Munchie Bowl II

This was the second year that the Beartooth Harley dealership sponsored the Munchie Bowl that was held this past Saturday. For $2 per person we were able to sample tasty munchies like Raven's Revenge, Hamburger Cheese Dip Bomb, Something Awesome and Not'cho Ordinary Nachos. Not too bad, $4 for lunch for the both of us.

There were 15 booths set up, you get to sample all the goodies then we got to vote on the best food and the best booth. Some had their booths all decorated. The nachos were a meal in itself and it was supposed to be a sample. Most were dips, but we did get to sample some taquitos, pulled pork sliders, meatballs, chicken wings and legs and a macaroni salad.

Our favorite food was the meatballs made by one of the roller derby teams from Billings. Our favorite booth was all decorated in Packer paraphernalia (of course).

Some booths even had drawing for prizes. This year I won a huge basket full of BBQ stuff. There was a tablecloth, a jar of seasoning, two jars of BBQ sauce, some brushes and tongs and three packages of BBQ pads. You are supposed to be able to lay your BBQ utensils on these pads and the stuff won't leak through to the other sheet.

Gary even made it on the local evening news. He was at a booth with some of our friends eating of course. I was washing my hands, they got sticky from eating the BBQ chicken legs and pepperoni rolls.

The roller derby girls won the people's choice for the best food and the best booth. They were the ones who served the meatballs and their booth was a kissing booth. For $2 you got a kiss from one of the girls. They were raising money for the MDA. The hamburger cheese dip bomb won the Munchie Bowl by the judges.

We had a good time and came away stuffed and my prize. Good thing we took the truck as we had it loaded with the shopping we did before the Munchie Bowl event.

Here are some photos of my prize so you can get an idea of how huge this basket was. Not too sure what I will do with the basket though.

Only A Mother Would Know

I got this cute joke in my e-mail from my boss. The first thing that came across my mind was my niece Libby and her dad Keith.

A Cup of Tea

One day my mother was out and my dad was in charge of me. I was maybe 2 1/2 years old. Someone had given me a little "tea set" as a gift, and it was one of my favorite toys. Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news when I brought him a little cup of "tea", which was just water. After several cups of tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, my mom came home. My dad made her wait in the living room and watch me bring him a cup of tea, because it was "just the cutest thing!" Mom waited, and sure enough, here I came down the hall with a cup of tea for Daddy; and she watched him drink it up. Then she said, (as only a mother would know), "Did it ever occur to you that the only place she can reach to get water is the toilet?"

I just laughed. I can picture Libby making tea for her dad and Keith drinking up the most delicious tea he has ever tasted.

HOG Meeting and Belt Test

I am behind already. My first HOG chapter meeting as the secretary was on the 16th. Had a fairly good turnout. Fortunately this time of year nothing big is going on so it was easy to take notes. I even won a door prize, I got a frosted highball glass. I am also in the first newletter of the chapter for the year. My picture and the minutes that I took at the officers meeting are in it. I did find out that there is training for new officers that Harley puts on and there is one in Reno in March. Apparently the dealership owner has a condo in Reno and if anyone would like to go, he may let us stay in his condo. Hmmm.

Friday was the color belt promotion test. We had 13 students from our school test, one of the largest to test to date. Four students were grandchildren. Brandon and Alexus go their yellow belts, while Tristan and Mariah got their yellow stripes. It was fun sitting on the testing board and watching them. I didn't take my camera because it would be too hard to take photos and wouldn't look right when I'm sitting on the board taking photos. I am supposed to be watching the test. Jennifer was off on Friday so she came as well.

We had one student who was so stressed out about the test that when it was all over, she said that it was just like class, only with alot more people. We tried to tell her, but you can't do nothing about first testing jitters until they have gone through one. Now we will be working with our two students who will be testing for their 1st degree black belts in March.

We also watched the football games on Sunday and are in shock that the Green Bay Packers are going to the Super Bowl. It was pretty exciting with a bunch of jumping up and down and yelling. Now we have to get out our cheeseheads for Super Bowl. This year we are going to be eating Mexican food for Super Bowl.

