Onward To Louisiana

With sadness and anticipation we left Arkansas today.  Sad to leave the family behind and eagerly anticipating seeing Gina and Rollie.  We had an easy 300 mile drive through southern Arkansas, Mississippi and on down to Louisiana.  And yes, Mr. Michael had to cross the big river again:

 

And somewhere on this journey today I realized it was 70 degrees outside and I was still wearing wool socks!  That situation was quickly remedied:

Gina and Rollie prepared a wonderful dinner of ribs, potato salad and beans—guess we aren’t starting our diet yet!  It was so incredibly good to see them and get all caught up!  Their daughter Ashley and her husband Parker are here for a couple more days—it was good to see them again, too. 

Emmi is having fun visiting with Gina and Rollie’s pooches.  Zoey has a duck and will not share her duck with Emmi!  Poor little Angel has surgery on her eye and is still a little under the weather. 

When I got this new laptop for Christmas I loaded the new version of Live Writer and for  the life of me I couldn’t figure out how to make my photos default to the same size every time I inserted a picture.  Well our resident blogger computer expert Rick, sent a link from his blog with a very good video clip and now I’m in business!

It was a great day in retirement!

Another Day Of Visiting

We must have relaxed after all that driving, I don’t think either of us moved all night last night.  My sister Ann left for work, we never heard her car leave—she said her dog Spot barked, we never heard him. 

My niece’s husband dropped the girls by here this morning and they accompanied Mom and me to Wal Mart for a grocery buying expedition.  Leah and Elizabeth love spending time in the motorhome and hanging out with Emmi.

While back in Montana my hairdresser and I had discussed growing out my hair.  Well, that didn’t last long!  I called Niki’s hairdresser today and she was able to work me in and cut my hair this afternoon—YES!  Now I look like myself again.

Dinner tonight was another family affair.  We fixed pork tenderloin on the grill, roasted potatoes with onions, roasted brussel sprouts with carrots and apple, steamed spinach and a host of leftovers.  I love my family so much and it is wonderful to be able to spend time with them again so soon. 

After dinner Bradley (a friend of my niece and her husband who has been to see us in Montana) came by bringing his other daughter, Tucker.  The older daughter had arrived with Niki earlier in the evening.  It was great to see Bradley and we are sorry his wife Kerri was working tonight!Harley and Tucker belonging to friends Kerri and Bradley.

My Mom and her granddaughter Niki—they have a special relationship that is a joy to see.

Emmi is worn out, those girls played ball with her all afternoon.

Nat was to have had some skin cancer Mohs procedures done in Montana today—tonight I called to see how he was doing—he didn’t have the Mohs procedures done—he has shingles!!!!! 

1750 Miles Later

Yesterday afternoon late we arrived in one of our favorite stopping spots along the route to my family home in Arkansas, McGee Creek State Park in southeastern Oklahoma.  We have stayed there twice before and last night as usual, we were only one of two rigs in the whole park.  The campground sits right on a lake and is far enough out in the country to be very quiet with no lights!  Our idea of heaven!  And nobody trying to steal the jeep!!!! 

None of the sites are pull through so we just picked our favorite site and pulled in unhooking the jeep this morning when it came time to leave.

Kelly from The Bayfield Bunch wanted to know where I was sleeping during the jeep caper—in the bed beside Michael—my hearing is excellent, way too excellent and I sleep with earplugs or I would not get any sleep at all.  I am such a light sleeper my Daddy used to say I could hear an ant crawl across the floor.  I can still hear things such as phones ringing, Michael snoring (if he snores) etc. but I guess I didn’t hear the attempt by the jeep thieves. 

1750 miles later we backed into my sister Ann and her husband Danny’s driveway today.  We’ve been visiting and eating; eating and visiting—what we do best when the family gets together here in Arkansas.  We exchanged belated Christmas gifts and I got to hug those two little great nieces really hard.  There are lots of good cooks in my family!

