On Island Time

Victoria and life on the ship

2011-06-22T14:42:00.001-06:00

After leaving Skagway we had almost two full days at sea. After our first sea day when the ship rocked and rolled all day we weren't sure what to expect on our return trip. Our fears were unfounded, the sea was calm and the weather was very nice. We spend our time visiting and drinking coffee and hot chocolate in the atrium bar, eating, sitting on our balcony watching for whales, (we even saw one breaching) eating again, ejoying the activities on the ship and eating.

They make beautiful ice carving for the buffet lines and they always have a demonstration on deck. They finish their sculptures in less than 20 minutes time.

Ken, Johnny, me and Hannah at one of our many visits to the coffee bar.

Delicious hot chocolate. They serve fresh baked cookies in the afternoon and we seemed to time our visits at the right time each day. This is a nice touch that you find on all Princess ships.

Sue and I were wearing jackets but I think we shed them later in the day.

Duane is catching some rays and enen got a touch of sunburn. There were a few people in bathing suits and using the pool the last day. It didn't feel quite that warm to me.

I suffer from "cankles" when I travel so I try to keep my feet elevated when possible.

You can also get soft ice cream whenever you want.

One of our dinners.

Ken was in "Conservative Heaven" - first being in the home state of Sarah Palin and then meeting Mike Huckabee. Governor Huckabee was on board our ship as part of a Freedom Tour. He was very approachable and friendly.

Our final port of call was Victoria, British Columbia, one of my favorite cities. We arrived in Victoria at 7 pm and left at 11:30 p.m. so that didn't give us much time to explore. We concentrated on the harbour area and didn't make it to the city center or the famous Butchart Gardens. Ken and I have been here before and would have liked the others to see the gardens, but I guess that will have to be another trip. :)

It doesn't take long to see why Victoria is called Canada's "garden city". There are flower gardens everywhere you look. They have a mild climate which enables them to grow almost anything.

A beautiful topiary on the street corner.

The Empress Hotel has been rated one of the top 500 hotels in the world by Conde' Nast. We didn't go inside and I doubt I will ever spend a night there, but their grounds are beautiful.

These interesting trees flank the entrance to the hotel.

You can take a tour of the city on one of these beautiful horse-drawn carriages.

This huge sequoia tree was planted in the late 1800's and is over 100 feet tall. It is the official Christmas tree of the province and is decorated with thousands of lights.

I have never seen this flower before. Does anyone know what it is. It almost looked like paper.

The harbour at sunset.

Parliament building

The Parliament building at night. (Johnny took this photo).

Skagway and the Yukon

2011-06-18T21:13:00.002-06:00

Our last port of call in Alaska was in Skagway, a very small town at the mouth of the Skagway River. When gold was first discovered in 1896 the first prospectors laid claim to the original homesteader's land in the area and Skagway was born. During the gold rush the town was nicknamed by visitors as "hell on earth" due to the chaos brought on by the gold rush and the criminal element drawn to the area. It became a railroad town in the early 1900's and stayed such until the railroad closed in 1982. It reopened in 1988 as a summer operation and today it's largest industry is tourism.

I had booked a tour on the White Pass Railway for a rail/bus tour into the Yukon. The train traveled 28 miles to the depot at Fraser, British Columbia where we were transferred to a van for the remainder of the tour. It was a fun trip on the train and we saw so much beautiful scenery. A lot of pictures this day are blurry, but I did find a few that show the gorgeous country.

We were on the last car on the train and were able to stand outside on the platform to take our pictures without any obstructions behind us.

This was our last view of the port as we headed up the mountain.

Ken and the Conductor. If you were casting a movie isn't that the face you would want for a train conductor? Come to think of it that's probably exactly what they did when hiring for for this tourist attraction. He was very nice and knowledgeable about the area.

This trestle doesn't look very safe from this angle.

One of the four bears we saw this day. They were all close to the highway and were so into eating the dandelions that they payed little attention to us.

Sue and Duane at the entrance to the Yukon.

This is sand, not snow!

The Yukon is home to the smallest desert in the world. This desert is the remains of the sandy bottom of a glacial lake left after the last ice age. The dry climate and the strong wind conditions is what created the sand dunes and what allows little vegetation to grow.

The beautiful green water of Emerald Lake. The color of Emerald Lake is created by sunlight reflecting off a white layer of “marl” on the lake bed. Marl is a white calcium carbonate (CaCO3) clay that forms in the water and then settles, often unevenly, onto the lake bottom. It forms when enough carbonate (CO3), from dissolving limestone), reacts with calcium (Ca) in the water. (copied from and internet source, because I couldn't remember what they told us about why the water was so green).

The pictures don't do the colors justice. There were several shades of green and blue, it was stunning.

We ate lunch at a camp near Whitehorse, Yukon where dogs are trained for the Yukon Quest, a grueling 1000 mile sled dog race from Whitehorse to Fairbanks.

I picked up a short book written by Michelle Phillips who has completed the Yukon Quest 3 times. Her husband is also a musher and has done the race 5 times. A single musher and 14 dogs travel the rugged mountain summits with 10 checkpoints along the way. If a dog becomes injured they are not allowed to replace it. Vets and dog handlers are stationed at each checkpoint to ensure that the dogs can continue the race. Mushers carry mandatory equipment and food on their sleds and are not allowed to accept any help, other than an occasional meal except at the checkpoint at the half-way point along the race route. The book was a fascinating account of the last race she ran. It takes an adventurous soul to complete a grueling event like this.

One of the many waterfalls we saw on our trip.

The train/bus tour lasted the entire time we were in Skagway so we didn't have time to do any exploring in the town. We passed these rocks on our walk back to the ship. Each time a cruise ship makes its maiden voyage to Alaska the ship's name and the name of the captain are painted on these rocks. I did some research on this wall when we returned home and found that this tradition began in the gold rush days. Skagway was "the end of the line" for the ships carring men and supplies to Alaska. With virtually no means of communications, and no port agent or authorities to keep track of the ships coming in and out of Skagway, the logo on the wall was a way to tell other captains that you had made it safely to that point and had headed back. Sometimes a new logo would be painted, other times just the date of arrival was changed. If a captain had left San Francisco, for instance, a week ahead of a friend and fellow captain, and that captain did not find the logo upon his arrival in Skagway, he would inform any other captains in port to watch carefully for any signs of a shipwreck or survivors on the return trip.

This was our last day in Alaska, the next two days were spent at sea making our way back to Seattle with a short stop in one of my favorite cities, Victoria, British Columbia.

Alaska continued

2011-06-16T17:14:00.001-06:00

Wednesday was our day to sail through Tracy Arm Fjord and visit Juneau. The day began early (6:00 am) as we began the journey through the Fjord. Having a balcony was a great advantage this day as we were able to order room service for breakfast, then sit back and enjoy the spectacular views. It was a little cold, but with our newly purchased jackets (Ketchikan shopping) we were able to sit with our binoculars and enjoy our four hour excursion.

As we entered Tracy Arm we noticed how calm the waters were. They were as smooth as glass and there was a tranquility around us that is hard to explain. An onboard naturalist provided information over a loud speaker that we could also recieve on our television about the area. He was able to point out things that we would have missed without his narration.

We were all excited when we saw our first chunks of "blue" ice.

The naturalist pointed out several ice bergs where seals were giving birth. They go to the ice to protect themselves and their babies from the whales. This phot was taken with a telephoto lens (on my point and shoot camera) so it isn't very clear but you can click on it and see that she has a baby on the ice with her. The babies weigh about 25 pounds when they are born.

There were waterfalls all along the passage and as we got further into the fjord there were a lot more ice bergs.

We were disappointed that due to the large amount of ice we wouldn't be able to go further into the fjord to where the large pieces of ice crash into the sea. We'll have to save that for the next trip.

As we sailed from Tracy Arm I took this picture showing the very calm water. We had about a 4 hour trip to Juneau so we were able to walk around the ship and have a nice lunch in the dining room. We arrived at Juneau about 2 o'clock in the afternoon and caught a bus to Mendenhall Glacier.

There were already two cruise ships in town when we arrived. Juneau is the state capital and is the only capital in the US with no roads leading in or out of town. The only way in or out is by air or sea. Locals like to add a third way. They claim they get here by plane, boat or birth canal.

We took a bus to Menedenhall Glacier the most popular attraction in Juneau. The glacier is 1/2 mile wide at its widest point and the ice is 300 to 1800 feet deep.

Sue, Duane and Johnny.

Sue standing in front of the huge waterfall. The spray coming off the water was really cold.

I'm standing with Hannah, Johnny and Sue. We're all wearing the jackets we bought in Ketchikan. I had read on cruise critic that you shouldn't even take a coat to Alaska, that you could pick one up in Ketchikan for a better price than in the lower 48. Of course, I didn't believe them and packed two jackets with me. They were right, we got these for $19.95 and they are pretty nice coats.

We watched two men sail off in these kayaks, now that had to be damn cold! After we returned to the city we still had a couple of hours before the ship sailed so we made a stop at the Red Dog Saloon. Founded in the early gold rush days the saloon has been in service for many decades. They claim that it looks exactly as it did in the early years. That is easy enough to believe. Judging from the dust on everything they haven't cleaned much in that time either.

I had ordered a glass of wine before I saw the menu or I may have tried the Duck Fart.

Our home for the week. After a busy day in port it is always nice to be back on the ship and enjoy a nice dinner and nightly entertainment.

NORTH TO ALASKA

2011-06-15T20:57:00.002-06:00

It has been over seven months since I last posted to this blog. My life has been busy at times, but nothing seemed "blog worthy" so the blog just seemed to fade away. We have taken several trips in that time and have been busy with the grandkids. There were numerous times I missed posting my pictures and sharing my life with far away friends and family. We just returned from a cruise to Alaska and I decided this was as good a time as any to resurrect the blog.

Ken's sister and her husband celebrated their 41st wedding anniversary this month and planned a cruise to Alaska to celebrate. They invited us to go along, it took us about 5 minutes to make the decision to go with them. The cruise originated in Seattle and flying there from Billings is ridiculously expensive so we decided to drive and make the drive part of our vacation. We left Billings Friday morning and boarded the ship on Sunday. Along the way we stopped at the Copper King Mansion in Butte (no pics, left camera in car). We also took in a farmer's market and car show in Ellensburg, Wa.

A good view of Mount Ranier taken from the waterfront in downtown Seattle.

We arrived in Seattle late Saturday afternoon and after checking into our hotel we found the light rail and headed into the city to explore a little and have dinner. The weather was perfect and a welcome change from the cold, wet spring we have had in Montana.
Our hotel was about 10 miles from the port so after a quick trip to Wal Mart Sunday morning to pick up a few forgotten items, we headed to the ship so we could board before lunch. The GPS system we were using tried to get us lost but we eventually found our way and were on the ship by 12:30. We were lucky to be upgraded to a balcony room on the ship so after lunch and meeting up with friends from Georgia we enjoyed the view of the harbor from our balconies.

The sail away party on the Lido deck was just as much fun as on a Caribbean cruise. The only difference was the cruise staff was dressed in plaid lumberjack shirts instead of tropical wear. There was the usual Conga lines, dancing and games. We joined right in and had a fun start to the cruise. Monday was our first day at sea and it was a wild one. This was the roughest seas we had ever encountered and quite a few people were sick. I always take medication the first night and I have never been sick, but I'm sure I would have been if I hadn't been prepared. Everyone was quite relieved when we docked in Ketchikan the next day.

Ketchikan was our first port and even though you see snow on the mountains the weather was perfect. The temperature was about 70 degrees and the skies were blue. Ken and Duane went salmon fishing (didn't catch any) and the rest of us went shopping and exploring. Ketchikan is a small city and easily explored on foot. The flowers and trees were all in bloom and it was a beautiful walk.

Our first stop, after souvenir shopping, was on Creek Street. Actually, it is not a street, but a boardwalk winding along Cripple Creek. A row of wooden buildings are perched over the creek on pilings. During the gold rush the street housed Ketchikan's red light district. The red light district wasn't shut down until 1953 and the infamous madam, Dolly, turned her last trick at the age of 73.

Cripple Creek

The rocks were covered with this bright green moss.

The madam of this house had quite a flair for decorating. The floral embellishments on these curtains were made from silk condoms. The silk wasn't very effective as a condom, but worked quite well for decorating.

Our friend from Georgia "visiting" Dolly's.

Sue and I taking the "tourist" picture.

Our first day in Alaska was a sucess and we were all looking forward to the next ports. Continued tomorrow with pictures from Tracy Arm and Juneau.

A Busy Week

2010-11-01T18:45:00.007-06:00

The last week of October was a busy one around here. Caelen's kindergarten class went to the pumpkin farm on Tuesday. They were short chaperones so grandma got "volunteered" to go with them. Caelen was excited for me to go with her so it was fun for me too, although it was probably the coldest day we have had this fall.

Caelen in the corn maize.

Wednesday was Luke's 2nd birthday. There were several parties planned for him so I bought a small cake for him to share with grandpa and Caelen.

Thursday night Ken, Colette and the kids carved pumpkins.Caelen and her friend look like they are really into it in this picture, but that quickly passed and it was soon left to Ken and Colette to finish the carving.

Luke checking out the finished product.

Luke looks guilty after he broke the tail off the cat on his pumpkin.

