Another Good Day of Vacation

We slept in this morning or at least until 7am which is late for us—dawdled over our coffee and computers—just a perfect kind of morning. 

When Michael left for the dental office Emmi and I took a nice walk through one of the adjoining neighborhoods.  As in all parts of the country Coeur d Alene has not escaped the poor economy.  You will see really well kept homes and lawns then a home that looks abandoned or a home that may be a rental with lots of excess vehicles, brown grass and trash around, sad. 

While Michael was gone I gave the motorhome a good cleaning and did some ironing—yep, this southern girl still irons her clothes or at least some of them!  We had lunch when he got back then took off so I could visit one of the best quilt stores in the US—Bear Paw Quilting A wonderful place, beautiful fabric, books and all sorts of anything quilting.  For some strange reason I just couldn’t find anything that jumped out at me so came away empty handed, Michael couldn’t believe it!

A stop at Wal Mart then back to retrieve the Emmi girl from the motorhome.  We had a lovely dinner last night with Mary and Gene with a repeat tonight.  Last night she fixed chicken enchiladas and tonight ribs.  Mary treated us to a slide show of her rafting trip down the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon which she did this spring.  It is always such a pleasure to visit Mary and Gene—they have led such an interesting life!

It rained here today and the temps are really cool tonight—fall is in the air.

Our First Elk’s Lodge Stay

Not sure where I am getting this internet signal here in the Elk’s Lodge RV Park in Coeur d Alene, ID so in case it disappears I’m posting this blog!  It could be coming from the main building??

Michael wanted to get an early start this morning so as not to drive in the heat of the day.  I made coffee last night and set the timer for 4am!!!!!—I was awake at 3:45am so it all worked out.  We were going down the driveway a little after 5am and rolling into the Elk’s Lodge a little after noon Idaho time. 

The Elk’s Lodge here in Coeur d Alene, ID has 34 fifty amp RV sites with water also.  The sites are all grassy and the park and lodge are located in a residential area.  We have paid for three nights while we visit friends and get some dental work done. 

OK, Brenda, this one if for you--

When we stopped for fuel in Big Timber this morning I took a credit card inside so the pump could be activated and not cut off at $100 or less!  The sleepy young man who was manning the cash register said, “I don’t need your card, I noticed the PINK CAMPER and the yellow jeep and figured you wouldn’t run off without paying!!!!????”  First of all it is NOT pink and it is not a camper but he was friendly and very courteous so I will cut him some slack!!

It is great to be out in our motorhome again! 

I Think We Are Ready

It was a stormy day here with the wind and rain finally cooling the temps down.  We took along buckets on our walk this morning and picked chokecherries—I have one of those Nutri-Steamers and it makes short work of juicing fruit.  The juice is in the freezer all ready for me to make jam when we get back.

The motorhome is sitting in the driveway with the bumble bee jeep attached, all loaded and ready to go, I think!  We went into town this afternoon to do some banking business and visit Nat before we take off tomorrow.

Saturday my friends and I drove into Big Timber, did a little shopping then headed over to Livingston and did some more shopping.  We had a great lunch at the Rib and Chop, laughed ourselves silly and headed home.  We had to get ready for our party.

Some of my Montana friends—Jeane, Jill and Nancy came for dinner Saturday night.  We enjoyed a great “girly” menu out on the deck with candlelight—a very enjoyable evening to say the least! 

Sunday morning it was time to pack up and head to the airport.  The plan was to somehow cram all of us and the luggage into the jeep, drive to Big Timber and borrow Nat’s truck to get us to the airport.  When I walked into the house from the motorhome Sunday morning and saw all their luggage sitting there I realized that plan wasn’t going to work!  Nancy had offered the night before to loan us her Expedition—which is what we did.  Her rig is brand new and is way smarter than me, a pleasure to drive. 

It was just such a special weekend getting to see my girlfriends and show them our place and Montana.   

Bright and early tomorrow morning we are heading for Coeur d Alene, ID and the Elks Lodge.  We will be having dinner with our good friends Gene and Mary.  Blog posting may be sporadic as we will have no internet once entering Canada on Friday. 

