Montana Wolfpak

Valentine's Day Date

2012-02-14T09:35:00.002-07:00

Saturday Gary and I celebrated Valentine's Day. We have class on Tuesday so it just wouldn't work for us.

We didn't do anything special, went to a movie and had dinner. In between we went grocery shopping. Gary also updated his cell phone.

We saw the movie "Safe House" and enjoyed it. It was playing at the new theater on Shiloh, went to the afternoon matinee where ticket prices are a bit cheaper. We didn't buy any snacks as those are way too over priced anyway.

For dinner we went to Famous Dave's BBQ. We had a gift card from his brother for there and used it. We shared a meal called the American Feast for $35. We got BBQ ribs, chicken and brisket with baked beans, cole slaw and some corn muffins. We couldn't eat it all so had to get to go boxes. There was enough for another meal. It was very delicious.

In between movie and dinner, we stopped at the mall to just wander around. It was quite busy with the boy scouts having their pine wood car derby. We stopped at the Verizon cell phone booth. I told Gary that his phone needs upgrading. His old one has been slowing going downhill. I told him that it would be nice that when I call, he would answer.

The phone he got is called octane. It is a flip phone with a regular keyboard for his texting. He also gets a $50 mail in rebate with it. So far he likes it, still finding all the whistles and bells for it. We did have to change our phone plan, it is basically the same thing just a different name and no changes in the price of the billing.

Sunday Jennifer and I went to the movie "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo". I read the book and am now reading the second one. It was a very intense movie.

Dentist Appointment

2012-02-10T09:12:00.002-07:00

Tuesday I had a dentist appointment after missing for nine months. I was supposed to go in July, but had to cancel because of my surgery. I just never rescheduled and then the holidays hit. Figured I had better get in gear and back on track with my dental health.

Made the appointment and it fit for my schedule as I had a HOG meeting later that night. I took the whole day off to spend in Billings. My dental appointment was scheduled for 11:00 am so I didn't have to leave too early. I just didn't figure out the weather.

Monday morning we had freezing rain and the roads were covered in a thin layer of black ice. Made driving and walking very interesting. I was a bit worried but it had warmed up enough during the day to melt all that ice. Tuesday was a bit snowy just a few flurries. The roads were snowy but fortunately not icy. I left for Billings earlier than usual to allow time for the roads. The passing lanes were snowy and had small ground blizzards along the way. Did get into white out conditions when idiots passed me going 80 mph. Pretty much basic winter driving.

I arrived safe and sound in Billings without any problems. Checked in for my appointment, had a wait just a bit as I was early. Fortunately I took my kindle with me so was able to read Bonnie's book. My appointment went fine, survived the cleaning. Teeth weren't too bad after 9 months and I didn't get scolded either.

Had the rest of the day to wander. Didn't do anything exciting or get any therapy, waiting for that when Jennifer and I go shopping for her Korea trip. I did spend time in shops drinking coffee and I finished Bonnie's book.

My meeting was at 6:00 and we got done around 7:30. I just headed straight home and the roads were better going home at night than they were in the morning. All in all it was a nice day.

I had originally planned to spend some time at the zoo taking photos but the weather didn't cooperate for that. Will have to do the zoo thing later in the spring.

More Winter

2012-02-02T11:22:00.002-07:00

It's official, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today in Pennsylvania. That means six more weeks of winter.

Can't really complain, winter has been pretty mild this year. I think we have had snow twice this winter. Once just before Thanksgiving, but that wasn't very much. Came one day and melted away the next.

Our most recent snowfall was just a couple weeks ago. We got about 2 feet of snow and cold temperatures.

Now we are back having our spring like weather. Keeping my fingers crossed that this trend will continue, but Easter is not here yet.

Munchie Bowl III

2012-01-30T13:52:00.002-07:00

We went to the Third Annual Munchie Bowl at the Harley dealership on Saturday. This time we didn't win any prizes.

For $2 per person we got to sample 13 tables of Super Bowl munchies and then we vote on the best muchie and the best booth. Only a couple were decorated while the rest were just normal food tables. This year the proceeds went to the Billings schools Angel Fund. The money goes to purchase needed supplies for students.

Had a good time and we were able to visit with our friends. We didn't stay long enough to find out who won for best food or booth. Only two tables were holding drawings and we didn't win those. Last year I won the BBQ basket. None of the samples really popped this year. Some were better than others, but not where I would go out of my way to eat.

We made an early day out of it, ate breakfast then ran some errands. Gary filled his prescription for eye glasses that he got from the VA. The VA wouldn't fill the prescription and they won't pay for his glasses. I was with Gary when the eye doctor told him not to let the eye places talk him into getting bifocals as he doesn't need them. I looked at his prescription and told Gary that the eye doctor wrote the prescription for bifocals, but at the same time said he didn't need them.

We filled the prescription at Wal-Mart and he got his single vision lens and frames for a grand total of $47. They should be in at the end of the week. I have been after him for years to get his eyes checked, I knew he needed glasses but he just wouldn't admit it.

He finally admitted that he really couldn't see that clear. I convinced him that since we are now riding alot more, that it would be a good thing that he can see clearly. He still won't admit that he needs to wear glasses all the time, just to read.

Vacation-Use It or Lose It

2012-01-23T14:13:00.002-07:00

For the first time in 26 years, I was in a use it or lose it situation with my vacation at work. I always take enough time off during the year to get under my max hours allowed. Not for 2011. My Minnesota vacation was all sick leave, if it wasn't for that I would have been under.

I was 40 hours over. I took one day off with Gary earlier in the month, which left me 4 days. Since we get Martin Luther King day off as a holiday it was perfect, take my remaining 4 days with the holiday. Counting the weekends, I had 9 days off.

I didn't go anywhere, had plenty of time to clean out the back bedroom. This was my sons bedroom and when they moved out a few years ago, stuff just got put in that room that we didn't know what to do with. Soon it got so full that you couldn't walk into the room without stepping on something. Cleaning and organizing was my project for the week.

I took it is small steps, just sections at a time. Monday was spent throwing out garbage. For some reason we had boxed up old magazines and was going to keep them for something, not sure what, but to the garbage they went. I spent two hours each day working on a section.

In the afternoons I watched my Harry Potter movies. For Christmas I bought the 8 movie collection, I had watched some of the movies already when I had time off for holidays, just had three more left to complete the series.

Tuesday Jennifer and I went to Billings for some shopping. She needed new work shoes and I bought two book cases for the room. One to display the knick knacks I got from Grandma, the other for all my books. I had them packed in boxes. We had a good time, the weather was nice and we got it done before the storm.

I needed help getting the book cases into the house, so they just stayed in my car until Saturday. The weather got nasty, the storm hit on Tuesday night and it snowed until Friday morning. Most of the snow came on Wednesday, it had let up some on Thursday and by Friday morning we got another 3 inches. The storm also brought in very cold temperatures. Perfect weather to get my project done.

I finished cleaning on Thursday. Found an extra air mattress that I didn't know we had. It was stuffed in the closet. Boxed up a bunch of clothes to take to Good Will and threw out some more garbage. I got as far as I could, just needed the shelves before I could clean up some more. It is so nice to be able to see the floor and walk into the room.

Helped Gary clear snow off the sidewalk and also cleared snow from the parking lot at our Tae Kwon Do school. We didn't get all of it, but most of it. After we shoveled, the snow plows came by and plowed all that right back onto the sidewalk. By this time, it was very heavy and we got what we could. Temperatures are warming up so hopefully most of this will melt soon. Thankfully, Mmom's neighbor cleared her sidewalk. All I had to do was her front steps. Whew!!!

I got my shelves put together on the weekend. My original plan was to drive to Meeteetse, but the roads were not the best and we were to get some freezing rain on Saturday afternoon. Will have to go down later. Called Mmom and they didn't get any of the storm in Wyoming.

All I have left to do is sort the china out of boxes that Mmom and I brought back from Spuddies a couple years ago. The room looks nice and will get the tv and home theater system hooked up in there.

Red Lodge Weekend

2012-01-20T14:34:00.002-07:00

Last weekend we were invited for an overnight party in Red Lodge. Our friends had won a weekend in Red Lodge to stay at one of the new condos. They invited us to spend a night with them. There were four couples in all.

The condo has four bedrooms, naturally our hosts got the master bedroom, the other three were on a first come basis. We were to be there at 4:00 pm, but if we got their earlier that was fine. We got there around 3:00 pm and we were the second guests to arrive. So we had a choice of two bedrooms, naturally I took the bigger one. Good thing, another couple arrived 10 minutes behind us.

For dinner I took two salads, a macaroni and potato salad. Our hosts fixed a baked ham. Our other friends made a home made German chocolate cake, the other couple brought dinner rolls. We all had to bring our own alcohol. Had a great time visiting. Later on in the night, us women sat in the hot tub. It was very peaceful sitting is the nice hot water with Rock Creek gurgling. The guys stayed inside and watched the football games.

We stayed up and visited. Laughed alot. One of our friends is going through a very difficult time right now. Her son was killed in an accident just right after Christmas. He lived in Florida, so she just made it home before the party.

In the morning, we had ham & cheese omelets in a bag. It was very fun to make. What a wonderful idea, no mess. I brought fruit cocktail, there were muffins and we even had mimosas.

We had to be out of the condo by 11:00 am, so it was time to clean up. We all had to strip our beds. Our hosts car battery died on them, so the guys had to push the car out of the garage. Gary has an emergency car kit in the pickup. We just got that a week ago when we went to our bank. Got them up and running.

We made it to Billings with plenty of time to spare. Sunday was our HOG Chapter meeting. It was late by the time we got home. First there was an accident on the interstate that shut down both lanes of traffic for a time. The accident was on the Pryor Hill, second we stayed and watched the football games. By the time we left for home, the interstate was open.

Had a very good time and so glad that our friends invited us to share in their weekend. The guys decided that we could rent this condo later in the year and it wouldn't cost very much for each couple.

Our friends get another free weekend at the condo in April, however they will be sharing that with their children. We tried to talk them into inviting us again, but they already told their children, so that is out of the question.

Photo Fixes

2012-01-11T11:00:00.007-07:00

I took the professionals advice and cropped the two photos he suggested. The deer and football photos. I have to say that I like the football one better cropped, but my deer one I like my original. I like the shadow on the ground. Just me. Anyway, here are the after and before, what do you think?

Photography Course

2012-01-09T13:43:00.007-07:00

I've been taking a photography course through the New York Institute of Photography. The course I'm taking is the Fundamentals of Digital Photography. I am learning how to use my Nikon D5000 camera as a SLR instead of a point and shoot. I am half way through the course. I started in October and should be done in a couple of months.

My first photography assignment was sending in five photos with certain aspects. The first one a photograph using the rule of thirds. The second was a stop action photo. The third was creating a motion blur. The fourth was difficult lighting and the fifth was photographers choice.

I submitted my first assignment in December and received my evaluation by a professional photographer. I got good marks, said I had a good start and I'm understanding apperture and shutter speeds without any difficulty.

Here are the photos and what he said.

He liked this photo of Jennifer. Suggested that I should have went to the other side to capture this, this way I could use the wall in line with Jen. This is my rule of thirds photo.

This is my stop action photo. It was taken at Gma's house in October. He liked this one said I should have cropped out the shadows on the bottom and maybe cropped enough to make the deer off center.

This is my motion blur photo. I had a hard time with this one but managed. I should have cropped the helmets on the bottom.

This is the tricky lighting photo. It was taken on the Oregon coast at sundown. He liked this one.

This was my choice photo. He really liked it and said that I do have an eye of a photographer. He suggested that I wade into the water to get some good shots of the cabing and windows.

2011 Fun

2012-01-06T15:39:00.006-07:00

I was just looking at my photos from last year and thinking about all the fun we had. Looking forward to fun in 2012. Thought I would share with you.

Resolutions

2012-01-03T08:50:00.002-07:00

Again it is time to make those New Year resolutions that are never kept. I had to go back and see what my resolutions were last year. I only had two; to lose 10 pounds and be diligent in taking my calcium suppliments. I didn't keep either one.

Instead of losing 10 pounds, I gained 15. This is because of having surgery in July and since I'm going through menopause I am just having a very hard time keeping the weight off. I am at a plateau now which is good, but just wish the scale would move down. I am still exercising and watching what I eat. It doesn't help with all the biking we do in the summer and also I was not allowed to do anything for six weeks. It was hard getting back to normal but I got there.

The calcium supplements that I was taking were horse pills. I have always had a hard time swallowing pills, small ones not so much but when the pills are huge I just can't swallow. Then I discovered Viactiv. Those are chocolate chew calcium. Taking a chocolate chewy calcium supplement is a big improvement over the horse pills. I did get better, just not every day like I'm supposed to.

For 2012, here are my resolutions.

Going to lose these 15 pounds that I have gained. Can't be that hard, just a pound a month is all that I ask. I am still exercising 6 days a week. I go twice on Mondays & Wednesdays and on Saturdays I go for a longer time.

Take my calcium supplements daily. So far I am doing good, but then again it has been 3 days. The chocolate chews are ten times better than the horse pills. Even though they are a bit more pricey, at least I can take them.

Be more diligent in going to church. I took the whole year off last year from going to church. It was so easy to come up with excuses for not going that I just ended up not going. Got off on the right foot this year. Went to 8:00 mass, then we went to Billings to meet our friends at 10:00. It's going to be harder next month. There is only going to be one mass on Sundays now at 9:00.

Drink more water. I don't get enough water during the day. Again this all goes to menopause as I get dehydrated more than before. I am doing better, but probably not getting all that is needed. I've read that you are supposed to drink at least 60 ounces of water a day. I am getting about 40 ounces a day. It's easy at work, but not so much at home.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-28T14:34:00.002-07:00

Christmas at the Liming house was a very quiet affair with just the three of us. The weather was fantastic, no snow and it was 50 degrees. We spent the weekend just staying at home.

I bought a Kindle and a zoom lens for my camera, I also got a beautiful bracelet and earrings from my boss Sandy. Also from my work friends I got a Christmas candle and a winter tree decoration along with a bunch of goodies. From Gary's brother we got a gift card at Famous Dave's Restaurant and from our biker friends the Breckenridges we got a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates. I also got a book from Mmom.

Gary got his stock certificate from the Green Bay Packers. I've been telling people that I bought it, but in actuality he did. I was just the one who was able to get on the computer and get it. He bought this with the some of the money he won in Las Vegas. He is now officially part owner of an NFL team and has a letter to proove it. Gary also received a tin of cookies from one of his co-workers with a note that he had to share with his family.

Jennifer got the family the latest Pirate of the Caribbean movie and from Santa we got the Harry Potter movies, all eight of them.

Jennifer got a book from Mmom, the last one of series that she has been reading for a while. The author is Christopher Paolini and he is from Livingston. He wrote the first book when he was a young teen. She also go a membership card to Barnes & Noble from us. She got a Santa snow globe from one of her co-workers. Jennifer's friend Arthur stopped by the house for a short visit. He invited her to watch him play a pick up game of hockey. I was invited too. This would give me a chance to take photos with my new lens.

I had Monday off, so watched the first two Harry Potter movies. Waited for Jennifer to get off work at 5, so we could go to Billings. I did find the ice rink and we watched the hockey game for about 30 minutes. It was pretty cold in the arena. I did take quite a few photos. Then we went shopping.

I didn't buy much, got my cards for next year and I also bought a cantina for my village. It really helps when things are half off. Jennifer bought a Nook reader with some of her Christmas money.

Final Party Of The Year

2011-12-20T11:23:00.002-07:00

Saturday was our final Christmas Party of the year. December is such a busy month for us, especially this year. Had a party every weekend.

The last one is just a dinner party at our friends Dick & Joan. I had to bring a dessert, so I made a pumpkin roll. I had to make a practice one first as I have never make one before. My practice one turned out great and they are really easy to make.

Joan told me that there were 18 people coming to her party, so I made two pumpkin rolls. The first one turned out all right, just a minor tear in the loaf part but I was able to fix that with the cream cheese filling. My second roll was a disaster, it broke apart into pieces as I was taking it out of the pan. Wonderful, now what am I going to do. One pumpkin roll is not enough for 18 people. I had no choice but to buy something at the bakery.

