Nothing Works

Yesterday I decided to print a few 4 x 6's of our Montana trip. I got out my little HP photo printer, and put a new cartridge in it. It has been so long since it's been used that I knew it needed a new one. When I tried to print a couple of pictures, they came out all yellow. This morning I took the cartridge out and shook the heck out of it. This time I cut up some plain paper so I wouldn't waste the photo paper. And this time my pictures were blue! The cartridge was fairly old, even though it was sealed up tight, it may have congealed or something. I have ordered a new cartridge and will see if that works. Sure hope so. The printer was not very expensive, but has done a great job on photos for me in the past.

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Pressure Cooking? NOT!

This is the new cooker. I decided to use the pressure cooker feature to make rice pudding from the recipe that came with it. Put the ingredients in, stirred, put the lid on and pushed the little "high pressure" button three times for three minutes. Couldn't be simpler, right? Well, I didn't get the lid on right, and didn't get the adjustment knob on the top set right. Yes, I know I should have read the directions more carefully. Well, the thing never did come up to pressure, and I boiled the rice dry and burned it on the bottom. I scraped the top part off into a bowl, and we might eat it.

I have a roast and vegetables I planned to make tonight. We have a pizza in the freezer, just in case.

Just Another Monday

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This is the only photo I took yesterday when we went to Jackson. This old cabin is along the highway, somewhere near Pape's ranch, and I have driven by it hundreds of times and always meant to get a picture of it.

We saw lots of deer and antelope, but I didn't even try to take pictures of them. They are not very photogenic this time of year, and haven't seen any babies.

Once again I planned to do something constructive today and get the flattened cardboard boxes to the recycling center. And once again I got sidetracked and will probably not get it done. I hadn't moved all the April photos to my hard drive yet, so I got that done - from three cameras. Also moved what I had from May, which could all go into the Montana folder. Then I formatted the cards when I put them back into the cameras.

I purchased Microsoft Office Professional 2007 on EBay. It is the Educational version (which is no different from the regular version). I sent the seller a question three times asking if I was eligible for the educational price, as a retired teacher, and he finally answered me and said I was. So I got it for $120. I had a 60 day trial version of it on my laptop and it would have cost me $400 to activate it - on just one computer. The information I got was that I was entitled to install this version on two computers. I installed it on my laptop, my desktop, and Barrie's laptop, and had no problem activating it on all three.

I have been using the 2003 version, and there are many changes and lots of bells and whistles. Hewlett Packard offers many free lessons and tutorials on computing, and there is almost always a class going on some aspect of Microsoft Office. I just finished the one on introduction to Word 2007.

Sounds like Judi and Rolli are finding many adventures and interesting things to see and do on their way home.

Happy Mother's Day

Snickers

This is Snickers, "sort of" my granddaughter. Isn't she cute? My stepdaughter from my first marriage, Leslie (Tracy's sister) called for Mother's Day, and I had a nice visit with both her and Bobby. I always feel kind of special to have such a close relationship with them. We have sort of poked fun at Tracy and Paul for years for being so attached and attentive to their dog, Bogie.

Well, now Leslie is "eating crow". She and Bobby got Snickers a few months ago, and they are both acting just like Paul and Tracy. They are "Mom and Dad". Les said they were putting her in her crate at night, and Tracy made a $50 bet with her that Snickers would be sleeping on the bed before summer. Leslie said she owes Tracy $50. Can't wait until I get to meet Snickers.

Paul and Tracy have just purchased a condo in Florida. How exciting! She just shipped a bunch of furnishings for it to Leslie, Melita's daughter. She and Paul will be flying there to buy furniture soon. Silverthorne , where they live in Colorado, has pretty harsh winters and lots of snow. They like it there, and Paul likes to ski in the winter. But I think they will really enjoy a place to go to warm up once in a while.

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Barrie and Kasey and I went shopping in Jackson today to celebrate Mother's Day. It's always a drive I enjoy especially when Barrie is doing the driving. We took my truck today and she drove. We went to KMart. I didn't get much, a new pair of tennis shoes and a cooler. Kasey got sunglasses and a swimming suit. Then we went to Smiths, and it is such a nice place to shop! As Lynn said in her recent post, it is a nice change from Ridleys. Barrie and I both bought a lot of groceries.

