-
‘Life is a series of dogs’
George Carlin had a lot of great lines, but this one is his best.
“Life,” the late, great comedian said, “is a series of dogs.”
We all love our dogs, and we are devastated when it is time to say goodbye to them. Of course, we know that sad day is what we sign up for when we got the dog in the first place. We know that we will have heartache in the future, but we also know the good days with our dogs are still worth it in the end.
They are so worth it.
When the hurt from losing our best friend subsides a little bit, we get a new dog that quickly sweeps us off of our feet.
A dog’s life is relatively short, but that just means that we get to be close with more dogs.
Losing a dog is unbelievably painful, but we know we will love the new one. We would have never known the new dog if we didn’t lose the old one.
In the end, that might be the best gift our old friends ever give us. They give us the gift of falling in love with another dog all over again.
That, I believe, is what George was talking about. That is why his words ring so true.
“Life is a series of dogs.”
A few weeks ago, Monday Daily Show host Jon Stewart talked about his dog, Dipper, after he passed away. Dipper was a three-legged Brindle Pitbull.
“In a world of good boys,” a teary-eyed Stewart said, “he was the best.”
That is one of the all-time great lines, and every dog owner can relate to it.
It reminds me of a cartoon I saw on Facebook recently. A bunch of dog owners are sitting in a dog park watching their dogs play. The thought bubble above every person’s head said the same thing, “I have the best dog.”
It is funny because it is true. Everybody’s dog is the best dog — even when they are eating our boots and chewing on our furniture.
Every dog is a good dog because there is no such thing as a bad dog. Some are just treated worse by their people.
I wouldn’t give you either of my dogs for a billion dollars. My dogs are not “like a member of the family,” like people so often say. They are part of my family.
Every one of my dogs has been a family member.
I got my first dog when I was in kindergarten. Someone abandoned a little black dog in our neighborhood. She was as cute as could be, and I begged my mom to let us keep her.
I named her Samantha, and she was awesome. However, we had her for less than a year. In October of 1980, Samantha was run over by a car and killed.
The next Mother’s Day, we went to the animal shelter in Butte. My parents told me over and over to keep my fingers out of the cages.
I went straight to a kennel with a beautiful German Shephard/Huskey cross puppy, and I stuck my fingers right in. The girl dog my dad later named “Butch,” licked my fingers, and it was love at first sight.
When Butch was 5, my parents got a puppy for my younger brother. Shannon was the result of a mutt jumping the fence while cousins’ purebred Golden Retriever was in heat.
While she was supposed to be my brother’s dog, Shannon was mine. I don’t know if I have a special connection to dogs or if I just love them more than the rest of my family, but Butch and Shannon were both mine.
If they could have talked, they would have told you that.
By 1999, Butch was long gone and Shannon was getting old. I no longer lived with my parents, and decided it was time to get my own dog.
I went back to the shelter where we got Butch and picked out a puppy who looked a lot like Shannon. I named her Sadie, and she was my best pal for 13 years.
Actually, she is the reason I have my family today.
Less than two years after I got Sadie, I received a job offer to leave The Montana Standard for the Missoulian. I wanted to take the job and relieve my college days in Missoula. But I had to turn the job down because I couldn’t find an affordable place to live that would let me keep Sadie.
It was an easy choice because pals never leave pals behind. About four months later, I met my wife in Butte.
Sadie died in March of 2012, and that led me to get Bandit, a purebred English Setter, in May of that year.
We had Bandit until this past November. She went walking with me on a Sunday, and then she couldn’t get up on Monday morning.
The veterinarian figured she had some kind of mass in her belly that was causing her pain, so we had to say goodbye. She gave me one last lick on the face and closed her eyes forever.
For three months, we kind of moped around without Bandit, a dog I will miss for the rest of my life. Her little pal Boogie, a Shih Tzu/Lhasa Apso cross who is the baddest man in the whole damn town, joined us in our grief.
We didn’t walk around Big Butte as much as we did with Bandit because I think it made us both miss her so much. Rather, I took him for late-night walks around the neighborhood. It was a special rout that used to be saved for Sadie and me.
