Saturday

I still have a few silly photos I downloaded from the Internet. As I don't have any new pictures, I might as well post them. The second two are "construction mistakes."

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Barrie has been looking for her phone since yesterday. She just now took a load of clothes out of the washer to put in the dryer, and sure enough, there it was. She said she checked the pockets of those clothes yesterday, and the phone wasn't there. Hmmm, I think maybe the "Bandysnatchers" did it. Well, the phone is clean, at least. Dead, maybe, but clean.

It was cool today. In fact, I finally closed most of the windows in my upstairs room.

I downloaded some more Sawyer Brown songs for my iPod today.

Now playing on XM radio: "That Ain't My Truck."

New book I am starting tonight, recommended by Stoney Vance, a former kindergarten student: "A Bride in the Bargain."

Friday

I noticed a couple of humming birds flitting around in the pine tree in front of my house. They were checking out the feeder, which hadn't been filled yet. I got one of them filled this morning, the one at my upstairs window. Still need to fill the one on the front porch.

Photo from a couple of years ago taken at the Fremont Lake Campground. I haven't even been up there yet this summer to see if they made all the changes they had planned.

I took this picture of columbine by my front porch a couple years ago and did a fancy frame for it in Photoshop. I don't have any columbine left. Don't know why it doesn't grow in my yard.

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I have everything out on the kitchen counter to make my biscuit mix. I mix up a big batch and keep it in the kitchen cupboard. Just like Bisquick. I'm going to make corn fritters today too. Feeling adventurous, I guess.

I had a pork roast the other day and was going to try to make pulled pork. I've never done that before.

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What happens when you play a country song backwards? You sober up, you get your wife back, you find your dog, your truck gets fixed, and you get rehired by the boss man.

Flowers

I discovered this in among the tall flowers in the flower bed. Many, many years ago, my Grandmother had a patch of iris. About ten years after she died, they were still trying to grow in the little hot dry bed in front of her old house. So my Mom felt sorry for them, and transplanted some to her garden. She later divided them and I brought some home. They sometimes don't bloom, but this one did. They are so pretty, kind of small and delicate.

Here are two new pots of flowers that Kasey picked out down at Beau's. Her petunias are blooming again after being hailed on and frosted, and the dahlias are looking healthier too. We might have to make another trip down the hill for more flowers.

Chloe has been here this morning. She wanted in the house and is busy rubbing on every wall and every piece of furniture, and my legs. I finally had to make her get off the desk. She was right in front of me rubbing on the monitor. Kat is not happy having her in here.

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Mary Lou is back for the summer from Colorado, and she was at art group yesterday. Several of us stayed for lunch at Rendezvous Pointe. It was fun. We should do that more often.

I worked on a piece I am trying to paint on watercolor canvas, which I have never used before. It got a buckle in it, which is still there this morning and it is dry. Maybe I don't like that surface.

Tuesday

I found this in the folder on my computer for scanned slides. It's Bitter Root, or at least that's what I thought it was back then. I'm glad I got so many of my slides scanned. Even though they've been stored properly, the colors have shifted.

This is a photo of the old outhouse that is still on the hillside by my house. It leans a little more every year. I had thought this was "Heavy's" outhouse. (That's the only name we ever knew him by.)

But in the old slides that I scanned, I found this, and I had written "Heavy's Outhouse" on the slide. They're not the same outhouse.

There's one more outhouse down the hill a ways. It was where Rex and Thelma Wardell lived, and later, Belle Carr lived there. There's also an old lilac bush and a crab apple tree there. I haven't even noticed if they leafed out this year.

Ever hear the songs of Kate Wolf? She is a folk singer, and has a song called "The Lilac Bush and the Apple Tree." Very nostalgic, about an abandoned place where the houses have been torn down and all the people gone.

Happy?

This is the Montana shirt I bought Kasey. She really was having a fun time playing in the yard, and Chloe had come up for her to pet. Don't know why she has this woebegone look on her face.

Getting sprayed for mosquitoes.

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I hope I finally got my Dishnet and Century Tel bills straightened out. Couldn't even begin to make any progress on Dishnet's website to update my billing information. So I finally called. Got a nice lady who was, of course, very hard to understand, but she got it done for me.

As for Century Tel, I was sure I got that autopay information, but I got a bill last week. I guess if my phone gets shut off, I will know it isn't.

Kind of lazy today, but I am seriously considering taking my sprayer with Roundup down to the driveway, and the rocks walk at the front of house.

Saturday

More yard, and more Yellowstone:


This is the patch of rhubarb in my back yard. It was there when I moved into this house about 35 years ago. It is growing on the hillside where the water runs out, so it is constantly soaked. It seems to like it.

In Gardiner, MT, I sat in the pickup while Barrie walked the dogs, and watched this sign at the entrance to Yellowstone. What a kick! Carloads of people would pull up, pose the family in front of the sign, and hand their camera to somone to take their picture. Then the other person would pose their family, and someone in the first group took their picture. I must have watched well over 100 people go through this routine while I sat there. Darn! Barrie and Kasey and I did not stop at the sign.

There were a bunch of cars stopped watching something in the park. We saw it was a coyote, and then noticed he was putting the sneak on a big old bull buffalo that was laying down there. Wonder what he had in mind?

