it's never too late

Questions for Edmund

2012-01-18T10:49:00.000-07:00

I've been spending some time on ancestry.com connecting the dots. It sure is a nice system the Mormons set up for the rest of us. Thanks! The trouble is, it makes one ask all sorts of questions that without it you would never dream to ask.

My surname is McVay, although spelling isn't all that important, the first McVay from my line to make it to America was Edmund McVeagh, who arrived here on the Amity, one of William Penn's 23 ships that brought many Quakers and others over to settle the new world. I'm not Quaker, Edmund was likely Presbyterian of Scotch-Irish descent. He arrived in 1682 and worked as a servant for Thomas Holme, first surveyor general of Pennsylvania. Thomas Holme is credited with laying out the survey for what has become the city of Philadelphia. My 7th Great-grandfather Edmund played some role in that--not sure how much. I can find some comments that Edmund probably built the first home for Holme. Beyond that there is little mention, other than that he married another servant, Alice Dickinson who was a servant to another guy named Phinehas Pemberton.

Apparently we come from the working class. Which gives me a nice warm fuzzy feeling. I never really wanted to trace my roots back to some Lord or Royalty of any kind. Pompousness doesn't fit me. (At least I hope not!)

So here's a question for a dead relative. "So Edmund, tell me, how was the trip over on that old wooden sailing ship the Amity?" (Silence....) "And, this girl Alice, how did you run into her? On the ship? Or was it after you had landed, and were living in tents, or under the trees, or, or, or, ...what exactly Did you live in before building that first house for Thomas?" (More silence..)

See, that's the problem. There are very few answers out there. The census records let you connect families, and locations, and some military records will open a window on what may have happened or where another relative may have been located, or shot, or not. It's all pretty cool what you can do with this online tool. But I wish I had been interested in all this back when some of my grandparents and uncles, and aunts were still alive to pin down some details. Now the only one I have left to ask is my Dad. He's 93, and true to form, he has never had much interest in family history. But sometimes I can get him talking and little nuggets will fall from his mouth. Last night I called him about a picture I had found of his grandparents the Reeds, from his Mom's side. On the back of the photograph were written the names. It was a front porch shot, with everyone dressed up like they'd just gotten back from church. And on the back it said, "house where Lyle and Millie were both born". And to the right of the porch, leaning against the support was a guy names 'Mac Baker'. So I asked my Dad, who is this? "Oh, that's some of Grandma Reed's relations", he says without really thinking. I ask is it a brother? Dad responds, "No, probably just a cousin."

He didn't really remember. And he probably never thought about it. And to be fair, I have the photo, he doesn't, and he probably didn't remember the photo anyway. Still, my Mom was the one with the ancestry bug. And she's gone now. Gone just before I got interested as well. Luckily she left me a treasure trove of notes and photos. I just wish she was here to explain some things. She'd be pretty excited about the progress I've made.

Glad to be back at the blog!

Fall

2011-11-02T11:54:00.005-06:00

The leaves have lost hold of their branches as always, Which leaves us with gold and wine colored pathways

And the leaves are falling here in beautiful Billings Montana. I think it’s the first real fall since we moved here. Like last year, we normally just step from summer to winter, from heat to snow, and the snow doesn’t leave till March. But this year has been a nice extended fall and the leaves have just started their short spiraling dance over the past couple of weeks.

About 2 in the morning I was repeating these lines as I drifted back to sleep. Such a beautiful image, drawn up in less than 20 words. Credit goes to Ron Sexsmith, but I first heard it in a song by k.d. lang.

Efficiency is always key, making the most of what you’ve got brings the best kinds of success. I think this is true across the board. From gas mileage from our cars, to food production in our fields, to words in a poem. In fact when I think about it, that’s pretty much my job… finding ways to make others more efficient.

I started down the path of rebuilding our website last spring, taking over for the superintendent who had built it nearly 10 years ago, but hadn’t updated it since. He initially didn’t want to let go, but after rebuilding the pages over the course of this past 6-9 months, he did let go quite gracefully. Actually I was surprised! I thought it would be a bigger struggle.

Efficiency was my goal. I started using PHP and MYSQL nearly 4 years ago to build my own subsection of our website. PHP is just a scripting language that outputs html code. But it’s actually quite powerful. MYSQL on the other hand is just a database, and so if you’ve ever used Excel, or Access, it’s very similar. So coupling the two together to manage a website is a very efficient way to write code. In the beginning, I didn’t do a very good job of this. Mostly I hit the message boards, and googled my way through problems until I could get some routine to work. It’s like a puzzle. You write some code that loops through an array of data and just keep dinking with it till it spits it out correctly, and you’ve solved one section of the puzzle. But in reality you’re never really done. There always seems to be one more thing to work on. One more puzzle to solve.

Right now I’m working on my weather archive page. Some users emailed me to say they’d like to be able to see a rainfall trend in data form for a period of a week or so. The superintendent had a yearly summary file that you could pull up and see for example how much rain came in May, or in June. So this morning, I decided to attack that little piece of the puzzle. And once you have as many pages built as I have, usually you can just steal code from one place, modify it, and then you’re off and running on a solution. I did that, built the form to get the start and stopping dates someone would want. And then I realized merging all these daily files won’t be as easy as I first thought. But it’s just a puzzle. I’m sure the answer will dawn on me soon. Here’s the dilemma. I have daily files with names something like this: AR100515.txt which is a file of hourly observations for May 15, of 2010. And at the end of a year, I’ll have 364 other similar files in that subdirectory. So how do I count over the end of a month? Say someone wants Feb 25 to March 8. I have to write code that knows beforehand that there is no Feb 29, 30, or 31. I could make an index file in MYSQL that would take care of that, but that solution seems bulky to me. And maybe PHP has already got a solution. I must google that!

And I know this because last week, the superintendent told me he’d like to see sunrise and sunset times on the current weather page. It was on the original page. I asked how he did that, and he said he just had a file he read that had the sunrise and sunset values for each day of the year. But his code always used javascript, and my code does not. So I couldn’t just include his without modifying it. He gave me the file, and I was starting to fix it, and ran into a couple of problems. So on a whim I decided to google ‘php and sunrise’. And right there was a function that provides sunrise and sunset without reading some silly database. So that little piece of the puzzle was solved in about an hour of fiddling around. How’s that for efficiency? This was a much more efficient solution than the one I’d been contemplating for over a week. And it was just a google away.

Wonder what I’d find if I googled ‘gold and wine colored pathways’?

If you want to see my website, just type in www.sarc.montana.edu . Unless you’re a farmer in Montana, it probably has little value for you. Still , it’s my little piece of the www!

Sioux Charlie Calls My Name

2011-08-09T11:30:00.000-06:00

Just a post to let you know I'm alive and well. Jason and Vanessa were back last month, and Caity is back too, so we took a weekday and hiked to this lake and back. Stuck our feet in the cold cold water. Saw a bear on the trail. And had a lovely time.

J&V flew back east to start anew in Virginia. Caity and Mom are busy buying barley at the local Coors elevator, and I'm mostly in the field trying to bring in my research crops. It rained a bit this morning, or I wouldn't even be here to make this post.

But I wanted anyone stopping by to know, that it ain't over till it's over! I may have fallen off the blogging wagon, but sometimes I'm inspired to climb back up and do it all over again. What is life if we can't be part of the conversation?

A tale of woe

2011-03-10T11:16:00.002-07:00

Time keeps on moving, moving, moving....into the future.

And the time to break a case of writer's block is always right now. Just do it, as Nike would say. No excuses, just start up again.

I'm home ( in our new home) with a fever...well, I've had a fever for 2 days but I think maybe it's starting to pass as I got up this morning and felt quite a bit better. I don't know if it is flu, swine flu, a sinus cold, or some funky virus I picked up by helping the guy who pumped our septic tank last weekend. In any case, it sucks being sick.

But being sick also gives one time to sit and think, and look at blogs that have fallen off the deep end. So ergo, I am back!

Springtime in Montana. Well it's trying anyway. Temps may make it all the way to the 60's they said last night. But I spy snow on the hills just to the south and less than a week ago everything was frozen solid as a granite countertop. Speaking of granite countertops, and no we don't have one, the little 2 month remodel that we took on last Sept 1 is still going on and on and on.........and on..... But not to fear, we are living in the middle of it, like we always do. No problem. At least it's not so much a problem now that the toilets flush once again. That was probably the most disappointing of developments, the slowly clogging septic system. All this work, all new water pipes, and drain pipes. New bathroom, new shower, moving into our new bedroom, and when the waste water won't go away, it's just depressing. It worked for about 2 months, although we really put very little load on the system. And then we discovered that the guest toilet was bubbling air when we flushed the master bath toilet. Not a good sign!

I bought a snake, spent some quality time in the crawl space working my magic with the snake, only to find no plugs on my end of the construction zone. And then, with the Montana winters, coupled with an old septic tank that does not have a cleanout, we were sort of left at the mercy of a spring thaw in order to deal with what had to be the problem. Last week on Thursday I took the afternoon off to see if I could excavate down to the lid of the tank. Luckily when we bought the place, I made the previous owner show me the location. But on Thursday, the ground was still frozen, and I made no progress to the lid. So, desperate to find a solution, we headed to town to buy a longer, more manly septic snake, and with this lovely tool, I crawled back into my personal crawl space, removed the cleanout, and allowed several gallons of yuck to poor out in front of me, and then snaked like I've never snaked before!!!! To no avail. I could tell that in about 30 feet, I was hitting something solid, but that was about it. And all this unplugging, unplugged nothing, and we were basically at the same point where we started, only lighter by a $40 snake and a bit smellier in the crawl space.

Friday noon, after feeding myself, I realize the air temperature has been in the 40's, and as I glance across the location of the septic tank on my way back to my car, I wonder to myself, what are the chances that the frost is leaving the soil today? And with my sharpshooter spade, I step in, and she sinks down to a solid 'clunk' hitting the lid of the yet to be seen septic tank lid. I spent the afternoon excavating, and we called the guy with the pump truck. And Saturday morning, the lid lifted, the hose inserted, the pump pumping, we fixed what I now consider the final hurdle to really living in our new home. Hopefully anyway! The tank had been sitting idle for nearly a year, and had crusted, so all the solids coming from the house just piled up on top and didn't settle to the bottom like they should. We'll know in a couple of months whether the drain field has been affected, but at least for now, we have running water and flushing toilets in our new house.

Once my fever breaks for good, we'll move the washer and dryer in to live with us too. Isn't home ownership just the pinnacle of life???

Running with the wolves

2010-11-30T17:58:00.001-07:00

What a great holiday weekend! Both kids came home for Thanksgiving, and each brought a friend, so we ended up with a half a pie each after stuffing ourselves with traditional turkey, stuffing, yams, orange salad, mashed potatoes and gravy, and vinegar beans to boot.

Pecan

Cherry


Pumpkin

Friday we recovered and didn't do much other than watch some football. But Saturday we took off for Yellowstone to check out the wildlife in the snow. The north gate is open at Gardner, which goes in at Mammoth. And the road through the Lamar valley toward Cooke City is open, although it was snow packed and slippery.

We saw more elk than bison this time. This one below is just for show. He actually sauntered right up to our car and looked at us through the windshield, before heading up the hillside and off of the road.

But the shots of the day were to come later when we turned around and started to head back to Mammoth. We had gone past Soda Butte, and driving west along the Lamar river Caity spots a pack of wolves running on the other side. I stopped in the middle of the road, and with cameras shooting and binoculars being passed around the van, we captured a moment in time that will last me a lifetime.

The pack was of seven adults, and they were moving to the NE. We've been to Yellowstone a dozen times, and this was the first time we've seen them. There's something about it that I can't explain. I guess it is a connection to the past, and a sense of accomplishment that someone smarter than me saw how important it was to bring these animals back to Yellowstone.

Finally, we had to have a group photo, so I set the camera on auto and snapped the following shot. It was not any place special on the road, the light of the day was fading fast, and usually it's an effort to get everyone to agree to stage a group photo. But this one took no convincing, no effort really, and is almost as memorable as seeing the wolves running. If only I had posed as if in a Zen meditation. Perfecto!

FPS--Spooky

2010-10-29T10:02:00.000-06:00

I don't usually shoot spooky shots. In fact, I don't even like spooky anythings, movies or otherwise. So here's about as spooky as it gets in my life! Cue the music... da. da. da. da. da. da. da. da. doodee doodee DOOT!!!

A sudden shift in gravity and my world is all sixes and sevens!

Things I do that make me laugh

2010-10-27T09:54:00.001-06:00

Morning after an all-night geometry party
Leftovers from a marathon stair tread manufacturing exercise
Random shapes for a yet to be designed floor puzzle
or What a skill saw can do when left alone with a 2X12 and 2 sawhorses

Which caption best explains this picture?

FPS Hot and Cold

2010-09-25T18:04:00.000-06:00

Although these are a year old, I think nothing expresses simultaneous hot and cold like some of the geisers in winter at Yellowstone.

Stay on the boardwalk and you are supposedly safe from sudden eruptions!

Hot steam, cold snow.

The aqua blue pools surrounded by snow and ice makes for an interesting sight.

Steam fills the air.

Old Faithful erupts as we hurry back from the hiking trail.

A one man army

2010-09-24T10:56:00.002-06:00

Wow! What is this? A blog? It seems familiar, in a sort of daja vu kind of way. Like a bicycle? All you gotta do is get on it, and suddenly you remember how to ride.

Enough already. Yes I'm going to attempt a blog. I was looking at my StatCounter and saw that 1 of the 2 people that have come by recently hit on an old blog of mine called circle game, in which I was pondering about how things come around again and again, and it seemed like it was calling me to come back here again and state the obvious -- I'm still alive!

Of course I have excuses. We bought a house, and I'm in the middle of remodeling so we can move in. The goal was to be done by Oct 1. But that isn't going to happen. Although, as of today, I've just about got the rewiring done enough that we could be hanging drywall by tomorrow. Or maybe Sunday. The house was built in 1925. Apparently before there was indoor plumbing or electricity, because there is a functioning outhouse in the pasture, and none of the electrical wires were attached to the interior of the stud walls. In fact, the wiring is mostly ungrounded, and spliced together like fractured ice patterns using copious amounts of electrical tape. The light fixture I tore down in the back laundry room/porch had exposed wires about 1/8th inch apart, ready to spark and give lots and lots of light, although that light wouldn't have lasted long. Last night I came back to that room to run the new wire only to discover that there wasn't even a box for the wires in the first place. They had just drilled a hole through a 2 by 4 and mounted the light directly under the finished ceiling. Like my wife said, apparently they had little respect for electricity. It amazes me that this passed a VA inspection. It shouldn't have.

I'm just a blur of activity!

But soon it will all be just a memory and a funny story, as I have now rewired the entire house, and should finish that job by this evening, aside from two mystery wall outlets that I'm still trying to untangle. But they're not connected to my new wires, so they're harmless.

It's a nice house though, and has good potential. The previous owners had done a great job remodeling the living room and kitchen, it was primarily the bedrooms that were a mess. So with those now straightened out, and the attic accessible, we will turn this 85 year old house into a modern version of what it's original owners had in mind -- a nice home.

Just give me some time to finish my one-man remodeling show!

Roads and Pathways

2010-08-13T11:52:00.000-06:00

My brother came to visit last week. He doesn't get out much, out of western Kansas that is. So we took him and his wife on a trip to Yellowstone. I hadn't realized the theme this week was to be roads and pathways, but if you take enough pictures, one is bound to find something relevant to whatever the topic may be. So here are a few shots from last weeks entertainment. It's always fun to take a 'flat-lander' into the mountains!

Sometimes the 'wildlife' are confined to the blacktops.


And sometimes they have feet rather than wheels and are actually wild.

A bridge across the Yellowstone River

So my brother wants to kayak this river. I told him it would be suicide, especially since he has never kayaked in his life.

Here the pathways lead you around the continuously changing deposit at Mammoth Hot Springs. The boardwalks are temporary, and are moved and rebuilt as the landscape changes.

Sometimes at the end of a long day there comes a reward.

FPS shoes and feet, or in this case boots

2010-07-23T08:51:00.000-06:00

I don't even know who took this picture because all the usual suspects are in view! Anyway, the treasures you find when scanning in old photo albums made me think this was an appropriate photo for this weeks shoot-out.

The title under the photo was "Pull up them boots cowboy!"

Makes me wonder, what would Barry say? Something about enjoying life I'm sure.

Quick Trip to the Canadian Rockies

2010-07-12T17:39:00.000-06:00

So I've been missing from here. And the longer one stays away, the easier it is to just not come back here. But my son wanted to see some pictures of our latest trip, so here I am.

Over the 4th of July we crossed the border into British Columbia, from Eureka, Montana. The first clue (after the border guard welcomed us) that we were no longer in the U.S. was the speed limit sign read km/hr versus mph. Luckily our car is new enough that we didn't have to depend on the math, but just read the tiny numbers around the inside of the gauge rather than the ones along the outside.

The next clue was when we passed a restaurant advertising "Steak and Schnitzel". Schnitzel??? I thought it was some type of sausage, but I was wrong. Merely a piece of breaded pork or chicken, and mine came in a mushroom gravy that was quite tasty. Lori had some spatzle (fried noodles), just cause that sounded a bit fun too.

Filling the car with gas was another clue as prices were per liter rather than gallon, so figuring out gas mileage was just too many conversions for me to be interested. And if the units didn't clue us in, the price did, around $1.20/liter, which if I mulitply by 3.7 gets me a number way higher than the $3.20 or so we pay per gallon in Montana.

But the mountains are spectacular. Made me think the U.S. Rockies were just hills (which I know they are not!) Maybe it was the drive down the long valleys with mountains towering to the left and right that made them seem so tall. Or maybe it was something else, but these mountains are impressive. I've added a few photos for you to enjoy.

Columbia Lake source of the Columbia River

Columbia Lake (further north)

Columbia River just north of the lake

Kootenai River Valley looking north toward it's source

Mountains near Banff looking South from Highway 1

Another shot near Banff looking north from Highway 1

Friday Photo Shootout - Touch

2010-05-06T16:16:00.000-06:00

This weeks theme is a tough one. I've been busy scanning in images from my Mom & Dad's collections over the years and getting in 'touch' with my Dad's life from before I knew him, through the years I lived with him, and now I see him in his twilight years in an entirely different light. I put together a collage for the challenge, and it probably means much less to all of you. But for me, I have many memories to fill in the gaps that together constitute a lifetime.

Touch one life.

Friday Photo Shootout - Trees

2010-04-26T11:09:00.000-06:00

From the archives... Isn't it cool how trees can grow out of rocks? This is just another grand canyon shot to drool over.

Country Roads

2010-04-09T11:34:00.000-06:00

From the archives this week, a trip to the Missouri Breaks in NC Montana. These are some country roads you don't want to get lost on. Or else you may never be heard from again! At least that's what we thought when we got to the bottom of the last picture only to find the road washed out and impassable. Then it was a white knuckle scramble back to the top and a 30 mile trip to get back to pavement.

Bokeh

2010-04-02T09:17:00.001-06:00

I've got some pictures that will fit this category. I've known the effect, but never the word bokeh until the FSO group decided to add this as a category. Hope you find these enjoyable. They were taken last summer on our trip to the Grand Canyon.

The first is Indian Paintbrush.

This is called cliffrose, sort of a tree-like shrub.

Some type of bugle.

I knew the name of this last year, but right now it escapes me. If you know it, leave me a note, and I'll come back and edit this.

Thanks to Kerry, this one is a penstemon, which if 'm remembering correctly gets its name not from some sort of 5 thing (penta...) but from the stemon part, which is referring to the stamen, or male flower, which is bare or naked, thus that's what pensta.. means. It's slightly different from the bugle above.

And finally, I don't know if this counts, but I slowed the shutter speed to blur the water. This picture actually is from a disappearing stream in central Wyoming where we camped on our way down to AZ. A mile or so downstream of this the stream pours into a cave, only to emerge another 1/4 mile further down the canyon.

Time moves like a train

2010-03-26T14:08:00.003-06:00

Time moves like a train. Three more weeks have passed since my last post, and if I don’t make myself write something now, it will be three more weeks before I turn around and try again. Thanks Jason for reminding me!

So, I’ve been busy. Busy with work, trying to get my winter activities wrapped up and my spring ones started. This year I took over management of the off-station variety trials, which are replicated sets of wheat and barley varieties that we grow in the region to help farmers see what’s available and just how the variety they grow compares. If you’re really interested in this you can see some of our results here. This is one of my other web pages, one I actually get paid to keep up to date.

The other thing stealing our time these days is a mild case of the genealogy bug. My wife caught it first, but it wasn’t long before I was infected as well. You may have seen one of the shows this spring, called “Who Do You Think You Are?” It has been interesting to watch, and you’ll see them accessing the website ‘ancestry.com’ to find census records and other things. It’s pretty amazing what is available online. My mom sort of caught this bug about 10 years ago when we first set her up with a computer. And she got in contact with a cousin of hers and started researching her history. Mom primarily was just using family stories, and photos, and just talking with everyone. She had actually done a pretty good job of compiling information at least on her side of my family. My Dad’s side was another story, one sort of left to us to start unraveling.

One interesting story on my Mom’s side is of her Great-grandfather Henry Welker Zentz (HWZ). He was a civil war veteran, and some 30 years after the war when his wife passed away, he quickly married a 21 year-old girl and moved to Orlando, Florida. Apparently his son Elmer (from the first wife and in my direct line) did not like his Dad’s young wife, and resented that he had a new family. A letter my mom had found from my Grandmother to someone explained what had happened. She said, ‘he moved to Florida and soon had four more children, bang-bang-bang-bang’. After about 10 years of this marriage, HWZ got sick, and Elmer went to get him and bring him back to Kansas. Elmer sold the Florida farm for a song and sent the young wife and her kids to Colorado to her family. Within a few months HWZ died and was buried in my hometown of Greensburg.

So the division of the two families was complete. Complete until the dawn of the internet and a new generation’s genealogical exploration. Mom’s cousin in her efforts to track down her own history was contacted by the descendents of HWZ from Colorado. Of course all of this correspondence comes 100 years after the split, with none of the descendents on either side having any prejudices or problems with sharing their versions of this history. Since HWZ last lived with the younger wife, they ended up with a lot of his writings, including a partial journal of some of his time at Ft. Barrancas during the Civil War. It makes interesting reading.

