Cold, Cold

We scurried around this morning, when we got up it was cold and blowing snow and we needed firewood. Our big firewood pile is up in the field above the house--I took the skidsteer loader and got three loads. Michael was getting ready to leave to go to Helena to see about an enclosed trailer--which he bought. It is 16 feet long and only 7 feet wide so we may have to grease the little car to get it in the trailer. We got the trailer for a great price--now we are all set to head south. Michael has been working on the motor home again, changing oil, cleaning the throttle and creating a spot to put alcohol into the air line to the throttle that gave us so much trouble in October.


Tamara came to rent the quilt machine today and while she was working I made a Christmas wall hanging that turned out well. After Tamara left I loaded one of Aunt Margaret's quilts called a Mumbo/Gumbo and got probably a third of it quilted before Michael came home.

I made stuffed pork chops and a salad for supper. Costco had the best lettuce this past week when we shopped.

It was a miserably cold, windy, snowy day but we are tucked in by the fire for the night.

Saying for the day: "This isn't as important as you are making it; don't allow it to rent space in your head."

A Mis-Mash Day

We decided not to attempt getting the car up the driveway and instead backed it down the driveway and parked it in the barn that we lease from Joe and Tammy. As you can see in the photo the driveway is still very icy!
I made a list this morning of 4 things I wanted to accomplish today and got 3 of them finished. I did 4 or 5 loads of laundry, I lost count and finished a quilt for Marti, a friend of my Aunt Margaret's in Arkansas who by the way informed me she wasn't 78 as I recently stated in the blog but only 76!I made a phone call and then tried to accomplish the last thing on the list which was to order some fabric from and establish a wholesale account with a company in Oregon. The computer or rather our internet service was not cooperating so that task didn't get a finished check mark--I'll try again on Monday.

Michael worked on the motor home all day and changed the oil. Tomorrow he is taking a drive to Helena to look at an enclosed trailer to pull behind the motor home.

Sweet Emmi asleep with her big ole bear.

Nat has always been a horseshoe pitcher. At one time he was the champ in his age group for the state of Montana. The wind blows incessantly in Big Timber so pitching horseshoes outside any time of the year is an iffy proposition. Nat did travel to various small communities to pitch in indoor arenas but as he has aged driving that far isn't something he enjoys doing any more (and I am so glad). So--he decided to build an indoor court attached to his home. He finished it up last winter and tomorrow is holding his second tournament. He gets such enjoyment from this sport and so do his cronies.

This is a photo of the outside entrance to his court.

Tonight we drove into Big Timber, picked up pizzas at the grocery store and went to check on Nat. He says he feels as if someone has been beating on his head which they did yesterday. He looks good though but doesn't feel so great--hope he can survive his tournament tomorrow--he really didn't want to cancel.

As I write this it is 50+ degrees and the wind is howling--Montana weather!

To The Doctor

Like our friends The Bayfield Bunch, I am too tired to do much of a blog tonight, no photos just a rant!

I don't know what the answer is but the health care we received in Billings today was atrocious! Nat has had a lesion on his forehead for over a year now, his nurse daughter-in-law (me) kept saying he needed to see a doctor, he kept seeing our abysmal so called medical care providers in Big Timber until about a month ago I put my foot down and made an appointment with our dermatologist. Once biopsied it was decided he needed a MOHS procedure--a small layer of tissue is shaved in tiny increments until when viewed under the microscope, no more cancer cells are visible. This is a procedure that should take at most 2 hours. We arrived in Billings at 10:45 am for an 11:00 appointment and left the Billings Clinic at 5:30pm this afternoon. The physicians at Billings Clinic are employed by the Clinic and either Dr. Wentzel is way overbooked or he can't manage his time! The paperwork alone which the nurse and doctor had to complete certainly caused at least one if not two trees to lose their lives. Nat and I were both exhausted when we left Billings, Nat with two big biopsy owies, and I do mean big! and me with just a major case of irritation.

Friends Geoff and Nancy had invited us to their home for pizza tonight. Mike went without me and I arrived at almost 8pm to a party in full swing. I declined pizza as Nat and I had sandwiches in Billings on our way out of town but I did have a glass of wine and wonderful apple crisp with ice cream.