We are snug in our motorhome, our internet works—we are loving this Millenicom business.  Tomorrow more visiting and playing with the great nieces—their Mom has to work.  Very good to be back in Arkansas again so soon after my November visit. 

And yes, the jeep escapade happened in a park, not boondocking.  A city park with nice pull through spots, electric and water. 

Lots Of Miles

We are putting lots of miles under our belt today and I’m writing the blog early—we are getting off the interstate system soon and I doubt we have internet tonight.  We just came through Oklahoma City just a while ago—that is one busy city!

Paranoia or cautious—a question I’ve often asked Michael when I see him locking the jeep onto the motorhome.  Not only does he put a lock through the ball hitch mechanism but he also wraps a cable around the jeep bumper and locks this cable to the hitch.  Last night I decided he was just cautious!

At 2am I became aware that Michael was in the living area getting dressed—someone was messing with the jeep—he heard and felt a couple thumps and jerks.  He dressed quickly, grabbed the 44 pistol and headed out the door.  As soon as the door opened who ever it was jumped in their car and roared off.  Needless to say we had a very difficult time getting back to sleep! 

It was a chilly morning while Michael unhooked our utilities; Emmi and I played ball which has been good today as she has slept all day on the couch except for a couple quick potty breaks. 

Onward!

On The Road Again

Man oh man did the wind blow last night, and blow some more!  It was blowing hard when we went to bed but at 2am we were both awake thinking we were in a rolling boat!  Even in some of the Arizona winds I don’t think our coach ever rocked that hard!  In spite of all that we did sleep well in the parking lot of a closed antique car museum in Murdo, South Dakota.  Our little propane heater kept us warm, we enjoyed our dinner of homemade spaghetti, our internet connection was great—what more could we ask for??

We drove 612 miles yesterday and 443 today.  About 4:30pm we were approaching the little town of Concordia, Kansas.  I had read about a city owned park at the airport with free electric and water hookups, dump station on site.  They request you leave a donation which we most certainly will.  It is a cool little spot right beside Hwy 81.  Lots of big old trees and acres of grass for Emmi dog ball playing!  We got a later start this morning and just decided we had driven long enough—parked, took a walk, played ball and ordered a pizza to be delivered—just a might spoiled I would say!

Our spot in the Airport RV Park—it is just a little airstrip, you can see the “control tower” with the searchlights on top just over the top of our RV. 

Onward tomorrow.

Merry Christmas

Why is it when you are getting on the road you can’t sleep the night before?  We both were wide awake at 3am, tossed and turned, finally got up at 3:30am.  Took our time closing down the house, checking for last minute forgotten items and loading all that last minute stuff into the rig.  We were rolling out of the driveway just before 6am.  Stopped in Big Timber at the Town Pump to give the hungry beast a drink of $3.78/gallon diesel fuel.  Saw a high school friend of Michael’s, Sox, who wished us safe travels.

The rest of the day we have spent driving and driving on dry roads, thank the good Lord!  Not one speck of ice or snow on the freeway, just alongside the road.  Forgive the bugs on the windshield!

We stopped in a rest area a little while ago and Michael got out the ball for Emmi—of course she was thrilled, I think she thought we had left the red ball back in Montana!

Our plan here at 3pm is to make it just south of Murdo, South Dakota which will mean driving for a little while in the dark which we don’t usually like to do.  But, the plan is to get to warmer country, the sooner, the better.

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family, here’s hoping you had a wonderful day.

Christmas Eve

Today is Christmas Eve and my late Dad’s birthday.  Miss him so much but especially at this time of year.    

We had an exciting phone call this morning, our granddaughter Laci called from Italy to get permission for opening her Christmas package—she talked to us on the phone as she opened the present and was very excited when she saw what we got her.  I took one of the awesome photos they as a family had made this past October, sent it to Costco.com and had the photo placed on a 4 foot long piece of canvas.  It was just spectacular—one of the best Christmas presents I’ve ever thought of!