Reading between the lines, I get the feeling he was sort of a lady’s man. His first wife was in Indiana while he was in Florida, and through letters he keeps asking for her to come for a visit, but she won’t. In his journal HWZ at one point states, “I haven’t got time for a jealous woman.” But on other entries he’s off to New Orleans on leave and spending evenings entertained by this lady or another. The journal says little about the war, and mostly has to do with his deteriorating health and his efforts to start a temperance group. My mom doesn’t have the entire journal, so it starts and stops abruptly. There are notes in my Mom’s papers about HWZ coming home from the war, and then of them moving to Arkansas making money by selling land lots in Zentzville, a subdivision(?) on the outskirts of Mammoth Springs.

The genealogy bug may be an addiction, but in these archives of census data and family papers, you sometimes come across stories that really brings to life someone who before was always just a name on a gravestone.

Remembrance

2010-03-04T17:07:00.000-07:00

I've been missing the fps, but I thought I'd contribute this week with a couple of photos my nephew took last fall. My Dad, a WWII vet was part of an appreciation tour that went back to DC to see the WWII memorial. I don't know who sponsors these, but for the vets it consisted of a free flight, and room, and a whirlwind 3 day tour. I'm glad Dad got to go and even more so that he got to spend a few days with his grandson. Here's the group getting their marching orders for the day.

The WWII memorial is in the foreground just beyond the reflecting pool.

Of course the Kansas column was a focal point for this group from Kansas.

Dad still walks with a cane, but for the distances they traveled, it was good Darin could give him a ride in the chair.

Dad turned 92 in December. It's nice to put together a remembrance while he's still kicking. My Mom passed away nearly 3 years ago now, just a couple of months after their 59th wedding anniversary. She would have enjoyed this trip.

A vist with Uncle Chester

2010-02-25T11:33:00.001-07:00

Well I've missed the minimum! I look at the calendar and see it's been almost 3 weeks since my last post. The trouble is, I'm not inspired to write. Too busy keeping all the other things in the air to spend any time here. At least that's what i tell myself!

But then, I see my son takes time to write. And I love his writing, his use of images and words. And so I find a little inspiration there. And a little intimidation as well.

Talked to my Dad last night. He's 91, but still pretty sharp...sometimes more sharp than others. We've been busy on the ancestry thing, and Lori discovered a link to my Dad's grandfather showing he filed for a Civil War pension in 1909. 1909! The war ended in 1865. So how in the world do you file for a pension nearly 50 years after the war ended? Dad said he didn't know. But he did know his Grandmother got a pension for the rest of her days after his Grandfather died. He said it was a monthly check for $39. Hearing that was both funny and deflating. Funny that I would think, "Wow, a pension!" And deflating to find out it was just 39 bucks. But that was way back in the early 1900's so 39 bucks went a bit further than it does today. Still, why was he even eligible? And the record said he filed as an invalid. I asked Dad, "Was it a war injury?" Nope, no memory of that. But then while talking to him, he says, "You know he lived to be 94 years of age. He was one tough guy. I remember we went down to Uncle Chester's place, and he was out in the cattle pens helping and he fell and broke his hip. The doctors told him he would never walk again. But he did. He walked out of the hospital on crutches. He was one tough guy."

So maybe that's it. Maybe because of his veteran status, he was eligible for federal pension, and maybe because he fell and broke his hip, that's what brought him the pension. We do find him living in Ft. Dodge in 1920, location of an old soldier's home.

This ancestry thing is such a puzzle. And the records only give tiny hints as to the reality that was. When I ask Dad for any information, he usually says he doesn't remember anything. But when I get him talking, stuff like visiting Uncle Chester fall out of the past like ripe fruit. But like all of these memories from my Dad, I have to sift through to make sure his reality is as real as he thinks it is. One thing I've rarely heard my Dad ever say is, "I don't know." Even when we both know he doesn't!

Maybe that was inspired?

Time to come back

2010-02-05T16:16:00.004-07:00

Talk about your long holiday break! All I can say is that once I stepped away, there was little to draw me back here. I seem to have gotten lost on what was most important to me with this blog. And that was writing. For most of last fall, all I did was post pictures. It was fun. And it was nice to meet a few new people and compare photography skills. But it also took me away from my focus.
So it’s time to refocus.

Things have settled into a nice routine at work. This past year was my 3-year retention review. Which means I had to justify my existence to the administration, and get their blessing to move forward toward tenure. That’s now done. I have the letters in my file, and I’m now working my way toward the next big review, which will happen in 2012. Lots of things to do between now and then. But I have a plan in place, and I think I’m much better prepared than I ever was at KSU.

We’re in the depth of winter now. There’s approximately 16 inches of snow on the ground, with a little more coming every other day or so. We are blanketed in white. I don’t think I’ve experienced such a long span of snow cover since maybe when I lived in Idaho way back in 1977-78. That was a cold winter. But it’s sort of nice to be snowbound. There isn’t much reason to try and get out, and so we tend to do things at home. Quilting for example. We finally finished Jason’s quilt about a week ago. It was stretched for more than a year I think. But we only worked on it over the two winters. By springtime, the motivation for stitching is surpassed by the motivation to work in my shop, or the yard. We put up another quilt last week after taking down Jason’s. This one is another of great-grandma’s pieced tops. By the time we work through all of the backlog of grandma tops, we’ll either be pros, or arthritis will have set in. We have made an improvement. We bought a roller stand which organizes the assembly and stretching of the top, batting, and back onto 3 spools. We haven’t actually used it enough to know if this will really work, but so far it seems to be working fine. And now the part we stitch sits at an angle in front of you, sort of like a reading book on a stand. And it definitely fits the room better. Here's a picture so you can see where we spend our nights.

Well, this hasn’t been all that inspiring, I know, but it is progress! Way back when I started this thing the goal was to write at least once per week. Let’s see if I can get back to that minimum.
Cheers!

Friday Photo Shootout - Weather

2009-12-10T09:35:00.002-07:00

Just because I'm so close to Yellowstone, I thought I'd rub a bit of it in your faces with winter weather pics from the park. First of all here's the picture on my computer desktop at the moment. The lower falls of Yellowstone.

My wife waiting on old faithful to blow. Big flakes! And this was October. I won't bore you with the snow we've had since.

We did find evidence of the six-fingered man. (Name that movie!)

And a parting shot of Hot and Cold.

Friday Photo Shootout - Favorite Things

2009-12-04T15:43:00.004-07:00

Some of my favorite things are my son's photographs. He's got a good eye, and this past spring spent several weeks hiking and camping across Utah. Here are just a couple of his pictures.
Indian paintbrush

Choilla? Cactus in bloom at least!

The peaceful Green River

A view from the canoe

A twisted pine and delicate arch.

Old houses.

New houses.

And adventure after adventure!

Friday Photo Shootout - Faces

2009-11-29T14:29:00.003-07:00

Click on the title for more FPS photos.

Just a little late, but I wanted to wait for photos from our annual Christmas tree hunt.

First, a couple of horse photos. Here's Sony with Maranda on board.

Followed by Mango with Lori

Faces. Here's tree-hugging Caitlin.

And tree-hunter Jason.

A successful Christmas tree hunt concludes for another year!

Friday Photo Shootout - Premier Attraction

2009-11-20T15:42:00.003-07:00

Welcome to Billings. November probably isn't the prettiest time to take pictures in this country, but you do get to see things as they really are. I've lived here for just under 3 years, and there are many things Billings is for long-time residents that I've yet to experience. The thing that stands out for me is the geology. Billings lies in the Yellowstone valley, a narrow valley carved by a beautiful wild river. So When you drive into town the first thing you notice are the Rimrocks. The city mostly sits in the valley, and the rims dominate the view to both the north and south. The following view looks south across the downtown from the rims on the north.

I should have hiked to the top of the cliffs on the south to get a picture of those to the north, but it was a bit cold. We'll go early next summer and get that shot! For now you'll have to be satisfied with a shot from the foot of these rocks.

The other thing Billings would be associated with is the mountains. Sometimes the Beartooth mountains look like they're right outside of town. Then there are times when they are obscured in clouds and moisture. Of course this would be the week they are hiding. So I'll inlcude a shot I took from my backyard early last week. (The large grain bins in front belong to Coors.)

Hope you enjoyed these half as much as I've enjoyed looking at all of yours for this weeks shootout. Thanks for letting me choose a theme!

Friday Photo Shootout - Parks

2009-11-04T07:25:00.001-07:00

I've been bad, I know. It's halfway through the week following, and I still haven't posted for FPS. But I did find some pictures last week for this shootout, and I still wanted to share. When we first came to Montana almost two and a half years ago, one of our first day hikes as a family was to Sioux Charlie Lake, at the foot of the Beartooth mountains.

Here we are early on the trail just a few hundred yards from the parking area.

And me styling with my Montana beard, (which turned so gray I had to shave it). The hike is just a couple of miles mostly following this stream, up till you find the lake.

It's a beautiful, crystal clear lake. It was a hot August day that day, and we did a little wading, but it was too cold for swimming. The Beartooth are at about 10,000 feet, so this lake was probably at 5 - 6 thousand, and even in August, not too far from being snow.

And of course one of my favorite pictures of my kids and their dogs. Here you get to see the dogs when they each still had 4 good legs! To be fair, both doggies are doing pretty good post-op now.

Friday Photo Shootout - Classics of Childhood

2009-10-23T14:11:00.000-06:00

I was going to bail on this weeks theme, and then Barry stopped by and prods me into action with the sly comment about 'looking forward to my this week's interpretation'. Argggg!!!! So, I had to dive into my archives for a couple of shots. Nothing to do with my hometown, just my hometown kids, errrr, my kids mostly.

I coached both my kids in soccer when they were ages 6 - 10'ish. Not that I knew much of the game! But I did learn, and once I got started, really enjoyed it. I think my kids enjoyed it too, although at the time, they were always too critical of themselves and of having to be coached by their Dad. My daughter is the pony-tailed one facing away from the camera. I must have had some positive influence cause she still plays in intramural mixed leagues at Missoula.

And don't under-estimate the infuence of taking your kid with you to work. A few years ago I attended a conference in St. Paul, and my son Jason came along for the week. I went to the meetings some, and he hung out at the hotel. I took off a couple of afternoons and we did the touristy things around town, and even did a riverboat tour up and down the Mississippi for a few river miles. We didn't do a lot of things, but it was good bonding time for a Dad and son...even during high school!

Sometimes just letting kids make noise as they did here at a picnic for the Kansas River Festival just might plant a seed for the next great musician. Like Garrison Keilor says, "Nothing you do for children is ever wasted."

Thanks Barry for kicking me into gear!

Friday Photo Shootout - Sunsets

2009-10-17T10:31:00.001-06:00

One from the archives for this week. A sunset at the Canyon is hard to beat. We had to make a quick trip this weekend to Grand Junction, as Zip blew out his other knee. He's a sad puppy right now.

Friday Photo Shootout -Silhouettes

2009-10-10T09:17:00.001-06:00

Better late than never! So I'm sitting in my room at the Old Faithful Inn, waiting on my wife to get ready to leave, thinking, now what can I do for a silhouette? I don't really have any, and I'm not sure how to create one. And quietly hanging on the wall in our room is this picture.

So, now I'm inspired! Next i spy the cool lampshade sitting on the nightstand between the two beds, and each face of the shade is a silhouette image. I've put it together here as a collage.

I'd like to share a few more shots of Yellowstone in winter just because it was a beautifully cold weekend to be tromping around the steam vents and mud-pots and geysers of this incredible National Park.

Here's a near silhouette of a dead tree in the middle of Mammoth hot springs near the north entrance.

A view of the Old Faithful Inn from one of the boardwalks that leads behind old faithful. I'm not sure how old the Inn is, but it is a beautiful log structure. Like I told my wife and friends, we should stay here at least once before it burns down. It seems like all log buildings eventually go up in flames. I hope that does not happen here for a long long time.

The bison are nearly silhouettes in this shot. We saw one herd consisting of several hundred bison. We also came across elk, and deer, and even one coyote. But no moose or wolves this trip.

And does this count as a white silhouette? Two twin pines, one covered in ice crystals, the other still green.

And of course Old Faithful was faithfully on time at 11:10 that morning. We almost didn't make it back in time to see her blow. I got this photo from the trail leading back to the viewing area as the kids ran for the viewing stands.

One last picture for you. Blue water surrounded by icy white snow. Hot water in a cold environment, another kind of silhouette I guess.

Friday Photo Shootout - Photo Study of a Building (Plus)

2009-10-03T21:11:00.004-06:00

For my photo study I decided to show you where your sugar comes from. In this case it's beet sugar, not cane sugar. And this plant is quite old. I don't know the history very well, but I do know that somewhere back in the 80's the sugar plant closed down. Without a plant to process the beets, there was no market and therefore no reason to grow beets. So the farmers of the region formed a cooperative, Western Sugar, and reopened the plant so that they could continue to farm the way they had farmed since this place was settled.

This plant comes to life about this time every year, and you see steam clouds rising and trucks hauling beets until February or March.

You know you're an institution when they name a street after you, or at least after what you're all about. The refinery sits on the south end of Billings, nearly in the middle of town.

Making sugar seems to be pretty energy intensive. The process has been explained to me, but I might not have it exactly right. I do know after the beets are brought into the plant they are sliced sort of like 'waffle fries', and then cooked in water to leach out the sugar. The sugar water is then boiled down till dry which makes granulated sugar.

What happens to the left-over beet pulp? It's dried (more steam) and then hauled off to feed cattle in local feedlots.

The office building, just another part of this long building, has a little bit of character. I like the star pieces above the windows. I don't know for sure, but I would guess they are attached on the ends of rods that span the building to the wall on the opposite side and then attached to another star. Decorative supports for brick buildings. Years ago when touring downtown Charleston SC, these star pieces were described as 'earthquake bolts' to me.

Here's a view from the other end of the refinery. The white grain elevator that sits behind the plant has to be for storing granulated sugar. That's a lot of sugar! This ugly tan building in the foreground is the quality lab where they do analysis on individual truck loads of beets.

Walking a bit further I found the dump pit for beets that are being hauled in. The farmers don't dump here, I'll show you that in the next couple of photos. There are dump fields all across the valley where the farmers take their beets, and then semi-trucks from the refinery haul from those dumps to the refinery.

Here's the local dump at Huntley near where I live. Believe it or not, at the time of this picture, they had been open for just 24 hours. The machine that builds the pile is mobile, and moves as the pile grows. The trucks back onto the machine and dump their beets, and the machine has a conveyor that lifts them to the top. This pile of beets will be several hundred yards long by the time they are done, and it will likely sit here in storage until January or February. The refinery likes to haul in from the most distant dumps first, saving the local ones for later when the winter weather might be a factor. We see beets going down the highway all fall and winter.

In case you've never seen a field of sugar beets, here's a shot from our research farm. These are beets. The beet plant is actually a biennial, meaning it would normally grow for 2 years, storing energy in its big root the first year, and then using that stored food as a source of energy to make seed in it's second year. As producers, we harvest the beets after just one year's growth. The farmers in this valley typically produce 25 to 30 tons of beets per acre.

Here's a beet with it's top removed.

I split it open so you can see the inside. It is surprisingly porous, much less dense than a potato. Still, one beet can weigh 5 to 10 lbs. Pretty amazing really.

Hope you enjoyed the tour of sugar beet production in Montana!

Friday Photo Shootout - My Favorite Place (Period)

2009-09-25T10:49:00.000-06:00

This is the place. The first time I saw the canyon was in 1982. I was on the far side of this picture looking back to the north. I had gotten out of the navy, and my folks flew out to meet me in L.A. We drove in my '67 Volkswagon bus up to the South Rim, and stayed for a night at one of the Lodges. We didn't even have a reservation! The fantastic sunset in my mind's eye is only surpased by the sunrise over the canyon the following morning. It was great sharing that with my Mom and Dad.

Two years later, a girl I had met at college talked me into spending 5 days hiking in the canyon. We were with a group of about 8, but for me the only one I really wanted to be with was her. After two days of hiking and we were at the river. Two days later and we were back on the South rim looking for a shower and some greasy fast food.

Two years after that, this same girl, now my wife, pregnant with our first born returned to the canyon for another 5 day hike. This time we were with friends that we invited (one was Dr. Jim who I posted about earlier!). From our previous trip in March when it was dry and hot, we told all our friends to bring shorts and t-shrits. The night we arrived it snowed, and the week was rainy and cold. Still, the canyon trip was nothing short of magical.

In the mid 90's, Lori and I returned once more to the South Rim of the canyon. This time we spent only a day going from lookout point to lookout point, and then drove east and then north the 200 miles or so around to the north rim. This is the site you see in the picture above. This trip was in July, and by then tempeartures in the canyon can exceed 100F. We met our friend Dr. Jim and his wife Toonie there, and camped for a few days in the campground. One day we made the hike down to Roaring Springs, a stop about 1/2 way to the river.

This summer marks 25 years since that first hiking trip into the canyon. We celebrated by spending a week camping at the North Rim. It didn't disappoint. I think I could return again and again, and never tire of seeing this place. There is something magical about the Grand Canyon that keeps bringing me back. It marks the beginning of my marriage, the new beginning of my life with Lori, and will always be my favorite place in the world.

Friday Photo Shootout - Domestic Animals

2009-09-18T09:58:00.002-06:00

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Here we go. If you've been here before, you've seen these guys before. This is Zip. He's a blue healer/border collie/australian shepherd cross. We named him Zip because of his apparent twin who stars in the movie "Last of the Dogmen". Zip is still recovering from ACL surgery on his left rear leg. I don't know that he'll ever be back to 'normal', but he now runs on the leg about half the time, and carries it the other half. If he's excited, it apprently doesn't hurt, because he'll jump up on both hind legs like the good ol' days.

And then there is Tilly. She is also recovering from ACL surgery. I'd say she's 100% other than regrowing her coat, which she needs to work on because winter isn't that far away here in Montana. We actually named her 'Ten till Midnight' because the kids wanted to name her Midnight, but I discovered a small patch of white on her chest. So we compromised, not quite Midnight, and then have called her Tilly ever since. She's a lab (in case you couldn't tell!), pure mostly, although we picked her out of a box of puppies being given away at the local K-mart.

I had to pick a couple from the archives. This is Sony, my quarter horse mare, with her newly born colt we named Mango. The picture is from when we lived in Kansas. Mango was born on a Saturday night while we were watching Saturday Night Live. You may remember the recurring skit a few years ago with Chris Kattan? We really had no other choice! Actually Mango's registerd name is EchoScript, which comes from his Daddy, PeppyScription. But to us he will always be Mango.

And Here's Mango as a yearling. Isn't it amazing how much they can grow! He is now 7 years old and stands as tall as his mother at about 15 hands.

And finally just for fun, here's a picture a former grad student of mine shot just south of Manhattan Kansas. You wouldn't expect to find camels in Kansas now would you? But for some reason, here they are! I don't think she could have framed the picture much better!

Friday Photo Shootout - Old and Weathered

2009-09-12T13:26:00.002-06:00

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Better late than never. I'm posting some photos from the research center. Talk about old and weathered! This research farm is now 102 years old. First established by the Department of Reclamation in 1907, it has changed hands between the Feds and the State, has been closed once because of state money problems and now operates as one of 7 research farms across the state of Montana. Research here has gone full circle from introductions of new crops such as sugar beets, barley, dry beans, and corn, to animal science research efforts on dairy and beef cattle. The cattle are now gone, and we are back to crop production research using modern no-tillage methods and crop rotations to make optimum use of the 12 inches of precipitation we get each year. You can read the official history on the front page of the stations webpage. You can also find links to a picture of me as well as the pages I maintain under 'Crop Decision Tools'.

This first picture is of the main canal that runs through the farm. This bridge is pretty interesting to cross when you're driving a tractor, or combine. Our new combine is too large to make it across, so we end up driving out and around the north end of the farm. In this picture you can see sort of the old and new in the distance. The large storage building center left is only 3 years old, built after the station was reopened by the current superintendent. To the upper right is the old horse barn.

Here's another barn. When the research center did animal science work, this building got a lot of use. It now sits in the middle of our facility and we hardly use it at all. The superintendent would love to tear it down. But he would likely be strung up by the community around here if he did. They see this as an historical building, reminding them of the 'good ol days' when this place was a center of activity. I think I agree with the community. We should be embracing our past and keep these buildings up. This could use a new paint job.

Our machine storage shows a bit of age, as well as our machinery. Some of these pieces are rarely used, but it's nice to have options. Our more expensive research equipment gets stored inside in some of our new storage.

If it was just us rebuilding, we could put up something new for not a lot of money. But since we are part of the State, we are required to get bids from builders to put up buildings such as this. We do get quality buildings this way, but at a cost of 2 or 3X as much, Funds for this kind of rebuilding are rare.

We've been lucky here at SARC and actually have been given funds to do some rebuilding. The State hadn't invested in these facilities in several decades. Here's an example. Our new shop is a center of activity. It even has a heated cement floor in this shop so working through the cold Montana winters are fairly pleasant with the garage doors shut. And actually this is a pretty efficient way to heat a building such as this.

And I'd be painting an unfair picture if I didn't show our new office complex. Of the 7 research centers in Montana, we have by far the newest facility. The Governor is still supporting the Research Center Department, so in the next few years, more research farms will be similarly updated.

It's a nice place to work.

My Town Shoot Out -- Doors & Windows

2009-09-04T15:59:00.002-06:00

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Doors and windows. Nice topic, but I didn't get around to shooting till this morning. I took some boring ones here at the station, but then remembered what was at the park next door. This is the entrance to the park. The sidewalk leads to Homesteader Hall, a gathering place for the community, owned by the state (that's a whole 'nother story), but managed by the local Lion's club. It isn't exactly a 'door', but it definitely has character!

Next door to the park is the Museum of Irrigated Agriculture. It's an interesting place filled with all sorts of things related and unrelated to irrigation. This is the Shory Bliss homestead house which was hauled here from just north of Castle Butte and donated to the museum. Life was a bit tougher back then than now I'd say. Notice how the door planks get shorter going from right to left. I think they did this so that it would open under that low hanging roof. The ring in front of the door is from a wagon wheel. This museum would benefit greatly from a director and manager. Right now I'd say rather than a museum this is more a depository for junk and a few treasures!

An old school house also sits on the museum grounds. I like the silhouettes someone painted on what were once windows.

