A Wonderful Day Spent With Family And Friends

Michael was headed out this morning way too early to get started on loading the final bunch of hay onto the semi—way too early!  Emmi and I stayed behind and took a nice walk.

Niki and the girls walked up this morning, huffing and puffing.  We made a light lunch—grilled ham and cheese sandwiches with watermelon and cantaloupe.  Nat joined us and even talked Niki into playing the piano for him. 

We spent the rest of the day relaxing and getting ready for a birthday party.  My sweet friend Jill celebrates both her birthday and their wedding anniversary on July 31.  Jill and Terry’s daughter Kerri along with her boyfriend James joined us for dinner, too.  We had hoped Jeane and Steve could join us but they had a prior commitment. 

The weather cooperated for the most part and we could sit on the deck—we enjoyed hamburgers, corn relish dip, guacamole, watermelon and cantaloupe.  Just as it started to sprinkle we all went inside for the dessert—homemade vanilla and chocolate ice creams with cream cheese pound cake—the best part of the whole meal!

After lunch those two little southern girls decided they were going to swim in our Montana snow melt creek.  Well, it didn’t take them long to decide, “this water is freezing!!!”  So, I think they only got wet up to their ankles but had lots of fun anyway.  Elizabeth found many pretty rocks in the creek to take home.  Leah found a small piece of broken china—there used to be an old homestead cabin on our home site and we discover bits and pieces occasionally.  The piece of china had a partial name on the back along with part of the word England.  Niki Googled the name and there really was a china company by that name. 

A wonderful day!

Jeep Rides

After our walk Michael suggested we take a short jeep ride so I could drive it for the first time.  We drove up to Natural Bridge State Park and I love the jeep!

Kind of a nice view coming down the Boulder valley.

Spent the rest of the day cleaning my house, doing laundry and cooking—after all, my favorite niece (really, my only niece) and her family are coming tonight!  Made homemade ice cream and one of those cream cheese pound cake—guess we will live on dessert alone??? 

Michael spent the day working on the old farm truck, something about a mount for a hydraulic pump breaking???  We made a run late this afternoon for parts and a few groceries of course taking the jeep! 

We are just anxiously awaiting the arrival of the gang!

The deer are allowing me to view a few day lily blossoms this year!

They are here!!  Rolled in about a quarter to 8pm tonight.  We all sat on the deck and visited a while before I took them down to our former house which Joe and Tammy had graciously loaned us.  They will have lots of room to spread out, come and go as they please.  They think it’s cold here—both girls had to have blankets!

Emmi’s soccer ball went over the deck edge and almost into the creek—I was holding onto Leah while she reached down to get the ball.

I’m enjoying an Arkansas grown tomato as I type this—there is nothing so good as a fresh ripe tomato!

We Made It Home

Just before 7pm we rolled up the driveway—what a grueling trip!  If I didn’t have that little bumble bee looking jeep sitting out there I would wonder if we were absolutely crazy to go that far to find a jeep.  We were fairly certain after talking to the seller that this would be the one or we would not have traveled that far—two owners, this young man and his father-in-law, he told me the inside looked like it was new (it does), it came with a hard and soft top and it is a manual transmission, something we both wanted.  Michael looked every day sometimes two and three times a day in Craigslist trying to find a jeep at least in Montana with no luck.  We also tried to find one in Spokane so we could visit our dear friends Gene and Mary with no luck there, either. 

Once again we traveled the back roads spending very little time on the interstates today.  We had a great burger at a little stand by the road in Arco, Idaho—made interesting because all the high school graduating classes from way back to present climb up the hill and paint their graduating year onto the rocks above town. 

I sure did miss my motorhome bathroom—the public bathrooms at rest areas and in gas stations really get a workout this time of year—lots and lots of tourists.  Our hotel room last night was great—usually I miss my motorhome bed but last night’s bed was wonderful!  The free breakfast this morning was good, too.

But oh boy is it ever good to be home!  And the deer didn’t eat my day lilies while I was gone.  Emmi and I have been on patrol trying to keep the deer from eating the flowers right before they bloom—the deer seem to think my day lilies taste like candy!

