A Traveling Week

Whew--Billings again today--we were just there on Monday and I am going again tomorrow, Saturday. Monday was a normal Billings day for us, grocery shopping and other shopping.

Today, we took our realtor friends, Gwen and Jordan, to look at a piece of property we own near Billings with the intention of listing it with their firm. Gwen is the realtor that sold our ranch 3 years ago. It is a beautiful property with views in all directions--it was a little hard to get any photos today, it is very hazy from smoke drifting into Montana from California and Canadian fires.

We were also delivering for repair a Polaris Ranger, a type of four wheeler all terrain vehicle which belongs to the ranch Michael's son manages.

A quick Costco stop and then we headed back to Big Timber. While Michael picked up some garage lumber building supplies, I stopped by the nursing home to visit with a friend, Buryl. She and her husband owned the ranch adjoining ours until their health forced them to sell and move to Big Timber. She is 92 years old and her mind is very sharp but her body is starting to not cooperate. This winter while we were gone, her husband Jim fell and broke his hip, so he has been in the nursing home since February. We had a good visit, I wish the two of them did not have to be there.

We are getting late afternoon thunderstorms every day with rain. Many of our rancher neighbors have hay on the ground so they are wishing this rain would go away for a while.

I probably won't be posting any blogs until next Wednesday, tomorrow I am leaving for Kansas City to help my good friend Kelly celebrate the big 50th birthday. We are going to eat and shop and eat and shop.

Rain and Home Early

Well, I didn't get to spend too much time on that new mattress on Tuesday night. Jazzy was up and down all night, restless, covered in hives and needing to go outside due to the prednisone. Wednesday morning she was still not eating and was extremely restless and jumpy. I was getting ready to head to town to the veterinarian but all of a sudden when I sat down to get a bite to eat she was right there begging for a treat and then ate her dog food and began to boss all the other dogs around. All from an insect bite!!

As I write this tonight, it is raining again. Yesterday afternoon late we had thunderstorms with spectacular lightening and we received 1/2 inch of rain which is very welcome in Montana in July. It has been raining for a while tonight.

We finished up the excavation project around the little bunkhouse today about noon and came home. Michael headed out to work on his garage project and I started cleaning up and doing laundry getting ready for my trip. I am leaving on Saturday for Kansas City to help my wonderful friend Kelly celebrate the big fiftieth!! Kelly and I worked together as nurses for the Kimberly-Clark Corp. before I retired.

Our granddaughter Laci called this evening to tell us she survived USAF boot camp--she sounded incredibly happy--her parents and sister are there with her in San Antonio today and for the weekend.

We have been having Hughes.net satellite internet problems the last few days, Michael tweaked the dish tonight and things are better. That is one of the things I love best about my husband--he is a great handyman!!

Life is good!

Working and Bee Stings

Is it called work when you can look at scenery like this all day??
We went over to the ranch managed by Michael's son to start another excavating project this morning. On the first trip we hauled the mini-excavator and then I came back to our house and got the John Deere skidsteer. It was the first time I have ever loaded the skidsteer into the trailer and I was successful!

While we were working, Jazz was hanging out on the front porch of the bunkhouse near where we were digging. At one point I noticed her scratching her face with her back paw. A while later, all of Lonnie and LoraLee's dogs came over and I let Jazz off the porch to play, noticing that her face looked strange. When I finally got her to slow down and let me look--oh my gosh!!!--her eyes were almost swelled shut, her lower jaw was huge and snake bite and bee sting crossed my mind but she was chasing the other dogs and rolling in the grass like normal. We headed home shortly thereafter and she was extremely restless and when she sat in my lap, I could feel her wheezing which really concerned me. After calling our veterinarian, he told me to bring her in and he would give her some prednisone, it was probably an insect hyper-allergic reaction. I had prednisone left over from last winter when she was so ill and he said that would work fine--less than 30 minutes after the prednisone she was resting and the swelling had gone down significantly.

Our new mattress worked so well last night and I can hear it calling me now!!

A Trip to Billings

On Saturday of this past weekend, it was 35 degrees at 6am!! Our friends Robyn and Claire who live several miles up the road from us had frost, killing their tomato and cucumber plants--Claire was not happy!! Saturday and Sunday remained cool, sunny and cloudless but today, it warmed up and it was really warm in Billings.

As I had to have some blood drawn this morning before I could eat breakfast, we headed to Big Timber early, had the blood drawn and then ate breakfast at the Frosty Freeze. Then it was on to Billings looking like a group of gypsies with the mattress we were returning tied down in the back of the truck. We picked up a new mattress along with a bunch of groceries. I found some clothes on sale at Talbot's and some new bedroom rugs and other things at Target.