Another cool structure is a corn crib. It has an access door at the front bottom, but the most interesting architectural thing is the way it gets wider as it gets taller. That must have been fun to build.

There's also a chicken coop with a door and windows. Reminds me of the one on my Granddad's farm. The windows were the same, but his coop had the door at the end of the building.

I'll finish with my own homemade doors that fit in this box in the back of my pickup. I built this more than two years ago for a trip back to Kansas to move our horses, for some reason we thought we needed to bring the dogs with us. This spring we pulled it out of the garage, and modified it so that we could stack containers on top for our trip to the canyon, and our dog's trip to Dr. Jim (see earlier posts about doggy surgery). At that time, I recycled some wood from an old door frame, cleaned it up and used it to top the dog box. And then I couldn't resist adding their names above their doors. Not that our dogs can read, but they do seem to have favorite sides. Note the nice pads Lori made for them to lay down. It's nice to have a safe place to put them when we load them in the pickup to go places. And they must like their boxes, because they run right in and lay down for the trip.

Friday Photo Shootout - Incongruous

2009-08-27T21:35:00.009-06:00

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I'm afraid I've failed. Nothing I came across this week was not where it should be. But in case you've come by to check out my photos, I do have something for you. I inadvertently left this one out of last week's shootout. This is the Methodist church here in Huntley Montana.

Zooming in on one side of the church sign, one gets the message. Maybe this is an 11th commandment? I'll try and contribute again next week.

Friday Photo Shootout - Signs

2009-08-20T08:22:00.014-06:00

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I'm posting early so as to catch those folks on the other side of the International Date Line. This was a fun topic. Looking for funny signs makes you read signs that you may have ignored for months or even years. I think I've read more signs this week than I've ever read. But I'm afraid the pickens were slim! Over the years I've seen some great signs. One memorable one driving through Oklahoma said "Danger, Bees Ahead". My wife and I curiously looked at each other and sort of said "What the...???" And then over the next hill was a semi-truck spilled on to the shoulder. Apparently he had been transporting bees to somewhere. We passed on without incident.

I'll start with this one. Maybe it's not weird, maybe it's me, but this particular sign is everywhere in Montana. In most states, the business loop is just marked as that, Business 40, or Business 90, whatever the highway number happens to be. Here they always say 'City Center'. Is this the only place in the world to mark downtowns like this?

The second picture is from a local tire store. You can always count on some funny comments from this place. He changes the sign almost weekly, and he usually has something to say about marriage, mother-in-laws, politics. Usually in good taste, but never anything to do with tires. This weeks message is pretty tame.

I had to cheat a little bit. This picture isn't from town, but it is from the region, and I took it last month. Actually it's a two-for-one. Travel at your own risk seems a bit risky here. And in case you really like signs, take this last one in full, because it is apparently the last one you're going to see on this road!

I'll close with the following. It isn't in text, but it happened yesterday just a couple of miles from here. A guy was trying to deliver barley to the elevator. I believe this is a sign that he was going just a bit too fast to make the corner. No one got hurt, but the farmer who owned the truck hadn't had the best of days. He was coming here just to get weighed as his load had already been rejected (because of poor quality) from another elevator. I'm sure he wasn't in the best of spirits, and then suddenly he found himself toppling over. To end the day like this was sort of like adding salt to the wound.

Friday Photo Shootout - Relaxation

2009-08-14T11:46:00.008-06:00

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It's Friday, and I haven't had a relaxing thing to think about or do all week...actually not for the last three weeks. So I'm posting a picture from my archives. This is Medicine Wheel best described in this 'All Cody' link.

We were there two years ago in the middle of the Big Horn mountains of Wyoming, just a short drive from Billings. What a peaceful place. What a windy place! At about 10,000 feet, the air is thin, the light is bright, and you see evidence all around of how sacred this place is to the Indians.

This is what we do to relax around here. We are just an hour from the Beartooth and Absorkee mountains which are the northern border of Yellowstone. In about the same distance to the SE is this place in the Big Horn mountains. The Pryor mountains are directly to our South. Drive north just up and out of the Yellowstone basin and you can see the Snowies. And then off to the west you find a view of the Crazies. We live in a beautiful place. With the day to day activities of life I sometimes forget that.

Doggie Update

2009-08-13T16:41:00.009-06:00

It's almost been a month since Tilly had her surgery, and about three weeks for Zip. Tilly has recovered better than Zip, as Zip half the time still carries his leg around not always using it.

I've been taking them for walks as part of their therapy. They get so excited when I come home and it's time for their walk. Zip will jump and whirl just like he used to before his injury. But then maybe a quarter mile into the walk he's noticeably limping. I think he must have strained it again yesterday, because all day yesterday and today he has hoped around on three legs.

Tilly also still has a limp, but she just plods along pretty much like she did before surgery. Dr. Jim said she had 'fat joints', which made the surgery a bit more difficult. But I think this helps explain her quicker and less painful recovery. Well the other big difference was that Zip had not only torn his ACL but he had destroyed the meniscus in his left knee, so the cushion between his bones was gone while Tilly's is still there.

As for scars, Zip's is the most noticeable, probably in part due to it being the most recent, with less fur grown back to cover it. But the legs for both dogs have healed with little problem.

I told Dr. Jim after seeing how much better the two of them were doing, that I felt it would be criminal of me not to have their knees repaired if it ever happened again. I guess I'm just soft. I know my Dad would say he would never have spent that kind of money on a pet. I can just hear him now. "We can get a new dog at the pound for a lot less than that!" But of course, we never really tested that opinion. All the dogs we had while I was growing up died from old age, with good knees!

Click here if you want to see a slide show of the surgery, but I must warn you, it's a bit bloody. All in all I'd say the gain was worth the pain. Our doggies are happy to have four feet on the ground again.

Friday Photo Shootout - Power

2009-08-07T16:03:00.015-06:00

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My camera came back yesterday! Whoo-hoo!! So I ran down this afternoon to get these shots of the Billings power plant. Notice it says PPL? Can you believe that stands for "Pennsylvania Power and Light"? We're a long way from Pennsylvania, but that's part of the political legacy of power here in Montana. I'm not an expert on what happened, so I'll let you google for the answer if you're really that interested.

This is a coal fired plant, using cooling water from the Yellowstone River, which passes just between the plant and those cliffs directly behind, named Sacrifice Cliffs. That name is attributed to a Crow Indian warrior from before the time that Billings existed. I suppose this is 'clean coal', although that's a pretty Orwellian term if you ask me.

A better source of power, which is nearby (near is a relative term here in Montana, meaning within a day's drive!) is wind power. No the snow is not still there in August, at least I don't think it is. I took this picture a couple of years ago when I first arrived here in Montana. I think these are 2 Megawatt generators on each tower, and I've tried counting them when going through the Gap, and I know I've gotten to over 100 before losing track. They are such graceful looking machines, moving slowly and in synchrony. They are fascinating to watch. And each turn of the windmill adds up to eventually reduce the need for one more coal train that passes by our house on the way east to where most of you in the U.S. live.

The impressive thing about these wind turbines is just how large they actually are. The blades are over 100 feet in length. And the width must be 10 feet at least. Here's a blade that is located in the little town of Judith Gap, just a few miles north of the actual Gap where the wind farm is. My son volunteered to be in the picture for perspective, and no he isn't actually keeping that thing from falling over.

And finally I'll post a picture similar to one I've posted here before. There goes another load of electricity shipped from the west to the east. Every day trains like this pass by this station. So many pass, we don't hardly notice or think to count. But if you think about CO2 going into the atmosphere, and the total tons of coal that move out of here each day, it boggles the mind. And one wonders if all the energy needs of even just our nation, let alone the world, can ever be satisfied by renewable, clean sources.

Friday Photo Shootout - Outdoor Food

2009-07-30T18:34:00.007-06:00

Some of you may have noticed an annoying ghost in some of my pictures from the grand canyon. I took my camera down for a cleaning, and they sent it on to Nikon. Should be back in a week to 10 days. ARRRGGHHHH!!! No camera for me!!

So pinch hitting for me this week is my son Jason, who sent these wonderful pictures from the Missoula community garden which is within sight of his apartment window. He sent some delicious looking photos, which I promptly turned into a collage to post here.

First up, the grand entrance to the garden.

Of course it is a University of Montana sanctioned space. But I'm not sure what the 'A' and 'S' stand for. Maybe my son will comment and let me know.

Just inside the gate apparently is plot #68. I don't know how many total plots there are, but there are definitely enough for me to eat comfortably.

Maybe I'm just hungry, but isn't this the most lovely of sights? My garden never looked so good, or so weed free!

Thanks Jason for keeping my current in this photo shootout. With these kinds of pictures, you just might get invited to join!

Friday Photo Shootout - Reflections

2009-07-23T18:12:00.003-06:00

I'm still on vacation, but here's a reflection of the Navajo bridge. Old on the left, new on the right. We left the North Rim on Tuesday and drove to Grand Junction to spend some time with some good friends. We hope to leave tomorrow and head home for the weekend. So by next week maybe I'll be able to start sending pictures of my real home town again. Happy photo hunting guys!

Friday Photo Shootout - Yard Objects

2009-07-17T13:56:00.004-06:00

Well it's a challenge for me this week as we are on vacation. But I'll let you pick out an ornament of choice from our campground site at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

And here is a view from our new backyard. When we get back I'll post some pictures of the canyon. We're here through the weekend and into the first of next week. I hope we're making someone jealous!

Friday Photo Shootout - Textures

2009-07-08T15:33:00.014-06:00

I'm posting early cause I'll be on the road this Friday. These aren't really of my town, but I don't get to town that often anyway. So these are from the Southern Ag Research Center in Huntley, MT. It's where I work, so it sort of fills the bill of 'my town' I think.

I'm thinking 'organic textures'. To do this, I think some shots of my research plots should do the trick. The first shows some of the diversity of crops we can grow up here in Montana. In the foreground is spring wheat, still green with heads emerged. The yellow is an oilseed crop called camelina. It's definitely in the experimental stage at this point, but someday it may become a crop here. Just above the camelina is a strip of field peas, followed by a fallow strip of last years wheat stubble. The next strip is peas again, slightly darker for some reason. The yellow behind that was lentils, which have now been killed and are being grown as a cover crop. The wheat you see in several plots near the top is winter wheat that is getting close to harvest. We're probably a week to two weeks away, depending on how hot and dry it gets.

The second photo is of a different rotation study. Winter wheat and camelina show up in it again, but the brighter yellow crop here is brown mustard, a relative to canola.

This third photo is another field of camelina made up of small plots. Here the various plots have been thinned to different populations to see the effect of population on yields. As you can tell from this photo, plant height varies a lot once you reduce populations. Camelina is a very competitive plant, which is a good thing because being such a new crop we have very few options for weed control.

In many ways the textures of the fields are a reflection of the various textures of the individual species. In the collage below you can get a sense of how the whiskers of the wheat feel so much different from the bulbous pods of the camelina, or the tight long tubes of mustard seeds. The fat peas in their pods hang like christmas ornaments on the mother plant, while the delicate flowers on the lentils make for a tempting place to lay down and watch the clouds and sky pass by.

Moses

2009-07-07T21:40:00.008-06:00

Say hello to Moses. He is visiting us for a few days, as his owners are looking for a new home for him. Our dogs, Zip and Tilly are not all that impressed. He has invaded their space, and they aren't very happy about it. Especially Zip. Both of our dogs have recently been injured. Tilly is better, now walking on all four legs again. But Zip ruptured his ACL on his back left leg and won't put any weight on it at all. He's a pretty sad sight, hopping around on three legs. Couple that with the insult of adding this giant 120 pound dog, and he's just about at his limit.

The vet that diagnosed Zip's injury wants a cool $800 to fix it. They replace the ligament with some sort of strap. Actually Tilly's injury is the same, only not so severe. Or maybe she has a greater tolerance to pain, because she now walks on all fours again. So take the $800 X 2, and we just can't afford it. Luckily we have a vet friend that we went to school with who has offered a "friend discount". So this Friday we are taking two dogs with us on a journey to Colorado. Lori is going to assist with the surgery, and then our friend and his wife will rehab the two doggies for a couple of weeks while we head on south to the Canyon for a long needed vacation.

We have Moses until Thursday. He then goes back to his owners to find temporary boarding somewhere else. They are looking for someone to adopt him if anyone out there wants him. He is 2 years old. He only weighs 120 lbs. He stands up to my waist, and he doesn't seem to have a mean bone in his body. His owner said he was an Irish wolfhound/greyhound/saluki cross. I'm afraid if we kept him he would eat us into bankruptcy. He doesn't even fit in our doghouse! I always thought our dogs were pretty good sized. Moses makes these two look like tiny stuffed play toys!

Friday Photo Shootout - Celebrate Life

2009-07-03T19:11:00.022-06:00

"The Oasis" at Miles City. It was a hot day. I sort of wish I had taken the time for a dip! This is actually part of the Tongue river which is backed up as a pond/swimming pool just before it reaches the Yellowstone.

Even the badlands of Montana celebrate life, especially when it rains! This shot was taken a few miles east of Jordan looking north from MT200.

And I can only take credit for cropping this photo my brother took at my Dad's 90th birthday party. Celebrating a birthday with his great-grandson had to be one of the best moments of that day. I wonder what they were talking about.

Friday Photo Shootout - Colors of the Rainbow

2009-06-26T17:23:00.004-06:00

Since this is my first time, just thought I'd throw in some color. This was a rescue for the little violet in the middle. It just happened to be taken on our kitchen counter where the background of canisters helps to complete a rainbow.

And these are quilt blocks left over from a project Lori's grandmother was working on just before she passed away. I've blogged about it here, but this shot is full of color, so I thought it might fit for my first post in the shootout.

Walking on a volcano

2009-06-15T14:50:00.005-06:00

We spent the weekend in Yellowstone. Highlights include seeing two moose (mooses?), a bear, a coyote, herding a group of bull buffalo down the highway, and witnessing several idiot drivers who upon seeing some living creature, suddenly stop dead center in the road, abandon their vehicle, and walk toward the animal, whether it be a buffalo or an elk. I think they'd walk right up to a Yeti and ask for an autograph if one were spotted through the trees. I remember now why I don't go to Yellowstone very often. It's beautiful and unique, and I'm glad that we have it as a national park where development is held in check. But people can be such idiots. Aside from the thermal features, in Montana we have the awesome views of Yellowstone, without the crush of tourists.

It was 39F when we woke up Saturday morning in our well ventilated tent. Maybe it's a bit too well ventilated. I'm sure we'll appreciate it in Arizona, but in Yellowstone, it was cold. We did the touristy things on Saturday, even sitting on a bench through a rainstorm to wait for Old Faithful to blow. She blew. Actually it was worth the wait. And the moisture in the atmosphere from the recently passed rainstorm made for a fog-like atmosphere all around the geyser as she sent boiling water high into the sky. We then took the road north, stopping at several thermal pools, mud pots, and mini-geysers walking with the tourists through the weird landscape. It's not only 'like' walking on a volcano, it is truly walking on a volcano.

Lori asked me what made that first guy think it was possible to build a lodge right next to Old Faithful and not have a geyser suddenly appear within the lobby. The lodge is only a 100 yards away from an area where hot vapor and gasses shoot into the sky every hour. I laughed, and then after a few minutes of sitting there on our bench waiting for the geyser to erupt, it occurred to me that we had the exact same faith as that guy. We were sitting here believing that we were only here for the show and not here to witness the end of our lives.

On our trip back to Tower Falls where we were camped, traffic came to a crawl right where the signs said "caution 8% grade ahead". Maybe it was a rental RV that couldn't muster the grade? Maybe there had been an accident? After about 30 minutes of stop and crawl traffic, we discovered the problem. Ahead of us there is a large RV herding bison up the highway. Rather than try and squeeze around them, the RV just follows, never seemingly trying to go around. Eventually there's an opening and the RV gets past the last (first) of eight bulls that have decided to follow the highway east to the promised land. As we get closer to this migrating pack, one bull feeling a bit pressed by the one behind him suddenly stops and spins around to stare down the one behind him. The car directly in front of us was almost in the middle of a sudden confrontation. I guess pushing bison might not be as simple as pushing a herd of cattle. These guys pretty much moved only when they wanted to. There wasn't any sense of fear in any of them.

We got back to the campground, driving through several rainstorms on the way. I set up and cooked supper, but I could sense that Lori was not looking forward to another cold night in the tent, this one probably being a bit more damp. With our house only three hours away, we were in a much better position to bail than those around us that were from California, New Jersey, Oregon. So after cleaning up the dishes, I said, "Let's head on home. We don't have to sleep in the cold and rain. Our dry bed in Billings is calling out to us!"

The conversation all the way home was about building a camping pod. We arrived home around midnight. And we slept like babies in our nice dry queen-sized bed.

I told you so!

2009-05-08T10:47:00.000-06:00

Nosema (no see ma?)

2009-05-08T10:16:00.002-06:00

This is why I like science. In the 1990's we lived in Georgia, with a neighbor who had once raised honey bees. Lots of bees were dying back then. This was prior to Colony Colapse Disorder (CCD) which wasn't labeled in the U.S as such until a couple of years ago. But Walt was dead sure that the loss of his bees had something to do with modern agriculture, of which I was his closest contact. (He also liked guns, big guns in his backyard) At that time I was working in the water quality arena, and not so much in production ag, so he tolerated me enough to keep conversations civil.

My thoughts all along were that whatever the cause, I'm sure that science eventually would catch up with the real story. Today, in my email box I get a link to this story. And with a quick google search I find out a bit more here. Seems it's a parasite that's killing the bees, and not roundup-ready corn or soybeans after all.

If you throw enough money at a problem, then eventually something starts to stick. The problem just has to have enough glamour to attract the dollars, or be critical to our survival. I like the way the MSU article describes the importance of honeybees: "One in three mouthfuls of the American diet directly or indirectly benefits from honeybee pollination." That should get out attention!

April showers bring May flowers

2009-04-22T16:35:00.001-06:00

As of yesterday, I pretty much have my research studies in for the year. It has been a late year to get things planted. The last two years, by the end of March most of the wheat and barley is in, and there are folks thinking about sugarbeet planting (which is way too early). But this year, I don't think there was one field planted in March. Today temps reached almost 80F, but tomorrow they are calling for a cold front, rain, possibly snow. It's been one of those years where late winter precipitation has loaded the mountains with snow, while the up and down swings of temperatures have kept people guessing. But for me, I'm pretty much done with the quick-paced spring planting season of southern Montana.

The boy checked in yesterday. He won't be able to blog for another 4 to 6 weeks, but he is in Green River, UT resting, doing laundry, and restocking his pack for the next 10 day trip on the Green River. He said that two weeks out is a bit much. He really enjoyed the first 10 days or so, but then toward the end it became obvious that they hadn't packed enough food, and so he started rationing himself so he wouldn't run out. He ought to be losing some weight I'd think. They have been averaging 8-10 miles a day, this last trip in the Dirty Devil River drainage. He said that one day they got into camp about 6 pm, just to find out that there expected water source was dried up, so they had to forge on another 6 miles to the next one, making it about a 15 mile day, arriving at camp just before last light. Setting up camp, and cooking in the dark is not so much fun. From that point on he said he was ready to finish this canyon and get back to civilization (and a juicy thick hamburger that someone else would cook!)

But I know he is having a great time, despite some personality challenges among the five of them on this trip. And it's going fast. He has been out there just under a month. The river trip, canoeing downstream, is the middle portion of the adventure, so he's in the middle now, with probably the most strenuous part behind him. I'm a bit jealous actually, even if I'm old and not in good enough shape to keep up with him. Talking with him reminds me of the two trips Lori and I made to the Grand Canyon. We spent a week each time, hiking down to the river, staying one night at Phantom Ranch, and trekking back out. Up and out. Canyon hiking is like hiking an upside-down mountain.

As a matter of fact Lori and I are headed back to the Canyon this summer. But this time we won't do much hiking, just some time communing with the earth, camping on the north rim. It will mark 25 years together, and will return us to where we began.

Cross Country Skiing

2009-03-27T10:13:00.002-06:00

Question. At age 53, is it too late to learn how to cross country ski?

Answer. It depends. Actually it depends on how well you can fall. Because, I can tell you, you are going to fall several times before you figure it out! If you figure it out!

Last weekend Lori and I met the kids and a couple of their friends at Homestake pass near Butte. A couple there has built a lodge, and several miles of cross country ski trails. This is really their first year in business, and they are off to a beautiful start. It's late in the season here, so the snow is mostly gone, and on their trails, they had done a pretty good job of hauling in snow and spreading it down the trails where most had melted. This was their last weekend of skiing for the season. They offered free passes, which attracted my kids, and with the group room of bunks offered for $150, we decided to take it.

Friday night was fun, cooking pizzas, playing trivia games with the kids, and watching the opening rounds of the NCAA tournament on the computer. Chris and Mandy, the owners set us up with skis, boots, and poles. And they said by about 10 the next morning the snow should be as good as it was going to get.

Saturday morning I made pancakes and eggs for all of us in the lodge kitchen. And by about 9:30 we started to get geared up for our first lesson. We actually own a Nordic-Trak, one of those exercise machines that mimics cross country skiing. So we sort of knew how to work the skis. But the downhill parts of the trail were not nice. Mostly I was just an out-of-control fool on a slippery slope. And when I could see that I was not going to get things under control before going off the trail and running into a tree, I would intentionally fall down (just to save my life!).

Lori wasn't any better than me. And she was behind me most of the morning. So I sort of worked my way back and forth in front of her, going forward exploring, and then coming back to check on her. Caity was trying to help her figure it out. And Eric, who is really good on skis was also hanging back to help us both. But we weren't making much progress.

Jason and the other two guys hung around for about a half an hour, but then took off for the trails on up and around the bend.

It wasn't pretty, I'm sure. We were two adults looking like giant babies learning to walk. A few more people showed up and most all of them were quite adept at skiing, and just passed us by, smiling or nodding at our amateur existence.

I finally moved ahead of Lori enough to work my way up a pretty good hill. Going up is no problem. It seemed quite natural to me, and I was definitely in control. I came to a fork in the trail. To the right was another ascent, and to the left was the trail where the boys went. While I was standing there catching my wind and trying to decide which way to proceed, a group of three came swirling by and climbed the little hill to the right. From behind they looked like frogs on skates, their skis crossing behind them and their toes pointed outward, as they made a herringbone pattern all the way to the top of the slope. They made it look easy. I thought to myself, at least I was standing upright when they went by me and not splayed out on the ground like a turkey about to be split open.

