A Shopping Mission

On a whim we decided to take the MR2 out for a spin today—destination:  Billings to shop for Tin Tee Pee stuff.  We found sheets, beautiful red blankets, a towel bar for the bathroom and various other things.  We looked at sinks and bathroom vanity cabinets.  We looked at tile and wooden window shades.  Lots of ideas floating around in our heads, the Tin Tee Pee is going to be so beautiful!

Lunch was at CJ’s, a spot we used to frequent often.  Michael’s burger was really good, my brisket sandwich not so good.  The folks who have waited tables there forever remembered us and were very welcoming.

Nat was kind enough to keep the Emmi girl today—the Senior Center in Big Timber does not serve lunch on Thursdays’.  I hate to ask him to keep her on a day when lunch is being served because he refuses to leave Emmi home alone while he goes and eats—“she would be lonely.”  Geez, as if we don’t spoil her enough!

A camping trip may be in the works for this weekend so when we got home and unloaded the car we both went right to work.  I made a curtain for the bathroom window—turned out beautifully.  Poor Michael had a harder job—replacing the heating duct work.  When we ran the furnace the last time we were out in the Avion, it smelled like mice!   The furnace is fairly new so we didn’t think the smell was coming from it and sure enough when Michael removed all the old duct work the nasty little evidence was there.  The trailer is only 23 feet long so there wasn’t very much duct work but it did take him a while. 

A productive day in Montana. 

Back In The Bug Business

The VW bug business that is!  We realized how much money we spent on gas and diesel last month and decided to bring the 1959 Volkswagen bug out of storage—she gets 35 miles to the gallon.  Michael has agreed to install seat belts, fix the brakes and do a little cosmetic work to her so we can drive the VW at least to Big Timber. 

I finished LoraLee’s quilt late this afternoon and we took the VW over the hill to deliver the quilt.  LoraLee loved it--Back of quilt.

Michael spent the day working on some firewood storage racks for Geoff.  Emmi played ball any time someone walked out the back door to kick it for her. 

For those of you who don’t know the Volkswagen story—several years ago when our former neighbor and friend Beryl was dying she gave me this VW.  It had belonged to Beryl’s daughter Charlotte who was killed in a car accident in her late twenties.  Charlotte was Beryl’s only child and she could never bring herself to get rid of the bug.  Beryl and her husband Jim pulled the VW behind a motorhome and even took it into Mexico at one time—it still has Mexico travel stickers attached.  Beryl made me promise to never sell the car and I won’t—it’s a cute little thing and in reasonably good shape—the mice have destroyed some of the inside upholstery but that can be replaced.  So, that’s how I came to own a 1959 Volkswagen bug.

Just not a nice day weather wise, cloudy, windy, cool and very damp. 

What Day Is It??

I’m always so confused when Monday is a holiday—I thought all day yesterday it was Sunday, today should have been Monday but nope, it is Tuesday!

I spent the morning quilting and cooking—lentil soup and salad for lunch.  I started a batch of bread dough from the cookbook, Artisan Bread In Five Minutes A Day (which you can buy by clicking on my Amazon link above).  I keep coming back to those bread recipes every time—they are just about fool proof and my other bread making forays are not so fool proof! 

Michael puttered, planned and plotted—if all his puttering, planning and plotting come to be I will fill you in later!

After lunch we drove into Big Timber to mail a birthday package to our Italy girl and a package to Jerry from EggRollings.  Jerry won the drawing for the book The Art Of Dancing In The Rain. Yea, Jerry!

We also picked up paint and flooring samples for the Tin Tee Pee.  Our ideas are coming together—maybe if we don’t change our minds!  Saw some beautiful porcelain tiles too—countertops??? 

Sunshine this morning, fast moving rain showers this afternoon.  Our Memorial Day weekend storms brought us over 2 inches of much needed moisture.

Last night I noticed what we call “Emmi’s chicken”, a grouse of some sort waddling across the yard—by the time I retrieved the camera from inside the house he had scooted on up the hill but I was able to get this photo of him. 