Here’s an interesting structure in the small little town of Twin Bridges, MT, there are two of these round barns in this little spot—one at the fairgrounds and this one out on private property:

And this is how the jeep came home—Michael rigged the tow bar and lights with the tools he carried with him.  We were totally legal!

Excitement here on the Clark Ranch—my sweet niece and her family have left Arkansas heading our way—I can’t wait for them to get here!

We Have A Jeep

Whew, it was a long day yesterday.  I drove out of the Elks Lodge parking lot last night with my newly initiated Elk Lodge member husband after 10pm.  By the time we picked up Emmi and drove home it was after midnight and we still had to unload the Costco/Wal Mart run!!! 

We had arranged to look at a jeep in Boise, Idaho today and that’s an eight to nine hour drive from our home—ugh—especially when you haven’t had any sleep.  But we got ourselves going this morning and were rolling down the driveway by 10:30. 

We only get mail delivery at our house three days per week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  I really, really wanted my new camera so we stopped by the post office on our way through McLeod—jackpot!!!  It was there!  All photos tonight are taken with the new Canon SX30IS!!  But in defense of the camera, the photos were taken out the dirty truck windows at 75mph!

It was a long day of driving but with two drivers we managed well—Michael took a nice nap and I ate Mike and Ike’s candy to stay alert—my dentist will thank me! 

I’ve had a real problem with my hip lately and I think part of the problem is a little black dog sitting in my lap all the time when we are traveling causing my weight to sit on that hip.  As we took the big one ton dually crew cab pickup today, Emmi had the whole back seat to herself and you can see she was thrilled with the idea.

We saw lots of cows, hayfields, hay bales and sprinklers.

The road we took led us near the neighborhood for the rich and famous—Sun Valley, Idaho.  That’s Sun Valley snow covered mountains in the background.

And lastly—we arrived at the home of the jeep owner about 7:30.  We knew we liked this kid when we found out he had a little Toyota MR2 just like ours in the garage. 

We are the proud owners of a new to us jeep—a 2001 bright yellow one (the color is growing on me).  The young man who sold us the jeep told me on the phone that he was the second owner with his soon to be father-in-law being the first owner and that the jeep was immaculate—it was!  We are so happy!

And, my handy husband brought just about every tool he owns and in less than 30 minutes he had the jeep ready to tow home behind the truck! 

We are staying in Boise tonight and have one of the nicest hotel rooms I have ever stayed in—and I’ve stayed in a lot of hotel rooms.  Very nice!  I am enjoying a glass of complimentary wine and thinking that nice king size bed looks really good after my short night of sleep last night!

A Different Direction

Really cool here this morning, about 42 degrees and now it is just a very pleasant summer day.  I feel so sorry for all these people who are caught up in the terrible heat wave across the country—my family in Arkansas is melting!

We are off in a new direction today—Michael gets initiated into the Elks Lodge tonight.  We are having dinner there and the initiation ceremony will follow. 

Emmi is spending the evening with Nat—she will be good company for him.

We are also taking a serger sewing machine to Billings for friend Jeane.  Seems the quilt store in Billings, Back Door Quilts has forgotten what customer service is all about.  Jeane bought a new serger there about a year ago, a part broke, she went into the store to try and get the part and was informed, “we don’t sell those anymore, sewing machines are not our focus, we are not a parts store, etc.”  YIKES!  So, Jeane drove across town and purchased a used BabyLoc serger from the local Pfaff dealership and I am taking her old one to them today as a trade.  So, Back Door Quilts has probably lost two customers.

And on another different note—I’ve had a Canon PowerShot SX10IS for about two years.  I was very pleased with the camera and the photos it took.  I mentioned to Michael the other day that I would like to send the camera to Canon for cleaning.  He asked me what the cost for that procedure was and I told him about $100.  Michael suggested I buy a new camera—who am I to argue????  So I sold the original Canon on eBay a couple days ago for half the price of the new one!!!  Exciting!!!  My new Canon should be here any day now—a Canon SX30IS with a 35X zoom, 14.1megapixels.  I am so excited!

So, off we go!

A Short Visit

With sadness I waved goodbye to Mom and Chuck this morning as they headed back over to Yellowstone Park.  We enjoyed a rare for us breakfast of bacon and eggs before they began packing up their car.

