A Whole Lot Of Coming And Going

My plan was to get our house cleaned and the laundry done this morning so I could play this afternoon—didn’t happen.  First off it took me way more time than I wanted to spend to get the house clean—it’s amazing how much dust and cobwebs can accumulate in three weeks!

I made Olive Oil Bread dough from the Artisan Bread In Five Minutes A Day cookbook and used a portion of the dough for pizza.  Loaded it up with homemade pizza sauce, a little seasoned hamburger, and lots of veggies—it was so good! 

It was very warm here today—in the eighties—kind of unusual for this time of year.  Our leaves are just starting to have a hint of yellow and red.

As you know our big dually diesel pickup is sick—Michael tore into it today trying to find the cause of its illness.  All those parts laying around in the garage kind of make me nervous! 

Michael has a big project, a road to build, which he needs to start before bad weather sets in.  The only truck we have operational now is the old, old farm truck—fine for running around here but not for going to town.  Michael needed some supplies to start this road project so I took the convertible to town, got Nat’s truck, loaded up the lumber at the lumber yard, came back up the Boulder, unloaded the lumber, headed back to town and visited with Nat a little while before heading home in the convertible.  I was getting dizzy!

The “prescribed burn” is still burning and when the wind came up today I got a little concerned.  It is amazing how a fire will “lay down” at night—when I was coming and going from town the smoke was really heavy, tonight when I came home there is hardly any smoke.  So far the wind is blowing the smoke away from us—let’s hope that continues!

Unloaded and Dishwasher Install

The motorhome is officially unloaded—the inside that is of anything that would freeze before we head south in December.  I should have counted the number of trips I made up and down those steps into the coach and the number I made up and down the stairs to the basement.  Just working off some of that Brenda food!

Our friend and neighbor Geoff came down this morning bringing goodies—my tomato plants that I left for them to enjoy while we were gone, leftover soup Nancy had made before she left for Hawaii :))), lettuce which I needed and best of all, some beautiful flowers Nancy grew--

Poor Michael worked most of the day installing the new dishwasher—about 4pm he ran a test load, success!  I think he made just as many trips up and down the basement stairs as I did and many trips out to the garage. I cooked up a pot of soup and late this afternoon we headed into town to take dinner to Nat.  He isn’t feeling well—we were glad we did go in.

The US Forest Service is doing what is called a “prescribed burn” in the mountains very near our home.  I sure hope they keep their “prescribed burn” under control!  Our tax dollars are working hard, there are two huge helicopters parked in a field near here and on our way home tonight we passed probably 25 big trucks and pickups coming down the mountain from where the fire is burning.  Guess we can hope with all those resources the fire will remain under control. 

Our house sits just over that tree where the pale red “X” is located. 

We Are Home

But maybe we should have stayed in Canada!!!  At least that’s what Michael said after we left the Quilted Hen Quilt Shop. 

We left the Great Falls RV park about 8:30am headed to Carter, MT, about 25 miles northeast.  There is nothing but a small store in Carter and a large sign telling you which way to turn for getting to the Quilted Hen.  About a mile up a gravel road there is another sign and you turn into their wheat farm.  Nothing but wheat fields for miles, nothing! Nothing!

Except in the yard of their home is the quilt shop and what a quilt shop it is.  Diane, the owner, is the number one dealer for Pfaff sewing machines in Montana.  The shop is open, bright, welcoming and filled with gorgeous fabrics. The two ranchers talking.

Out of curiosity I was looking at the new Pfaff Creative Sensation embroidery machine and the owner noticed.  She explained the price of the machine and I explained that I had absolutely no interest in a machine that cost that much!!!  Well, would I be interested in a pre-owned previous model, less than six months old with less than 30 hours of sewing on it??  Now, when I went into the store I purchased fabric, I had absolutely NO intention or interest in buying a new sewing machine, I like the machine I have, a Pfaff.  Diane explained that she has a group of customers, six women—when Pfaff introduces new machines, these ladies always trade in their previous machine and buy the new one even if the older machine was less than six months old!!!!  These ladies obviously have way more money than I do!!!! 

When Diane told me what she was willing to sell the pre-owned machines for I thought I needed a hearing aide!  I went and got Michael and we were both standing there when I asked her again—same answer.  We went out to the motorhome and talked about it, I called Gina and she agreed to purchase my machine and we walked out of the store with an amazing embroidery machine for an amazing price.  Michael said it would have been cheaper to stay in Canada!  I am so excited—can’t wait to try it out!

The ladies spent about a hour and a half giving me the basics, Emmi played with all the ranch dogs, then we headed on down the road arriving in Big Timber just about 4:30pm.  We stopped and visited with Nat a little, rolled up the driveway and unloaded the necessary stuff.

Brenda, you were right, that Canadian Costco chicken pot pie is delicious, Michael loved it and so did I!

We had a wonderful vacation and it is now wonderful to be home.

A Storm and A New Dishwasher

We slept well in spite of being in a RV park right beside the busiest road in Great Falls.  A relaxing morning using the park’s fast wifi, drinking coffee and walking the Emmi girl before we headed off to find Home Depot along with another appliance store, Eklands. 

If you have never driven in Great Falls, it is an experience!  The streets are very confusing and strangely named.  It is extremely easy to get turned around and we both have trouble knowing what direction we are heading in this town.  We found both Home Depot and the other appliance store but ended up having to call the RV park for directions to Sam’s Club—nope, we have no GPS, there may be one in my future but Michael swears at the things! 