Saturday we drove to Colstrip to watch Tanner and Tucker play football. The Colts finished first in their conference and this was the first game of the playoffs. Colstrip won so we'll be heading back to Colstrip this coming weekend for the next game. Both boys are having a great season and it's been fun for us to watch them.

Tucker (#77) being congratulated by the coach as he comes off the field at the end of the game.

Tanner leading the team off the field after their victory, and yes that is Tanner with the bleached mohawk. (I'm not a fan of the hair-do!)

Kenzie, Caelen and Talen after the game.

Tucker and Tanner with their proud grandpas.

And finally, Halloween. Caelen and Luke heading out to get their treats. I wasn't sure what to expect for trick or treaters in our new house. We lived at the end of a cul-de-sac in Colstrip and never had too many. There must have been over 100 last night. I just barely had enough candy.

Gettin' Away

2010-10-24T10:40:00.013-06:00

After a stressful past two months, Ken and I decided a long week-end getaway was what we needed. We drove to Cody Thursday afternoon and planned on going to the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. It was 4 o'clock before we got there and they closed at 5 p.m. so we decided to save that visit for another time. It has been years since we have been to the musuem and I do want to go through the entire center sometime soon. It is one of the finest musuems and art centers in the country.

After dinner we took a drive east of Cody. It's kind of desolate country, but the fall colors on the trees and bushes were really pretty.

This picture was taken at the end of the Cody reservoir just as the moon was coming up.

When we got back to Cody we walked along main street and decided to stop for a drink at a small Mexican restaurant. Their special that night was $2 margeritas (!) so.................we had a few. Of course they also brought us chips and salsa to go along with our drinks, so for a grand total of $8 we a good time in Cody.

The next morning we headed for Jackson Hole, via Yellowstone Park. Just outside the park we spotted this buffalo getting a drink in the river. We had high hopes of seeing a lot of animals today.

Shortly after we entered the park we spotted a line of cars parked along the road, a sure sign that there was an animal spotting. Sure enough, someone had spotted this grizzly bear a few hundred feet from the road.

This was the first time that I had been to YNP during the off season. It was great not having to fight traffic, one downside was that very little was open. We avoided all the usual tourist places and just took in the beauty of the park.

Two shots of the steam rising from the shore of Yellowstone Lake.

Grand Teton National Park. The leaves had already fallen from the aspen trees in the Tetons so we were a little disappointed, but the grandeur of the Tetons is always impressive.

There was a lot of color in the bushes and shrubs.

I'm sure everyone who visits Jackson has there picture taken under one of the antler arches in the Town Square. We were no exception.

We always scout out bakeries in the places we visit and coincidentally, just a few days before our trip I was wathing Rachel Ray's $40 Dollars a Day show on TV and she featured Jackson Hole on her show. She had breakfast at the Bunnery so that was a must do for us. We had an apple turnover and raspberry scone with our afternoon coffee. Rachel didn't disappoint us, bothwere excellent. After our snack break we walked around town a little, visiting some of the many art galleries in town.

This is where we stayed "The Inn at Jackson Hole". I booked it on-line and wouldn't you just assume that it would be in Jackson Hole? No....... it was in Teton Village, a ski resort town about 12 miles down the road. Oh well, a new place to explore. October is between the tourist season and the ski season so most of the shops and restaurants were closed, so we headed back to Jackson for a little more action. We had dinner at a good Italian place and were back in our room by 8 o'clock! So much for more action.

I don't know what this bush is. We saw a lot of them along the roadside. The berries were really juicy but we didn't dare eat them.

We had this nice fireplace in our room, so while Ken watched baseball I snuggled up with a blanket and a book. It was a nice day.

We decided to head home in a different direction so we went over Teton Pass into Idaho and entered the park through the entrance at West Yellowstone. We spotted this swan and ducks swimming in the Madison River

Our animal sighting had been a little disappointing at this point, so when we saw these three cow elk along the river we were pretty excited.

We hadn't gotten too far down the road when we saw a line of cars parked by the roadway so we stopped to see what they were looking at. One guy told us that a wolf had been spotted, but when we saw it we could tell it was just a coyote. We see plenty of coyote in our country, but I guess to some people it would be exciting.

A little further down we were excited to see a large herd of elk in the river. There were 22 cow elk and we could hear a bull bugling in the trees. It wasn't too long before he came through the trees and entered the river too. By then, there was a large group of us down by the river taking pictures. That was the closest I have ever been to that many elk, it was a fun experience.

The big bull following his harem.

This buffalo was quite close to the road so we stopped to take a look. As Ken was taking the picture a group of foreign kids came up to me and asked me what it was and if it was dangerous. I told them that they can be dangerous if you get too close. They then proceeded to walk right down to it to take their pictures! Maybe they didn't understand what I told them. Anyway, the buffalo was pretty docile and we all got our pictures and walked away safely.

We had planned on spending the night in Gardiner and looking up some friends who live in nearby Mammoth. We couldn't reach them so we decided just to save the money of another hotel room and drive home. This mountain sheep was standing on the road just outside Mammoth. We got to Billings about 5:30 and had a nice dinner at the Outback. It was a fun weekend and a good stress reliever.

Summer Recap *warning photo overload

2010-09-09T23:46:00.011-06:00

Wow, another month has passed since my last post! Where has the summer gone? The time since I retired and moved to Billings has just flown by. These are some of the things we have been doing since we moved to Billings.

Fun...... swimming in the kiddie pool in our backyard. The adults had fun in the hot tub, but nobody would allow me to take pictures.

Fun at the mall.

Fun at the Mustang baseball game.

Fun at Riverside Park with the ducks and geese. Not so fun.....cleaning our shoes after.

Not fun......Caelen pouting because I wouldn't take her to the store with me dressed as she was. I know......what a mean grandma!

Fun at the Yellowstone County Fair.

Fun dressing Luke up in the girl's dress up clothes. (I hope this doesn't cause him problems in the future)

Fun........Caelen's first day of kindergarten.

Not Fun....... Another summer storm that had us worried we were in for a repeat of June's tornado and flood.

Fun........camping on the Big Horns over the Labor Day weekend even if it was only 40 degrees, at least it didn't rain or snow.

Not so fun (for Ken) funnier than hell for me.....Ken falling into the creek.

ROAD TRIP

2010-08-11T13:15:00.008-06:00

Sunday morning we sat on our deck reading the newspaper and enjoying a cup of coffee. We decided we didn't want to sit around home all day so talked about what we wanted to do. Ken suggested we take the kids to Riverside Park to feed the ducks and geese. That was okay with me but it would only take about an hour of the day to do that so I suggested we pack a picnic and drive to Chief Plenty Coup Park. Colette squashed those plans when she told us the kids were scheduled to see their dad that afternoon. Ken then suggested that he and I drive to Lewis and Clark Caverns, something we have been wanting to do for a long time. Since we were getting a late start we decided to take an overnight bag and spend the night somewhere. The cave is located about 19 miles south of Three Forks and is the largest limestone cave in the

the Northwest. It wasn't founded by Lewis and Clark, but is located just above the Jefferson River which was part of their route. We have passed by the sign to the caverns many times over the years and have talked about visiting it every time. I am so glad we finally made it because I don't think I could make the hike to the entrance for too many more years. It is only about a mile long but all uphill. My camera doesn't take very good pictures in dim lighting (like in a cave) so the pictures arent' the best. It was very impressive and I am so glad we made the trip.

After we finished the cave tour we headed north and ended up in Helena. We decided since we had come this far we may as well drive up to Whitefish and see Ken's brother who has lived in the valley for four years and whom we hadn't seen for about that long.

After a disappointing dinner at Macaroni Grill (they are not all created equal) we checked into our hotel where Ken was dismayed to learn that the TV did not carry Fox News so he setteled for Horton Hears a Who. (it's a good thing he doesn't read my blog...he probably wouldn't appreciate this picture.)

This mother deer with her twins was the only wildlife we saw on our trip. We are used to seeing deer all the time in Colstrip, but didn't expect to see any in front of our hotel in downtown Helena.

Monday morning we left Helena and headed up the east coast of Flathead Lake. We passed many smaller lakes and a lot of small towns we had never heard of before. The scenery was gorgeous the entire trip to Whitefish.

We made a quick stop in the small town of Seeley Lake and enjoyed a huckleberry smoothie. Huckleberries grow in abundance in this area, but they are quite expensive because it is hard to get to them before the bears eat them all.

We arrived in Whitefish about 2:00 in the afternoon and visited with Jim and his family until 5 pm then hit the road again. We drove over 530 miles for a three hour visit? I would have liked to have spent the night in the Flathead and headed home Tuesday morning. There is a winery and a mission that I wanted to see, but Ken thought we should get a head start on the trip home so we drove down the west side of the lake and spent the night in Missoula. Tuesday morning we woke up to pouring rain and arrived home in the afternoon. We drove over 1,050 miles on this spur of the moment trip! It was fun though and nice to take a break.

July or Why I Have Been To Busy to Blog

2010-07-28T23:28:00.004-06:00

June 30 - I retired! And now that we made it almost through the month of July, I am loving not working. Getting to this point however, took a lot of work. First we got the Colstrip house ready to sell, but as you can see in the picture, we had a lot of help. Luke did a great job of stripping off the old wallpaper. On the 9th of July we had a great moving sale, in fact I was so busy selling all my treasures that I didn't have time to take pictures. On the 10th we loaded the truck and headed to Billings. Once again.........no time for pictures.

We got moved into the new house with a lot of help from our wonderful kids and grandkids.

We're pretty much settled into our new place and are ready for company.

Last weekend we went to Cowley for the all school reunion. Ken's class got together for the first time in 42 years and what a turnout. Seven of his classmates were there, which is pretty darn good considering there were only 8 in his graduating class. My camera was in my purse with a full battery, empty memory card, and I only took 3 pictures. Pathetic!

Because neither one of us is working right now and the pension checks haven't started rolling in we have postponed all vacations for a while and are spending our time checking out the sights in our new city. For 40 years we have driven by a sign just outside of Billings advertising the pictograph caves. Last Monday we decided to take a little drive and check it out. I thought it was probably in the Pryor Mountains, about 35 miles away. We plugged in the GPS and off we went, traveling a distance of 5 miles from our house. All those years and I had no clue they were that close to Billings.

Sadly, years of erosion, water and weather have pretty much erased most of the drawings. The drawings in red symbolize guns; they are the most distinguishable drawings left in the cave. Next week we may venture a couple of hundred miles away to see the Lewis and Clark Caverns. People come from all over the country to visit them and this will be our first trip. It might be good that we can't leave the state this summer, there is a lot to see in our own backyard.

After the Storm

2010-06-22T09:14:00.003-06:00

This is our neighborhood in Billings after the tornado and thunderstorm that went through the area Sunday afternoon. You can't see our house in the picture but we are 4 or 5 houses up from the house on the bottom left of picture.

The lowest level of our home was flooded when the window well filled with water and then came through to the house. We just had the carpet laid on Friday afternoon and two days later we vacuumed up over 70 gallons of water.

The tornado did extensive damage to the Metra and several business, but amazingly, there were no injuries.

My Blahhhggg

2010-06-16T18:47:00.004-06:00

What a blah blogger I am, six weeks since my last post. I have been extremely busy the past month, with getting the house ready to sell (it hasn't), the Billing house ready to move into (we haven't) and getting all my retirement "stuff" in order (I have) that I haven't even thought about putting anything on here. My last day of work is two weeks from today, which also means my last pay check. (Yikes!) When I'm done working I plan on doing a better job with this thing or else give it up entirely.

Took the kids shopping Sunday and while I was looking for a new pair of sunglasses, Caelen and Luke found themselves each a pair along with coordinating hats.

HOUSE FOR SALE

2010-04-25T09:49:00.004-06:00

Thirty years in the same house produces a lot of memories. Ken was 30 and I was 29 when we decided we would build a house. The optimism of youth! We had the house framed and enclosed, then we set out to finish it. Ken learned about plumbing, wiring, finishing and I learned to keep my mouth shut and do what he told me. That kind of partnership would never work now, I can no longer keep my mouth shut and he knows it. Ha Ha!

Five years ago we remodeled our kitchen. It's the hardest thing for me to leave. We added lots of cabinets and I will only have about half that many in the new house. But then, there are a lot more restaurants in Billlings so I don't plan on cooking as much either.
Our children and grandchildren are having a harder time with us selling the house than we are.
We will be leaving this house, but we'll take the memories with us.

Some Great Diet Advice

2010-04-15T23:32:00.002-06:00

My five year old granddaughter told me this today, "Grandma if you would just quit eating so much junk you wouldn't have to worry about being fat". I think she's on to something.

Easter 2010

2010-04-05T18:16:00.006-06:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post. What a slacker! I need to do this more often or give it up. The little guy below is part of why I haven't been posting. Him and his sister keep us pretty busy. Caelen and Luke waited by the window anxiously waiting for their cousins to arrive so they could start the Easter egg hunt.

The Easter bunny even hides eggs for the big kids. Taylor found hers pretty quick but the boys really had to hunt for theirs.

Luke even got into it, he did pretty good for being only 1 1/2. Of course, as soon as he found out there was candy in the eggs he wanted them all.

Kenzie found one with money in it so she was really excited.

