They Are Here

We spent the morning getting ready for company and making lunch for Nat.  Homemade tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.  Tried a new recipe for strawberry ice cream that was pronounced a success!

Danny and Ann arrived about 3:30pm, they flew into Bozeman and rented a car coming to our house over Swingley Road—a very scenic, rough gravel road which travels past Lonn and LoraLee’s house.  They got to see a bear, antelope and lots of deer—they were happy.

Visiting and cooking—what we do best—was how we spent the rest of the evening.  After a dinner of pork tenderloin, roasted brussel sprouts/carrots/apples along with a salad we all hopped in the jeep to look for elk.  Found a small herd on one of the large ranches heading up the Boulder.  The bulls were bugling, fighting amongst themselves.  The females were ignoring the whole circus.

We haven’t made our plans for tomorrow yet, we will decide in the morning what the day will bring.

We Are So Lucky

To live near Yellowstone Park!  Even though I have company coming tomorrow and my sister is how shall I say this politely—a bit of a clean freak  neat person—we decided to jump in the little car and head to Yellowstone Park this morning.  We were rather late starting but that’s OK, we are retired and had all day!  Emmi got to keep Nat company, we enjoyed lunch at the Rib and Chop in Livingston on the way and it was a beautiful day!  Just right for driving with the top down.

First wildlife jam was for a group of sheep crossing the highway heading to water:

We saw just a few elk having a siesta on the lawns at Mammoth—next up was a buffalo jam:  a herd of probably close to 100 crossing the road also going to water. 

And that was it for wildlife except for a couple antelope—the scenery was spectacular and the weather perfect for a drive!  Now I’ve got to get to house cleaning, Sis arrives tomorrow!!

Back in Big Timber I called Marjean who had just arrived home from her little weekend jaunt with husband—of course she would love to have her quilt—she lives just a couple houses away from Nat.  She loved it!!

This photo is more true to color.

And here’s the back:

Always good to have a happy customer!  It was just an all around great day!

Quilt Finished and Preparations Begin

It took me an additional two hours this morning to finish Marjean’s quilt and it is gorgeous.  She was to have picked up the quilt today but her husband had other plans for her—maybe tomorrow. 

My sister Ann and her husband Danny are coming to visit—I can’t wait to see them, it has been three years since they visited here.  So, I started preparations today—a little cleaning, a little laundry, bed making—you know all the stuff you do when company is coming. 

Michael decided to get some winter preparations out of the way before company gets here—he put away all the water hoses, blew out the sprinkler system and winterized both the motorhome and Tin Tee Pee.  In the spot where we are planning the new garage, water had begun to seep from the ground in one corner—now how is that???  We are so dry we could spontaneously combust and water starts seeping from the ground.  Michael dug a trench and laid perforated pipe with gravel over it—hopefully this will drain the water away from the garage.

I can’t wait until November gets here and this election is over.  I bet we get at least two if not three political calls per day—I’ve learned to recognize the Washington D.C. area code on caller ID—I don’t answer it!!!

It’s been a little cool around here in the mornings—Emmi needs a blanket:

Dry weather relief may be happening soon—a significant chance for rain/snow is predicted for the middle of next week—Danny and Ann may get to see snow!

Robyn—these photos are for you.  Robyn is our friend and neighbor who brought us a companion for our lone horse.  Red was kind of an outcast with Robyn’s other horses and they picked on him.  Not here, he has found a happy home—Red and Roan are now joined at the hip!

Fort Knox

Off for Billings bright and early this morning—we were on a mission to ship the two wooden crates containing the longarm frame.  The two crates weighed almost 400 pounds between the two of them and it was necessary to ship by a freight company—FedEx.  I had called, gotten the location of the warehouse, called and gotten a rate quote and number—we were ready until we got to Fort Knox!!  No entry only locked gates with talking boxes beside the gates.  The lady who answered my first box call informed me I had the wrong place I needed to take my “package” to such and such address.  Nope, I informed her, my “package” was two wooden crates weighing almost 400 pounds.  Oh, all righty then I will buzz you in the truck gate.  She doesn’t, the next guy in the box we talk to says come on in, head toward the ramp, the gates open. 

