I was a wide-eyed, ten-year-old kid in Idaho, when I became obsessed with falconry. I read My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George and my imagination took off. It’s a story of a kid who runs away from Manhattan and lives in hollowed-out tree in the Adirondack mountains. He finds and trains a peregrine falcon who hunts for him. I didn’t run away from home, but within the year, I did find my first hawk to train.

Over the past 50 years, the crazy obsession remains. I still get a thrill looking face to face with a falcon or watching them command the sky and dropping out of the heavens in vertical aerial dance. My mind is very alive with memories of a life with falcons and visions of memories I still want to make. Many memories are hilarious stories told to me from other falconers, or stories being told about me! Falconry has a funny side, and we could all use a good laugh.

I make no claim that I have mastered falconry. Proof of this will be evident soon enough as you read my book, but falconry has to a certain extent mastered me.

Writing is an equal passion with falconry. Arranging words in an order that amuses at least me and hopefully someone else is worth the effort. I focused on writing as an English major in college and went on to get a master’s degree in creative writing. I’ve been a freelance writer for a lifetime, and my career has centered around marketing communications. Having a passion for teaching, I also taught management communications at Brigham Young University for 17 years as an adjunct professor.

Professionally, I’ve been steeped in marketing communications, advertising, branding, and consulting. I love presenting to corporate teams, blending management principles with lessons learned from falconry.  

Besides family, falconry, writing, and teaching, I’m also obsessed with European chocolate milk and am currently working with a partner to bring a delicious dark chocolate milk to market.