Sheridan

Last Saturday, Gary and I went to Sheridan WY to meet some friends for dinner. Had a good time.

Friday night Jennifer and I went to Billings, I went to class she went shopping. About half way to Billings it started to rain. Great, now this will freeze and I will have black ice all the way home.

It had rained all the way back home, at least the roads were just wet. It didn't start to freeze yet, but when it did driving on the roads was going to be fun.

Things were very slick Saturday morning. We went out for our regular Saturday morning coffee and the parking lot at McDonald's was very slick. One of the employees had parked his pickup in the back. This section of the parking lot has a small incline. A customer came in and reported that there is a pickup right in the middle of the parking lot and it is creating a hazard. Now you know it is very icy and slick when your parked vehicle slides down an incline.

We left for Sheridan later in the morning. The roads were bare and dry and it was beautiful. We ran around Sheridan and looked in the stores before meeting our friends for dinner. It had started to snow later in the afternoon and it got worse as the night wore on.

Our friends were concerned about us driving all the way home in the storm. It was snowing so bad that visibility was next to nothing we ended up staying the night at a local motel. Sheridan got a good 8 inches of snow.

We left early in the morning. I wanted to leave later, give time for more traffic on the road, but Gary wanted to leave early to miss all the traffic. It was slow moving going home. In Wyoming the roads were snowpacked and icy and poor visibility. We got to about Wyola and the roads were nothing but ice. The state plows and sanders were out, but didn't help much.

Semi drivers are the worst. They all think the roads are bare and dry no matter what the conditions. In Wyoming the snow was light so when a semi passed you were in a total white out. I'm sure those semi drivers laugh about it. We only had one scary incident on the way home in Montana.

A semi came barreling up behind us and when he went to pass his trailer started to fishtail. Fortunately he got is straightened out and didn't hit us. What a relief.

Once we got to Garryowen and out of the hills the roads got better the further west we went. By the time we hit Hardin, roads were just wet.

Not the first time we drove on bad roads and probably won't be the last, but I sure don't want to experience that again. It took us nearly two hours to get home, which really isn't that bad.





This is how the roads were on Saturday.














This is how the roads were on Sunday

ZooMontana

Last Tuesday when I had my dental appointment and lots of time to kill before going to the HOG meeting, I went to the Billings Zoo. I got a new camera for Christmas and figured that this would be a great opportunity to take photos with the new camera.

Fortunately it was a warm day, about 25 degrees above and the sun was shining. I made my way to the zoo. I went in the afternoon giving it time to warm up. I was the only customer there besides a school group. Had the place to myself.

The paths are cleared fairly good, just had to be careful in some spots. It was a bit on the cool side walking around the zoo, there was a very slight breeze and that made it cold. Not all the animals were out, but the ones that were were active. It was nice to see them active, usually in the summer when I go it's so hot that they are just lazing in their enclosures.

The grizzly bear,siberian tiger and the river otters were the most active animals. The zoo has three orphan grizzly cubs that I was hoping to see, but they weren't out. Just the adult male bear was out. He really wasn't too active, walked around his enclosure and then he scratched his back on a tree stump. He wasn't too concerned about me.

The siberian tiger was another story. When I was near his enclosure, he hunkered down on the ground, his tail started swishing. I got some photos of this and then continued on my way. The next thing I knew the tiger got up and climbed a tree. That was a bit uncomfortable until I saw that he couldn't climb up high. What a relief. That tiger did follow me to the glass enclosure where I could see him very well.

The river otters were very cute. They came up to the glass enclosure played right there for me. They would get up on their hind legs and acted like they wanted me to pet them or something.

I saw the grizzly, tiger, otters, gray wolves, red pandas, wolverine, big horn sheep, raven, and the bald eagles outside. By this time my face is pretty cold and I made my way to the entrance and inside the gift shop. I needed to warm up. I looked at the inside animals and took some photos of them. Only one didn't turn out, too much glare coming off the window.