Our party was on Saturday, we spent the night again at Dale & Kitty's, this would be the last chance to visit with them as they are leaving for Arizona for three months after Christmas.

We had some errands to run and were to be at the Butterfields at 4:00. Our party was at 5:30. Traffic was a nightmare in Billings. It took us 45 minutes to get to the mall from King Avenue. At the bakery I bought a pumpkin cheesecake loaf which went well with the pumpkin roll.

Got to the Butterfields on time, got some visiting in then we loaded up and made our way to Dick & Joans. Joan made her delicious lasagne and we had plenty of food. We had lasagne by Joan, a salad by Kitty, homemade hot butter rum by Vickie, my desserts, several loaves of garlic bread by the others.

There were 16 of us at the party, not sure who the other two were who did not come, but this is our little regular group. One of the couples invited are quite a bit younger than us. They are just in their 20's. He is the son of some friends who moved to Tennessee last year. The kids don't really fit in with this group. I'm the youngest besides these two.

The men sat in the livingroom visiting while us women were in the kitchen. At first the young girl wouldn't come and visit with us. Joan our hostess went to get her to come in but the girl said that she wasn't comfortable about the inappropriate conversation. Not sure what she meant by that. We weren't talking about anything inappropriate, just not putting our husbands on pedestals. We did say that if we wanted a husband project done around the house, just start on it yourself and then it will get done. If we wait for the husbands it wouldn't get done. The girl did make a comment about this being marriage. We pointed out that two women have been married over 40 years, one over 30, I'm over 20 and the others were in the teens. When you are newlyweds you don't talk about each other like this.

We did exchange gifts this year, Joan said to keep it under $10, the guys buy guy gifts and the women buy women gifts. Gary got an LED flashlight and I got a Harley necklace.

Joan did make a comment that she probably won't invite the young kids again as the girl doesn't really fit in. She apparently is an only child and led a very sheltered life. She was homeschooled and her family is very religious. The kids are flying to Tennessee to see his parents and she made comments about her being forced to go and she was pretty nervous about flying.

We did have a great time and are ready to just relax this weekend. Our next party is in January.

Holiday Jam & Toy Run

2011-12-14T11:28:00.002-07:00

For the past 25 years, the Road Dogs motorcycle group sponsors the Holiday Jam and Toy Run for needy children. This is our third year of participating.

Friday we went to the Holiday Jam at Bones Brewery. You need to make a cash or toy donation to get in the party. We spend the night at the Butterfield Inn (friends house). I took off early from work so that we could meet our friends Dale & Kitty at their house. We rode to the bar with them. Got there early to save a table for our group and also to eat dinner.

It doesn't take long for the place to fill up, think more people this year had the same idea as us by going early. Had a good time with our friends and just enjoyed ourselves. I told Gary that when the bidding starts he is not allowed to get the bar maids attention. He did that last year and bid $130 on an item, fortunately he was out bid in no time.

The band playing the music is from Bozeman called Jamelution. They played a couple years ago and are very good, play the oldies from the 70's to current music. We enjoy listening to them. Didn't buy anything at the raffle either, a bit too rich for our blood.

We decided to stay over in Billings on Saturday night also, this time we got a motel room. Kitty would have let us stay at their house again, but she goes to so much trouble for us, besides she is busy getting ready for their three month trip to Arizona.

We got some shopping done, went out to a nice dinner at The Texas Roadhouse and then a movie at the new theater complex on Shiloh.

Sunday morning was the toy run. This year the weather was beautiful. We didn't ride because we don't have our protective coating the the fenders of the new bike yet. Besides it would have been a very cold ride from Hardin to Billings in the morning. We met our friends at the fire station for breakfast. Another motorcycle group fixes biscuits and gravy for everyone, all we do is leave a donation. Met up with our friends.

Gary and I headed out early to get on Broadwater so that I could get photos of our friends riding in the toy run parade as they were coming up the hill. We got a good spot by the Shrine. I got most of our friends, missed a few. What an impressive sight to see, 600 bikes. Good weather brings them out.

The procession went to Rimrock Mall to deliver the toys to the Salvation Army tree and again the tree was buried. Delivered $30,000 worth of toys for the kids. Once we got that done, then we headed over to Bones for our HOG chapter meeting.

Gary was on the KULR 8 news along with our friends, I think on the video you can see my leg. I ended up on the Billings Gazette site, but I'm way in the background. You really have to look to see me.

It was a great weekend, now we are getting ready for our dinner party on Saturday. I have to bring a dessert and this year doing a gift exchange. We have those, just need to wrap them.

Park's Christmas Party

2011-12-06T13:19:00.002-07:00

Saturday was the 32nd Annual Christmas Party and Awards Banquet for tae kwon do. Since we have the school in Hardin, Gary and I are required to attend. Jennifer went with us too. We had one of our student's and his father attend as well. This is also when those who tested for their black belts get their certificates.

Gary just hates going, he whines about it every year. This year it was a disaster for the Hardin school.

We have a short business meeting before the party. This is when the instructors sign the black belt certificates and we get the finance statements. Park's was upset last year because someone threw away the copies of the statements and he was offended. This year he said that only the master's would get the statements, we were the only two who were not masters. Both of us came away feeling that Park's was blaming us for the slight. We know who did throw the statements away.

Before going to the party, I checked to see if our two students had their certificates in the pile. No certificates were there. In fact about six people who tested didn't have certificates that night and they were from the out of town schools.

Park's son Frank is being groomed to take over one of these days and he has no clue on how to operate things. He was so upset about missing certificates. Our student came. When I pointed out that they paid $60 for a father to see his son get his black belt certificate then drive 50 miles it is a problem. Another instructor asked Frank if there was a possibility that the certificate could be at the school in Billings, Frank said that it could be. Instead of taking the hint to drive to the school to check, he just walked around in a daze. At least our student was recognized.

Gary and I had to make the explanations, Frank didn't step up to the plate and admit that he messed up. Gary and I refunded them their money since they didn't get what they paid for. We felt bad for them.

On the bright side, Jennifer was awarded Assistant Instructor of the Year and I came home with a chaffing dish from the raffle. I bought $10 worth of tickets, so not a bad deal.

Our student did win a prize in the raffle. He got a desk organizer which he is going to rewrap and give to his mom. It was funny because he was sitting there and telling them to call out his ticket number and it was the ticket.

We didn't win the big prizes again, as we were getting ready to leave Frank asked if our student was disappointed. I said yes he was, he is going home without a certificate and now we don't know when he will get it.

Women's Only Garage Party

2011-12-01T13:10:00.002-07:00

Last night Jennifer and I went to the Women's Only Garage Party held at the Harley dealership in Billings. It was from 6:30-9:30 pm.

I had signed up to go because the woman hosting the event is a HOG member and she asked if I would sign up. She wanted to see some experienced people at the event to answer questions. So I signed up.

I had completely forgotten about it until I got a phone call from the dealership reminding me of the event and to confirm. I called them up and said I would be there.

Jennifer had the day off, so I asked if she wanted to come. The garage parties that I attended before were fun. We were served croissant sandwiches for dinner and you go to the different stations and learn about motorcycle riding. She said sure she would go.

Yesterday afternoon it started to rain, so I figured here comes a storm. Well it cleared up and we had patches of blue sky and roads were drying up. I called the dealership to see how the weather was in Billings and it was just overcast with patches of blue sky.

We left Hardin after I got off work and the roads were bare and dry and no sign of any snow. Perfect conditions. We arrived at the dealership in plenty of time, Jennifer signed in. We received a little packet with an itinerary attached.

This garage party was different than the ones I had attended before. There was a massage therapist giving out free massages, a person selling Lia Sophia jewelry and handbags. Another one selling some kind of anti aging stuff. Had a yoga instructor who would show us how we can relax while on the bikes. Nothing really about motorcycle riding.

We were served wine and champaigne with hors douevres by some fitness trainers of Oz Fitness in Billings. We were given a raffle ticket and the item they were raffling off was a $300 off a portrait sitting by a local photographer.

Jennifer and I drank some white wine and we found that we like the Moscoto that they were serving. Will have to buy a bottle for Christmas.

The only thing remotely related to motorcycle riding was the demonstration of packing that was given by two of my friends. Dawn gave a packing demonstration from a riders perspective and Kitty to a passengers perspective. We didn't watch any of these, as I think by now I know how to pack for a motorcycle trip.

Instead Jennifer and I went shopping. We each bought some Lia Sophia jewelry. I bought a pair of earrings and Jennifer bought a necklace and earring set. The lady gave Jennifer 70% off her purchases. The earrings were originally $30 and she got them for $9. She has to wait on the necklace as the lady didn't know what the retail cost was, but she is to call me and will put Jennifer's order in with mine. I picked up the catalog to look for future shopping.

In our gift bags we had a $10 off coupon, so Jennifer and I bought some Harley shirts. We even got a further discount for purchasing the items at the event.

At the end it was time for the raffle items. We didn't win the portrait package but Jennifer did win a t-shirt from Oz Fitness.

The party got over early and since we just had snacks to eat we were both hungry so before heading home we stopped at McDonald's to get a sandwich. I had a coupon for buy one get one free so we took advantage of that. We had time as Gary knew the party got over at 9:30.

It was starting to snow in Billings, so we headed home. The roads were clear in Billings and when I got to the 27th Street exit the snow stopped roads were dry. I was driving right along and then I reached the bottom of Pryor Hill. That is where I ran into icy roads and a snow storm. The wind was blowing pretty good, I could only see about 1/2 mile ahead and had to slow down to 40 mph the rest of the way home.

There were times when the wind would catch me and I didn't know if I slid because of ice or the wind. We made it home safe and sound. We left Billings at 9:15 and got home at 10:20. The worst part of the trip was from Arrow Creek to Fly Creek which this time of year is always the bad spot. Once I got to Fly Creek the snow had let up and it wasn't so windy, but the roads were pretty icy.

I don't think Jennifer will be going to another one in the near future and I will wait a while before signing up for another one. We both had a nice time and came home with some good deals.

Shopping With Grandkids

2011-11-30T13:37:00.003-07:00

I was brave and ventured out for some shopping on Black Friday. We went later in the afternoon, when all the crazies were gone.

Gary had to work on Friday anyway and since he worked for 1 1/2 hours on Thursday he got off early. We picked up the grandkids Brandon (15), Alexus (11) and Mariah (8) to take them shopping for their Christmas gifts.

We have fun and so do the kids. This year we gave them cash to go shopping. Last year we got them Wal-Mart gift cards and they were so limited on what they could get, especially Brandon.

We knew that they have gaming consoles so figured that they would want to buy video games with their money, no such thing.

First we went to Wal-Mart and Mariah was the only one who found stuff there that she wanted. The girls and I went together and Brandon and Gary went together. Alexus wanted to find some drawing utensils, but there was not a huge selection for her. We took her to Office Max and she found some stuff for drawing but not a big selection there either. I did find some Christmas paper for the letters.

Next stop was the Rimrock Mall. We eat here giving the kids more options and they finished up their shopping here. Mariah ate pizza while the rest of us at at Fuddruckers.

Mariah wanted to buy some jewelry, so off to Claires we went. I told Gary that we were going to the jewelry store and when he saw us headed in that direction, he saw Kay's jewelry store. He told me that Mariah couldn't afford anything in that store. I looked at him and said give me a break, we are going to Claires. He can shop for me at Kay's.

The girls and I had fun shopping for jewelry. I did buy some Christmas earrings for cheap. Mariah had to make the hard decisions. What would she have to put back in order to get this. We went around for quite a bit.

The kids had a great time and so did we. We would have bought them some video games, but just giving them the money and letting them do their own shopping is so much better. This way they can get what they want.

Mariah bought a purse, wallet, heart shaped note paper, a feathered headband, some rings and a pen.

Alexus bought her drawing paper and markers, a colorful hair extension, ear buds for her ipod and a key chain.

Brandon spent his money on rubiks cubes. It is amazing watching him figure them out and he is so fast with it no matter how you mix up the squares.

The stores were busy, but no long lines and no crazy people. Still have more shopping to do and need to get it done so that I can get the packages shipped off in time.

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-28T12:59:00.002-07:00

This will be a very memorable Thanksgiving. We almost didn't get to have the huge dinner with all the fixings.

I always bake my pies the night before, so when I got home after my workout I set the preheat on my oven. I sat down to eat dinner and figured that by the time I got done eating I could get my dinner rolls baked.

I didn't hear the beep that would notify me that my oven is ready, surely it would be heated up by now. When I went to check on it, no heat. Wonderful. Pulled the oven out and unplugged and plugged it in again, thinking maybe it would jump start. Still no heat in the oven. All the burners on the stove top works and so does my broiler.

Now going to plan two. I packed up all my baking utensils and ingredients for the pumpkin pies and headed over to mom's house. I can use her oven until we get ours fixed or something. I think Gary was all set to drive up to Billings that night and buying a new stove.

It took 2 1/2 hours to get the dinner rolls and pies baked. Mom's oven is smaller than mine so things cooked up a bit faster. Gary did come over to visit for a bit and he helped me load the pies and stuff in my car.

I didn't get one pie cooled off enough, by the time I got home the pie had shifted so one side of the pumpkin filling was deeper than the other.

Gary had to work for about 1 1/2 hours on Thursday morning to stock up his dairy stuff. I took him to work, then stopped at Mom's to get the turkey in the oven.

It all worked out and we ate our meal. This will surely be one that we won't forget and I'm thankful that I could go to my Mom's. Mom saved our dinner.

I did get the baking element ordered. First I had to find all the papers on the stove, then I got online. Just typed in the model number and there it was. It cost $40 for the part and shipping. The part was shipped today and according to the web site it should arrive by the end of the week. I did find a video on how to replace the element and it only took the man 3 minutes to get it all done. Will let you know how that goes later.

White Elephant Auction

2011-11-21T13:43:00.003-07:00

Yesterday was our chapter meeting and White Elephant auction in Billings. This is alot of fun. We hold our winter meetings at Bones Brewery. Yesterday we had a meal catered and all the members had to do was bring some side dishes. Also you clean out closets for items to auction. The money from the auction pays for chapter events.

We made a cheese and cracker tray and for auction items we brought a golf bag and a car organizer bag. I won the organizer bag last year at Park's party and Gary won the golf bag last year at IGA's party.

For dinner we had baked ham, roast beef in a sauce and au grautin potatoes. Very yummy and an assortment of side dishes also very yummy.

After eating we had a short meeting. This is our end of the year meeting for mileage contests. All year long for every event that we attend we got a ticket and those tickets went towards prizes for the end of year. I won a stainless steel coffee mug and Gary won a HOG zipper pull.

Our friend Dale Butterfield won the mileage contest with 18,000 and our friend Dick took 2nd place with 15,000. Gary put in over 9,000 miles in the season. He was above average again this year, which he is proud of. Now the yearly mileage contest starts again.

We didn't get anything at the auction. The only thing I wanted was a basket full of whiskeys but I was outbid on it. I had a bid of $40 and the basket was almost in my hands when our friend Pat Breckenridge out bid me. I had a limit and didn't go any higher. The funny thing is the Breckenridges don't drink whiskey, they are scotch drinkers. I told them that I will be coming over to their house to drink my whiskey.

Gary talked to the guy who took home the golf bag. Gary didn't know if it was a good bag or not, the man was shocked to see it there. He said that the golf bag was one of the top ones. He is an avid golfer and was just shocked he got a golf bag for $15, he was in need of a new one.

Had a great time as always, there is always next year for prizes. Now I have to think about what to bring next year.

I Finally Have A Coffee Pot At Home

2011-11-12T10:05:00.003-07:00

I have been married for 24 years and I finally have a coffee pot at home. Gary doesn't drink coffee and I was the only one at home that did. I just didn't drink coffee at home.

I got enough coffee during with week at work and on weekends we would go out for coffee, so being without coffee at home wasn't a big deal.

Last night Gary bought a new coffee pot for his hot tea. That is what we used coffee pots at home for, hot tea. The old one still works, so I took it to make coffee.

For the first time in 24 years, I made a nice pot of delicious, aromatic coffee at home and I'm in heaven. Jennifer will help me drink coffee too.