The Easter bunny should have brought Talen suspenders! She is always losing her pants (no butt). Wish I had a little of that problem

Zac found his egg in the tree. He wasn't around last year so he didn't even think to look in the tree, we had to finally point it out to him.

It was kind of a windy, blustery day, but the sun did come out later so the kids could play outside.

We finally closed on our house in Billings, now we just have to sell the Colstrip house. Hopefully, we'll have it on the market by the first of May and sold soon after!

Mom's Birthday

2010-02-24T20:36:00.003-07:00

Yesterday was my mother's 80th birthday. This picture of her was taken at her confirmation in 1944. I have always thought she had an oriental look and in this picture it really comes through. Her ancestors came from Russia (they were Volga Germans) who lived in a small village raided many time by tribes of Mongolian soldiers. It would be interesting to know if one of those soldiers could be an ancestor. : )

This picture was taken a few years ago at my nephew's wedding in Denver.

Last weekend we had an open house to celebrate her birthday. She doesn't like being the center of attention and had warned us for the past year that she didn't want any big to-do for her birthday, but while Brenda and I were on the cruise, my sister Jennie and my neices planned a celebration. Mom wasn't happy about it at first, but she ended up having a great time. A lot of her old friends showed up as well as a large number of family members.

Mom's four kids and their spouses.

Ken, Bill, me, Brenda, Mom, Jim, Jennie and Dan.

Mom and Jim, her favorite and only son.

My granddaughter Taylor was mom's first great-grandchild. We took a four generation picture when she was little so we wanted another one with her all grown up. This is Taylor, my daughter Cami, Mom and me.

Little More of the Dream Cruise

2010-02-17T17:51:00.008-07:00

Our stateroom was at the very back of this ship and the theater was at the front of the ship. We walked this really long hallway many times.

After we had been on the ship for a week I noticed that the bottom lights on the glass elevator changed colors. I'm very observant!

At the beginning of our second week we were surprised by this Bon Voyage basket from Carnival cruises.

This is Empress Bee and her husband Sarge from Florida. I have read her blog for a couple of years so it was fun meeting them.

Hannah and Johnny were another couple we met, first on the internet, then on the cruise. We had a lot of fun with them and plan on keeping in touch. We hope to get to Georgia to visit them.

Rich had a birthday on the cruise and our fun loving waiter, Julio made sure we celebrated in style.

This was another one of Julio's trick. He placed the glass of water on Duane's hands and then a spoon in his mouth. Try to get out of that one.

I don't know what Ken and Bill were yukking it up about, but whatever it was, it must have been darn funny.

Sue and Duane on formal night.

Brenda and Bill.

Rich and Maureen. New friends from Canada.

This is the picture going on my fridge to remind me to quit eating!

This is why I look like I do in the above picture. I really love dessert! I won 104 dollars on the 2 cent slot machine so I treated Ken to dinner at the fancy pay restaurant on the ship. It was an amazing meal topped off with this chocolate sampler. YUM!

The Dream - part 2

2010-02-11T17:06:00.008-07:00

Our 2nd port was Roatan, Honduras. It was cloudy and overcast, but warm enough to spend the day at the beach and for Ken to get a pretty good sunburn. Mahogany Bay is the new cruise terminal and they have built a nice beach area. We spent the day there and didn't even get out to see anything else. We were some of the first on the beach, but it didn't take long for all of these chairs to be filled.

Ken loves to snorkel and found this pretty conch shell. He wanted to keep it, but our luggage was already close to being overweight so it went back in the ocean.

They had a chair lift to transport passengers from the port terminal to the beach area. A chairlift to a beach (?) not something you see very often.

When we started the cruise Ken said he wanted to buy a goofy hat. I think he accomplished that very well! (just so you know I did not pick out his shirt either) The next day was Belize. We booked a snorkel tour online for Ken and Sue. Duane and I went along as observers.

The snorkeling took place 21 miles from Belize City, near Cay Caulker. It poured rain on our boat ride. I had a rain poncho but Sue, Duane and Ken got drenched.

This was a channel through the mangroves, it was really pretty.

We made a quick stop at Cay Caulker before going further out for the snorkeling. Fourteen hundred people live on this tiny island. It was really beautiful, but can you imagine the isolation of living here, not to mention.....the fear of hurricanes.

While snorkeling a whole group of sting rays came right up to the boat. The guides were feeding them sardines so it wasn't too long before they were swarming the area.

I have to throw the flower pictures in for the color. I love, love the colors.

For some reason I am fascinated with cemeteries. I found this grave on that tiny island. It had a concrete book shaped marker with all the names of the family members buried in the plot.

By the time we finished with our tour it was really hot on that small island. I can't imagine what the weather is like there during the summer months.

I better wrap it up tonight, we have a busy weekend ahead of us. We're going house hunting in Billings. Exciting! Probably won't be posting again till Sunday.

The Dream Cruise - part 1

2010-02-10T22:01:00.008-07:00

We left on Friday, Jan 22, for our two week cruise on the Carnival Dream. After the most turbulent airplane ride I have ever experienced, we landed in Orlando, crammed 6 large suitcases and 4 carry on bags into a Chevy Equinox and headed to Cape Canaveral. Sue and Duane flew from Billings with us and we met up with Brenda and Bill at the hotel. Sue's friends Rich and Maureen from Canada met us there also and we all enjoyed dinner at the hotel before boarding the ship the next day. The Dream is the newest ship in the Carnival Fleet and their largest. The atrium was really beautiful with it's glass elevators changing colors all the time.

We quickly headed up to the Lido Deck for our first meal. The pool area was bright and colorful. We spend a good part of our time soaking up the sun and forgetting about the cold weather we left behind in Montana.

I think this is the prettiest Lido deck of any ship we have been on. My only complaint is that it was always full of people. We could usually get a deck chair, but you had to stake your claim on one early in the day.

Of course Ken tried out the water slide as soon as he could. It was closed a good deal of the time due to windy conditions, but when it was open the lines were long and it was very popular with the kids (and Ken).

One of my favorite things when in the Caribbean is looking at all the flowers and plants. Montana is beautiful in the spring, but in the winter everything is brown or covered in snow, so I love all the vivid colors. It really helps me get over the winter blahs.

Our first port was Cozumel, Mexico. We have been here quite a few times so we just did a little shopping in the port, then went downtown for some lunch. There is food on the ship 24 hours a day so I don't know why we spent money on more food.

We had lunch at a small Mexican cantina. Lunch was okay, but the margaritas were excellente'.

The kids laughed at the picture below and couldn't believe I had a picture of a toilet. I don't think its odd at all, I had never seen a toilet bowl like this so of course I took a picture. The bathroom was a little scuzzy, but the toilet bowl was beautiful!

The pictures below show us acting like silly tourists. These are the pictures the kids like the most....... they think we are such dorks.

I still haven't caught up on my sleep, so I'm off to bed. To be continued..............

I need a vacation!

2010-02-09T19:27:00.005-07:00

We're home after a wonderful two week cruise, but now I am so bone tired I need a vacation to recover from the vacation. Tonight I'm going to work on the pictures we took and see if I can find a few good ones to share with you. I'm really disappointed in them this time, I messed up the setting on my camera and out of the 800 pictures I took only a few turned out very good. The one above was taken on the ship as we boarded the Carnival Dream. Stay tuned for more on our Dream cruise.

And We're Off

2010-01-21T03:49:00.005-07:00

Today we leave for Billings so I can get my hair cut and then tomorrow we board the plane for an early (6 a.m) flight to Florida. We will board the ship Saturday morning and then spend two glorious weeks in the Caribbean. I plan on taking lots of pictures so I will have plenty to blog about when I get home.

This trip is especially exciting because I get to meet Empress Bee and Sarge. I have been reading their blogs for about two years now. They are avid cruisers and coincidentally are going to be on the same ship. I'm also looking forward to meeting Hannah from Georgia and Pat from Tampa Bay. The internet has sure made this a small world.

Because the airlines are charging so much for luggage these days we are trying to cut back on how much we're taking. This is a real challenge because we are going to be gone for 17 days. I have seven pairs of shoes out to pack and I know I really shouldn't take them all, but I really need every pair! I'll find room for them (Ken doesn't really need all those shirts).

Bon Voyage!

COUNTDOWN

2010-01-13T17:26:00.003-07:00

7 Days until my vacation!!

167 Days until retirement!!!!

and they can't come

soon enough!!!!!!!!!!!!

Christmas '09

2010-01-04T19:21:00.007-07:00

Our daughter Cami wasn't able to spend Christmas Day with us this year, but she came over
Christmas Eve Day and opened presents then. Kenzie opened the box with clothes we got her before her toys. Luckily, she loves clothes so she wasn't disappointed.

Talen wanted a "band" for Christmas with a pink guitar. I wasn't sure I would be able to find one but JC Penneys came through and grandma scored some points with this gift. Santa came through with the rest of the "band" so it's plenty noisy at their house.

Colette and her two kids are living with us so we had the fun of Santa coming to our house this year. This was Luke's reaction to his new car.

After he found his M&M's and woke up a little more he was a happier with it.

Lexie and Caelen love clothes too. Here they are dressed in their new Christmas duds.

The big kids had fun too. Jeff and Colette are playing Wii tennis. Jeff looks a little intense.

This is about the time the gift opening got out of hand and the pictures stopped.

The day after Christmas the kids braved the cold and tried out Caelen's new sled. They still liked the inner tube better. Luke was happy outside until Colette took him down the hill on the sled then he had enough of that. We have had snow behind our house for over two months. The sledders love it but I have had enough winter. That's why my new background has a summer look.... that and the blue and green colors make me think of the ocean. :)

December Stuff

2009-12-19T13:35:00.002-07:00

December has been another busy month, as it is for everyone. My back is finally feeling better so I have been able to enjoy getting ready for Christmas. This will be the last Christmas we will spend in this house as we are moving to Billings after we retire this summer so I had wanted to do it up big, but circumstances have kind of put a damper on those plans. We did manage to get the tree up and the presents wrapped.

Lexie spent the night with us last night so Ken bundled the girls up this morning and let them sled down the hill behind our house. The weather has been a lot warmer and most of the snow is gone, but there was still enough for them to have fun.

Of course, the biggest kid of all had to join in the fun too.

Colette and Ken decided there was still enough snow to make a pretty good snowman. When you don't rake your lawn in the fall though you get a lot of leaves in your snow.

While everyone was outside Luke and I stayed in the house so I could get some baking done. This is how Luke entertained himself.

Catching Up

2009-11-29T09:44:00.006-07:00

It's been a month since my last posting and what a month it's been. The day after Halloween I turned wrong and felt a sharp pain in my lower back. I took it easy the rest of the day, but by the following day I had pain shooting down my left leg. After a week of visiting the chiropractor with no relief, I made an appointment with our family doctor. He sent me to Billings for an MRI and made an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon the following day. I won't go into all the details but that appointment was extremely frustrating due to the surgeon kind of giving me the brush-off because he had a dinner to go to and they were having difficulties bringing up my MRI on the computer. He pretty much told me he didn't have time for me. He left a message the next day on my phone telling me what he thought was wrong and I could make another appointment to see him. At this point I had made the decision to shop elsewhere for anther doctor. In the meantime, we had a trip planned to Phoenix to celebrate our 41st wedding anniversary. We talked about cancelling, but I decided that I may as well hurt in Arizona as Montana so we flew to Phoenix on the 19th and spent three days visiting with our friends who moved to Tucson last year.

We stayed at the Hyatt Place in Mesa which had this beautiful fireplace in the lobby. The weather was beautiful while we were there, but it does cool off at night so I guess they do need fireplaces occasionally in the desert.

We met Terry and Terri when we first moved to Colstrip over 38 years ago. Ken and Terry became instant friends. They played tennis together, basketball, softball and as they got older Terri and I became golf widows. They moved to Tucson last year and have been missed. They drove up to Phoenix and spent a couple of days with us. We did some sightseeing, shopping and of course, eating. Even though I was somewhat limited with my leg pain we had a good time. While the guys golfed, Terri and I visited the Frank Lloyd Wright house, Taliesin West in the foothills of Scottsdale. He built his winter home here in 1937 and it became a camp for aspiring architects and it is still being used as as a architectural school. I was familiar with some of his work, but not with his personal life. I was so fascinated by him that I came home and ordered two books about his life and work from Amazon.

The panels on the roof in the picture below are made of canvas, so when it rains the water comes right through on furniture and whatever else is in the room.
When we returned home last weekend, I made the decision to find a new doctor and try to get something done with my back. An acquaintance told me about her doctor and he sounded almost too good to be true so I gave him a call. He was caring, knowledgeable and gave me the same diagnosis as the orthopedic surgeon. I made the decision to schedule surgery with him. When I told my sister about him she begged me to reconsider. It turns out that he did surgery on her mother-in-law and completely botched it. She also told me of several others who had bad results. So now what to do? Ken and I decided back surgery is so risky that we wouldn't dare have someone operate who we didn't entirely trust. So back to square one. Tomorrow I am basically starting over in my doctor search. The condition I have is called spondylolesthesis, basically the L5 vertebrae is fractured on both sides and slipped over the first bone of the sacrum and is pinching the nerve root (the reason for all the pain). Our cruise is only 8 weeks away so now I am worried about being able to go. We have travel insurance for the cruise but I don't want to cancel, we have been planning this for a year. Hopefully, I can find some answers and get something done soon. I have been living on pain pills and I hate taking pills!