Michael worked on a landscaping project for us all day today and while I was outside admiring his work two robins were trying to dive bomb us—we knew there must be a nest nearby and looked in all the logical places but couldn’t see one.  Finally after going back to work he noticed where the robins were flying to—they had built a nest in the cross timbers of our deck support in amongst the hops leaves.  The sun hitting the leaves gave the whole scene a golden glow.

After Mom and Chuck left I spent some time calling about jeeps for sale.  We may be off on an adventure Thursday????

Then it was time for more quilting—finished another project and have it ready for the customer—she will be pleased I am sure! 

Sometimes I have to pinch myself—instead of going to work in an operating room, dealing with nasty surgeons and hospital politics I am doing something I absolutely love—quilting.  While I don’t make near as much money as I made working as a nurse, I am much happier and content with life.  Life is good.

Vera wanted to know if Mom used a telephoto lens to take last night’s bear photo, no, the bear was right alongside the road as they were leaving Yellowstone Park and the photo was taken from the safety of their car!

Someone left a comment wanting to know if Rollie and the jeep made it back to Louisiana and yes he did—very, very early Saturday morning.  A very, very long drive in a jeep!

Visitors From Yellowstone

Mom and Chuck arrived about lunch time, we had chicken fajitas with watermelon and cantaloupe.  They are both working in Yellowstone Park and it’s always good to have them come over on their days off.

Not much else going on around here except the regular old chores, laundry, etc. 

Michael went to Terry and Boo’s today to dig some septic test holes for them.  When he came home he started working again on some of our projects—I think the man just feels so much better than he did last summer he has tons of energy. 

I’ve been sewing the binding on the little baby quilt and I’m almost finished.  Helped Mom load some books onto her Kindle—Ellie recommended an author, Robin Carr, and I found the first 4 books she wrote in a package deal from Amazon.  I’ve enjoyed them immensely—just light, good reading—I like to be entertained when I read, I find it hard to focus on heavier stuff, my mind just goes in too many different directions!  I thought Mom would enjoy the books, too so we downloaded the 4 books to her Kindle today.

While driving out of the Park today they saw this guy right by the road and were able to get several photos.

Summer Sunday

It was a great day weather wise to take the convertible into town for church.  Tammy and I had decided to attend church this morning.  So off we went this and just up the road ran into this: Our neighbors were moving their cows and I sure took a lot of teasing from them for having “Michael’s” car out and getting cow poop on it!

We enjoyed the church service, made a quick stop at the grocery store and headed home.  Nat was coming for lunch and I needed to get to cooking!  There are two Lutheran churches in our area and the two churches share a minister.  So, one church as to start rather early in order for the minister to get to the other service in a timely manner.  Big Timber Lutheran starts services at 9am—YIKES!  I think it is time to switch starting times and let those folks out in the country get up early—they are all ranchers, they are probably up anyway! 

We had steaks on the grill with garlic mashed potatoes and green beans for lunch.  When I moved here to marry Michael he was working for Barbara and her husband Tom.  Barbara had this incredible strawberry ice cream recipe—I made some today and here’s the recipe:

1 cup whipping cream, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/8 tsp. vanilla and 6 large strawberries hulled and finely chopped.  Mix all ingredients together and freeze in your ice cream maker.  It is the smoothest, best tasting ice cream.  The original recipe calls for an egg beaten into the mixture but I chose to leave that out (I’m not into raw eggs) and it doesn’t seem to make any difference in taste. 

After Nat left I got to work quilting the baby quilt and tonight I will start sewing on the binding—gotta get my IPod loaded with a new book so I can listen and sew. 

Michael worked outside on this and that with Emmi supervising.

Life is good, very good.

 

A Fine Summer Day

We continued to have thunderstorms into the night last night with loud thunder and lots of rain—right at an inch of rain which is great for Montana this time of year.  We took a walk down the driveway as everywhere else was just too muddy.

Michael worked on his stove projects and moved some more hay in preparation for loading the semi again in the morning early.

I finished up a baby quilt for a certain first grandchild and got the quilt loaded onto the longarm for quilting tomorrow. 

It was so pleasant at lunchtime we enjoyed lunch out on the deck.  Emmi and I played a couple games of soccer this afternoon—trying to tire her out so she would behave herself while we went to Lonn and LoraLee’s. 