Not a soul around, not one.  I go to the front door of the building and talk to a box again, the first door opens and I am only in a foyer.  I talk to another box and success—I am in!!  The only person at the desk is on the phone forever while I stand and wait thinking Michael is going to wonder if they locked me up inside there!  She finally gets off the phone and takes my info, thrilled I have the rate quote and number, gives the paperwork to the forklift driver, lets me out of Fort Knox and we are unloaded by the forklift guy.  Geez, what an ordeal!!

After that little episode, we were home free!  Mountain Supply to return a pump then Sam’s Club for fuel for the truck—while in Sam’s Club we decided ice cream was in order after the Fort Knox ordeal—we deserved a treat.  Then it was off to Big Sky Steel to purchase more steel for another longarm frame.  The frame also has two aluminum rails—Michael was thrilled to find out the steel place has the aluminum at half the cost of the place we originally purchased it from!

Off for a delicious lunch at Jake’s then onward to Costco and Wal Mart.  When we go to Billings we generally have other appointments with doctors or hair dressers—today no appointments and we were back in Big Timber by 4:30.  Nat was pitching horseshoes with a friend so we grabbed Emmi and headed up the Boulder to unload.

A busy but fun day spending time with my husband!  Back to quilting now!

One Project Down

Down but not completed—our friend Steve decided he wasn’t in the mood to spend as much money as it would have taken to make a hot rod out of the 1946 pickup Michael worked on last summer and fall.  So, Michael hauled it and assorted parts back to Steve this morning.  Maybe we should have taken some more of Michael’s treasures to Steve????

We have a quote from Federal Express Freight for the longarm frame—YIKES—glad the buyer is also paying shipping!!  There is a FedEx terminal in Billings from which we will ship the wooden crates.

I spent hours and hours quilting today—am almost finished with Marjean’s quilt—I had hoped to be totally finished today but I pooped out—maybe I will summon the energy to go back down to the quilt studio tonight, maybe not!

I finished the book by John Grisham today, The Confession.  Do you ever wonder if the things you read about could actually happen??  Has an innocent person actually been put to death in our criminal system??  Do policemen/detectives really lie to the extent an innocent person goes to prison??  I don’t think I really want to know the answers to these questions!!  When I traveled extensively for work I read a lot of murder mysteries.  One particular one—I don’t remember the author or the name of the book—disturbed me greatly to the point where I couldn’t sleep—I stopped reading murder mysteries because I could visualize the awful things written about actually happening in our sometimes evil world.   I could visualize the events in Grisham’s book happening—scary, isn’t it?

Our days are nice and cool now, the leaves are turning beautiful shades of red and gold but we still need rain—the slight chance for rain in our today forecast didn’t materialize.

Our beautiful granddaughter Katie and her husband Michael, all dressed up to attend a wedding a couple weeks ago.

Birch Versus Aspen

In this photo from last night, is it a birch or an aspen??  These trees are aspen--I went to our old friend Google for an explanation.  In the photos provided by Wikipedia, it is hard to tell the difference between the two species of trees.  Birch trees are a deciduous tree which grows in temperate climates (meaning the change between winter and summer is not extreme).  Aspen are also deciduous but are native to cold regions with cool summers and thrive at high altitudes.  There are no birch trees on our property, only aspen—now you know all you ever wanted to know about birch and aspen trees. 

Well, Michael has a new project—our not so temperate climate is hard on the motorhome exterior and those dang little mice are always trying to get in.  We are building a new garage to house the motorhome and some of the many vehicles we own for two people to drive.  My project oriented husband is happy!

I spent the day quilting and quilting.  After lunch I quilted for four and a half hours straight due in part to my listening to a John Grisham book, The Confession.  After Grisham wrote The Firm and a couple more following that best seller, I stopped reading his books—too predictable.  But when browsing through our local library audiobook section the other day, this title caught my eye and I can’t put it down or stop listening or whatever—what a good book!  And I’m getting lots of quilting done!