I decided to follow the frogs and ascend the hill to the right, and with some huffing and puffing, I was soon at the top. But I didn't want to leave Lori too far behind, so I decided to come back down to the fork and see if they were going to catch up with me. For about the first half of the descent, I was mostly under control, snowplowing my way back to the bottom. But somewhere about in the middle, I started losing it again, and within a few seconds I decided to throw myself to the ground to end this ridiculous debacle. Sitting there on the ground with my skis all askew, another skier comes flying by and says as he passes, "It 's a bit icy isn't it?" Yeah, right, I thought to myself. Little did he know that the reason I was on the ground was not ice, it was my only means of survival.

Caity comes on up the hill to find me. She's pretty good on her skis, and she helps motivate me to get back up. Eventually I regain verticality and I go back to my vantage point near the fork in the trail. Lori is now around the bend at the base of this hill, looking up toward me. Caity skis down to her and Eric, and so after watching her go down with little problem I decide that maybe I'll work my way back down to her as well.

Like before, the downhill part I haven't figured out. I'm plowing, under control for the first half of the hill, but then I sort of start sliding over to my left, which is a spot where little snow is left, it's mostly ice. As I lose control (again!) I suddenly realize I'm not going to be able to slow myself, and my skis go out in front of me and I land hard on my right shoulder just in front of Lori and the kids. I'm sure it was spectacular!

I've never hit anything so hard in my life. The wind is mostly knocked out of me, I can't seem to get a full breath, and this sort of scares me, makes me think that this time I broke something, a rib, a collar bone, a punctured lung. All I can say is "Get these skis off my feet!" Lori bends down and unclips them for me, and Eric glides up the hill and recovers my hat.

I'm sitting now, trying to breath, and Eric is stretching his arm toward me saying, "Here's your hat." His face reflects my fear, and I know he has only the best intentions, but really the last thing on earth I want right now is my hat! I just want to breathe, get a full breath. I stand up, but I'm sort of dizzy. Lori just tells me to take it easy, that worrying about getting a breath sometimes just makes it worse. It just encourages panic, and I realize she is right, but my shoulder is killing me. After a minute or so when it looks like I'll be ok, Lori tells the kids to just go on without us, "We old people will be just fine".

I tell her, "I'm done for the day," and she says she is too. And after a few minutes we walk back to the lodge.

The doctor told me Tuesday that it is likely not a broken rib. He said I'd have been better off if I had broken a rib rather than strained this muscle in my back, because bones heal a lot faster than muscle. So I'm on a diet of Advil, and muscle relaxers, and these really cool pain pills that knock me out. I can be talking, and suddenly I wake up and realize that I just dropped off in the middle of a conversation.

Today is Friday, nearly a week has passed, and my shoulder is somewhat better. I'm afraid to sneeze or cough, as whenever I do that, it feels like someone has just shot me in the back. But at least now I think I'll survive without permanent damage. The next ski trip is going to be to a beginner's course where the instructors can teach me a bit about downhill control. And there has to be plenty of snow on the ground to make a cushion.

Apparently after Eric and Caity left us the other day and went on skiing, Eric told Caity that he was afraid we would never go skiing again. But he's wrong, I think the lesson I learned is that I probably won't try downhill skiing at this time in my life, but the allure of cross country skiing still calls to me. And I can see us making a trip back to that lodge again sometime next winter.

For Renee

2009-02-20T15:53:00.005-07:00

If you liked the double wedding ring quilt, maybe you'll like the way our first quilt (after 20 years) turned out. This one was a top Lori picked up at an auction a couple of years ago. She just couldn't see letting it go unfinished. She added the strips of blue and red to bring it to a queen size. It was sort of ugly to start with, but it turned out fairly nice, if I do say so!

Double Wedding Ring

2009-02-16T16:45:00.003-07:00

I didn't know my grandmother (Dad's side) very well. She died when I was in high school, and for almost all of my life up till that point, she had lived in a nursing home; a 1960's nursing home, which wasn't all that pleasant for kids to visit, or for old people to live in. I remember mostly going there to see her, and then disappearing to the outside where me and my brothers would run around playing in the trees nearby. We used to always go up for her birthday which was in August. Dad would break her out of the home, and we would go to the park for a picnic and cake. My sister, my Aunt Millie, and my grandmother shared three birthdays over two days. She was always happy, pretty much shuffled rather than walked, and would ask the same questions over and over about my school work. Now I realize she probably had some form of alzheimers, but in those days we just called it senility. She died around 1970.

My wife comes from a family of quilters. Hand quilts, large and small. One day nearly 20 years ago when we were visiting my Mom and talking about quilts, my Mom showed us this double wedding ring top and tells us that it was made by my Dad's Mom. It was hand pieced together and had never been finished as a quilt. Lori and I had done one large quilt ourselves, and several baby quilts as gifts. So we offered to take it and finish it for my Mom and Dad. And with good intentions, once we got back home, we set it up and started to quilt it. I don't remember exactly what year this was, but I'm guessing that Jason was probably under 5, and depending on how much under 5, Caity may or may not have been born yet. We made the mistake of using a sheet as the backing, and the tight weave of the sheet made quilting more than 2 or 3 stitches at a time difficult. The bottom line was, we got about a fifth of the way through it, and it got abandoned, and eventually boxed up and mostly forgotten.

Fast forward to last fall. We stopped in to see Dad at the retirement center. He walks a little bit like my grandmother did when I was little. Faster, but with the same sort of shuffle. And somewhere in the middle of the afternoon of conversations, he asks about the quilt. We had mostly forgotten about it, and figured he'd forgotten it completely. So we had to admit, it was in a box somewhere, still safe, but still unfinished.

While Caity was home over Christmas, we sorted through boxes and found the quilt. This time we were determined to do it right, and finish. So Caity and I ripped out the stitches of our previous attempt at quilting, and we started from scratch. A few pieces had pretty much rotted away. With those replaced, and the piece washed a couple of times to try and remove some age spots, we restretched the top over a new piece of muslin and fill and we started to quilt. It took Lori and I about 5 weeks of working most nights. Some nights I was gone, so she would be ahead of me. But by the end of the 1^st week of February we were done. With it off the frame and the edging finished, we put it in a box and shipped It to Dad. He had no idea it was coming.

I was on the road coming back from a meeting in Great Falls when my cell phone rings. It's Dad, and he says, "I sure got a nice valentines present in the mail!" I said, "Oh yeah, I thought that might arrive today. What do you think?" Well, he was pretty happy. It's one of those presents that was a long-time coming. Talking with him again this weekend he started to explain a few more details about this top. He said it must have been made either at the end of WWII or possibly in the early 50's, because my granddad had his first heart attack in the late 40's and my grandmother had started working downtown at the mercantile then and no longer had time to do such projects. I asked about other quilts. "There must have been some other quilts she actually finished, right Dad?"

"Of course", he said, "but you know we just used them as blankets. I remember spreading one of them on the ground to sit on. I'm sure they just turned to rags over time and have been lost."

At least he now has one to show off.

Ctrl-alt-delete

2009-02-03T09:37:00.001-07:00

I missed January, as far as blogging is concerned. I can't explain it, other than I guess it has just not been a priority. Sad, I know. Especially when I think about it and remember that I started blogging just for myself. I mean, I check now and then to see if anyone posts comments, or if anyone actually reads here. And I have to admit that when I see someone has passed through, it pumps me up a little bit, but in reality, all this is is mumbo-jumbo. It's supposed to just be an outlet for me.

So now it's February, time to move forward.

According to the "News" for the lack of a shadow, we now have 6 more weeks of winter. I guess it doesn't matter who's casting that shadow. Here in Billings yesterday it happened to be a guinea pig that the news crew pulled from his comfy warm cage and placed on the sidewalk outside the pet store for the cameras to follow. That effort was about as sad as my recent attempts at blogging.

And the alternative is what, only a month and a half till spring? Isn't that sort of like the doctor's advice for fighting colds? Treat it for 7 days or ignore it for a week, and either way it will go away. One course of action makes you feel like you're accomplishing something, the other reduces your faith in the art of medicine. Either way just allows the passage of time. (What? Another parallel to blogging!)

OK, on to something a little more substantial. This year will be our 25^th wedding anniversary. Our adventure in marriage was born from a trip to the Grand Canyon, and so we will return to celebrate and honor our beginnings. It seems like some time has passed, but it doesn't seem like it's been 25 years. I guess one could argue that a lifetime has passed in these 25 years, but inside, in my heart I feel like I'm the same guy that fell in love with this girl who was so well anchored. That's a good word for it: anchored, because at the time I was anything but anchored.

Looking into the canyon is like looking back in time. It can make you feel so insignificant, can make all of us seem insignificant. For me at least, it has the effect of boiling things down to their essence. What is important? What really matters? That week in Arizona was when I really woke up and saw that the only thing that mattered was finding someone solid to hold on to. Finding someone to spend my tiny moment of life with. All else doesn't matter.

Well, that's sort of romantic isn't it? A sort of rose colored glass view of life. Of course after that, life HAS happened. Life HAS moved on. We've raised a family, bought and sold three houses, outlived several cats, and dogs, even outlived horses. We've buried close relatives, and made close friends who now live scattered across the country, and even the world. We've been busy. So busy and sometimes so unfocused that the meaning of it all is hard to see.

It's time to refocus, to regain the clarity that is so visible from the rim. It's time for a ctrl-alt-delete on life. It's not about starting over, it's about resetting. Keeping all of what we've gained (and gained through loss) and finding again what's really important.

Christmas Vacation

2008-12-30T16:50:00.004-07:00

So.... it's been awhile. Just changed my layout in hopes that it would inspire me to write something. The kids have been home for Christmas. It's been great to have them around again. We've gotten pretty comfortable with them out of the house, but having them back reminds me of how short life is, and how we should never waste a moment we have together. We shouldn't take it for granted that they we will always be there for each other, or that some big event won't happen that will change things forever. Not that I'm expecting such an event. But of course, no one ever expects such things.
Jason took off for the Gator Bowl a couple of days ago. He and Kelsi are driving there, through Mobile where they will meet up with a friend of theirs. It's only like 2300 miles from Billings to Jacksonville, but when the price of gas drops from nearly $5 to $1.38 per gallon, it suddenly seems cheap to buy, and with time not costing these two college kids anything, driving from Montana to Florida and back doesn't seem like such a big deal. They've lined up free board all the way to Florida and back. The only hotel bills will be while they're in Jacksonville. And that room ended up fairly reasonable, especially when you split the cost three ways.
I've take most of last week and all of this week off. We haven't gone anywhere, just hanging around the house doing stuff. Reading. Watching bowl football. Sleeping in till 9:30 or 10. Watching some movies that have piled up on the Dish DVR. I do have some talks to put together for next month, and a publication to edit and get back to my publisher, but these things will happen in short order after this week anyway. It's nice to not have to do anything.
Actually the other thing we've been doing this fall, and continue to do is quilt. Lori picked up a pieced top for a quilt at an auction in Kansas before we moved from there. So this fall we put it up and started quilting. It was sort of a warm-up quilt for the real ones to follow. She has about 3 tops her grandmother had done. And we have a double-wedding ring that my Grandmother had done back in the 70's. My Mom held onto that one for some 20 years, and then we took it sometime in the 90's and started to quilt it, but it ended up in a box. So we finished the warm-up quilt right around Christmas. It turned out fairly nice. And then we dug through boxes and found the double-wedding ring. Caity and I ripped that backing off, and we started back at square one with it. It's now upstairs stretched and ready to go. The plan is to finish it and send it to Dad as a surprise. We thought he had forgotten about it, but last time we were back, he mentioned it, and we had to admit what state it was in. This time we will finish it like we promised 15 years ago.
There's an update. Happy new year everyone.

Election Night

2008-11-07T17:18:00.001-07:00

I guess I was a nervous wreck Tuesday night. I had a meeting scheduled for Wednesday morning in Great Falls and Lori had decided to travel with me. So we left Billings around 1:00 and got to our hotel at about 4:30. She turns on the TV, and of course the CNN heads are already discussing the handful of results that have come in, and what this all means. It means nothing of course, but they don't want to say that. I said, "Let's just turn it off and go eat. I don't want to see anything until around 7:30 or 8:00. Nothing will make much sense until then anyway."

We head out and eventually land at a steak house where I ordered the New York peppered steak. It was good, it came sort of like a Mexican dish in its own plate, so hot it continued cooking at our booth for at least another minute. The waiter was a nice guy, quite helpful. Before the entrées arrived, he was pushing some deep fat fried scones. If they had drenched them in sugar, they would have been more correctly called donuts. Tasty.

As we quietly ate our meals I overheard the folks behind me talking about the black panthers that had shown up at a polling station somewhere in Pennsylvania. "They were intimidating white voters!", the lady behind me says. I had seen a bit of coverage on it on TV earlier, but it didn't really strike me as intimidation. It appeared to me to be more like they were there to make sure black voters could vote. And then I got to thinking, what exactly is an intimidated white voter? Is that even possible??? I suppose you could intimidate a white voter, but then what would happen? The white guy would either pull a gun and say, "Just try and stop me from voting". Or, more likely they would go find the local sheriff or policeman and set the guy straight on just who has a right to vote.

The only voter capable of being intimidated is the black voter, or maybe the latino voter, or Mexican-American voter, because these are the groups that only a few years ago were actually intimidated, or runoff, or threatened so that they didn't vote. I sure as hell hope we've gotten past that point in our American democracy. But if Fox news wants to try and drum up more fear of blacks by saying these guys were intimidating white voters, I guess they have the right to be so stupid.

At any rate, that conversation didn't bother me. But the one in the adjacent booth, where they were debating that Florida and Ohio had already been called for McCain, did. I didn't believe it, couldn't believe it, but at the same time, there's this little voice running around my head saying, "Here we go again!"

So we returned to the hotel, and watched the returns. Things looked good for Barack from the beginning. The thousands of people filing into Grant Park was a good omen. And when the results from the west coast came in and put him over the top, I could finally breathe again.

First it was McCain's speech to this crowd of white people at the Biltmore. He has to raise his arms to stop them from booing at the name Obama in the middle of his speech. Like my son said later, it was the best speech John McCain has made all year. I don't know why anyone is surprised to hear booing when McCain says Obama is a good man, qualified to be president, when he and his party spent the last 3 weeks of the campaign saying exactly the opposite. A campaign run on fear of the other guy has worked for the previous two Republican wins, I guess in this election they just ran out of enough white guys to convince.

And then it was Barack taking the stage in Chicago. What a speech. I just wanted to be happy and smile and live in the moment, but for some reason I couldn't keep the tears from streaming down my face. This night has been a long time coming. It's sort of like what Amy Poehler as Hillary on Saturday Night Live said in her mock news conference with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin. Tina says that with her on the ticket we will finally get a woman in the White House. Amy responds, "I just have to say this. I didn't run for President just so a woman could be in the White House, I wanted to be in the White House!" I felt the same way for Barack. I didn't vote for him because he was black, I voted for him because he was the best man for the job. He just happens to be black. Which just happens to be a breakthrough for what this country is all about.

So I cried for America, because this is the America I want to live in. Not the one that tortures prisoners in Guantanamo. Not the one that takes us to war to either settle old family scores, or make new alliances for oil, or for contracts for Haliburton, or because we're the strongest nation on the earth and we just don't give a crap about other countries. I cried because I think with Barack we can get back to being what a democracy is supposed to be. Freedom. Justice. Humanity for all. Maybe we can regain our position as a leader of good ideas, and as a friend to the rest of the world. Like Barack said in his speech, winning this election was not the goal. This win only gives us a chance to be better.

He is a very smart man. And he has my support.

Change

2008-10-29T11:03:00.001-06:00

I voted yesterday, and it felt good to finally put down in ink what I have believed for the past two years. I'm ready for us to move on past the politics of fear, the politics of division, and the unregulated economy, and unchecked military doctrine of GW. I don't know if Barack can do it, but he's got my support to try.

I know the fears of many is that a liberal democratic congress will just take from the working class and give to those sitting on their rears doing nothing. But I don't really believe there are that many freeloaders in the system that will result in dragging us all down. Actually there are a lot of people who need our help. In a country as rich as ours, to turn a blind eye to the homeless and the poor, is a sin against humanity. To continue to allow 40 million people to go without health insurance, (which doesn't mean they don't get health treatment, they do, and we pick it up in our increased health care costs) is frankly disgusting. We are our brother's keeper. We do have a responsibility to help our neighbors. None of us are islands to ourselves.

So, here's to a new age. A fresh start for real democracy. Let's not let the love of capitalism completely replace our vows as freedom loving Americans to hold out our hands to those in need. It won't be easy. Turning directions never is. But the direction in which we as a country are headed is certainly wrong, and it will lead to our demise if we don't change course. I believe this election will be a turning point in our history.

I want beach front property in Arizona

2008-10-15T16:08:00.001-06:00

It's almost time for Debate #3. Like the VP debate, I'm hoping for a McCain derailment, but I'll be surprised if that happens. And at this point, maybe it doesn't matter. I think the momentum is definitely starting to surge for Barack. It's about time.

The rein of fear may be coming to an end. Although it ain't over till it's over. And the fear mongers still have three weeks to stir up the populace. You've heard the one about Barack being Muslim? Of course it's not true (not that in my mind that even matters) but here's the guy that apparently started that rumor. He's quite the respectable American citizen.

And of course Palin has been stirring things ever since being crowned the Republican VP candidate. She's just like Miss Alaska, only her talent seems to be drumming up false accusations and firing up lynch mobs. I wish someone would bring in a rail and haul her out just like they did in "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou". Wouldn't that be fitting?

It's time for piling-on if you ask me. I'd like to see a surge of votes turn the country blue. It's amazing to hear even some on the conservative side now coming out in support of Barack. Can anyone say 'Landslide'? I certainly hope so. We need the kind of change that only comes with a landslide.

The heart of the matter

2008-10-04T17:47:00.005-06:00

I watched the VP debate the other night just hoping for a train wreck. Like David Lettermen, I was disappointed when Sarah Palin didn't just fall on her ass in front of 70 million viewers. But after the show, I had to admit that she held up under the pressure. Yet, I was left feeling that something was lacking. And when the 1^st pundit said that "Sarah killed!" in her analysis of the debate, I thought well this isn't just another contest like American Idol. This matters. And in my analysis, it was obvious Joe had a lot more to offer when it comes to knowledge and understanding, than Sarah has ever been exposed to. It isn't really her fault. She hasn't been in a position to ever prepare for such a job. But for her to continue to think to herself that she actually is qualified just shows how naïve she actually is.

I don't think of myself as sexist. I would have gladly supported Hillary for president if Barack hadn't come along and proved to me to be a better choice. I believe there are many who are qualified to be president. Many who could gain my trust. And if they are qualified, I don't care if they're black or white or brown or yellow. They can be male or female, Christian or Muslim or atheist. They just have to have values like mine, and a true desire for understanding. I find that Ms. Palin is so obviously unqualified, that the act of selecting her should make anyone with a brain think twice about the common sense of John McCain.

Reading an op-ed in the New York Times, I found a piece that boiled my sense of uneasiness down to a concise sentence:

"… [This is] the overall theme that Ms. Palin and Senator John McCain have been trying to advance: that expertise is overrated, homespun sincerity is better than sophistication, conviction is more important than analysis." Steven Pinker, New York Times. Read the whole piece here.

Doesn't that pretty much sum up not only their campaign, but the last 8 years as well? This was the same argument for GW over Gore in 2000. And they've been in the same mode ever since. The fallout over Wall Street stems from a similar belief. Discount all the analysis, remove all restrictions, and everything will be just fine.

What a bunch of malarkey!

It's time to fill our top leadership positions with people who aren't afraid to think, aren't afraid to bring in the brightest minds to help solve problems.

We need Barack Obama to win this election.

Great Grandma

2008-09-18T17:19:00.001-06:00

I'm sitting here in Great-Grandma's house in Nebraska. We had her funeral on Tuesday. And even though she was 92, had lived a great life, and we knew that the number of days left with her were few, it was still hard to let go and say goodbye.

The funeral was sort of backward from what I'm used to. There was a public viewing, and then a private ceremony at the graveyard, and then back to town for the funeral. So we sort of had two funerals for the family, and I sort of thought ahead of time, that most of my grieving would be at the graveyard, and that the hard part would be over after we got back to town. But for some reason I just sat and cried pretty much through the whole service.

And she wasn't even my grandmother. She was my wife's grandmother. But I've known her for 24 years, which is a significant amount of time for both of us. I suppose I had an impact on her life as well. I hadn't really thought of it that way until the preacher brought it up. She was the center of the family, the last of a generation, and the last link that is a reason for all these branches to get together.

We've had some wonderful holidays in this house. I always told Lori that for every day we would stay here, I would gain a pound. Grandma was a good cook, and we never were short on food here. Even now. We're raiding the icebox now, and finding pecan rolls, and soups made for future family gatherings. I know she would be happy to see us still going forward.

Hopefully the few possessions that are left here will be split up in a friendly manner. I can't believe this family will fight over what's left here. Actually when I look around, there isn't all that much stuff, but all that's here has an imprint from Grandma's presence. Like Lori said, it's just stuff. The most important part is what's gone.

She was a wonderful soul. Love ya Grandma.

You should never go back

2008-08-25T16:22:00.001-06:00

You know the old truth that once you leave home, you can never really go back? I think my kids learned it this summer when we went back to Kansas as part of our vacation. Things change, people move on, life happens. As it turned out we spent about three days in the Olsburg/Manhattan area. Some good friends put us up for the stay, and our two kids were let loose to find beds and entertainment without us.

It was good to see old friends, and to see the area, but after awhile I was ready to get on down the road as well. We drove out to see my Dad, who lives in Greensburg. It was my first time back since the tornado.

I'd seen enough on TV to know what to expect. And it was as bad as they said it would be. The oddest thing was it seemed like the blocks were shorter. I'd find myself driving past an old familiar turn, and then realize I was one sometimes two blocks past the turn. Of course the old landmarks are gone, which explains some of the confusion, but I think the bigger part was the missing trees. Where once you would look down a city street and through the tunnel of tree limbs and leaves could barely make out the next intersection, the view now is wide open.