One of the couples who have lived in the neighborhood for several years working on one of the larger ranches is moving back to Texas.  Lonn and LoraLee gave a going away party for them this evening.  Lots of friends and neighbors with great food.  We got to see Bill and Myrna our friends who live here in the summer and Alamos, Sonora, Mexico in the winter.  A few winters ago Mike and I spent over two months in Alamos and had a ball—the weather was just perfect.  It was great to visit with them and find out all the gossip about the people we met in Alamos. 

After the party as we were driving home I noticed two horses standing right by the road very attentive to something up on the hill—a bear!!!  The highlight of our day!

Hailstorm

Well, I guess I wasn’t destined to have a garden this year.  The early spring hailstorm we had did a lot of damage destroying completely some of my plants.  Today we had one heck of a hailstorm—marble sized hail and lots of it!

I had let Emmi outside about 15 minutes earlier and was downstairs sewing when I happened to glance out the basement door—yikes—it was almost as black as night.  I jumped up and ran upstairs to call Emmi, noticed the garage doors were open—ran out there and shut those, rolled up the windows in the VW and got half my potted flowers on the deck pulled under the eaves of the house before it hit.  Hailstones hurt!!!  I was pelted while running to get the rest of my deck plants protected.  I haven’t been out to see the garden, I’m afraid to!

Michael spent the day loading the hay we cut for our neighbor’s onto a semi-truck.  The ranch where Lonn works bought the hay to feed their cattle this winter. 

Tammy and part of her family are here for the weekend and she hiked up to see us today bringing Nala and Luke—her two eight month old Saint Bernard crosses—those dogs are huge, horse size!  Emmi is very intimidated by them to say the least although she did let one of them know today she was not happy with him sniffing a certain part of her anatomy! 

I spent the day working on a baby quilt—I really love this pattern, it belonged to my Grandmother and she made countless numbers of these quilts for friends and family members. 

We’ve talked to Rollie a couple times today—at 5pm our time today it was 50 degrees and Rollie said he was going through Dallas where it was 105 degrees! 

A Montana summer time day.

What Makes People Do Crazy Things??

Yep, it was a wild goose chase—we drove all the way to Bozeman yesterday to look at a hardtop jeep this guy had for sale, a 2001 with some issues which my handy dandy husband thought he could fix.  It is a 200 mile roundtrip.  We get there, drive the jeep, Michael thinks mechanically it is in great shape and make the guy an offer for exactly what he was asking.  He stammers and stutters around, “uh, like, uh, I’ve gotta find something to drive first, maybe, like, uh, I am just gonna keep it, I’ll let you know tomorrow.”  Good GRIEF!!  Why put something for sale on Craigslist (he listed it the same day we went to look at it) and then not want to sell it???  Double Good GRIEF!!!

We come all the way home and Michael changes the oil in our jeep cause—drum roll please---Rollie flew in this morning to drive our, now his jeep back to Louisiana.  Michael picked him up in Bozeman, we all had lunch in Big Timber and Rollie got on the road about 1pm.  It sure was great to get another hug from Rollie—wish Ms Gina could have come too!!  So, we are looking for another jeep, a hardtop.  If you read Rollie’s recent blog you will figure out why he bought this jeep. 

Last night we went back to Livingston to meet our friends Gwen and Arch at the Rib and Chop House.  We had a great meal and a great visit. 

This afternoon was spent mowing grass and other chores—now it’s relaxing time!  And oh, by the way, Mr. Jeep owner from Bozeman never called us today.

A Montana traffic jam—Rollie’s new jeep acquired some Montana cow droppings as I was heading to town—sorry Rollie!

Wild Goose Chase Or Not??

A quick trip to Bozeman—wild goose chase??  Won’t know until tomorrow. 

Michael baled our hay this morning and hauled it to the hay yard before we took off for Bozeman.

It was a glorious day weather wise here in Montana,  high of around 75 degrees with a cool breeze, much better!

I snipped all the loose threads on Marti’s Thimbleberry quilt, trimmed the edges, packed it up and when we went through Big Timber I shipped that quilt along with a quilt for my Aunt off to Arkansas.  I would really like to get something of my own ready for our little county fair next week—we shall see!