Boogie, who we got from Rescue Rovers in Sandy, Utah when he was suspected to be 3 years old in August of 2016, used to bark at other dogs when he would see them as he rode around in my truck. He wanted to play with them, but he also wanted to act tough.
After a couple of months without Bandit, you could tell Boogie was getting lonely. Instead of barking at those dogs, he started to cry when he saw them. He just wanted to play and butt sniff so much.
He was in some serious need for some K-9 companionship.
So, like we did when we started searching for a lapdog for my oldest daughter in 2016, we went to the internet to look for the next dog in the series.
My youngest daughter spotted a Border Collie cross named Sage on the Pintler Pets website. She loved Sage’s ears.
On Feb. 18, we drove Boogie over to Anaconda to meet Sage, who they figure is about 2 years old. We took her home with us, and Boogie was in love. We all were.
As cute as Sage was in those pictures, they didn’t do her justice. She is as beautiful as she is smart.
When we got home, Boogie followed Sage’s every step for the first 10 hours that Sunday. Then Sage snapped at Boogie over a toy, and Boogie learned the hard way what most of us have known for some time.
You just don’t mess with an Anaconda girl.
After a few days mad at Sage for that snap, Boogie came around. Now, he and Sage are the best of friends.
They play all the time, and we go walking around Big Butte, just like we did with Bandit.
Sage is an incredible dog who loves everyone in the family, including Boogie. And we love her.
Not a day goes by when I don’t think of Bandit and all the good times we had together. Sometimes seeing some of the things Sage does makes me miss her even more.
We wouldn’t have Sage if Bandit didn’t pass away. I like to think of Sage as Bandit’s passing gift.
Her passing broke our hearts, but Sage has become part of the process of putting the pieces back together.
That is what George was talking about.
“Life is a series of dogs.”
— Bill Foley, who loves George Carlin almost as much as he loves dogs, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
-
Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week: Cadence Graham and Jack Keeley
Butte High freshman Cadence Graham and Butte Central senior Jack Keeley are this week’s Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week.
The honors come after we’ve had a week to look back on their outstanding basketball seasons. Both players represented their schools in the Southwest Montana All-Star Classic last Tuesday at the Maroon Activities Center.
Graham, a 5-foot-5 guard, receives the girls’ honor after averaging a team-leading 14.6 points per game for the Bulldogs. She also averaged 4.5 rebounds per game, which was second on the team to Selene Morrell, who joined the team late in the season.
In addition, Graham, who is known for coming through in the clutch, averaged 3.5 assists 1.6 steals per game.
The 6-3 Keeley takes home the boys’ honor after averaging 14.1 points and 8.0 rebounds per game for the Maroons, who placed fourth at the Class A State tournament at the Butte Civic Center.
Keeley, who was named All-State last week, played like a man possessed in the Western A Divisional and State tournaments. The future Montana Tech football played through an ankle injury during the State tournament.
For the second year, Leskovar Honda, home of the 20-year, 200,000-mile warranty, is teaming up with the ButteCast to honor the finest athletes from the Mining City in an effort to encourage more children to get up, get out and try all kinds of sports and activities.
Photos of Graham courtesy Alycia Holland Photography.
-
KC basketball schedule
Following is the Knights of Columbus Athletic Club’s four-man basketball schedule for the week of March 18.
Monday
6 p.m. — Shaft Shooters vs ButteSports
7 p.m. — Washington Generals vs City Bois
8 p.m. — City Bois vs Parish
9 p.m. — Someday Starters vs HollowTuesday
6 p.m. — Crib Crew vs Cook
7 p.m. — Cook vs Washington Generals
8 p.m. — Poi Time vs Jellyfam
9 p.m. — Hollow vs Rosary RattlersWednesday
7 ButteSports vs Poi Time
8 Rosary Rattlers vs Jellyfam
9 Parish vs HollowThursday
6 p.m. — Shaft Shooters vs Somedays Starters
-
Podcast No. 175: Brittany Masters and Bradie Matt
Butte Cares strives to build a safe, healthy and drug-free community. That is a very large task, to say the least.
The organization focuses on the youth of the community, and those youths face so many pressures that it is hard to even wrap your mind around them all.
Luckily, they have people like Brittany Masters and Bradie Matt working for them. Brittany and
pour their heart and soul into Butte Cares. Lately, a lot of that hard work has gone into the Color Run, which will take place Sunday at 3 p.m. at Stodden Park.