Tonight we enjoyed a wonderful family evening at Lonn and LoraLee’s.  Our oldest granddaughter Katie and her husband Michael were there as well as Nat.  The meal was outstanding, crab legs, ham, roasted potatoes, salad plus pumpkin pie and cherry cheesecake pie for dessert.  We exchanged gifts—Katie and Laci gave us some of the framed photographs the family had made in October.  We loved everything we were gifted with and I think our gifts were also a success! 

Late this evening we headed back over the mountain to our side and sent Nat on his way back to town.  One more sleep.  And, I’m typing this blog on the present my sweet Santa gave me, a new Toshiba laptop!!!  Don’t I have a nice Santa??? 

May you and your family have a wonderful Christmas Eve and Day. May your New Year be healthy, happy and prosperous. May our fellow RV travelers have safe travels.

Almost Christmas

We are still carting stuff down the driveway to the motorhome, those cupboards I thought were going to be empty—not so empty any more and I have another load ready to go.  Cleaned out both freezers this morning and loaded that stuff into the motorhome freezer—I did a good job this year, not buying any type frozen stuff for about six weeks so the coach freezer wasn’t so packed. 

I made a pot of beef/vegetable soup for on the road eating.  I also used one of the packages of spaghetti sauce I had made and froze to make another eat on the road meal.  We both after a hard day’s drive hate to try and find a place to eat out in a strange town, usually in the dark!

This bird, a hawk I think, likes to hang out in this particular tree, yesterday he was screeching at Emmi—she wasn’t impressed.

Hey, stop taking my photo Mr. Red says!  We have three of these feeders into which we place a big round bale of hay.  Lonn comes over periodically to check the feeders and refill if needed.  The horses also have shelter they can enter if needed—our horses as do most horses, prefer to be out.  About the only time we see our horses use their shelter is to avoid the bugs in the summertime. 

Tonight we had a wonderful dinner with Jill and Terry at the Grand—said our goodbyes and see you later’s—hopefully they will be coming down to visit us this winter. 

Two more sleeps or as Michael said they say in the military—a day and a wakeup. 

More Loading

Michael remarked a few days ago, perhaps we shouldn’t have started loading the motorhome so early, we keep finding more and more things to go in!  I certainly hope we are almost finished!

It was a very cold morning with about six inches of new snow.  It only warmed up to 22 degrees all day.  Now the wind is supposed to start and the temps to warm up.  The warmer temps I can take but no wind would be nice.

Today I finished the binding on a little Christmas wallhanging I started a couple years ago.  It is the cutest thing! Back side, I frequently use Kona muslin for the back side of wall hangings—who is going to see it anyway?? The center block is a panel as are all the other smaller snowmen blocks.  The other blocks and borders are pieced.  This pattern had an error making it impossible to put the black and white checked border together as written.  The pattern contained contact info for the writer and when I contacted her this is what she said, “yes, we knew that and have corrected the pattern.”  She offered to send me the new directions via email which I accepted—the new directions were also incorrect!!  We often complain at quilt retreat about poorly written patterns—it is the group’s consensus that patterns are just written—no one ever really tries to make the quilt from the pattern.  Paulette has blogged about this same issue.

My friend Kelly who lives in Kansas City has been having a really rough time lately—husband having surgery, Mom developing dementia really suddenly, work, etc.  But in spite of all that she took the time to send Michael and me a package from Harry & David’s.  It was so beautifully packaged I hated to take it apart: Michael spent the day puttering, plowing snow and fixing a plumbing leak.  We are both ready to head on out of here!

She Loved It

Geez, it would have been nice if JB and Brenda had kept the blizzard up there in Alberta for a while longer!  At least the foot of snow didn’t materialize and we only got about four more inches.  Not very nice outside today!  But Emmi still loves to play ball.

Well, my friend Caryl received her quilt yesterday and she loved it—couldn’t stop raving about it.  I am very pleased!