My new multi cooker came, and I bought the ingredients for a pot roast to cook in the pressure cooker today. I bought in on Amazon, and there were lots of positive reviews from people who had purchased it, so I am expecting it to be a great replacement for my slow cooker and rice cooker. Lots of good recipes came with it, and I also ordered a couple of new recipe books, one for pressure cooker and one for slow cooker.

Saturday

Montana's White Crosses

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These are some of the white crosses that mark the sites of fatalities along the highways of Montana. This highway safety program was begun more than 50 years ago by the American Legion in Missoula. The idea was so good that it eventually became a state-wide program, and is still maintained by the American Legion of Montana.. The program was not meant to be a memorial for victims, but we saw several of them that had been decorated with pictures and plastic flowers. The sight of these markers must surely remind all drivers of the dangers of the road and hopefully cause them to drive more caretully

We came upon this group of markers after we left Three Forks. Besides these, there was another group of two across the highway.

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I'm not sure where I took this picture. We were still in Montana, and stopped at a gas station and convenience store at a junction after we had gone through a beautiful canyon with a creek (running north, by the way!) All those darned rivers in Montana run the wrong way! I thought this photograph clearly showed how hard the wind must blow there.

Jarvi enjoyed the Missouri River very much!

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The cow moose was in my driveway yesterday, munching on the willows and the wild gooseberry bush. One of my little bobtailed cats was very curious, and watched her from behind the log.

Friday

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These photos are of the cottonwood trees along the Missouri River. There's something about Montana cottonwoods - to me, they don't look quite the same as what we have in Wyoming. These make me think of Charlie Russell. His paintings often included cottonwood trees, and they look just like these.

This is where the Missour River begins, north of Three Forks. The Madison, Jefferson and Gallatin Rivers run together here to form the Missouri. The Missouri is an impressive sight.

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We stayed at a motel in Three Forks Saturday night. As we were loading up the next morning, I noticed this little sign stuck into the ground beside a flower pot on the side of the motel office. I walked over and noticed this poor little guy's head had been ripped off. It will be kind of hard for him to smell the flowers!

We had an experience at this motel. The lady who runs the motel called our room about 10:00 to tell us that the guy in the next room called her to complain about Barrie's coughing. He wanted to call us, and she told him she would call. She was all concerned, and wanted to know if Barrie needed anything. Then she told me what a nuisance that man was, and she would be glad when he was gone. Evidently he had stayed for a length of time. And she told me if he called our room, to hang up the phone, and take it off the hook.

Thursday

We had a tough couple of days around here. Barrie had filed to have her ex-husband appear in court because he has not paid the cash nor given her the property that was specified in the divorce settlemet. She filed three weeks ago. She and the judge sat there and no one else showed up. The judge finally did some checking and found that the depupty had never served the papers. So they had to start all over again, and another court date will be set.

Then Barrie went out to take care of her dogs, and on the way home, stopped to check on her horse. She found her horse badly wire cut. She had to go get her horse trailer, and got the horse to Brent. Brent did what he could at the time, but told Barrie there was no guarantee that the horse would not be crippled, and that it would take a very long time to heal, that she would have to be kept inside, and the bandages would have to be changed every day. Barrie spent the night debating which way to go, and yesterday she had Brent put the horse down. A hard decision for her to make, and she felt pretty low.

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Bar Hopping in Montana

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This is Trixie's Bar and Grill , in Ovanda, Montana. Barrie worked as a bartender here for a while. Trixie McCormick was a trick rider who performed during the 1940's.After she retired, she built this bar. There were pictures of her in the bar. She died quite a while back, but the bar doesn't seem to have changed much. Several people live in little run-down campers and vans in the parking lot. The town of Ovanda has only a couple dirt streets, and not much in the way of anything going on. Belle was the only dog we saw!

This is the Copper Queen Bar in Helmville. The owner, Tammy, is a friend of Barrie's. We watched the Kentucky Derby on the TV here. It seems to be the only business in the vicinity of Helmville, and Tammy sells gas, farm eggs, and more. Kind of like a convenience store with a bar in it.

This is Belle. She hangs out at Trixie's Bar and makes sure everyone who comes in pets her. She doesn't live here, she lives somewhere down the road, but comes up every day to spend the day. Kasey loved her.