When we arrived back in Big Timber and exited the freeway, we noticed a truck and horse trailer beside the road along the exit ramp and a cowboy walking up the ramp. We stopped and asked if we could help--he had run out of gas so we hauled him into our local gas station, they loaned him a gas can and we hauled him back out to his truck where his patient wife and dog waited. He was very grateful and we were glad to help.

Motorcycle Michael yesterday, the sky really was that blue!

One lazy little dog enjoying her afternoon siesta!

Birds and Motorcycle Rides

After having guests for two days, Michael and I decided to take it easy and even slept in yesterday. I finally got motivated enough to go and cut some houndstongue weeds that were too far gone to seed to spray. As I was heading over to cut the last one I could find, I almost ran over a flock of baby Blue Grouse. I slowly backed away and came to the house for the camera. Grouse are notoriously slow moving and with a flock of babies, I didn't think they would go far and I was right. When I came back with the camera, I could see Mom poking her head up now and then and I started walking toward her. Well, those babies gave me a scare of my life, I must have almost walked right over the top of them and they squawked and took off over the ground. Mom was very incensed and puffed herself up and began to hiss at me--I got great photos of her--but I walked a huge circle around her and never did see the babies again, they must have hidden themselves well!!

Momma Blue Grouse

Today, after lunch, we decided to take a motorcycle ride. Although windy, it was a beautiful day, just the right temperature! North of Big Timber about 20 miles is the small ranching community of Melville where most of the large ranches have been in the same families for generations. We rode that direction and even went on to Harlowtown, MT which is about 45 miles north of Big Timber. The scenery was beautiful and I got some great shots of Sandhill Cranes.

These three were just walking slowly across this pasture and we were paying attention to them when I spotted several more just up the hill from this trio.

As we turned around to go back and take some photos of the other gang, they took flight. In the center of this photo you can see about eight of the cranes flying low to the ground.

This is the Melville Lutheran Church established in 1885 with the Crazy Mountains in the background.

What a great day!!

A Family Visit

It seems like family visits are never long enough when you live as far away from family as I do. My brother, Ross and his family have been on a trip across the country starting on July 4. They arrived here on Wednesday and departed this afternoon.

While here, they toured the famous C. Sharps and Shiloh Arms gun manufacturing plants, went for long walks with us and the boys got to visit the local water park yesterday afternoon. Last night we grilled burgers and then headed over to the ranch Michael's son manages to see if we could spot any wildlife. Ross and the boys are big hunters. Most of the wildlife stayed out of site with the exception of buck mule deer. No elk or bears like we had hoped.

This morning, we drove over to the West Boulder area to the home and studio of a friend who makes beautiful pottery. My everyday dishes and many of my serving pieces were made by John. My sister-in-law ordered a complete set of dishes in the color she likes and I picked out a serving dish--John presented the serving dish as a gift to me--what a delightful surprise.

After we got back to the ranch, we had a light lunch and then the scurrying began to get all packed and loaded up. They drove down the driveway with promises to see us at Christmas--we spend every other year in Arkansas for Christmas.

So, as I write this, I am sad and lonesome but it was a good visit and we will spend a longer time together in Arkansas in December.

This big guy was totally unconcerned about us taking his photo.

Vicky took this photo of Michael and I while we were out looking for critters last night.
My "little" brother Ross, Vicky, Trenton and Clayton. Ross is the youngest of my two siblings and is 6' 4" tall--I still call him my "little" brother. His boys are also showing promise of being very tall, Trenton, the 14 year old is all ready 6' and Clayton is not far behind.

Yellow Warbler, I Think

A while back I wrote about our psychotic little yellow bird that kept flying at the windows, pooping on the windowsills and chirping and chirping. It still returns every few days to do the same routine. I thought it was an immature Gold Finch but Howard and Linda from RV Dreams had photos of a little yellow bird they rescued and it looked just like my neurotic little bird, a Yellow Warbler. So, I have been educated. Guess I should use my new bird book more often!

Michael and I are both getting hitch itch but it is a little early for that. We still have a 3-4 day excavating project to do and we have friends coming to visit around the first of August so we won't be going anywhere for a while. We have discussed British Columbia and even just northwestern Montana.

My brother and his family should be arriving any minute I hope. I baked cookies all morning, Snickerdoodles and my famous Oatmeal Chocolate Chip/Pecan Cookies. I have a Costco spiral cut ham and will warm that with some potatoes and a salad when I see the whites of their eyes.

Michael finished manufacturing the rest of the roof trusses today and I helped him set them up on top of the walls with the help of the backhoe.

No photos today--maybe later. It was a beautiful day again today but still that pesky wind!