For lunch I made a delicious pasta dish.  Several blog posts ago, The RV Goddess wrote about a tomato soup she had prepared.  I decided to eliminate the “thinning” step and serve it over pasta instead of as a soup.  The recipe involves roasting tomatoes, onions and garlic in the oven, pureeing the roasted veggies in a food processor and ta da—you have soup or in my case, pasta sauce, delicious!!!

A Nice Fall Day

A little on the warm side but nice.  There is a slight chance for rain in the forecast this week—we can only hope!!

Michael spent the day puttering in the shop and hauling dirt to Geoff and Nancy.  I spent the day doing laundry and quilting.  Of course I did have to play basketball with Emmi several times and we did take a walk this morning.

The FedEx man came this afternoon bringing Michael a new book—when I’m downstairs with the longarm droning away I can’ t hear a knock on the door but I have Emmi—only recently has she started coming unglued when someone drives in or knocks on the door—our very own alert system packaged in one tiny, very vocal 11 pound dog!!

A few days ago at the insistence of an unnamed friend (named Brenda) I started allowing anonymous comments on the blog again.  Well, the folks with nothing better to do came out all ready—nothing too bad yet, just annoying, must be nice to have nothing to do but sit around and think up ways to irritate bloggers????

And that’s all that happened today around here!

A Sunday At Home

OK, it’s another boring day around the homestead here!  No cows to vaccinate, no bears, just us and Emmi. 

The most exciting thing to happen today—Nat came for lunch—burgers on the grill, corn on the cob from our garden (not very good corn but from our garden), roasted potatoes and some sliced tomatoes from the garden with chocolate ice cream for dessert.  Oh, and I used a new mixture to marinate pineapple then grilled it—super delicious!

I spent the day struggling with that quilt—finally about 6pm this evening I got a design in my head and just went with it—Michael came in and said, “that looks great!”  Hurray!!!

What is it with Apple, did Steve Jobs sit around and think up ways to frustrate us???  I received my first Apple product two years ago for Christmas, an iPod—every time I try to use the thing which is often I end of cussing and almost throwing the thing across the room.  Usually I turn to YouTube to find videos which will usually help me solve my problem—not today, I’ve got an audiobook on the iPod in the wrong place—in music, not books so when the chapter changes the iPod takes you back to the beginning of that same chapter, not the next chapter.  And if things were working as they should with the audiobook showing up in iTunes also, I could fix this problem but NOOOOOO—the audiobook won’t show up in iTunes, anywhere!!!  GRRRRR

Michael spent the day building wooden crates for shipping the longarm table--

This is a photograph of the quilt frame we sold—as you can see it is big, the black rails are each a little over ten feet long, the end pieces are big and awkward.  The sewing machine head (the big silver thing) wasn’t included in the deal, just the frame.  This whole set-up is referred to as a longarm quilting machine—meaning the space between the needle and the back of the machine is “longer” than a regular sewing machine—it has a 26 inch throat where as my regular sewing machine has only about a 7 inch throat.  OK, that’s your sewing lesson for today—see I told you it was boring around here!  Notice the Bouse, AZ desert out the back door of the trailer? 

Not As Exciting

But still a good day.  We took an early morning walk and saw Tammy with her dogs/elephants across the way—we had a shouting conversation across the gulch.  Nola and Luke are part St. Bernard/Great Pyrenees dogs—huge!

My goal was to quilt today and quilt I did—made some headway on this “show” quilt and finally got a good design in my head.  Michael spent the day working on the sawmill—yes, we have a sawmill.  It belongs to Nat but he hasn’t (thank goodness) operated the mill for several years.  We need some long boards to make the crate for shipping the longarm table—we had logs so Michael was creative. 

Tonight we enjoyed a fabulous meal with Joe, Tammy and their son Jeff.  We could not have chosen better neighbors and are so glad they bought our property.  I fixed coke brined chicken on the grill with a honey/mustard sauce, roasted potatoes from the garden, carrots also from the garden and homemade chocolate ice cream for dessert.  Delicious! 