Nightmare is Over, I Think

2011-11-08T08:44:00.002-07:00

My nightmare with CenturyLink(Qwest) if over, I think. I had ordered for wireless internest service with them last month and it was a nightmare from day one.

I never did get any internet service and a service man was supposed to come to the house but didn't show up. At that point I got nothing but a major headache from all the phone calls I made that I canceled my account. I canceled well within the 30 days so I was not to receive a bill.

I did get a bill and when I called and spoke to George, I was told that I will be receiving another final statement with a zero balance. Would be getting that about 10 days after I canceled. In the meantime he was sending me labels so that I could return the modem back to them.

It took two weeks to get the labels, but I did get them and the modem was returned on Wednesday. I tracked the order and it arrived to CenturyLink on Friday. I have that printed off and in my folder.

I got another bill from CenturyLink. I was happy thinking that it would show a zero balance. It didn't. I owe them $34.90.

Just got off the phone with CenturyLink this morning. That was a nightmare, took me half an hour to get an English speaking person. The first person who answered was speaking English but in a very heavy Mexican accent that I couldn't understand him. When I asked him to speak to someone who speaks better English, I got a person who spoke nothing but Spanish. UGH!!

I told her that I want to talk to someone who speaks English, then she tried to help. I could at least understand her better than the first guy. But I couldn't get my point across to her. I asked to speak to a supervisor and she said she didn't have one. Very frustrated I hung up.

Called CenturyLink again and this time I got an English speaking person in Salt Lake. Told him about my problem with a new bill for $34.90 on a service that I had never received.

His name was Don and he told me that he zeroed out my bill that I will not be getting another one and I don't owe them anything. He said that it looked like the computer didn't get the notice that I canceled my account, but it was showing up on his computer.

The funny thing was at the end of our conversation he asked if there was anything CenturyLink could do for me. NO!!!!!

Vegas Trip

2011-11-02T13:09:00.002-06:00

Two years ago Gary and I took a gambling junket to Wendover NV with our friends and the bug hit us, now we try to make a trip to Nevada every fall. Last year we went to Jackpot and this year we went to Las Vegas Oct 28-31.

We didn't fly Allegiant because the dates didn't work for us. Allegiant is the cheap airlines that flies direct from Billings to Las Vegas, so we flew on Delta. I went through our travel agent and she found us a good deal for flights and motel. We stayed at the Luxor Casino which is located on the south end of the strip. We even paid for a shuttle to and from the airport. This cost us $1000 for the two of us. All we had to do was pay for meals.

Mom took and picked us up at the airport all we did was buy her breakfast and dinner for doing us this huge favor. We left Billings at 11:30 am and arrived in Las Vegas at 2:30 pm. We had to get a connecting flight out of Salt Lake. We would have flown on Allegiant which is a direct flight from Billings to Las Vegas, but the dates didn't work for us.

Our travel packet had vouchers for the airport shuttle and the check in for the Luxor, but I had instructions to call the shuttle 24 hours before arrived to verify the confirmation. I was told that all I had to do was go to the ticket booth and have our voucher validated. They would give me tickets to get on the shuttle. Was told where to find them at the Las Vegas airport.

Found the booth for the shuttle, got our tickets and was told to stand in line #1. Very well. We got into line #1 like we were instructed. The bus driver started loading up passengers and called for line #1. Just before we got on the bus, he told me to stay put as there were others who were there before me, they were in lines #2 and #3. This got my ire because the driver was very rude about this. So we got back into line #1 and this time I stood in front to make sure that I would be first on the next bus. There was room for us, so we got on this bus anyway. Not sure how he knew who was first or not.

We got checked in, had to find our way through the maze of the casino. Our room was in the pyramid and we had to take elevator 4B to get to our floor. We were on the 12th floor. I was given a casino map and we found our way to the elevator. Riding in an elevator when a building is shaped in a pyramid is an experience. You are riding at an angle. I was fine as long as I could lean against the wall of the elevator, but when you had to stand in the middle, it was like you were drunk.

Ed met us at the motel on Friday night, we ate dinner at the Mexican restaurant in our casino. When we checked in received a booklet full of coupons and we had a 2 for 1 on beer at this place. Gary and I shared a plate full of nachos while Ed ordered three tacos. When his plate came out I swear those tacos were bite sized, very small. We get bigger ones at Taco Johns. After dinner Ed took us on a small tour of the strip. We walked to the Excalibur, MGM Grand, Tropicana and Hooters. At Hooters Gary and I signed up for the players card, we got $200 to gamble on and we also got a voucher for a free steak dinner since we were out of state residents.

I thought they would put the $200 on our cards and we could play any machine we wanted, that was not the case. You could only play on certain machines, the hostess would put in the money. You could not cash out and were required to play the max bet. In this case the max bet was $10. Didn't take long to use of $200 but it wasn't my money. The only time when you won was if you hit the $1000 or $100 marks. We didn't eat the free steak dinner. For that you got a steak, baked potato, texas toast and 2 pats of butter. We were required to buy a beer for $1.50 to get this.

Gary was the winner for the weekend, he won $2300. He played a couple machines won $50 on one and $80 on the other. He won $2200 on the college football games. We both lost on the NFL games. His winning ticket went down to the wire. The last game was Stanford and USC. Stanford had to win by 8 points. The game was very exciting, went into three overtimes with Stanford coming out the winner. In college football by the time you get the 3rd overtime teams are required to go for the 2 point conversion. Stanford had the ball first in the 3rd overtime, scored and made the 2 point conversion. It was USC turn, the player dropped th ball in the end zone. It was all very fun, there were alot of people in the sports book cheering. I can never complain about Gary watching too much football.

The rest of the weekend was spent gambling, we did walk around and check out the other casinos and I was able to get some photos. We did enjoy the pool at the Luxor.

It was Halloween weekend in Vegas so saw alot of costumes. Some were hard to tell if the people were wearing their regular clothes or were in costume. Most of the people on the strip were the young crowd, college age. We were surprised that so many were there as they were not in the casinos. Most were in the clubs partying and there were quite a few Halloween parties going on in the casinos. Sunday night you could not get in to the Tropicana as they were full with Halloween partiers.

The weekend went by so fast that it was time to go. I had called the day before to verify our seat on the shuttel to the airport was told that the shuttle would pick us up at 9:10 am and we would get to the airport in plenty of time to catch our noon flight.

We were waiting for the shuttle as it was running late. A security guard was talking to us and we found out that the last day our shuttle was in operation was the 31st. Gary was talking to another driver when he was told that we needed a pink ticket. I didn't get one, the lady only gave me pink tickets to get on the shuttle our arrival day, she handed me back the voucher for the return ride. The man wasn't sure that we would be able to get on the bus or we would have to stay on the bus until our voucher was validated.

Fortunate for us, the driver didn't care since this was the last day of them running shuttles. He took our voucher and said that was good enough. Whew. When I first checked in at the shuttle she did give me two tickets. She only saw me and didn't see Gary as he was standing out of the way. Apparently she didn't read the voucher that it was for two people.

We were so glad that we didn't have to check any baggage in, the lines were very long at the airport. Found the kiosk to print our boarding passes then finally found the gate we needed and made our way through security. That was a madhouse, must have been at least 500 people getting on flights, thought for sure we would miss our flight. We were in security for half an hour, didn't take long at all with all the people getting through. Just before we got to the security station, they had opened up another scanner and we were told to get in that line. It was just a regular metal detector, not the body scanner, that was in the other line. All of our flights were on time.

The Las Vegas airport is huge. When you first arrive you are on the ground floor to check in, then you have to go upstairs to your gate and security. Then you have to take the tram to get to the concourse.

This was a good year for us on gambling. I won $1100 in Deadwood and Gary won $2300 in Vegas. I do have my photos posted on Picasa.

Finally Got Wireless

2011-10-25T14:16:00.002-06:00

It took two weeks and alot of frustration but I finally got wireless internet service.

I had called our cable service first and was told by the receptionist that the cable company does not provide wireless internet service. That is when I called to some other providers and found CenturyLink (Qwest). You know how that went.

Gary was talking to Charlie Fergerson at the store, Charlie works for the cable company now. Charlie told Gary that the cable does do wireless internet service, just go out and buy a router and he will get us connected.

I did call the cable company and talked to someone who knows what goes on in the company. She set the appointment for Charlie to install our wireless yesterday between 12:30-3:00 pm.

Charlie arrived at 2:00 pm, installed the new modem that we need for the cable tv and internet. He was there less than an hour, stayed long enough to make sure that we were connected. So simple and so easy.

I did have to pay the $29.95 install fee and it's only going to cost $5 more a month for all the services.

I was on the internet quite a bit last night. It is sure nice to take my leisure time and not get yelled at for hogging the computer.

We really like our little Acer netbook that I bought two weeks ago. We have taken it out to McDonald's and used their free wi-fi. We are going to take it on our trip to Las Vegas this weekend. Gary uses it for his sports betting and he can read the screen on the Acer better than on my phone.

Still Not Wireless

2011-10-19T16:12:00.002-06:00

I didn't think I would have so much trouble getting wireless internet. Mom in little Meeteetse gets better customer service that I do here.

A Qwest now CenturyLink tech was supposed to be at the house today between 9:30-1:30 to get my internet working. I took 4 hours off from work just to be at the house as requested when I called the tech support last Friday morning.

I did get some housework done though and waited very patiently. No tech arrived. At 1:30 I called tech support again. Naturally I got a different person than "Chris". Today I talked to Renee. Renee told me that there was no work order put in for a tech today on my account. We went through the trouble shooting again, to no avail. Renee scheduled a tech to come to my house on Friday between 9:30-1:30. This time the tech is to call me to make sure he is coming.

I arrived back to work very mad. I even called the customer service number but this is not the place where you lodge a complaint. I have to write a letter to the executive offices in Denver. There is not a phone number or even an e-mail where I can contact somebody to rant.

I decided to cancel my subscription with Qwest now CenturyLink and will find another wireless internet provider.

New Bike

2011-10-18T09:01:00.003-06:00

We are the proud owners of a 2012 Harley Triglide. Gary bought a new bike on Saturday. We had put a down payment on it last Saturday at the chili cook off. That was just to hold it so that it wouldn't sell during the week.

We took off all the extras that we put on the old bike, most importantly my windshield. Got it cleaned up and looking nice. We found the manuals on the Lehman conversion, the owner's manual for the bike was always kept inside. We even gave them our old tour pack bag since we will have a new one.

I followed Gary in the car, the weather was a bit iffy and we didn't know how long it would take to get everything done. We bought a luggage rack to put on the new one. We did get into a bit of rain once we hit the Pryor Hill and also wind.

We were at the dealership for 3 1/2 hours getting all the paperwork done and such. Computers didn't want to work hard on a Saturday. Got the luggage rack installed and the battery tender. There was supposed to be one on it, but they had to take one off another bike to put on ours.

We purchased the extended warranty and also a prepaid service package. Instead of a two year warranty we now have a four year warranty. Also all the service for the bike for the next two years is already paid for.

For extras we each bought new helmets. Didn't have the size we needed so have to order them. The kind we got this time has sunglasses built in. Gary also bought the fender protectors. We didn't know about them for the old bike and the fenders were really beat up by rocks and bugs.

The dealership didn't have time to put on the fender protectors so we will have to take the bike up at a later date to get those on.

Headed home and we missed the big hail storm that hit Hardin. Got into town and we could tell that a storm had come through. In fact we missed all the rain coming home.

There are some things that we are going to have to get used to on the new bike. It has a security system on it that in order to start it up you need to have the fob within 5 feet of the bike. Need to make sure that we have our keys with us all the time now. This bike has reverse. We didn't get it on the old one as we would have been charged an extra $1200 for it. We just parked smart and the few times we had to push it back.

Gary says that the new one has more power than the old one. The engine in the new one is a 103 and our old one was a 96. I don't understand all the engine power and stuff like that so I will just take his word for it. Also this one is not as wide as the old one.

I've attached a photo of the triglide. Ours is blue and black.

Going Wireless

2011-10-14T08:23:00.002-06:00

Getting wireless internet is a chore and a nightmare. It is not an easy thing to do.

Called two wireless internet providers for the Hardin area. The first one I called is Big Horn Wireless at TCT. This is the same company that Mom has for her wireless.

TCT would have to do a site survey to see if I could get their signal. They do not have any wiring here in Hardin. If I can get service, then it would be a $40 deposit, $199 installation fee of the dish on the roof of my house. My monthly bill would be $46.45 per month and I would be required to buy my own router. Yikes, that is pretty expensive in my book. Told them that I would have to think about it.

Then I called Qwest which is now CenturyLink. I would only have to pay $20 activation fee, I would be activated by 5:00 pm on the 13th. Qwest would send me a modem and I would pay $99 for that which they will conveniently bill me. My bill will be $34.95 per month. Since I'm a new customer I would only pay $19.99 for the first six months to see if I like the service. Then I would go to the regular monthly fee. They will even throw in a $50 gift card that I can use for the modem. Wonderful, sign me up.

We did get the modem yesterday at 4:00 pm. When I got home from work, called the tech support number and they will walk me through everything, no problems. There is a problem. I am not getting any internet signal. Called tech support again and the problem is that my activation is pending. I was supposed to be activated by 5:00 pm. The little tech said that technically the day hasn't ended and they do have until midnight to get me activated. Looking back he didn't say in what time zone for the 5:00pm activation.

Got up this morning, went swimming still no internet connection. Called tech support again and did all the troubleshooting still nothing. They are going to have to send a tech out to the house. I asked them what time that would be as I would have to take time off from work.

The soonest a tech will be at the house is on Wednesday the 19th between 9:30am-1:30 pm. They do require that a person over the age of 18 be present with the tech. I asked if they could pinpoint the time better but no deal. All right I will just take time off from work and will be home then. The tech had better arrive. I better not see a Qwest or CenturyLink truck around town in the mean time.

Called the billing department this morning because I don't want to be charged for a service that I'm not getting. The gal advised me that she did make a note of it because they certainly don't want me to pay for a service that I'm not getting.

Will have to watch my bill very closely when I get it. Didn't realize that it was going to be a chore getting wireless internet.

Meeteetse Visit

2011-10-13T13:28:00.003-06:00

Went to Meeteetse on Sunday and came home on Monday. I went to get my Grandma fix. I haven't seen my Grandmother all summer and since I had a three day weekend and the weather was nice a great time to go.

Got my car loaded and headed on out, first stop was getting a cup of coffee at McDonald's and away I went. I did get a bit of a late start as I helped Gary get some of our personal items off the bike.

I met the Gma's at Lucilles for lunch and what perfect timing, we both arrived at the same time. Got in a nice lunch then to the house for some visiting.

Grandma, ever the best organizer I have met told me that we have to start planning Mom's birthday bash next year. My mom meets the next milestone of being 3/4 of a century old next year.

We got the date picked out and times, the problem with planning a huge party like this is the logistics with my brother and sisters. But we will get it figured out. So far we have the no host family dinner on Friday, the open house party on Saturday and a BBQ on Sunday.

The hard part is getting the Schumacher Family here, their schedule in July is already jammed packed that I think they are going to have to clone themselves to be everywhere they need to be. But we will get it worked out. For the rest of us, no problem with scheduling.

Went out to the Elkhorn for dinner and a drink. Had a good meal and great time. Got back home and Grandma fell, hurting her arm. I think I'm going to have to take some lessons from her. When I fall I end up breaking something, but she manages to come out with a few bruises and scrapes. Mom and I got her patched up the best we could.

Monday morning we went out for coffee and met a young man from France traveling through. We had coffee with Gladys and I got to hear some stories. For lunch we ate at the Senior Citizens and more stories.

After lunch it was time to go home. We took Grandma to the clinic because a couple of her wounds would not stop bleeding. She was ok and the doc fixed her up a bit better than Mom and I did. He had the better tools.

Had a great visit and got my Grandma fix that will hold me for a while.

Chili Feed

2011-10-11T11:01:00.002-06:00

Saturday Gary and I went up to Billings as the Harley dealership was having a chili cook off. Our chapter had an entry in it. We went to sample the chili which didn't start until 11:00 am.