 

Sunset last night. 

Emmi loves this “pig” toy, it makes the most obnoxious sound and  is almost as big as she is.  I purchased the “pig” for our other schnauzer Jazz and she hated it—was terrified of the thing and would walk a wide path around the toy if I happened to get it out to see if she had changed her mind.  Emmi loves it.

Happy Birthday dear friend Kelly—she lives in Kansas City and we worked together for Kimberly-Clark—she and our other two special Kimberly-Clark girlfriends are coming to Montana in late August, I can’t wait!

Unusual Weather

What’s up with the weather all over the country including Canada?? Rick and Paulette are having rain and cooler temps, the midwest and south are sweltering and today we woke at 6am to a temp of 62 degrees—just very unusual for Montana.  Our mornings are usually cool enough to warrant a jacket if outside—strange.  And it got hotter as the day went on—at 10am it was all ready 80 degrees and this evening there is a hot wind blowing.  I guess one benefit is it’s good haying weather—hay dries fast!

Google has released to a small number of people its version of Facebook.  Rick was one of those people and has added several of the RV blogging community to Google+ as the program is named.  I’m trying to navigate my way around the “circles” and various other applications—it really is hard to teach an old dog new tricks!

Michael finished up the water system for Robyn and Claire today and was home early afternoon.  I spent the entire day quilting and I do mean the entire day—finishing up Marti’s Thimbleberry quilt.  I will get both Arkansas quilts I have finished in the mail tomorrow. 

Emmi isn’t fond of this hot weather either, she spends a lot of time sleeping.  I was nice and cool down in the basement. 

 

Thought I would post a snow photo—might cool us off a little??

Off To Work

For Michael that is, he is installing a water system from a new well to a cabin for our friends Robyn and Claire.  And today was one of those rare Montana days when I was glad my quilting studio was in the nice cool basement as we have no air conditioning.  It was HOT here today!

I did a few regular chores this morning, vacuuming, laundry and speaking of vacuuming—my vacuum cleaner died while Rollie and Gina were here.  It was only about 10 years old and was a very expensive model.  My previous old Hoover lasted probably 25 years before it gave up the ghost.  I researched and researched vacuums and while at Costco the other day just couldn’t bring myself to pay close to $500 for another vacuum cleaner!  So, we bought another Hoover, a $160 Hoover.  I used it for the first time this morning (and yes, I have vacuumed my house since Rollie and Gina left using the motorhome vacuum) and think I am going to like it.

So, what is a fake filet mignon???  A Big Timber restaurant which is no longer in business had them on the menu as “poor man’s steak.”  Well, it is lean hamburger made into a thick patty then encircled with a strip of bacon.  Nothing fancy buy good!

And that’s it for our day here in sunny, warm Montana. 

A Very Warm Sunday

Now I think back to May and June when we had all the rain and how cool it was—it ain’t cool now!  But, compared to the rest of the US, it’s not bad! 

Nat joined us for lunch today—I made fake filet mignons, rosemary potatoes, salad, green beans, watermelon and cantaloupe.  After lunch Nat decided he wanted to try running the swather—Michael had started cutting our own hay—and Nat finished it this afternoon. 

I’ve been working on a Thimbleberry quilt for my Arkansas friend Marti and it is going well.  The gold thread makes the stitching really stand out.

About mid afternoon I heard Emmi upstairs whining—I went up to see what was wrong and heard someone knock on the door—it was our friend Jim who runs horses on the ranch we used to own—he had started down the hill over there with a trailer load of horses and his truck quit.  I ran him home in our truck and last I saw his son-in-law who is a mechanic had the truck going again. 

Michael finished the first cutting of hay on our neighbor’s place this afternoon and by the looks of him it was hot out there!

Summer Saturday

Not much going on around here today—kind of quiet as all our company has left.  Makes me kind of want to load the motorhome and take off, too.  But as Michael and I were sitting down to lunch on the deck listening to our beautiful creek and the birds singing Michael asked, “what about camping is better than this?”  And he is right, our place is so private tucked back into the foothills of the mountains alongside a creek—why would we want to go anywhere else during Montana’s beautiful summer?