They Are Gone

Friends are the best!  We had the most wonderful, busy, fast paced weekend.  Friday we got a later than we wanted to start for Yellowstone National Park—we were all just drinking coffee, admiring the view and chatting.  We finally made it over to the Park around noon and quickly found a place to have our picnic lunch of corn relish salad and chicken salad.  Of course we also had to sample the cream cheese pound cake!

We were in the Park all day long and part of the evening putting over 300 miles on the jeep!  Yes, the jeep, we all four piled into the little jeep because on the way home from the airport Thursday afternoon our Ford dually pickup which cost a small fortune new, is only seven years old and has less than 150,000 miles has developed a major problem!  Diesel engines are supposed to last forever!!!!!  What happened???

Our Park tour started out entering at Mammoth and progressing to Canyon with a quick stop to see Mom and Chuck and deliver some home grown peaches and tomatoes Kelly brought from Kansas City.  On to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the Lower Falls which were spectacular.

 

 

We then drove around Yellowstone Lake and back up the west side of the Park seeing very little wildlife—we saw a couple elk in the bushes, a coyote by the road and lots of buffalo.  No elk, not one, in Mammoth even as late as it was in the evening. 

We visited Old Faithful having dinner in the Inn while we waited for the geyser to blow.  Lots and lots of people around!

We saw this fellow as we were leaving the Park. 

I’ll continue the weekend story and show some more photos tomorrow.  It was just the best of weekends!  When I got back from the airport this afternoon we started packing the motorhome—off on a new adventure soon!

They Are Here

In 1995 I took a dream job with the Kimberly-Clark Corp. as a nurse consultant having been an operating room nurse for 17 years prior to that.  I traveled around the country supporting the sales staff—it was a dream job and paid very well.  Kelly and I went to work for KC on the same day, Elaine and Shirley were all ready employed.  For twelve years I spent a lot of time with these three ladies developing a friendship that has survived so well.  In 2008 we all decided we needed to make an effort to see each other as I had retired and so had Shirley.  We met at Kelly’s in Kansas City for just a weekend, a goddess gathering we called it, and that weekend really cemented our need to make that effort.  We skipped two years and in 2010 we all traveled to Texas and helped Shirley and her husband celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

This year we are all in Montana.  The three ladies arrived in Billings all about the same time—we had lunch at Jake’s then headed home to retrieve the Emmi girl at Nat’s.  Michael was baling hay all day. 

We have spent the rest of the evening talking and talking and of course consuming a “small” amount of wine.  Gifts were exchanged and more talking, Michael ventured out of the motorhome to meet Kelly (he had met Elaine and Shirley in the past) and to have a “small” glass of wine with us. 

Tonight the girls are all tucked inside the house worrying about bears, Michael and I are in the motorhome.  Tomorrow we are heading to Yellowstone.

From the left, Elaine from Florida, me, Shirley from Texas and Kelly from Kansas City.

Ready Or Not

Whew!  My girlfriends arrive tomorrow in Billings whether I’m ready or not!  I spent the day finishing up the cleaning and then doing some cooking.

Michael baled hay until about 2pm then we had a late lunch of burgers on the grill and corn on the cob.  Not sure he had enough baling twine so he then headed into town to pick up some more.

We had a couple thunderstorms come through this afternoon with just a touch of rain but it did cool off some.  Michael should still be able to finish baling tomorrow.  Then the hay for this season is done! 

Day before yesterday when we were out for our walk there was the definite smell of smoke in the air.  Montana has dried out severely compared to the soggy spring we had and lightening started forest fires are cropping up often.  The wind we have had the last two days brought us some smoke.  The Crazy Mountains are shrouded in a smoky haze.

The chokecherries are starting to ripen fast and it will be a race between the bears and me to see who gets the most chokecherries.  The bear won last night—I didn’t see the bear but Emmi and I sure saw a big pile of evidence that he had been there.

Errands and Yard Work

My bones are aching!  We made a quick run into town this morning to deliver quilts, get some baling twine and take Ms Emmi to the vet for her yearly checkup.  She wasn’t impressed at all!  That taking the temperature business was embarrassing she thought!  And she didn’t want that nasty tasting medicine injected into her mouth either! 