Here are some tourists! Barrie had just taken Kasey up the path to Gibbon Falls. Across the highway was a marsh, and the frogs were extremely loud and happy sounding. Kasey is listening to the frogs.

My poppies are just beginning to bloom.

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My friend Mary Lou is back for the summer. She called last night. She plans on coming to art group again.

I'm dubbing the VCR tape "Earl Durand" for Rollie and Judi today. I really hate this VCR/DVD player recorder! I can never figure out what it will do next. Even Barrie admits it's tricky. Don't worry Judi. I can do this, I can do this, I can do this!

Friday, and it's summer!

When summer hits Pinedale, it really hits! Just all of a sudden, it is here, and it's hot.


I took my camera out in the yard today and wandered around so see how things were growing. I live in a jungle!



One of the strangest things in my yard is this hollyhock. I planted seeds I got from my mom years ago, when she still lived on her farm. This same hollyhock has been coming up on the south side of my house for at least 20 years. It blooms, has rather plain red flowers, but the seeds never have time to ripen. Some years it gets as tall as the roof of the house.


The year of the lilacs! It's not very often lilac bushes bloom here. We usually get a hard freeze after they bud out.

I used to think these were wild phlox, but found out last year they are Dames Rocket (I think). I saw a house on a hill in Montana, and the entire hillside was covered with these. Looked beautiful.

I think this is a currant bush. Don't know if its a wild bush or not. There used to be some currant bushes at some of the houses Julie tore out. I'm sure the birds planted mine.

My back door. Seems like more water than usual. I was just downstairs and should have checked to see if there was water in the basement. Oh well. There's nothing I can do about it if there is.

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The dogs were in the back yard, and I scared Maddy when I showed up at the back gate. But not half as much as she scared me! When she saw me, she started "bellowing" and charged at the gate like an elephant. She was so embarrased when she saw it was me. She is so friendly to people, but evidently she is also very protective.

Thursday

This is the road starting up Odgen Mountain, where Barrie used to live in Montana. We never made it all lthe way to the place she lived, because John and Kathy B. sold it, and the new owners have a locked gate.


The finish line for the Race to the Sky in Lincoln, Montana. Most of the roads we drove on were part of the race route, or places where Barrie trained in the winter.

Wet, miserable looking colts! This might be part of the Whitetail Ranch, which we drove to. When Ogden Mountain burned and they were evacuated, Barrie was sent to the Whitetail. She had 30 dogs in her dog boxes, and was pulling a horse trailer with her horse. It was a very hot day, and all the dogs and the horse were suffering by the time she got there. The people helped her unload all the animals, and get them water and some shade. She thought she was lucky that they all made it.

Another view of the bridge over the Missouri at Toston. The Missouri is SO big!

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I am taking an on-line writing class, and am not enjoying it very much yet. I have learned the difference between story and plot, learned bout the common plot templates, the three-act structure, protaganist, antagonist, etc. Who cares? I have learned all these definitions, and would rather have spent my time reading my new book.

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Here's a definition I do like:

Shin: device for finding furniture in the dark. (also useful for locating your ball hitch).

I hate it when your seat belt randomly locks and you can't move. Do all vehicles do that, or is the a special feature of Chevy pickups? And it only happens on the passenger side.

Tuesday

I couldn't upload anything to Blogger yesterday, so I finally just gave up.

Kasey is eating a lemon that came with my meal.

A Toston dog. A very mellow one.

Three more of the old buildings I photographed in Toston.

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I think I mentioned that Barrie packs enough food for an army when we travel. One thing she brought was beef jerky, and it was so good. Yesterday I had her buy a roast, and I am now drying some jerky in my dehydrator. Hope it is good.

Barrie brought one of her sled dogs to town, gave him a bath and brushed him. Then she left him tied to the swing set outside her bedroom window all night. She said he was quiet all night, and woke her up about 5 minutes before her alarm went off. Our neighbor Tara said she thought we were yodelling.

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For Judi - when we were driving up Ogden Mountain, which is where Barrie used to live in Montana, she said the area has a lot of Morrel mushrooms. They used to bring large crews of Vietnamese in to hunt them.

Speaking of Ogden Mountain, I told Kasey her Mom and the sled dogs used to live there. Kasey said "No, the sled dogs are at home." I told her again they used to live on the mountain, and she said "No, that's Jarvi and Shorty and Maddy."

I have found you can't win an argument with Kasey. We spent three days arguing about a pond, or a lake, or a river, or a puddle. She never would admit there was water in a pond.

Sunday

Toston

When we were in Toston, Montana last year, I saw a lot of old buildings I wanted to photograph. But as we started through the town, a pack of 6 dogs attacked our pickup, including one Chihuahua! We got away from them, and another pack of 5 dogs came after us. And there was a Chihuahua in this bunch too! We got out of town, and as we were leaving, 2 more dogs chased us.

This year, we only saw two dogs in the town. One was afraid of us, and the other was a friendly pup. So I got to see the whole town and take all the pictures I wanted.

Toston is right on the Missouri River. This is an old one-lane bridge that crosses the Missouri.
I think this was my favorite of all the old buildings. Notice the basketball hoop.




I think someone lived in this house. Notice the variety of curtains on the windows.

An old shed

An old brick building.