 

Started packing up the sewing stuff today—I’m not taking much, not near what I usually take—I’m thinking we are going to new country and I may want to do more sightseeing and playing.  Just a few little projects and some wool stitchery for doing while Michael is heading our rig down the road.

After lunch we drove to town for a couple quick errands—roads were not very nice.  This evening we attended the 50th birthday party for Holly, the new owner of the McLeod Bar.  It was fun—lots of friends and neighbors—very good food.  We didn’t stay long, it was very crowded and neither of us is much into loud music and crowds anymore—guess we are getting old.  About 4pm it started snowing again, HARD, and the roads were really not nice.

Miss Emmi was very glad we came home early.

Another One Of Those Where Did The Day Go

Congratulations to our friends Jeane and Steve  on the birth of their fourth grandchild, Avery Jade born to Reed and Hillary this morning.

What happened to the day—I thought at the beginning of this week I had loads of time for sewing, finishing packing, cooking, etc.  Yesterday and today have gone by and not much is being accomplished.  I have filled a laundry basket with stuff that needs to go down to the motorhome.

Our weather is due to deteriorate tonight and tomorrow—six to twelve inches of snow, YUCK!  But by Friday sunny and warmer. 

I had an appointment with my nurse practitioner today—I wanted to see if I needed to be on cholesterol lowering meds (nope, she didn’t thing so—YEA) and to get a prescription for a shingles vaccine.    Doctors recommend anyone over the age of 60 receive the vaccine.  When Michael was so sick in 2010 and taking the chemo drugs he received one.  I have read so much about shingles and have so many friends who have suffered from this painful disease—I’m prone to cold sores and having had chicken pox, I thought it best I get vaccinated.  Well, the CDC has lowered the recommended age to anyone 50 years and older, our clinic in Big Timber had the vaccine—so I was the proud recipient of the shingles vaccine today.  The vaccine is expensive and some insurance companies will pay and some won’t.  If mine doesn’t pay I will be out $270! 

Ran a bunch more errands in Big Timber, came home, played ball with Emmi and stitched up a new coat for her.  We had sautéed scallops and steamed spinach for dinner.  After dinner Michael is downstairs loading some more shells for Lonn.

Tomorrow I better get with some sort of program or another??

My morning breakfast club all lined up on the deck railings.

Winter Came Back

55 degrees on Sunday, 16 this morning and three inches of that powdery white stuff.  Michael sure was glad he took the motorhome to the bottom of our driveway yesterday.

I made four batches of granola before lunch so I wouldn’t have to make any on the road—that should last until we get to Florida.  He can eat eggs or something else if we run out!

This afternoon I played ball with Emmi a couple times—she doesn’t care how cold it is outside.  I cut out two new coats for her today—one from an old Carhart coat Michael had and one from a vest of mine I had in the thrift store bag.  I would have stitched up the vests but I didn’t have any darker colored velcro—will get some when I go to town tomorrow.

But I did make myself a Kindle cover gotta perfect the design, it is not quite right yet but will work for me.

We are both so ready to get in that motorhome and head out—soon!

What Incredible Talent

Who would have known that our little town here in Montana had such incredible talent?  There is a program at the Lutheran Church—the After School Program.  Small children with working parents can come there after school, have a snack and participate in planned activities.  There are many volunteers in the community who assist with the program.  Tonight’s concert was a benefit for this After School Program.

If I had closed my eyes I would have thought perhaps I was sitting in some concert hall instead of the Lutheran Church in Big Timber, MT.  We in this community are blessed with people who can play all sorts of instruments and sing with passion.  I haven’t enjoyed myself that much in a long time!

My little point and shoot Canon doesn’t like low lighting situations so my photos aren’t the greatest--

 

from the left, Tom—a very talented pianist and singer who with his wife Sally moved here several years ago.  Boe, the son of my good friend Mary—what a voice!, Jaclyn whose voice would give you chills, and my friend and massage therapist Gayle whose voice will knock your socks off.