My Dad was fine. He had moved back in to his retirement place about three weeks before we arrived. He's in a different room, but the rest of the place seemed pretty familiar. He will be 90 this next December, and his body is pretty worn out. He sometimes is on oxygen as he has trouble keeping his oxygen levels up, but this isn't an unusual thing for someone his age.

On the second day I told him I'd like to drive down to my Grandparents farm. It was located about 8 miles due south of Greensburg, lying right in the path the tornado had taken. My sister was there, and so she insisted we take her car. She wanted to see it too. So it was a road trip, and of course Jason is always up for a road trip, so that made four.

We headed south, and signs of the tornado were all around. Not only did Greensburg get all but wiped out, but quite a few farmsteads took it in the shorts too. My grandmother had sold the farm in the 70's. She had three daughters (My Mom was the youngest) and none had married anyone interested in farming. My Dad would have closest as he had worked with my granddad in the 50's and 60's during the summers. He was a school teacher. But it never worked out. I don't know the details. All I know is as a kid we used to always go down there to go pheasant hunting. There was a wonderful tree belt there that my Mom and her sisters helped to get started back in the 30's. They hauled buckets of water out to the trees, helping them get established as part of a wind erosion control program.

The farmhouse had burned when I was 8 or 9. I remember the day. My Granddad and I had gone out there as the man renting the place had moved out. We walked into the house, and my Granddad had started the gas furnace. I guess he was just checking to make sure it worked. I don't recall if he shut it off before we left or not. But later that night when we were back in town, the sirens rang out, and the fire trucks took off toward the south. It was my Grandparents home. It was engulfed in flames by the time the trucks arrived, and so they just let it burn, and they saved the tree belt and other buildings on the homestead. Apparently there was a gas leak.

So it was sold in the early 70's, and the guy that bought it put up a trailer house where the original house had stood. The last time I was by there must have been in the early 80's. It was never the same, but it always seemed like we still had some ownership, even though we didn't. It was the place where my Mom and aunts were born. The garage was actually an old one room schoolhouse that they had attended as kids. That was moved there sometime in the 50's. My Dad had built a small horse barn just on the lane that headed to the west away from the house.

My sister was driving, and after arguing about whose house had been whose across the road from my Grandparents, she pulled into the drive, and drove right up into the yard like she owned the place. It looked like the tornado had come the night before. The roof of the trailer was ripped and rolled back to the north, and the windows were all blown out. There was no way anyone could be living in it. But in the front yard tied by a chain to a tree, was a dog who was barking and lunging at us as we rolled through his farmyard. The old schoolhouse was still standing, but the horse barn was leaning at an awkward angle. The tree belt was shredded and junk was littered all over the place. I was prepared to see some damage, but to see it in such a trashed state was shocking. And then there was the dog. Why was the dog still tied up here? He couldn't have been left all this time. It's been over a year since the tornado. Obviously someone has been coming by and feeding him. But he seemed to be the only living thing on the place. It was a weird and troubling scene.

My Dad told Cheryl to just exit out the lane that leads off to the west. It connects to a gravel road after about a quarter mile. But my sister, not the best driver in the world, had apparently never driven on a dirt lane before. Sometime in the previous month or two it had been wet, because the lane had ruts, now dried, about a foot deep. She pulls right into the ruts, and I can hear us dragging bottom as she keeps moving forward. I hear myself saying, "Go right! Go right!"

She eventually pulls up on the ridge and straddles the worst of the ruts, all the time saying things like "Oh no! What should I do? Oh no!"

Dad just calmly tells her to keep going, and Jason and I in the backseat are wondering just if we'll make it without having to get out and push. The lane gets better as we start making our way back to the gravel road. Cheryl is complaining the whole time that we shouldn't have taken this lane. But we reassure her that the worst is over, and for her to just keep going. As we get toward the end of the lane, she calms enough that she quits complaining, and just drives. About this time Dad quietly says, "We probably shouldn't have taken this lane."

It was knee slapping funny, but we couldn't laugh. Almost to the road, Cheryl sees another car coming from the west, and says something about hoping he doesn't pull into this lane, and Dad sends out another zinger. "Oh, he wouldn't be crazy enough to take this lane"

That's my Dad. He's still on top of his game even if his body is about to give up.

Except for the family entertainment, I sort of wish we hadn't gone back to the farm. I'd prefer to have kept the memories as they were when I was a kid. That farmyard and place was such a wonderful memory. Now in my mind's eye all I see is debris and destruction.

You should never go back.

Watching the coal trains

2008-07-22T11:20:00.004-06:00

We live in the Yellowstone valley, where the water flows east to the Missouri, and the coal trains flow east as well. We have two tracks that go by our house. The Burlington Northern-Santa Fe is a stone's throw to the north. At night the windows rattle, and they blow their horns four times for each crossing. Sometimes on the 4^th blow Zip will howl with the train. I'm sure it hurts his ears.

Another line runs about a mile or less to the south. This one goes to Wyoming, and then on across Nebraska. The other line runs over to North Dakota. From here they join on their westward journey across Montana, and on across Washington state to the coast. The trains can connect one line to the other on a long bending rail that runs only a mile to our west. So we are surrounded by trains. And most all the coal trains seem to take this connector. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, because I know the trains coming from the south are hauling Powder River coal up and around our house, and then back east across North Dakota. And then there will be trains that come from North Dakota, or maybe it's eastern Montana that go the exact opposite direction, make the bend and then head south past the mines in northern Wyoming and on back east across Nebraska.

The funny thing is there is another connector between these lines about 20 miles to our west at Pompey's Pilar. Sometimes I feel these trains are running just like my old Lionel set I played with as a kid, going round and round in a long circle.

We haven't counted them, but there are a lot of trains that pass through here. Somebody told me last year more than 60 trains a day travel this one track that heads to the west. Each coal train has 116 cars. Each car carries 100 tons of coal. With a Powder river price of almost $20 per ton, each train's cargo is worth nearly a quarter of a million dollars. Take that times 20, and I'd estimate nearly $5 million dollars worth of coal passes our house each day, (assuming they aren't just going around in a circle).

Think about that for a minute. $5 million dollars a day, every day. Or rather than dollars, think about carbon. That's almost 500 million pounds of coal going by our house every day. It boggles my mind to think that all this is going up in vapor in just a few days time once it gets to the power plants. And I'm just observing one point along the transport network for the U.S. I don't know what percentage of the country's coal passes my house, but I'm sure this is only a fraction.

So what is the alternative? What can we possibly do to make a dent in this carbon footprint? I mean without turning off the lights. It's like trying to turn a freighter that's headed toward the proverbial cliff. Except we aren't as a country, or as a world convinced there is a cliff, so not everyone is leaning into the rudder.

We need some incentive to change. High dollar oil is a start. People are now starting to feel the pinch at the gas pump. And we'll definitely feel it again this winter when our fuel oil bills double from last winter. But this is a huge problem, one that needs lots of resources to solve. And like always, there's a lot of resistance to change. Not only because that's our nature, but also because there's a lot of financial gain to be made by those in the energy industry.

There's been an oil boom going on here in eastern Montana for the past 5 or 6 years. Oil reserves that have been known about for years, have finally become worthwhile to develop. The result is those folks who have scratched out a living for nearly 100 years, in a very challenging agricultural environment are suddenly getting checks from the oil companies that they can hardly believe. I was at Sidney Montana the other day talking with a farmer that said his neighbor was now getting a $50,000 check each month for his share of the mineral rights on his farm. "Good for him", I said. "I'm glad to see someone other than the energy companies profiting from all this high dollar fuel."

He said, "Yeah, it's good, but the guy is now in his 70's, his health isn't good, and the money has come so late in his career, that he'll never be able to invest it. If it had only come 40 years ago, when he could have put it to good use, then that would have been something." But I suppose his children will benefit.

Still, thinking about trying to change directions, trying to find alternative sources of energy. These folks in eastern Montana are not for it. Their ship has finally come in. The same thing goes for those in Wyoming. They estimate over 200 years of clean coal exists that can be used for U.S. energy, as well as exporting some to India and China. Their ship is here. There's no incentive for them to support anything but coal.

I don't know how anyone can change the system we're in. Even though I feel we must.

Crystal Lake

2008-06-30T11:14:00.004-06:00

We took a little trip to the Snowies this weekend. You can check it out at http://picasaweb.google.com/TresOaksPhotos/CrystalLake. Crystal Lake is a beautiful lake, and has a nice campground. It was full this weekend, I suppose it will be again next for the 4^th. But after circling the lake we took off on the trail to the ridge, and left most of those people behind. Not too many ventured onto this steep ascent. It was nice. The dogs went with us, and once we were well away from the campground, we turned them loose. They are pretty good trail dogs, never straying too far ahead, stopping to see why the humans are so slow, and coming back to check on us before crashing into the forest beside us to check out all the smells. We found a couple of springs on the way up, and a cool running creek for them to drink from, so they were fine. But I'm certain they traveled at least 3 times the distance we did.

It reminded me of our day hikes in Georgia. We even found some ferns growing in one spot, a tribute to how wet it can be in the middle of this state, if you're at high enough elevation. It was a good test hike, and a sign that we are still capable of hiking like this.

We’re alive!

2008-06-22T12:46:00.001-06:00

A few days ago, Lori and I took a trip to Lewistown. I had a meeting in nearby Moccasin, and so while I did that, she spent the morning searching for information on two of her grandfathers that happened to live in the area almost 100 years ago. It turned out to be easier than we thought to find copies of the deeds, information on their homesteads, and even an evaluation of her great-grandmother's teaching ability at the library, the museum, and the Fergus county courthouse. In the afternoon, I joined her and at the assessor's office we were invited into the vault to look up the deeds.

All four walls of the vault were lined with shelves of leather bound books. I felt like we were in a sacred room, a room full of history. We had a list of book numbers and pages from the genealogy library across the street. The lady pulled out the book, and thumbed to the page, and instantly there was the legal description of Lori's great-grandfather's homestead near Winifred Montana. Ellis E. Miller filed a claim in 1919 for 160 acres on the SW quarter of section 24, township 19 north, range 21 east. His brother William claimed the SE quarter.

So we drive up the road to Winifred. It's such beautiful country, green open, with views of island mountain ranges in all directions. The Judith mountains are alongside our right, the white topped Snowies are in the rear-view mirror, and to the west stretch the Belts. It's obvious why the railroad companies sold the idea of homesteading this basin back then in the early 1900's. When the rains come, the range can be deceptively green and productive. But the majority of green we see is native range, not farmed ground. And this is a good year, or at least it's been wet for this past month, so the grass is lush and nearly at its peak. Some years aren't so positive, and as those homesteaders found out, making a living on 160 acres was tough, if not impossible.

Winifred is a small town, maybe a bit bigger than I expected. We drove up and down main street, and passed on the opportunity to visit the local tavern. Lori said the place would be east about 9 miles. We find a gravel road headed that way, and wind our way out watching the odometer. We get just passed nine miles east and come to Cutbank creek, the creek that runs across the backside of Ellis's homestead. But it's now 80 or 90 years since they homesteaded, and any buildings or signs of their living here are long gone. We sort of agree that this must be the place, but without a map it's hard to say. We have the Montana Gazetteer, but it doesn't have township and range numbers in it. After sitting there for a few minutes, wondering what else we could do, I suddenly remember I have my laptop with me. We look at our cell phones and see we don't have a signal, we're too far from civilization. So we drive another mile east and then north to the top of a hill, where we can look back over this suspected property. I pull my laptop out and place it on the hood of the car. The computer boots up and through my wireless card, we connect to the internet. I search for "township range maps" and I find a website which does exactly that. We type in the numbers, and a map appears. It sort of looks like the piece of land were seeing. There now is a small lake on this stretch of Cutbank creek, and by flipping the overlaid color photo image onto the map, we finally decide that we've found it. (Later when we get home, we found out that we were actually about 1 mile north of the actual homestead, but we took pictures in all directions, and so we actually ended up getting it right, we just didn't know it till later.)

With this mystery solved, I start to head back to Winifred, and then back to home. Lori says, "But we're right next to the Missouri Breaks. I wanted to drive just a ways further into the breaks to see how they look." So I turn around. And I'm thinking, "Well if you've found a scenic byway road that skirts along the southern edge of the breaks, it surely connects to the highway on the east. We can just cut across and take that highway back to Billings."

The road is gravel for another five or six miles, and then suddenly it's just dirt, and now we're cutting through open range, crossing cattle guards, and seeing odd geologic formations. The breaks finally appear to the north as we head east. They are stunning, almost canyon-like, but expansive enough that we have yet to see the Missouri river. It must either be buried deeper into these eroded hills, or it is running far enough north that we just can't see it yet. The road has now turned to soft dirt. It's sort of like driving through loose sand, four to six inches deep, except instead of sand, it's silt. Or maybe it's clay, but it's so dried out and pulverized, that we can't tell. At any rate, it isn't hard to drive through, just sort of rutted in places, from when it was last wet and a previous driver had ripped through.

We keep thinking that this road must go someplace. It has signs pointing in both directions. And it's marked as a "Scenic Byway", which it is. It is very scenic. And we are there at just the right time to see it. The sun is sinking in the west, and the light on the breaks stretching north is just spectacular. We come to a junction where the Scenic Byway heads south away from the breaks on an "unimproved road". But this doesn't make sense to us, so after heading down that road for a 100 yards or so, we turn around and take the other leg of the Y. This one continues on east, paralleling the breaks.

A few miles further in, and the road has become a bit more rugged. A few more mud holes appear, one with a bunch of branches and a tree stump placed in the middle, so that we have to drive to the side to avoid it. We are now seeing glimpses of the river. It reminds me of the Grand Canyon, where the river seems to be hiding from view most of the time, just out of sight around the next bend. We also notice that now rather than the breaks being only on our left, there are more breaks now to the right. In retrospect, once the breaks were on both sides of us, we should have realized that we were only going to end up in the middle of a mess.

Suddenly I'm driving on a ridge, where the land falls away steeply on both sides. And we still haven't seen the highway we know is ahead, or the bridge that spans the Missouri on the east end of this area. We come to a place where the ridge ends, and we have to descend this long sloping, rutted path down to the floodplain. We may have hesitated for a moment, but in our minds, we kepth saying "This road must go someplace, it must make it to the highway." And we had come so far, we don't want to turn around. So we forged ahead. Down the eroded rutted slope, driving, and sliding our Subaru Outback down to the floodplain and off of these eroded breaks.

We make it down that last terrifying ridge, down to the safety of level ground, and Lori says she's had enough. "Stop, just stop for a minute so I can get out of this car." I stop, and we get out and celebrate with a hug. Thank God we're off that road. Who in their right mind would lay out such a road in the first place? So, now that were safely down, we get back in the car and head on east to get out at the highway. We drive maybe a mile, and the road forks again. We take the right fork, the one headed away from the river, and within another half mile we come to a creek that is draining to the Missouri. The road is washed out. We get out and walk up to the creek. The bank drops down five or six feet to the creek. There is no way possible for our car to make it through. I turn around and head back to the last fork to try it. Lori says, "What are we going to do?" I say, "All we can do is try this other fork, I don't even want to think about going back up on the ridge." But this fork turns out to be a dead-end too. We come up to the Missouri, and the road just quits. We can't see the highway which was our destination. We can't even see the bridge. It must still be several miles to the east. Reality has set in. We have no choice now but to go back the way we came.

I turn around and we drive back to the base of the long eroded and rutted slope we had just descended. We look at it, and I think, we have no choice, either we make it back up, or we just…. We just what?

I put the car in second gear, and we start back up the hill. I have many fears, one is we may slip off the edge and roll off to the right. We may not have enough power to pull through the loose soil and keep going up. We could easily slip down into the ruts and high center the car, leaving us stuck on the ridge. And if we do get stuck, we have no tools to dig ourselves out, we don't have cell phone reception down in this canyon, and we haven't told anyone where we are or where we were headed. I accelerate enough so that we don't bog down in the loose soil, and I try and steer so that we sort of straddle the ruts. The car does pretty good for the first half, but then I feel it start to bog down, I pull the shifter into first gear, and suddenly we have power again, and I can feel all four wheels pulling us up, like a rock climber on a wall using all four limbs to maneuver themselves up. We clear the halfway point where it sort of levels out, and then we hit the second half of this slope. I can see the whites of my knuckles as I grip the steering wheel, but it soon becomes obvious that we are going to make it.

Fifty miles. We traveled over 50 miles to get back out of this predicament and back to a gravel road. And I swear that for 90% of it I was driving directly into the sun. At times the glare on the windshield made it impossible to see. I was sticking my head out the driver's side window just so I could see around the next bend.

When we finally made it back to Winifred, we both wanted to get out and kiss the pavement, and yell to the world "We're Alive!"

Skunk dog

2008-06-18T09:30:00.001-06:00

Friday of last week, Lori and I went on our usual walk, a little over a mile trip around the fields here at the station. We walk along the main irrigation ditch, and then follow a drainage called Custer coulee back toward the highway, and back to the house. A week earlier, the dogs had discovered a skunk down in the coulee, and after harassing him for a short time, we yelled and called them off. They were happy to oblige, as he had sprayed at them, but didn't really get much spray on them.

We're walking on the east side of the coulee, the dogs are in front of us, working the grass, loping through the barley fields across the coulee, when suddenly they take off at full speed, chasing something up ahead. At first I think it must be another pheasant, but it never flies. And then the dogs break away, and Tilly comes back to us with the obvious odor of a skunk. She starts her routine of rubbing herself against the ground, and through the tall grass, trying to rub off the spray.

We keep heading north, and the dogs are moving with us again. We walk another 50 yards or so, and Tilly sees the skunk just ahead in the grass. There was no stopping her this time. She was pissed, and she had one thing in mind. Like a colleague said when I told him this story, she had nothing to lose. She'd already been sprayed, and now she was out for revenge. She jumped on this skunk and brought it up clutched in her jaws, shaking it back and forth, throwing it to the ground, only to grab it again and repeat the process. In only a few seconds, the skunk was dead, and Tilly was back to diving through the grass, while saliva poured from her mouth. She'd taken a direct hit to the face.

We got her back to the yard where tried to get her to drink. At first she just pawed the water out of the dish, splashing it onto her front. I refilled the bowl a number of times and eventually I got her to drink some.

Luckily for us, she isn't a house dog. But by morning the yard smelled like skunk. She had moved from spot to spot, spreading the oily smell all around.

Saturday afternoon, we gave her a bath. I had rubber gloves, shampoo, and a bottle of some magic solution our neighbor gave us. He said he thought it worked fairly well. He had bought it some years before when a skunk had gotten into their house and had sprayed inside.

But the shampoo/bath didn't do much other than give Tilly a bright and shiny stinky coat. By Monday, the smell had diminished quite a bit more. I think the combination of sunshine, fresh air, and a black coat of fur that heats up under the sun is doing the job. The poor dog knew that she stunk, and for the past few days has sort of banished herself to the far reaches of the back yard.

We went for another walk last night, the dogs doing the usual routine. This time we took the route backwards. No signs of any skunks this time. Tilly was happy to be back on the trail, and even took an extended swim in the canal this time. Another dip in the water can't help but improve the aroma.

Traveling the Lamar Valley

2008-06-03T09:37:00.005-06:00

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood on Sunday as we traveled through the Lamar valley looking for babies. We found some too. One cluster of cars, cameras, and chaos found a momma antelope nursing twins. The park ranger was trying to minimize the disturbance, but it was a picture party anyway. At a distance we also saw newborn elk and bison. If you're headed to Yellowstone, be sure and bring your binoculars, the views are always excellent, but many times at a long distance.
We did come across moose at three different locations. This young one was not 50 yards from the road near the petrified tree.

We exited at Silvergate and headed in to Cooke City where we asked if the highway was open to Red Lodge. The lady at the convenience store said it was, so we set out for the the bear tooth highway. Very little snow in Cooke city gave way to a white landscape as we went over the pass at top-of-the-world. At places on the Wyoming side, the snowbank along the highway was nearly 20 feet tall. Not too many people were headed that way, but we came across one group that had stopped in the middle of the highway to frame a picture with their pickup against the snow. One lady was standing in the middle of the highway, taking the photo, as we rounded the curve and hit the brakes to keep from running into them. She started to run for the truck, but I just slowed down and passed around them. Little did they know we had done the exact thing about two curves back.

On the switchbacks down to Red Lodge, we came upon a traffic jam of 20 or 30 cars that were stopped and waiting for the roadcrew to clean up another minor avalanche that had stopped traffic. I don't know how long they had waited, but by the time we arrived, it was nearly cleaned up, and we didn't have to sit for long. We passed by where an avalanche from the week before had apparently been a bit more substantial. There were broken tree limbs and piles of dirty snow that had been cleared from the road.
All in all, it was a nice change of pace. Even living this close to Yellowstone, it still is a long day when you drive up and back in the same day. One of these times we're going to have to take the tent and stay awhile. Maybe do a hike or two. I hate to think that I'm just another tourist staring at the wild animals, with my high dollar camera.

Cool Spring

2008-05-12T18:03:00.001-06:00

It seems like forever since I posted. Sorry about that. I have no excuse, other than I just don't make myself sit down and post here. We took a trip to Missoula this weekend to retrieve the girl for the summer. Her first year of college finished, she's home now and will begin working here at the station sometime next week. She wants a few days off before starting. The boy is staying in Missoula this summer, working at either the job he has been doing, or possibly as an intern working for the same group only on a different project. Either way, he should have a great summer living in a beautiful place surrounded by mountains.

Caity was going to drive back to Kansas this week so she could return to the old home town and watch some of her friends graduate from high school. But her cadre of new friends dropped out one by one until the prohibitive cost of gas for a 2000 mile roundtrip became too much for just one or two travelers. But I think we'll make the trip later this summer as a family of 3 or possibly 4. We need to go back and see Dad as well as visiting friends at Olsburg. With some planning, we can even make it to see Jared and his new wife while they are in Broken Bow

We're finally getting a little moisture here in the Yellowstone valley. It's coming rather late, but as the old joke goes, better nate than lever. The temperatures continue to drop at night making it seem more like early spring. The result is spring crops are still slowly establishing. Hopefully the heat will hold off this year as well. I'm afraid if it doesn't the spring growing season will be fairly short, with corresponding low yield potentials across most of Montana east of the mountains.

