Oh yeah!!!

You know that's the honest truth. If you don't believe me, just take the time to sit a while, like on a bench at a mall or at walmart and see for your self. It sure does take a lot of strange people to make a world.

There again this will come in handy when you have to interact with some of the denizens at the mall or walmart. Whoopie!! Believe me it will come in handy too.

Or broken bones. If you haven't experienced this , you better thank your lucky stars. It can damn near cause the real big one. Iv'e had a few of the mini's and believe me I thought I would check out for sure.

Well It's a new wonder for Phillip. This was the second day he went to water the garden and didn't find a dead body, eaten plants or a soon to be dead body. Things are looking up. Some fried squash will soon be gracing the table and we have got a few ripe tomatoes that aren't bird picked. Corn will be knee high by the 4th of July but new potatoes won't be. Now the best thing to hope for is RAIN.

Granny

Yeppers!!!

And the big problem is, they happen every day.

That nasty thing looks just like the 2 I killed. Yeh! They will scare the shit out of you when they are looking you in the eye.

No! NO! NOOOO! I just can't today. I'm too busy doing my thing today. What's that?... Welllll, I'll have you know it's darned important that I get it done too. You know!.... My favorite thing.... Well if you just have to know, it's really nothing.

Granny.

Hotter than ever.

That means 101 in the shade, if you can find any that is. We were supposed to get rain earlier this week. The said 50% chance for three days. Hah! Not even a cloud in the sky. Today it is supposed to be clear and lo and behold there is a cloud or 2 out there. Not enough clouds to shade us even. Been months since any rain. The air is so hot and dry that Phillip has had to put up curtains to shade the garden so it don't wilt to the ground. Can't put enough water on it to combat the heat.
Phillip and his poor garden. He caught a bunny under the bird net and beat it into " bolivia". I think he means oblivion but it's still dead for being in there. Darn thing ate most of the second planting of beets that were just coming up. I feel sorry for the critters because it is so hot and dry that there is nothing green for them to eat. Even all the weeds outside the garden are dead.
Even so I 'm not blaming Phillip for not wanting his garden eaten.
Went to the river yesterday. Was nice and cool down there. Wasn't many people came thru the water crossing. Just 2 huge hay trucks while we were there. Phillip watered the potato plant and hilled it up with leaves. So far nothing has bothered it.
Nothing exciting happening so far today. Went to the dump then on into town to pick up a few things. Wanted to get it all done and get back home before it gets too hot.
If it wasn't so hot, I'd take a nap soooo now I guess I will just sit on my duff and play a little game on the puter.
Oh by the way we did look at the tape of my Oregon vacation. Short tape but Phillip was amazed at how good that old video camera you had took the video. Phillip wondered if you still had the camera Jeannine.
Granny

Another Sunday almost gone.

And so we sit around doing my most favorite thing...Nothing!!!

Oh yeh!! we did get a touch of nostalgia... Had to get out the old VCR tapes and go thru some of them. Remember the folks 60th wedding anniversary get together we had at that park out in the valley? Those huge meatballs Margaret made? Weldon setting up his star-gazer so you could see the stars? Cathy who looked like death warmed over holding her grand child? Nikki turning her back to the camera? My Dad and your Dad sitting together on a bench? Then Bill an Cissy came with baby Ame and gave her to Dad and she didn't cry? The Grand kids and Great-Grand kids playing baseball? A lot of these things I had almost forgotten. Its good to look back and try to place all the faces. Fred, Janice and their bunch? Richard was even there with his wife. Had a time or two when I almost didn't know who they all were.

Thanks Jeannine for the video tape. The next tape to watch is the vacation tape where Jeannine and I went to the coast. Remember?

Granny

Boy did I have fun yesterday and the day before.  This weekend is the Sanders County Yard Saleing Event.  Yard/Barn/Garage/Tailgate sales from one end of the county to the other.  They post a printable spreadsheet with information on the various sales, what mm# they are by, the address, time of sale, a brief description of what they have for sale and any helpful notes of how to get there.  They also have a map you can print that is helpful especially for the more remote areas.  I went with my friend (next door neighbor) and we drove in on roads that neither of us have been on before.....talk about some beautiful homes. It is always interesting to see how other people have carved out their little slice of heaven out of these woods.   Didn't buy much though!!  A quilting book, some patterns and some more fabric....like I needed more fabric.  My friend picked up a ceramic or porcelain rooster, a basket, some fabric picture panels, and some weird thing that is metal and looks like a big circle with a hole cut in the middle.  It had a lip on the outside and inside of the ring. Didn't know what that this was....but when she saw it, she quickly grabbed it up.  "What the heck is that thing," I asked her.  I have seen them at thrift store quite frequently........  She told me that you put your pie on it in the oven and if your pie boils over it simply drips into the metal ring.  Huh,,,,,I have always used tin foil!!  It works just as well AND I don't have to scrub off burned pie filling from the tin foil!!  Well, gonna go work on my fish quilt now.....got the queen sized quilt top finished....now onto a standard sized one that will go on a bed downstairs.