When we got home I made a quick lunch—have you ever eaten quinoa?  In a magazine I was reading there was a recipe for quinoa prepared with onions, garlic, carrots and zucchini, seasoned with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.  It was delicious—Michael was not as impressed as I but he did say it was something he could eat!  He did have leftover ribs and corn on the cob, too, so he didn’t starve!  I also put a double batch of spaghetti sauce on to cook.  Dinner for Michael while I am visiting with the girlfriends and traveling food for our Canada trip.

After lunch Michael headed to the hayfield to finish cutting and walked back in the house about 6pm—all done.  We can hope for some more of this dry, windy weather so the hay will dry quickly!

The reason for my aching bones—I did a batch of weed whacking then mowed the lawn.  It looks beautiful now, but my bones still ache!

Got all the ironing caught up and stocked the motorhome with some essentials.  We are sure both ready for a vacation!

Another Very Busy Day

I’ve been at it all day today, laundry, cooking and cleaning.  I bathed Ms Emmi and much to her dismay gave her a spiffy looking haircut if I do say so myself!

And it is dang warm here today—doesn’t Mother Nature know I have company coming and they would like to see some cooler weather???? 

Poor Michael was out in this heat cutting hay today—he started cutting what is called “second cutting.”  In places such as Arkansas and Texas farmers get 3-4 cuttings a season.  Here in Montana we are lucky to get two cuttings and that’s only if you have alfalfa.  About 4pm I took him some ice water and a fudge ice cream bar.

The Bayfield Bunch had a very close call last night, scary!!!  And I noticed on one of the blogs I read a link to a sad post by Bruce and Margie’s daughter stating Bruce and Margie’s schnauzer Annie had died.  Bruce and Margie were the blogging RV couple out for a walk in California last October—they were both run over and killed by a crazy, out of control driver.  I bet Bruce and Margie were very glad to see Annie!

Michael’s new fence—the photo really doesn’t show how steep that hill actually is.

Last night’s sunset.

I rarely dream or if I do I rarely remember it.  Last night I had a nightmare, dreaming a bear was after our Emmi girl.  I can remember struggling to say her name and finally was able to yell her name in my sleep—Michael said I yelled it loud enough to get his attention!

A Hardworking Sunday

I guess since Michael took the day off yesterday he decided to really get after it today!  He finished stringing barbed wire on the new fence he started this spring.  That entails climbing to the top of a very steep hill six or seven times.  When he finished and came inside he looked as if he had been caught in a rainstorm he was so sweaty. 

Nat came for lunch and we had steaks on the grill, corn on the cob and salad.  I had purchased some peaches at Costco the other day and they weren’t too bad—several were getting ripe so I made a fresh peach tart for dessert.

Nancy sent me an email yesterday saying the the Garden Club in Big Timber had iris plants for the taking—all ready dug up with instructions for replanting.  When we went through town yesterday I stopped and got a bag full—planted those this morning.

Spent the rest of the day cleaning—things I don’t normally do every time I clean.  Lemon oiled the cabinets and the furniture Michael has built, vacuumed all the logs way up high in the living room and dining room, washed light fixtures.  Way too much cleaning.

We had a late afternoon thunderstorm—wish we could have gotten more rain.  We complained so bitterly this spring when it just would not stop raining now Montana has several forest fires burning.

Wheels On His Feet

I know I inherited my Grandmother and Mom’s love of travel but I swear my dear husband has wheels on his feet!  Today was a day for a drive and off we went in the bumble bee jeep.  Destination, Niehart, MT—home to high school friends of Michael’s, Royal and Nancy.

Gorgeous day for a drive and we arrived about noon—the little town—and I’m talking really little town was having a small celebration with free hamburgers, hotdogs and beer!  It was the free beer sign that drew a whole lot of attention!  There was some live music and a whole lot of visiting going on.  We really enjoyed our time we spent with Nancy and Royal.

I’ve blogged about their store before—it is one of only two businesses in Niehart and our friends purchased the store when Nancy retired from the US Post Office.  Royal named the store the Niehart Inconvenience Store cause it was damn “inconvenient” for him to have to run the store!  But he is kidding no one—Royal thrives on visiting with all the folks who stop by.  Niehart is a ski mountain town—Showdown Ski Resort is just up the road—tons of snow in the winter but a glorious place to be in the summer.  I bet the high temp up there today was less than 70 degrees!