Soup and Bread

2009-11-01T20:02:00.003-07:00

I had to do another post right away so that the picture of the awful snakes wasn't showing whenever my blog was opened. Halloween night I made this soup for dinner along with the bread shown below. I thought it was delicious and want to share the recipe.

Italian Sausage and Tortellini Soup

1 pkg. sweet Italian sausage (1.25 lb size) I used hot sausage
1 onion chopped
1 clove garlic minced
2 lg cans diced tomatoes
4 cans beef broth
1 1/2 cups red wine
2 lg. carrots chopped
1 pkg. frozen spinach (thaw and drain)
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. oregano
1 pkg dried cheese tortelline (I used the fresh 5-cheese tortellini from Costco)
shredded Parmesan cheese

Remove casings from sausage and discard casings.
Brown sausage, onion and garlic in a large dutch oven, stir until sausage crumbles and is lightly brown. Drain and return to pan.

Add tomatoes, broth and wine, bring to a boil. Add vegetable and herbs. Stir, reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes

Add the torellini and cook for 15 to 20 minutes if using dried tortellini. If you use the fresh, as I did, you will only need to cook it for 7-8 minutes.

Garnish each serving with parmesan cheese.

I served it with this delicious oatmeal molasses batter bread. Easy to make and really good with soup.

Oatmeal Molasses Batter Bread

2 pkg. yeast
2 tsp. salt
5 cups flour
1 cup quick cooking oats, uncooked
1/2 cup molasses
1 tablespoon margarine or butter

Combine yeast, salt and 2 cups of the flour in a large bowl. Set aside. In a 2-qt pan mix the oats, molasses, 1 T. butter add 2 1/4 cups water. Heat over low heat until very warm (120-130 degrees) . With electric mixer on low speed, gradually beat liquid into flour mixture, just till blended. Increase mixer speed to medium and mix for 2 minutes. Beat in 1/2 cup flour and beat on med for another 2 minutes. With a large wooden spoon, stir in remaining 2 1/2 cups flour to make a stiff batter that leaves the sides of the bowl. Cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place until double in size, about 1 hour. Grease two 2-qt. round casserole dishes. Divide dough into equal portions and turn into casseroles. With greased hands, turn dough to grease top and shape each into a ball. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise about 45 minutes, until double in size.

Place in a pre-heated 350 degree oven and bake for 40 minutes or until loaves sound hollow when tapped. Remove from casseroles and serve warm.

(There is only 1 gram of fat in each serving and no cholesterol)

I Hate Snakes

2009-10-31T15:49:00.003-06:00

These slithering, wretched vipers have been tormenting me for the past week. Whenever we had a some what warm day they would bask in the sun right in front of my front door. I don't just dislike snakes, I hate them, they make my skin crawl and I think they should all be caught and killed.

Colette is here for the weekend and when she was bringing her bags into the house the big one was right in front of the door and scared the heck out of her.

Ken doesn't think there is anything wrong with snakes and tried to defend them by saying they eat the bugs. Who cares! I would rather have bugs than snakes any day. I finally convinced him that it's not cool to have snakes slithering around our front door so he enlisted Trey's help and caught THREE snakes. I couldn't convince him that they should die, but he did take them down the hill and released them. I was feeling a little better about the whole thing, but then he told me they didn't get all of them, a baby snake escaped and crawled between our step and planter. That snake must be caught.... baby snakes grow into big snakes.

Halloween (Bah Humbug)

2009-10-17T18:59:00.004-06:00

Halloween has never been a favorite holiday of mine, in fact I really don't care for it at all. However, I always tried to make it fun for my kids and now my grandkids. Caelen and Lexie were here today so we decided to make Halloween treats. Thank goodness Colette was here to help with our creations.These are the pretzel logs we made, it was a little complicated for the kids (and grandma) so I really should say.....these are the pretzel logs Colette made.

Later in the day we decided to tackle the gingerbread haunted house. Lexie and Caelen got a little more into this project.

Presenting the finished project. Colette did a good job on this too, even after I tried to help her and accidentally smeared the windows she had so painstakingly created. I was definitely a hindrance in the kitchen today.

After all this, I'm sure the kids don't suspect that I really don't like Halloween. I do a good job of hiding my dislike.

What's on my mind

2009-09-14T13:18:00.005-06:00

I shamelessly stole this idea for a post from a blog I read often (thank you, Colett). She is the daughter of one of my oldest friends, she doesn't know me, but I feel like I know her.

Making: Lists of things to do before we sell our house

Cooking: The Atkins way (Ugh!)

Drinking: Shasta Diet grapefruit soda

Reading: Julie and Julia

Wanting: The next 9 months to go by quickly, then time can slow down

Looking: At houses in Billings

Playing: On the computer, way too much

Wasting: Time on the computer

Sewing: Are you kidding??????

Wishing: I was on vacation

Enjoying: The warm days and cool nights

Waiting: To retire

Liking: This time of my life

Wondering: If I can stay on this diet long enough to lose 20 pounds

Loving: My grandkids and the funny things they say and do

Hoping: New TV shows start soon

Marvelling: The Pioneer Woman (how does she do it all?)

Needing: To eat something sweet

Smelling: New candle melt that I really like, but can't remember the name

Wearing: Flip-flops, I need to live somewhere that I can wear them everyday.

Following: Blogs of people I don't know

Noticing: That I really care about fellow bloggers when things aren't going well in their lives

Thinking: About our January cruise

Bookmarking: Century 21 Real Estate

Opening: My mouth at the wrong time

Giggling: At inappropriate times; will I ever outgrow that?

Feeling: Hungry

How would I know?

2009-09-09T17:55:00.008-06:00

Ken and I stopped at a small convenience store in Dayton, Wyoming on our way to a camping trip in the Big Horns. Ken found a pair of glasses in the bathroom (they only have one) and turned them into the clerk. She mentioned that they probably were left by someone in the large group that had just left the store. The group was traveling together in Dodge Vipers and we had admired all their cars before entering the store.

We left and headed up the mountain, about 15 miles up we were stopped by a road construction crew. The group in the Vipers was just ahead of us so Ken walked up to one of the cars and told the driver about the lost glasses. The driver was appreciative and said he would pass it on to the others in their group. We proceeded to our campsite and spent the Labor Day weekend there. (Another post)

We didn't think anymore about the glasses until Tuesday on our way home when we stopped at the store for coffee. The same clerk was working so Ken asked her if anybody ever came back to claim the prescription glasses. She said "no, but they just look like cheap reading glasses so I'll probably just throw them away." She held up the cheap glasses and I started laughing.....yep, they were mine. Ken couldn't figure out how I could lose my glasses and not even realize they were missing. The picture below shows why. I buy them at the dollar store and stash them everywhere so how would I know if one was missing.

Why can't we retire here?

2009-08-31T21:57:00.008-06:00

I have asked Ken that question everytime we visit Loveland, Colorado. He always answers that it's too expensive, but he says that about everywhere I suggest. He would be so happy to just stay in Colstrip, but that's just not going to happen. We go to Loveland every August for the sculpture show and it is one of my favorite places to visit. There are flower gardens like shown above all through the town and sculptures on street corners, in the parks, in front of businesses; it's such an artist's town that you would think he would love to live there, but no he wants to stay in Colstrip for the free golf!

This is not a very good picture of Ken's booth. He didn't have a fantastic show but he sold enough carvings to make it worth our while and get a free "mini" vacation.

This was one of my favorite sculptures at the show. The detail doesn't show up real well in the pic, but it was very well done.

This is one of the sculptures I found on my walk through the park. I should have taken the picture from a different angle to show the expressions on their faces.

Another park, another sculpture.

This huge, green horse's head could be yours for a mere $147,000. The prices at this show always astound me. Although this was well done, there was something about the green teeth and tongue that kind of repelled me.

Back by Popular Demand

2009-08-31T06:31:00.003-06:00

Yes, I have decided to resume this blog. Thanks to the overwhelming response I had asking me not to quit (thank you to Joan and Laurel) I decided to give it another try. So as soon as I come up with something interesting I will be back.

My Year is Up

2009-08-17T12:03:00.002-06:00

It was just a year ago that I started this blog and truthfully, I didn't think I would last this long. There are some family matters that I am going to turn my attention to for awhile so I am going to suspend this blog for now. I plan on continuing reading my favorite blogs and occasionally commenting so everyone else keep writing.

Montana Sunset

2009-08-02T10:28:00.001-06:00

Taken through the window of a moving car with my simple point and shoot camera. Not too bad.

If you like chocolate.........

2009-07-28T17:23:00.002-06:00

You will love these cookies! I made them a couple of weeks and I would crawl over glass to have one right now. Of course, I'm dieting again and craving anything chocolate. Seriously, these are really delicious cookies.

Ingredients:
3 .... 4-ounce bars sweet baking chocolate, chopped (that's a lot of chocolate!)
2 TBSP. butter-flavored shortening
1 tsp. instant coffee granules
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans
6 TBSP. flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
...................................................

pecan halves.... optional
powdered sugar.....optional
Directions:
In a small saucepan heat and stir chocolate and shortening over very low heat until the chocolate begins to melt.
remove from the heat. add coffee.
stir until smooth....cool
beat eggs and sugar with an electric mixer on medium to high speed until light and lemon colored.... about 3 - 4 minutes
beat in the cooled chocolate mixture and vanilla
on low speed beat in pecans, flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt until combined.
spray cookie sheets with the nonstick coating
drop teaspoons of dough 2 inches apart on the cookie sheets
place a pecan half on top of each cookie
bake at 350' F for 8 - 10 minutes or until the top is just starting to set.
Do Not over bake
cool 1 - 2 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack
cool completely
if desired sprinkle with powdered sugar (I left it off, too messy)
makes 54 to 60 cookies

Lazy Blogger

2009-07-27T22:46:00.007-06:00

When school got out and we began making our summer plans I had so many ideas for blogs, but I didn't follow through on any of them. We have been busy this summer, but mainly I have just been lazy about blogging. These are a few of the pictures I took with the idea of posting at least once a week. I went to Lovell for Memorial Day and while there my sister, niece, mom and I went to Cody and had lunch at the Irma Hotel. I took a few pictures of the beautiful bar, but none of them turned out. But.....we did have a delicious lunch. The main purpose of my trip was to visit my dad's grave in Cowley. The cemetery was beautiful, they have added a really nice fence and they take such good care of the grounds.

Ken's parents grave.

We had a young man from our town killed in Afghanistan this spring. During the town's annual celebration they held a dedication ceremony renaming the Legion baseball field after him. This Marine Color Guard added a beautiful touch to the ceremony. He was the first person from our area killed in the war.

On the fourth of July weekend we camped above Red Lodge and took in their parade. There were a lot of horses, cars and flags. The first half hour was fun, but it lasted 1 1/2 hours! Way too much parade.

I noticed this woman right away, all decked out in red, white and blue. Her husband was sitting there quietly in his normal looking shirt, when she walked down the street and returned with this hat she plopped on his head. He looked less than thrilled.

A very large flag. Really cool!

A really strange parade entry.

Luke looking like we all felt at this point "isn't it over yet".

Whew! what a busy month

2009-06-23T20:02:00.009-06:00

When the weather finally settled down and decided it was time to be summer, we loaded up the trailer and headed to the Big Horns. Tanner didn't want to miss out on a camping trip so he went with us. The guys spent most of their time fishing so I just lounged around and read a book.

They may have brought me along to cook, as I did plenty of that too.

This is one of my favorite spots on the mountain. It's the south fork of the Tongue River and it's a beautiful hike up the river.

We camped at the Sibley Lake campground, there were a few other trailers parked there, but for the most part it was nice and peaceful.

Ken and Tanner fished while I hiked and took pictures. They caught a few fish, but threw them back (thank goodness). Not a fan of trout.

While we were driving down the highway I spotted this moose off the side of the road, but by the time we got stopped he was partially hidden by the brush.

The day after our camping trip we started painting our house. I shouldn't say "we" as I didn't even touch a paintbrush. Ken hired Wendy, Colette, Cami and Tanner to help him. Before you all think I was just being a prima donna I was at work while they were painting. I'm working 10 hour days now so I had a good excuse not to help. They all worked their tails off and had it done in two and a half days. Taylor got the job of watching all the little kids while their moms were painting. We made sure she was paid well too.

When I got home from work, rather than put on my painting clothes I offered to relieve Taylor and watch the little kids and get a meal on the table for the painters. Watching six kids under the age of 8 and making dinner for 18 people kept me pretty busy too.

When all the kids are together there is always one who gets feeling a little left out. This was Caelen's moment. She got over it quickly and they all had their "poor me" moment.

Talen is usually off by herself making messes or getting into things she shouldn't be into, but here she's entertaining herself with one of the nets we bought at the dollar store. These nets have been used to catch crayfish at the lake and butterflies in the yard. They're a popular item at our house and of course, been the cause of a few fights because we only have a few of them. For a buck each, I could probably spring for a few more.

While I was on the deck playing with Luke the kids decided to climb the tree. Trey was climbing with one flip flop on and still managed to make it up pretty high. Lexie and Kenzie didn't have any shoes and they didn't get too far. High enough that they were squealing for help to get down.

Luke loved being outside, watching the kids play.

It was a busy week, but the house looks great, the girls and Tanner made a little money and I didn't have to climb the scaffolding or get covered in paint.