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Another cool and windy day here today. I spent all morning cleaning and picking up the house, and plan to do some painting this afternoon. Yesterday was video day at our art group at Rendezvous Pointe, so I didn't get any painting done. I would rather paint and visit than watch a video.

The dog pack of Toston

This is an old one lane bridge over the Missouri River at Toston, Montana. You can see Toston on the other bank of the river. We had quite an experience in Toston. It is a small town with dirt streets, and many old and abandoned buildings. I thought it might be an interesting place to take some pictures. When we drove back across the bridge, a woman was on the corner of the street and six dogs were with her. Our dogs barked, and the six dogs immediately charged the truck. One of them was a Chihuahua. One of the larger dogs jumped against the side of the truck and scratched it.

Barrie managed to drive away from them without running over them, but we went just a short distance when three more dogs charged out (and one of them was a Chihuahua!) Barrie got turned around so we could get out of town, and we had to drive through the pack of six dogs again, but this time the woman had a leash on the big dog that had jumped on the truck. He was lunging, and she was kicking him as we went by. Before we got to the edge of town, three more dogs came out to chase the pickup. And that's why I didn't take any pictures in Toston!!

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Having a tailgate party in Lincoln after going for a couple drives in the area.


The dogs eating supper along the Blackfoot River

Another photo of the newborn buffalo calf we saw. I cropped this one really closely, and you can see the cow's rump definitely shows she has recently given birth. The baby looks kind of pitiful, but I'm sure by the next day he was running and bucking

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More Montana Pictures

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We drove up Roger's Pass after breakfast, and saw this sign up there.


Breakfast at Lambkins in Lincoln. The waitress offered to bring Kasey some toys, but Barrie thought two jelly cups and a creamer would keep her happy, which it did. When we left, both waitresses commented on how cute she was and how well behaved she was.

We stopped on the banks of the Blackfoot River for a while to let the dogs run.

Blackfoot River

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It sure is a wet and cool morning. Not really raining, but drizzling. The forecast said it would be a little windy, but it hasn't come up here yet.

More Montana Pictures

Montana Road Trip

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After we went through Ennis, Montana, we saw this large herd of elk. There must have been at least a thousand of them spread out in this valley grazing. It was quite a sight.

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We got to Lincoln, Montana about dark, and stayed there Friday night. What a beautiful little town, and so many large Pine trees!

This is the Lincoln Park. It was so well kept up and clean. There are campsites in the park.

As we drove into town Barrie took us over to the finish line of the Race to the Sky sled dog race. I took this photo just as the sun was going down.

We went back to the arch the next morning after breakfast. Barrie has run this race twice. She took 5th place one year, and 6th place another year. It is a 350 mile race.

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I didn't even get up until after 9:00 this morning, and have been viewing and editing my photos since I got up. I have more to post on the blog, but don't want to put too many up at once.

Home from the Montana Road Trip

Barrie and Kasey and I had a wonderful road trip to Montana. We left Friday morning, went to Barrie's dog lot to take care of her dogs, then drove nine hours to Lincoln, Montana. Well, we took some side roads and a few side trips, and Barrie will have to fill me in on all the places we were.

We just got home tonight, after stopping at the dog lot, and I haven't even looked at all the photos I took yet. But I guess one of the highlights of the photos was seeing these buffalo just north of West Yellowstone. We came upon a group of buffalo on the road, and this little calf couldn't have been more than a few hours old! Barrie took this photo because she had a better shot from the driver's seat. This little guy's umbilical cord still looked wet, and the mother's rump still looked like she had just given birth. He was still pretty wobbly on his feet and was humped over. But he was keeping right on his mother's tail. An amazing and very special sight for us!

I took this photo through the windshield. The calf is almost in the center of the photo.

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We drove through some rain today, but the roads were good. Barrie just called at me to look out the window and I see it is snowing hard and blowing. Ah, spring in Pinedale.

I think Kat missed me. The bathroom rugs were not even messed up when we got home, but they are now. And she has actually rubbed up against my legs.

Barrie is such a good driver, and made sure that I got to stop for every photo opportunity. And Kasey is an incredible traveler. We had a wonderful weekend together. I have more photographs to post later.