The substance-free event is billed as a healthy, alternative activity option for youth, families and the community to participate in on St. Patrick’s Day.
The even consists of a 1-mile fun run and a 5K race. You can run, walk or skip along the course laps as you are adorned with brilliantly-colored powder from a number of “color stations” along the way.
You can sign up on line or register the day of the race. Click here for more information on how to register. You can also visit ButteCares.org or visit the Butte Cares Facebook page.
Today’s podcast is presented by Casagrande’s Steakhouse. Eat where the locals eat.
In the photo above, Brittany Masters, left, and Bradie Matt get ready to talk in their Butte Cares office.
-
The band that makes St. Paddy’s Day
Check out Dublin Gulch at the Covellite, Depot, Civic Center
For years, St. Patrick’s Day was the biggest day of the year for me. By far.
I could usually tell you how many days it was until the big day. We would celebrate Sept. 17 because it was the halfway point until the next St. Paddy’s celebration.
My favorite part of the day was always listening to the band Dublin Gulch play at the Silver Dollar.
For one thing, Dublin Gulch is the best name of a band this side of the Barenaked Ladies. That name comes from Butte’s first neighborhood — the one we recently had to fight to stop our local government and British Petroleum from covering with toxic waste.
The atmosphere for the Dublin Gulch’s post-parade performances is always nuts. A good kind of nuts. I’ve been concerts by Garth Brooks, Billy Joel, Sawyer Brown, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Twenty One Pilots, and I would take Dublin Gulch over all of them.
The crowd sways and sings along as it kicks off Butte’s biggest party.
I always loved their rebel songs the best. My favorite is “Come Out, Ye Black and Tans.”
The song, which was most famously recorded by the Wolfe Tones in 1972, is a poignant, taunting rebel song that drips of beautiful sarcasm.
I have listened to dozens of singers cover that song over the years and, for my money, nobody sings it better than Tom Powers of Dublin Gulch.
The same could be said about a bunch of classic Irish songs Tom and the guys play. They also have some really good original tunes. Their song “Tap ‘er Light,” which is about our beloved M&M, is solid gold.
Sure, I might be biased a bit by the title, but it really is great. Go ahead and listen for yourself on Apple Music or Spotify.
From 2007 until 2022, though, I did not see the band play once. I listened to their albums plenty of times, but I did not see them live.
That’s because I quit drinking alcohol following the death of my good friend Leo McCarthy’s daughter Mariah in October of 2007. No, you do not have to be a drinker to enjoy the Dublin Gulch playing Irish songs. It is just what I did when I heard them play on St. Paddy’s Day.
I was one of those drinkers with no off switch, too. One was too many, and 24 was not enough.
Seeing the hurt in my buddy’s eyes and hearing his moving eulogy of his daughter in the fall of 2007 made me start to rethink my life choices. Then, I had a good talk with my daughter, who was 4 at the time. We made each other a promise. I said I would never drink again, and she would live by the ideals of Mariah’s Challenge, which had not yet officially launched.
We both lived up to that promise, and she received the Mariah’s Challenge Scholarship two years ago. Living up to my end of the bargain meant I had to make some changes.
Going to the bar right after the St. Paddy’s Day parade just seemed too big of a threat to that pact. Several times in the past, I would go there planning to take it easy and not drink during the day. Then, someone would hand me a beer, and we were off.
Sadly, that made my favorite holiday turn into just another day in March. I stayed far away from the party in Uptown Butte because I didn’t want to be tempted to break that pledge to my little girl.
Instead of catching a great performance by a great band, I went for a walk or jog with my dogs. Then I would stay home and work or watch TV as the rest of Butte, America celebrated.
Last year, I decided it was time to again check out my old friends, who moved their post-parade show to the Butte Depot, for the first time in 15 years.
Leading into the holiday a year ago, I invited Tom to be a guest on my podcast, the ButteCast, and we had a great conversation about the band and so much more.
Then, I went to the bar following the parade. I figured the times of temptation had passed, and I wanted to hear those songs again. In particular, I wanted to hear “The Black Velvet Band,” “The Rising of the Moon” and “Come Out, Ye Black and Tans.”