We went to Billings early to run some errands. I got my hair trimmed and also bought a new computer. It is a cute little Acer netbook actually. We bought this for when we travel and on the occassions when we both need the computer. That is usually all the time. All I need to do is get wireless internet at the house.

We also tried to find a dv recorder, but apparently those things no longer exist. You either rent the machines through your cable company or you buy a tivo and pay for that service. With the new laws that have come out in the last couple years, you no long can buy a dv recorder off the shelf. I guess the cable companies felt that they were getting ripped off somehow. We only record one show and decided that if our vcr dies on us wait until the tv show comes out on dvd and buy it. Cheaper than paying a monthly service for one show.

One of our vcr's did die on us and we can still use our older one. For some unexplained reason we kept the old one. Probably because it got buried with some other stuff and we forgot all about it.

Made our way to the dealership. Boy was that some expensive chili for us. Not only did we pay our $3 each to sample the 18 different chilis, Gary put a downpayment on a new trike. There is nothing wrong with our old one just that it is getting old. Talked to the saleman and he gave us the blue book value on our old one sight unseen and we were pleasantly surprised. Talked to the guy and put a downpayment on it so that it wouldn't get sold before we can make it back on Saturday. I also get a new helmet in the deal.

Now we have the week to clean of the old bike and take off all the extras that we put on it and clean it up. I told Gary that he is taking off his new windshield that I bought in Rapid City with my winnings in June.

We sampled alot of chili, voted for our favorite ones then headed home. We had spent enough money all ready.

We go back to the dealership on Saturday and start the wheeling and dealing.

Cody Tae Kwon Do Tournament

2011-10-03T11:10:00.003-06:00

Saturday we had nine students compete in the Cody Tae Kwon Do Tournament. Seven of them are new to the tournaments and were very nervous. They all did extremely well and we are very proud of them. All of them came home with medals. In fact they all medaled in the events they were entered in. Had one boy who couldn't spar, he forgot to pack his mouth guard and had no way to get one. He was not allowed to spar without it. Felt sorry for him, but he is one of our older students and has been to many tournaments so he knows better. They are to bring their medals to class on Tuesday so that I can take a group photo. It's just too hard to get that done at the tournament. Our students are bringing home 17 medals, 6 golds, 6 silvers and 5 bronzes.

We decided to spend the night in Cody after the tournament. It makes for a very long day if we drive back home afterwards. During the summer I had earned enough points for a free night at the Best Western Motel, so we stayed there. Jennifer paid for her own room at $140.

We left Hardin at 5:00 am to eat a good breakfast in Billings. Once we got into Cody, Gary wanted to see how the GPS on my phone would direct us to the school. I had paper maps with directions that I gave to the students. The GPS had us go in a weird way. We turned right, then an immediate left which took us through a residentail area. Due to the road being closed for construction we had to make several other turns before we got on the street we should be on. We did arrive at the school, but it was so stupid. My paper map had us turn left like we were going to Powell, then you turn right onto the street where the school is, pretty simple.

I guess if you didn't know Cody at all the GPS would be ok, after all we did arrive there, however I love my paper maps.

I told Gary that when we left the school after the tournament did he want to use the GPS to find the hotel or was he ok. He replied that he would be ok.

We got checked into our motel and we were able to relax. Gary and I went to the hot tub and pool to soak. We ate supper at a Mexican restaurant call La Comida. We were able to eat outside along the sidewalk. So glad that the weather was nice in October.

We left for home at 8:00 am on Sunday as Gary wanted to get home in time to watch the football games. We had choices for breakfast, could eat the free breakfast in the lobby, which was rolls, cereal, and we could get sausage and eggs or you could eat at the restaurant for 20% off your meal. We decided to eat at the restaurant.

Weekend Get Togethers

2011-09-26T10:18:00.003-06:00

We had a fun filled weekend, probably the last time we will get to enjoy our good weather.

We were invited to a garage party at our friends the Butterfields. All we had to bring was a side dish. I had already told Kitty that we would be bringing a cheese and cracker tray. Since we went to Tillamook Cheese Factory, Gary was able to get ahold of his distributor and he now stocks the garlic chili pepper cheddar cheese. Very yummy. We didn't have to be in Billings until 6:00 pm, but Kitty did ask if I could come early to help her set up for the party. No problem, the least I could do since they insist that we spend the night at their place, which means we will be drinking.

In the morning I baked two loaves of zucchini bread, got some house work done and then got my tray ready for the party. Got five small bricks of cheese to cut up. For crackers we took Town House and Club. The different cheeses were the garlic chili cheese, pepper jack, marble cheddar, colby, mild cheddar and smoke cheddar.

We got the the Butterfield's house around 4:30, they already had the tables and chairs set up and Kitty pretty much had it set up, not much for me to do. People started arriving. There were 17 in all and had a great time. Kitty had made two pitchers of mojito's and they were very tasty. Only the women were drinking them. Since the others had to drive home, Kitty and I finished off one pitcher of mojitos, not to mention the other drinks I had. Had a beer right away at their house, then Gary and I were drinking Jack and diet coke. Good thing we didn't have to drive home.

While the women visited the guys got together and decided to go on a bike trip in the morning. The chapter was having their Northern 500 run anyway, so our group went on their own run. It was decided to go to Sheridan for lunch by way of Decker.

Gary and I took the Butterfields out to breakfast. At first Kitty said she would fix breakfast but we convinced her to let us since she went to all the trouble to feed us the night before, she didn't need to cook for us in the morning.

We ate at the Burger King where the rest of the group were going to meet. Gary and I came on home to get ready to go. We didn't wash the bike from the last ride we went on and it was just covered in bugs, but didn't have time to wash it.

We met the group at the Exxon station in Crow Agency. That is where they wanted to gas up, instead of Hardin. That was a disaster getting gas for them. The station didn't have any premium gas. Some did fill their tanks with the medium grade, while most decided to get gas in Sheridan.

There were 12 of us riding to Sheridan for lunch, we took the back road through Decker to get there. Very pretty ride and with the fall colors I will need to take another trip to get photos.

Gary was asked how far Sheridan was from gas station and it is about 90 miles. Our leader who goes by the GPS said that it is 105 miles according to the GPS. Well, what does Gary know, he patrolled the highways for 20 years. It's actually about 85 miles from the Crow gas station.

Off we went, we were the last bike in the group. About 5 miles from Sheridan we turned off to get back on the interstate. Didn't figure that one out until it was pointed that the GPS said to turn there to get to Sheridan. We could have just continued on and arrive in Sheridan too.

Got gas then it was decided to eat at the Chinese restaurant. Gary was to lead because he knows where it is. I was asked by the GPS leader what the name of the restaurant is. I don't know I just know where it is and how to get there. What street is it on. Don't know that either. The GPS people just don't have any reasoning, they go by what the GPS says. Very frustrating. Gary is so glad that we didn't buy one. The one on my phone works great and I only use it to get me around big cities.

We only lost two bikes getting to the restaurant. We just got back on the interstate, took the last exit into Sheridan then you turn right at the first light. The restaurant is in the little shopping center across from Wal-Mart and the Holiday Inn, next to Albertson's grocery. One found their way, the other bike not sure where they went but they found us.

Had a great lunch with good company. Most of us then came home. Two of the bikes decided to ride through the Big Horn Mountains to get back to Billings. It was a very nice day and got hot once we got out of the mountains.

The trees are starting to change colors. Will have to go out in a couple weeks and get some photos.

Mystery Ride

2011-09-22T10:28:00.002-06:00

Sunday Gary and I rode in the chapter mystery ride. It was also a chapter meeting so I had to go since I'm the secretary of our chapter. The end of the ride we get free food, so it brings out alot of people. Free food always does.

The mystery rides we don't know where we are going or how we will get there. This year the mystery ride was that we all rode as a group and it was an observation ride. We had to ride to places find puzzle pieces. Once we got the puzzle pieces we would know where our final destination place will be.

First Gary and I went to our friends the Davis's to change the oil in his bike, we were there bright and early at 8:00 am. It was a bit chilly but not too bad. That didn't take long then we went out to breakfast. Who knows when we will get a chance to eat again.

We all met at the dealership, there were 30 bikes and about 45 people who went on the ride. A very large group to be riding together, but we made it work. This year the mystery ride was an observation ride, stopping at places picking up puzzle pieces.

The route took us to Roundup, Lavina, Ryegate, Harlowtown, Two Dot, Checkerboard, White Sulphur Springs, Townsend, Three Forks and then Belgrade. However, we may not make every stop once we get enough puzzle pieces together we would be able to figure out our final destination.

Off we go, we made stops in Roundup, Lavina, Ryegate, Harlowtown, Two Dot, Checkerboard and White Sulphur Springs. We had a gas stop in Harlowton and that took half an hour to get all the bikes gassed up along with the regular traffic that flows into Harlowtown. While Gary was waiting in line for gas, I ran into the convenience store for a pop and some snacks.

It was windy all day and we had a head wind the whole way since we turned to head to Lavina from Roundup. We took Highway 12 all the way to White Sulphur Springs. I did see some scenery that I haven't seen before, I have never been to Two Dot and west to White Sulphur Springs, so was able to cross off some highways.

By the time we arrived in White Sulphur Springs it was getting late, around 3:00pm. Decided to start putting the puzzle together and try to figure out where we need to go. I was nominated to put it together as Gary said I was good at puzzles. We got the sign together and all I could make out was that we were going to someplace called Oasis Steakhouse and Lounge. One of the guys make out the rest of the name Sir Scott's and he knew exactly where that was, in Manhattan. Gary had the idea to call the place and to confirm that our group is supposed to be there. One other guy did.

Now what to do. By the time we arrive in Manhattan it would be around 4:00, have a meeting eat dinner it would be dark when we get home. Quite a few people did leave after White Sulphur Springs.

The group decided to take Bridger Canyon into Bozeman then we can take the interstate for the 20 miles into Manhattan. When we made the turn off to take Bridger Canyon that is where about 14 others decided to go on home by going into Livingston.

Gary wanted to go home because by the time you factor in the time it would be very late. I reminded him that I sort of have to be at the meeting because I'm the secretary, but he could do what he needed to do. We ended up going to the meeting, partly because of the way we were in the pack, he couldn't break off in a safe manner. The rest of our friends headed home.

We arrived in Manhattan about 4:15 pm. Got settled in, read the menu. There was no limit on what we could order just as long as we ordered off the bar & patio menu. We both ordered the chicken dinners. While were waiting for the food to cook we all went outside for the group chapter photo, then back in for a short meeting.

We left Manhattan around 6:20 pm, by the time we got back on the bike and gassed up. We made it home at 8:50 pm. Gary was not pleased because it was dark by then, we did pass up some others who had left 20 minutes before we did and there were still quite a few who were still there when we left.

Our friends who left earlier were quite concerned and left Gary messages that he returned. The friends who left later than we did got to their homes aroudn 9:30 pm. I did post on facebook that we go home, as quite a few biker friends are on there.

Gary has informed me that he will never do another mystery ride again unless he can be assured that he would be back in Billings by 4:00 pm. Don't have to tell him where the ride will end, he just wants assurance that we will get home before dark. Our friends also said that they won't go on a mystery ride either. There were three women who are new riders and it just wasn't safe to expose them to that kind of riding. In fact one woman did lay her bike down at the gas stop in Harlowtown, she was so embarassed.

I may have to go in the car if that is the case. I knew that Gary wouldn't be going on any more after this one. He is not a fan of not knowing where he is going, he wants to know all the particulars.

There was another couple from Hardin who went and broke off at White Sulphur Spring and a couple from Colstrip who went the whole distance. I had told some people that we have that extra 50 miles that Billings people don't and that the Colstrip couple have further to go than us.

I have heard complaints about this ride, not the route but the time issues and will have to bring it up at the officer's meeting in October.

Collars & Chrome Poker Run

2011-09-21T11:11:00.005-06:00

Last Saturday Gary and I rode in the Collars and Chrome Poker Run. The Harley dealership sponsors this every year, in fact this was the second year. The Humane Society in Billings will receive all the proceeds. We had the opportunity to adopt a dog, which we didn't. They also had stuff where dog owners could get vaccinations and other veterinary services.

For $30 we got our poker hand, a t-shirt and a meal ticket, for $5 more I bought an extra meal ticket for Gary. Old Chicago in Billings was catering the meals.

The highlight of this poker run was that Dan Haggerty of Grizzly Adams fame participated. He does a bunch of things for animal welfare. We got or photo taken with him. At the end of the ride a group photo was taken of all the poker participants with him. For $10 I bought the cheap poorly taken 4X6 photo with his autograph.

Dan Haggerty was a very nice celebrity, he was sure in his element and he didn't put on any airs with anyone. I fit right in with the group, just a regular guy.

The poker route took us to Columbus, Absarokee, Red Lodge, Roberts and back to Billings. Not a very long route just enjoyable. In Red Lodge we had two stops, one in a bar and the other at the dealership's t-shirt shop. The shop is where we were fed snacks and had the opportunity to buys some clothing on sale. We ate the food, had sandwiches, chips and brownies. Very yummy and it didn't cost.

At Red Lodge is where our group broke off, we went ahead to Roberts. As we left Roberts, there was an ugly rain cloud overhead at Joliet which we hit. Not very long, just enough to say it rained. We got to Billings and turned in my poker hand. The group that was with Dan Haggerty got caught in hail at Joliet. Dan didn't wear a helmet and he just got beat up. One of our friends said that if they had just kept going on instead of waiting out the storm, it wouldn't have been bad.

Some of the bars had prizes and at the Roberts stop I won a Harley t-shirt and also a $15 gift card at the Lost Junction Saloon. I bought a round of drinks for the people who rode with us and I still have $4.50 left on the card. Will have to go back and get a beer. The t-shirt I was able to trade it in for a smaller size at the Billings dealership. The design on the back is the same. The first shirt had a wolf head on it, the one that fits has a wolf head but different. I like the second one better. Gary has been eyeing my shirt, but I have it safe and sound. The poker run shirt will be kept in a drawer as that is the one that Dan Haggerty signed.

We ate our meal with the tickets and was not impressed. You got your choice of either a plateful of chicken wings or a turkey sandwich with salad. Had to pay for your beer. We shared our meal, Gary got a plateful of wings and I got a sandwich.

When we finished up at the dealership, we ran over to watch Tristan's football game. We got there for the second half. What an exciting game for the little guys. Tristan's team was behind but at the end of the game they tied. The league doesn't do overtimes as that would create a problem with time issues. His team scored just as the buzzer went off to end the game, but they got the opportunity to score the extra point and that would make them win. Unfortunately they had two penalties called on them and missed their extra point by about a yard.

9-11 Memorials

2011-09-19T09:09:00.002-06:00

We participated in two 9-11 memorials. The first one we rode with the BASTARDS on their poker run. The proceeds from this go to the Laurel Hometown Troops. This groups mails care packages to Montana soldiers. We rode in this last year and had fun. We didn't participate in the poker run as we had to get to the College of Technology for the memorial there.

There were 200 bikes riding in the BASTARDS run, we made our way from Laurel to the Yellowstone County Courthouse for a short presentation. What a sight that was to see all those bikes. We were towards the back of the procession and we never did see the front. It was fun and you should have seen the motorists when bikers were stopping traffic in the city of Billings. In fact one woman motorist was on a mission to confront a biker who stopped her. We didn't stay to see how that went, not pretty I'm sure. Apparently the Billings PD wouldn't cooperate except when we got to the courthouse. In fact we were told that we violated the noise ordinance.

If it wasn't for the bikers there wouldn't have been anyone at the ceremony at the courthouse. There may have been about 10 people besides bikers there. We had to leave the group here to make our way to the college.

The ceremony at the college was for the piece of the World Trade Center that we escorted back in May. Gary was the ride captain for this event with the Patriot Guard Riders. Had a good turn out about 25 people participated.

First we set up our flag line at the entrance to the college, then we set up behind the military and emergency services personnel during the actual ceremony. We were there for 2 2/1 hours and it got pretty warm out.

Gary bought a case of bottled water for our group, it was a welcome relief. There were alot of people out for this event and they did keep things rolling. I have my photos of this on picasa.