Another good day in Montana!

Smoke hanging over the mountains yesterday morning, today we had no smoke and wonderful temps!Fall is coming.

We Were Cowboys Today

We knew Lonn and LoraLee needed to work their calves today—which involves pushing them through a chute then vaccinating the animals.  Their previously scheduled help couldn’t make it so we were elected as substitute cowboys—OK, I thought, let’s go, the blog won’t be boring, I’ll have something to write about tonight.

It was a glorious day in Montana.  Lonn and Drake had moved the herd to the corrals on horseback.  LoraLee was waiting with the truck and supplies.  After sorting the cows from the calves we got started.  I was given a syringe and sent to the far side of the chute.  The chute was originally designed to work buffalo—this ranch and the adjoining ranch owned by Tom Brokaw ran a small herd of buffalo for a while.  All the chute controls are hydraulic making it a very smooth operation.  Drake got the grubby job—he was in the chute with the calves, encouraging them to enter the big, bad chute.  Lonn would close their heads in the gate, squeeze them just a bit so they couldn’t jump around too much and we did our doctoring.   LoraLee manned the record keeping and the gates sorting male from female.  Each calf was probably only in the chute about one minute. 

 “I’m not liking the looks of this at all!!”

The nurse only stuck herself with a needle once.  The chute opens rather rapidly when someone pulls the hydraulic lever—since I was on the far side, Lonn—the chute controller, couldn’t see me.  I was supposed to be paying attention and staying out of the way—well once I was day dreaming or something, bending over to look at something and WHACK—right on top of my head!!  That hurt!  LoraLee says Lonn owes me dinner at the Rib and Chop for whacking me in the head!

It was just a great day, we enjoyed being there and helping out.  When we were finished we all headed back to the house where LoraLee had a roast in the crockpot—LoraLee is feeling pretty good her second day post chemo—that’s a good thing!!  We enjoyed some time eating and visiting before we headed back to our side of the mountain. 

Even Emmi got in on the cowboy-ing!

“Geez, glad that’s done, we are out of here!”

And to take a tip from Judy—The End:

A Mish Mash

Or a little of this and that.  We really need to change locations, I feel the blog has been exceedingly boring lately!!  I started the day out with good intentions—I was going to quilt.  Well, I guess I did quilt a little—for about 10 minutes then I spent a hour ripping out what I had stitched!

The folks who purchased our former home and ranch are here and are doing some maintenance work on the house—they rented a sprayer and re-stained the entire outside of the log home.  Today I went down and taught them how to “chink.”

See the white lines between the logs—that is a substance called chink—it is applied between the logs to seal the cracks.  Chink is a latex and sand mixture which is applied using either a special chink gun or a caulk gun.  A very time consuming process, I chinked the inside and outside of our house in which we now live when it was built.  Joe and Tammy want to chink the outside of their home and needed lessons—teacher Janna to the rescue.  We are invited down for dinner tomorrow evening, I’m anxious to see some of the finished work!

I failed to listen to my intuition the other day—when the UPS Store owner told me it would cost a little over $200 to ship that longarm frame I should have said, “and what have you been smoking???”  The two packages weigh close to 250 pounds and the rails are over 10 feet long.  I explained all this and his reply, “well, I can’t imagine it being more than say $300.”  Today he called me with a quote for $867!!!!  Needless to say we are NOT using his UPS Store for shipping!!  I got a quote from Federal Express Freight for $367—Michael can build a crate for the rails and we will take it to the freight terminal in Billings.  We made a flying trip over to Livingston (60 miles one way!!) this afternoon late to get the frame.  Geez!!  The frustration drove me to have ice cream!!!

A few days ago I read Paulette’s blog in which she wrote about going to get a quilting frame—Rick also wrote about their trip.  Paulette and I emailed back and forth a few times about what kind of sewing machine she should have for this new frame.  I gave Paulette my phone number in case she had any more questions.  Imagine our surprise when the phone rang the other afternoon and it was Rick—with Paulette waiting in the background to talk to me.  It was fun to actually talk to blogging friends.