I could not believe how good it was. I was blown away. Not only is the band still great. It is better than ever.
Tom has not lost a step, and neither have Mick Cavanaugh, Jim Schulz or John Joyner. The band also added Conor Powers, Emerson Vorel and Luke Michelson, and they are all great additions to an already incredible collection of musicians.
Plus, the size and setting of the venue at the Depot is absolutely perfect for their performance. That all added up to a show that was so good that I immediately started thinking about the next St. Paddy’s Day, which is finally almost here.
This is also the busiest time of the year for Dublin Gulch, which gives us three chances to catch them this weekend. The band will play at the Covellite Theater at 7 p.m. on Saturday. It will be at the Depot following the parade, which starts at noon, and then Dublin Gulch will highlight the Handing Down of the Heritage at 6:30 at the Civic Center.
I hope you will join me at the Depot after the parade for the best show of the year. I plan to be there again this year and every other St. Patrick’s Day for as long as the band keeps playing.
There is no way I will miss it again.
Thankfully, Dublin Gulch once again made me see that March 17 is still so much more than just another day in March.
— Bill Foley, who will be the one repeatedly screaming “Black and Tans” at the band Sunday, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
-
Podcast No. 174: Scott Paffhausen
Scott Paffhausen is not a self-promoter, by any means. He is a man of few words, but he is definitely worth listening to when he speaks.
Paffer is the historian for the Butte High Silver B’s, an organization that is the envy of every high school football program in the state.
He is also the man responsible for plastering the walls around Butte High’s gymnasiums with team photos, trophies and other Bulldog memorabilia. Many grandparents and parents missed the games they went to see because they were so caught up in Paffhausen’s historic work.
That, though, is not why Paffer is a guest on the ButteCast. Sunday will mark the 40th anniversary of Butte High’s last Class AA State basketball championship. Paffhausen was a guard on the Butte High boys’ team that beat Great Falls High 53-50 on St. Patrick’s Day in Missoula.
That win came one week after Butte Central beat Billings Central 76-73 in overtime to win the Class A State crown.
The Bulldog team will celebrate with a banquet on Saturday night. Then, all but one of the players, some cheerleaders, some coaches and some family members will ride in the St. Patrick’s Day parade on Sunday.
It is going to be such a great weekend, and Paffer is the man responsible for putting it all together.
Listen in as Paffhausen talks about that reunion and the team that made it all possible.
Today’s podcast is presented by Leskovar Honda, home of the 20-year, 200,000-mile warrantee.
-
McPartland, Keeley named All-State
Butte Central basketball players Owen McPartland and Jack Keeley were named first-team all-conference and first-team All-State.
The Southwestern A list of boys and girls honorees was released to the media today, and five Maroons in total made the cut. Freshman Josh Sutton, sophomore Ryan Peoples and senior Mollie Drew each received an all-conference honorable mention.
McPartland, a junior, and Keeley, a senior, were joined on the All-State list by Canaan Magness of Hamilton, Eli Quinn of Frenchtown and Carter Curnow of Dillon. Magness and Quinn were named co-MVPs.
McPartland and Keeley made the grade after leading the Maroons to second place in the Western A Divisional tournament and fourth place at the Class A State tournament. Both tournaments were played at the Butte Civic Center.
Keeley, a future Montana Tech football player, averaged 14.1 points and 8.0 rebounds on the season. McPartland averaged 17.2 points.
Sutton scored 9.6 points per game, and Peoples tossed in 7.4. Drew averaged 8.3 points and 6.1 rebounds per game to lead the BC girls.
Frenchtown sophomore Mason Quinn was name MVP on the girls’ side. She was joined on the All-State team by teammates Madison Kaufman and Sadie Smith, as well as Sydney Petersen and Kenleigh Graham of Dillon.
The Class AA All-State and all-conference teams are expected to be released next week.
Click the links below to see the full list of Southwestern A boys and girls honored.
-
In Butte, we remember champions and those big-time shots
You will have to excuse me for not being old enough to remember it, but Dougie Peoples is not the only Butte player to hit a buzzer-beating shot on the University of Montana court in Missoula.
Peoples, of course, hit his 27-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Butte Central a 61-58 win over Lewistown in the Class A State championship game two years ago today.