Sometimes it really pays to have a big family.

As the boy grows, so do the fish

2009-06-14T20:54:00.005-06:00

Tanner caught his first fish when he was eight years old and that began his love for the sport. He is 15 now and spends most of his free time in grandpa's canoe on the lake. In the winter he's at the same lake boring holes in the ice to do some ice fishing.

This is the walleye pike he caught last Thursday in the lake. It was 27" long and weighed almost 7 1/2 pounds. He's pretty proud of this catch, just like he was of the one 7 years ago.

Visitor

2009-06-07T15:59:00.003-06:00

This pretty little bird was sitting between my flower planter and the house for about 15 minutes this afternoon. I walked right up to him and he kind of puffed up but continued sitting there. When I ran into the house to get my camera I thought he would fly away, but he sat there and posed for several pictures.

I watched him for a few more minutes before I decided to see if he was hurt. My mother is deathly afraid of birds and although I'm not afraid of them I don't like to pick them up so I went in the house to get Ken, but by the time I got back he had flown away.

This is the most exciting thing I have had to blog about for several weeks. Pathetic, isn't it?

My Reality Show Favorites.........Lost!

2009-05-20T21:16:00.010-06:00

This extremely handsome, debonair, hunk of a man is Gilles Marini, a contestant on Dancing with the Stars.
It was so much fun to have a contestant to drool over while Ken was panting over Julianne, Edita and every other female dancer on the show. He should have won too. Besides being so darn pretty he can really dance.

Adam Lambert was my pick to win American Idol from the first week of the show. I really didn't think there was anyway he wouldn't win, but he didn't. He shouldn't have any trouble making it in the music business though he can sing anything. His pitch is perfect and his vocal range is unbelievable. His version of Mad World was my favorite performance. Loved it, loved it!

I did pick one winner this season. Way to go JT for winning Survivor.

Maybe now that all my favorite reality shows are over I'll get my flowers planted, the house cleaned, laundry done and everything else I've neglected for the past 10 weeks.

Camping Fun (NOT!)

2009-05-18T20:20:00.005-06:00

This is where we like to camp in the spring because it's close to home and the fishing is pretty good. We left Friday after work even though I wasn't feeling very well. Thursday I had the chills and an upset stomach but I didn't feel any worse Friday so I thought it was a 24 hour bug and I would feel better by Saturday morning. I was so wrong! All I'm going to say about it is that camping is the last thing you want to be doing when you have what I did. Whatever I had (have) has knocked me on my butt. This is the 5th day of this crud, but I am finally starting to feel better.

This was our second trip to Black's Pond this year, the first was the weekend before when we left in a torrential rainstorm. By the time we got there it was just sprinkling so we set up camp and settled in for the night when the generator conked out on us. Ken couldn't get it started but said not to worry we have the battery, well....we had a dead battery. So that night was spent without lights, heat or water. We did have a nice quilt covered bed, so we settled in for the night, but it rained most of the weekend so that camping trip was rather dismal too.

We're going to wait a few weeks before we try camping again.

May 13, 2009

2009-05-13T09:12:00.002-06:00

Today is May 13th and this is the scene from the door of the school where I work. Adding insult to injury......it is 34 freakin' degrees outside. By the time I went home for lunch I had to scrape 2 inches of snow off my car! I may deck the next person that says we're lucky to be getting the moisture.

More Vegas and Elton John

2009-04-26T10:37:00.012-06:00

This was inside the Wynn, a very ritzy hotel and casino.

What visit to Vegas would be complete without an Elvis sighting.

Outside the Venetian. They offered gondola rides inside or outside.

This was inside the Wynn Hotel also. We took so many pictures of ceilings I may do a posting on just ceilings.

Outside the Wynn Hotel.

The Conservatory inside the Bellagio. They change the decor according to the seasons and holidays. This spring planting represented European gardens.

The Conservatory.

We saw four different water shows at the Bellagio. We watched three nightime shows and this daytime show. On weekend nights there is a show every 15 minutes so by the time you watch one and walk around the lake there is another one starting. There was different music for each show we watched.

Seeing Elton John in concert wasn't the reason we took the trip to Vegas, but when we heard he was performing at Caesars Palace it was a huge bonus. All three of us are big fans and the chance to hear him live was beyond our wildest dreams. The tickets were expensive and we ended up sitting near the top of the coliseum but it didn't matter as there really wasn't a bad seat in the entire place. We had a good view of him playing the piano, which he did on every song.

We loved the show, even though some of the videos and stage props were a little bizzare. The show is somewhat risque, but we were in Vegas and expected that. Listening to him sing and play some of his greatest hits was worth every penny we paid. His voice sounded as strong as it did thirty years ago. Our only complaint with the show was that it ended too soon.

Next vacation together----New York City! Start saving your bucks girls.

Viva Las Vegas

2009-04-25T10:24:00.011-06:00

Last weekend I flew to Vegas with my sisters, Brenda and Jennie. We had talked about this trip for over a year and tuthfully, I didn't think we would ever do it. Six weeks ago I called them and said we are doing it, I got us booked and we found out we could spend three days, 24/7, together and get along (even with my snoring). Jennie probably realized that her two older sisters really are a lot older than she is. After walking up and down the strip all day Friday, Brenda had 3 or 4 blisters and I did something to my foot and was hobbling around like the old lady I am quickly becoming, but Jennie was like the energizer bunny, she just kept going and going.

My pictures are in random order because I have a miserable cold and I just don't feel like taking the time to organize them.

The Venetian Hotel and Casino was our favorite. It was absolutely beautiful and of course, we took the gondola ride through the canals of Venice. This was all inside the building, a lot of the casinos have the sky painted to make you seem like you're outside, but this one was the most realistic.

The picture above is the world's largest chocolate fountain. There are 2,100 pounds of melted dark, milk and white chocolate pouring through at a rate of 120 quarts per minute. The whole shop was full of beautiful chocolate creations and it smelled yummy. The shop was inside the Bellagio Hotel.

If you ever watch Oprah (or the movie of the same name) you will know about frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity. This Vegas shop just opened last month and we couldn't resist trying one. It was good, but I have heard that people stand in line for hours at the NYC store to get one, I wouldn't ever do that.

We ate at the most expensive buffet in Vegas--Bellagio's-- it was good, but I wouldn't pay that much for a buffet ever again. I mean really... can you eat $45 dollars worth of food at a buffet? This is my desert plate so you can see I tried to get my money's worth there.
While we were waiting in the line to get in I looked up and Jason Alexander (George Costanza, for all you Seinfeld fans) walked right by me. That was our only star sighting.

The Eiffel Tower at the Paris Hotel. We had planned to go to the top but never made it.

This is the pool area at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. I would love to stay there sometime. It has an Asian tropical theme and is really beautiful.

This Jacuzzi tub became my favorite thing in Vegas. Sitting in a tub of hot, bubbling water relaxed my muscles enough that I could go hard the next day. We stayed at Caesar's Palace and received a room upgrade when we checked in so we had a much more luxurious room than what we paid for. Thank you Caesar's Palace!

It was so nice to see green bushes, trees and blooming flowers. After our long hard winter I am sick of everything looking brown and dead.

In preparation for the highlight of our trip, Elton John's Red Piano Concert, Brenda and Jennie went shopping for some Elton glasses.

You'll have to wait for part 2 of our Vegas adventure tomorrow, right now my head is pounding, my nose is stuffy and it's time for a nap.

An Acton Easter Egg Hunt

2009-04-13T20:47:00.006-06:00

We had a relatively quiet Easter this year. There were only six of the grandkids here but we had our annual Easter egg hunt in the yard. Because we only had three of the younger kids around we decided to hide eggs with money in them for Tanner and Tucker. Ken and Colette were in charge of the hiding and came up with some pretty unique hiding places.

This is one of the places Tucker found an egg, yes it was hidden high up in the tree. Tanner is below in another tree with his egg. I was worried about them falling and then I realized I should have worried about the person who climbed the tree to hide them........their 60 year old grandpa.

The Circus is in Town

2009-04-05T18:30:00.003-06:00

Things have been pretty stressful around here for the past few weeks so when Colette asked me to go with her to the circus I jumped at the chance to get out of town. It had been years since I had been to one, but as a kid I had dreams of being a trapeze artist. Being raised in a small town in Wyoming the opportunity never materialized. That and I have a real fear of heights.
This trick made my 4 year old granddaughter nervous, she was really worried about him falling and then worried that he wouldn't be able to get down.

Being the indulgent grandma that I am, when Caelen said she wanted her face painted I sprung for the $6 (outrageous price!) and let her do it. This was her face after they held the mirror up for her to look in, she immediately smeared the black around her eye, turned to me and said "I want this stuff off". I convinced her to leave it on until she got home, but it came off minutes after we got in the house.

Luke's reaction to his sister's painted face.

Wanna Do Lunch?

2009-03-18T18:41:00.006-06:00

This is the One Stop Wash and Lube in our town. Every small town has one, right?

But I bet you don't have this at yours! So, what do you say..... let's meet for lunch next Tuesday and while we're eating we'll get the oil changed in the car.

Checking number 5 off my Bucket List

2009-03-17T11:06:00.003-06:00

Wow, I didn't realize it had been two weeks since my last post. What a slacker! I'm blaming my television, specifically TIVO. Ever since we got Tivo I spend too much time sprawled on the couch watching shows I would have never bothered with before. What a waste of time! But I have to say........I really love my Tivo, last night I watched Dancing with the Stars (a 2 hour show), Brothers and Sisters (recorded the night before) and a sit-com, a total of 3 1/2 hours of shows in less than two hours. So in reality I'm not wasting time, I'm saving time! Okay, now I don't feel so guilty.

Do you have a "Bucket List"? I made a mental list after seeing the movie of things I just had to do before my number is called. One thing on my list was to see Elton John in concert. YES! I'm going to Vegas next month and have my ticket to his Red Piano Show. My sisters and I have talked about taking a trip together for the past year, but that's all we did was talk. Last week I found a good package deal, called Brenda and Jennie and within 15 minutes we were booked. When we saw that Elton John was performing we knew we had to go to his show, regardless of the cost, (not totally true, we're sitting in the nose-bleed section). I don't care about his politics, his lifestyle or anything else, I just love his music.

Photo Tag

2009-03-04T21:21:00.004-07:00

This photo tag is from my friend Joan's blog. This is the 6th picture in my 6th photo folder. After you post the picture you are supposed to tell about the photo, so here goes. This is a picture taken on Easter in 1957. My dad is holding my brother Jim, my sister Brenda is next to him and I am standing off on my own. I don't have a clue where the dog came from. We're behind my Grandma Larson's house and I know she didn't ever have a dog. What I like best about this picture is that for once Brenda and I have normal length bangs. In most of our pictures our bangs are horribly short, I don't know if mom meant for them to be that short or if once she started cutting she just couldn't stop.

After you post your picture you're supposed to tag 6 people to do the same. I'm not sure I have 6 people who read my blog, but if you do why not play along.

1. Go to your documents/pictures.
2. Go to your 6th file folder.
3. Go to your 6th picture.
4. Post and blog about it.
5. Tag 6 people to do the same

How Appropriate is This?

2009-03-03T10:52:00.003-07:00

Being the mathematical geek that I am it is only appropriate that this applies to my birthday today.

Count on Tuesday's alignment of the calendar to add some excitement to the lives of at least a few math geeks.

Tuesday is Square Root Day, a rare holiday that occurs when the day and the month are both the square root of the last two digits of the current year. Numerically, March 3, 2009, can be expressed as 3/3/09, or mathematically as √9 = 3, or 3² = 3 × 3 = 9.

"These days are like calendar comets, you wait and wait and wait for them, then they brighten up your day--and poof--they're gone," Ron Gordon, a Redwood City, Calif., teacher who organized a contest intended to publicize the event, told the Associated Press. The prize, or course, is $339.

Celebrants are expected to mark the occasion by cutting root vegetables into squares or preparing other foods in the shape of the square root symbol. I think I'll find another way to celebrate.

Square Root Day occurs only nine times in a century. The last one occurred on February 2, 2004, and the next will occur in seven years on April 4, 2016.

My Diet Plan

2009-02-26T16:56:00.003-07:00

Feeling really fat after our weekend in Lovell, I decided it was time to start a serious, low-calorie, no sweets allowed diet. For breakfast I had instant oatmeal with only 1/3 cup of milk, mid morning I had an orange.

Breakfast Calories: 240

I was feeling a little famished when I went home for lunch so while I was waiting for my Lean Cuisine ravioli to nuke (a whole 3 minutes) I grabbed a weight watchers sherbet and ice cream bar. Okay that kind of went against my no sweets rule, but hey, it was weight watchers.

Lunch Calories: 340

After work I decided to stop by the grocery store to get the makings for a healthy, green salad. I walked by the seasonal aisle which they had freshly stocked with Easter candy. Without hesitating I grabbed a bag of miniature Cadbury eggs, thinking that I would reward myself with one small egg each night after dinner. By the time I reached the checkout stand I realized how stupid that idea was so I decided to put them back on the shelf, when what did I spot...........marshmallow chicks and rabbits! (my favorite Easter candy) Well, you all know the outcome of this story.