He seems to be saying, “you looking at me lady???”   Ugly thing isn’t he??

Flags flying in from of the American Legion hall in Big Timber:

Memorial Day

In 2011 I wrote what I thought was a good Memorial day blog—I was just going to recycle that one today until Nat agreed to come for lunch.  I asked him to bring his World War II medals which he did along with this great photograph:

Looking at the photograph, Nat is third from the left in the row standing.  He was 22 and one of the oldest in the group—these are the guys he trained with and flew 5 missions over Japan with.  These 12 men all survived the war and three are still surviving including Nat.  After five missions, the copilot left this crew after being given his own plane—Nat said this shook up the crew he flew with, when you are getting shot at every day, planes are being ditched in the ocean—you become superstitious, you want the same people around you who have worked together and managed to stay alive in those circumstances.  Nat flew 31 missions over Japan and Korea. 

He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross Medal and other medals pictured below:

As shown he still has his dog tags.  He talked and talked today, I wrote everything down as fast as I could—I want to remember what a sacrifice he and so many others have made for this country. 

When the war in the Pacific began the US did not control Iwo Jima making the distance from Japan to the base on Tinian greater than the fuel capacity of the planes at times—many men lost their lives when forced to land their planes in the ocean.  Once the US gained control of Iwo Jima, there was a refueling stop and a place to land in case of emergency.  Nat said his crew landed on Iwo Jima five times, three of those landings under emergency conditions. 

Nat said his best and last mission was when the war was over but treaty had not been signed.  The location of the Japanese POW camps had been discovered.  Nat’s crew loaded their bomb bays with tons of food, flew in low over these camps and dropped the food to the prisoners. 

Thank you Nat and all the other men and women who made and continue to make sacrifices for our country.  Laci, we are proud of you!

This is our granddaughter Laci serving in Italy in the USAF with Nat—those two have a very special bond. 

Calling In The Experts

Last night friends Boo and Terry called asking us to come over for coffee and to meet the new dog—a lab named Rio.  Nowhere else would anyone drive 30+ minutes on a road from h**l just to have coffee with friends—but Montana!!  Shortly after 8am off we went bouncing and jouncing through mud and muck.  We spent a delightful couple hours catching up with Boo and Terry and meeting Rio who as a puppy is quite the handful. 

Back home I began preparing pizza dough, sauce and toppings—you see, we decided we needed to call in the experts to help us in deciding how to remodel the inside of the Tin Tee Pee—I was bribing Jill and Terry with pizza and homemade ice cream. 

Terry is a contractor who has spent a large portion of his career building incredibly wonderful houses, Jill is a realtor now but has dabbled in interior decorating and has excellent taste.  They are in the ongoing process of remodeling while living in an old brick farm house where at one time Jill’s grandparents lived. 

Many years ago Terry with a partner got into the sheep wagon business.  The sheepherders would stay with their bands of sheep in these adorable round top little covered wagons.  In the days of real sheepherders the wagons probably weren’t adorable—a bachelor spending days on end with a bunch of smelly sheep probably starting to smell a bit like sheep in a wagon with no running water or toilet!!?? 

Terry and Hilary took these sheep wagons and turned them into works of art, stunning works of art.  Some of the wagons were purchased by very famous people to be used as guest cabins, offices, children’s play rooms, etc.  Michael and I would accompany Jill and Terry with the wagons when Terry and Hilary would enter their creations in various art shows such as the Western Design Conference in Cody, WY every fall.  The wagons were expensive—they truly were works of art.  The following photos were not taken by me but were included in a June, 1996 article in Architectural Digest in which Hilary and Terry were featured:

So, thus the bribery—we got some great ideas from Jill and Terry, can’t wait to get started.  Some of the ideas included a granite countertop, copper shower overlay, leather headboards and other rustic wood features.  Pendleton blankets, nice light fixtures—a special kind of folding dining table!! 

It was a great evening as usual with these good friends—food was good especially the homemade strawberry ice cream! 

We woke to the same story, second verse this morning, another 2 inches of snow!!