I think today was our smokiest day so far—miserable, smoky enough to make your eyes burn and your throat hurt.

Long Day, Encouraging News

We left the house early this morning meeting Lonn and LoraLee at Nat’s to drop off Emmi.  It was a day of medical stuff for LoraLee, a very long day but with encouraging news—the new chemo is doing what it is supposed to do—very good news!!

Katie and Michael joined us in Billings and it was good to visit with them.  We spent the day surfing the internet on Lonn and LoraLee’s iPads’, reading and knitting—I managed to knit several rows without mistakes or cussing!  LoraLee knits so I knew I had help in the wings if need be!

LoraLee reminded me today—I haven’t posted photos of Mary’s quilt—so here it is—a beauty!

Whirlwind Day

Several years ago right after purchasing the longarm, I decided to take it south to Arizona that winter using an enclosed trailer as a quilting studio.  Not wanting to pay $3000 for an additional shorter in length frame for the longarm, my handy/dandy husband built one—the machine worked just as well on the home built frame as it did on the factory one.

Quilting in the desert was hard on my machine—way too much dust and we decided not to take the machine south again.  Now I had two frames—I posted the 10 foot table for sale on the APQS quilting forum probably at least a year ago.  A woman called two weeks ago, has a Millennium longarm just like mine—lives in Oklahoma but is living in Texas for a while as her husband is working there.  She needed a shorter table in their place in Texas—she bought my frame.

OK—that was a long explanation for why this was a whirlwind day!   When I went to the airport the other day, I stopped by JoAnn’s and purchased some new canvas for the rollers of the longarm frame.  This morning we hurriedly attached that canvas and loaded the frame in the truck—Nat had a 10:40 eye doctor appointment in Livingston and we were going to take the frame to the UPS store for shipping.  The rails are so long it requires building a crate and shipping via a freight carrier.

Eye appointment and unloading of the frame accomplished—time for lunch—where else but the Rib and Chop in Livingston!  Delicious meal!

Finally we are back home rescuing the home alone Ms. Emmi.  I’ve done some unpacking, laundry, vacuuming and dusting—home alone husband and dog does not make for a clean house! 

Very warm day and very windy—no rain in the forecast for at least a couple weeks.  Our leaves are starting to change color, especially the chokecherry.

Home Again

My flight home today from Kansas City was so pleasant—much better than the flight out!  On time, still packed planes but much more considerate people! 

The party is over but it is very good to be home with Michael and Emmi—I think both of them were very glad to see me.  Kelly picked me up at the hotel around 7:30am and we had a great visit on the way to the airport.  I think she is ready for a little R&R, too!

Alison and Ryan haven’t posted many photos as of yet on Facebook but here are a couple: 

Alison has been taking voice lessons for a long time and is well on her way to being a “known” opera singer—her voice is very powerful!  Once I figure it out I will post a link to the opera she sang for Ryan during the reception.

Still very dry and smoky here in Montana but cooler.  Emmi had a “hot spot” on her back when I got home (I think these spots are stress related—perhaps she didn’t like my being gone for so long??) so I gave her a quick bath and cleaned the area—it’s looking better all ready.

It was a spectacular weekend and wedding—I had so much fun, I, like a lot of people said, “let’s do it again!”

It Is Over

A weekend anticipated by many, the party is over.  Kelly with latte in hand is retrieving me from my hotel shortly and taking me to the airport.  Elaine left bright and early yesterday morning. 

Yesterday too started with Kelly picking me up, we drove to the Marriott Hotel downtown where she was hosting a brunch for the out of town guests, many of which were heading back to Chicago (Bride and Groom live in Chicago). 

Yesterday ended with a pizza party around the pool at Kelly and Tom’s.  It has been wonderful to once again spend time with the family and friends of Kelly and Tom whom I’ve met in the past and to meet new ones.  It was wonderful to finally meet Ryan and to spend time with his bride Alison. 