Dinner Calories: 910

There were still a few left (4) when I came to my senses, so I soaked them in water and threw them away. As disgusting as it may sound, getting them wet keeps me from going after them when my blood sugar returns to normal and I find myself craving sweets. TOMORROW I really am going to get serious about dieting.

Mom's Birthday Party

2009-02-23T18:31:00.015-07:00

Today is my mom's 79th birthday ( I can get away with telling her age because she doesn't read my blog). When my son was little he called her his Chinese grandma. Looking at this picture, taken when she was 15 years old, she does kind of have an Asian look. Her ancestry however, is German and Norwegian. Ken and I picked up Colette and the kids and went to Lovell for the weekend to help her celebrate. Kim and her family decided to join us and drove down Saturday.

Gourmet jelly belly's are mom's favorite candy and she usually gets one of these huge jars each year. She keeps the jar hidden, but I bet they still don't last very long. I inherited my sweet tooth from both my parents. My sister Jennie had us all to her house for dinner Saturday night. There were 30 of us packed in her house. Jen is pretty easy going and she just goes with the flow. I would have been completely stressed with that many people in my house.

Rock Band and Guitar Hero are becoming mainstays at our family parties. All the children, young and old like to pretend they can sing. Tanner is taking his turn at the mike, accompanied by Madison on the drums and Nathan on the guitar.

Madison is singing here and Ken is anxiously waiting for his turn.

Kim has alway been a wannabe rock star. Colette and Kirsten are the members of the band. Tanner is probably thinking that he could sing it a lot better than his mom.

Of course baby Luke always attracts a crowd. We had a fun, but noisy weekend.

Dirty Harry in His Golden Years

2009-02-16T10:42:00.004-07:00

Ken and I celebrated Valentine's Day by driving to Miles City for dinner and a movie. We haven't had a movie theater in our town for over ten years so our movie dates are few and far between.

We both wanted to see Gran Torino, starring Clint Eastwood, so the choice was easy. Actually, there was no choice, as there is only one theater in Miles City. I really do live in the sticks. The movie gets its title from a vintage car belonging to Eastwood's character. He plays a crotchety old bigot, grumbling about all the Asians who have moved in and taken over the old neighborhood. His prized 1972 Gran Torino is a magnet for the local gangs.

Clint Eastwood has always been one of my favorite actors, from the time he played Rowdy Yates on Rawhide. He has said this will be his last acting role. That's sad to me because even at age 78, I think he still has it.

I really liked this movie and would highly recommend it. Be forwarned though, you may not like it if you're offended by raunchy language.

When Walter Kowalski stands on his lawn and growls in his raspy voice "get off my lawn" you can almost imagine it sounding a little like Dirty Harry's "make my day".

Silly Sign

2009-02-06T16:44:00.003-07:00

I took this picture in a restroom in Hawaii. Really......do people need a sign telling them not to drink from a toilet!

Surviving Chucky Cheese

2009-02-02T16:52:00.007-07:00

When Colette told me she was going to have Caelen's birthday party at Chucky Cheese, the memories of going there with my own children (back then it was called Showbiz Pizza) flashed through my mind and I instantly felt a headache coming on. For those of you lucky enough not to know about Chucky Cheese, it is an over-priced pizzeria, a child's fantasy land and a parent's living hell.

The cost of the party sounded do-able to Colette as there were only six kids invited. Of course, those six kids had parents who attended, and there were grandparents and a couple of friends who didn't want to miss this adventure and suddenly the cost of the party is 2 1/2 times the original price. I thought Colette was going to go into shock when she got the total bill.

The original cost of the party included two one-topping pizzas, 6 children's drinks, a small cake and twenty tokens per child. Using those tokens in the game room is where the real fun begins, along with grandma's headache.

Walking into the game room, you're suddenly bombarded by the sound of screaming kids, laughing kids, crying kids and they are everywhere, you can't take a step without running into one of them. Add to that the ding, ding, ding of the games, the pounding of "bop the gopher on the head" game, and well.......you get the picture.

Surprisingly, I handled the noise and confusion much better than I did thirty years ago. Maybe I'm developing more patience in my old age.

The Dream

2009-01-24T10:13:00.007-07:00

Don't worry, I'm not going to tell you about a dream I had last night (although I've had some doozies lately). We were suffering from cruise withdrawals so we booked a back to back cruise on the new Carnival Dream. The worst part......we have to wait a whole year. It's a new ship, due to debut next September. We are booked for January 23, 2010 for the first week, we'll stay on the ship and go the next week too.

So far, Ken's sister Sue and husband Duane, are the only others booked with us. We're hoping a few more couples will decide to cruise with us. Eveyone start saving your bucks and come along.

It will be Carnival's largest ship, with some new innovations. Fun, fun, fun!

This is the area my hubby is excited about.....the water slide! Should I be worried or is it a good thing that a sixty year old man is excited about this?

Being the complete opposite of my husband, this hot tub cantilevered off the side of the ship looks pretty inviting to me.

Now I'm Worried

2009-01-21T21:49:00.007-07:00

I saw a blurb on one of the news channels that the designer of Aretha's hat has so received so many orders today for this hat, that he can't find enough fabric to fill them all. That's scary.

This scanning project is taking over my life!

2009-01-12T22:42:00.009-07:00

Since this scanning project is taking over my house, my life and every bit of spare time I have, I decided I may as well post a few of the pictures I've scanned. These are of the grandkids, just random photos, some are recent and some of them are when the teen-agers now were small.

Taylor was our first grandchild and I have a gazillion pictures of her. This is her first Christmas, she was pretty spoiled.

This is Taylor all grown up, well.....in her mind anyway.

Austan and Tristan came into our lives about five years ago so I don't have many pictures of them when they were small. They are the two boys on the right in this Christmas picture from a few years ago.

This is Trey who was very disgusted with his parents after they all completed a long hike in the Big Horn Mountains. When he's not happy with something, his face will tell you.

Zac was excited to start kindergarten. Probably the first and last day he was excited about school.

I just like this picture of Lexie. She is a few years younger here, but she's still this pretty.

Tucker is thirteen now, but he still looks like this when he laughs. He has a great giggle.

Luke was just starting to smile and notice people when I took this picture. Maybe when I get good at photoshop I can get rid of the feet growing out of his head.

Kenzie had the wildest hair when she was born. It looks curly here, but it's pretty straight now.

Zac usually wore his hair spiked, as was the style a few years ago. His new step-dad decided to give him a new "do" and slicked it all down.

Caelen was very attached to her "binky" when she was little. Colette took this picture in the car after she heard a small squeal of delight and turned to see Caelen with two pacifiers in her mouth. She was really pleased with herself.

This picture of Talen, Trey, Caelen and Kenzie was taken last summer. Trey likes to puff his chest out and the girls are unsucessfully trying to copy him.

Ken was raking leaves last fall and caught this image of Caelen jumping into the pile.

This is a picture the girls will laugh at someday and then ask us why we made them wear bunny ears. Talen didn't have ears so she just put the Easter basket on her head. She does things like that.

Tanner and Taylor, both teen-agers now, are sitting in my doll room. I think Taylor was thrilled to finally be in there, but Tanner not so much.

Tanner has been wrestling since he was about 4 years. Here he is with his "look tough" pose.

Lexie came to visit us from NC when she was about 9 months old. Dad is giving her a bath in the kitchen sink.

Taylor, Tanner and Tucker after going down the water slide in Moose Jaw, Canada.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Kenzie, Caelen and Talen. They love to take a bath at grandma's house.

When my computer crashed last fall I lost a lot of pictures that hadn't been printed so now they are all going onto CD's and being backed up on an external hard drive. Saturday I scanned 276 pictures and that is not even a small dent in the amount I have left to do. Ugh!

What have I got myself into???

2009-01-08T20:57:00.008-07:00

I began a winter project that will almost certainly drive me crazy. My plan was to scan some old photos and put them on CD's for my family. I now have hundreds of pictures and the majority of them don't have names or dates on them. These two are from Ken's side of the family and nobody knows anything about them. I was able to zoom in and read the license which is a 1928 Wyoming plate. The woman in the back on the left is Ken's Grandma George. That's it, the only thing we know about them. The location doesn't even look familiar. I would love to know more about these pictures, but they were taken eighty years ago. Who the heck am I going ask?

A Real Crappy Friday

2009-01-02T23:31:00.004-07:00

My day started with a call from my daughter who lives in the country about 60 miles away from us. She had injured her knee in a fall from a four-wheeler earlier in the week and had an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon in Billings today and needed me to drive her there. I called my daughter Kim to go with me in case Cami needed help getting in and out of the vehicle. We had freezing rain last night on top of what snow was left and the roads weren't that great. We made it fine until we turned on the dirt road to get to her house. I was going slow but when I turned this corner I starting sliding and this is where I ended up. Luckily, there was a snow bank there that kept us from going all the way over on the side. We had to crawl out the passenger side window to get out and then sunk up to our knees in the snow bank. The hardest part was calling Ken and telling him what had happened. He luvvvvvs his truck. To his credit, he was very calm and just relieved that we weren't hurt. We ended up taking Cami's truck to Billings and we were about an hour late for her appointment but we made it. She had an MRI which she won't know the results from until Tuesday. The doctor did detect a small fracture on her tibia, which they didn't see when she had it x-rayed right after the accident. While we were in Billings it started snowing again and made for slick roads coming home. It tooks us almost two hours to get to her house, usually a one hour drive. Luckily, the road from her house to Colstrip was pretty clear and we are all home safe and sound. Even the pickup isn't in too bad of shape. The front fender by the door is dented so it will be making a trip to the body shop.

TOP TEN NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS

2008-12-30T21:31:00.005-07:00

I have never been too successful with New Year's Resolutions. The other day I came across an article in a magazine listing their top ten resolutions for the new year. I decided to make their list my list.

Therefore I hereby resolve to:

SPEND MORE TIME WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS: I plan on doing just that, but it will have to wait till the weather warms up because once I get home from work, I don't leave my house for anybody or anything.

FIT IN FITNESS: This one I absolutely plan on doing , but again, I'll have to wait for spring cuz it's just too damn cold outside for a walk or a jog. Maybe if I take the clothes off the exercise bike, well that's a possibility.

TAME THE BULGE: I started my diet the day after Christmas, of course it's impossible to diet on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, but I'll get right back on it. Maybe next Monday.

QUIT SMOKING: I can cross this one off, don't smoke.

ENJOY LIFE MORE: This one is going to be hard until I can retire and move somewhere warm.

QUIT DRINKING: No Way! I must have an occasional margarita.

GET OUT OF DEBT: Not a problem, remember who I'm married to... Mr. Cash and Carry.

LEARN SOMETHING NEW: I WILL master Photoshop this year!

HELP OTHERS: You have to help yourself before you can help others.

GET ORGANIZED: I had already decided that my side of the closet will be color coordinated, with all my shirts buttoned and facing the same direction, just like my husband's.

These resolutions don't sound too bad, I'll let you know how I'm doing.

DEAR SANTA

2008-12-26T12:28:00.003-07:00

My seven year old grandson made a gingerbread house in school. The teacher told the kids they couldn't eat them because they had used raw eggs in the icing. Trey was worried that Santa would see it, think it was his treat and eat it, so he left him this note. (click on the picture if you can't read it)

'Twas the Week Before Christmas

2008-12-22T18:56:00.010-07:00

'Twas the week before Christmas, and all through our town
The wind was a howlin', the snow coming down.
The stockings were hung by our chimney with care,
But under our tree, it was totally bare.

I tried to get nestled all snug in my bed
But my throat was sore and I had a stuffed head.
My plan to go shopping had gone all askew,
I couldn't make Billings, what the hell would I do?

The Nyquil kicked in and I fell fast asleep,
When a loud rumbling roar woke me out of the deep.
I looked out the window to see what was the matter
The Dodge Ram was runnin' and making the clatter.

Ken yelled up to me "The truck's ready to go,
the 4-wheel drive pick-up will get through the snow".
So I grabbed the checkbook, the debit card too,
and we headed to Billings to see what damage we'd do.

After a two hour trip, we hit the first store
I was thrilled to get in there, finding bargains galore.
Checking the names off our list one by one
Before we knew it we were finally done.

Now the presents are wrapped and under the tree,
The cookies are baking, I'm really stress free.
The lights are all twinkling, it's a beautiful sight,
So to all of my loved ones, Merry Christmas, good-night.

Damn, it's cold!

2008-12-14T22:39:00.003-07:00

This is the weather forecast from Weather Underground for our little town tonight.

Partly cloudy. Very cold. Occasional flurries. Lows around 28 below. Northwest winds 5 to 15 mph. Lowest wind chill readings 45 below to 55 below zero overnight.

I just checked the temp and it is 19 degrees below zero. Wind chills of 45 to 55 below zero!

Besides being too cold and stormy to go to Billings and do my Christmas shopping this weekend, I came down with a cold and cough so I spent most of the weekend laying around. I will never, ever, ever, wait this late to do my shopping. It is extremely stressful.

January Blah's a month early

2008-12-10T16:17:00.005-07:00

For the most part I don't suffer from depression or even get the blues very often and if I do, it is usually in January. This week I am feeling like I sometimes feel in January. It may be because there are only two weeks until Christmas and I don't have my shopping done, really I have so few presents bought that I can't truthfully say I have even started yet. My plan was to do my shopping this coming weekend but the weather forecast is snow and temperatures below zero. Don't think I want to be making the trip to Billings in that. Which means I will be doing my shopping the following weekend ----5 days before Christmas!

