I Think I’m Ready

For the quilt retreat that is!  Eleven of my quilting buddies and I are heading to Red Lodge tomorrow for our spring quilt retreat and not coming up for air until Sunday afternoon!  I’ve got a plastic bin full of projects and my Shop Hop passport all ready for stamping when we stop at the quilt shops in Absarokee and Red Lodge.  We are going to have so much fun!

We made an early run into Big Timber this morning—the clinic was holding their annual health fair type blood draw--$55 for a set of routine blood work that would probably cost close to $400 any other time.  The kicker was you have to be fasting, nothing by mouth after midnight the night before.  No coffee—I’m really not a pleasant person in the morning until I’ve had my coffee so we went early, got the blood work done and made a beeline for the restaurant for breakfast and coffee. 

I’ve spent the rest of the day getting ready for the retreat—packing, cutting out projects, etc.  I did make a batch of spaghetti sauce for late lunch/early dinner—Michael will enjoy the leftovers while I am gone. 

Here’s my pile of stuff to be loaded into Shirley’s rig in the morning--

Our hearts go out to Al and Kelly who are grieving the loss of their second beloved dog in less than a week.  I can’t imagine their pain. 

I’m taking a little break from blogging—not taking a computer with me on the quilt retreat—I’ll be back on Sunday and posting again.

Kind Of Boring Around Here

Snow again, just a little, but a bitter cold wind to go with it.  I guess we can’t be greedy, we had three days of sunshine! 

I made chicken fettuccine for lunch and so Michael will have leftovers while I am gone to the quilt retreat this weekend.  We leave on Thursday and I can’t wait!  Started packing some of my projects today.

This afternoon we drove over to Bozeman to look at a couple used vehicles.  Made an offer on one but the owner thinks his car is worth more than we do—maybe he will change his mind, who knows.

Miss Emmi got to go along for the ride—she was a happy girl. 

And that is it for our day, like the title says, kind of boring.

Took this photo the other day, we don’t look quite this snowy right now.

Everything Was Right

Some days everything just works—the tension was perfect, my stitches were perfect and the little customer quilt I finished today was perfect!  The thread never broke the whole time I was stitching—it was a perfect sewing day!

Michael cut a little firewood this morning then used the skidsteer to auger post holes (sure is nice to have that equipment!!) and set several posts for his new section of fence.

Sunshine early but about 4pm the temperature dropped and a storm blew through leaving behind little round balls of sleet.  I was able to hang my sheets out on the line to dry this morning.

Spent some time on the phone today with car rental companies—our quilting group has talked about traveling to Spokane, WA in the fall for a quilt show.  I was checking pricing for renting large passenger vans.  I got some doozy customer service type people today—where do they get these folks???  One guy  at Thrifty Car Rental told me I couldn’t make a reservation that far in advance in case the van was not available—I would need to call back closer to the departure date.  I asked him, “what happens if you don’t have a van?”  He replied, “well, then you can’t get one.”  I suggested that scenario wasn’t going to work and the little pip squeak suggested maybe I should call someone else!!!  How do they stay in business??

And why does it take several calls on the part of the patient to get a physician’s office to do their job??  That was another of my issues dealt with today! 

This was our view from the hayfields today—see that hint of green?? And the chokecherry trees are starting to bud—spring may eventually come to Montana!

Easter Sunday

It was a beautiful day in Montana for celebrating Easter—the birth and resurrection of Christ. 

Michael took Emmi for a walk and we then headed off for Red Lodge dropping Emmi at Nat’s.  For a couple of years now we have met our friends Jane and Rich in Red Lodge for Easter brunch.  After moving to Powell, WY in 1992 a divorce left me high and dry there—I was the director of nursing for the small hospital where Jane was one of my nurses and Rich worked in the lab.  Rich and Jane along with their children Elizabeth and Jonathan took me into their family and I became one of their family.  Jane stood up with me when I married Michael.  As the years have gone by and tragedy struck Jane and Rich, we haven’t seen each other as much as we once did but our friendship has persevered.  When we do get together it is as if we have never been apart—we took over a table in that restaurant and had a hard time giving it up—it was so good to see them.