One little Emmi dog was very glad to see me! I took the Spyder to town today and tonight we couldn't get it up the icy driveway--definitely time to go south!

Demolition Crew

We didn't get as early a start as we wanted this morning, we both couldn't sleep around 3am and spent a couple hours tossing and turning--then went back to sleep and slept too long--oh well, we still got it all done.

The house that Lonn and LoraLee lived in is being torn down--the windows in the whole house are newer and we had permission to take them. Michael went over on Monday and started the process and today we finished it. We took 15+ nice windows from the house plus some doors--more than enough to use in a planned guest house! Loaded the windows and doors in the horse trailer and headed for home. The roads are a muddy mess from melting snow and our truck and trailer are now a muddy mess, too.

This is a photo of Lonn and LoraLee's new house--of course there is no landscaping yet and it is a snowy/muddy mess around there, too.
A view from one of the upper windows of the old house.

We are off to Denny and Ellen's for dinner tonight, Emmi is home alone again!

A Trip to Billings

Emmi warned us that the buck was coming again before he got to the window about 5am this morning--she let out a loud bark and scared both of us to death but at least Michael shot at the buck before he ever got to the window. He is a persistent devil I must say!

She is such a great watchdog with bad hair!
We were off to Billings today for a round of grocery shopping and hair doing. We took Michael's boots to have them re-soled and while there Santa found me a present. We came home with an Explorer full of groceries, etc.

While I was getting my hair done, Michael went to the Toyota dealership. The little sports car we bought only came with one key. We wanted to check into getting another key--you just can't go have a key made at the hardware store for these newer vehicles--oh, no--you have to go to the dealership and then they rip you off to the tune of $105 for another key!

My friend Jill had us pick up one of those filet mignon roast for her at Costco. They live about 3 miles outside of Big Timber and we drove out to deliver the meat--Jill had opened a bottle of wine--really good wine which we enjoyed before heading home and getting about the process of unloading all the stuff from the Explorer.

A great day!

He's BAACK

That stupid buck deer woke us at 1am banging his horns on the bathroom window again. That window is a 4 foot by 5 foot piece of glass, he could do some serious damage if he breaks it. Michael fired a shot at the deer and scared him away--let's hope that deters him!

Michael went back over to Lonn and LoraLee's today to start removing windows from the old farm house. The windows are new and Lonn said we could take them out before the house is destroyed--we plan on building a guest house someday and the windows would work well.

I spent the morning giving a long arm quilting lesson. When I teach, I provide lunch and it was quiche, salad, homemade bread and cream cheese pound cake, YUM, especially the cake--can you tell I have a sweet tooth??

After my quilting student left, Emmi and I walked/slogged in mud/skated down to the mailbox by the county road. It was a beautiful day, sunny and about 45 degrees with no wind. The snow is melting fast creating mud pies!

Mike arrived home after 6pm and we had leftover quiche, etc. for dinner. We are off to Billings tomorrow to get rid of the gray hair, mine, not Michael's.

Another West Boulder scene.

Another Moving Day

Lonn, LoraLee and a company of friends moved stuff until late last night still not getting it all into the new house. So, we traveled back over this morning and helped them get everything out of the old house into the new. Our granddaughter Katie and her boyfriend Mike were also there. New furniture is being delivered sometime this week and now all that remains is for Lonn and LoraLee to find everything and put it all away.

Emmi spent another day chasing and being chased. Joe the Yorkie and Sadie the Bichon do a lot of chasing each other, growling and acting as if they are fighting. When the two of them would start up, Emmi would come running to me to be picked up--all that activity scared her!

The drive over to Lonn and LoraLee's is beautiful any time of the year but especially so now. This is a scene as you cross the West Boulder River.
The looming West Boulder Mountains in the background

More mountains and snow. Tom Brokaw has a ranch just off to the right of this photo.

Al from the Bayfield Bunch commented on the photo I took yesterday and I do appreciate critique--so, here is another version for you Al. But, you have to understand that many of my everyday photos are taken while we are moving on down the road, my husband doesn't stop too often for me just to take photos unless I get really grumpy!

We are sacked out in our chairs and Emmi is in her bed, out for the count.