The Amazing Race ended Sunday, Boston Legal aired its last episode Monday, Survivor is winding down, so I don't even have my television shows to escape the doldrums.

If only I had a winter cruise to look forward to. Warm weather, food (that I don't have to cook) available 24 hours a day, someone to make my bed daily and then leaving a towel animal to amuse me, relaxing on a lounge chair in the sun while listening to caribbean music, watching nightly shows, the beautiful blue color of the Caribbean sea, the warm, gentle trade winds blowing in my face while I take a late night walk on the Promenade deck.

ck. Yup! I think that might cure the blah's!

(Now before any of my family gets on here and blasts me...no, I am not going on another cruise, but hey, thinking about it did help for a short time)

My Cruisin' Christmas Tree

2008-12-02T18:13:00.007-07:00

I have had "bloggers block" lately, nothing in my life seemed very blog worthy so my daughter suggested I do a post on my ornament collection. I have a lot of different collections, my kids are going to have a lot of things to fight over when I'm gone, or they can have one heck of a yard sale.

When we started cruising I bought a lot of knick knacks that I had no idea what to do with once we got home. Most of our first cruises were taken in December and the Christmas decorations were plentiful on the islands so I began buying tree ornaments. Not only were they useful when I got home, they were easy to pack in my suitcase. Now they are fun reminder of the trips we have taken.

I This dough wreath was one of my first purchases. They were being sold as ornaments made by Aruban school children. I was impressed so I bought several. Every island we stopped at that trip had the same ornament, made by their school children. I'm not nearly as gullible now.

It's hard to see in this picture, but this ball is completely covered with beads. I got it in Mexico.

My Hawaiian girls are from Maui. The one is made on some sort of a pine cone and the other in on a shell.

This old fisherman is painted on a shell. Purchased in Halifax on our last trip.

These shells weren't purchased on a cruise, I found them at a craft fair in Colorado. I have about ten of them all made from various shells.

Ken likes to snorkel and dive for shells. He found this sea urchin in Grenada.

I love palm trees and sand dollars so I had to have this one.

These three wiseman are made of dough and are on a shell. I found them in an art gallery in St. Maarten. I should have been wearing my glasses because I totally put the decimal point in the wrong place. : (

Another art gallery purchase, but definitely not as pricey as the wise men. Bought in the Cayman Islands. The garland shown on the tree is small shells on a chain.

A conch shell Ken found on the ocean floor. This was also found in Grenada.

I have a big tree in my living room that has many of the other ornaments I have collected over the years. You may see that one too, if I have another severe case of bloggers block.

Here's to 40 more!

2008-11-20T17:41:00.005-07:00

My darling husband commented that he was hoping for 40 more years of wedded bliss which got me thinking that I'm not sure I want to be married to a 100 year old man! I would be happy with at least 30 more years though. For a couple of kids who had no business getting married at ages 20 and 18, we managed to beat the odds and stay married a lot longer than anyone would have guessed.

Happy Anniversary Honey!

Our wedding picture.

Okay, that's not really our wedding picture. Our wedding picture is even worse and I can't even find it now. This was a picture we had taken in high school at a school carnival many, many years ago.

And to those that mentioned that the 40th anniversary is the "ruby" anniversary, this is what Ken bought me on our cruise without either of us even knowing about the "ruby" thing.

(P.S. to Brenda) I got the desk after the marathon fishing trip.

A Warning to my husband

2008-11-20T10:24:00.005-07:00

A married couple in their early 60s was celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary in a quiet, romantic little restaurant.

Suddenly, a tiny yet beautiful fairy appeared on their table.

She said, "For being such an exemplary married couple and for being loving to each other for all this time, I will grant you each a wish."

The wife answered, "Oh, I want to travel around the world with my darling husband."

The fairy waved her magic wand and - poof! - two tickets for theQueen Mary II appeared in her hands.

The husband thought for a moment: "Well, this is all very romantic, but an opportunity like this will never come again. I'm sorry my love, but my wish is to have a wife 30 years younger than me."

The wife, and the fairy, were deeply disappointed, but a wish is a wish. So the fairy waved her magic wand and poof!...the husband became 92 years old.

The moral of this story: Men should remember fairies are female.....

Tomorrow is our 40th wedding anniversary so I thought this was appropriate.

Grandma's Playroom

2008-11-15T15:25:00.006-07:00

When our third child left home and we were down to only one at home I decided to turn one of the extra bedrooms into a doll room. I'm not sure where this idea came from as I was never big on playing with dolls as a young child but I thought they would be a fun thing to collect.

A very good friend of mine made this wall hanging for me when I first started the room.

None of my dolls are very expensive and I'm sure they're not collector items. Most doll collectors keep their dolls in the original box but I didn't want that. I like to have them out collecting dust and losing their value. People started buying me dolls for Christmas and my birthday so it didn't take long to fill the room.

These are the largest dolls I have. They stand about two feet tall. My mom bought them for me for Christmas.

I also like miniatures so I am always looking for things to add to the room. The blue tea set was found in Aruba, it is a dutch island and the tea set is the dutch delft pattern. It's hard to see but on the top shelf is a tiny blown glass set I found in Mexico.

Penny and Sylvia were my first two dolls. I bought them late one night while watching the shopping network. (I know I really need to get a life) Sylvia is the one in blue, my daughter Colette never liked her because she thought she looked snooty.

This is another set I bought although they are bigger than most miniatures. They were purchased from ebay just because I thought they were pretty.

This lemonade set is one of my favorites. I found it in a small antique shop in Colorado. They are not antiques but that didn't matter to me.

I used to look for dolls all the time when we were on cruises and could never find them, especially in the Caribbean. I did find this doll in Peurto Rico and she is one of my favorites and one of the most expensive. She has a really pretty face.

This Princess Diana doll was purchased at a benefit auction, otherwise I probably wouldn't have bought it. I like her dress but I don't think they captured her face well at all.

One night when I was up late, again watching the shopping channel, I saw this doll advertised as one they would be selling in the next hour. I bought her at about 2 o'clock in the morning! She is a Titanic character and she has a beautiful face. By the way, I never watch the shopping channels anymore.

My daughter Kim used to make these button babies. She sold them at craft fairs but like her mother, she got tired of doing them and has moved on to other endeavors.

My only bride doll.

A few of my favorites.

I found this rocking horse in an antique shop in North Carolina. We were flying so I had to ship it home, cost me almost as much to get it home as it did to buy it. I don't know how much of an antique it is, but I like it.

Of course, you can't have a doll collection without some Barbies. Most of these are Colette's. When I realized how much more valuable they are if you leave them in their original boxes I quit taking them out.
This room tortures my poor little grandchildren because they aren't allowed to go in without grandma. We do have an occasional tea party in there.

Final NY hours

2008-11-05T18:28:00.007-07:00

St. Paul's Chapel was where George Washington prayed the morning of his inauguration and where he worshipped the two years that the capital of the United States was in New York City.
Pictured below is his pew.
While walking to the subway we passed Fraunces Tavern. Established in 1762, the tavern became a meeting place for leaders of the revolution. George Washington became a personal friend of the owner and it was here that he gave his "farewell to the troops" address.

After a somber morning at Ground Zero we wanted to lighten our mood so we headed over to Wall Street and the NY stock exchange. Not exactly a place thats going to cheer a person up. The week we were on our cruise was the infamous "worst week" the stock market had since the depression.

This trio of unemployed financial businessmen were performing for money outside the NY Stock Exchange.

Television cameras were set up on the steps of the Federal Building to record this historic day when the Dow Jones Industrial soared to a 936-point gain. (And we were there!)

Ken follows the stock market faithfully and was patting the bull's head for a little reassurance that things would get better.

I, on the other hand, just grabbed the bull by the balls!

Now we're talking. My mood suddenly lightened when we came upon the famous Times Square Naked Cowboy. He has been singing and playing his guitar in the middle of Times Square every day, rain or shine, for the past ten years. I knew he was famous but no one around here has ever heard of him. Have any of you?

We passed by the Ed Sullivan theater where David Letterman tapes his show. Ken and I aren't real big fans of Letterman but there was a crowd forming around the corner from the theater so we decided to see what was going on.

Ken had never heard of Rupert and the Hello Deli , but I have watched Letterman enough to recognize the deli that he frequently features on his show.

I went in to get us a drink and had my picture taken with Rupert. Does anyone know who he is? This is the only semi-famous person I have ever been pictured with.

These Orange County Choppers were parked outside the side entrance to the theater and we were told that Letterman was going to tape part of his show outside. We decided to wait around and check it out. So we waited and waited and waited... for this...a quick glance at Paul Sr. and his son Mikey from OCC. I'm not a fan so it wasn't too exciting to see them, but the choppers were nice. We also saw Sarah Silverman who was a guest on the show. I had her picture on here ready to post but it disappeared. Where do they go? It was here and now it's gone. Ken didn't know who she was but I read enough tabloids that I recognized her.

That is how we spent our last couple of hours in NYC! We did have a wonderful time on this trip and I would do it all over again, even all the walking.

NYC - World Trade Center Site

2008-11-03T19:16:00.007-07:00

When we woke up on our final day in New York our legs and feet told us that they had done just about as much walking as they were going to do. I don't think I have ever had such aching legs. We wanted to try the subway anyway so we found the nearest station and in a matter of minutes we were in Lower Manhattan. Our first stop was at Ground Zero. There isn't a lot to see there as they are beginning the construction of new buildings on the site. We headed across the street to St. Paul's chapel which was used as a rest station for the rescue workers in the days and weeks following the attacks. The church received absolutely no damage, not even a broken window during the terrorist attacks. That is amazing when you remember that not only the World Trade Center buidlings were destroyed, but many other buildings in the area were also destroyed or severely damaged.

In the days following the attack, relatives and friends of those unaccounted for distributed flyers with their loved ones pictures on the streets around hospitals and rescue centers. Volunteers at the church began collecting them and posting them on a small altar at the church. In the weeks and months after the tragedy funeral notices and mass cards were added to the altar. The altar was eventually returned to service at the church, but this replica was built to hold the momentos honoring the victims. Looking at the pictures and reading the notices was extremely sad.

The site of the WTC taken from the church grounds.

St. Paul's Chapel is an Episcopalian church built in 1766 and is the church where George Washington worshipped. It is the oldest public building in continuous use in Manhattan.

The only thing that was destroyed was this old sycamore tree that stood in the corner of the church lot. A sculptor worked with tree experts to preserve this stump as a monument. Notice the piece of pipe imbedded in the trunk.

One of the most moving displays for me was this flag with the names of those killed on Sept. 11. Click on the picture to see the names written on each stripe.

"Healing Hearts and Minds" is what the name of this tribute. Fire and police departments from across the country sent their uniform patches in tribute to the rescue workers.

We had a busy day and I will post the rest of our day tomorrow. I thought this posting about Ground Zero should be separate.

New York - Day 1

2008-11-01T10:24:00.011-06:00

We were scheduled to leave the ship at 10:30 on Sunday morning, the last group to disembark. Because we only had 2 days here we decided to carry our own luggage and be off the ship by 8 a.m. It was a hassle with our four suitcases, but we did it. We had our luggage stored at the hotel and were on our way to Central Park before 9 a.m.

The park really is an oasis within the city. It was a beautiful fall day and the park was full of joggers, walkers, tourists and bicycles. Within an hour it became very crowded in the more popular areas, but there were still places where you felt like you were the only people around. It was just beautiful.

There were musicians and artists all along the area called "The Mall".

Being a child of the sixties I had to make the pilgrimage to Strawberry Fields and see the tribute to John Lennon. The apartment building where he was shot is across the street from this area.

Occasional views like this are the only reminder that you are still in the nations largest city.

This is Cartier's, the famous Jewelry store and no we didn't go in.

St. Patrick's Cathedral, where Jackie Onassis's funeral was held.

I loved all the old churches we saw on this trip. Nothing being built now compares to the architecture and craftsmanship you see on these old buildings.

After leaving Central Park we walked down Fifth Avenue where we saw huge crowds of people forming along the sidewalk. There were cops everywhere and barricades set up, I asked what was going on and was told that the Columbus Day Parade was starting soon. We thought how cool, we'd watch for awhile. While waiting we saw people holding Mexican flags and other flags from Latin American countries which I thought was strange. Where were all the Italians? Come to find out about 1/2 hour into the parade that they were celebrating Hispanic Culture. Time to move on and see more of the city.

While in New York I thought we should try some of the food you associate with NYC, like bagels, deli sandwiches, cheesecake, NY style pizza, etc. Carnegie Deli was across the street from our hotel and I had heard of the place so we decided to give it a try. I about turned around and left when I saw these sandwiches sitting on the counter. There was a disgusting pile of meat between very thin slices of bread, now my idea of a sandwich is a small amount of meat and lots of veggies between two thick crusty slices of bread. Ken wasn't about to leave when he saw the size of the sandwiches so we stayed. Click on the picture to enlarge and see how really big these sandwiches were.

We ordered this open faced Rueben sandwich to share, it was huge! It cost $23 and another $3 to share. I am glad we stayed to eat here though, it was a true NY experience.