As Michael enjoyed a couple of those free beers with Royal I drove us home—that jeep is dang fun to drive!

Yard Work and A Thread Seminar

I spent the morning out in the yard weeding flower beds and cutting back the wild rose bush that was threatening to take over the entire yard.  It was a beautiful morning to be outside, sunny with a nice cool breeze.

We had ribs and corn on the cob for lunch.  That corn we got on Wednesday is so good!! 

This afternoon I went into the local quilt shop for a Floriani Thread workshop.  The seminar was geared toward people who own the high dollar embroidery sewing machines.  While I would love to have one I just don’t think I would use the machine to its potential.  Mom has one and so does LoraLee and if I need something embroidered they are very accommodating!  The second half of the workshop focused on all the different stabilizers and sewing aids that can be used in quilting, sewing and embroidery—that’s why I went!  But the best part of the whole deal was each attendee received a gift box containing a sample of the stabilizing products and best of all, 10 spools of Floriani embroidery thread which can also be used on the longarm.  Beautiful colors making the $30 fee for the class well worth it!

Since the bear visitors were here we have been locking the doors at night—our doors have the lever handles and could easily be opened by a bear.  The downside—we are so unused to locking the doors we keep locking ourselves out.  As was the case this morning when we went on our walk—couldn’t get in the back door so I walked around onto the deck to go in the unlocked bedroom door and look who came to visit this morning: Six grouse on the deck rail.

Big Plans

Well, we couldn’t let Rick and Paulette get the jump on us now could we???  We’ve discussed our winter plans many times lately and both of us were not too interested in boondocking in the Quartzsite area desert again this year.  We’ve gone to Arizona for probably eight years in a row now and both of us were a little bored.  We had explored the possibility of renting a private lot in the northwest Tucson area—on 10 acres, bordering state land—and I was under the distinct impression we were headed to Tucson. 

We had also discussed Florida and looked at several RV parks on the internet.  I never thought my dear husband would even consider Florida because in order to get to Florida you have to cross that big, wide, muddy Mississippi!!  Yesterday morning he said, “I think you should call that place in Florida and make a reservation!”  You could have knocked me over with a feather!

So, this morning, I did just that, we have a 3 month reservation at Cedar Keys RV Resort in Cedar Key, Florida.  The resort was new last year, has a heated pool and huge sites.  It is six miles from the water which is good.  I am so excited I want to leave tomorrow!!!  New things to see, new places to go!!

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate washing windows???  Well, today I washed all the windows in this house inside and out—the windows just sparkle!  I also did a little heavy duty vacuuming—cobwebs, logs, etc.  When you live in a log home you have a gazillion extra pieces of furniture so to speak for dusting! 

Leftovers for lunch, homemade pizza for dinner.  Michael worked out in the shop all day on various projects.  Emmi went in and out all day.

Claire and Robyn dropped by this afternoon and brought us a wonderful treat-- Delicious!

   Can you tell what this is??  It’s a small bear “cub” footprint on top of an adult bear footprint.

Another bear footprint in our creek bed. 

Billings Again

I have one of those hairdressers who is always booked—when I leave the salon I have all ready booked my next appointment and it takes an act of Congress to get me to cancel an appointment.  We have traveled to Billings in a blizzard, and like today gone when we just really had no desire to drive 200 miles in a day.  But my gray hairs were shining and off we went leaving Emmi with Nat.

We had a great lunch at Jake’s, I had a Rueben sandwich that was delicious and Michael had his usual hamburger.  He then dropped me off at the hairdresser’s and headed off on his errands such as Harbor Freight, Lowes and Home Depot.

Our final stop was Costco where we loaded the jeep totally full of good things such as watermelon, cantaloupe, and Flathead cherries. 

Grabbed Emmi and visited with Nat for a while before heading home to unload all the loot.  We also stopped in Park City again today for some corn—when I asked Michael what he wanted to eat for supper he said, “corn.”  So corn it was—it is a variety this week called “ambrosia” and it is delicious. 