This woman, Laura, sang some very upbeat, jazzy Christmas numbers—so entertaining!

The two women, Lisa and Gloria I did not know—very gifted musicians with great voices, Duane, a rancher whose family has lived here forever played an instrument called a dobro and also the banjo.  This group sang some bluegrass gospel and a very traditional Christmas carol.

Gayle again and Boe, both of whom grew up here. 

There were three little girls who performed piano solos at the beginning, flutes, saxophones, trumpets and awesome piano music.  A man in his 80’s played a mean harmonica.  The church was packed, standing room only—a super enjoyable evening.

Mike and Emmi held down the fort while I was in town.  We moved the motorhome down our steep driveway and parked in front of the storage shed we use belonging to Joe and Tammy.  The coach is loaded as much as it can be—only last minute stuff to go! 

Nat came for lunch today and I tried a roasted pork loin recipe that was delicious using kind of a citrus base and roasting the pork with sweet potatoes and apples.  YUM

Six days till departure!!

The Loading Has Started

I convinced Michael to let me turn the heat on in the motorhome today so I could start loading everything instead of having to load so much at the last minute.  I lost count of how many times I went in and out of the motorhome but tonight my aching bones tell me it was a bunch of trips! 

And, I think we are going to be enjoying a lot of pancakes this winter with chokecherry syrup.  I Googled “jelly that doesn’t jell” today and followed the exact recipe I found on two different websites for re-making the jelly but it’s not looking good again!  GRRRR

Lonn came over just after lunch—he and Michael spent a couple hours re-loading shells for a gun he has—I stay clear when that’s happening, way too much concentration going on!

Emmi spent the day either chasing her ball or staring at the ball willing someone to come along and throw it for her.

On our walk this morning Emmi scared up a flock of these grouse:

A productive day in Montana except for the dang jelly!

Two Trips To Town

Got all the stuff ready to make jelly this morning then headed to town.  Yes, it is a strange time of year to be making jelly but—right before we left on our fall Canadian vacation we picked chokecherries which I juiced and then froze the juice.  When we leave for the winter we remove everything from our refrigerators and freezer leaving them all unplugged for the time we are gone.  So, time to make that jelly.

While in town I picked up a few last minute items and had a wonderful, awesome massage!  My quilting sore neck and shoulders feel much better!

We had a quick lunch when I got home then I got on with the jelly making—chokecherry juice is a deep, deep red color and stains anything it touches—I am sure to wear dark clothing when working with this red juice, no white shirts.  I made 19 half pints of jelly and the jury is still out on whether it is going to set or not???  I’ve had a heck of a time making jelly the last couple years—when I started making jelly and didn’t have a clue what I was doing the jelly always set.  Now, it’s a 50/50 crap shoot!  We may have chokecherry syrup which is very, very good too.

Tonight we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at The Grand with Lonn and LoraLee, I had a filet mignon you could have cut with a fork, the meat was so tender.  But I think the best part was the lemon sorbet I had for dessert—heavenly!  A delightful evening!

We came home to find one little dog who was very glad to see us!

A Day Of This And That

It is such a relief to have that last quilt finished—I just did a little of this and that all day.  And yes, I am going to post photos but not until the owner of the quilt has seen it. 

I loaded up some boxes with items that can’t go into the motorhome until we start leaving the heat on—canned goods, cleaning supplies, etc.  It felt good to get started on the packing process.

Got all my ironing caught up—I have a catch all basket downstairs by the ironing board—it contained summertime placemats, napkins from several dinner parties ago, capri pants (and we all know the last time I wore short pants in Montana) and several of Michael’s shirts.  Got it all done—yippee! 

After lunch we headed into town.  We had a meeting with our attorney—we had our wills re-done, along with durable power of attorney and living wills drafted.  That was a hard kick in the pocketbook!!!

Poor Al of the Bayfield Bunch and poor Kelly, too!  Hope he is feeling better soon! 

A good day!