After a much needed nap at our hotel we decided to walk to the Empire State Building to see the view at night. I had bought tickets online in hopes of avoiding long lines, which worked somewhat but we were still in line for over an hour. It was really crowded when we got to the top and our camera didn't take the greatest pictures. It was a beautiful clear night and we really could see for miles.

We had walked through Times Square earlier in the day, but I was in awe when I saw it at night. It was crowded, noisy and exciting. I loved seeing all the theaters and wish we would have had time for a show. Maybe next time.

Lukas J

2008-10-30T20:26:00.003-06:00

Our newest grandchild was born on October 27 and weighed in at a whopping 9 lb. 1 oz. and was 21 inches long.
His name is Lukas J, but will be called Luke.

Big sister thought he was pretty nice too. I stayed for a couple of days to help, but had to get back to work because we were short-handed at the office. Work sure gets in the way of what I really want to be doing, makes me even more anxious for retirement. Mom and baby are doing great.

New York on hold

2008-10-26T10:41:00.003-06:00

I'm sure all my loyal readers are waiting with baited breath for my final vacation posting. All that remains is New York City and I do have some great pictures. However, grandchild #12 is going to be born tomorrow, so I am off to stay with Caelen and help Colette with the new baby for a few days. Stay tuned for pictures of the new little guy. The picture was taken in Central Park, the entire park was so pretty and huge!

Newport

2008-10-24T12:44:00.004-06:00

Newport would have been my favorite stop except for the hordes of people there. Not only were there two large ships in port, Octoberfest was going on and the town was packed. We (I) love to visit old homes and mansions when we travel and I was hoping to see 2 or 3 here, but because of the number of people we only saw the Breakers. The view above is of the sea from the upper Loggia of the Breakers.

This is the Trinity Church which was modeled after the old North Church in Boston. It was almost identical except for the stained glass windows.

Saint Mary's church is where JFK and Jacqueline Kennedy were married. It was an absolutely beautiful church and so well kept. The wood was polished to a high sheen and everything was immaculate. It was quite dark in there so my pictures don't show its true beauty.

T

I'm standing on the Cliff Walk which runs between the ocean and the mansions for about 3 1/2 miles. We only walked part way because we were running out of time but what a gorgeous walkway.

This is the Breakers, the summer home to the Cornelius Vanderbilt II family. It was built in 1893 at a cost of 8 million dollars and they only lived here for 2 months of the year.

This is the upper loggia of the home. Can you imagine sitting here and having your morning cup of coffee?What a view. (the view is kind of washed out in this picture) but believe me it was fantastic.

Formal dining room. All of the public rooms were very ornate. It was interesting to me that the family's bedrooms were quite plain in comparison.

Cheers

2008-10-23T07:24:00.003-06:00

I forgot to include my Cheers pictures. Thanks Empress Bee for mentioning it. We didn't get to the one downtown, but this was at Quincy Market and shows the Indian outside the door. The bar inside looked just like the bar on the show and had the restaurant in the basement. The bloody mary's were pretty good too, but the spinach and artichoke dip was delicioso.

BOSTON

2008-10-22T20:05:00.005-06:00

Boston was our shortest day in port and the most jam-packed as far as sight-seeing goes. We walked the 2 1/2 mile Freedom Trail, taking in all the historical markers along the way, and then we walked back the same trail to Quincy Market. I don't think we got real good pictures in Boston. The buildings were so close together and the old was mixed in with the new, didn't make for good photo ops.

This is the old North Church where the lanterns were hung signaling to Paul Revere that the British had landed.

Some of the most famous figures of the Revolutionary War are buried here, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere and the first victims of the Boston Massacre.

We crossed the Charlestown River to see the U.S.S. Constitution and had a great view of the newest bridge in Boston. I can't remember the name but it is really beautiful.

Paul Revere's home. We didn't have time to take a tour. The house was built in 1680 and is the oldest building in downtown Boston.

The U.S.S. Constitution. The navy offers free tours of the battle ship. It was really interesting to see Old Ironsides, as she is commonly known.

Inside the ship, this picture is dark but it shows some of the cannons and a barrel similar to what would have been used to store their drinking water.

The Freedom Trail ended at the Bunker Hill Monument. This is where Ken tried to kill me. We climbed to the top of the monument ALL 296 STEPS! I was ready to quit after 75, but the circular stairway was so narrow and there other people climbing up so I couldn't turn around. When we reached the top there were four little windows to look out at the city, but seriously, I was so winded I didn't even look.

This day was exhausting, but so interesting. I would love to go back there and spend more time. Boston was pretty, friendly, and full of fun places to see.

Lobster Time

2008-10-21T23:05:00.011-06:00

You have to eat Maine lobster when you're in Maine. I have to say I was a little disappointed. It was hard to eat and we didn't get much meat off of it. The clam chowder and blueberry pie we had with our meal was delicious though.

I forgot to post this picture and it is one of my favorites. This small building was along the wharf in Bar Harbor. I liked all the colors of the lobster pots against the weathered wood.

I'm working on my post for Boston, but blogger is too slow tonight to load all the pictures so I'll have it tomorrow night.

Bar Harbor, Maine

2008-10-20T17:08:00.010-06:00

The only disappointment I had on this trip is that we were a little early for the fall colors. We saw more color in Bar Harbor than in the other ports. When we arrived it was lightly raining and a little chilly.

I spotted this scene down an alley while we were strolling through the shops and because it was the most colorful we had seen I had to get a picture.

Bar Harbor was one of my favorite ports. It was the smallest and didn't seem as crowded as the others. The people in the shops weren't real friendly, but we had a lobster lunch in a restaurant with a very friendly staff.

This is one of my favorite pictures, I plan on using it as the cover on my photo book.

We had booked a tour on Lulu's Lobster boat with Captain John and because of the stormy weather in the morning we were afraid it was going to be cancelled. After a delay of only 15 minutes the captain decided we would be able to go. Captain John is a real lobsterman, but I think he probably makes more money doing the tours. He only had a couple of lobsters in the pots he checked.

As you can see, the trees were just starting to turn. Guess we'll just have to make another trip someday. : )

By the time we finished on the lobster boat, the sun had come out and it turned out to be a beautiful day. The picture with the sailboat was taken late morning and in a couple of hours when I took the picture with our ship in the background, the sun was out, the sky was blue and we didn't need our jackets.
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I noticed this beautiful building while we were walking along the harbor. It was in the business district, but there were no signs around it so I think it may have been a home. It was so colorful and pretty.

Saint John, New Brunswick

2008-10-19T17:52:00.014-06:00

Saint John, New Brunswick was our second port and we didn't have anything planned so we just started walking around the city. We visited the old City Market, which was actually an indoors farmers market. In each port we discovered old cemeteries and beautiful churches. On our walk we came across an interesting museum. It was a house built by a British Loyalist in 1817. The house was occupied by six generations of the same family for over 150 years.

These flowers were in the city gardens which also contained a cemetery. I was fascinated with the old headstones, so many of them were for such young people.

St. John's or the Stone church was built in 1825. It was an early Gothic revival church.

Dulse is an edible algae that they eat as a snack in parts of Canada. We didn't sample it, but heard that it tastes terrible. Many people were buying it at the market so it must be an acquired taste. The market had almost every kind of seafoofd you could imagine, including the octopus Ken is eyeing in the picture below.

This buffet is an example of the fine antiques in the Loyalist house. The small chest on top of the buffet is an old tea chest in pristine condition. It was featured on an Antique Roadshow several years ago and valued at between $20,000 and $30,000. The old fellow giving us the tour casually picked it up and showed us the lead lined interior, which probably slowly poisoned those drinking tea from the leaves stored in the chest.

The piece pictured below was just one of the intersting commodes in the house. Each bedroom had it's own unique chamberpot.

More of Halifax

2008-10-19T00:58:00.009-06:00

While in Halifax we toured the Citadel, a fort completed by the British in 1865. It was the fourth fort built on this site. The name Nova Scotia means "New Scotland" and the Scottish influence remains strong in the city.

This clock was built for the city by Prince Edward, Duke of Kent who live in the city until 1800. He had the clock erected to help the citizens of the city resolve their problem of tardiness. The clock is four-sided and is located atop the hill leading to the Citadel.

Cruise - Halifax

2008-10-18T22:01:00.010-06:00

Thanks to my daughter Kim and no thanks to Dell Computers, I am back on-line. I am severely addicted to the computer and am so thankful to have a tekkie in the family. Kim, you're awesome!

Now I can finally share our cruise to Canada and New England. For as long as I can remember I have had a fascination with New England and the Atlantic coast. This trip fullfilled a long time yearning to see that part of the country and I was not disappointed.

We flew to NYC and spent our pre-cruise night in Chinatown in Flushing, NY. After exploring the city we had dinner at a popular Chinese restaurant. The dinner was delicious. but being the dessert lovers we are, we had a craving for something sweet. We found a Chinese Bakery and picked a few things that we thought looked good. Yuk! what were we thinking, the Chinese aren't exactly known for their baking skills. We would have to wait till we got onboard the ship to satisfy that sweet tooth.

The next morning we hired a car to take us to the cruise terminal in Brooklyn. The driver didn't have a clue how to get there. We began to worry when he handed me his GPS system to help with directions. Yeah right, I was a big help. Finally, after directions from a local on the street and from a Brooklyn cop we found our way to the ship. Our excitement was dimmed when we weren't allowed to board for another two hours. We were never given an explanation as to why there was such a long delay, but our frustrations ended when we boarded the ship and stood on the top deck and glimpsed our first sight of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan Island.

Our first day was spent at sea and because we knew the next seven days were going to be extremely busy, we spent the day relaxing. The ship was beautiful, but looked a lot like the Emerald Princess we were on in January so we didn't spend a lot of time exploring it.

We arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia on Tuesday and after spending the morning exploring the city, we took a tour to a small fishing village about 30 miles from Halifax. Peggy's Cove was just how I imagined a coastal town would look. It was really cold, the wind whipped right through our bones, but I loved it there.

Don't give up on me!

2008-10-17T13:13:00.003-06:00

My computer is really, really sick and I probably won't get it fixed until next week. Meanwhile I will try to get to Kim's and post a few pictures from her computer. I have a lot to show and tell you about, so don't give up on me. I'll just post this picture as a teaser!

Home Sweet Home

2008-10-15T09:25:00.002-06:00

We're home! With sore tired feet and about 600 pictures that I can't download (or is that upload?) because my computer has died. I turned it on last night and all I got was a black screen with an ominous message on it, so until I get it fixed I will still be on hiatus. We did have a great time and I'm anxious to see how the pictures turned out. I'll try to get over to Kim's tonight and maybe post a few pictures.

The Bags are Packed

2008-10-02T19:29:00.004-06:00

The bags are packed and the countdown is almost there. We leave tomorrow for Billings and have an early morning flight to NYC on Saturday. Sunday we board the Caribbean Princess and head north to Canada. After a sea day, we will port in Halifax, Nova Scotia; Saint John, New Brunswick; Bar Harbor, Maine; Boston; and Newport, Rhode Island. We return on the 15th after spending a couple of days in New York City. I'll try not to bore you with too many picture when I get back, I'll only post the really good ones. See you in about 12 days.

Caught in the Act

2008-10-01T20:39:00.004-06:00

My little granddaughter went shopping with me Saturday. While I was trying on clothes I caught her admiring herself in the mirror. I started carrying my camera in my purse when I started this blog, just in case I come upon something "blog worthy" so I quickly snapped her picture. The second picture is after she was caught.

Only in Montana

2008-10-01T15:58:00.004-06:00

At work today I was asked by a bus driver to call one of our local ranchers and let him know that one of his buffalo calves was on the road. I thought to myself "how often do you make a call like that"?

(Just to clarify things, that is not the actual buffalo calf that was on the road. It's a picture I stole off the internet. The darn bus driver didn't get a picture.)

Birthdays, Birthdays and more birthdays

2008-09-28T17:40:00.009-06:00

I almost let this month get by without mentioning the guys in my life who have birthdays this month.

Tanner was our firstborn grandson and was the most mellow, laid-back baby you ever saw. His personality hasn't changed much. He's just a very easy going kid. Tanner loves sports and participates in football, baseball and wrestling. He also likes golf and is a die-hard fisherman. Tanner is a sweet boy (he probably won't appreciate me saying that) but he really is a sweetheart. Tanner turned 15 on the 15th.

Tucker was born two years and 6 days after his older brother. Tanner and Tucker are good friends as well as brothers. Tuck is the responsible, level headed child of the family. We used to tease him that he was 12 going of 40. However, he has also has a great sense of humor and I love to listen to him giggle, especially when he's getting a kick out of something corny his grandpa has done. He's very athletic and is an intense player in whatever he does. Tucker turned 13 on the 22nd. His most endearing quality, to his grandpa at least, is that he loves the Denver Broncos.

We inherited Tristan when Cami married Wes and he's a keeper. When Tristan was little he reminded me of a colt running around. His spindly legs where always in motion, flying in all directions. Tristan is smart and also loves sports. He is also extremely affectionate and loving.

Tristan will be 11 on the 29th.

Last, but certainly not least, is Ken. He is patient, loving and has put up with my sarcastic and sometimes, sharp tongue for over forty years. Ken loves golfing, fishing, the Denver Broncos and his family. He is a super grandpa.

Happy Birthday to all these great guys! (and to Empress Bee--four birthdays and not one piece of cake! Can you believe that?)