I remarked last night—“well at least the kids didn’t have to hunt Easter eggs in a snowstorm this year.”  That remark must have triggered Michael’s memory.  He remembers as a child finding a “gold” egg at the annual Big Timber Easter egg hunt that was worth $20!!!  That was a lot of money for a little kid way back then!  (Sorry Michael for the “way back then.”)

Life is good—we got to take the little Toyota MR2 on the road trip today!!

Spruce Grouse I think.

Ski runs on Red Lodge Mountain.

She found the sunshine at Granddad’s. 

Sunshine Is A Wonderful Thing

A beautiful sunny day—a little cool—but sunshine all day!  Michael worked hard on his road remodeling job and got the area around the house and garage looking very nice today.

I spent the day getting ready for our dinner party tonight.  We feasted!—Pecan Chicken, homemade macaroni and cheese, orange marmalade glazed carrots and asparagus.  For dessert I had made a chocolate swirl cheesecake and did I remember to take photos of anything, nope! 

It was good to see Jill, Terry, Steve and Jeane.  We always enjoy the company of these two couples who have been Michael’s friends forever and mine since I came here. 

Jill brought me some “spring” tonight.  Our friend Kelli and her daughter Bonnie have recently opened a small greenhouse and their opening day was today.  Jill stopped in and picked out a basket of colorful, springy flowers.  I think I will keep the basket inside for a while considering our weather!  Jill also contributed some really great appetizers to our dinner, too—cheeses with crackers and a corn and black bean dip that was so good I could have eaten the entire bowl!  Must be all the cold weather making me hungry, you think??

Jeane and Steve brought us another bottle of that really good wine we enjoyed this winter.  The original bottle was a gift from George and Shirley and we shared it with Jeanie and Ray down in Arizona.  It was just as good as we remembered! 

Tomorrow is Easter, may we all remember the reason we celebrate and give thanks.

Look What The Easter Bunny Brought

Well, maybe not the Easter bunny but the mailman—don’t they look like beautiful colored Easter eggs??  Gay, see that lime green, that’s for you!

What a nasty day in our neighborhood weather wise—the road going to Big Timber was icy and slick this morning.  The temp never got above 30 degrees, the wind is out of the north and bitter cold, just yuck!

I had a massage this morning—oh, what pleasure!  We did a little grocery shopping and hit the library before coming home.

I’ve spent the afternoon cooking—I made cheese straws—something I had never tried before and oh, my are they ever good and addictive!  I have a chocolate swirl cheesecake in the oven.  Jeane and Steve along with Jill and Terry are coming for dinner tomorrow night and I’m getting a head start!

Emmi hasn’t even wanted to go outside today it’s so cold! This was not our blue sky today!

Ripping and Tearing

Ripping and tearing in more ways than one.  Michael ripped out the old cattle guard today, dug out the concrete supports and moved the whole thing down the driveway about 100 yards.  We are so thankful we have machinery for these momentous tasks!

I on the other hand was doing ripping of a different sort.  LoraLee brought me a pattern for making the cutest fabric baskets and I attempted to begin one of these baskets yesterday afternoon late.  Well, whoever wrote that pattern needs to go back to pattern writing school!!!  Thus I was using my seam ripper today, a lot!!!  Now, after talking to LoraLee I think I am on the right track.

Due to all the snow and rain coupled with the dirt work we are swimming in a sea of mud—poor Emmi gets almost a complete bath every time she comes back inside.

These three cranes were sure fussing this morning—bet they are having a harder time finding something to eat with all this snow!

This is a photo of our next rain/snow storm rolling in over the mountains to the west.

Cattle Guard Walking Dog

Jazz our first schnauzer taught herself how to walk cattle guards and never went around one.  Many people found this remarkable—Greg, the guy who owns Lake Medina RV Resort outside San Antonio thought that was the greatest thing—a cattle guard walking dog.  Emmi has expressed no desire to learn how to do this trick until yesterday—we taught her how to walk a cattle guard!

OK, so we got a foot of snow, today we woke to clear, sunny skies and a temperature of 11 degrees—that’s Fahrenheit for our Canadian friends!!!  11 degrees!!!  Guess I won’t be having any tulips this year and my day lilies may have gotten frosted, too—time will tell. 