It’s Finished, It’s Finished

Just a few moments ago at about 6pm I finished my last customer quilt for the season—I am too tired to go back downstairs and take photos but I will tomorrow, I promise.  It is stunning if I do say so myself, the first time I have ever done that kind of intense custom quilting and my neck and shoulders are telling me so! 

Here’s a couple photos of the other two quilts I finished and sent to Arkansas—one belonging to my Aunt Marg 

One belonging to Marti, my Aunt’s friend and made from a free pattern designed by Judy of The Patchwork Times. 

Michael was a busy beaver today—he worked on the bear spray barrels and when I went outside about 3:30 to play ball with Emmi I heard the chainsaw up in the pasture.  He cut a LOT of firewood into manageable pieces, hauling it down to the house with the backhoe.  We should have enough wood to last us until we leave and some to warm us when we get home in the spring cause we all know what spring in Montana is like!

He also went to the post office for me this morning mailing Laci in Italy some goodies and my friend Kelly’s Christmas package.  Last night I got a bug and wrapped all our Christmas presents—I just have a couple more that are to be delivered—sure hope it’s soon, Christmas is coming fast!

It was a very productive busy day for both of us.  This afternoon I dragged out the old bread machine which hasn’t been used in years and made a batch of bread using one of the gluten free flour/bread mixes I ordered from Amazon.com.  It’s good, really good!  With butter and honey, it’s really good! 

It has looked this dark and stormy all day.

John, Emmi is really, really attached to this ball, I think we have created another Meg!!!

One Last Trip To Billings

Foggy morning of 16 degrees, chilly and we were off to Billings.  Nat agreed to babysit the Emmi girl and we were pulling out of his driveway just after 9am. 

A quick stop at Wal Mart for some gift cards and gasoline anti-freeze for our Kawasaki mule which hasn’t been starting well then it was on to the hair dresser’s for me.  One last good haircut as Brenda remarked when she left Alberta, before we head south.  I adore my hair dresser, she is a young, ambitious woman just over 30 years old—she does a great job!

Michael had a quick checkup at the doctor’s office where he got a clean bill and we were off to our favorite place for lunch, Jake’s.  Michael had “knife and fork nachos” and I had coconut crusted shrimp—both very good!

Costco was a pre-Christmas mad house and we were glad we only had a couple items to pick up.  A few more errands in Big Timber—bank, post office, tire shop, etc. and we were home—nope we didn’t forget the dog either!

And John, Emmi LOVES her Jolly Ball we bought at Petsmart.  We got a smaller size than Mac and Meg have, gave it to Emmi tonight and she just chased and shook that ball to death.  I don’t think she can destroy that one!

Good to be home and relaxing!  Back to quilting tomorrow!

Winter Came Back

We were sitting in a cloud bank this morning at 12 degrees and the high temp was only 20—a big change from the last few days.  Even the Emmi girl thought the fire in the downstairs stove felt good.

Pioneer Woman Cheesy Corn Chowder for lunch with a big salad and thankfully almost all those iced sugar cookies are gone!  I was able to show a little restraint today!

Michael got the motorhome turned around facing down the driveway—he’s afraid it might snow and it would be no fun to try and turn that big old thing around with snow on the ground.  We are hoping our weather pattern holds for a couple more weeks with no snow—highly doubtful this time of year!

Quilted some more today—jeez, how do people who have real jobs and work out of their homes do it??  Do they shut the door and threaten anyone disturbing them with their life??  Do they never talk on the phone???  Do they never stop and cook lunch and dinner for spouses???  Do they totally ignore the dog???  I got a lot accomplished but there is still more quilting to be done!

The UPS man and the mailman are loving us these days—I better leave a box of cookies for both of them!  The package we got from Amazon today via the post office was one heavy box—it contained gluten free Pamela’s bread flour and pancake mix in addition to Christmas presents.

Recycled photo, couldn’t even see the mountains all day today.