I was at the zoo for an hour and a half and enjoyed myself. I do want to go back in the spring and see if the other animals are out. The zoo is getting another animal. They are working on a new enclosure and the sign reads "Andy is Coming". Not sure what kind of animal Andy is, but it will be interesting.

My photos are posted on my picasa site. I did have fun playing with some of the edits and figured out one that I would use quite a bit.

Dental Appointment & HOG

Tuesday I had a dental appointment that was scheduled a long time ago. Since then I was nominated and elected to be the secretary for our local HOG Chapter. It turned out that the HOG Officers meeting and my dental appointment were on the same day.

My dental appointment was set for 10:00 am and the officers meeting is set for 6:00 pm. I tried to get the time changed for my dental but couldn't. More therapy time for me.

I met Mmom for coffee before leaving. It was nice and got caught up on all the happenings in Meeteetse. Down the road I went with my coffee refill and to my wonderful teeth cleaning appointment.

Got my teeth cleaned and it didn't take long at all, got my next appointment scheduled and now I just have to run some errands before undertaking my therapy. I was going to get the oil changed in my car, but the in and out oil changing station at the car dealer is closed for remodel until March and you have to go the the main service department for an oil change. I checked and they couldn't do the in and out, I would have to make an appointment. No oil change, will get that done some other day when I can make an appointment.

I had plenty of time to spare before the HOG meeting. Since I got a new digital camera for Christmas, what a perfect time to take it out and get some photos taken. I went to the zoo. My photos are posted on my picasa site.

Do you know how boring it is to have to spend all day in Billings. Any other time it would be fun, but because I was forced to stay it got boring. I did wander through the mall and watched people. Had fun going in and out of the shops, I even got a free massage.

There is a massage place in the mall and for $12 you can get a 10 minute massage. I politely told the little guy NO, but he said to come on in for a try. I got in the chair and got a massage. Naturally I was told that my shoulders are very tight and that I need a massage. He even told me that I have shoulder pain. I don't. I have to admit that it did feel good.

Before going to the meeting I stopped at McDonald's for a vanilla latte and decided that it would be a good time to go over my handbook one more time before going into the meeting.

Got to the meeting on time, had our short meeting, lasted about an hour. Got my photo taken for the website and also the newsletter. I do have to submit my minutes for the newsletter, so got them done and sent off.

I take minutes for two meetings a month. The officers meeting on the first Tuesdays of every month and the chapter meeting on the third Sundays of every month.

I didn't get home until after 8:00 pm. Enjoyed my day.

New Year Resolutions

I know I'm five days late, but getting this done. I am one of those people who do make resolutions, but mine are really simple. I only have two.

My main goal is to lose these pesky 10 pounds if it kills me. I have been battling these 10 pounds for the past couple years and I'm bound and determined to get them off. I do have my 30th class reunion this year, so I want them off by my birthday. I would love to have 15 pounds off, but will settle for ten.

My second resolution is to be more diligent in taking my calcium supplement pills. Last May my doctor recommended that I take these supplements to make my bones healthy, since I am approaching that magical age of 50. Like I needed to be reminded of that.

I had a choice, she could prescribe them and it would cost me $27 for a 90 day supply or I could go to Wal-Mart and get a 90 day supply of the same thing for $8. I went to Wal-Mart. The calcium supplements are horse pills and I have a hard time swallowing them, so I don't take them like I should. Once in a while for me.

Gary would get after me for not taking the supplements like I should. I tell him that they aren't prescribed just recommended. He said that he was going to report me to my doctor to get me into trouble. I think he just wants my bones strong and healthy because he is afraid of my past experience in fracturing and cracking my bones.

So far I have been pretty good at taking the supplements. I can break them in half and then I take them when I eat breakfast. I am supposed to take two a day, but once a day is fine for me. I took them once twice a day.

Those are my resolutions. Nothing fancy or earth shattering. Not going to win any prizes this year, but there they are.