30 Comments
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Kelly Barrett's avatar

Extremely invested in the future of this owl 🦉

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Kelton Wright's avatar

Hopefully releasing tonight! We got a mouse, chopped it up, and Whettie scarfed the whole thing. Promising!

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Sarah Lavender Smith's avatar

I'm loving your Instagram footage of the owl. I really hope you can nurse her back to health and freedom. Also, I admire the ending of this post. It's better to be honest and tell it like it is, rather than bend a narrative arc or force a metaphor.

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Kelton Wright's avatar

It's looking good for our owl friend! And yeah, some endings get to be beautiful. Others just get to end. (At least it's looking beautiful for the owl, if not all my writing, hah!)

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Jennifer mulson's avatar

Update, please! I love this.

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Kelton Wright's avatar

Owl is doing well, and should get released tonight!

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Gray's avatar

Caulking actually is interesting. One piece of advice, though you may, !- be done for this year or 2- may have figured it out. We(union carpenters in northern Illinois) kept the caulk in a warming box, styrofoam cooler with a work light in it to make the caulk almost pliable. Nice gun btw!

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Kelton Wright's avatar

That's actually a great tip as our weather window has dramatically shortened and we still have a couple small sections (the corners) left to complete!

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Karen Davis's avatar

Oh my! I hope the little owl survives and thrives!! Love your process and hope it makes this winter much nicer for you!

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Kelton Wright's avatar

Looking good on both fronts!

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Jenn H's avatar

"How does one make sealant interesting? How can I expand on preparing a home for winter when for many of you, it’s still warm?"

For me, this contrast is part of what makes it inherently interesting, even without any other connections.

Hope the owl does OK! I wonder if having one eye will be a problem for a hunter that relies so much on its big eyes, or if it will just adjust to the change in depth perception.

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Kelton Wright's avatar

I was worried about the one-eye part too, but my mom assured me he'd be fine. Maybe not at his best, but perfectly able to survive.

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kathi wright's avatar

i rehabbed a pygmy owl in mccall that flew into the side of my car. hoping the saw-whet makes it through. congrats on sealing up the logs! have a cozy winter!

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Kelton Wright's avatar

Oh what a darling! Looking forward to heading up there later this month!

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Michael Jensen's avatar

I'm glad you didn't move to the Rockies to seal of yourself from the world. The rest of us would be missing so much!

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Kelton Wright's avatar

D'awwww, thank you!!

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Shana LaMar's avatar

Sending all the good vibes for Hootie and you. 🥰

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Ginn's avatar

Oh my goodness! An owl! Last spring I read “Wesley the Owl” about a biologist who raised a baby barn owl with nerve damage in one wing. Since then I have been enamored with (by?) them. I hope your little one recovers. Are you planning on bringing him to the wildlife center?

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Kelton Wright's avatar

All signs are pointing toward him being ready for release. So he'll be going back to the scene of the crime (and his home) tonight!

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Amy Marie Turner's avatar

At one point I thought permachink would remove my fingerprints, alas, our cabin was tightly sealed and my life of crime never came to fruition.

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Kelton Wright's avatar

Amy, there's still time.

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Holly Rabalais's avatar

Don’t you love how newsletters come together, barely resembling what they thought they’d be when you first started out? Great post--all of it!

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Kelton Wright's avatar

I do when I have faith that it will haha! Glad you enjoyed it <3

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KW NORTON's avatar

Thanks1 Very interesting post. Although I don't live in the Colorado mountains at present, I did live up there for many years with a houseful of young kids and teenagers. I also lived in a cabin in the Sierras with a toddler and a soon to be newborn. This brings back memories now that I am a non-mountain grandma awash near Nashville. Keep on being that person who someone would text if they needed an own rescue! We are busy tightening up an older house with lots of cracks and places for cold & wind to get in. It is a process.

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Kelton Wright's avatar

Truly a process. I'm glad this churned up some memories — it's certainly becoming one for me!

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Jack Everly's avatar

Wonderful stuff! Love all of it: the cracks between the logs, the caulking howitzer, the practical tips, the owl, all of it. Really looking forward to #59. Sad I can't get to this stuff when you post it. Also, I say the whet-owl was going for the car. Remember the Far Side cartoon where the spiders built their web at the bottom of a slide. A fat kid was about to slide down and one of the spiders says "If this works we'll be set for weeks!" or something....

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Lakshmi Sharath's avatar

I love the way you tell a story .. so poetic

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P Kendall's avatar

This was awesome! So glad you got the insulation up and the owl inside. Just in time! We just took a weekend trip west (in shorts) and are in the process of rerouting our trip home due to snow. Winter is here for us all in Colorado -- here’s to a warm house!

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Kelton Wright's avatar

Here's to that indeed! And may this early snow be an omen of a big, wet winter to come!

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