Yep, We Have Snow On Memorial Day Weekend

Here’s what we had this morning—all of the snow melted but more fell all through the day, it’s just too warm for it to stick.  We’ve had over an inch and a half of moisture so far—this will be good for the mountain snowpack and all the irrigators.  We think Lonn, LoraLee, Katie and Michael went camping???

Michael worked on the jeep engine today—or at least he worked on a “lift” to make working on the jeep engine easier.

This afternoon we went into town for milk and various other things—I think I’ve found my new job.  I’m going to start a business training new employees of the Big Timber IGA in customer service.  The young lady checker didn’t acknowledge me, didn’t tell me my total—I had to look at the screen, when I said thank you as she handed me the receipt she again didn’t acknowledge me.  Obviously the owners aren’t teaching their employees any customer service! 

Got some quilting done today—getting close to finishing LoraLee’s quilt—it is beautiful!

Nat’s Birthday Party

What a milestone—to reach your 90th birthday!  Nat lives alone, drives locally and up the Boulder to our house, makes his own decisions, takes no medications and is generally a positive person.  I think he enjoyed the fuss the family made over him last night and we sure enjoyed the party!

We enjoyed a happy hour while dinner cooked.  Katie had stopped by the local feed store last Tuesday and brought home one of their kittens.  Yesterday she got another kitten so the original one would have company.  Emmi and Buddy (LoraLee’s yorkie-poo) weren’t too sure about this creature—Emmi really didn’t like the creature sitting in Nat’s lap—that’s her lap!!  You can just see the little black kitten beside Nat.

Lonn grilled these humongous steaks (one steak could have fed three people!!), I made Brenda’s cheesy potatoes (which everyone loved Brenda), and a salad.  For dessert I broke my “no prepared food” rule and we had one of those decadent Costco huge chocolate cakes!  Those cakes are a favorite special occasion thing around here!

The top of it wasn’t orange, the candles and the flash must have caused that.

It was such an enjoyable evening and we all left thoroughly stuffed and happy.  Michael and his son.

A distraught Ms Emmi—that is Grandpa’s chair and MY chair when he’s not in it—what’s that black mewing critter doing in our chair???

As I type this blog entry, it is snowing heavily.  We woke to snow, it has snowed/rained all day but was too warm for any white stuff to accumulate.  The foothills around us are white, though.  We are under a winter storm watch with 1-2 feet of snow expected in the higher elevations around us!  Welcome to Memorial Day weekend in Montana—we need the moisture and welcome it!

Made granola today, leftovers for lunch, fiddled with my iPod and computer—the learning curve for me and any Apple product is way too steep! and quilted. 

Going Gray

Last winter while in Florida, surfing the internet one day I noticed the photo of a high school friend Sandy on Facebook.  She had stopped coloring her hair and looked fantastic!  I started thinking—wonder what I would look like if I stopped coloring my hair??  My sister has never colored her hair, started turning silver at an early age and her hair looks great—healthy, thick and it flatters her.

It is so hard to find someone to color my hair correctly while we are on the road in the winter.  Cuts are one thing but color is something else!  My hair grows quickly—bad haircuts are a thing of the past in just a couple of weeks with me—color is another matter all together.  I was at the point where I probably needed color every six weeks $$$$$  And the time it took—when we go to Billings we have a list a mile long—three hours to get my hair colored was a big chunk of our day. 

With that said, my last color was December 13th and yesterday my sweet hairdresser cut most of the last remaining color from the ends of my hair giving me an extremely short haircut.  I like the color of my hair and I like the cut—so does Michael!!

We’ve been scurrying around all day getting ready for Nat’s party.  Nat doesn’t cook—if it can’t be microwaved, it doesn’t happen at his house.  When Joy, his wife and Michael’s Mother died Nat insisted he didn’t want any pots and pans, no serving dishes, nothing but some plates, glasses and silverware.  So, when we do a party at his house I have to take everything and I mean everything!!  The food, a grill, a propane tank, wine glasses, etc.  As this is a special birthday I want the party to be special—so we are also taking candles, tablecloth, etc.  Whew! 