A couple of weeks ago, Lori and I hiked up to the top of sacrifice cliffs, which sit above the Yellowstone river just southeast of downtown Billings. The view must have been something when Lewis made his trek up to this same spot over 150 years ago. Today the view includes an oil refinery, a coal powered power plant, and a city spread out all along the river from east to west. Surprisingly we spotted two peregrine falcons playing on the winds that flow from the north over the river and up the cliffs. They are surprisingly smaller than what I expected. They're more hawk-like in appearance, much smaller than the eagles we see here, and smaller than quite a few hawks here as well. To me the surprising thing visually is their short neck. It almost seems like they have no neck, just a head that sits atop their compact and powerful body. One perched in a dead pine for some time allowing me some good looks with our binoculars. After awhile he was back up in the air, playing in the wind, travelling nowhere. But then suddenly he accelerated as he dived toward the river, flying through the ravine and disappearing quickly around the north face of the cliffs. I had trouble keeping up with him in my field of view. They are something to watch.

Still kicking

2008-04-25T11:29:00.001-06:00

In less than a week it will be May. And in about 3 weeks, the kids will be done with their first year at the U of M. Which means Caity will be home for the summer, and Jason will not. I suppose we may see him a few times. I hope so.

My niece is graduating from high school this next month. She lives in my home town of Greensburg, the one that was reduced to rubble just about a year ago. It's famous now. So famous in fact that G.W. is going to speak at my niece's graduation. I'm not sure of her class size, but it's something like 20 seniors. Even though I'm not a Bush supporter, and regardless of the fear I have that he's going to pull us into another war with Iran before he leaves office, I think it's pretty cool that he is going to go to my home town for the high school graduation. It sure beats having to listen to KSU retired coach Bill Snyder. Although it looks like those in the National Honor Society got to hear him last week anyway.

The town is trying to rebuild. I see they now have a new water tower, and groundbreaking for some of the downtown buildings is slated for next month. They are actually having a "Tragedy to Triumph" celebration on the graduation weekend, which also happens to be the 1-year anniversary of the big tornado. Of course this is the real reason GW is coming to town. I guess if he can make time for "Deal, or No Deal", he can make time for G-burg.

Even though it is almost May, the cold continues here in Billings. We sometimes warm into the 50's, 60's, even 70's, but at night temps drop below freezing. We were at 21 last night. And we had about an inch of snow last weekend. I'm afraid we are going to skip spring, and once it decides to actually stay warm, it will just be summer, and the temps will approach 100 again.

We'll see. At any rate, we are alive and well. Still kicking.

Debating in Philadelphia

2008-04-16T21:20:00.002-06:00

I'm sitting here listening to the democratic presidential debate. It's disappointing how the whole thing is scripted for television, and the advertising giants. The announcer comes on and says "Clinton vs Obama, One on One", like it's a boxing match. They spent the first 30 minutes discussing non-issues like Barack's 'bitter' comment, and his association with Rev. White. They even had a blurb on why he does or doesn't wear a flag pin on his lapel. And Hilary was hit up for her bad memories on her Bosnia trip, sniper fire; yada yada yada. It's almost like the news organizations have become 'Entertainment Tonight'. Or maybe it should be 'Extra Extra', leading the questioning.

So much for hard hitting reporting. Hopefully they'll get a bit more real in the next half hour or so. OMG, they are going to now talk about gun control. Talk about a red neck hot button issue! Hillary says "Balance. Most lawful gun owners want us to keep guns out of the wrong hands." Barack starts with laws and rights. He makes a good comparison. The right to own guns as stated by the Constitution can be limited by government the same way that the right to private property can be restricted by lawful use of zoning restrictions. Back to Hillary. Does she support the ban proposed in Washington D.C.? She sort of supports it. Although she says there needs to be some local say in what is responsible. "What works in New York City won't work for Montana, or even up-state New York."

"Now Affirmative action. Those affluent blacks must be kept in check. What about poor white kids? What about it Barack," asks George Stephanopolis (I'm paraphrasing in case you are wondering). Barack says he still believes in affirmative action, but it can't just be a quota system. People who have been blocked from opportunity, must be given that opportunity. Hillary says she is more concerned with the gap in achievement and the gap in income. She says, "That means health care for everyone. Let's affirmatively invest in our young people," says Hillary.

Gas prices. Hillary wants an investigation, to make sure we aren't being taken advantage of. Release some from the gas reserve. Place a windfall profits tax on the oil companies. Ultimately a long-term energy policy is needed. Move toward energy independence. Barack gets his shot, but prior to his chance to answer, Charlie Gibson says that we've heard politicians say this before." Energy independence was proposed by Jimmy Carter in 1979." With the candle snuffed before he can speak, Barack limits his answers to energy efficiency concerns.

Advice from former presidents? Hillary laughs at the thought of asking GW for anything, but then brags up the team of George H Bush and Bill when they worked to help those hurt by the tsunami. Barack says he's more likely to ask George H rather than George W for advice. He points out that George H. actually had a foreign policy.

Super delegates. "When you get to Denver, how do you make the case for their vote, " asks Charlie. Hillary says, "We need a fighter back in the white house." She reminds us how she has fought for us all her life. She's ready for the job. "Not just a government by the few, for the few."

Barack's answer was something like this. "Fifteen months ago when we started this campaign, we were at a defining point in our history. The bet I was making was a bet on the American people. They don't want spin from their elected officials, they want answers. We've built a campaign from the bottom up. And the American people have responded. We need to form a new political coalition in this country, because that is what it will take to turn this country around."

Well it got better in the final 30 minutes. There was finally some meat to chew on. But I'm getting tired of the fight, and I'm ready for this phase to end and the general election campaign to begin. I don't think too many who watch this debate haven't already made up their minds. It certainly didn't change my choice for president.

At one point Charlie Gibson again showed his disconnect with the country and lack of understanding what makes up the middle class. Barack gave the number, something like 6% of our population make over $100,000 per year. He said that he is the only candidate talking about a tax break to those making under $75K, something like $1000 dollar break per year. He said he would return the capital gains tax rate to the level it was 10 years ago for those making greater than $200-250K, and that he would consider a tax increase on those between these extremes. Charlie challenged him saying, "There's a lot of people in that income range from $97K to $200K that would feel that tax increase." And I thought, Charlie, didn't Barack just tell you that there were only 6% making greater than $100K? If you were to ask someone like Charlie, or Hillary, or even GW what income range makes up the middle class, I'm sure the number they would give would be much greater than the number I would give. My middle class definition would be those making from $50 - $100K. Most people make even less than this. Charlie, or Hillary, or anyone in that income range calling Barack an elitist is sort of like the pot calling the kettle black. If you subtract Barack's income from his books, he lands closer to the middle class than most politicians or celebrities. Most all of those we listen to and elect to higher office have little idea what it's like to live pay check to pay check. Even I feel like I live a life of privilege. Especially so compared to what my parents had. There is very little safety net for most all of us. We just try to stay one step ahead of the banker.

At least we have medical insurance

2008-03-29T15:25:00.004-06:00

We just figured up Lori's pharmaceutical expenses for the last 6 weeks. Total, $234.71, which wasn't as bad as I had imagined it would be. We finally got the insurance coverage settled, as they were challenging us by saying this may have been a pre-existing condition, which then they wouldn't have had to pay. But now they do, since we were covered before.

It's sure odd how they determine prices. In the middle of the time when insurance coverage was in limbo, we got a bill from the Clinic for her sleep apnea test, showing a balance of $1909 due. For what they did, this seemed extremely expensive. She was wired up for snoring wearing three belts with sensors connected to computers. They ran the test the entire night, but there wasn't much labor to do, other than check on her a couple of times through the night. But she was in the hospital the whole time, so a nursing staff, paid separately by the way, was there anyway. Once the insurance kicked in, we got another notice saying the max the insurance would pay for that test was $129. Actually, we get to pay that, because we haven't yet met the deductible—well maybe, we have yet to receive the bills for the emergency room, the ICU, and, for all the other tests that were run.

But doesn't that seem a bit backward. If we had not had insurance, the sleep test cost is 15X what it is when you do have coverage. Shouldn't the actual cost be related to the cost of the equipment, the cost of labor for those involved in conducting and analyzing the results, and maybe some thrown in for electricity and wear&tear on equipment? If I were budgeting for a new project, that's what I'd have to do. Why doesn't the medical system work this way????? Weird I say.

So with all that said, now the doctors want to rerun the test anyway. Her results show that she wasn't quite normal, and yet not quite so bad that they're willing to say this is her problem that is responsible for her high blood pressure. Actually, when we pressed the doctor a couple of weeks ago, he said it wasn't very likely that sleep apnea could be responsible for her high blood pressure even if she actually has sleep apnea. Which I can tell you, from sleeping with her the past 24 years, she doesn't have. If anyone has sleep apnea, it's me, nor Lori.

But we are mere pawns in this strange game of medical science. We just do as we're told, and wait for them to figure out what actually is the problem. Methodical steps. Don't take reaches and leaps in logic, or you might end up solving the case too soon.

I told the nurse when we were in the hospital that I felt at times like we were in an episode of House. Now it's a pretty poor episode, because we've gone on way longer than an hour. I'm sure the audience has tuned into something much more interesting.

She goes back to see the doctor(s) on Tuesday, which of course happens to be April Fools Day. She sees both Dr. Mock and Dr. Mack. The names of these doctors could be an April Fools Joke. Although we liked both of them. FAITH. Have faith!

52

2008-03-14T09:19:00.001-06:00

It's me and Billy Crystal's birthday; and Albert Einstein's as well, although I think he quit counting. I didn't get to play for the Yankees for a day, but still I'm happy to be evolving. It's Just another trip around the sun. This one saw some major migration. I was reminded of that as I started doing our taxes last night.

Usually Lori does them, or at least for the past 10 years or so, she has been the one in charge. But this year, she doesn't need any more stress. Although her watching me input numbers into TurboTax was stressful enough, maybe more so since she realized she had given up control. I did let her help shuffle papers and answer important questions.

52. It was just two years ago at Brick's Steak House that my wife arranged and pulled off a surprise birthday party for me, complete with black balloons, and a box of adult diapers. It was a fun evening with I don't know, maybe 20 people around the table; none of which I worked with, all of which were friends from the Olsburg community. We had really started to become part of the fabric there just when my sudden job shakeup ripped us out, and eventually landing us here in this beautiful state. Either way things wouldn't have stayed the same. If we had stayed in Kansas, with the kids moving off to college, we would have slowly lost ties to the school and all of that entertainment. Maybe the band-aide approach is better. The slow peel always hurts more than the quick rip, even though one would think a carefully planned and executed removal would be better. Sometimes plans are overrated.

And we would never have planned on moving to Montana. We may have wanted to end up here, but it seems like fate did a much better job than all our dreams.

I'm getting sort of restless for a trip. It must be that spring break fever that goes around this time of year. We haven't done a family spring break trip for about 3 years now. And now things are so jumbled up that we really can't do a trip, at least not together as a family. Lori is waiting on doctors, and her breakfast and late night snack of pharmaceuticals leaves her with little energy to do more. Spring planting time in Huntley is now, much earlier than I would have guessed. But they call this the banana belt of Montana, and I'm starting to believe it. So with a new employee starting to work for me on Monday, and with two presentations I have on my calendar over the next 2 weeks, I can't really leave my work for a mini-vacation. The month of May would be much better for a trip. My plots here at the station would be in and we would be between busy periods. I would hope the doctors would have come to some consensus on Lori's condition by then. If timed right, we could beat the crowds to those touristy places we never seem to go. So I think I'll keep my fingers crossed for May.

But for today I think I'll just eat cake. Please, nobody call the fire department, really, it's just a few candles. You've all seen more, I'm sure of it.

bear watch

2008-03-08T21:25:00.002-07:00

Zip seems to approve of our new 'Welcome Bear'. Now you'll know when you've arrived at our backdoor.

We're still waiting on doctors before we will know anything new about Lori. She is currently on 5 different blood pressure medications to keep her pressure under control. Tonight it was 140/90, which is about where it is most nights. It is low in the mornings, but seems to drift up at night.

The doctors are leaning toward a cyst that may be residing in her adrenal gland. This would account for the increased levels of hormones in her blood and urine. The latest delay is waiting for interpretation of her sleep apnea tests. If anyone in this family has a chance at having sleep apnea, it's probably me, not her. But they have to rule out all other possibilities before going hunting for more. The doctor is supposed to call Tuesday night. We should know more then.

The bear is on guard for now, and he'll keep the light on for you!

Normal

2008-02-28T14:09:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow I take Lori back to the doctor to see what sort of results they have from the Mayo Clinic. We're not sure exactly what to expect.

Her blood pressure has been steadily dropping all week. Her readings are now almost always in the "Normal" range, which is good. But she doesn't have much energy. I think part of it is just the worry of what her long term medication scheme will be. Another is the fact that they have her on about 10 pills twice a day; 3 are for blood pressure control, 1 is a cholesterol pill, 1 is a water pill, she has to take potassium, which are in giant pills that she has trouble swallowing, there's a couple more which I don't remember now. Only 10 days ago, she was pill free, save the vitamin pill she's been taking for 10 or more years. So to go from none to all these, basically overnight, is not only stressful, but subconsciously I think she feels like she's no longer in control. She thinks she's a druggy, and she hates druggies.

I think also she's a bit scared. Coming so close to the exit door has long-lasting effects, maybe permanent effects. And so every little thing that doesn't feel just 'normal' makes us wonder if it IS something. Just a little bit of paranoia.

I'll be glad to see the doctor tomorrow and see what he thinks. I'm afraid it won't all be settled even then. But maybe he can tell us something to relieve the worry and we can get back to 'normal', whatever that actually is.

medical update

2008-02-23T11:21:00.003-07:00

Lori's home, and feeling better. Hospitals make her blood pressure rise. And for those of you following my face saga, here is the latest face shot. This is two weeks after my last treatment. If you watch the slideshow at left you can see the progression. I used this Efudex cream for 3 weeks, so the pictures start after 1 week of treatment, 2 weeks after, 3 weeks after, and then 5 weeks after (which is 2 weeks of no more cream). It feels good to be done with this. It never really hurt much, but was just irritating and annoying. And somewhat fun to frighten young children at WalMart!
I'm almost beautiful again!!!

A lunar eclipse of the heart

2008-02-20T21:49:00.002-07:00

I was watching the lunar eclipse with my wife tonight from a balcony at the Billings Clinic. Later when I talked to my daughter by cell phone, she asked if it was romantic.

She is there because of high blood pressure. Sunday night at midnight she woke me up to tell me she couldn't catch her breath. She was standing at the bathroom sink, leaning half bent over against the counter. I wanted her to come with me and sit down, or for her to stand up, but she said she couldn't do either. She didn't want to pass out, and standing this way was the only way she could get enough air.

About an hour later we were at the emergency room, and quickly discovered that her blood pressure was dangerously high (250/130), and her pulse was racing at 130 pbm. She was sort of the focus of the emergency room for the next couple of hours. With IV's inserted, and drugs administered to try and reduce her blood pressure and heart beat, I thought maybe we were through the worst of it. The heart doctor was there talking to us, explaining what they were doing. I could see the monitors, and was watching the numbers. Her heart rate remained at 120-130. They injected something into her IV, saying this would reduce her heart rate. After a minute or so, the pulse settled to around 110. They injected another dose, and the nurse said that since the first dose dropped it a good 20 or so, maybe just one or two more doses should do it. The second dose didn't seem to do anything. The doctor ordered another dose, and still Lori's heart rate remained right around 110. And then suddenly she starts coughing, and coughing. They put a nitro pill under her tongue. She still coughs, she can't breathe. They slip another nitro pill into her mouth, and then they tell me to leave.

I walked back to the reception area sort of dazed. My last visions of her are etched in my mind. I keep thinking, they'll get this under control, she'll be ok. But all I can do is sit in the waiting area and stare at the walls, the upholstered chairs, the clock on the wall. It's 3:40 in the morning. I try and keep my mind blank, but it drifts off in 50 zillion directions. At 4:00 I walk over to the receptionist and ask them to call and see what's happening. She does, and into the phone she says, "Uh-huh. Yeah. Uh-huh. Ok." She tells me that they are still working with her and that it will be a little longer. I go back and sit down. All I can do is wait. I just keep thinking positive and I keep my mind as blank as possible. We just never realize just how fragile our existence is. We take so much for granted. We think if we don't imagine it, it can't happen. But here we are, Lori in an emergency room fighting for her life, me helpless.

At about 4:15 they let me back to see her. She's sitting on the emergency room bed her legs crossed Indian style. Her blood pressure is down to 140/90, and her pulse is about 80. The doctor is bragging about how brave she was, how she fought to survive. I go to Lori and hold her hand. Through it I feel her exhaustion. And to think we debated about coming to the hospital. I can't believe how stupid I was.

The nurse later described Lori's reaction as "a textbook case of flash pulmonary edema." I didn't really understand what she was telling me. I guess reading it in a textbook and seeing it played out on your own midnight shift are two different life events, one a bit dull, the other a rush, as long as it isn't you. Lori said she felt like she was drowning the whole time. The doctor said that with such high blood pressure, her heart finally got to a point where it could no longer work against it, the blood flow was nearly stopped, which sort of backed up the plumbing, backing up blood and fluid into her lungs. Basically she was drowning. Lori told me to be glad I wasn't with her.

Now it's only three days later. She's out of ICU, has done a heart cath. dye test, showing that her arteries are clear. Her blood pressure is still running high, something like 160/105, but the medications seem to be working. She is breathing without having to think about it. And if you think about it, you shouldn't have to think to breathe. But denial is a very strong drug. Tonight she was laughing and talking and back to her old self, mostly. The doctors tonight said that it will take some time for things to stabilize, but they appear to be working. They may let her come home tomorrow.

So was it romantic to sit with my wife of 24 years and watch a lunar eclipse? I think it was more than romantic. I think this was a gift.

reminiscing

2008-02-15T15:04:00.001-07:00

When we were finishing packing our house last spring for the big move, we came across a box with some old VCR tapes. There were several old Austin City Limits shows, sort of our vintage favorites from the 80's and 90's, and then there was one with something about Jason. We no longer own a working VCR so we thought about tossing them. But then Renee, who worked with my wife at KSU said she had a tape to DVD recorder and she volunteered to re-record some of them for us. They arrived by mail this week, and so last night I popped one of the ACL ones in to see what was on it.

K.D. Lang was the first of four shows. It was one of her earliest performances, and even though the video was sort of grainy, her strong voice and incredible range brought tears to my eyes. I think that happens nearly every time I hear her. Later on the DVD was a show by Jerry Jeff Walker. He had an orchestra behind him, and as a singer-songwriter, his voice is not the cleanest, but the honesty of the lyrics makes it more than worthwhile. But at the end of the DVD was a favorite of favorites. Loudon Wainwright III. His is a show for the ages. Our favorite song of his, "Guilty" is a song so full of self-deprecating mock sympathy, performed the entire time with a smirk and smile, that Lori and I just about roll on the floor, even though we've seen it a dozen times before. But last night was the first time seeing this video in at least 10 years. His next to last song, which I had forgotten, was "Lullaby Lyrics", which is written for every parent who has ever sat up with a child who just won't go to sleep. I just found lyrics on the wonderful web. Sing them yourself…

Shut up and go to bed
Put the pillow under your head
I'm sick and tired of all your worries
Shut up and say goodnight
Say your prayers and turn off the light
I'm sick and tired of all your sob-stories

Shut up and shut your eyes
No more histrionics no more college tries
Stop pushing stop shoving stop straining
Shut your mouth and button your lip
You're a late night faucet that's got a drip
All you're doing is merely complaining

The excuse that you're crazy is useless
You're not biting you're barking you're toothless
But you're ruthless (you're Rufus)

Shut up and count some sheep

And do me a favour don't bitch in your sleep
No more agony please no more sorrow
Shut up and catch some Z's
Ice cream with a cherry plus big pretty please
I promise we'll resume tomorrow...Goodnight

I love the line "Stop strainnnniiiiinnngggg!!!!!!"

But the night wasn't over. After Lost, after the new show about the lawyer that has visions, I put in the DVD marked Jason. And suddenly here he was, age 8, playing soccer at the Oconee county recreation field, with me as his coach. Grandma had been there with a video camera, and captured most of a game of 3-man soccer. We had some good times those years playing soccer, the kids learning to play, and me learning to coach.

The shocker though was not seeing my son at age 8, but seeing myself at age 38. Dark hair, dark beard, white legs (some things haven't changed), running around with a whistle in my mouth. I didn't realize how much I had aged these past 14 years. Like a friend told me today, it happens pretty fast. It's odd, but I still don't feel that much different today from that guy I was watching in the video. We live so many lives within the one life we're given. All those different periods rolled up into what I am today.

At lunch we were talking about the Navy. That guy was me too. It's hard to believe. It feels more like a story of someone else sometimes. I guess the thing to remember is, that time just marches on. And it's up to us to live life to its fullest. Never stall, or wait for life to begin. It might just be over before you ever get started.

Basal cell carcinoma

2008-02-10T17:43:00.001-07:00

So you want to see what I look like after week 3? Just pan down this post for a peek. The doctor told me Friday that I was done. It's now time to start healing. She said it would take from 2 to 8 weeks for the redness to clear. And in her experience it usually is more like 8 than 2.

Yesterday and today, all I've done is apply moisturizing lotion. But I think yesterday was the worst day of all. I just laid around the house, watching tv, with my face feeling hot and stinging, especially my chin. Today my forehead isn't quite as red, more just pink. I know that it will get better with time. I was surprised how it all hit me after I quit with the treatment. I think up until that time, I was just applying the cream and thinking I had to just endure another week, another couple of days, just endure the countdown. So Saturday was like the first time I actually let down my guard and 'felt' what was happening. And it stung.

But, like my doctor said, with as much reaction that I had, I have significantly reduced my chances of this particular type of skin cancer. Some have suggested that the treatment may have been worse than the disease, but I don't think that's right. Hopefully I won't have to go through what my Dad had to do. Or the countless others I've seen whose faces and arms were raw from surgery to remove these cancers. I would like to avoid that fate.

All I can say is, "Please use sunscreen." You don't want to go through what I've just gone through. My doctor said to think of this as a second chance, a do-over. All those times of laying out in the sun, getting my beach tan, makes me very glad that I didn't ever nude sunbathe. As bad as this series of treatment was, it definitely could have been worse.