Shirley came up and took a longarm quilting machine lesson this afternoon—she caught on quickly learning where all the buttons were.  In no time at all she will be quilting her own quilts.

Michael worked on his road/cattle guard moving project today and changed the oil in our Kawasaki mule. 

The trees in the front yard had icicles hanging really making them look like Christmas trees.

Well, Well, Well

Remember the weather forecast on last night’s blog—woke to about 8 inches of snow and by the time it stopped snowing we had 12 inches of new snow on the ground—so Al I really don’t think you can complain about a measly little 4 or 5 inches!  It looked like winter instead of spring around here this morning.  Just before lunch time the sun came out!!  We now have rivers of melting snow along with a sea of mud!

Michael plowed snow and friends dropped off quilts for quilting.  Gay brought me the most cheerful, bright little quilt for longarming—it will make me smile! 

After lunch I tackled a task I have been putting off all winter.  Michael gave me an IPod Touch for Christmas—I wanted to download library audiobooks (free) and listen to them on the IPod while quilting.  While in Arizona and using the Verizon aircard with its 5GB cap I didn’t dare download anything—when I downloaded ITunes, it put us close to halfway on our 5GB limit and we were not even halfway through the month. 

Today was the day—I got started just after lunch and finally was listening to an audiobook at 6pm!!!!  What a complicated process Apple!!!!  Do you think you could have made it more complicated Mr. Jobs????  The next time it won’t be so hard but I sure struggled this afternoon although I never lost my temper which is rare when I am dealing with computer issues!  Now, I just have to learn how to download music, too.

OH, my—has anyone read ' target=_blank>Heaven Is For Real???  I noticed the little book in Costco yesterday, read the back and decided this might be the book I needed to read right now.  I read it last night—the whole thing, now I am going to go back and re-read the book.  The book is a true story—a not quite 4 year old has emergency surgery and ends up in heaven sitting in the lap of Jesus.  When the little boy comes out of surgery and begins to recover he tells his parents things that he couldn’t have known otherwise unless he truly was in heaven.  I loved the book and got such comfort from it. 

This robin is wondering why in the world she/he is in Montana in a snowstorm!

“I know it’s in here somewhere, I just know it is!!!”  Michael would throw a snowball and Emmi would chase it then bury her head in all that snow looking for the “ball.”

A good day in the life of the Clark’s!

And Yet Another Trip To Billings

Left bright and early this morning dropping Emmi off at Nat’s and then on to Billings for a routine test for Michael.  It was snowing again when we left and here I think is the reason for our mood funk:

”Winter Storm Warning remains in effect until midnight MDT
Tuesday night...
A Winter Storm Warning for heavy snow remains in effect until
midnight MDT Tuesday night.
* Impacts: reduced visibility and snow packed roads will make
travel difficult and hazardous.
* Timing: snow will be heavy tonight and Tuesday. The snow will
taper off Tuesday night.
* Snow accumulation: some areas will accumulate 12 to 18 inches
of snowfall by Tuesday evening.
Precautionary/preparedness actions...
A Winter Storm Warning means a significant amount of snow is
expected or occurring. Strong winds are also possible. This will
make travel very hazardous or impossible.”

Karen and Steve are also dealing with a winter storm in Wisconsin—we sympathize!

We had lunch at Jake’s where I enjoyed some really good fish tacos and Michael had his usual burger.  A quick stop at Costco along with a couple more errands and we were back in Big Timber by 2pm. 

I purchase meat at Costco, divide into smaller packages then freeze—got all that taken care of when we got home, now I am sitting in front of the fire looking on the internet for somewhere warm to be! 

Maybe a couple photos of the desert will improve my mood!

Sunday In Montana

Rain during the night and snowing when we got up, sunshine by day’s end.  Tonight the weather gurus are predicting 6-8 inches of snow—I can hardly wait!

Started up the longarm today and quilted some on a customer quilt.  Also started quilting a Christmas wall hanging I made about a year ago.  It was good to be using the longarm again!  I have a quilt retreat coming up the end of this month and a stack of projects I need to cut out for the retreat.  There is usually a lot going on at the retreats—people laughing and talking, coming and going—I prefer to doing my cutting at home where I can think without distraction—wouldn’t want to ruin perfectly good fabric now would we??

