1981. I worked in the Range Science department at Texas A&M and taught classes in range plants and range improvement practices. My research dealt with evaluating plant materials and techniques for seeding deteriorated rangelands. I saw a lot of south Texas, since I did not have any research sites closer than 200 miles from campus for the first five years.

We lived in Burns, OR from 1981-1988. I initially worked for Oregon Agric. Exp. Station (1981-1984) and then worked for USDA Agricultural Research Service (1984-present). I continued research in the area of plant materials and range seeding techniques. Some of my initial research was on ash covered rangelands after the Mt. St. Helen’s eruption. When I joined ARS in 1984, I became research leader for the unit and got into administration. After 4 years as research leader, I again decided research was my true calling and made a lateral transfer to Miles City, MT.

I have been in Miles City since 1988, and Gwen moved in January 1989. I will advise you winter time is not the best for a move across the northern tier of states. I work on a large (55,000 acres) experiment station called Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Laboratory (web site www.larrl.ars.usda.gov). The Fort was built after the massacre of Little Big Horn, and the town and area have a rather colorful history. My research at Fort Keogh has emphasized studies on annual brome grasses that have invaded the native range, plant materials, and more recently carbon sequestration and the impact of rangelands on global warming.

We have enjoyed all of the places where we have lived and worked. We unfortunately lost Jalene to non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1978 during our time in College Station. Gwen goes to Texas each spring to visit relatives and attend the Saddle & Sirloin banquet at Texas A&M where she presents two memorial scholarships in Jalene’s honor. Jalene was too young to attend Texas A&M, but she was an Aggie at heart and attended many functions. For the most part Gwen and I have been healthy and manage to stay very active.

We have raised sheep off and on since 1968 and angora goats since 1983. We currently live on a small irrigated acreage and lease some additional irrigated pastures. We currently have about 75 sheep and goats and several dogs (Welsh corgi, border collie, and Great Pyrenees). Gwen stays busy with the animals, traveling, and serving as an angora goat judge at various fairs. She sheared sheep professionally while in Oregon, but works mainly with her own animals in Montana.

We both enjoy traveling, photography, bird watching, and fishing. My work has allowed some national and international (Mexico, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Portugal) travel, and Gwen has traveled to sheep meetings around the US and Australia and the British Isles. She is an accomplished photographer and spinner. I like to fish, but spend a lot of my spare time riding my bicycle.

I rode a lot as a young child in Baytown and some as a student in Arizona (17 mile round trip to school). I began riding again during summer 2000, to aid in reducing my blood glucose levels, and I am happy to report it has worked wonderfully. I ride between 15 and 25 miles 4 to 5 days a week (weather allowing) and every once in a while I'll ride further. I rode on one 60 mile ride in July 2001 south of Livingston, MT and hope to complete a 100 mile ride in 2002. It is nice living in a somewhat remote area with little traffic. They let us ride on the interstate, which I prefer to side roads.

We are members of the Methodist church and sponsor a pot luck dinner at Thanksgiving each year for those who do not have family or travel plans. Travel plans are sometimes canceled that time of the year in Montana due to weather.

My father died during the time we were in Oregon, and my mother lives in a nursing home in Rowlett, TX. My sister, Janelle, and family live in Rockwall and the surrounding area. She works for a doctor in Dallas.

I have made it to two reunions, the 20^th and 40^th and thoroughly enjoyed them both. Hopefully, I do not wait another 20 years to attend. I want to express my sincere appreciation to Kay and all who work with her on the home page. They have done a wonderful job, and it is great to be able to share with our class mates after all these years.

Sincerely,

Marshall Haferkamp

Needless to say, many things have changed since I wrote this note.

Here is one of my wife taken last year in Rocky Mountain National Park.  I'll send it to you, but I am not going to post it on the web.

Marshall

Here may be one of the best character photos I've ever taken.  She is a long time artist in the Quick Draw and does very nice work.  She was working the crowd trying to get a better price when I snapped this photo. Do you like it?

Here you go.  Hope you have a Great Holiday and enjoy your family gathering.  Your trip to deliver coats to the homeless was a wonderful gesture.

Marshall

MERRYCHRISTMAS2016.docx

Hey, Thanks again for your generosity.  The towels arrived yesterday.  They will make the critters very happy!

Hi,

I sure hope you feel better soon.  It really concerns me that you have been sick for so long a period of time.  I had pneumonia several times as a child, but so far have avoided it as an adult.  I am so old now, that they do not recommend any more pneumonia shots.

Take care and get well soon.

Marshall

Hi, are you home, if so, I'll send you a message with an attachment.  The artist that I told you about painted a black and white from my mountain lion photo.  She indicated it sold immediately.

Hope you are doing better today.

How are you doing with the weather situation?  Seems like Portland and surrounding area has been hit pretty hard this year.  We use to visit Portland several times a year when we lived in Burns.  I had hoped to make it to the coast this year to take photos, but changed my plans once the storms started rolling in.  Maybe, I'll make it next year.  Hope you stay dry and safe.

How long are you going to be in Idaho?  I'll be driving to Kalispell, MT on Tuesday or Wednesday and  may be in Missoula on the following Sunday or Monday.

How were your holidays?  Hope you had a Great Time with the family and are enjoying your new job.

I also sent this to Airehead, but I do not want to post it on the forum. This may be one of the best character photos I've ever taken.  She is a long time artist at the Quick Draw and does very nice work.  She was working the crowd trying to get the to bid more money.  Do you like it?

I am in Kalispell, MT at the Triple D Game Farm.  I photographed the bear this morning, and the workshop will photograph mountain lions and wolves tomorrow.  We will photograph three different babies on Saturday.  I leave Sunday and will probably try to photograph animals at the National Bison Range located north of Missoula, MT.

I did not want you to get the wrong idea about the folks in Oregon.  I knew the older Hammond, and probably saw his son at times.  They were the one arrested for the fires, but they quickly distanced themselves from the 'wild bunch' from Nevada.  The Bundys from Nevada and cohorts have been running wild and protesting, ever since the BLM backed off and let their father continue running cattle illegally in Nevada.  They are the ones that have taken over the building on the Malheur Wildlife Refuge.

I don't want to give folks the wrong impression, but I really wanted to ask if your girlfriend with thunder thighs was the one with the clap.

I forgot to include the web page for Mike DeSalvo.

http://www.desalvocycles.com/

I hope this makes you smile.  Hope you are feeling better. I am not posting this on the forum, But I thought you might enjoy seeing one of the twins and her mother with the Corgis.  I'll write more later and tell you about the mother 'our unofficially adopted grand daughter'.

Marshall

I received a nice email on Thursday.  An artist I know in Billings notified me that she had used one of my mountain lion photos as a model for a black and white painting for a recent show.  It sold quickly, and she is going to make a few prints to sell.  Attached is what she sent to me.