Michael had an appointment today with a representative of the group which holds a conservation easement on a piece of property on which we have been asked to build an access road.  Michael enjoyed talking to the guy and said he learned a lot about conservation easements with their ins and outs. 

Our walking paths were getting a little overgrown so I started up the big riding mower and took off.  On about the third pass through one of the paths trying to get the really overgrown grass tamed I inadvertently rolled the front wheel of the mower into a deep hole—stuck!  Had to wait for Michael to get home, bring the mini-excavator down the path and lift the mower out. 

Homemade pizza cooked on the grill today for lunch—YUM! 

A Shopping Trip

That Jim is a trooper!  As long as we let him go into the occasional “man shop” such as a hardware store and in Jim’s case a kitchen store, he is a happy camper.  He followed Ellie and me around like a trooper today!  I picked Jim and Ellie up at their campsite giving them the “grand” tour of Big Timber by taking them to the dump to drop off my recycling!

We walked around Big Timber for a while, grabbed a coffee at Cinnabar Creek and headed to Livingston.  We toured around the shops of this little town for a while—that’s where Jim found the kitchen store.  Jim and Ellie also enjoyed the Wine and Cheese Cellar at the Depot.  Lunch at the Mexican restaurant then it was time to head back to Big Timber as Jim and Ellie were treating us to dinner at their house.

I drove back up the Boulder, slapped a rhubarb crisp in the oven, read the mail and just relaxed for a bit.  The three of us then headed back into town.  Jim and Ellie are staying at Spring Creek Campground which is located right on the flooded Boulder River.  Parts of the campground are not useable at this time due to flooding and the mosquitoes are menacing!! 

The view from the rear of their motorhome:

Jim and Ellie served us a wonderful dinner and we visited while watching the three dogs entertain us.  Emmi makes herself right at home in their rig going straight for the toy box in the bedroom:

All too soon we were telling them goodbye until next time, they pull out in the morning.  We will hopefully see them again this winter!  Travel safe Jim and Ellie.

Emmi likes to ride hanging out of the convertible when we are coming up the driveway—we call her the lookout.

A beautiful Montana summer day spent with good friends.

Another Trip To Billings, Not So Hot

We’ve discussed often the lack of RV parks in Billings or rather should I say affordable RV parks.  We refuse to pay over $50 a night just to park the motorhome.  These same two high priced RV parks have some strong influence in Billings too because the city council has outlawed overnight parking anywhere in Billings, so no Wal Mart boondocking.

We had hoped our Elk’s Club membership would be finalized by this week but it was not to be.  Michael will become an Elk’s member in late July in Billings, then we can park in their lot overnight.

Doctor appointment again today so another trip to Billings instead of getting to take the motorhome down and spend a couple nights.  At least it wasn’t as hot and Jim and Ellie went along for company!  We had a great day!

Michael received some good news at the office of his new rheumatologist.  Dr. Bolding leans toward Michael having gout and maybe some inflammatory arthritis instead of rheumatoid arthritis.  To us this is very good news!!  When we walked into this doctor’s office we knew we were in the right place.  There were huge portraits of her large standard poodles everywhere, poodle mousepads, dog calendars—this doctor had to be OK! and she was better than OK spending a hour with us and giving Michael a thorough checkup!

And what does a man who has just been told he probably has gout order for lunch??? 

We all enjoyed our lunch at Jake’s, a local restaurant. 

And remind me never to go into Costco on the first day of the new coupons!  The place was beyond packed!  And the pharmacy was the same way—took me forever to get Michael’s prescriptions. 

We retrieved Emmi who kept Nat company, dropped Jim & Ellie at their rig so they could liberate Jasmine and Mr. BoBo and came up the Boulder.  We have more plans with Jim and Ellie for tomorrow.

Hot Trip To Billings

The following is Wednesday’s post, please ignore the references to “today”—got home last night wrote the blog, tried to post, no internet.  Called tech support with no success and again this Thursday morning we still had no internet. 

We both had appointments with the dermatologist today and it was one hot day in Billings.  We took the convertible but ended up putting the top up and turning on the air conditioner—wimps aren’t we!! 

