Sunday Lunches

I grew up in the south and church and Sunday lunch were part of life. We usually went to Mom's for lunch after church with all the family present, it was kind of expected. We never stopped to wonder if maybe Mom was tired of fixing lunch! When Grandma Barnes was alive, we spent many Sunday's at her house, she and Grandpa lived within sight of our house. We ate all the things we now know were bad for us such as fried chicken, fried okra, fried potatoes. Although both my grandparents lived to ripe old ages eating all that fried food! Lots of what we ate came from the garden, too. My family continues to have Sunday lunches and they gather frequently at my sister's house. I miss those Sunday lunches at home, not just the food but family, too.
I had my own version of Sunday lunch today. When I called Michael's Dad, Nat this morning, he said the wind was blowing and it was raining at his house in Big Timber and that it was making him cranky. I suggested he have a change of scenery and come up to our house for lunch. Our friend, Larry, called and said he was bringing us some loads of gravel and I invited him for lunch. We had tomato and rice soup (Larry does not eat salad) to start then marinated pork tenderloin and my famous (in the family) garlic mashed potatoes. For dessert we had oatmeal/chocolate chip/pecan cookies which I made for the concrete crew that will work tomorrow.
Yesterday as I was driving the riding mower back up our driveway, I happened to glance over to my right into the tall grass--there lay a baby fawn so still--it didn't move, not even its head in spite of the noisy lawnmower! It was a beautiful sight!

Another view of the worm fence with the snow covered Crazy Mountains in the distance.

Hard Work and Feeling Good

The weather cooperated today long enough for me to get the grass mowed and weed whacked here at the house and also down at the road by the "worm fence." These fences are probably called "worm fences" due to their crooked design. They were very common here in Montana in earlier times probably because they required no digging of post holes. They last a long time as evidenced by the old ones you see along the sides of the roads. Mowing the grass and weed whacking just makes it look so clean and nice at our driveway entrance. But, tonight, I need a massage, that is a lot of work!
Michael and I were discussing today that it feels good to work hard and accomplish something. He has been struggling with the lack of something to do when we are traveling in the RV for extended periods of time and is very pleased to have a project for the summer. I seem to have an easier time of staying busy in the RV with sewing, writing this blog, cooking and reading. Michael needs to have a physical activity, anybody have any thoughts?? He may have to take up golf!!
Today I am reminded of my Dad. He had no hobbies and lived to work until he became too ill to work. His idea of a good Saturday was cutting firewood, mowing the grass, and washing the cars. He was always quick to rope you in to helping, too. Michael and I both tried to copy Daddy today, we had way too many projects!
Our son and daughter-in-law heard from Laci our granddaughter today. She just started boot camp in San Antonio. She called and said it was hot, she was doing lots of marching and getting yelled at a lot. She felt she was doing well with the sit-ups and push-ups, too. It was a relief to hear from her and to get an address so we can send letters.

A photo of our driveway and that blue, blue Montana big sky!

The worm fence and Boone Mountain in the background.
A baby bunny that is hanging out in our front yard driving Jazz crazy.

Quilting, Rain and BIG Holes

After we took our walk this morning, I started out to mow the grass here at the house and down by the road where we have a log rail fence at the entrance to our driveway. Mother Nature had other ideas--we started out with sunshine and quickly progressed to rain, cold and wind. The big blue tarp in the photo is protecting our concrete forms from all the rain. Michael is being supervised by the Jazzy girl as he digs the BIG hole to get power and water to the garage. Sure is nice to have a husband who is so handy!

Since I couldn't do manual labor today, I did a little cleaning then headed to my sewing room downstairs. I had started this bag while we were still in Arizona and decided to finish it today. I am very pleased with how it turned out.

When we sold our ranch about 3 years ago, we kept the small parcel where our house is located and the new owners of the ranch allow us to still walk on their property. They have leased out the pasture ground to a friend of ours who raises Frisian horses. These are young horses with no manners yet and they come to the fence every time they see us to check out what's going on. Of course Jazz has to have a fit and I really have to watch her, she seems to want to give chase which would not be a good thing, we could have a pancake Schnauzer. Frisian horses are draft horses and have HUGE feet.
The mountains in the background of this photo burned in the summer forest fires 2 years ago. These fires came within 1/2 mile of our home and we were evacuated twice. Hopefully with all this rain and cool weather we are having here in June, our forest fire danger will be lessened this summer--see there is a silver cloud.

We Are Starting to Grow Web Feet

It rained those cats and dogs again most of the morning but this afternoon, we have very welcome sunshine. I did get out this afternoon and pull some weeds and grass from the flower beds. There are certain chores that make me wonder about full time RVing and pulling weeds is one of them!
Guess we won't be going anywhere in the RV for a while, we have a mother robin sitting on 4 little blue eggs in our pin box!! Robins have a knack for putting their nests in sheltered spots. At least she put her nest out of Jazz reach, Jazz is bad news for little baby birds that haven't gotten their wings yet.
We are trying to diet again and lose some of the winter weight we gained. I think being on a diet is one of the hardest things I have ever tried to do, UGH!
There is a pair of mallard ducks hanging out on our pond the last few weeks. They are there almost every morning which is making us think they may be nesting nearby--we might have baby ducks.
Nat, Michael's Dad who lives in Big Timber came up today and had lunch with us. He and Michael had a good visit.

