May Snow

We woke to 2 inches of snow and more filtering down. Michael got up before me, leaving Jazz and me in bed. When we did get up, I told him Jazz and I were going back to Arizona! All the snow was melted by noon.
We spent the day still cleaning and unpacking. After lunch we decided to head into Big Timber to run a couple of errands and to maybe have dinner. On the way into town, we noticed friends Jim and Kathy out by their corrals near the road and stopped for a chat. A few years ago, this friend Kathy and I decided to open a little shop. We sold women's clothing, books, jewelry, and other things such as pottery. We also had an espresso bar. I only had the store for about 2 years, deciding that retail was not for me and sold my half to another dear friend, Jeane. Kathy and Jeane have made such a success of the store--it is the gathering place for many and the place to shop in Big Timber. I stopped in to visit this afternoon while Michael went to his Dad's to call the electric and phone line locaters so he can start digging for his Dad's new shop. Jeane and I had a great visit. Her husband, Steve stopped in and we all decided to go to the Grand for dinner. It was such fun to see friends and we enjoyed our visit very much. The Grand is an old late 1800's hotel that has been restored. It is a bed and breakfast with an excellent restaurant. Michael's great uncles owned the Grand at one time and rumor has it, they lost it in a horse race!
We live so remotely here in Montana that cell phone service is almost non-existent. With an antenna, we can get a signal most of the time and we leave one of the cell phones plugged to the antenna all the time. The other cell phone we just leave turned off. On the way to town today I turned it on and had a voice mail from my sister asking me to call. She, my brother-in-law and my Mom have been in Holland for the wedding of an exchange student my Mom and Dad had many years ago. When I reached my sister Ann, it was not good news she had to share. They had arrived in Detroit this morning and called their daughter, my niece, Niki who lives near them with her husband and two daughters. Arkansas has been hard hit this year with killer tornadoes and today another one hit killing 7 people in Arkansas. My sister's home is extremely damaged, my brother lost his shop and the roof from the barn my grandfather built and other outbuildings. His home and the home of my Mom had no damage. They all live on the farm my grandfather owned when he was alive. My brother worked the night shift and slept through the whole thing! Thank God no one was injured but my heart hurts for them.

Our view this morning, BRRRRR