Isn’t that just the sweetest???  Emmi is the most loving pooch and is a total lap dog.

No Excitement

A much more restful night with no more nocturnal visitors!  Christopher asked if the bears were black or grizzly—they are black bears.  Grizzly bears have been sighted up the Boulder but we’ve never encountered one around here, thank goodness!  We live very close to Yellowstone Park as the crow flies and when we first got married Michael would tell Mom there were no grizzly bears on this side of the mountain from the Park.  One day Mom says to him, “how does that grizzly bear know which side of the mountain he’s supposed to be on???”  She has a point!!

We had a very enjoyable morning around here, the weather is just perfect—only got up to about 70 degrees today!  A big breakfast of bacon and eggs, a rare treat for us was enjoyed and we took a walk.

I helped Mom finish sewing the binding onto her little quilt and I started quilting the quilt we loaded yesterday.  This is Mom’s little quilt:

Michael had to go back over on the West Boulder to meet the county sanitarian who was inspecting the septic tank Michael installed yesterday so we had an early lunch of burgers on the grill.

Mom and Chuck

left shortly after lunch headed back to Yellowstone Park—they only have about 3 more weeks to work. 

I’m almost finished quilting the last customer quilt I have to do before we head off on vacation the end of August!!! 

A Scary Encounter

OK, we retired as usual last night with the wooden doors open, screens hooked closed, and windows open.  Sleeping well until***********************

At about 3am, I came upright out of a heavy sleep to the sound of my husband literally screaming:

“GET OUT OF HERE!!!!!!!”  And a loud pounding noise!!!!!

My heart stopped, I tearfully hesitantly, because I thought we had a burglar said, “Michael, what’s wrong, who’s here?”  He then screamed at me, “there’s a bear on the deck!!!!”

Let me tell you, I got to that open wooden door in our bedroom with just the screen protecting us in a second flat and soundly slammed it closed.  Michael had turned on all the outside lights and yelled that the bear had jumped off the deck onto the other side of the creek. 

OK, hearts still pounding we headed back to bed, me with a trip by the bathroom.  As I am sitting in the bathroom doing my thing with the window open above my head, my heart starts pounding again, I hear footsteps---are the footsteps outside or are they coming up the basement stairs, do we have a bear in the basement?????  I slowly stand up, look out the window and OMG—there is not one but TWO bears just under the bathroom window.  I scurry back into the bedroom, whisper scream at Michael that the bears are out there, he runs out the door onto the deck waving his arms and yelling—the bears take off up the hill!!!!! 

That was way more excitement that any of us needed Emmi included!  Michael said the reason he woke up in the first place was Emmi was growling.  Good watch dog!

Mom and Chuck arrived about 10:30 this morning—laundry basket in tow—Chuck says it sure is a long way to come just to do laundry.  But then he says, “but you sure do cook good!!”  I finished quilting Mom’s little lap quilt this afternoon, Mom cut out a skirt for me and I got another backing loaded onto the frame.

For supper we had a great ole southern meal—grilled chicken, corn on the cob, fried okra, cantaloupe, watermelon and salad.  YUM!!!

No photos tonight cause I was so rattled this morning I forgot to take the camera on our walk!!!!!

Deer Creek

Michael had a hankering to take a jeep ride today and off we went after our morning walk.  Fall is not in the air today, it is hot!  The bank thermometer in Big Timber at 3pm said 92 degrees!

The mountains in a lot of my photos that we can see from our place can also be viewed from the backside up the Lower Deer Creek road.  It is an old logging road in surprisingly good shape with lots of switchbacks and hanging off the mountainside.  We drove over 20 miles into the back country.  Views forever, Tons of ripe wild raspberries by the roadside.

A creek, the perfect place for our picnic lunch—we were sitting right by the little creek eating when Michael said startled like, “fish!!”  Didn’t expect to see a fish in that small little stream!

 

There have been several forest fires in these mountains in the time I have lived around here, the most recent was in 2006, the Derby Fire which roared over these mountains and came really close to getting our ranch. 

And the best part of the trip on the way home, Mr. Bear taken from the safety of the jeep with my 35X CanonSX30IS. 