Lunch at Famous Dave’s, a stop at Wal Mart and a haircut for me completed our Billings day.  My Weber grill which I have had for years and years needs new grates—we looked at Home Depot and they wanted $65 for the 5 longer grates and almost that much for the eight shorter grates, YIKES!  My grill is old but still lights and works like a charm.  My handy dandy husband says, “I can buy a length of angle iron and cut it to fit for much less than that!!!!”  So, he ordered the steel today and it will be delivered next week!

Emmi spent the day with Nat and when we got back to his house I ran up to the American Legion and grabbed us all a pizza for dinner.

We are home now and it isn’t quite as warm as Billings or Big Timber but still warm—it is after all July!  Recycled photos today, no photos of Billings!

 

Friends Arrive

It was warm and muggy here today something we don’t experience very often.  Michael finished baling all the hay today, yippee!!!! 

This morning I finished loading a quilt on the frame and even managed to get a little stitching done, too.  I’m trying out a new thread from Bobbin Central called Glide.  The thread has color coordinated pre-wound bobbins that are a dream to use.  I am using a gold color thread top and bottom that is turning out beautiful stitches.  Marti, you will be pleased!

I took Michael lunch in the hayfield, we spread a quilt and had a little picnic.  When I got back home the phone rang and it was Ellie to say she and Jim were all settled at Spring Creek Campground in Big Timber. 

On schedule this afternoon for me was a much needed massage and some usual errands—post office (ugh), bank, grocery store.  I then stopped by the campground to collect Jim, Ellie and the furkids—they followed me up the Boulder in their car.

We enjoyed a delicious meal—coca cola brined chicken on the grill—it was so good with some corn on the cob, watermelon and cantaloupe.  After dinner Jim, Ellie, all the furkids and I drove up to Natural Bridge State Park.  Jim and Ellie were here two years ago at this exact same time and the river was not going over the falls at that time.  So, like Gina and Rollie—they got to see the river at low water and high water. 

Michael met us back here at the house and we spent a little time visiting before they headed back into Big Timber with lots of reminders to watch out for the deer.

Another great day in Montana!

“I'm not trying to be snotty here, but why can't the men speak for themselves, or put the call on speaker phone?”

July 11, 2011 7:30 PM”

Judy left the above comment on last night’s post regarding my problems with speaking to Medicare on Michael’s behalf.  I will answer for Michael and I only—I speak medical, he doesn’t.  I am a retired nurse and know how the system works—in this household we both have things we are each better at—for example I do all the medical type phone calls, paperwork, etc and Michael fixes anything that breaks.  He keeps our vehicles in tip top shape, I cook. 

I’ve run into the same problem speaking for Nat—I speak for him because he is 89 years old and has a serious hearing deficit making it extremely difficult to hear anyone on a phone.  Why should I have to keep filling out forms time after time so that I can speak for Nat—it’s ridiculous—about as ridiculous as every single person in the same doctor’s office on the same day asking my date of birth.  This privacy thing has gotten totally out of hand. 

Still Baling

Had a breakdown today and needed parts—Michael roared into town in the convertible and roared back—he’s back in business and still baling.  Emmi and I took him a fudge ice cream bar, potato chips and iced tea—haying food—a little while ago.

Emmi got a bath and a haircut today, I cleaned the house and mowed the lawn.  That’s the extent of my day—makes me wonder what I did the rest of the time!

Our granddaughter Laci recently received the Air Force Achievement Medal (First Oak Leaf Cluster) for Meritorious Service—good job Laci!!!  She called from Italy today, it is always good to talk to her. 

Our skies have been black and stormy almost all day—so far no rain, only sprinkles.  And I don’t think it even reached 70 degrees today!

 

This is Emmi’s routine—if Dad doesn’t move the computer fast enough so she can get in his lap she becomes rather insistent, sometimes she crawls right up in his face around the computer.  She is sitting there with her paws on his leg looking up at him as if to say, “come on Dad, move the computer.”

Michael is on the phone with a Medicare representative giving permission for me (his wife) to obtain info from Medicare.  Have I mentioned how much I hate our medical care system????  When Michael first was eligible for Medicare we downloaded the form giving me authorization to speak for him and sent it back.  Since that time I have spoken to Medicare many times on Michael’s behalf.  Today they seem to have lost the form and wouldn’t let me speak for him.  GRRRR