Nat came for lunch today and we enjoyed a great meal—filet mignon steaks, garlic mashed potatoes, fresh bread and fruit salad.  We all ate too much but it was so good!  Nat and Michael spent the greater part of the afternoon hashing out old history.

My friend and quilting buddy Shirley shares her old magazines with me—she subscribes to a lot of magazines.  I am slowly making my way through the stack she brought the other day.  Found this quote in the November, 2010 Country Living:  “Clutter is the poetry of our homes.  It is an intimate view that is not always perfect—a few dishes in the sink, books piled next to the bed.  Everything in its place may give a certain satisfaction, but a lived-in room exudes comfort and warmth.”  This quote was taken from a book by Mary Randolph Carter—A Perfectly Kept House Is The Sign of a Misspent Life.

Now, I really, really like the title of that book and the quote—I think it may become my mantra!  Clutter is a good thing, right?? 

We took Emmi for a walk this late afternoon and noticed the neighbor’s feeding their cows

Have really been having a conversation with myself—I received an email from the ranch where Emmi was born.  They have had another litter of puppies from Emmi’s parents.  No, I do not need another dog but the thought has crossed my mind—better not go look at them, if they look anything like Emmi did as a baby, I’m sunk!

Saturday In Montana

We had a fabulous dinner at Robyn and Claire’s last night—awesome food and great company.  George and Shirley plus Nancy and Geoff were there with us—we enjoyed some great wine, too!

Today Shirley, Jeane and I decided to head over to Livingston where one of the quilt shops was having a grand re-opening sale.  The first shop at which we stopped is a newer quilt shop and was just stocked full beautiful fabrics and patterns.  Many folks in our area have remarked, “how can Livingston (pop. 7000) support two quilt shops?”  Well, if the older, newly remodeled shop having its grand re-opening sale doesn’t watch out, the newer shop is gonna rule the roost!  We all three purchased a few things and drooled over the new Pfaff sewing machines.  I found the really, really stiff interfacing I needed for the baskets I am going to make—LoraLee gave me the pattern the other day.  We had lunch at the Rib and Chop—it was a great day.  Last stop was the Depot Wine and Cheese Market—a really small very specialized wine/specialty foods/cheese store.  They have some inexpensive, good wines and some really good things such as olive oil.

Michael was busy today—here’s a section of his new fence-- and his replenished woodpile. And a photo of our leafless trees and snowdrifts! 

Fence Building

Michael was up really early this morning but Emmi and I decided our warm bed was just too nice to leave!

Later in the morning, we decided to take a nice long walk and hiked up the hill to the irrigation ditch—imagine our surprise when we found running water in the ditch which means our head gate way over in the neighbor’s pasture had probably fallen closed during the winter forcing water into the irrigation ditch instead of down the creek.  It is way too early to start irrigating around here.

So, our hike got longer as we walked over to where the head gate is located and found the gate wasn’t letting much water down the creek.  Got that chore accomplished and while doing that Miss Emmi managed to get really involved with a burdock bush—a nasty weed with huge stick to you burrs.  Her coat is so fine she is a magnet for burrs!

Back to the house where I spent probably a hour brushing and cutting the burrs out of her coat and then decided since she was all brushed why not give her a bath.  Now she is a sweet smelling little dog!

Did a little cleaning and looked outside to see my husband pounding steel fence posts and stringing barbed wire—I guess he is feeling OK cause that is way physical labor!

Got the ball rolling with Michael’s primary doctor today to refer us to another rheumatologist.  It was great to hear him say the exact same thing as the doctor yesterday, “it is important to find a doctor you like and trust to follow this arthritis issue.” 

It was a chilly 20 degrees here this morning and there was ice on the irrigation ditch water. 

Tonight we are going to Robyn and Claire’s for dinner—all our neighborhood friends will be there—it will be fun to see everyone!

Weary Travelers

We left the house in the middle of a blizzard this morning just after 7am headed for Billings and three doctor’s appointments for Michael.  Emmi girl got to spend the day with Nat which he loves. 