Missoula MT to Hardin MT

2011-09-13T13:33:00.002-06:00

Headed home today, the last leg of our trip. It was an easy route as we hit I-90 all the way home, no side trips this time. The Butte Harley shop was closed, at least no one answered the phone when Marty called.

The further east we went the warmer it got. We ate lunch in Livingston at a McDonald's and it was pretty busy. Traffic too. We had to remember that is was a holiday.

After eating and getting gas, we said our goodbyes. Will be peeling off when we got to Billings.

We got home around 4:00 pm, time to relax for a bit before getting back to our work routine in the morning.

All in all we had a good trip, traveled 3400+ miles saw alot of beautiful scenery. Will definately have to take another trip back, there is just too much to see that we missed.

I got all of my photos posted on picasa, now I just have to get busy and get them on a cd for Vickie and Sandi.

Now we get to sit back and wait for our next trip in October. This time we are flying and it will just be us.

Colville WA to Missoula MT

2011-09-12T13:39:00.002-06:00

By this time we are exhausted from riding 300+ miles for the past 10 days. We had two days that were under 300 and only 1 1/2 days of being a tourist. The rest of the time was spent on the bike getting from point A to point B.

Gary was pretty tired and driving on these narrow, twisty mountain roads was beginning to take it's toll on him. All he wants to do is take the fastest and shortest route to Missoula.

That didn't happen. We ended up going to Sandpoint ID, then on up to Bonners Ferry and take the scenic route into Missoula, it was only 350 miles. At least the mountain roads weren't too twisty this time.

We ate lunch in a bar in Trout Creek and arrived in Missoula to our delight. Got checked in without any problems. We weren't too hungry since we ate a late lunch, so we went to Makenzie Pizza next to the motel and drank beer. It was very good.

Once we got into Montana the weather warmed up quite a bit. On this trip Gary brought two flasks and a pint of whiskey, which we drank the whole time. I did drink at least one beer, then I just drank diet coke or pepsi for the rest of the night. I admit that I did spike the diet coke. We drank the last of the whiskey in Colville.

We did eat something, just to eat so Gary and I shared a dessert called Mack Lovin. It is a pazookie. Very yummy.

Looking forward to getting home and to be able to sleep in our own bed. Gary told our friends that he is going to go straight home, not making any stops. Our ride home is 400 miles and he has to work bright and early the next morning. Our friends wanted to stop at the Harley shop in Butte.

Oak Harbor to Colville WA

2011-09-12T13:02:00.002-06:00

Leaving Oak Harbor and traveled through the North Cascades National Park. There is no entry fee to this park, so we didn't save any money on our park pass that we bought this year. We have only used it twice since we bought it in July. Good thing that it is good for a year, so will have to get some use out of it.

This park is just scenery, not very many pull out places to good views.

We got into Colville in the late afternoon, got checked in. Again we ran into problems with reservations. The front desk said that they did not have any reservation down for us. Wonderful, here we go again. Fortunately they had rooms for all of us, which is surpising considering that it was a three day weekend. Sandi did go out and find her paper with the confirmation numbers. I did call the motel in Missoula to confirm the reservation that Sandi had made, since twice we have run into problems. Missoula had us down.

We had to drive to eat dinner, so this time we chose Chinese. It was good food, however the waitress did spill food down my back. As she was placing the food, some sweet & sour chicken fell off the plate and down my back. At first I thought that it hit my jacket, but pretty soon my back felt warm. She apologized profusely, got me a glass of club soda to clean off my shirt. She rinsed out my jacket. It was an accident so what are you going to do. Fortunately I was wearing a black t-shirt. My meal was not comped and we did leave her a good tip. I felt at least my meal should have been comped, but I didn't complain. The waitress is working for minimum wage and my meal would have been taken out of her check. Now I move out of the way from a waitress.

Seaside OR to Oak Harbor WA

2011-09-12T09:33:00.002-06:00

This is the day that we had to catch the ferry by 4:00 pm, so it was a riding day. We didn't stop for lunch just gas stops. This is also the day that Vickie heard that her two uncles had passed away within days of each other.

We made it to the ferry at Port Townsend just in time. We bought our tickets, got in line where we were told to go. We had to wait 5 minutes before we had to get loaded on the ferry. All the motorcycles were loaded first, there were two other motorcycles besides us.

The ferry ride was only 30 minutes but is was a very nice ride. I stayed out on the deck taking pictures. Soon is was announced that we had to head to our vehicles to be unloaded.

First the pedestrians were unloaded, then the bikers then the rest. They don't waste any time getting you on or off the ferry, you need to pay attention and be ready. The fee for us was $10, we were charged for our vehicle and two people. The fee is based on how big your vehicle is and the number in your party. I would hate to pay was the family did who was towing a travel trailer.

We found our motel and it was a very nice one. It was called the Coachman Inn, rooms are very large and roomy. Of course anything would be better than the postage stamp sized one we were in yesterday.

While we were at the Tillamook Cheese Factory we bought some garlic chili pepper cheese and crackers, which we shared with our friends and had appetizers and cocktails before supper. We ate at a Greek restaurant which was next to the motel. It was very tasty food and we got alot of food. Had a great time and our friends Marty & Vickie were able to relax after received their sad news. The highlight of the restaurant was the urinal in the mens bathroom. Very contemporary, you should have seen us when the men were escorting their wives to see the men's bathroom.

While we were standing around, there was an accident on the corner. The guys were the ones who called it in, they didn't witness the accident but it wasn't hard to figure out. One man pulled out in front of the lady and they hit. Fortunately no one was hurt, but the guys thought the womans vehicle was on fire as they saw alot of smoke inside her car. Turned out the smoke was the gas from the air bags.

After supper we went back to the motel, this time we had fudge for dessert and more cocktails.

Reedsport OR to Seaside OR

2011-09-09T14:18:00.002-06:00

Today we are traveling up the coast and we get to see more stuff today, actually get to be a tourist.

We saw the Oregon Sand Dunes, Sea Lion Caves, Yaquina Head Lighthouse, Sea Rock, Haystack Rock and other sites in between.

Our favorite stop was in Newport OR. It was time for a coffee break so we headed into the historical section of Newport. There was a nice harbor and we met with a local crab fisherman. He was so nice and explained to us that fishing for crabs was so easy and very relaxing. He had is crab baskets in the water, so we watched him bring one up. He told us that all the female crabs had to be released and the male crabs has to be a certain size to keep. He showed us how we could tell which crabs were male and female and also was the penalty was if you are found with a female crab. You can rent the baskets and stuff and fish for a day, which a family was doing. I even held a crab, but had to throw her back. Vickie took the picture of that and I will be getting a cd of her photos.

It was a nice and relaxing time, we walked along the harbor, saw a commercial fishing company deal with shrimp and saw the sea lions. They lay along the harbor next to the commercial fishing places. I suppose they get to eat the fish stuff that is throw out, but we didn't see any of that.

The one thing that I wanted to do was see a lighthouse, so we stopped at Yaquina Head. This is a national park area so we got to use our passes and the ranger was originally from Hamilton MT. She was excited to see Montana people. I didn't go tour the lighthouse, just walked around. The rest of the party wasn't interested.

We ate lunch in Lincoln City at a place called Mo's. The claim to fame here is the clam chowder, which was good but I liked the chowder in Gold Beach better. This little chain of Mo's serves over 600,000 pounds of clam chowder a year.

We finally made our way to Seaside, found the motel and ran into a snafu. Sandi had made all the reservations for this trip, so when she went to check in the front desk told her that they only had two rooms and a note that Sandi changed the reservations last night. Sandi was upset and kept telling the lady that that is wrong. I ran out and grabbed our sheet with the confirmation numbers. When I went back inside, the front desk lady very rudely told Sandi that she could keep saying no, but the computer says that there were only two rooms reserved. She changed her tune when I showed her the confirmation numbers. We did get rooms, but not the ones that were reserved. Gary and I took the single queen room and it was no bigger than a postage stamp. Had to crawl into bed and we didn't have room to move around without bumping into each other. No place to put our bags either. Pat & Sandi ended up in a room that is a pet room, which she wasn't too happy about. At least we got rooms even though we were spread out all over the hotel. Our room didn't have hot water either. When we checked out I told the girl at the front desk about no hot water and she asked me how long did I run the water. Give me a break. I told her a long time. I do have a survey to fill out for this motel and they are not going to like my answers.

I was able to get some sunset photos on the ocean here at Seaside. When we checked in we were given a coupon for 15% off either dinner or breakfast at the restaurant in the hotel. We chose to use it for dinner. Good thing because when we went down for breakfast at 7:00, the restaurant wasn't open yet. We ate breakfast at this cute restaurant nearby and I had the most delicious blueberry pancakes. Couldn't eat it all though.

Garberville CA to Reedsport OR

2011-09-09T11:02:00.002-06:00

We are now starting to make our way back home, heading north. Stopped in a grove at the Avenue of the Giants that we missed yesterday. It was nice walking on the trail looking at these huge trees. This was the stop that Mom and I walked through 9 years ago. We left Grandma in the car.

Today we are meeting back up with Pat & Sandi, their bike is fixed and they are ready to travel again.

We ate lunch in Gold Beach and had the best clam chowder I have ever had in a restaurant along the Rogue River. Our little boat that we saw yesterday is now flooded since high tide. Didn't think to take photos.

We stopped in Coos Bay at the dealership for a break and to look around. I bought some pins here. Before the trip we had mentioned stopping at the Coos Bay dealer and Pat just wrinkled his nose and said that they don't like Coos Bay. Now I know why, this is the second time that they had their bike repaired in Coos Bay. I guess I wouldn't like a town if I was stuck there. The Harley dealership in Coos Bay is the most western dealership.

We arrived in Reedport and now our group is back together again. Ate supper at a Mexican restaurant just down the street.

Bandon OR to Garberville CA

2011-09-08T14:17:00.002-06:00

This morning is when our party had to go separate ways. Pat & Sandi headed up to Coos Bay to get their bike fixed, we won't see them until tomorrow when we meet back up in Reedsport. The rest of us headed south to Garberville CA.

It was a nice sunny day, but riding along the coast a bit on the windy side. We made some stops along the way to get photos of the ocean. We made a quick stop in Gold Beach for something and saw this boat. The boat was covered in moss so had to get photos. It was a very nice stop, learned the history on the boat.

Our first stop was in Eureka CA at the harley shop. We bought some t-shirts and other trinkets. The girl at the shop gave us some pointers on what to see and also where to get the best lunch in Eureka. It was a brewery, we found it, had to park in the back. This was in the downtown area and didn't look very nice. Alot of homeless people were milling around just a block over. We found some parking spaces, put our money in the meters when it was decided to leave right away.

There was a homeless man milling around the parking lot and had his eye on the bikes. We left as we had our bags just strapped on top of the tour packs and we wanted our clothes for the rest of the vacation. We did find a fast food place to grab a quick bite to eat and it was in a nicer part of town.

Making our way south we drove through the Avenue of the Giants. Stopped at the Immortal Tree for some photos and shopping for souvenirs. We then drove to the drive through tree. Our original plan was to make it to Leggett as that is the tree I remember, I don't remember thiss one. We went through this one instead saving at 50 mile ride. It was fun, there were also some treehouses there that we wandered through. Gary was the only one that would fit into the upper story of one treehouse.

We made our way through the Avenue of the Giants. Since we have to travel back this way, will catch what we miss. While at the Eureka Harley shop the girl did tell Marty not to trust his GPS. In fact his GPS got excited and wanted us to get back on the highway.

Made it to Garberville and got checked in. There was a nice pizza place next door to the motel that we could go and drink beer. Wandered around a bit, nothing much to see. We got a pizza to go and ate at the motel. All of our rooms had a small balcony, very nice.

Got news from Pat that his bike will be fixed in the morning. They ended up renting a car and then driving to Eugene to pick up the part. That way the part would be at the dealership. The bearing in his transmission went out and they were surprised that he made it all that way like it was.

Hood River OR to Bandon OR

2011-09-08T08:34:00.002-06:00

Woke up to a cold morning, it was cloudy and windy out. Pat had a chest congestion when we started and it was just getting worse, he asked if I could find the hospital in Bandon, he really needed to get his chest cleared up. I found the community health center for him.

We got ready to go and we looked on our GPS (rand mcnally) for the route, no problem. We were taking the interstate anyway. I told Gary that we would take the bypass to avoid the Portland traffic. We are headed down the road with Pat leading and he missed the exit for the by pass. Hit the morning rush hour in Portland, was not fun. At the gas stop we heard complaints about the traffic in Portland. I said that we could have taken the bypass to avoid all the traffic but was told that according to GPS, the route we took was shorter.

We arrived in Bandon to sunshine which was a welcome sight. Found our motel, it really wasn't a motel more like a bed and breakfast without the breakfast. It was located right on the harbor. Pat started having problems with his bike, it wasn't shifting right. Pat and Sandi went to the hospital so that gave the rest of us time to scout out Bandon.

We were staying in the historic part of town. Marty and Gary talked to a local and ended up in the local bar while Vickie and I checked out the cute shops in Bandon. We didn't buy anything, too hard to pack home on the bike. Looked at alot of stuff, stuff that you can buy up here.

Met up with Pat & Sandi, Pat is going to be fine got some antibiotics to take care of his congestion. The guys were looking at Pat's bike trying to figure out what the problem is. Pat thought that it was the transmission. We ate supper on the harbor at a crab shack. I tried a fish taco. Didn't really care for it. Talked to the owner of the crab shack as he was cooking crab for the fishermen that were coming in.

Later on we went back to the local bar that Marty & Gary went to for drinks. That's where I saw a sign for Hemp Ale made with hemp seeds. Just what a person needs marijuana beer. It was $4 a bottle. The bartender let us pose in front of the sign holding hemp beer. None of us tried it.

It was decided that Pat & Sandi would go to Coos Bay in the morning to the dealership there. It was only 20 miles. We would head on to Garberville CA and then meet up with Pat & Sandi at the next motel in Reedsport OR.

Orofino ID to Hood River OR

2011-09-07T16:08:00.002-06:00

Woke up to a beautiful morning, had breakfast by the river and got a free bottle of water on the bike. This is where the guys with the GPS decided that we needed to take the scenic route to Hood River, not the most direct route. We dipped into Washington and drove on twisty mountain roads in Hells Canyon area. It's pretty but had alot of curves and hills.

We stopped in Enterprise for a short break, there was another couple who arrived that live in Hood River. Talked to them for a bit and found out all the information of road construction and what exit to take to get to our motel.

It was getting warm in Enterprise when we left headed to Pendleton, ate lunch here then made our way to Hood River. Very hot on this leg. The speed limit in Oregon is very slow. 55 on the two lanes and 65 on the interstate. Also in Oregon you are not allowed to pump your own gas. At gas stops in Oregon we had to wait for the attendant, the attendant would hand the pump to the guys and then they could gas up.

We were so glad to get to Hood River, very hot along the Columbia River. Good thing we listened to the couple in Enterprise about the road construction, who knows where the GPS would have us go. Got checked in. We stayed at the Best Western here and it is along the banks of the Columbia River. We didn't have river view rooms those were a bit more expensive, but again just had to walk around the corner to get a great view of the river.

We all met in the motel bar for some drinks before dinner. Four of us were drinking Bud Light beer, then it was time to get to our dinner table. A man came up to me and said that he noticed our party was drinking Bud Light and he wanted to buy everyone a Miller Lite. Turns out that he is a high up at the Miller Brewery and he wanted us to change over to Miller Light. Gary and I sure liked Miller Lite over the Bud Light, so he made converts out of us. We had the waiter take a photo of us with our Miller Lites, then showed it to the man. Free beer tastes so much better anyway, but we really did like it. We drank Miller Lites for the rest of the trip.

The restaurant in the motel was Italian and we had some very good meals. I had lasagne and it was so huge that I couldn't eat it all. Sandi ordered a creme brule for dessert and it was huge. Most creme brule that I have seen come in custard size cups, not this one. It would have feed all six of us without any problems. She couldn't eat it all.

When we checked in the motel we received coupons for dinner and breakfast. Dinner was order one entree and get the other one for half off and for breakfast we had a choice of 5 different items for free. It was all good.

