Yesterday and Today

I spent the day trying to quilt yesterday and didn’t seem to accomplish much!  But I really did get at least one pass made with the longarm.  Today I made a lot more progress, the end is in sight!!!  Yippee!!!

Michael has spent a lot of time looking for used running boards to fit the truck we bought a few weeks ago.  He found a set in Livingston and I bargained with him—I will go with you to get the running boards if you buy me dinner!  So, off we went.

First, though, we went back up the Boulder to take some photographs of the fireplace insert Michael has been building for a very old cabin up there.  It is a cool old cabin which has been in the remodel stage for several years.  Michael had to add masonry around the insert, the fireplace was huge!  With time those rocks will darken and look like the rest of the fireplace.  It was fun to see that old cabin, I had never been in it before.

We took the back road over the mountain to Livingston stopping at Lonn and LoraLee’s to deliver some thread to LoraLee.  The running boards were purchased and by this time without reservations we were afraid we couldn’t get into the Rib and Chop House on a Friday night.  We settled for the local Mexican restaurant and yep, it was settling—not the best!

On our way to Livingston, sunset over the Crazy Mountains was breathtaking!  

Nat came up for lunch today, I made Chicken Fettuccine and we also enjoyed the red velvet brownies with cream cheese icing I had made.  The majority of the brownies went down to Joe and Tammy’s—their son celebrated his first birthday away from home at college here in Montana.  Joe was flying in this morning to spend the weekend with Jeff and I took most of those delicious brownies down to their house—complete with candles! 

Tonight we are going out to the Road Kill Cafe—a local institution.   When I came here 17 years ago, the McLeod Bar, aka Road Kill Cafe was fun, the food was good—homemade french fries, real hamburgers, in the winter on Friday and Saturday nights, the best steaks anywhere.  Many memories were made in that bar—Christmas tree trimming parties, summer McLeod marathon parties, Halloween parties.  The first time I was ever in the McLeod Bar with Michael 17 years ago a party of people came in, one of the men in the group spoke to Michael calling him by name.  After the group had finished their dinner they came up to the bar to pay the tab—the man pulled up a bar stool and began to talk to Michael (this is only our second date).  I kept thinking, geez, that man looks familiar!  As the man continues to visit with Michael I realized, that’s Tom Brokaw!!   Yep, McLeod, Montana is home to many of the rich and famous.

Well, about five years ago the bar was sold and that was the end of the good times.  The bar was owned by people who were perpetually drunk and there were rumors of drug dealing.  The food was inedible and we just stopped going.  This past summer the bar sold again to a single woman from New Jersey.  She gutted it and is trying to bring the bar back from the dead.  Tonight we joined our friends Jim and Kathy at the McLeod Bar for the first time in many years.  The bar at this time serves only sandwiches, soups and some salads.  The new owner hopes to expand the kitchen to include burgers, etc. soon and we are ready.  The new decor is beautiful and clean—a place we would be glad to go to again.  Maybe we can make new memories.

Cold, cold, nasty weather today, even a snowstorm.  Tonight the wind is howling.  And that’s it for our Saturday.