Michael finished Geoff and Nancy’s fence today—ready for the new member of their family arriving tomorrow!! 

And Jerry, if you will send me an email with your address I will ship you the book The Art of Racing In The Rain.  You were TinTeePee’s lucky winner who gets to read this book so you will understand Sally (his dachshund) better!

Billings And A New Driver’s License

We were off and running early this morning headed for Billings first dropping Emmi at Nat’s.  First on the agenda was Montana’s version of the Department of Motor Vehicles and I must say I had a much better experience than poor Rod has been having in the Kansas City area.  And our visit was not without it’s heavier and lighter moments!

We arrived at the DMV office in downtown Billings just after 9am and the waiting area was packed—I had a hair appointment at 11am on the other end of town, uh, oh—this isn’t looking good.  Took a number and filled out the application for a replacement license, the two clerks behind the counter were calling numbers rapidly and things were looking good.  Until one of the clerks remarked in a voice which could be heard all over the room, “ah, the room is full now, I think I’ll go take a break.”  I really don’t think the woman valued her life! 

Not to worry, other clerks from another room appeared and began calling numbers, too.  Things are looking up again.  A couple wandered in and sat down next to us beginning to complete the appropriate information form.  The woman asked me a couple questions about the form which I answered as best I could.  Her husband was called by one of the clerks in the other room, while she was having her photo taken he slipped back into our room and took her rather large wallet—I assumed so he could write a check for his driver’s license.  When the woman turned around and began to pick up her belongings I noticed her puzzled look at her purse, she sat down in the chair in front of the clerk and looked around with a worried expression—I said, “he took it.”  She laughed and said, “what would I do without you, I think you better accompany me all day!”  Her husband appeared just then with the wallet.

My number was called and I approached the desk with my required documents—a birth certificate and my passport.  The woman picks up the birth certificate which does not of course have my married name listed, compares it to the form I have completed, never looks at my photo or information in the passport and I’m good to go!!!  Takes my photo, $10 and I walk out with a paper driver’s license, real one to arrive in the mail.  And Rod, it is not even 10am!!!  But to be fair, Kansas City proper has a population of almost 3 million according to Google, the whole state of Montana has less than 1 million people!

Now, why did I need a replacement license—went to our local treasurer’s office the other day to get license plates for the little silver bullet trailer.  Stephanie at the counter asks for my driver’s license so she can use it to look up our records.  I open my wallet, sort through the cards—no driver’s license.  I have no recollection of the last time I even took the license out of my wallet for anything—who knows!!!

One of our missions today was to find a new couch for the silver bullet—the old one is hideously ugly and stinks to high heaven!!  Success!!  Great reclining loveseat at a fantastic price!

Costco was busy—holiday weekend is coming up but we did manage to get that truck load of stuff I talked about in last nights’ blog.  I meant to take a photo for Judy when I got home but forgot.  Strawberries, oranges, onions, garlic, baby back ribs, bird seed, etc—just a few things that were on my list. 

I’ll post about the haircut tomorrow complete with photos—many who know me will be in for a surprise!!! 

Tomorrow is Nat’s 90th birthday!!  Exciting!!  He refused to allow us to have a big celebration so we are doing a family birthday party at his house tomorrow evening.  On his 80th birthday we surprised him with a huge birthday party—close to 100 people in attendance!  So, he didn’t want us to do that again! 

A very good day in Montana!

And one last small town Montana story.  We needed to get a document notarized, we hurried back from Billings so we could be at the bank before 5pm.  Uh, oh, lobby closes at 4:30 except on FRIDAY when it stays open until 5am.  Dang!!  I was driving and said, “let’s just go to the drive up window and put this check in the bank.”  We did, I asked Gail if we could get something notarized, she got the bank manager, Debbie, we signed, she notarized, all through the drive up window drawer!  Only in small town USA!