Again Gary and I woke up very early, not adjusted to the time change yet so we walked around. Got a cup of coffee at Starbucks which was right next to our motel at 5:00 am.

Butte MT to Orofino ID

2011-09-07T14:48:00.002-06:00

Saturday morning arrived. The rule on the road is breakfast at 7:00 on the road at 8:00. The motel had a fabulous breakfast, alot of choices. Then it was time to check out and pack up the bike.

At Anaconda we turned off and took the Pindler Scenic route, that took us to Georgetown Lake. We got back on the interstate at Drummond and made our way to Missoula. In Missoula we stopped for a cup of coffee before heading on through Lolo Pass.

Lolo Pass is a very scenic drive and we have not been on before. Stopped at the top of the pass for a lunch break which we just ate snacks. I picked up an Idaho state map. As we came off the mountain the temps were really hot. It was 100 degrees when we reached the bottom. At one gas stop we just enjoyed the very nice air conditioning in the gas station. I was so hot that I drank a liter of water in nothing flat. Got out my neck scarf and got it wet with cold water for the rest of the trip. It helped, but got dried out in 5 minutes.

We arrived in Orofino and checked into the Best Western motel. This motel is on the bank of the Clearwater River and a very beautiful location. Got checked in and the front desk lady told us to park the bikes out in front. In the morning there was a bottle of water and a bike rag on them.

Gary and I hit the pool to cool down and it felt wonderful, then we got dressed and met our friends at the restaurant next to the motel. It was too hot to eat outside, but we had a very good meal. Once the sun went down we then went out on the balcony overlooking the river for some drinks.

Once we had crossed into Idaho, the time changed. It took a couple days to get adjusted. Gary and I both woke up at 2:00 am, mainly because the people upstairs had young children who apparently couldn't sleep and it sounded like they were jumping up and down on the floor. We took a walk around the motel. Went back and took a nap before waking up at 5:30. I took advantage of the exercise room for a short workout.

For breakfast we were able to sit outside on the deck by the river, that was very nice and relaxing. Soon it was time to pack up the bikes and head on down the road.

Hardin to Butte

2011-09-07T09:18:00.002-06:00

We left Hardin on August 26 at 2:00 to meet with our friends Pat & Sandi Breckenridge and Mary & Vickie Davis. They ride trikes too. We met them at the gas station off of Zoo Drive. Left Billings at 3:00 and made a straight shot to Butte.

We left on Friday to get that first 300 miles out of the way. We got to Butte at 6:00, made good time. We were outrunning a storm that was chasing us. Never did get us though.

We stayed at the Best Western in Butte. Gary doesn't have a GPS but Pat and Marty do, they programmed the motel into their system. We saw the signs as we headed into town and you can see the motel from the highway. Once we turned off the highway had to turn left, but the GPS said to turn right. Sure enough Pat & Marty turned right while we turned left. Both of them said that the GPS told them to turn right.

We got checked in and received a bag with a bottle of water, some almonds and coupons for the motel bar. One coupon was for a free drink and the other was for $1 in machine play. We all met at the bar, got our free drink and the $1. The bartender was very nice, he used the coupons for the most expensive drinks. That was mine, as I drank a tall beer while Gary had a bottle. We didn't play the machines but used the $1 towards our bill.

For supper we ate at the Mexican restaurant next to the motel. Turns out that the manager of the restaurant is friends with the owners of the restaurant in Hardin. The children of the Hardin owners take classes from us so we know them well.

After supper and quite a few drinks we all went to bed, the rule on the road is breakfast at 7:00 on the road at 8:00

Motorcycle Trip

2011-09-06T13:15:00.002-06:00

We got back from our motorcycle trip to the Oregon coast and more yesterday. We traveled 3400 miles and was exhausted when we got home. Saw alot of beautiful scenery from the back of the bike. Had two days where we were able to get out and see things, otherwise it was nothing but a riding vacation.

It was not planned out to be like this, but that is how it ended up. Out of 11 days only two were under 300 miles, the rest were 300 plus. It was a challenging trip, had to bite my tongue alot.

We went with our friends Pat & Sandi Breckenridge and Marty and Vickie Davis, they ride trikes also. Spent many months planning the vacation had short riding days planned. The main goal was to see the redwood trees but only got half a day there.

Pat and Marty planned the routes every day since they have a GPS, Gary doesn't so he wasn't consulted on the route. We won't be getting a GPS either. Not once did their GPS take us in the right direction. Our GPS (Rand McNally) did so much better, but again wasn't considered.

The trip was without some problems either. Pat ended up going to the ER one day and then the Breckenridges bike broke down for a day. Vickie had two uncles pass away within days from each other.

I will be blogging about each day to let you know what we did and the disasters with GPS.

Clean Bill of Health

2011-08-24T15:45:00.002-06:00

Last week I had my six week post-op checkup. It was actually a 5 week checkup as my doctor went of vaction for the sixth week. I got a clean bill of health and I can now see my regular medical provider unless I have any major gynocological problems. All restrictions were lifted and I can now be normal again. I can sit back and wait for the bills to come in.

The doc was pleased and a bit surprised at how well I healed. I am a very healthy 48 year old woman and it had helped that I was in somewhat physical shape. I did tell him that I had gone on a couple motorcycle rides and he was not surprised at all.

I am slowly getting back to the active physical condition that I was before the surgery but have to take baby steps. Can't get in the pool for swimming because the pool is closed until Labor Day for their annual cleaning (goofing off). I will probably drown since I will be out of the water for two months.

I have been walking alot more and faster, just this morning I jogged about a half mile. I was up to three miles before.

My overall health is just fantastic and I feel great. I am handling the hot flashes without any problems so no need for hormone therapy (not that I would do this anyway). I do freeze out Gary and Jennifer with the air conditioning but they are just going to have to get used to it.

Now Gary and I are gearing up for our motorcycle trip to the Oregon Coast. We are also going to Northern California to see the Redwood Forest and then up the Washington coast. We are leaving on Friday and will be home on Labor Day.

Nation of Patriots

2011-08-22T13:07:00.003-06:00

This was our second year participating in this event. Nation of Patriots is a fund raiser for wounded soldiers. It starts off in Wisconsin and the American flag travels to all the states. The organizers ask Harley dealerships to participate because there are dealerships all over, this is not a HOG or Patriot Guard deal. Our friend Dale Butterfield takes charge of the flag when it reaches Billings. Our group then takes the flag to Cody WY and then on to Jackson WY where we pass it on.

Friday after work we left for Billings to spend the night at the Butterfields. Our room was ready. Kitty made her homemade tacos which were very delicious. We spent the night because Dale wanted to leave Billings at 8:00 am.

Saturday morning arrived bright and early. The weather was beautiful this year, nice and sunny and warm. Last year it was raining when we left Billings. We met everyone at the Harley dealership. We had 19 people on 13 bikes ride from Billings to Cody. Once we reached Cody, found parking spaces near the Harley dealership. We took a group photo and then got the dealership to sign the banner. We took about an hour break in Cody. Now we are getting ready for the second leg to Jackson, 7 people headed back to Billings.

We now have 12 people on 7 bikes for the ride from Cody to Jackson. We ate lunch at Pahaska Teepee. It was a very delicious lunch. Gary and I split a plate of nachos. Since we were a large group we were charged a gratuity on our check. Which was really too bad because we would have left the young man a bigger tip, but since they already charged that was all he was going to get.

The ride through the park was beautiful. Didn't see many animals, just one buffalo and possibly an elk. The possible elk was laying down in some trees so all you saw was the rear end. Didn't stop to check it out either.

We arrived in Jackson around 4:00 pm, got checked into our hotel and rested up before going to dinner. We were going to eat at a Mexican restaurant but they don't take reservations so we would have had an hour wait for our large group. We ended up eating at a restaurant right next door that could get us in right away.

We asked for separate tickets when we started ordering, but our waitress said that we could get is straightened out when we paid. That was easier said than done. When we started to leave, normally you would just tell them what you had and pay from there. Not here, everyone had to come up together, tell the young girl what we had. She then made new checks for everyone, step over to the other till and pay. Again they charged us a gratuity, so we only paid what they wanted. As a group we decided not to eat there again.

The rest of the night was spent at the hotel, we just sat around outside visiting and drinking. There is a liquor store right next to our motel. Very convenient.

Sunday morning we did the passing of the flag ceremony for the guy on the next leg. It doesn't take long, then we headed for home. Instead of going through the park, we went through Idaho to West Yellowstone then to Bozeman through Gallatin Canyon. That is a very pretty ride. Ate lunch in West Yellowstone, surprisingly not charged a gratuity, so the waitress made a good haul in tips.

We made a final stop in Big Timber for a quick break and to say our goodbyes to everyone. Once we got out of the mountains it was pretty warm. We didn't get home until 7:00. Had a great time.

Homeward Bound

2011-08-19T15:04:00.002-06:00

We said our good byes to Bonnie the night before. We got the car loaded up and even had room with our new purchases. We were on the road around 8:00 am. Traffic was decent, most of it was headed into the city while we headed south.

We stopped at the visitor center as soon as we crossed the South Dakota/Minnesota state line. Picked up some maps and more brochures. We then stopped in Mitchell to see The Corn Palace. We didn't stay long, just enough to eat lunch and get our photos.

We spent the night in Chamberlain, didn't do anything but relax. The historical bridge was closed for repairs.

On the road again, last day. Motorcycle traffic is starting to pick up. Most of them were headed east leaving Sturgis but a few were headed west. We stopped in Wall to wander around the Wall Drug Store. It has been many years since I've been here. Not much has changed, but there were some new stuff. Mom and I both sat on the jackalope. We weren't the only adults doing it either.

I made it through the Rapid City and Sturgis traffic. Made the mistake of trying to get gas in Spearfish. I figured it would be pretty easy since the station was just off the interstate. It was so full of bikers that it was ridiculous. My first clue should have been the vendor tents at the gas station. We decided to get gas in Beulah as soon as we crossed into Wyoming. It was a busy little station for this time of year but not bad at all.

We ate lunch in Gillette. Made one last stop in Sheridan before the final stretch to Hardin. We did get caught in a hail storm. It came down fast and hard that it was hard to see. I pulled off in Wyola thinking that I could get under the overpass, but it was full of bikers and other vehicles. We were there for about 10 minutes. The hail was the size of quarters.

We had a great trip and fun. It was good to visit Bonnie and just have girl time. No girls trip next year as Jennifer and I are going to Hawaii with Gary for Christmas. No way he would stay home from Hawaii.

Here are some photos on our way home.

Minnesota and Como Zoos

2011-08-19T11:36:00.002-06:00

Our last day in Minnesota was spent visiting the Minnesota and Como Zoos. One of the stipulations of my visit to my nephews was that they take me to the zoo so that I can see the bears. Their mom took me instead. The Minnesota Zoo has more animals and we walked all over. We watched the dolphin show and got to see the baby dolphin born last year. We missed the bird show as we were too busy looking at all the other exhibits. We had coupons for a few dollars off our admission price to this zoo. After visiting this zoo we then ate lunch and went to the Como Zoo. This is a smaller zoo but had a couple different animals, polar bears, zebras and giraffes. We also rode the Cafesjian's Carousel. This was built in 1914, the horses are hand carved and painted.

Stillwater

2011-08-19T08:22:00.003-06:00

Traveled to Stillwater which is a historic town on the St. Croix River. There are caves that you can tour when during the prohibition days they made the alcohol. The cave tours are only open Thursdays-Sundays. We were there on Monday. Bonnie found a place to park which you had to pay then we walked around the town. Our first order of business was climbing the stairs to get a view of the town at the top. Many stairs and as long as I took it slow I was fine. People for exercise will run us these stairs. The view was fantastic at the top. Made our way down and had a nice cool drink. Then we wandered around and shopped. There are many cute little shops in the town. We ate lunch in a place called The Rafters. We were able to sit by the window and look out at the river. After lunch we walked along the river. The river was pretty high and the sidewalk that is normally at the river's edge was flooded. You could barely see the tops of the markers at the edge. Mom and Bonnie dipped their toes in the murky river. They were on the steps that lead down to the lower sidewalk and you could not see the second step. It was fun, walked alot but at a leisurely pace. When we got back to Bonnie's we had margaritas with cheese and crackers. A nice snack after a warm day along the river.

Mall of America

2011-08-18T13:49:00.003-06:00

Bonnie met us at our motel and we walked to the Mall of America. Our motel was right across the street from the mall, very convenient. We walked alot and covered about every inch of the mall (seemed that way). Ate lunch in the Rain Forest Cafe and wandered through the Sea Life Aquarium (we had coupons for this).

We spent the whole day in the mall, had a great time shopping and looking. We even got our pictures taken with Sponge Bob and friends in the amusement park in the mall.

Here are photos of our day.

Minnesota Road Trip

2011-08-16T10:41:00.005-06:00

On the 5th Mom, Jennifer and I left on our annual girls road trip. This year we went to Minnesota to visit with my sister Bonnie and her family. Last summer my nephew Kevin reminded me that the last time that I had been to his house was when he was a baby. He is now 13, so that started the planning.

We were on the road just a little after 8:00 am. We had to get our coffee first. We took I-94 to get to Minnesota. Our first stop was at the Painted Canyon in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota. A very scenic stop, saw a portion of the North Dakota Bad Lands. Our next fun site was the Enchanted Highway. This a the highway that runs south from Dickinson to Regent. A sculptor had erected a bunch of metal sculptures along the route. We were going to eat lunch in Regent after seeing the sculptures, but when we got there the cafe was closed. We ended up eating lunch in Bismarck, then made our way to Jamestown to the hotel. Mom and I had a nightcap in the hotel bar to salute our road trip.

Saturday morning arrived and we made our way to Minneapolis. Once we hit Valley City ran into a very heavy down pour of rain. It was hard to see, but as long as I could see the tail lights of the vehicles in front of me I was fine. I felt sorry for the motorcyclists that got caught in the storm, but was glad I wasn't in it. We got out of this storm around Fargo.

Stopped at the Minnesota visitor center and picked up brochures for Eagan and the surrounding area. We were going to stop in Fergus Falls to see the water falls, but once again got into heavy rain there. We got out of it for a bit in Alexandria where we stopped for gas and checked in with Bonnie. As soon as we left it was raining hard again, but we weren't in it for very long. Was so glad to finally get out of the rain.

We arrived at our hotel without any problems. The GPS on my phone got me around all that traffic. Our hotel was literally across the street from the Mall of America. We got checked into the hotel and then called home. Then we called Bonnie to let her know we arrived. We got to Bonnie's house to visit for a bit. Saturday was the only day where we could visit with Kevin, Sam and Ken. The guys were leaving on Sunday morning for the cabin by the lake. That would leave us girls time to do girl stuff.

We went out for dinner then back to Bonnie's for some more visiting. Got my picture taken with my nephews and I had fun making funny faces with Sam.

Surgery Week Three

2011-08-04T14:11:00.002-06:00

I am enjoying my time off from work, but getting very bored at home. Don't know how housewives do it. It was pointed out to me that housewives have small children at home, I don't.

We went on the Beartooth Harley bike night dinner ride on Friday. We went to the Rib & Chop house. It was so much better than the last one we went on, at least we got food this time. The Rib & Chop house is just around the corner from the dealership, so we took the scenic route to get there. It was just a small ride, but fun. We had a great dinner, Gary had ribs and I had the chicken. A great time, we didn't win any door prizes. After dinner we spent the night at our friends place Marty & Vicky.

The guys planned a ride for Saturday morning to go to Red Lodge and up Beartooth Pass. First Gary got a new front tire for the bike, wanted to get a new one before our Oregon coast ride and he made the appointment before Sturgis. Otherwise the dealership will be too busy. Got the tire on first thing in the morning.

Another friend Leroy joined us for the ride to Red Lodge. Had great weather and it was nice and cool in Red Lodge. However, Leroy was having mechanical problems with his bike, so he turned around and headed back to Billings. We had a coke in Red Lodge, then felt bad about Leroy so we headed back to Billings. Didn't want to see Leroy on the side of the road broke down.