Just another great day in Montana!

Chokecherries Are Ripening

Another sign that fall is just around the corner—the chokecherries are turning red. Now, I just have to beat the bears to the berries so we can have chokecherry jam!

Remember a while back when I wrote that one of my quilting friends, Mary F. had purchased the little Juki quilting machine and frame?  Well, she and her husband had been working hard to rearrange things at her house so there would be room for the little machine.  Today Michael and I delivered and set up the Juki for Mary.  And because I had thought to take along a practice piece and helped Mary load it onto the machine, Michael and I were rewarded!!!  We got to sample Mary’s stuffed strawberries—oh, my—were they ever good!!  Strawberries filled with a cream cheese filling and then dipped in chocolate!! 

Leftovers for lunch then both of us were off to our respective spots for the afternoon.  Michael to the garage for some welding and grinding, me to the quilt studio where I started and finished a small customer quilt.  I loved the colors in the quilt, a pleasure to work on!

The mattress topper we purchased at Costco had a strong odor so we let it air out Thursday night and all day Friday-- last night we attempted to sleep on it.  I loved the topper, felt as if I was sleeping on a cloud and had no problems with the smell.  Michael on the other hand was driven to the motorhome by the smell about 2am.  Today I removed the topper and put it out on the deck rail in the sun—we will see what happens tonight—it may be going back to Costco if the smell doesn’t go away.

No meteorite shower for us last night, the moon was just too bright.  I was awake at 4am but just couldn’t make myself go outside and I think the moon was still up there anyway, at least that’s how I convinced myself to stay in bed!

Lunch and Other Good Things

There was a definite chill in the air this morning which makes me sad!  Fall is my favorite time of year but I like summer too and our summer didn’t start until almost the first of July—could we just have a little more summer before it starts to get cold around here???

After our long walk this morning we took our big old bag of sweet corn and went visiting dispensing corn to our friends Geoff and Nancy along with Robyn and Claire.  Geoff and Nancy have family visiting so we got to meet them and had a nice chat!  Back home we got ready and headed into town. 

Lunch with Jeane at the Grand—we need a new restaurant in Big Timber, if I was younger and wanted to work that hard???  We haven’t seen Jeanie in a while so it was so good to see her and have a nice gossip.  Then I was off for a massage and Michael was off to load into the truck all the pipe he had delivered to his Dad’s.  We ran a couple more errands then headed home to rescue our poor home alone pooch!  Al and Kelly are starting to train their new family member Miss Eve to be left home alone and we understand completely!  Emmi will drag one of my socks from my hiking boots or Michael’s slippers and just bring them into the living room as if she just wants to be near something that smells like us.  She has never been a chewer and she is a little short in the britches to get a package of dinner rolls off the table!! 

Had a message from my friend Kathy when I got home, she needed some advice—so, I called Kathy and she came up for a while.  Kathy and I together started the Cinnabar Creek store in Big Timber probably 14 years ago.  Kathy has been diagnosed with a very serious illness and has had to sell the store.  She is unable to work, has limited resources and crappy health insurance.  We discussed some options and I think she felt better when she headed home.

Michael and I had corn on the cob, cantaloupe and watermelon for supper, how’s that for healthy!! 

Do you think these tomatoes will be ripe before frost???

Isn’t this a pretty colored geranium?

We are gonna hopefully see some meteor shower show tonight and early tomorrow morning!

Mattresses And Toppers

Well, for the first time in a long while I woke this morning without hip pain—we slept on the motorhome bed again with just the memory foam topper on top of the mattress. 

But when we came in the house all was not right with our world—no internet—oh, no!!!  So, I took my coffee downstairs and got a quilt back loaded onto the frame.  No blog reading for us this morning!  Withdrawal!!  When I contacted the local telephone company I was told the thunderstorm we had last night knocked out the DSL to our entire community.  It was back up and running before lunch time.

Both of us were needing a little big city fix so off we went to Billings and purchased a memory foam topper for the king size bed here in the house.  Those things are heavy!  Hopefully this will work!  A lot less expensive than a new mattress!