Another view of the Tobacco Root Mountains near Butte, Montana. Notice how much snow is still on the mountains--the news is good for our snow pack this spring. Lots of mountain snow means lots of irrigating water for the ranchers and farmers and lots of smiles from those folks!

Butte, Montana, the Air Force and Rain, Again

Yesterday morning early in Butte, MT, we attended the induction ceremony for our granddaughter, Laci. It was a very emotional occasion as she left for San Antonio, Texas and boot camp. My thoughts have been with her all day today hoping she is coping and getting acclimated.
After the ceremony, we headed toward Bozeman and Costco to pick up a few groceries. Along the way, we drove up the side of a mountain to check out a USFS campground. We are always on the lookout for scenic and private campgrounds that we can fit into. We could fit our RV into this campground but the road was 4 miles of bone jarring gravel and rocks, not somewhere we want to take the rig. But you couldn't beat the scenery.
I did manage to check out the quilt store in Butte and another one in the very small town of Whitehall, MT. After Costco, we scurried home as we were expected for dinner at the home of our friends Mark and Gemma by 6pm. It was an enjoyable evening, good food and good friends.
Today it is raining again, cats and dogs! Michael has started working on the second half of the garage wall.
This afternoon as our friends Ellie and Jim say, I practiced my napping and did very well at it since it was raining. It is June 4 and we have not reached 45 degrees, we have a fire in the fireplace!

This is a photo of the Berkeley Pit in Butte, site of the largest open-pit copper mining operation in the world, started in 1955 and closed in 1982. It has filled with water and is 1800 feet deep!!

The Tobacco Root Mountains as seen from the USFS campground we checked out.
Jazz and me beside the creek that flowed through the campground.
Pretty purple flowers.

Butte, Montana

Dinner with our neighbors, George and Shirley and Robyn and Claire was wonderful last night as usual. Shirley served us salmon and the way she prepared it was awesome. George is our local wine expert so that part of the evening was excellent, too.
We took a beautiful, strenuous walk this morning and got very muddy feet. Jazz lagged behind a couple of times and later I found out why! She let herself into the house as she is prone to do since Mr. Handyman has not fixed the back door lever and went to take her morning nap in my chair. I stopped to pet her and smelled this toxic odor. She had rolled in a nice, fragrant pile of horse poop!!! So, in spite of the fact that she had the dreaded bath yesterday, she and I headed off to the bath tub again!! She was not a happy girl and neither was Mom!
Tonight we are in Butte, Montana which is located about two and a half hours from our home. The drive is very scenic although it rained on us almost the whole way and the wind whipped us around.
Our granddaughter, Laci, is being inducted into the US Air Force tomorrow morning at the Federal Building here then she will leave for boot camp in San Antonio. We are allowed to go to the induction ceremony then they take her away. We will miss her greatly!
We are in a motel and I told Michael that it would have been more fun to bring the RV and probably cheaper--even with the price of diesel fuel. Motels in Montana in the tourist season are expensive.
Tomorrow I will post some tourist stuff about Butte with photos--I brought the old laptop with me and left the cable for the camera at home.

Weed Spraying/Mowing/Dog Grooming

Happy Sunday!
I started out to have a day of rest but just kept coming up with way too many projects that I wanted to get accomplished. I am the chief weed sprayer here on our small ranch so since it wasn't raining and the wind wasn't blowing (rare occasions lately) I headed out to spray with our tank sprayer mounted on our Kawasaki mule. Each morning we walk a 2 mile path from our house, around the ranch we used to own and then home via our driveway. Parts of this walk are across hay fields where the grass gets very tall and as we are in rattlesnake country, I like to see where I am walking so I mow a path across the fields.
Michael worked on the garage getting the forms set up and ready to pour the second half of the walls. He is really anxious to finish this garage.
After lunch, I decided to wash my SUV and of course, I caused a thunderstorm that dumped a bunch of rain on us just as I was finishing up. The lightening was very sharp and spectacular.
The last of my projects was to bathe Jazz, which she hates and I hate to do because she hates it so much but we got it done and she smells a ton better.
Last night we went over to Lonn and LoraLee's for a going away party for our granddaughter Laci who will be entering the Air Force on Tuesday of next week. Lots of her friends and our neighbors and friends were there--it is always fun to visit with everyone after having been gone all winter. The food was great, too.
Tonight we are going down our driveway and across the road to George and Shirley's home on the river for dinner. They are our closest neighbors.
It was a great day in Montana.