Leroy must have made it to Billings as we didn't see him stranded. Ate lunch in Rockvale then came home. We will make the pass another time.

Now I'm getting ready for the girls road trip to Minnesota. Got the oil in my car changed, car is cleaned and now I'm getting my packing done.

Surgery Week Two

2011-08-01T08:35:00.002-06:00

I am able to drive now and I have freedom. I can now run errands and most importantly go out for coffee.

Feeling much better now that the pain pills are all gone, not so sleepy anymore. I can do some light housework, like laundry and dishes.

My exercise is now walking outside and I'm up to four blocks. I do this in the mornings when it is so much cooler. I started going to the pool with Gary in the mornings to walk on the treadmill. I can only do 15 minutes and walk at 3.0 mph. Not allowed to get in the pool yet. It is going to take some time to get back to where I was before surgery.

My biggest feat was the bike ride to Reedpoint for the chili lunch. We went out on a very short ride just to see how I will be and it wasn't bad at all. First time I wore jeans which wasn't uncomfortable at all.

Sunday we went to Reedpoint with the HOG Chapter for a chili lunch. It was a very warm day and I wore a bandana around my neck that I had poured water over to help keep me cool. It worked to a point. Once I got hot, I was hot all day long.

The ride to Reedpoint ended up being a 300 mile round trip ride. We took the scenic way home via Big Timber, Harlowtown, Lavina and back. Made plenty of rest breaks. We stopped in Harlowtown for about an hour, got some water to drink, filled up with gas and just rested.

Once we got to Billings we went to our friend Marty & Vicky's house for a short break, then we ate dinner with them at a casino. It was very good food. The burgers were $2.50 and that included fries. If you wanted an extra patty that was $1 extra. The burgers were very delicious and now we found a new burger joint.

Surgery Week One

2011-07-28T09:16:00.002-06:00

I was released from the hospital Thursday morning and ready to go home. Walking is a bit slow. I am not allowed to lift anything over 7 pounds, nothing that requires pushing and pulling (vacuuming). The only exercise that I'm allowed to do is walking and just taking it easy. No swimming until at least three weeks, allow time for the stitches to heal. Was not allowed to drive until all the pain medication was used up.

Gary filled my pain medicine prescription when we got home. I was taking the pills 4 times a day, but by Friday I was taking them 3 times a day and by Sunday only 2 times a day until they were gone. No refills on those happy pills. While on the pain pills I had no appetite. Gary kept insisting that I eat to get better, but there was no way I could eat anything like I did before the surgery. Once I was done taking the pain pills, my appetite came back and I felt ever so much better.

My walking was done indoors around the house. I had my walking track and I walked quite a bit working my way up to 10 laps. I did walk outside a few time, just in front of the house. Walking was very slow, in fact I think Grandma could have beat me in a race.

Mom came to Hardin on Monday to help take care of me. She did some housework, the dishes and vacuuming. She did run some errands for me and most importantly she took me out for coffee. We went out for lunch and in the afternoon she did bring some smoothies for a snack.

The biggest feat for me was sitting in the movie theater watching the last Harry Potter movie. It did get a little rough towards the end, those chairs are not the most comfortable but I was able to move around a bit. My movie snack was a large glass of ice water. The nice little young man behind the counter didn't charge me for the water. Felt good to get out, but it was a bit tiring.

Gary, Jennifer and Mom took great care of me during the first week. Fixing the meals and making sure that I am doing ok.

I am experience menopause. I was told that I would immediately since my ovaries were removed. I would have went through menopause no matter what, but with the removal of my ovaries I lessened my risk of ovarian cancer. I get the hot flashes throughout the day. It's not that bad, I just get overly warm without any notice. When this happens I drink alot of ice water and that helps a bit.

These hot summer days don't help much either. Thank goodness for central air and fans. At night I sleep with the fan on in the bedroom. I think I am freezing Gary but he says I'm not. Wait until winter.

Surgery Day

2011-07-26T10:49:00.003-06:00

On July 13 I had a hysterectomy. I had been battling fibroids for four years and now I finally can have a pain free life. Tuesday I had to do all of my pre-op admission stuff. They gave me some soap to prep my skin for surgery. I had to take a shower before bed and again in the morning before surgery with this special soap. Also I had to drink magnesium citrate the day before. Jennifer went with me for all of this. Afterwards we ate lunch at Applebees, as that would be my last good meal until I get out of the hospital. Then we did a bit of shopping.

Got home and drank the magnesium citrate and then I could only have fluids for the rest of the day. Nothing to eat or drink after midnight. Wednesday morning arrived and I had to be at the hospital at 7:50 am and then schedulded for surgery at 9:50 am. Gary and I got to the hospital in plenty of time and got checked in. I had to leave all of my jewelry at home even wedding bands, so I didn't have much to pack for my overnight stay. My name was up so off I went for all the pre-op stuff. Gary could have stayed with me during this portion but he left to get something to eat. All he had to do was check in and they would tell him where I would be.

Three different nurses got his phone number so I'm not sure if all of them called him or just one. While I'm in pre-op they made me take a pregnancy test. I asked them if they were kidding and they weren't. I assured them that I wasn't pregnant, well apparently I wasn't as I still had the surgery. At this point I had to leave my glasses and partials behind.

I was wheeled upstairs and then I talked to the anesthesiologist and my doctor, then into the OR. I just remember them putting the mask on my face and the next thing I knew I woke up in recovery. It didn't take long before I was moved into my room. I was the only patient on that floor. While I was in recovery, the doctor talked to Gary and told him that everything went fine, no problems and that I will feel so much better.

I slept most of the time and I was not allowed to throw up. I did have to get up and walk around with some help. I had a bracelet on my wrist stating that I was a fall risk. We had a few good laughs over that one. Being the only patient on the floor does have its drawbacks, the nurses seemed like they were always taking my vitals every half hour.

I was able to come home on Thursday morning.

Wyoming Thunder

2011-07-11T11:17:00.002-06:00

This is our second year of participating in this event. It is sponsored by a group of Viet Nam vets who happen to ride motorcycles and they have their own motorcycle group. This is the 21st year for this.

The vets raise money all year long to buy new flags for the Viet Nam Memorial in Cody and the second weekend in July they hold a rally to replace the old flags. It is alot of fun and I have met some very colorful people. I have a new friend, I call her Pinky and she is from Casper. She told me what her name is but I can't remember. Can't describe Pinky you will have to look at my photo I have of her. She is quite the character.

It costs $70 for a couple to participate in the whole event. It starts on Friday night in Casper. I think the majority of them meet in Cheyenne, but as a whole the group meets in Casper. For your registration fee, you get two nights camping, a prime rib dinner in Cody, t-shirts and flags. The VFW in Thermopolis serves them a lunch on Saturday afternoon. Also on Saturday they have a poker run and Meeteetse is one of their stops.

We meet up with them in Meeteetse. We ride with our friends Jake & Aletha Moran and this year with Wes & Denise Lambert. Our friend Dick Russell rode with us to Meeteetse then he went on to get back home after lunch. We meet Mom and Grandma at the Cowboy for lunch and some visiting as we wait for the group to roll into town.

We get to Cody early so that we can check in and get a good campsite before the mob arrives. This year we were at a new campground as the original one is closed. We stayed at The Ponderosa, which is next to the museum and right in town. Got our tents set up and I got all the ribbing about my tent. We have one that you can stand up in and it even has a closet. The others have little pup tents. Our friends call our tent "the condo".

This year we didn't get to visit with Grandma as she wasn't feeling well. Will get a visit in with her this summer when things aren't so busy and we can go to the house.

Got our visiting in before the group rolled into town, then some more visiting while they had about a 20 minute break in Meeteetse. Grandma's boyfriend Ted was there and he wishes Grandma the best. He met her two years ago and just started talking to her. He even asked is she would dance with him. Grandma went with the flow. Ted is from Spokane WA and he tells his family and friends about Gracie, especially his mother who is only 93.

Saturday night we get a prime rib dinner at Cassie's. It was good and they sure do a good job serving about 200 people, not to mention the other customers. The other customers don't seem to mind when we take over, but we are only there for about 1 1/2 hours. Didn't win any prizes and Gary didn't win the raffle of a pistol.

Sunday we wake up bright and early, mainly from a bird waking up us. It was the loudest bird I've heard. Got moving around and packed up for the ride home. We ate breakfast at The Sunset House. It was within walking distance from the campground. Very good food. Then it was just sit and wait.

At 9:00 am we all headed to the fairgrounds to line up for the parade through town and to the Memorial which is by the airport. The parade started at 10:00 am, we had police escort. Needed to with about 300 bikes roaring through town. Not many people on the streets, but there were quite a few.

Had a small memorial at the wall. In November one of the flag poles was knocked down by a windstorm and hasn't been replaced. That has some of them upset, that the pole is not replaced. The govorner is going to get alot of e-mails and other correspondence about the flag pole.

Had a great time and we had nice weather and spent time with good friends. There was only one incident where a woman in a white SUV tried to take us out. We were on our way to Meeteetse, when this woman decided to pass about three cars on a blind curve and she had the solid yellow line. Gary told me to hang on because we are going for a ride, he was going to take the ditch. Fortunately he was able to get over to the shoulder, while the woman kept going. We were the lead bike. She received alot of hand gestures. Gary gave her all of his fingers, while our friends gave her a couple more.

30 Year Class Reunion

2011-07-08T14:29:00.002-06:00

Last weekend was my 30 year high school class reunion. Started getting information in March and I registered in April for the three day event. It cost $70 for two people to participate in everything for the three days. That included a boating trip at the dam, the meet & greet, the dinner and dance, golfing and the picnic.

I signed up for the Meet & Greet on Friday night, the dinner and dance on Saturday and picnic n Sunday. They were going to have an alternate event on Saturday for those not interested in golfing, but there was not enough interest for the alternate. That's ok.

Gary didn't really want to go with me so I asked Mom is she wanted to come. She would be in Hardin anyway to pay her bills. I went to her 30 year reunion 26 years ago and it was only fitting that she went to mine.

The meet and greet was supposed to start at 6:30 pm at Mojoes, a coffee shop that one of my classmates owns. Mom came to my house and we walked on over since it's only a block away. Got there a few minutes early and we were the only ones there. The clerk knew about the party but couldn't get ahold of anyone to find out what to do and she really needed to lock up. We told her that we would wait outside, that way she can lock up and if no one came by we could just leave and not leave the business open. It was about 7:00 before people started showing up. They got off the lake late.

Good thing Mom always brings her camera with her. The batteries in my camera had died on my, so Mom was snapping away. There must have been about 40 of us there. Had a good time visiting and posing for photos. I had told Gary that this thing will probably last a couple hours, after all it was just a meet and greet. We didn't get home until 11:00.

Saturday was the dinner and dance. For dinner we had prime rib. I told Gary and Mom that they could arm wrestle for it. Mom won. The dinner was out at the golf course. Cocktails were at 6:00 pm and then dinner at 7:00 pm. We arrived about quarter after six and had our cocktails and visited some more. Got some more photos. A slide show was on showing the fun on Friday. Looking back I should have gone on the lake, looks like they had alot of fun. Dinner was good, but it was very hot in the dining area. No airconditioning. A few speeches were made. Amber Clifton had made a slide show of events in high school and of the past reunions. That was fun. Then it was time for dancing. Had a DJ and it was the son of one of my classmates. I got out on the floor and danced quite a bit. In fact most of us women did the dancing, just a few guys. Mom even got out on the floor. Got pretty hot dancing out there. Once they opened the doors and got a fan going to circulate the air it got better. Things started to slow down around midnight, so we decided to head on home.

Mom went back to Meeteetse on Sunday so she missed the picnic. Gary went to the picnic with me. I told him that he had to go, people weren't believing me that I had a husband. Some were glad that Mom wasn't there, said she was pretty wicked with her camera and afraid of some of the pics. I told them that I have the pics and they breathed a sigh of relief. Not too sure that it's any safer with me than with Mom.

The picnic was held at the Devore house just out of town and it was pretty warm that day. Tables were set up outside under some shade and also in the garage with a couple fans. We were served burgers, brats assorted chips and dips and assorted salads. It was all very good. We ate in the garage where it was nice and cool and we managed to get a table by the fan.

Got to visit some more, soon Deanna Devore came out wearing her old cheerleading uniform from high school. She had an extra uniform and convinced Janet Freeman to put it on. They were both cheerleaders in high school. Not bad for them to still fit into their cheerleading uniforms after 30 years. Got one final group photo. We were there for three hours before heading home.

Had a great time and it was very nice to see my classmates. Some I haven't seen since graduation. I have to honestly say that the women aged better than the men. There was only one who I didn't recognize right away, until she took off her sunglasses and started to talk.

Gathering of the Guard

2011-06-28T13:00:00.002-06:00

Last year Gary was elected to serve on the board of directors for the Montana Patriot Guard Riders. The board meets four times a year and the meetings are divided evenly between the three zones, east, central and west.

Every fourth weekend in June is the Gathering of the Guard where everyone in the state comes together for a short general meeting and then some fun stuff. The gathering is divided evenly between the three zones as well. This year the Gathering was held in Billings.

Gary and the other eastern zone representative were in charge of the Gathering this year. They met in April to find a space in Billings to hold it. It was decided to have it at the Holiday Inn. They gave us the meeting space for free provided that we bought coffee and assorted pastries, they also gave us a deal on rooms $77 per night. A plus for having the Gathering at the Holiday Inn was that a group of Viet Nam vets were also having a conference the same weekend.

Got all the arrangements made and notices put out, now we just wait. People were to rsvp for numbers. Only about 40 people rsvp but you will always have extra, so it was hard to calculate.

Gary and I made our motel reservations fairly early and we decided to make a weekend out of it, so we stayed two nights. Had a great time. We arrived Friday to get checked in and find our room. The Holiday Inn in Billings is like a maze. We were directed to park in the south lot and use entrance B that was close to our room. We ended up walking a long ways, on our own we found a closer parking spot and entrance. Wandered around a bit and found out where things were for us.

The Viet Nam group that was having the conference were the motorcycle group, some we recognized from Cody when we do the Ride to The Wall in July. All these bikers checking in along with regular travelers. Wonder what the travelers thought of Holiday Inn checking in trashy bikers. Some of them looked pretty rough.

We had a good time, Saturday morning had the meeting. Not very many showed up for the meeting. There was a silent auction with some nice stuff. There was a leather coat that fit Gary, so I bid on it. It also fits me, but he really wanted it. Besides, I already got a coat and some boots, it was his turn to get something. The retail on the coat stated $200 and I bid $20. Get the bid going and wait and see how high it will go. I was the only one who bid on the coat. Most of the guys are pretty burly and it didn't fit them. Gary got a new coat. The coat actually wasn't brand new, it had been worn a couple times as Gary found a package of chewing gum in one of the pockets.

I also got for free two stainless steel travel coffee mugs, a t-shirt, some stickers and pens. Again coming home with more than I brought. I bought some raffle tickets, but we didn't win any of those prizes.

After the general meeting, the board met to straighten out some language issues in the bylaws. Will get that taken care of at the next meeting in September. Gary thought he had one year left of his term, but found out that he had two more years. Oh well, that's how it goes.

After the board meeting we all met at the National Guard Armory for a ride to the Long Branch Saloon in Ballentine. A Billings resident set this up as an honor for the Patriot Guard and all the work that we do. There were 100 bikes for the ride. We got a police escort all the way. I guess this makes us officially a member of a biker gang. It was fun, because the patrolman who led us had us go through a construction zone at 70mph.

Arrived in Ballentine and had a great time. We were served burgers, brats and assorted salads all very tasty free of charge. Then there was a presentation. Later on a couple local bands were performing. We didn't stay long enough for that.

The weather was very nice for the weekend. We had sun on Saturday, it was very nice to ride the bike without many layers. I felt a bit naked. After the doings in Ballentine, we went back to the motel and just relaxed. Got home on Sunday morning.

Beartooth Harley Dinner Ride

2011-06-27T14:13:00.002-06:00

During the summer Beartooth Harley sponsors a dinner ride to an eating establishment around Billings on the last Friday of the month. This month the dinner ride was at Fat Fender Freddies in Laurel.