A mild case of leprosy or just a bad rash

2008-02-03T14:10:00.001-07:00

It's time for a new template. Hope you like it. I was looking around, and found this free template at www.finalsense.com. It was pretty easy to install, and is XML ready for the newer blogger. It did toss out my links list, as well as my statcounter link, but those were pretty easy to rebuild. And the list needed rebuilt anyway, as some were no longer active. I've kept susan's page, even though she doesn't write much anymore. But her links are worth having, and I want to keep her in case she ever starts up again.

I've been undergoing a skin cancer treatment for my face which is slowly turning my face into a tomato. I was saying that I looked like I'd been hunting with Dick Cheney, but now it looks more like a Maori warrior. One more week of daily application, and then I'm done. It doesn't hurt, at least it doesn't hurt me. But I'm afraid small children may go running for their Mommies when they see me at Walmart, or at a restaurant. I'm better on everyone else's eyes in low lighting.

Hopefully the six weeks of ugliness will prevent the doctors from cutting out spots later on in life.

Just let me say this… sunscreen, sunscreen, SUNSCREEN. Please use it, especially if you're fair skinned like me. Or plan on looking like this for a few weeks after you turn 50.

Contrasts

2008-01-29T13:28:00.001-07:00

Sort of a Bev Doolittle look don't you think? I like the contrasts. Black vs white. Dead vs new. The way the gray sky is reflected by the white snow; up vs down.

I took this shot from the bridge over the Yellostone River in Gardiner, looking down. Another beautiful example of white vs black. I could have changed this to a pure black and white, but I didn't. Do you see the red tints? The stems of the brush are red, and so are the lichens on the rocks furthest from the water. Not everything in winter is turned to black and white. Not everything.

Yellowstone in January

2008-01-27T16:52:00.001-07:00

We took a trip to Yellowstone yesterday. Winter is a good time to visit if you want to avoid crowds. Most of the park is closed to automobile traffic through the winter, but from the gate at Gardiner across the northern border over to Cooke City, MT, they keep the road open, and during the winter mostly locals like us make up the bulk of visitors. There are a number of cross-country ski trails as well, and some people are headed to those. We saw a few. But yesterday we mostly drove, stopping to take pictures of bison and elk that are now concentrated in the valleys and along the roads where they can find food. The bison are amazing to watch as they lower their noses into the snow, and with a methodical back and forth motion, push the snow away to expose a little grass for them to graze. They'll do this, and then they'll lift their massive heads to look at you watching them, snow hanging on their faces. We probably saw 4 or 5 small herds. A few were on the highway, and we had to slow down to creep past them.

Elk were down from the high mountains as well. They feed a little differently, mostly pawing the snow away, and then eating. Many were just nestled into the snow covered hillsides resting. We drove from Mammoth Springs to Tower Junction, and then turned around and came back, stopping to take a few photos as we went. On the way back, Lori found one old bison bull near the road and wanted his picture. We were sort of stopped on the highway doing this out the window of the car. Another vehicle was approaching from the rear, so I pulled on up to a turnout about 50 yards or so up the road. After the other car had passed, we pulled back out, and the bull had moved up to stand on the road. So Lori continues taking pictures, but I felt we needed to move on. We were no longer invisible, as if we ever really were. Just last week we were watching a TV show where an idiot tourist who got way too close was suddenly launched by a bull into the air. Even though we were safely away from this fellow, I kept thinking of that video, and how quickly a calm and serene animal became agitated with tragic consequences. Once you cross a line, many times it's too late to get back to safety.

We drove back to Gardiner and as we passed through town, Lori spots a bull elk in someone's backyard. He is down along the Yellowstone river at some distance from us. I get out with my camera and walk across the bridge that spans the river, trying to get to a point where he isn't hidden behind a bush. But about the time I get across the river and line him up for the shot, he moves around to the other side of the bush. We move on, only to find another bull laying in the front yard of another house, behind a small picket fence. Strange I think. Lori is driving now, and pulls over on the street right next to him. I roll my window down, and snap his picture. His antlers are a giant rack probably 5 or 6 feet in diameter. He is napping, but slowly opens his eyes, and looks into mine. I calmly smile and nod to him, while urging my driver to move on down the road!

On the way out of Gardiner it is nearly dusk. The wind is blowing snow across the highway, making icy spots, and white-outs at times. About 10 miles from Gardiner we seee a herd of elk, probably 200 in number. They are in a hay field adjacent to the highway, just feeding, and standing around. I've seen deer bunch up, but never like this. This herd was more like a herd of bison, or cattle. They stand as tall as small horses. Only 5 miles further down the road we find a second herd, just as large as the first.

It was a fun day.

I hope they like our house

2008-01-17T15:59:00.001-07:00

We sold the house last Friday. That's a relief, especially since it is located over 1000 miles from here. I hope the new owners appreciate all the sweat and work that went into that place. I know it's only a house, and that with another commitment we can build it again. But it was our first home that was ours from the beginning, from the base plan we chose at WardCraft in Clay Center, to the modifications to the blueprints, adding another 2 feet in length, then another, swapping the upstairs bedrooms, choosing the arch shaped windows, lining up the all subcontractors starting with 'Dry-hole' Haldeman, followed soon by Terry, and his 70 some year-old dad Marvin who did the foundation work, to Lyle, to Darrin, to Luther. We certainly poured some money into the local economy.

The day it was being delivered, we were finishing up final construction of the walk-out basement wall, and the folks at Wardcraft were supposed to call us so we could videotape the house traveling down the road. They called, but they didn't give us enough lead time for us to get pictures of it coming across the big bridge. Just west of Olsburg as I raced to intercept them I found the big land ship cruising down the 2-lane highway, lights flashing from the lead and trailing cars. I pulled to the side and flipped a U-turn to follow. The house was 28 feet wide, pretty much covering the width of the highway. Oncoming traffic, of which there was little, had to pull clear off the road onto the shoulder to let her pass. The ship slowed down to go through Olsburg, creeping under a couple of low hanging wires that dragged across the truncated, rubber covered roof. But then east of town they were back up to full speed, going 50 mph with the lead and trailing cars swinging wildly from one side of the highway to the other, looking for obstacles to avoid and radioing the house hauler so he could avoid hitting anything that could have caused damage.

They didn't come down the gravel road to our property but chose a more direct route across the neighbor's pasture, requiring a crossing of several barbed-wire fences. We pulled a couple of posts, and then stood on the wires, as the 18 wheeled house carrier floated across. They pulled up to our finished basement, laid out steel beams on hydraulically operated lifts, hooked on a cable and wenched the house onto the beams above the foundation. With the hydraulic jacks, they could lift the house with ease, and within about two and a half hours, the house was bolted onto the foundation, and the crew was packed up and gone. Lori and I sat down in our new house and listened to the silence.

None of this is apparent now as these new owners have moved in. The yard has been landscaped, the basement was finished as a family room, bedroom, office, laundry room and bathroom. In my mind's eye I can see it all coming together again. The final thing I constructed was an oak tread staircase, replacing the ugly painted one the WardCraft finishing crew had built during the first week after the house arrived. It completed the dream making it almost exactly like we imagined in 2000 when we started.

Like I said before, I hope they like our house half as much as we did.

a week on the road

2008-01-09T23:43:00.001-07:00

I've been on the road all week, traveling around this beautiful state of Montana. Today I was in Bozeman, and then traveled to Great Falls for meetings tomorrow morning. So I left about 5 pm, headed west to Three Forks, and then turned north toward the capital Helena. This was my second time to travel this route, and both times I get this odd, nearly reverent feeling as I follow the route of the greatest river in this country, from its birth to the city of five falls where Lewis and Clarke had such difficult portages.

The river quickly grows large. Within about 15 miles of Three Forks it flows wide enough and deep enough to support boat traffic. From Helena to Great Falls, the river and the highway wind alternately through canyons and the Belt mountains. It was dark tonight when I got to that stretch, but dark shadows of mountains loomed just beyond the beams of my headlights, with winding curves that make you kick off the cruise, and slow down to keep it on the road.

As I passed the exit for Ulm Pishkun, I couldn't help but think that dodging deer on the highway is nothing as compared to what the drive would have been if the U.S. government hadn't slaughtered all the buffalo. Imagine trying to slip through a herd of several thousand buffalo as they streamed across the Interstate. I don't suppose it would have developed in the same way if the buffalo were still here and the Blackfeet were still pushing these large beasts toward the cliffs at Ulm.

One more day of schools, and I'm headed back to Billings. It's been a good week.

nano de kent

2007-12-27T16:34:00.000-07:00

For Christmas my kids gave me a nano ipod. It’s pretty cool. I wasn’t sure I wanted one, it seemed sort of exorbitant, especially the full monty types, the 30 gig, and this year’s ridiculously large 70 gig model. I mean how many songs does one really need at one’s fingertips? My answer to that, after just 2 days of playing with this thing, is “All of them.” It has no moving parts, easy menu navigation, and database control. It even has games. One can load podcasts, so I immediately subscribed to A Prairie Home Companion, and Selected Shorts, as well as the New Yorker’s Fiction, all of which are free.

My son has somehow obtained almost the entire Beatles collection, which is now on ‘da blade de kent’. Did I forget to mention you get to name your ipod? And being so slim and sleek, razor like, I named it da blade. But then I thought that couldn’t be too original, so I tacked on de kent to make sure.

I’ve worked the last couple of days. I’m trying to get some presentations put together for the first and second weeks of January. But I’m quickly running out of steam. The inspiration is somewhat lacking, although I did make good progress today. Tomorrow we are going to take the day and head to the mountains. Red Lodge to be exact. It’s the closest ski resort, and it’s time for our familial indoctrination into the world of snow sports. At least it’s time for the kids. Lori and I may just hole up in the lodge and watch the action from the comfort of a lounge chair, hot coffee or chocolate, and a good book.

I think I’ll take my nano.

Love Stinks

2007-12-20T09:10:00.001-07:00

I don't know exactly how to say this, so I'm just going to say it.

My son has a problem with relationships, with girls especially. And I keep thinking it must be our fault in some way. Something we did or didn't do in his upbringing has caused him to use an all or nothing approach for finding a companion. In a perfect world, if there were such a thing, there would be no good and bad, no penalty for failures, no giant rewards for success, just a loving all encompassing embrace from life – a sort-of giant world-wide group hug.

But the world isn't perfect, far from it. And that probably wouldn't work anyway, and would in the end be somewhat unrewarding, and unsatisfying.

I once had a girlfriend similar to the girlfriend he currently has. And she let me twist in the wind, on and off, for several years, across more than one of her marriages. Apparently I'm a bit slow on the uptake. But at the time, I really thought she was the one for me. She was beautiful, she was fun, she was sexy, and she was in constant need of support. That was the part I didn't understand until later, the support part. I thought it was great that I could be the one supporting her. I felt charged, strong, a sort of superhero. I was the one who always came in to save the day when her world came crashing down (again) (and again).

What I didn't realize, was that I was never really the one she wanted. I thought I was. She had a need to be needed. And for a long time I confused that with love. Love is more than need. Love is more than desire. Love is truly a commitment, a conscious choice, an equal opportunity devotion, that to be successful, must be felt by both partners. When that happens, then there is something to hold on to.

At some point everyone has to ask themselves the same questions. Is this person someone that I respect? Will they be there for me when I'm not at my best? Will they be the other set of wheels on this life cart that will roll on through thick and thin, rain or shine, good times and bad? It's sort of like those vows you take during the wedding ceremony. Have you ever listened to those words? They pretty much sum of the gist of marriage.

So, how does one get to this life changing realization? I think it's sort of like the route to Carnegie Hall. Practice, practice, practice. If you've never been in a bad relationship, you probably have difficulty recognizing a good one. If you never ever have been dumped on by someone, you probably haven't developed the heart scars that tell you when you are being taken for a ride. In order to get to the top of the mountain, you will have to live though several failed attempts. Otherwise you won't truly appreciate the view from the summit. And that's why love stinks.

Getting ready for the holidays

2007-12-11T09:57:00.001-07:00

I wrote the Christmas letter, and yesterday Lori and I got all the cards written and addressed, so it should go out today. It's funny how the list grows over time. I can go through our old address book and get 90% of them, leaving out some that I no longer correspond with. This year, we had several people back in Kansas that we wanted to share this with, but we didn't have a phone book from there. So it was off to google to find a white pages website. You know, I'm not sure how we did all of this stuff before there was an internet. I think, it was much more of an effort, and it took a lot more planning. Now I can wait till nearly the last minute, and still find the information I need, if I have access to the internet. Without access, I sometimes feel like I don't know anything. I suppose it becomes a crutch.

There were 40 cards this year. And since hardly anyone knows our new address, without sending cards, we likely won't receive very many. This is on top of the fact that I hadn't sent a letter or Christmas cards out for the last 2 years. I know we've been dropped from several people's lists. It was a long 2 years, an extended drought.

Yesterday, power was out here at the station. They were doing maintenance on the electrical grid, so it became a perfect day to actually do the Christmas cards. Lori and I took our stack and headed downtown to a coffee shop. Ordered a piece of coffee cake, two forks, a holiday coffee, and a hot chocolate, and went to work at a small table. I had printed off addresses on some holiday labels, so the game became one of who gets to write to whom. Grab an address label, and you suddenly were responsible for that particular card. Of course the family stuff is easy to divide, although there have been many years where I was the one writing to both sides. It was the friend's list that became the one of pick-and-choose.

It was a nice day, a weekday where I wasn't at work. It's a bit slower at the coffee shop, and for lunch we even had soup and salad at Olive Garden. It was quite relaxing with little time waiting for an open table.

The kids come home on Saturday. Their first semester at "The U" will be complete. They are far enough away, that they haven't been back but twice through the semester, and one of those was for Thanksgiving. But with them together at the same school, they get some family-time away from us. In fact, I know the boy was scheduling such a time early on this fall. I'm not sure if they've stuck to that weekly routine all semester or not. But they'll be home now in just a few days, and I'm looking forward to some time with each of them.

First Snow

2007-11-20T15:56:00.000-07:00

For you Amber! We got 6 or 7 inches. Apparently Missoula got more. It's wet, and the doggies aren't so sure they want to step into it!

Thanksgiving is almost upon us. I hope everyone has a great day with their families. Our two come home tonight, and are bringing a third one just for fun!

It’s late November

2007-11-16T13:50:00.001-07:00

I like it that the new Word has a template for 'blog post'. It isn't all that different from what was before, with the blogger upload tool. But having it integrated into Word makes blogging seem a bit more universal to me, even though I already thought it was.

I have been traveling this past week. I was in Bozeman last Friday, then in Wolf Point Tuesday, and Circle on Wednesday. The grand space of Montana is very grand. I find myself enjoying the beauty of this state even in those areas to the east, like Circle, and Forsyth, which have very few residents, with even less civilization in the countryside between those small towns, as much as I do the mountains you find to the south and west. Radio reception is pretty sketchy, but I enjoy traveling without that additional noise just fine. Mostly I prefer silence, and the hum of the engine, to the re-run tunes and chatter of some mindless DJ.

Update on the financial front: We've got a contract on the house. They have an escape clause, the sale of their own residence in North Carolina, but I believe we did ok if everything goes as planned. We're almost at a point where we can start looking for a new place. But that is just so depressing. Realtors are universally optimistic, and operate almost like car dealers. Maybe they go to the same salesmanship schools. "What can we do so that you can drive this car (buy this house) home today? Let me talk to my manager." Of course the so called manager is none other than an alternate salesman who currently isn't busy trying to scam some other hapless customer. Maybe I'm a bit burned out on such things????

I think maybe we'll look for a piece of land, one with enough acres for a future home for our two dogs, two horses, and two humans. The other two humans of this family have pretty much flown the coup. I said a two bedroom house is plenty big for me. But the wife says maybe we should have three. Whatever the result, I'm working on a minimalist approach with more outdoor space than inside possessions. And it needs to be solar or geo-thermally friendly. Energy prices are never going to go drop. Our house that just went under contract was all electric, with a geo-thermal heat pump. It was nice to get energy bills that didn't make you run for the credit cards, or make you turn the thermostat down to just safely above freezing in winter or just below heat stroke in summer. Currently we are in an old farm house with a fuel oil furnace. And we're in Montana, with rumors of overnight temperatures that hover around -40 or -60F. So far we haven't seen anything near that. But the fuel oil tank tends to drop anyway.

Next week is Thanksgiving. The kids will be here Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm looking forward to having them home.

Quick Trip West (and back)

2007-11-05T15:36:00.001-07:00

Time for a post. We spent the weekend in Missoula. The kids have adapted quite well there. Caity seemingly knows everyone within eyesight (which is not surprising!) and Jas seems to be comfortably numb, if only because of gf problems. The town seems to fit them both quite nicely.

We didn't do a whole lot. Arrived in time to see the Huskers get rolled by KU, and took our (now 3) kids to lunch and supper. A third kid you ask? Well Caity's roommate has now been adopted, adding a third dimension to the family, albeit a rather loud dimension; But a good kind of loud. We all prefer this kind of roommate to the other kind, (the one that lurks in the shadows with a raised fist and blade!)

A cold front was supposed to move through on Sunday, but it remained warm and nice for the entire day. We ended up hiking up a short distance into the Rattlesnake, where it was pointed out to me that nearly every hiking couple possessed a small child and dog. Maybe they were issued them at the park entrance, and we just happened to miss the registration table. This place, nearly unspoiled, is only a 5 or 10 minute drive from town. Next time we are bringing some actual hiking shoes and water bottles.

I learned what a western Larch looks like: a deciduous coniferous, it that's possible! I thought maybe I was seeing aspen as I was driving in Saturday morning. But after finding out they were Larch, I realized that Missoula's elevation wasn't high enough for aspen. In fact Missoula is even lower than Billings. Remember they're on the other side of the divide if you're having difficulty justifying that fact.

We did find the cold front on our way home. We stopped in Butte for supper Sunday evening, and it was fairly cold there. Of course Butte is probably 2000 feet higher than Missoula. Still the wind was out of the NW, and as we passed through Billings and on east toward Huntley, snowflakes started flying into our headlights and harmlessly pelleting the windshield. But this morning there was no indication that any of that happened at all. Maybe the back-to-back 5 hour drives were playing tricks with my eyes. This morning the air was brisk, and the sky was cloudy, but no white stuff was in sight.

It's November. I expect we will see winter before the month has passed.

Frustrations

2007-10-22T13:50:00.001-06:00

Well, I've been somewhat underwhelmed at the response I've gotten on my new web based variety selection page. Not here, I didn't expect much here. But I emailed a note to people at all the research centers and I've heard back from exactly 1 of them. Either I missed the boat on this, or these folks really don't care about extending their results to the public. I've been in this system (and others just like it) since at least 1999, and one could argue, since 1986 when I went on for my M.S., and one thing remains the same, everyone is most concerned about their own legacy, and the rest is just fluff. The attitude seems to be 'if the additional work will benefit me, (and it wasn't my idea) well then maybe I'll pitch in and help, if I find the time, when I get around to it, eventually, if you harass me enough' yada yada yada. Nothing about 'for the good of the cause' or 'one for all and all for one' or even 'let's do it because it's the right thing to do'.

But that's been my mantra all along. I don't care who gets the credit as long as the things I do make it easier, better, or more profitable for the folks (the farmers) for whom I work. Of course this also led to my not getting tenured at KSU. (Those that I worked for weren't the ones voting on my tenure package). But it goes against my grain to brag about what I can do, or how good or important I am. If my actions don't prove that, then so be it. That always makes it an uphill battle, but that's a battle worth fighting.

I've spent two months building something that some of my peers don't seem to appreciate. It's not that the project is done, but the potential to showcase our results with this is apparent. It surprises me and makes me angry that few can see it. Maybe I've not done a good job of selling it. I never was much of a salesman. Or the audience I'm trying to sell this to doesn't see the internet as a source of university information.

I know the consultants and the chemical reps want this. They've told me so. I even heard through the grapevine that North Dakota is currently building a similar system, after much prodding by the farmers that advise them. So I'm actually ahead of the 8-ball here. I just need to keep pushing.

Variety Trials

2007-10-10T16:34:00.001-06:00

You probably think I dropped off the edge of the world. If only that were true. In fact, I've been alternately staring at and editing on my computer to try and get a little project up and running. If you click on this link you will find yourself on the front page of a site that will eventually contain all of the variety testing data performed here at MSU. To do this, I've had to learn how to program in php and use the mysql database, two pieces of software that I was totally unaware of until I got here. The superintendent at this station recommended using them (as they are free-ware) and he gave me a couple of books and told me to get started. So we loaded the software on the server here at the station, and started playing around with little demonstration pages. I think the first one I built was 'Bob's Auto Parts': A page where the user would enter the numbers of tires, sparkplugs, and quarts of oil to buy. Upon hitting the send button, a page displaying the purchases, the prices, and a nice little total box would appear.

That was a start. But within a week or so, our server, which was approaching 10 years of age, suddenly crashed. I don't know if it was because of me, or because we didn't actually have any tires, or sparkplugs to sell, and the guilt that it created in the server's RAM was too much for it. She was dead.

About two weeks later, we had a new computer in place, and we started rebuilding, modernizing, and reloading all that was once there, and more. It took probably another week or so to get the php and mysql to play nicely with Windows Server 2003. And add a couple more weeks of me bashing my head against the wall building queries, and while loops, and selection boxes, not to mention individual datasets, and learning how to enter null values, etc. etc. etc.

Then last Friday, I was on the verge of a breakthrough. Saturday I ran back over here to test my Friday night thoughts, and suddenly things started to click. Monday I had made another breakthrough, and then last night I finally rebuilt the dataset (for the 3^rd , or was it 4^th? time), and this morning it worked!

This afternoon, I expanded the initial success of displaying yields to setting a variable that allows you the user to choose from three different yield parameters.

This is a work in progress, so it isn't going to end anytime soon. But with what is working now, and with the ideas I've had all along, I can see this expanding to all crops (not just winter wheat as it is now), choosing not just locations, but crop characteristics, like disease and insect resistance. I've already found a dataset of zipcodes with lat long coordinates, and I've worked out the math to compute distances between these points, so another routine I want to build is one that shows all results within X distance of my home (my zipcode). It will happen.

So, to get back to the beginning of this post. I've been busy people. Sorry for the absence. I'm sure it won't be the last time. But it does feel good to be typing a post here again. If I can just keep this feeling for awhile now.