Yeppers!!! Friday again.

First day of Summer.

That's how hot it is.
Granny

Greetings from the East Montana?

Hey Dave, since you've been a citizen of Montana longer than anyone else on this blog I have a question for ya.  Is Billings considered east or south central Montana?  I've heard people refer to the Billings both ways.  Anyway, I thought I would drop y'all a digital line to fill ya in on what's going on in this neck of the woods (be it east, southeast, central or whatever part of Montana that we live in).

The following set of pictures is a random collection from our various adventures over the past few weeks.  

Steph and I took a drive over the Beartooth Hwy and stopped for a pic.  I wish I had brought my tripod rather than balance the camera on our picnic blanket. 

The first couple of weekends Steph and I drove around and did some 'auto-exploring' around Billings.  It was fun but at some point you have to park the car and get out and do some walking.  So this past weekend we took a hike up the West Fork of Rock Creek.  It was pretty cushy walking with a level and well maintained trail, but for the first hike of the season maybe it was a good idea not to push it hard and feel like the living dead the next day.

Here is a picture of W. Fk. Rock Creek.

One of the reasons for taking this hike was that there was a couple of waterfalls a short ways off of the trail.  The falls were pretty neat but hard to get a cool picture without the potential of slipping off and doing the 'break-neck' flop on the rocks below.  This was my best attempt at a waterfall picture.

The neatest part of the hike was seeing a young male moose with his mama.  I wish my camera had a better zoom lens.  I could have tried sneaking up closer to get a better shot but after some thought I came up with this calcuation:

(sneaking up close to a mother moose with a youngin') = (cracked ribs and a trampled face)

....sooo I figured this pic would have to suffice.

Today I went out for some fishin' and caught my first fish of the season.  I drove up to West Rosebud Lake and the scenery alone was worth the drive.

Within a few minutes I limited out.  Here's a pic of the first brown I caught.  Not a monster but definitely a keeper.

Good morning.

Smiles!!!

Today was a smiles day. We went to the river early this morning. While it has been so darn hot up here on the bench, it was so nice down by the water.

Funny thing. We had some old potatoes left over from the ones Phillip planted, and not wanting to toss the sprouted things out for the pigs to find and start pestering us again, Phillip took them down to the river to toss them out for the birds. He took one of them and covered it with leaves and watered it just to see if it would grow. Well it did and is taller than the ones here at the house. He watered it again. He wants to see if it gets potatoes on it or if someone or pigs finds it first. Who knows.

I sat there in the chair with my feet in the water and read while Phillip got a bunch of stakes for the garden. He wants to fix it so the netting is off the ground so the snakes can't get caught up in it any more. Lizard got caught but it got out when Phillip lifted the netting. It didn't try to go thru the holes. Snakes and lizard's get a lot of bugs, slugs, caterpillar's and a lot of things out in the garden. Hate to lose them. Too bad the birds don't just eat the bugs.

Saw a snake on the front walk when we got home. Hope he stays in the cactus out in front and not back in the garden. Lots of little snakes with blue sides. Haven't seen any rattlers in the yard yet, but the bull snakes can give you an adrenalin rush because they look a lot like a rattler at first. When Steve was here, he said he saw one out by the shed next to his small camp trailer.

Phillip tried to shoot some quails that were digging up the pickeling cukes to get down to the damp cool dirt. Damn things make holes every where the dirt has been cultivated., but never where there are not plants. He can sit there with the bb gun but they never come when he is watching, only when he get absorbed in woodburning or in the house. He keeps at it we may just have quail pie some day yet.

Granny

We have been busy.......

Yes, I have been busy.  We are going to have some friends visit us coming from Oregon. They will be here on Thursday.  We are gonna take them up to Kootenai Falls.  It is so pretty this time of the year because the water is higher so the falls are really tumbling down through the canyon.  Plus, currently, it is greener in the surrounding area...later in the summer it starts looking brown as far as the landscaping goes.  Anyway, we have been busy "spring cleaning" scrubbing of the deck, washing windows, etc.  While Bruce had the big ladder on the deck to clean the trapezoids windows, we decided to have him bring it in the house to clean the dinig lights/fan, take off the cover to the big flourescent light in the kitchen to clean, put up my hanging rod for my wall hanging quilt and vacuum off the ledge about the laundry room......busy busy busy.

Here are some pics of Kootenai Falls and of my most recent finished quilt. Oh and I thought I would throw in a pic of the ladnscaping work that Bruce has been doing.  Catch ya later.

Wouldn't you know it!!!