Home Depot was the typical big box store—a woman helped us who talked as if she knew so much about appliances but knew very little.  Off to Eklands and what a refreshing change of pace.  A Great Falls business where the sales manager helped us.  We learned a lot about dishwashers and ended up buying a brand we had never heard of—Blomberg!  It is a European dishwasher and supposed to be very quiet.  When I told the guy I wanted a quiet dishwasher he began showing us another unfamiliar brand, Meile, but when I saw the $1500 price tag I said, “maybe I don’t want that quiet!!”  There are some great features of this dishwasher we purchased—a drip pan underneath the machine with a float which shuts off the water supply if a leak starts, a silverware basket that can be moved to any spot on the lower rack and hopefully quiet.  The dishwasher is riding in the back of the jeep!

Lunch at a Mexican place, Michael enjoyed his selection and mine left a lot to be desired!  While at the restaurant, a storm came through with rain and high winds.  When we got back to the RV park all the power was out—no internet, no anything.  There are several high end motorhomes right across from us and they all had their generators running—amazing our dependence on power!  Emmi and I took a nap under a blanket—it was wonderful!

Tomorrow we are off, first to the Quilting Hen in Carter then home—we are both ready!

No photos today so I will leave you with one of Peyto Lake in Alberta.

After reading Rick’s post about comment moderation I am going to try turning off comment moderation for a while.  The last time I did that I got comments in Chinese literally and a couple other foreign languages—that makes me mighty nervous!  But like Rick says, you can use your delete button very easily.

Windmills and Wheat Fields

The horse went home to the barn.  Our tentative plans were to head toward Waterton-Glacier Park staying in a provincial park or a commercial RV park in Magrath.  The closer we got to those destinations the more Michael said, “we could be in Conrad, Montana by late afternoon,” then when I agreed to that and we approached Conrad, it was “we could be in Great Falls, MT by 6pm.”  So guess where we are!!!!  Our border crossing took us about 10 minutes—the usual questions and we were off with no problems. 

We will shop for a new dishwasher tomorrow—ours died right before we left home.  In exchange for my agreeing to come to Great Falls, Michael promised to let me go to the cool little quilt store, The Quilting Hen in Carter, MT on Tuesday.  Then we will head on home and be there by Tuesday evening.

We left John and Brenda about 10am this morning with hugs and promises to see you down the road.  We had a wonderful, wonderful time with John and Brenda, the best!  Drove to Cremona just up the road and dumped our tanks before getting on the road.

The wind is howling here in Great Falls which is entirely normal—Lonn and LoraLee lived here for many years. 

Emmi slept the day away—doesn’t she look comfortable??

Our Last Day At Dogpound North

Brenda and I took off this morning leaving the guys behind to do whatever it is guys do.  We were off to introduce me to the new grandson Kashton and his parents.  What a beautiful baby (and darned if I didn’t leave BOTH cameras at home today) and it was a pleasure to meet Rebecca and her husband.  Their home is just beautiful—a perfect family.

Then a stop at Costco where I discovered that just like in the States, you do not want to go to Costco on Saturday!!  We picked up a few things, had a couple slices of pizza and were off for more exciting shopping.

The town of Cochrane is only about 25 miles from John and Brenda and has preserved the downtown area—lots of cute little shops.  We both found a pair of earrings we couldn’t live without but that was it—amazing, huh???

Then home to prepare supper for those hard working guys—John explains on his blog what they did today.  Again Brenda outdid herself—pork chops on the grill, those to die for cheesy potatoes and sautéed green beans.  I made an apple/almond crisp for dessert.  Brenda says at dinner, “I’m glad you guys are leaving tomorrow, we have to quit eating like this,” to which Mike replied, “that’s why we are leaving.”  We all enjoyed a laugh at that.

It has been a wonderful time spent with good friends and tomorrow we are heading south—the horse is heading to the barn!

Sun, Snow and Endless Views

Off we went this morning to see one of John and Brenda’s favorite places, Peyto Lake in Banff National Park.  First we had to stop so I could have my first Tim Horton’s coffee, I ordered a small and let me tell you Bayfield Bunch, that was one small cup of coffee!  But it was really all I needed and the doughnuts were great!

Onward to the Park.  When we got out of the car at Castle Mountain it was very windy and chilly, by the time we got to Peyto Lake it was snowing!  Then the sun would come out, then it would snow some more! Castle Mountain

The Park was crowded—not nearly as much as on a summer day but crowded none the less.  We parked at Peyto Lake and began the “short, steep” climb—all of us were huffing and puffing by the time we got to the lake and then really lost all our breath at the sight of that beautiful, beautiful spot.

The water really is that gorgeous color! 

The glacier that feeds Peyto Lake.

Although Michael and I have been to Lake Louise in the past I decided another look was necessary, John agreed with me and since he was the driver, off we went. And yep, Miss Emmi went along, Canada is a lot nicer about allowing dogs in their national parks versus the US!

It was 3pm when we were leaving Lake Louise and our tummies were all saying, “feed me.”  We headed for Banff and another favorite place of John and Brenda’s After enjoying a wonderful lunch/dinner John took us on down the road back to Words cannot describe the beauty we experienced today and we so appreciate our friends John and Brenda sharing their paradise with us.