HAPPY JULY 4

It is a beautiful day in Montana with only scattered thunderstorms predicted--sure hope one of the "scattered" does not rain on our parade this afternoon. We are having 32 guests for a July 4 cookout--friends and neighbors.

With our granddaughter Laci soon headed to Iraq or Afghanistan the reason behind July 4 is even more on our minds this year. Someone sent me the following in an e-mail and I would like to share it with you--HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY.


I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG, OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA , AND TO THE REPUBLIC, FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!

We must never forget who gets the credit for the freedoms we have, of which we should be eternally grateful. God bless our Military who are protecting our country for our freedom. Thanks to them and their sacrifices we can celebrate the 4th of July.

I watched the flag Pass by one day, It fluttered in the breeze. A young Marine saluted it, And then he stood at ease..
I looked at him in uniform So young, so tall, so proud, With hair cut square and eyes alert He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him Had fallen through the years. How many died on foreign soil How many mothers' tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down? How many died at sea How many foxholes were soldiers' graves? No, freedom isn't free
I heard the sound of Taps one night, When everything was still, I listened to the bugler play And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times That Taps had meant 'Amen,' When a flag had draped a coffin. Of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children, Of the mothers and the wives, Of fathers, sons and husbands With interrupted lives.
I thought about a graveyard At the bottom of the sea Of unmarked graves in Arlington . No, freedom isn't free.
Enjoy Your Freedom God Bless Our Troops.

Strange Weather

Several times today it rained for very short periods of time--little squall thunderstorms would blow through and sometimes it rained while the sun was shining. It was really warm just after lunch but cooled off later in the afternoon.

Nat came up today and had lunch with us. He lunches at the local Senior Center in Big Timber daily but the center does not serve on Thursdays or on the weekends. I like to cook lunch for him on at least one of those days. He and Michael had steaks on the grill and I had salmon. We got some cantaloupe and watermelon at Costco yesterday and they were so good.

Michael got the Volkswagen running again--hurray!!! He took the gas tank off, cleaned it and put it back on. He fixed the emergency brake that I broke in my panic the other day and ordered wheel and brake cylinders today. He is finding that working on a Volkswagen is so easy. Not much to go wrong on a 1959 car--no electronics or computers!!!

I cleaned house and started getting ready for our July 4 party today.

When we got home last night, I could not find my Costco receipt. As I purchased groceries for other people, I really needed that receipt. Costco provided wonderful customer service once again. I called today and one of the membership employees faxed a copy of my receipt to me! Impressive!

A good day.

The Hundred Dollar Club

Lots of folks call Costco the One Hundred Dollar Club, well in our case today it was much more than the $100 club!! But, I was buying groceries for a July 4 party and for Tammy and Joe who are bringing six other people with them. By the time we were finished in Costco we were both worn out!

We started the day at Laurel Ford getting a recall fixed on the Explorer and getting the tow/neutral gadget programmed so we can tow the Explorer behind the motorhome. Michael had installed the gadget and then it had to be programmed by Ford, now we are definitely ready for a road trip.

Then it was off to our favorite restaurant, CJ's for lunch. After lunch we headed down to the medical center area to the office of our dermatologist. Dr. Cook is a jewel of a doctor and coming from someone who hasn't a very high opinion of physicians, that is a definite compliment. She does a great job and has an equally great bedside manner. Michael and I both (Michael has more than me) have a number of spots where she froze pre-cancerous lesions and we both got a lecture about the sunscreen.

After a quick stop at Wal Mart we headed to Nat's to pick up the Jazzy girl. We called our friend Jeane and she met us at the Fort to pick up her green beans. It is so far to anywhere to get good produce or groceries that we frequently call friends to see if anyone needs anything before we go to Billings or Bozeman. (Ellie and Dortha--take note)

It probably took us at least 30 minutes to unload and put away all our groceries after we stopped at Joe and Tammy's house and unloaded their stuff. After they drive all the way from Denver the last thing they need to do is stop and get groceries, at least I got them the basics, they won't starve!

Jazzy girl had a good day with GrandDad and we enjoyed our Billings day, the weather was great

Slowing Down

For my part, today was a much slower day, thank goodness, don't think I could have survived another day like yesterday. I weeded all the flower beds after our walk, gave myself a pedicure and made lunch.

Michael continues to work on his haying equipment trying to get it ready for cutting soon after July 4. At least it was cooler today while he worked and this afternoon we got our daily thunderstorm which made it even cooler.

This afternoon I headed to the quilting studio and began work on a quilt I want to have ready in time to enter into the Sweet Grass County Fair in late July. It is an applique quilt I started over two years ago while staying with Nat as he recuperated from his heart surgery. I finished applying the borders and now it is ready to load on the machine and quilt. But the rest of this week is spoken for so I won't get much quilting done until after the 4th.