And now for the bad news—not one bride photo I took turned out—I have “friended” Alison on Facebook so hopefully soon I will post photos of her.  The wedding held in a gorgeous, old Episcopal church in downtown Kansas City was one of the most special I’ve ever attended.  Tears, smiles, laughter, beautiful children performing their duties (grandchildren were flower girls and ring bearer) with aplomb—as the children were going back up the aisle post wedding, they were giving everyone a thumbs up and Philip was waving to everyone—precious!

The reception was held in a one time theater in downtown.  The row seating of this majestic building has been removed and tables for dining had been placed on the tiers.  The lighting and sound system is still there, the stage provided a venue for the toasts, speeches and the most spectacular event at a wedding I’ve ever attended—the bride sang a short opera—you see Alison is a opera singer—she has a voice bigger than big.  There was not a dry eye in the house when she was given a standing ovation!!! 

Me, Trese, Kelly and Elaine Kelly’s friend Joy on the left, Elaine, Kelly’s Dad John, and me.

I’m sad the weekend is over but I’m also ready to go home, I miss Michael and Emmi. 

The Wedding

I’m going to post this short little blog before I go to the wedding—it is gonna be a late evening I am sure!  So, I may or may not post an addition to this little short ramble when I get back to the hotel tonight.  I may just wait until morning, sit down with the camera and post lots of photos. 

Today Elaine and I have been bums—we got up late, dressed, headed off to breakfast, wandered the Plaza, found a hoity-toity optical place which repaired my glasses for free (one of the nose pieces fell off last night and wonder of wonders, I found the little screw which had fallen out) walked the Plaza some more and  had lunch.  We are now back in the hotel leisurely dressing for the 4pm wedding.  I could get used to this!

the Day Before THE DAY

Can you believe I managed to sleep until almost 8am this morning—black out curtains and a cool, quiet room makes a lot of difference!

We were to meet Kelly at the Classic Cup for breakfast/lunch this morning—close enough for a walk from our hotel.

  Kelly is the one sitting beside me, mother of the groom!  We walked around in the Plaza for a while after our delicious breakfast then Kelly was off to do some last minute MOG stuff.  Elaine and I shopped for a while longer before heading back to the hotel, dropping off stuff and heading off again—to Kelly’s.  We only stayed for just a little while before deciding we two ladies needed some “feet up” time.  It was Mimi’s (aka Kelly) grandson’s birthday a few weeks ago and Mimi had planned a little delayed celebration for this afternoon.

Tonight was rehearsal dinner and although Elaine and I had no rehearsing to do we were invited to the grand party and a grand party it was!!  Kelly as usual is the hostess with the most!!  The venue was to die for—cocktails and appetizers on the roof overlooking the Kansas City skyline:

Kelly with her husband Tom.

Trese, Elaine, me and Kelly.

Alison is the beautiful bride—in the red stripe.  And Ryan is the groom—the younger one, sorry Dennis!

The bride and groom live in Chicago, Ryan grew up in Kansas City, the bride in Chicago so tonight we had Chicago hotdogs and Kansas City bar-b-que.  There is a process to eating Chicago hotdogs—bright green relish, little peppers (the name escapes me), NO catsup I’m told by the bride’s father, mustard only and a whole bunch of other things I never ate on a hotdog but evidently is required on a CHICAGO hotdog.  They were good!!!  And so was the bar-b-que!! 

Elaine and I sat at a table with Kelly’s good friend Trese, her husband Dennis, Kelly’s brother John and his wife Bev, and Kelly’s Dad John—we were a rowdy group.  For dessert Kelly had these tiny individual bite size pies served—the first one was pretty good and as the second one was going into my mouth Kelly’s 83 year old Dad says to me, “how many of those have you had?”  WHAT—the pie automatically came out of my mouth and I just died laughing.  I told him that wasn’t a question he should be asking ladies!!

We are two tired, happy ladies tonight—tomorrow is the BIG DAY!!!!