It’s Raining

Many Canadian bloggers were saying it was appropriate for rain over Canada’s long May weekend.  Well, it’s appropriate for rain or snow on the long Memorial Day weekend here in Montana and can you believe we are going camping??  Guess we are just gluttons for punishment!

It rained and rained today, squalls of hard rain.  We are about knee deep in mud—why I bother cleaning house I will never know, especially this time of year!

I quilted some on LoraLee’s quilt today, baked cookies and brownies and made soup for Nat. 

Travels With Emma Judy left this comment on last nights’ blog:  “Have you ever eaten a commercial frozen dinner? Don't know why that popped into my head, but it did. You always seem to be making such elaborate meals. :)”  I laughed when I read it and Judy, the answer is probably no!  I might have eaten some sort of frozen dinner in my lifetime but not recently!  I love to cook and I’m a good cook (Michael thinks so too!).  I read a lot about our diets, obesity in the US, chemicals in our food, etc.  I try hard to fix us healthy meals and I make everything I can from scratch.  I am obsessive about reading labels.  We eat very little if any packaged foods—we might eat crackers or a bag of chips or ice cream from time to time, I’m guilty of satisfying a sweet tooth with a candy bar or a box of Mike & Ike’s candy; Mike is guilty of eating a bag of Cheetoes on occasion.  With that said, most of what we eat on a regular basis, I fix.  It is a long drive to any restaurant around here and the places to eat in Big Timber (our closest town) aren’t worth the drive or money. 

Here’s an example of what is really in our food—most people think Raisin Bran cereal is good for you—after all it says “bran” and is has raisins.  Have you ever read the label??  Mom and Chuck brought a box of raisin bran with them when they came over a few weeks ago and left it here.  Did you know there are THREE different kinds of SUGAR in that cereal????? 

We have a huge pantry, two refrigerators and a chest freezer—when we go to Billings I don’t come home with two bags of groceries, I come home with a truck load.  Sorry for the long answer Judy!

We drove over to Lonn and LoraLee’s this afternoon—oh, boy was that West Boulder road a mess!  Katie is at home for the summer helping out on the ranch as her summer job. 

When we got home last Friday UPS had delivered a HUGE box from Amazon.com containing our king size mattress we ordered for the Avion trailer.  Today we unleashed the memory foam mattress, and Michael worked his magic rigging a device which would make the cuts we were making accurate.  We now have two twin mattresses and half a twin mattress left over.  The stinky memory foam mattresses are downstairs airing out before going out to the trailer. 

Remember when Sue from Big Dawg and Freeway had a contest to recycle this book:Well, I’ve read and enjoyed the book—it was such a touching book—dogs can really see into our souls I believe!  If you would like to read this book, please leave a comment saying so and I will pick a name out of the hat. 

Thank you all for the wonderful comments you left on last nights’ blog—about the photo and our blog—we appreciate those comments!

Busy, Busy Monday

Guess I will get on the complaining bandwagon—there is so little going on around here except work—it is hard to think of blog material in the evening!  But here goes—don’t fall asleep!!

Mondays’ are the days I choose to do laundry such as sheets and towels.  It was a beautiful sunny day so the sheets went out to dry in the sun—now, isn’t that exciting?? 

Summertime is an incredibly busy time when you own 40 acres—weeds need spraying, grass needs cutting, garden needs tending—I find it hard to carve out enough time to quilt.  Yesterday I had a meltdown about the 4th time someone—dog or husband—interrupted me while I was quilting.

So, today I made a resolution—quilting will be done first—now I’ve put it in writing and will have to stick with it.  So, I quilted for 4 hours today before tackling any other chores except making lunch.  Four hours at a stretch is about all my neck and shoulders can tolerate and even then I need a break in between. 

Michael finished Geoff and Nancy’s fence today except for the gate and not a minute too soon.  Their new puppy comes home the end of this week, exciting!

Walked around the irrigation ditch today making sure there were no surprises such as washed out areas—there is water flowing in the ditch.

When walking around the ditch we are probably on one of the highest spots located on our land, looking down on the valley.

OK, are you still awake??

