The National Bison Range is about an hour north of Missoula, Montana. It protects some 400 bison, several herds of mule deer, elk, big horn sheep, as well as black bear, and several species of bird. On our visit we saw only herds of bison in the distance, as many roads were closed for the Winter Season, a pretty late event in Montana. And this is as close as we could get with a telescoping lens. Still, Sheldon got closer. Perhaps too close.

Here is a view of the Blue Mountains from U.S. 395, somewhere around the Umatilla National Forest between Long Creek and Pendleton.

Sheldon though he would enjoy it better via parachuting. He was wrong.

Click to see the full size image.

Sheldon hams it up with a fossil.

Get it? “Ham”? I slay me. Or should.

Anyhoo, this continues Sheldon’s journey with me and my family through Oregon, Washington and Montana. Stay tuned. There shall be more.

Sheldon on the John Day River as it runs parallel to US-26.

Sheldon decided to tag along with me and my family as we make our way through central Oregon, southeaster Washington, Idaho, and western Montana on our way to Great Falls. We will place him back in the whale’s belly on May 12. Meanwhile, I will post periodically pics of him enjoying the scenery on our trip.

Thanks for your patience!

The new page will be up Friday. It is nearing completion, so no fear.

Thanks for your patience!

The big changes are look and usage: navigation, archives access, tweaking the CSS, and converting to the latest Comicpress theme. Also, the “blog” part has been moved to a separate News page.

Of course, I’ve been designing web sites long enough to know that no redesign is ever truly “done.”

There are always “future enhancements” — for which I have a few for this site. Such as:

• Adding a games page: I want to learn how to create Flash based games. My kids play them all the time, and Sheldon’s adventuring, Chloe’s manic interest in everything, and Guzek’s inventiveness could all make great elements for an adventure game.
• A “coloring book” — really, a page of black and white drawings to download, print and color. There could also be a Flash version of that, too.
• The Store — more stuff to buy, but do it directly from this site.
• A newsletter — this will be coming soon.

All of that will take some time to develop and launch — certainly the Flash stuff — probably most of this year.

Hope you enjoy the new look. And of course, the comics!

Otherwise, please enjoy the comics. Thanks for your patience!

Seriously, I apologize for not posting new material for the last two months. It wasn’t intended. Life just got in the way. So my plan for the next month is to take a break from political cartoons so I can catch up on this story. Please stay with me. I love doing this series, and I hope it makes people laugh.