We are off to Billings bright and early in the morning, we both have appointments with the dermatologist. We also have a shopping list a mile long.

I Need A Vacation

Many more days like this and both of us are going to need a vacation. I mowed the grass down the edges of the driveway and then mowed and weed whacked around the worm fence at the county road. The people who bought our ranch and other house are coming Thursday so I also mowed their grass.

After lunch I went back down to the other house and cleaned a little. Joe and Tammy live in Denver and have two teenagers. They never seem to get away from Denver very early and I just hate to have them walk in late at night to a house that isn't exactly clean as it has been empty for months.

OK, got that chore accomplished, now I see that my Explorer needs a bath. By the time I finished washing the car, I was pooped. I fixed a quick pasta dinner and now I am wondering how I am going to get out of this chair.

While we were having dinner, a quick thunderstorm moved through and I took this photo of the double rainbow.

The rest of the photos are of some of the wildflowers we see every morning on our walks. The first one is cow parsnip, the plant has huge, king size leaves and then this pretty white flowering stalk.
Lupine, notice the lady bug at the top of the flower. I didn't see the lady bug when I was taking the photo, only when I downloaded it.

Michael thinks this is a wild geranium.

Poor Michael is trying to get his old tractor to run without much success today, maybe tomorrow will be a better day.

Sweet Grass Fest

This is rodeo weekend in Big Timber, Montana and yesterday was Sweet Grass Fest complete with a car show, vendors, a run/walk, and a parade. Mike was kind of hesitant to go but I talked him into it and off we went early yesterday morning.

First stop was a couple of garage sales where I purchased a bunch of wine glasses. Then it was off to Women of the Wild West store. This store is owned by a very talented woman who designs and makes high end women's western clothing such as split riding skirts made from butter soft leather. The store was having its first ever sale and was even selling some of the fabrics used in making the clothing. I purchased 12 yards of beautiful fabric for an unbelievable price.

I joined up with Michael who was cruising the rows of antique restored cars. A high school friend of Mike's who lives near Denver happened to be in town for the weekend and we joined Sarge and another friend, John for lunch. After lunch we walked through the antique cars again and then found a parade watching spot.

It was a beautiful day and there were a lot of people in town for the parade. I hope my photos convey how beautiful and small townish our little piece of Montana really is.

Smokey the Bear on top of one of the many firetrucks.

This little guy stole the show, notice his faithful little dog companion riding along.

These horses led the parade--they belong to a local ranch.

Big Timber, MT and the parade route.

Several of the graduating classes from Sweet Grass High School were having class reunions. The people riding in these vintage Yellowstone Park tour buses graduated in 1952.

The Color Guard presenting the Flags, to the right of the US flag is a woman in a dark skirt, she is singing the national anthem with no music--it was beautiful--by day her regular job is as a massage therapist (mine).

I think this was Michael's favorite car.

We all enjoyed the parade immensely and then headed out to the home of friends Jill and Terry for a cookout. Mom and her friend Chuck were also here for the weekend and came with us for the cookout. It was another fun gathering with great food and great friends.

Then it was home where one little black Schnauzer was glad to see us. We collapsed for the evening.

Today Nat joined us for a wonderful lunch out on the deck. Pork tenderloin, twice baked potatoes, salad with lettuce from my garden and angel food cake with strawberries.

Mom and Chuck left after lunch and this evening Michael has gone back into town to visit with his friend Sarge and I practiced quilting.

Verizon and Giving the Motorhome a Bath

Michael was awake a while before me, long enough to read our e-mails and see that Verizon had really wreaked havoc with our bill. His comment to me when I walked into the living room (mind you, I have not even had the first sip of coffee so he was living dangerously) was, "boy you have your work cut out for you today with Verizon." I got on the phone and quickly got it all straightened out, they refunded close to $100 of mis-charged stuff. One problem solved, on to the next.

The next problem we found when we went for our walk was way too much irrigating water going to the wrong places. Dirt has shifted and collapsed and water was everywhere. Michael used the little excavator to do a temporary fix and came to the house to build another head gate. He got it built and installed about lunch time.

I spent the morning spraying weeds up and down the driveway and making lunch. Mom and Chuck are coming on Saturday so I made an angel food cake to have with fresh strawberries, too.

Way too much water!

Fireweed, isn't it beautiful!Wild Rose, all the old timers around here say when the wild roses bloom, high water is over.

After lunch Michael brought the motorhome out to the garage to do some maintenance work and I quilted. When he got ready to wash the motorhome he came and got me to help, now I wonder why??? That is one monstrous thing to have to wash! But, we got it done, it still needs a little more work on the front where all the bugs collect but it started to rain, the temperature dropped and the wind was blowing.

A cloudy June day in Montana.