Not Much Happening

I spent the day quilting, Michael spent the day doing this and that—sawing fence boards, fixing fence, rigging me a plastic cover for my tender little squash and cucumber plants and going into town to see his Dad. 

Our birds are back—we have rosy red finches, goldfinches and lazuli buntings—those are our colorful ones.

 

I said in our last blog, our RVing priorities are changing.  We love our Country Coach motorhome but in spite of all the job offers from John and Brenda and others, Michael needs a project.  Do we need a 40 foot motorhome in which to go “camping” or to use traveling back and forth from Montana to Arizona??  We don’t think so.  We love to camp in forest service campgrounds where that 40 foot motorhome won’t fit—thus the Avion trailer.  The roads to get to some of the forest service campgrounds around here are not real roads, more like tracks.  We wouldn’t dream of taking the Country Coach where we camped with Lonn and LoraLee the other night.  Thus, the Avion trailer. 

I (Janna) have lots of ideas about how to fix up the trailer—just need to get Michael on track with those ideas.  He is mostly in agreement—it will make him a super Arizona project for next winter.  Here’s a couple photos I found on the internet of a restored Airstream trailer—think we can make our 70’s Avion trailer look this good???

We may or may not get to see the eclipse—clouds keep obscuring the sun.

Quilting Buddies

Heavy frost this morning, sure glad I covered my tender little squash and cucumber plants last night!  Today was an open sewing day at the quilt shop in town.  Several of the ladies which attend quilt retreat with me were going to be there.  Off I went this morning with little featherweight sewing machine in tow.  I finished the baby quilt I had started but couldn’t get going on another project.  It is hard for me to look at a pattern, get the directions in my head and rotary cut a project all at the same time carrying on a conversation.  So, I just shopped all the beautiful fabric and visited the last hour or so.  I enjoyed seeing Bette and Mary—Shirley and Janet dropped in for a quick visit too. 

Michael worked very hard all day attaching the planks to the frame work of the fence he is building for Geoff and Nancy.  Emmi stayed home alone and geez, did she voice her displeasure when I got home before Michael. 

Kind of a gray day and this evening it is misting rain again.  Hope it is sunny enough tomorrow to view the eclipse! 

Seems I was out-voted on the hat issue—everyone but me seems to like Michael’s black hat!

It Rained On Our Camping Trip

Yep, we went camping—in a USFS campground with no amenities alongside the beautiful Boulder River and even had a campfire!!!  And it rained and rained some more but you know what, we didn’t care—we need moisture so badly around here!  Lonn and LoraLee along with their three dogs were our camping buddies for the night. 

The road for getting to the absolutely beautiful USFS campgrounds south of us is atrocious to say the least—we’ve never owned a rig we were interested in bouncing and jouncing over that terrible road until now.  The silver bullet, aka little Avion, performed wonderfully!  No roof leaks, the furnace works (we needed it) and the plumbing system functioned as it should.

We had a great time in spite of the rain, Emmi enjoyed her other playmates for the weekend.  Our surroundings could not have been more beautiful and the food was spectacular! 

Thanks Lonn and LoraLee for going with us—we look forward to the next one!

I hate that hat!!

We had burgers for dinner needless to say!

Buddy on the left, Spunky on the right in their summer do’s!  I didn’t get a photo of Emmi’s other friend, Scobey! 

Rig unloaded, Emmi bathed, laundry going and soup on the stove.  A fire in the stove, it is very cool and we had 1/2 inch of rain in the gauge when we got home—life is good!

And yes, to all who asked, we are selling the Country Coach motorhome.  We have it listed on RV Trader.com and Craigslist.  Our priorities are changing, our RVing lifestyle is evolving, Michael is tiring of living in the RV during the winter and having no “projects.”  We will start looking for property in AZ next winter. 

Quilting and Cleaning

Spent the morning working on LoraLee’s quilt and when Michael came home from working over on the West Boulder we tackled the little Avion trailer.  It has been many moons since that little thing has had any tender loving care.