All the appointments went well, the rheumatologist is happy Michael is doing so well on the rheumatoid arthritis medication and the other two doctors were happy with him too!  It was still very trying today. 

I would love to teach a class to students entering medical school:

1.  Have a sense of humor but not so much so that your patients think you aren’t listening to them.  Don’t turn every one of their questions into a joke.

2.  Listen to your patients, don’t act as if you can’t wait to get out the door.  Don’t just sit and click buttons on your computer with your head down.

3.  Make eye contact with your patients—let them know you are listening.

4.  If you have your patients complete paperwork listing any changes occurring  since the last visit—read that paperwork!

5.  If you say you are going to call prescriptions to the pharmacy, do it!!!  Don’t let us get to the pharmacy two hours later to find out you never called—that adds extra hours to our all ready long day.

6.  Listen, listen, listen and ask questions—don’t always assume you know all the answers.

With all that said, we are looking for a new rheumatologist.  The favorite of the three doctors we saw today is just the greatest—he does ALL the things listed above, he pays attention and has time for you.  When we asked him to recommend another rheumatologist (unfortunately he doesn’t know them well enough) he said, “it’s important, very important for you to like and trust your physicians.” 

We did our usual Costco runs and have found out the best time to make a run through Wal Mart is 8am—there wasn’t another soul in that store, I was in and out in less than 20 minutes!  Lunch was at Famous Dave’s and it wasn’t the best. 

Back in Big Timber we relieved Nat of his dog sitting duties, came home, unloaded the truck and collapsed! 

Town, Road Building and Quilting Buddies

Quilting buddies are the best, especially when they live just down the road from you—Shirley came up this afternoon and picked out some backing fabrics for quilt tops she finished this winter and we had a good “chin wag” as they say.  Next week she is going to take a longarm lesson—I can all ready see a convert!

To town early this morning for an appointment and while Michael was doing his thing I got to spend time browsing all the new stuff at Cinnabar Creek.  Some really nice new clothes, lots of new cookbooks and gifts.  Purchased only a little hostess gift and a latte. 

When Michael was finished we drove out to Nat’s and installed the super loud ringer for his telephone which we purchased from the telephone company.  Nat had been complaining (he is very hard of hearing, wears a hearing aid) he couldn’t hear the phone ring when the TV was on—let me tell you, he can hear it now!  Jeez, if I am sitting next to the phone when it rings you may have to peel me off the ceiling—the thing works!

Michael got all the low tires aired up on the backhoe this afternoon and started the road work in preparation for moving the cattle guard and the road—Rollie, it will be much easier to get that big motorhome you are looking for up the driveway now, he’s straightening out some of the curves! 

Lonn and LoraLee stopped by this afternoon on their way to pick up a horse, we walked down to get the mail and that’s about the extent of our day!

While LoraLee and I were chatting Miss Emmi decided to make herself at home:

In the motorhome she would get on the back of the loveseat so she could see out the windows.  She has never tried to get on the back of the sofa here at home until today—looks pretty proud of herself, doesn’t she!  Those boys in the photos sitting on the sofa table are my nephews—those photos were taken a LONG time ago, Trent, the oldest is now 17 and Clayton is 15.  Guess I should hit them up for some more recent ones although I like these—I think their Mom took the photos. 

Snow and Sunshine

It is definitely April in Montana, woke to snow and the day will end on a sunshiny note!

Michael gave me more blog material yesterday—we are sitting with our coffee, I am reading a seed catalog talking about gardening and I say, “I would sure like a greenhouse.”  He replies, “well get yourself a paint brush and some green paint.”  OK, was he just being funny or was he totally not listening to our previous conversation about gardening???  I threw the seed catalog at him!!

Spent the afternoon getting the longarm ready to sew again.  Jim and Sandie (well, I think Sandie) asked what “to longarm” means in a comment left a couple days ago.  A quilter pieces a quilt—she cuts all the little shapes, sews the fabric together and creates a quilt top.  The longarm owner takes that top, adds a layer of batting and a layer of backing fabric making a quilt sandwich.  Then the longarm quilter loads this sandwich onto a huge longarm quilting machine and quilts a design over the entire quilt securing the three layers. 