On the way into Billings we drove through Park City where we made a stop at our favorite roadside stand to see if they had sweet corn yet.  Yep, they did and we bought 4 dozen ears—I will share with our friends and neighbors.  I cooked a couple ears when we got home—it is so good and sweet!  A cute little boy hauled our bag of corn out to the truck in his little red wagon!

We had a great lunch at Jake’s with Michael saying it was one of the best burgers he had ever eaten.  My fish tacos were very good, too.

Stops at Costco and Wal Mart completed our day’s errands before we headed back to Big Timber to pick up Ms Emmi.  Had a nice visit with Nat before coming home to unload and get that topper un-squished and onto the bed.

It was 92 degrees in Billings today but 74 when we arrived home this evening.  Life is good!

A reader of the blog asked what kind of sports car we have—it is a Toyota MR2 Spyder.  Toyota stopped making these cars in 2005, this one is a 2002 and is the most fun car I have ever driven. 

It’s Done!!

I worked hard all day and about 5pm I was removing the quilt from the frame.  I think it turned out well--

The quilt belongs to my friend Caryl who lives in Congress, AZ year round now.  We met Caryl and Jerry when we were participating in Cowboy Action Shooting.  At that time they owned a summer place in Lewiston, MT and wintered at North Ranch, the Escapee’s park in Congress, AZ.  They have since sold their Montana place. 

Michael worked on our own landscaping job all day today and it is looking great.  Gotta have the place looking perfect as about August 25, my long time girlfriends are coming for a girl’s weekend.

Another glorious day here in Montana.  My sister frequently calls me as she is driving home from work—about a 45 minute drive.  It was “only” 97 degrees today there in Arkansas at about 4pm instead of the over 100 degrees they have been experiencing.  I wish I could bottle up some of this nice weather and send it home!  It is so incredibly dry there, too.

We had the last of the Louisiana crawfish for lunch today, Michael said, “you know, I don’t have any Cajun blood in me but I sure do like this stuff!”  See what you did Rollie and Gina????

We slept out in the motorhome last night—that bed has a memory foam topper in addition to a firm mattress.  It also has a featherbed topper.  The feather bed topper bothered both of us last night so tonight I am removing it and we’ll just use the memory foam.  We’ve spent so much money on mattresses, toppers, and featherbeds, we just want to be sure before we buy anything else.

Our bumper crop of hops is doing well again this year.  Some of the plants just snake right out and grab onto deck furniture and you if you’re not careful! That’s hops in the corner See the little upside down grasshopper, he is so green he just blends in with the leaves of the hops plants.

We were so glad to read this morning that the Bayfield Bunch have a new furry friend, Eve.  Al and Kelly feel the same way about their pets as Michael and I do—they are members of the family.  We will look forward to meeting Eve this winter down in the southwest.

Finally I’m On A Roll

I spent the entire morning helping Michael with his road project.  The property owner has a conservation easement which has multiple restrictions on what can and can’t be done on the land.  So, my non-typing husband has been struggling along pecking out this document and I took pity on him this morning and typed his revisions.  He loves me! 

Then I made homemade pizza for lunch—I’m getting better and better at this pizza making business.  One blog I read, RV Goddess turned me on to using parchment paper.  Sure makes sliding the pizza onto the hot baking stone a whole lot easier!  And it keeps the air from turning blue around here, too!

This afternoon I got a good start on the quilt I was struggling with the last couple days.  Everything is going smoothly now, finally!!  Looking good!

Emmi loves to chase any tool you are using such as a rake or shovel.  Michael took along a shovel on our walk this morning to move the irrigating water.  Emmi attacked!

And she spotted this irrigation dam in the ditch and thought it was the big bad boogey man!

As we have traveled across the US and either complained about the freeway noise or train noise in a campground; refused to stay in campgrounds that were close to freeways or railroad tracks, friends will say, “oh, you’ll get used to it.”  NOT!  Here is a photograph of our nearest neighbor that we can see and see only if we hike up into the hayfields.  This neighbor is over a mile away as the crow flies!  We like quiet and quiet we have up here in the mountains!

Our friends George and Shirley live on the other side of the road from the end of our driveway and that is about a half mile away—we can’t see their house from ours.  Yep, we like our quiet!