Sunday In Montana

The day started out with perfect weather, sunshine and about 40 degrees.  After lunch we lost the sunshine, gained a breeze and the temps dropped a little.

Nat came for lunch, we had beef tenderloin, garlic mashed potatoes and peas.  For dessert we had some of those blessed frosted sugar cookies I keep eating—pretty soon all those cookies will be gone and straight to my hips!!!

Friends Denny and Ellen dropped by for a quick visit this afternoon and in the midst of their visit our granddaughter Laci called.  In this household we rarely answer “unknown number, unknown name” calls which show up on caller ID.  Today I answered it as I thought Sunday was a strange time for any solicitors to be calling—glad I did as it was Laci. 

After lunch and visiting I spent the rest of the day working on Caryl’s quilt.  I am making progress, slowly but surely!   When you start a new row of machine quilting the beginning and ending stitches have to be secured—many quilters, me included, just take several tiny, tiny stitches at the beginning and again at the end to secure those stitches.  Quilt judges at quilt shows sometimes don’t like that method—instead the judges prefer that the beginning and ending threads be knotted and that knot buried in the layers of the quilt—VERY time consuming but that’s what I’m doing on this quilt.  Caryl hopes to enter this quilt in some Arizona quilt shows. 

Michael loaded some of our belongings into the motorhome today—I sorted out some clothes, etc. for him to load.  Here in Montana we can’t load anything that might freeze until the last couple days when we run the electric heat inside the coach.  Two weeks from tomorrow!

Second Pump Install A Success

Michael got right after working on the motorhome after our walk this morning.  Wasn’t the lunar eclipse just spectacular—we got to see the partial as well as the total eclipse before the moon went over the hill. 

All our cables for the various electronic items in the motorhome are nicely organized now, we have a new idea for where to put the TV for more comfortable viewing and the second pump is installed with no leaks or breaks, hurray!! 

I quilted today—when you are doing intense custom quilting it doesn’t seem as if you make much progress in four hours time.  Now that I have the design elements in my head I think the work will go faster!

It was a glorious day weather wise, about 45 degrees, sunny and no wind.  Emmi spent almost the entire day outside playing with her ball.  We enjoyed a lunch of grilled burgers (without buns), oven french fries (white for Michael, sweet potato for me) and peas. 

Two weeks and one day before we head south—yippee!  Now, I just have to get started loading that motorhome!

A hawk of some kind Judy?? 

If you look closely, you can see the bird high up in the tree to the right.

A Wonderful December Day

Last night we joined Geoff and Nancy, Boo and Terry along with George and Shirley for dinner at the McLeod bar.  It was an enjoyable evening visiting with friends. 

After our early morning walk I was scurrying around to get Laci’s package to the McLeod post office for shipping to Italy.  The postal service recommends packages being shipped to service men and women be shipped by December 12 which is Monday.  This package was oversized and I wanted to get a jump on the due date!

When I returned from the post office Geoff and Claire were here discussing bear spray barrels and solving the problems of the world.  I decided to finish baking my Christmas cookies while all those problems were being solved.

Tonight we drove into Big Timber and watched the lighted Christmas parade, one of the best ever.  The temp was in the 30’s but the wind was blowing making it a might chilly to be standing on the street!  The parade made it all worthwhile—it is so fun to see all our friends and neighbors, have people call out to us from the floats and throw us candy.  After the parade the American Legion sets off a spectacular fireworks display—a simply wonderful Christmas season night.

After the parade we drove out to Jill and Terry’s for a Christmas party.  We all thought we were having wine and appetizers—nope, Jill had prepared a feast with beef tenderloin, ham, homemade biscuits, cheeses, etc.—a feast!  Jill is a great cook and her home was decorated beautifully.  We spent an enjoyable few hours eating and visiting with friends. 

The moon over our mountains is breathtaking reflecting in the snow. as we were driving home tonight.  This shot was taken as we were heading into town tonight before it was dark.   

Michael was able to remove the broken pump from the motorhome and install the new one today—he is pleased.