I placed my seed order with Fedco Seeds today—I like their product because the seeds are not genetically modified.  As a kid in Arkansas in summertime, we grew up in a vegetable garden—Mom and Dad had a huge garden and of course we three kids weren’t thrilled about helping—needless to say our wants didn’t matter and we did help!  My sister Ann and her husband Danny have a big garden in the same spot now.  I get all excited when the gardening season starts, order seeds and start planning.  By September when all I’ve gotten is lettuce, radishes and the occasional cucumber or squash, I wonder—was it worth it???  Montana’s weather just isn’t conducive to gardening unless you like lots of lettuce!

A poor photo of a golden eagle I think!

A Beautiful Day

It was such a nice day I hung my sheets outside to dry!  About 50 degrees and sunshine, not warm enough to sunbathe like Kelly of The Bayfield Bunch was doing but nice!

Michael started a huge project today.  When we built this house we made our parking area too small.  In addition there is an area down by the creek I wanted to turn into a little garden area with plants and a place to sit, maybe a picnic table—I couldn’t do any of that cause the horses have access to that spot.  So, today Michael started preparations to move the cattle guard and fencing down from the house about 200 yards giving us a better parking area and fencing out the horses.  There is probably about 400-500 yards of fencing to do—so he has started a huge project.

I finally unpacked the last bin and box today in the quilt studio and tackled all the dust bunnies there which accumulated over the winter.  Maybe tomorrow I will get to do something fun like quilt!

Lonn, LoraLee, Katie and her Michael are coming for dinner tonight, I made spaghetti and homemade bread. 

Talked to Gina today and she is feeling a lot better. 

Emmi loved being outside today and was a good girl—she didn’t wander off anywhere, I need to get her electronic fence thing up and running.

We Have Sunshine

A cold nasty wind but with sunshine!  Some of the mud left today and things started drying out.

Michael repaired his broken air compressor, discovered the little sports car wouldn’t start--dead battery (that makes three batteries we need now, the diesel needs two) and started taking down some fencing in preparation for remodeling our yard area.

I attempted to start unpacking the quilt studio but something kept coming up.  Nat has a really bad cold so I felt I needed to go into town and check on him.  I whipped up some of his favorite cookies and some soup and took off.  Spent a hour or so with him visiting and he is actually feeling and looking better.

Stopped at Barb’s and picked up a quilt she wants me to longarm for her—it will be an easy one, she has it pinned to the zippers and a large portion all ready quilted.  It is a fourth of July quilt, lots of red, white and blue—Barb wanted feathers in the white parts and didn’t feel confident enough to quilt those so I will do that for her.  Last fall at the quilt retreat all the ladies got their names on a list, lining up for longarm quilting services when I returned this spring.  Started on that list today—ladies, do you know where you fall on the list—are your quilts ready??

We can hear the sandhill cranes all around us, this is a photo I took last year—this couple was doing a fine mating dance!

My dear husband is really good about providing me with blog material.  As I was mixing cookies in my handy Kitchen Aid heavy duty mixer today I remarked, “this mixer is another thing I miss when going south.”  My dear husband says to me, “well if you only took three pair of shoes instead of dozens, you could take your mixer.”  I considered throwing the mixer at him but it is too heavy!  Hey, a girl can’t have too many pairs of shoes, especially flip flops!

Life is good!

More Spring Cleaning

Except we aren’t seeing much “spring” around here, maybe I should say winter cleaning???  Anyway, I spent the day cleaning and doing laundry.

Michael cut some firewood and finished storing the items he removed from the motorhome.

And that’s it for our day here in Montana.  We did take a walk in the semi sunshine this morning.  Emmi is glad to be home and loose even if it is loose in a snow drift!

What I Miss

Well, I sure don’t miss this when we are gone for the winter.  Woke to about 5 inches of new snow this morning—it has snowed all day but was so warm most of what fell melted.

We miss our Wilcoxson’s ice cream, only available in Montana.  Even the low fat version is good!