On Friday, March 3, 1978, Butte High senior Brad Williams was the man of the hour for the Butte High Bulldogs.
Williams buried a 20-foot shot as time expired to give the Bulldogs a 67-65 win over Kalispell in a loser-out game of the Western AA Divisional tournament in the Harry Adams Fieldhouse, which is now called the Adams Center.
The shot, which came nine years before the 3-pointer was adopted in Montana high school basketball, sent the Bulldogs to the third-place game. They beat Missoula Hellgate 54-53 for the third-place trophy.
More importantly, Williams’ buzzer-beater sent the Bulldogs to the Class AA State tournament for the first time since 1973.
Williams was listed as 5-foot-8 on the Butte High roster, just like current Bulldog junior Tocher Lee, who hit an NBA-range 3-pointer March 2 in the Butte Civic Center to send the Bulldogs to the Class AA State tournament.
Curiously, Lee and the Bulldogs didn’t get a chance to play for third place of that Western AA Divisional because the Class AA administrators decided to no longer play the consolation game.
Unlike Lee, who played most of the game, Williams didn’t have much time to warm up. Bulldog coach Larry Ferguson sent Williams into the game with just 36 seconds left to play. That is when Butte Sports Hall of Famer Jim Anderson fouled out.
“I knew I had to shoot,” Williams told the great sportswriter Ed West, then a scribe for The Montana Standard. “Barry Sullivan was driving, and I hollered at him. I knew I just had to shoot.”
Williams then took a pass from Sullivan, also a Butte Sports Hall of Famer, in the right corner and launched a shot that swished as the buzzer sounded.
It wasn’t the only time Williams, not to be confused with the comedian and actor who shares his name, was clutch for Butte High. He hit two free throws with 16 seconds left to help Butte High seal its opening-round win over Libby two days earlier.
Like with the 2024 Bulldogs, Williams and the 1978 Bulldogs went on to finish fourth in the Class AA State tournament in Missoula. They fell 68-66 to Billings Senior in the third-place game.
But Williams’ legacy remains. Even after 46 years, he is still reminded of his heroic shot all the time. For those old enough to remember, Williams is still a hero,
Later, Gary Kane, Brianne McClafferty and Lee joined Williams with game-winning shots that advanced the Bulldogs in the postseason.
The late, great Ryan Murphy hit a 15-foot jumper as time expired to send the Maroons to the 1990 Class A State championship game in Bozeman. As a player, it is hard to imagine a moment better than that.
There must be more big-time postseason buzzer-beaters for the Bulldogs and Maroons, I’m just not old enough to remember them all.
It is those moments that make high school basketball so great. We will remember the shots we have seen like that for the rest of our lives, and we will toast the players who made them.
Forty years from now, we will still tell others where we were when Peoples hit that shot in Missoula. We will talk about the many videos that we watched over and over for at least a month after the Maroons won that classic game.
If you don’t believe that, just watch the St. Patrick’s Day parade this Sunday. On the 40th anniversary of Butte High winning the Class AA State title in Missoula, the 1984 Butte High Bulldogs will once again take a victory lap.
It was on St. Patrick’s Day in 1984 when the Bulldogs beat Great Falls High 53-50 in the Class AA State championship game in Missoula.
A Butte crowd made up a good portion of the 5,000 fans or so in the Harry Adams Fieldhouse — a disappointing turnout. The rest of Butte, America, though, watched at home or in bars as the game was broadcast live on television.
They got to listen to the Butte High students taunt broadcaster Steve Jahnke, who made some disparaging remarks about Mining City athletics. He didn’t like that Montana Standard sportswriter Jim Edgar called Butte the “City of Champions,” and the Butte High students had a good time pointing out to Jahnke that Edgar was right.
The AA championship tilt came one week after Butte Central beat Billings Central in a 76-73 Class A overtime thriller in the Butte Civic Center. Like the Maroons, the Bulldogs fell behind 9-0 before prevailing by three points.
That marked the first time two teams from the same city won State basketball titles in the Montana in the same season.
Those titles, which came about a month after Coach Jim Street’s Butte High wrestling team won its fifth straight crown, were so much more than basketball championships. At least they were to some of us.