Labor Day Weekend

2007-09-12T15:46:00.001-06:00

I've spent the past hour or so reworking my desk. The pull out keyboard has a lever to raise and lower the tray. It had come loose, and I had stuffed it in behind the tray. Since I rarely use it, this seemed to work just fine. But today when I tried to shove the keyboard back under the desk so I could do some reading, it hung up on this tangled mess, so I decided it was time to fix it properly.

While I was at it, I traded out my new keyboard for one of those old 'ergonomically' bent ones that Microsoft used to sell. I haven't seen them in years, but when Ken was cleaning up computer equipment earlier this spring, I snagged one that was going to the computer graveyard, and stored it on a shelf. So I made the switch today as I finished remounting the cables and tray under my desk. I'm almost back to where I wanted to be 4 months ago.

Here's the scoop on our official move. We made the last trip over the Labor Day weekend. Our old 88 Chevy pickup made it to and from Kansas, hauling a trailer with 2 horses and a riding lawnmower aboard. The long grades in Wyoming were just about more than she could handle. I found myself driving in 2^nd gear at 35 mph at the tops of those grades between Cheyenne and Casper. Downhill was not a problem, nor pulling on flat ground. So at Casper I called Steve who was here at the office to ask his opinion about us traveling east from Casper and then going through Thermopolis and the north-central Wyoming irrigation district as an alternate, flatter route. After a little bit of thought, he said he thought it would be a good choice, given our limitations. "Although you'll have to pass through the Wind River Canyon to get to Thermopolis", he added. "It's an awesome drive!"

And it was. Luckily for us traveling from south to north, it was all downhill. I think I could have killed the engine and just coasted for most of the way between Shoshone and Thermopolis. After that it was fairly level ground most of the way back to Billings. We had one other pass to make, and again it slowed us down to 2^nd gear, but at least we made it. That may be the final big trip our old truck has in her.

We took the dogs back with us rather than send them to doggie prison again. I built a side by side crate that sits in the front of the bed. They travel well. All the leash work they've had since moving here early last summer has made them quite fun to haul. Zip is always ready to get back in the truck, as he definitely doesn't want to be left behind. Tilly, on the other hand, is just happy to be going everywhere Zip is going. And when it comes to getting back in the truck, she puts her front feet up on the tailgate, and it's my responsibility to lift her backend up into the bed. Then they both happily get in their boxes, and we shut the doors and are off.

Rather than always use the "Pet Area" at the roadside stops, we tended to find an off ramp and drive a short distance to find a pasture, or grain field, to let them run. They are farm dogs for the most part anyway, and this way they can just run free and do their duties.

On the way back we spent a night at the horse pens at Cabella's in Sidney, Nebraska. The original plan was for me to stay with the horses while Lori would find a motel. Then in the morning we could switch and I could get a shower before starting our 2^nd day on the road. But by the time we got into Sidney, the sun was set, and there were just 3 pens left. We took the largest one, and got the horses moved in and acquainted with their new neighborly mules. There were a couple of horses there as well, but most of the stock were mules. These were likely headed to the mountains as packers for elk season.

The motels were all full, so rather than a comfy night, Lori got the pleasure of my company. We set up our tent, rolled in our futon mattress that just happened to be stashed in the front of the trailer, and settled in for the night.

We left the rainfly off to let the breezes in. But about midnight, Lori spotted lightening off to the southwest. We jumped up, and quickly put on the rainfly as the rain started to come down. Then we were back inside, zipped up the doors just as the wind started to whip. It was a bit exciting wondering if the tent was going to remain in one piece AND keep us dry. It did – mostly. The rain kept on until about 2:30 or 3:00. At about that time, some cowboys showed up to load their mules. At one point, I remember seeing a colt just wandering around loose. I was hoping he wouldn't decide to run through our tent as an escape route. He didn't, and they soon left. Another group was there somewhere around 5:00, and we finally gave up and got up around 6:00. Not a lot of sleep. But it was better than not sleeping at all.

Like I said, we made it back the next night by midnight. Nothing was broken, and nothing lost. So all in all it was a good trip.

We are done with Kansas. The house hasn't sold yet, but we no longer have anything left there to bring here. We'll probably make it back for a visit or two, but our moving days on this 1000 mile road are done. Hopefully the next move will just be over the hill or around the corner. For now, we are settling in here at the station.

Medicine Wheel

2007-08-28T16:24:00.000-06:00

A trip into the Big Horn mountains this weekend brought us to this site. I may have broken some religious code by taking pictures, but I wasn't intent on stealing anyone's soul, just recording a reverent look at the many gifts to the gods. At 10,000 feet, the wind was strong, the air clear, and the colors stark against the brown grass and white washed stones. For a few weeks each year, this place is closed to public access, and the Indians have it to themselves. The free literature said, this site was at least 800 years old, and no one knows exactly why it was built, or for what it really signifies. But being a wheel, 80 feet in diameter, with 28 spokes, it obviously meant something to someone.

When we arrived, there was only one other couple present. Two young women, one who seemed quite interested, and followed us clockwise around the wheel, the other patiently waiting. We circled once, and then a second time taking a few pictures. As we finished, another couple had arrived, and the lady asked if I would take their picture. To which her partner quickly said "No!" I think he was a bit more in awe of the place than her. We quietly left, and looking back over my shoulder, I saw him throwing his arms to the sky, turning slowly to face each direction. As we walked back down the trail Lori referred to him as 'Mister Grumpy'. I said, I think maybe his partner might not be his partner for much longer after that mistake! Obviously she didn't know him as well as he thought she should. Or something like that!

Best Runzas Ever

2007-08-06T16:35:00.001-06:00

I'm not kidding. The filling may change, but this is the dough you want if you're wanting to make runzas. My wife said I shouldn't post this here. It's not exactly a family recipe, but it does come from her Grandma's hometown cookbook, which hasn't been in print for years. But it seems that the most hits I get for my website (and this is so sad to have to admit...) is for runzas. So I feel it is my duty to you the reader to share this recipe with you. If you're searching for runza, runzas, or as the folks in NE Kansas call them, "bierocs", whatever you call them, the best one you'll ever have will be in Lincoln at Memorial Stadium, when the wind is out of the north, and the snow is thinking about flying. The little runza guy will come along, and you'll fork over whatever he's asking, just for some good German, Czech, I'm not sure what nationality claims them, Hungarian? Bohemian runzas!!!!! This recipe is the next best thing to being there! Oh, and Go Big Red!

DOUGH:

2 cups warm water

2 pkgs active dry yeast

0.5 cup sugar

1.5 tsp salt

1 egg

0.25 cup oleo (melted & cooled)

6.5 cup flour

FILLING:

1.5 lbs groud beef

0.5 cup chopped onion

3 cups shredded cabbage

0.5 cup water

1.5 tsp salt

0.5 tsp pepper

Dash of Tobasco (if desired)

Preheat oven 350F

For dough, mix water, yeast, sugar and salt. Stir until dissolved. Add egg and melted margarine. Stir in flour. Place in refrigerator 4 hours. Then roll dough into oblong shape and cut into 16 squares. For filling, brown ground beef and onion. Drain off excess grease. Add cabbage, seasonings and water. Simmer 15 to 20 minutes. Cool completely, then divide mixture among the 16 squares of dough, putting it in center. Pull the four sides up and press edges together. Place on greased jelly roll pan, let rise for 15 minutes before baking 20 minutes. Makes 16 squares.

How about we split the difference?

2007-07-31T09:53:00.001-06:00

I'm waiting on a phone call. We got an offer for our house, and so now we are in the middle of negotiations. This is not one of my strengths! I hate bartering. I used to like going to swap meets in the South, just to see all the different junk for sale. And it was usually junk. Negotiating a price always struck me as wrong. They have a price listed, so I either take it or move on. But sometimes, the seller wants to negotiate. In fact, in some cultures, It's almost an insult if you don't make an offer. But to me, it always seemed like I was insulting them by offering something less than what they were asking.

Not that I expected that our house would sell for the asking price. It seems it always comes down to offers and counteroffers, and then some sort of compromise in the middle. The problem is, in my mind I set a solid, fair price when we first put it on the market. And realtors never want you to bump that price up so that you have some bartering room. Even though everyone knows in the end it will come down to some negotiations.

So what is fair? Should the first offer that someone makes be countered with a sizable drop in our asking price? Like my realtor said last night, we need to be careful not to insult them with our response. I'm not entirely sure what that means. I mean as far as numbers go, I don't know what it means. Their offer was 92% of our asking price. Maybe I should counter with an equal response. I could drop it 8% of the difference between what we want and what they are offering. That seems a bit trivial. And I don't "want to insult them!" I also don't want to just give it away. We've already dropped our price several times from when we first listed the house.

And to be honest, we haven't actually been inundated with offers. This is actually the first. It would be nice to be done with this, and even if we took their offer without a counter, we end up making a nice profit over the course of the last 6 years. It's just that in the next few months to a year, we will be digging ourselves a new financial hole with the next mortgage for our next home.

Sure wish Tom would call, so I could talk with him about this.

I’m a ramblin man

2007-07-24T21:51:00.001-06:00

The clock never stops, and the calendar days keep flying by. It seems like there's a ghost with his fingers on my daily desktop calendar, generating a small breeze with the flipping of paper. Or maybe it's just Jimmy Buffet singing about making another trip around the sun. In any case, time is a continuum, and I am continuing to exist. Even if I haven't been blogging.

The family arrived few weeks ago, two of three anyway. And my blogging went down the drain. But they left yesterday, headed back to pick up some of the leftovers, and I find myself again with time (and desire) to blog. Is that what is driving me? Loneliness? Maybe. That wasn't what started me here. I don't think. I started writing as a way to improve my writing skills. My hope has always been to write something worthy, something entertaining to others. But I think I got sidetracked.

About one year ago I was just getting settled in at a job in Georgia, and now I find myself 2000 miles from there, in another job, trying to find my way. Actually, doing these jobs back to back, makes it apparent that either one could have worked out fine. It's just about having a choice. Or maybe better, making a choice. I think I made the right choice for now. The jobs are mostly the same, it's just the subject matter is entirely different. As are the locations. Georgia is ok. It's hot and humid in the summer, wet in the winter. There are entirely too many people living there, yet most everyone I met I liked. Religion is huge in the South. Maybe it's changing, but they are way more religious than where I grew up. They wear it on their sleeve like a badge. And not belonging to any denomination myself, I always felt a bit uncomfortable there.

Here it's a little different. Not that everyone is a heathen here, I'm sure they aren't, or at least most aren't. But I don't get that smothering feeling of religion here. We aren't breaking out in prayers at educational meetings! At least not yet. Here there seems to be a casino on every corner. One can buy beer and liquor on Sunday, and I haven't found a town yet that doesn't have a bar. It seems the first thing they build here is the bar, then maybe the post office. In the south, most likely a church would be the first building.

In all truthfulness, even though I don't go to church, I'm a fairly honest and fair-minded man. The religious nuts don't have a lock on right and wrong. And anyone that leads a church and starts to gain that power over other people I find hard to trust. They are human just like me. And I know what goes through my mind. I'm not a saint, and neither is most everyone I meet. I prefer it that way.

So, a post you wanted, and a post you now get.

the beartooth mountains

2007-07-09T08:36:00.000-06:00

We took a trip into the Beartooth Mountains yesterday. They straddle the Wyoming, Montana border, they were just amazing. The drive up from Red Lodge consists of a series of switchbacks, maximum speed of 25 mph, and once you end up on top, above the tree line, you are on a grass and wildflower alpine meadow.

Some scenes were like things out of Mordor, while others made me want to spread my arms and twirl around singing, "The hills are alive with the sound of music.." Lori would have like to see that! We took the doggies with us, which was exciting for them, and for us! The last few times they have had to go for a trip in the car, it was to doggie prison, otherwise known as 'The Kennel'. But like always they jumped in, ready to go, not really wanting us to leave without them. By the end of the day though, Zip was not willing to even leave the car.

We decided Tilly is a 'cup half full' kind of dog, while Zip is the 'cup half empty' type. Everytime I would let up off the gas, or step on the brake, Tilly was up in the back of the car, looking to see where we were next stopping. About half-way through the day, Zip had figured out that not every braking moment meant there was another excursion to be experienced, or to be endured. They had some good times though. We let them run loose at one of the lakes. Tilly went for a swim, while Zip found several smelly things to roll in. We got caught in a rainstorm, and huddled under some pine trees waiting for a break so we could get back to the car. Next time we head up there, we will pack some warmer clothes, and maybe a rain jacket. At 11,000 feet, the temperature is not all that warm! Shorts were ok, but a flannel shirt would have been nice.

Warm River, Idaho

2007-07-07T12:07:00.000-06:00

Thought I'd share a scene from yesterday, one of the hottest on record in the West. It was cool here though! The next stop was West Yellowstone.

Working on the 4th

2007-07-04T09:11:00.001-06:00

I haven't been much of a blogger as of late. I'm not sure why. I think the busyness of summer distracts me from coming here. And it's not because of not having access to a computer, I'm here most days.

The moving van came last Monday, and stuffed this little house with all of our boxes and furniture. The next day we all left for the western half of the state; me for a meeting with my department, Caity for her freshman indoctrination week at 'The U'. She seemed to have a good time. She met a couple of girls that live within a few miles of where we are living, so she made some friends to hang out with. In fact when we got back she went out to a bonfire party with them this weekend. I know she gets a bit bored with just the two of us, so it's good she made some contacts here.

It's the 4^th! Happy Independence day everyone! And I'm at work. I decided to work today in exchange for taking off Friday. Caity flies to LA for a week-long conference and we decided to drive her to the airport. A roundtrip ticket from Billings was going to be over $500, so we searched and found one out of Salt Lake for $170. The trick is it's 550 miles to Salt Lake. Basically we drive around the north and western borders of Wyoming, and we will end up at Salt Lake City. It's not like we are afraid of driving! We took our Outback in to get the air conditioning fixed, and when we came to pick it up, the guy asked, "Do you live in this car or what?" It has over 250K miles on it, and it's only a 2000. Really we haven't had too many problems with it. It seems to just go and go. It is a Subaru.

So the AC is working again, which will make the trip much more pleasant. It's supposed to be near 100F down there, as well as here by the weekend. This country has its share of extremes I believe. We haven't experienced the winters yet, but the heat of the summer may make us wish for some snow.

Well, that's about it for today. Please don't blast a finger off with any stupid fireworks. I never was much of a fan. The smell of gunpowder always gives me a headache.

The Arrival

2007-06-20T08:44:00.001-06:00

Early Monday morning, about 4:30 early, two dogs and two humans arrived at my door. They had left home at 7:30 the previous morning, headed to the great northwest, driving without air conditioning. The trip is a thousand miles no matter which route you take. At about 11:00 pm I had talked with them for the last time by cell phone, and they were only a couple hours away. I said, "Maybe I'll just stay up, you should be here by 1:30." But Lori said they might stop again and rest, let the dogs out to pee. "So don't wait up, we're not sure when we'll be there."

I woke up at 3:00 and called them again. "Where are you?"

"About 10 miles from Hardin," she replied. That's about an hour away. It's the first place south of Billings that you come to. It's at the edge of the Crow Indian reservation. "We're going to stop for a bathroom break. I hope there's something open."

"Take the second exit, the one further north," I said. There isn't much at the first exit, but there is a truck stop at the other one. "Guess I'll see you in an hour." I closed my eyes just for a second, and when I opened them it was 4:15. All was quiet in the house. I had left the light on in the back, and the door open. I got up, got dressed, and stood around waiting. After awhile, I hear some shuffling at the door, and suddenly I'm getting a hug from my daughter. I breathe and squeeze back.

Lori is outside with Zip and Tilly. About three weeks ago we put up chain link fence all around the backyard. So she releases them, as I come outside. Everyone is safe and out of the car. The dogs come see me wagging their tails and then they search the grass, checking out their new digs. We pull the car around and into the backyard, and leave the tailgate open, so Zip will have a place to sleep. He is a nervous wreck. This wasn't exactly what he had bargained for when he jumped up into the car the morning before. He certainly didn't want to be left, but he also didn't really want to spend 21 hours in a hot, noisy, and cramped car.

By the time Lori and I got the dogs settled, Caity had found her way to her bed and was out. At about 8:00 I got up for work. Looking out the window, I see Zip is sleeping in the back of the car, but Tilly is curled up in the grass. I feed them some dog food, and pet their sleek coats (I'll tell you the sleek coat story another time!), and then head out the gate to work. They're a bit anxious as I leave, but they're ok.

Now it's Wednesday, and things are mostly getting back to normal. The moving van is supposed to be getting on the road today. Maybe we'll have furniture by the end of the week.

conduit bending 101

2007-06-11T10:29:00.001-06:00

I spent the weekend bending conduit, and pulling wires in my new garage. New to me, the garage I'll bet is 50 or 60 years old, and the wiring that was in it was so brittle and scary looking, that I was glad to find that the lines from the transformer were dangling free in the outside air, to the westside of the building about 15 feet off the ground. So I pulled out the old, put up some new, and will finish connecting all the wires tonight. Once my part is done, we will call the electrical company to finish reconnecting the transformer. I will soon have some electricity in my garage. I think maybe I need to go to 'bending school'. Until Saturday morning, I was a virgin at conduit bending. The first bend is easy. It's the second and third in a line, that get confusing. And where you start a bend, isn't exactly where you end one. In fact for a 90 degree bend, you gain 5 inches from where you start. So you have to keep correcting as you go. I think maybe the best way to evaluate a conduit bender's talent, is to look at the scrap pile of those pieces not used. If it looks like a plate of spaghetti (like mine) then that bender hasn't quite made the grade.

Actually, my scrap pile wasn't all that deep. I sort of found ways to make wrongly bent pieces fit by modifying them with a hacksaw, or twisting and re-bending them against the concrete floor. I discovered that a bend can't be completely reversed, but it can be modified, up to the point where the metal starts to ripple. At that point, you must stop or it only will end up in the scrap heap.

The bending was just the beginning. Pulling the wires through was just about as challenging, especially doing this by myself. I think wire pulling may be best accomplished as a team sport. A puller needs to be on one end, and a facilitator works at the other. Pushing doesn't help, in fact, pushing can lead to disconnections, which then leads to pulling wires back out from where they started. For the first couple of attempts I tried connecting each wire to the 'fishing wire', but that resulted in such a slug at the beginning, that I couldn't even get it started down the pipe. So then I made one wire connect to the 'fish', and I wrapped the rest with electrical tape to that pulling wire. That was better. But I still ended up with only one wire making it to the end of a run. The last modification for me was to twist the first 12 inches or so of wire together around the pulling wire and then tape them. That seemed to work the best, and I made it to the end of the day using that method. I have no idea how the pros actually do it. But this seemed to work best for me. I had one short run, nearest the box that had seven 12 gauge wires in a half inch diameter conduit. Luckily the run was short enough that I could sort of feed the bundle of wires up with my left hand while pulling on the fish with my right.

I only had to climb the ladder a couple of hundred times to get this job done. In the process I have gained a whole new respect for those guys that do this for a living. I suppose having all the tools might also make this not such a challenging job. At any rate, it kept me out of trouble for the weekend, and resulted in some shiny new metal runs in my garage.

Now if only I had my old workbench.

Another 1000 mile trip

2007-06-01T12:22:00.001-06:00

I've been bad, not posting. But I've been busy. Flew back to Kansas for my daughter's graduation party, and then we spent a week packing the garage and a storage room into boxes. I thought maybe a smaller trailer from U-haul (even though I had sworn to never use U-haul again) might save some gas as compared to pulling our 16 foot stock trailer. But 1000 miles later, and 100 gallons of gas vaporized, and my garage in a box has been delivered to Montana. The highest gas price was western Nebraska, $3.69. The cheapest was somewhere in Wyoming $2 something. Thanks Dick Cheney! You're good for something.

My wife and daughter are with me, at least through the weekend. We are still debating on which vehicle will make the trek back to Kansas. And, it's likely it will take a couple more 1000 mile trips to get all the stuff moved up here, even with a moving company doing the heavy lifting. One challenge is to get the two doggies here, along with probably two car loads of fragile items. Dogs and fragile items actually don't mix so well. And these dogs are not house dogs, so maybe before spending a couple of days on the road with them each sitting in a passenger seat, a bath with lot of doggy soap may be a worthwhile investment. Then there is the problem of what to do with them at the half-way point when the humans need a motel room. The last time we moved them, we used the stock trailer, and they had the run of the trailer all night long. But that isn't the likely scenario this time. Lori has an aunt and uncle sort of half-way between here and there, and so that could be an option, although they don't have a fenced yard, and going that way forces the route through South Dakota, and through the Black Hills. At least the view would be different.

Speaking of views, Wyoming was beautiful this last trip through. They have had so much rain, that the hills are green, the native flowers are blooming among the docile looking antelope. And the Big Horn Mountains, off to the west are beautiful with the white snowy covered peaks. I swear that between Manhattan, Kansas and Billings, Montana, that you never really go through a city. Well Cheyenne is a city, but if you don't get off the interstate, you pretty much miss it. And it's not like it is Atlanta, or St. Louis, it's just a little town that has sort of put on that middle age spread. It feels like you are in the country for just about the entire trip, even though 9/10's of it is on interstate.

On my previous trip back to Billings, I ran out of gas about 30 miles north Cheyenne, Wyoming. After only about a one mile hike, I found a little old man working in a yard full of street signs, and obsolete antique farming equipment. He had a 5 gallon can of gas and a worn out Toyota pickup, and some interesting stories that he shared to get me back on my way. His place was a menagerie of geese, emu's, chickens and all these expired license plates mounted on fences and the sides of outbuildings. I told him I had just cleaned my garage and had thrown away a couple of license plates from Hawaii, that I had kept for nearly 25 years, I wished I had kept them just to give to him. His name was Jesse, and he said, "Well next time you come through, just throw one over the fence and I'll add it to my collection." So on this trip through, we pulled into his place, this time with a gas tank that was three-quarter's full. He was gone, back to Tennessee to see relatives, according to his wife, and so we presented her with a bi-centennial license plate from Nebraska that Lori had found when we were boxing up the basement. She said that maybe this one would have to go in with all the special license plates that they kept in their gazebo. We stepped in to the gazebo and saw plates from Canada, Korea, and a really cool bear shaped plate from Saskatchewan. We didn't stay long, but she said we should stop by again sometime, and not just because we were having car trouble or because we might run out of gas. I'm glad we made the effort to stop there. It's efforts like this that help make life so much more than just surviving. It's all about people in the end.

So I'm back. I'll keep posting if you all keep reading!