Yep !!! It's Monday again.

Granny

Cooking tips for us 'older' cooks!!!

Date: Sunday, June 17, 2012, 2:25 PM Subject:  Cooking tips for us 'older' cooks!!! Subject: Cooking tips for us 'older' cooks!!!           To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.   Buy Smash mashed potato mix. Keeps in the cupboard for up to a year.   When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking tin, use a bit of dry cake mix instead and there won't be any white mess on the outside of the cake.     Go to the bakery! Hell, they'll even decorate it for you!       Wrap celery in aluminium foil when putting in the refrigerator and it will keep for weeks. Celery? Never heard of it!       Cure for headaches: take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away.   Take a lime, mix it with tequila, chill and drink! All your pains go away!   Don't throw out all that leftover wine. Freeze into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces.  Leftover wine???????  HELLO!!!!!! Lastly, if you don't forward this to one of your friends within the next 5 minutes, your belly button will unscrew and your bum will fall off.

It's Sunday !!!

And what a day it was.

Had to clean out the little shed to find all the water cans. Last night just about bed time I found the water was down to a trickle. Phillip went out to see if we had any leaks in the lines or under the house. Found the neighbor doing the same thing. Neighbor went up to the brand new water tank we are paying 6 bucks more a month for and found the gage said it was almost empty.

Water was still at a trickle this morning when Phillip wanted to water the garden so we took the water cans and went to the river to fill them. Garden had to be watered. W e filled what containers we had in the house for cooking while the trickle was going. Filled a couple of buckets for the toilet. Got 35 gallons of water for the garden down at the river. Phillip told the neighbor where to get the water for his garden but he already had a water barrel under the rain spout so he had some to last a couple of days. Found out the pump was down. Was fixed this evening, but we still had to water from the cans. They say tank should filled by morning. I hope so. Pain in the butt to get water from the river for garden but too much money invested to let it die. We finally got some tomatoes after we got the netting. Also got a pepper this morning.

Granny.

Yeppers!!!

HO HUM !!

And rightly so. Ever wonder when you get up in the morning, if it might be an exciting day? Most of the time it is a ho hum kinda day. At least it can be around here. Had to take the trash to the dump. Exciting? Not really. No earth shattering adventure that. But wait, we did see a dead skunk in the middle of the road and what a stinker he was. Could smell him even when we were a half mile away. Didn't stop a vulture who was picking the carcass to bits. I can just see it now. Vulture flies home with his prize smelly pieces of skunk in his gullet to regurgitate for the youngsters. Mrs vulture meets him at nest side and says" whoa there mister. My god you have been scavenging skunk from the roads again." The kiddies start to bob and sing out," Pee--ewe, Dad's been eating skunk again". Mrs skunk says "don't you dare give that filth to the kids." Now the kids start to bobbing again singing" there's a dead skunk in the middle of the road, there's a dead skunk in the middle of the road, there's a dead skunk in the middle of the road, stinking to high heaven. Mrs vulture tells him " please go and disgorge that skunk somewhere else and don't come back til the smell is gone. The kids start to bob again and open their mouths to sing but Mrs vulture says's " don't you dare sing Bye Bye Black bird." Can't you see how exciting that might have been? You can can't you? Well ...nevermind.
Phillip came in for lunch and told me some "exciting" news. another snake has gotten in the netting again. I don't know if we will run out of snakes in the garden or netting first. Sheee-it.
What the hell...It's a great life if you don't weaken. Right?
Granny.

That's my story an i'm stickin to it.

Monday......Again?

Granny

Another Sunday rolls around.

Now here's an idea for a fancy cake decorating. Looks like the real thing. It would be hard to tell from a distance if the cakes were not cut. I like!

What's all this hull-a-ba-loo I hear from Idaho about a Vodka called Five Wives. Seems the good Mormons in the state are offended by the label? Now I have to ask," what in the devil are the good Mormons doing in a liquor store anyway"? Beats the hell out of me! Oh well, to each his own vices.
Still hot as blazes down here. The news keeps telling us to be prepared for the monsoons. What monsoons? When? Aha!...I'll believe em when I sees em. Until then, It's the river we go.

Phillip came in from watering the garden today and told me another snake got tangled up in the bird net. How the hell does a 1 inch snake get tangled up in a net with 1/4 inch mesh. Beats the hell out of me also. He said there is a horned toad in the corn row and I hope he stays there and does not try to negotiate the bird net too. Phillip put a row of corn in to give shade to the squash. If you don't give it some shade it wilts right down to the ground in this heat down here. He planted corn for shade last year, not expecting to get any from just one row but we got quite a bit from it. He put in a row of sunflowers this year for shade too.
I was thinking about doing some painting and the more I thought about it the more I decided to play with the puter. Getting lazy in my old age I guess.
Granny