And one of the things I really miss while we are down south is my kitchen—counter space, oven, lots of running water, lots of hot water and my dishwasher.  I love to cook and cooking in a RV kitchen just doesn’t cut it sometimes!

Since being home we have enjoyed long hot baths and showers, our big king size bed and our comfortable chairs.  And really fast DSL internet! 

We spent the day spring cleaning and putting stuff away.  Took a couple walks with the Emmi girl and that’s about it for our day here at home.

We Are Home

We arrived home on Tuesday after a totally uneventful travel day on Monday. We pulled into Southside RV Park in Dillon, MT just after 8pm Monday night and the lady at the desk said, “oh, it’s after 8pm, you only have to pay $25.”  OK, I can live with that!  This is one of the few RV parks we can tolerate probably because we are always staying only one night on our way one direction or another.   Even though it is a very small family owned park it is one of the few parks we have ever been in that recognizes what you mean when you say “big rig.”  The site we were given gave us room to spare for our 65 feet in length. 

Parked next to us was a huge tandem axle Monaco motorhome, one of Al and Kelly’s Ontario neighbors and around the corner were all the Alberta folks, five fifth wheels.  When we stopped at the quilt shop in Whitehall, the owner said Monday’s sales were to one Canadian lady after another!  It’s a mass exodus of snowbirds heading north!

And while checking us in the owner mentioned, “Pizza Hut delivers here to the park.”  Music to my ears!  I will never forget the incredulous look on my dear husband’s face many years ago when we pulled into a RV park somewhere and the desk clerk told him he could get pizza delivered.  My country raised cowboy had never heard of such a thing!  He needs to get out more, doesn’t he.

It was a pleasure to pull into our little town about noon Tuesday, Emmi was very glad to see Granddad and he was very glad to see her!  We all went to lunch and visited, running into many acquaintances and friends of course!  The weather was looking a little iffy up our way so we said our goodbyes to Nat, picked up our income tax return at the accountants and headed up the Boulder. 

Got that big old motorhome all the way to the back door—a little muddy but parked beside the house so we could unload easier.  We made a huge dent in the unloading process, cooked supper and took a walk. 

Our only coming home glitch was I forgot to call the telephone company in time to have our DSL service reactivated for Tuesday, was promised service by Wednesday morning and here it is Thursday and our DSL was just restored.  The local telephone co-op was having trouble deciding which hand to use the left or the right! 

It is really, really nice to be home in our log cabin by the creek.  Very little snow around the house but big drifts in the coulees. 

Went to Billings Wednesday—my hairdresser had a cancellation and I took it!  It was a sunny day and not only did I get my hair done but we replenished the pantry and got sticker shock when we checked out at Costco.  I did purchase a couple bigger ticket items, one of them being an external hard drive.

Today, way too early this morning, it was back to Billings again (remember this is a 200 mile round trip) with Nat—he had a dermatologist appointment with a Billings Clinic doctor.  The guy performed SEVEN biopsies on Nat’s face and ears and is fairly certain he will have to have at least two MOHS procedures pending biopsy results.  We made a quick stop at Sam’s Club and came home.

Weather is its usual crummy self for April in Montana, rain/snow all day, the snow is starting to stick as I write this.  Michael finished unloading the motorhome and our house looks as if a bomb went off—stuff everywhere, but there is always tomorrow!

Mike Clark Is Going Home

Are all men the same???  When one of you says the words, “let’s go home,” the pedal is to the metal and off we go, straight home, do not stop, just keep driving!  We left Moab, UT a little after 9am this morning and as I write this at 5pm mountain time, we are still driving and will be until we reach Dillon, MT at about 8pm!  Our plan was to stop for the night in Pocatello, ID and then I heard the dreaded question, “what would you think about driving on?”  I just know he passed Pocatello by cause I wanted to stop at the quilt store—do you think???? 

So we went from this to this today, GRRRR, I hate to give up my flip flops!

Our camping spot last night!

Nice scenery today.

And John and Brenda, you better hurry, we are sure most of the Canadians left today as we have played tag with the majority of Alberta today.

And we thank the good Lord our friend Gina came through her surgery with flying colors today!

So, we will be back in the state of Montana in less than 2 hours.