For the time being we will use the oh so very attractive 70’s couch until we decide how we are going to remodel.  So, out came the carpet steamer, the couch cushions were placed on the deck and I steamed and steamed. 

The trailer has twin beds and the mattresses are way creepy!!!  When I called our local guy who sells mattresses I learned the size we have and the standard twin size are two different things.  Now what do we do?  An internet search revealed exactly the same thing, the mattresses in the trailer are about 3 inches narrower than a standard twin.  It would have been OK to have a little wider mattress except then we couldn’t open the bathroom door—that’s a problem!  So, we put our thinking caps on, used our Amazon Prime membership and ordered a king size 10” thick memory foam mattress which we will cut to make two twin mattresses!  With the Amazon Prime, shipping is free and it will arrive in two days!

Michael got the hot water tank and refrigerator going.  He ran into a plumbing leak under the bathroom sink but repaired it quickly.  The refrigerator is original we think, 1976—a new one is probably in our future at some point.  The hot water tank is new. 

I scrubbed and scrubbed with water containing lots of bleach!  Now the little tin tee pee looks and smells better! 

First forget me nots of the season.

Chokecherries are blooming all ready.  My lettuce, radishes and spinach are up!

Stay tuned for our next adventure.  Know anyone who wants to buy a beautiful pink Country Coach motorhome which is in great shape and is actually clean???

Busy Time Of Year

Nothing much going on around here except work and yard work.  It seems as if this is the busiest time of year!  Not only do I have many customer quilts to quilt, the garden needs planting, the flower beds need weeding, multiple weeds by the millions need whacking and of course the grass needs mowing. 

I made a dent today—the garden is planted, I may plant some lettuce and radishes later in the season but for now the garden is on its own.  I even laid some rock stepping stones:

The weed whacking is done and if we don’t get some rain or snow soon, I won’t have to do it again.  This part of the country is scary dry—crispy dry and it is only May.  Our temps were over 80 today with not a cloud in the sky. 

And my flower beds are all ready for the blooming to began.  The only thing left to plant is my flowering pots which sit on the deck.  Maybe I will get some quilting done tomorrow???

It is graduation season and my oldest nephew graduated last Friday evening:

I love both photos!  Trenton was the first grandson in our family and the first grandchild born in nineteen years.  My niece Niki had it good for 19 years being the only niece and grandchild until Trenton was born. 

Michael worked with Lonn all day over on the West Boulder. 

We are two tired folks tonight!  Emmi is snoozing on the couch, I think she is tired too!

True Tin Tee Pee Owners

Yep, we are really and truly tin tee pee owners as of tonight.  We drove over to Belgrade and picked up our 1976 twenty four feet long Avion silver bullet!  It needs work of course and a healthy dose of cleaning—we have great plans for remodeling!  The mechanics are good, the young man who owned the rig works for one of the largest RV dealers in Montana—he had cleaned, insulated and re-sealed the underbelly, all the plumbing is new but he had done nothing cosmetic as you can see:

Oh, my, can you say UGLY???  Couch and flooring are leaving, maybe new cabinets, the base cabinets are real wood but the drawer and cabinet fronts are not.

UGLY once again, needs new mattresses, those give me the creeps!  The bathroom is through that door.  The refrigerator is original and works. 

We’ve had a busy day!  Michael went up to Geoff and Nancy’s to work on the fence.  I planted some new plants in our front flower bed where Michael did the rock work, replacing the gardening fabric and mulch. Looks very nice—he did a good job with the rock work!

Last night Jim and Kathy came for dinner—we had a very enjoyable evening!  I made some chocolate muffins from the Pinterest site that were very good—no flour—oats are processed in a food processor until almost flour consistency and used in place of regular flour. 

Emmi went to the vet today—the spots on her back which we thought might be hot spots just kept appearing.  One spot would clear and two more spots would appear.  Jason, our vet seems to think she may have a bad case of schnauzer bumps—a very common occurrence in schnauzers.  Treatment is human acne pads and medicine—we will see if the lesions clear—they look better all ready to me.

Yep, we had a busy day!