The United States wasn’t technically in an economic depression then, but Butte sure as heck was. Our mines closed down earlier in the decade, and so many of our parents were out of work.
Butte was also in morning following the deaths of Butte High seniors Greg Pelletier and Paul King. They were killed in an automobile accident west of town on March 9. As they played, the Bulldogs wore black and green patches in honor of St. Patrick’s Day as well as Pelletier and King.
At the time the Bulldogs and Maroons cut down the nets, my house was definitely in a depression because my dad lost his job with the Anaconda Company, and he was forced to work out of town for most of the 1980s.
I worried more than most kids who were about to turn 10 years old. My worries were always comforted by the steady hand of leadership of Chief Executive Don Peoples, who called Butte the “Can-Do City.”
Watching the Bulldogs and Maroons win the title also gave me some validation that I still lived in the greatest city in America. Seeing the “City of Champions” in the newspaper made those economic worries disappear, at least for a little while.
That is why after 40 years, guys like Marc Murphy and Tom Kenney of Butte Central and Chris Rasmussen and Mickey Tuttle of Butte High still walk on water in my eyes.
In Butte, we remember champions. We celebrate the boys and girls who hit the big shot like Pawnee, Indiana residents remember “Pistol” Pete Disellio for his last-second dunk to beat Eagleton in 1992.
Just ask Jake Dennehy, whose last-second field goal gave the Bulldogs a win over Bozeman in the 2012 Class AA State championship football game at Naranche Stadium.
Thank heavens I am old enough to remember that one.
— Bill Foley, who was never on the court for a last-second shot, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
-
All-Star Classic set for Tuesday
The Southwest Montana All-Star Classic will be played Tuesday at the Maroon Activities Center.
The boys’ game will be played at 5:30 p.m., and the boys’ will follow at 7. A 3-point contest will be held at halftime of both games. Both games will include some of the top basketball stars from this corner of the state.
Tickets are on sale at the Butte Chamber of Commerce, 1000 George St. Tickets will also be available at the door, and doors open at 5 p.m.
Nubia Allen and Abril Garcia of West Yellowstone will coach the Big Sky boys’ team. Hailey Crawford and Alex Murphy of Butte Central will coach the Big Sky girls.
Anaconda’s Dakota Norris and Henry Huber will coach the Treasure State boys, and Deer Lodge’s Bill Clayton and Peaton Ohs will coach the Treasure State girls.
The rosters for the game were released last week.
-
Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week: Kylie Jaksha and Hudson Luedtke
Butte High sophomores Kylie Jaksha and Hudson Luedke are this week’s Leskovar Honda Athletes of the Week.
Jaksha takes home the girls’ honor. She is the goalie for the Copper City Kings high school hockey team. The Kings compete at the JV level in the BSHSL Division of the Montana Amateur Hockey Association.
Jaksha helped the Kings advance to the State tournament, which was held Feb. 29 through March 3 in Billings. They entered the tournament with the No. 2 seed from the West Division at 14-4-0.
The Butte team didn’t win the title, but Jaksha earned first-team All-State honors. She was the lone female member of the All-State team.
On the season, Jaksha picked up three shut outs, which was the most out of any JV goalie. Jaksha, a 4.0 student, also served as a manager for the Butte High swimming team during the hockey season.
Luedtke takes home the boys’ honor for the second time of the basketball season. The Butte High point guard scored a total of 77 points in the Bulldogs’ four games at the Class AA State tournament in Missoula. He also dished out nine assists and pulled down 13 rebounds to help lead the Bulldogs to the consolation game.
Luedke scored 30 points as Butte High fell 78-62 to Billings West in the third-place game. He scored 26 of those points in the first half.
After the last game, Luedke vowed that the Bulldogs will be back at the State tournament again next year. This time, he said, the Bulldogs are going to win it all.
For the second year, Leskovar Honda, home of the 20-year, 200,000-mile warranty, is teaming up with the ButteCast to honor the finest athletes from the Mining City in an effort to encourage more children to get up, get out and try all kinds of sports and activities.
Photos of Luedke courtesy Alycia Holland Photography. Photo of Jaksha courtesy Josie Trudgeon Photography.
The ButteCast with Bill Foley 