We missed the one last month and decided that we would go to this one. We heard that they have a real good time. How can you not with all the Harley friends.

We met at the dealership, had to wait for the workers to get off and close up at 6:00pm, then we rode as a group to Fat Fender Freddies. There were about 20 bikes and 35 people who went on the outing. We took the back road to Laurel, more scenic and less traffic.

We arrived at Fat Fender Freddies around 6:30 pm and our group sat out on the back patio. It was nice when we arrived a bit on the cool side. We sat around visiting and waited for the waitress to take our order.

Gary and I were sitting at the large table with about 20 other people. The waitress came over and took orders on one side of the table and then left. There were 8 of us who were sitting and finally the waitress came back and one of the guys asked if she was going to take our order. She seemed a bit surprised that our order wasn't taken. She said that the other waitress was supposed to take orders on our side of the table. Well she didn't make it to us, the first waitress took our order.

It was 7:00 when our order was taken. The waitress was a bit miffed because she was supposed to be off work when our group arrived and she ended up having to stay to help the younger girls. The one that was supposed to take our order just took a couple and left.

While we were waiting for food the dealership raffles off prizes. We are to keep our tickets for the season as as the end they will be having some grand prize raffles. Also Fat Fender Freddies raffled off some shirts, jackets and stuff. Gary and I didn't win a thing this time. All the women did receive a charm.

Food started arriving and was placed in the order of how orders were taken, we waited very patiently knowing that we would be the last ones to get our food. We waited for 1 1/2 hours waiting for our food. Gary and I ordered burgers, so did our friends, not too sure what the other people ordered. Eight of us didn't get served.

Our friend Dale had enough. He asked a waitress how much longer it would take and she didn't know. They have a small kitchen and it takes time for a large group. By this time it's 8:15, the others that were served are done eating and we are still waiting. He asked her if she would go and check on the orders. She wouldn't and didn't.

By this time a storm is coming in with heavy rain and reports of hail. We don't want to be caught outside in the storm and riding the bike home is not fun in a storm.

The dealership owner told me that he though Fat Fender Freddies did an outstanding job serving the group. Fine for the ones who got their food, not fine for ones waiting 1 1/2 hours for burgers.

We left the establishment at 8:30, still no food. We finally got dinner at 9:30 and we missed the storm.

Found out the next day that our order came out 10 minutes after we left. Gary is afraid that the dealership owner will be mad at us for leaving, but waiting 1 1/2 hours for burgers is ridiculous.

Father's Day Weekend

2011-06-21T13:05:00.002-06:00

What a busy weekend we had. Friday Kenney Construction came over and took care of my tree. The landscape of my front yard sure is different, still takes me a second look everytime. I had called them on Thursday to see what it would cost to have them do it. Said they would take a look. Thursday night a man came over and said that he would cut up the tree for $550. He doesn't have the equipment to haul off the tree or take care of the stump plus he wanted Gary to help him. For that kind of money we would do it ourselves if we had a chainsaw. Took his number.

Friday morning from 10-2 I was in South Park attending the Stand for Children event for the DUI Task Force. Gary called and said that Kenney Construction was already at the house and removing the tree. We weren't too sure how much this would cost, as they never did get back us on that. We were afraid to get the bill. The bill came Monday afternoon and he only charged us $637. He removed the debris, took out the stump and filled in the hole. Now we just have to decide on what to do with the empty spot. We are not putting in another tree.

Friday night we went to Billings for a get together with our friends the Breckenridges. They live in Casa Village and right across the lot is a casino that was having a live band. We were able to sit on their back deck and listen to the music. We had pizza and beer. It was an enjoyable evening spent with our good friends.

Saturday we went back to Billings. Gary changed the oil in the bike at the Breckenridges. I was dropped off at the tattoo parlor to meet with Kitty and Sandi. I was moral support for Kitty as she was getting a tattoo and her husband didn't know it. Sandi had gotten one on Friday. Apparently this is what you are to do when you turn 60. Afterwards we went out for a cup of coffee, then ate left over pizza for lunch with the Breckenridges.

When we got home, jumped into the pickup and headed over to Mom's to clean up the tree debris at her house. We took about 7 pickup loads of the large stumps and branches. One of her neighbors cut up some of the branches. We think that her neighbors dumped off their tree limbs in her yard. She only has one tree in her back yard and it didn't have that many branches. Will have to look at my photos to make sure. There was one stump that we couldn't get, it was bulky and pretty heavy. She will have to get somone younger and with more muscle to remove that. She is definately going to have to restring her clothes line. That limb snapped the line right in half. All we have left to do is rake up the gazillion twigs, but that can wait for another day.

Sunday we went on the HOG Chapter ride to Cody. It was pretty cloudy and cool when we left Hardin. We got to the dealership at 9:00 and they were serving free pancakes, so we had breakfast there. Not very many people attended the meeting. It was raining pretty good in Billings. We had 15 people for the meeting. Due to road construction between Bridger and Belfry, we went to Red Lodge over to Bear Creek to Belfry and the on to Cody. Got into rain at Red Lodge and again in Cody. Our meeting was at the Irma. It was pretty crowded and you should have seen the looks we were getting by the other patrons. Gary and I were the only ones who ate the buffet. I won one of the raffle prizes and it was a wine glass. Will have to win another one to have a set.

We took the same route back home. We left as a group to Belfry, when most of them turned off headed to Bridger. There were four of us who went back to Red Lodge. Just didn't want to go through that construction, especially since it had rained. We got into rain on the way home too, in Cody and then again in Joliet.

Yesterday I went to Mom's to take in her mail and that stump is gone. Don't know who took it, but at least it is gone and it looks like someone picked up some the gazillion twigs.

Wind Storm

2011-06-16T13:36:00.003-06:00

Last night Hardin was hit with a very bad wind storm. The storm hit about 8:00 pm. At first it just started out as ordinary wind, then it started to pick up. You could see the storm out to the north. It got dark fast and very dusty. There were times when you could feel the house shake. I went out to get photos of the clouds, but Gary yelled at me to get back inside the house.

The wind lifted our little utility trailer and moved it about 6 inches and you could see the grass swirling around in a circle. We were getting ready to get into the crawl space if needed. That's when I looked out and saw that some of the pine tree was in the yard. At first I thought that it was just some branches, but when I went around the corner, the whole tree was laying on the ground. I ran in the house to get cameras and told Gary that the wind knocked our tree down. At first he didn't believe me until he saw it, then it was "Holy S***".

The storm didn't last long about 15 minutes but it sure did enough damage around town. We got in the pick up and headed over to Mom's house to see if it was ok. The house is fine, no damage but she has alot of tree branches in her yard. She has a huge one that covers her whole back yard, she may have to restring her clothes line.

The roof to the Western Motel and the building next to it had their roofs blown off, which then fell onto Dollies roof. A section of roof to the Lube Shop is off and the roof to the 1st Alliance Church was ripped off. Some trailers at Sunset Village were moved off their foundations.

A lot of trees were uprooted and we are talking big pine trees and cottonwoods. Many shingles off roofs in town.

According to the news Hardin was hit with 80 mph gusts, some experts are coming in to determine what sort of wind actually did damage, whether it was wind shear, tornado, or straight on wind. My personal opinion is just strong straight on wind.

I called our home insurance to see if we have any coverage for debris removal. We don't. If we had any structure damage or fence damage then we would have been covered for $500, but since it is basically just a downed tree, nothing. Made some phone calls, have a guy coming by sometime this afternoon to take a look at it and he will call me. We sure hope he can get to it either today or tomorrow.

Here are photos of my pine tree. This was about 25-30 foot tree and it was about 10 feet round.

Missed the house

Fortunate that it was this tree and not my other one, would be a different story then.

It fell right between the house and the power line.

Deadwood South Dakota

2011-06-13T13:56:00.002-06:00

We spent four fun filled days in Deadwood South Dakota. June 9-12 was the annual Deadwood Gambler's Run for our HOG chapter and this was the 11th year. It was the 3rd year for Gary and I.

Thursday morning arrived, got the bike packed up and ready to go. We were on our way to McDonald's to meet our neighbors who also go on the trip for coffee. We met the rest of the group in Hardin. As we were headed to the gas station it started to rain and boy did the rain come down hard. Got to the gas station which is right next to McDonald's. It always rains when we travel to Deadwood. We got our rain gear on and waited for the Billings group to arrive as they made a gas stop in Hardin. By this time the rain is just pouring down.

This year the route was taking Hwy 212 to Deadwood. We didn't get out of rain until we got to Broadus, which was another gas stop. Ate lunch in Alzada at the saloon there. At least is was warm inside and we could attempt to dry off for a bit. Went through Belle Fourche, I hadn't been there since I was a kid. I remember my sister donating some money to the museum in Belle Fourche, but don't remember where it would be or the name of the museum. It would be nice to stop in and see if that money is still there.

We arrived in Deadwood around 2:30 pm. Got checked in to our room. There were gift bags from the Harley dealership for us. This year we got a bottle coozy and a shot glass, some poker chips with the dealership name on it and some pens. Then we signed up for the slot tournament. This is always fun. Neither one of us won. Afterwards we went to eat with our friends. We ate at the Midnight Star restaurant which is owned by Kevin Costner. After dinner we made our way back to our hotel/casino and gambled a bit. Everyone got promo money on their player cards and it only works in the machines. Gary was playing 3 card poker so I got to play with his promo money too. We both had $45 on our cards, so pleny of money for me to play on.

This year I struck it rich. I had only put in $10 of Gary's promo money in a penny machine and I hit the jackpot. I won $1148 on a penny machine. I was playing a progressive machine and was lucky enough to hit the jackpot. I cashed out right away. The casino was not very crowded on a Thursday night, so nobody to share my good news with. I took my ticket to Gary and at first he thought I only won $100. I told him to look at it again. He said "Holy S***". I took my ticket and collected my winnings. I decided to quit gambling while I was ahead.

On Friday morning we rode to the dealerships in Sturgis and Rapid City. I bought Gary a new windshield for the bike and we spent alot of money. I kept thinking that it was a good thing I won because we normally would not have spent as much money as we did. We left Hardin with one bag and came home with three. After eating dinner with our friends we made our way downtown again. We decided to walk as it was nice, stopped in some casinos and some bar, drank alot and had a great time. I bought a couple rounds of drinks for everyone. There were 8 of us all together.

Smoking is no longer allowed in the casinos at Deadwood which made it very nice. However, there is one bar where smoking is allowed and we found it. It's a basement bar but it had a live band that played blues music. We had a good time in there, but came out smelling awful. By this time it was getting very late. Since none of us were in any condition to take the long walk back to the hotel, we took the trolley.

Saturday we just spent the day in Deadwood, on a whim we decided to take the trolly all over town, just to see what else is going on in Deadwood. There is a new huge casino that is owned by Big and Rich that will be opening in July. There is a theater that will seat 25,000 for concerts and such. Big and Rich along with Gretchen Wilson will be performing on opening night and tickets are already sold out.

The group gathers together on the last night for some raffle prizes. The big prizes are the 50/50 raffle (which you end up getting all of it) and the leather jacket. Gary and I didn't win the big prizes again this year, but we did end up winning some smaller ones. One of our friends won the leather jacket. Once you win a leather jacket, you don't get to win one again. On this night we eat a steak dinner. This year we ate at the Mineral Palace and it was all good.

Gambled for a little bit one last time, then called it an early night. Had to repack our bags and get ready to leave in the morning. For the whole weekend I won $1200 and Gary won around $140 playing cards. I still have some of my money left and saving that for our trip to Las Vegas in October.

This year our group did pretty well playing the machines. Quite a few came out ahead, but I was the biggest winner. Will probably never do that again.

I am usually happy winning my small amounts on the penny machines and I get estatic when I win $100. Let me tell you I was in shock when I won the $1100. That is alot of numbers on the penny machine and when you cash out, I got alot of coins flipping around and lights flashing "Big Winner" on the machine.

All in all we had a great time, weather straightened out on Saturday and Sunday and now we can't wait until next year.

Birthday Celebration

2011-06-06T15:15:00.003-06:00

Had a great birthday weekend. It was nice and sunny and we couldn't ask for better weather. It has been over two weeks since we had any sunshine so it was a welcome sight. We are just basking in the warmth as the forecast is calling for rain in a couple days.

Spent the weekend riding the Harley. On Saturday Gary took me to Rockvale for an ice cream cone at the Quick Stop. With all the water around the bugs were out in force and they are pretty big too. The bike was plastered with bugs.

On our way home we stopped at the Harley dealership in Billings and to our surprise they were serving free hotdogs, so we had one. During the summer, every Saturday afternoon the dealership will be serving free hotdogs and Sunday morning will be serving pancakes. I told Gary that for Father's Day I will take him out for a pancake breakfast.

We got home and then cleaned up the bike for the ride on Sunday and then got ready for dinner. Gary and Jennifer took me out for dinner at La Chalupa here in town. It is a very good Mexican restaurant. The children of the owners take tae kwon do lessons from us. After dinner we were shocked when the kids served me a sopapilla. The oldest girl had overhead Susan Stanton wishing me a happy birthday. It was Susan's birthday too. I shared the sopapilla with Gary and Jennifer, as we were all stuffed after our dinners. It was all we could do to eat it.

Our friends Dale Butterfield and Dick Russell organized an unofficial HOG ride for Sunday. The chapter members were invited and ended up with 9 bikes and 17 people for the ride. We met everyone at the gas station on Shiloh and Grand, Gary's favorite road with the roundabouts.

From Billings we traveled to Lavina then over to Harlowton for lunch, ate at the Sportmen's Club. The food was very tasty. The Musselshell River is still pretty high after the flooding and they sure got alot of water in that area. Hard to believe that the river had gone down some. We were lucky and didn't run into any water on the road or washout areas.

After lunch we went to Big Timber. For the first time on highway 191 we didn't have wind. Seems like every time we ride that highway, the wind is blowing so hard that we practically get whiplash. Stopped in Big Timber for a gas break and then we just hung around and had some cokes.

Left Big Timber headed back to Billings. We traveled the old highway all the way home, very scenic and not much traffic. After the ride we were invited to Pat and Sandi Breckenridge's house for some drinks. Our friends Mary and Vicky were there also. We three all ride the trikes on our group. We are planning our Oregon Coast trip with them in August.

I tried a new drink called Moscow Ox. Sandi and Vicky had these when they were in Sheridan and I can see why the ladies were feeling pretty good. The drink is ginger beer, a shot of vodka and a few spritzes of lime juice. A nice cool summer drink. Gary didn't care for it, so he stayed with his beer.

We left to head home before it got too late. It was 7:00 by the time we got home. Sure enjoyed the weekend, now we get ready for the Deadwood Gambler's Run on Thursday.

Trash Can Turkey

2011-05-31T13:33:00.002-06:00

Saturday we were invited to our friends house for a Saturday evening BBQ. On the menu was trash can turkey and fry bread. We had to bring a salad.

We had crappy weather for the weekend, rained the three days, but that didn't stop us from having fun at the BBQ. Went to the store to buy the stuff I needed for my pasta salad. Got my salad made and I'm ready.

We left for Billings early as we had some errands to run before getting to their house. When we have our get togethers everyone brings their own booze, so we stopped at the liquor store to buy some more Jack. I was wandering around and wanted to get some rum. Looking at the Captain Morgans and all the choices I had. Gary found a new rum, Captain Morgans Tattoo. It's a dark rum so I decided to give it a try.

We arrived at our friends house, got my salad on the table and then we just sat around and waited for the others to arrive. I mixed my tattoo rum with diet coke and it was very tasty rum. I think I have found my new favorite rum. I shared my bottle with others and they liked it as well.

I was told that the tattoo part comes when I drink enough I will wake up with a tattoo on my butt. That didn't happen so apparently I didn't drink enough.

Had a great time, there were 14 of us at the BBQ and we all had a great time. The hours sure flew by fast, before we knew it it was 10:00pm. The turkey was delicious and fry bread was good. Had the normal toppings for it, honey, butter and cinnamon. There were two different kinds a jellys and one was a jalapeno jelly. That was very tasty on the fry bread. An assortment of pasta salads and two kinds of desserts. One was a chocolate cake (yummy) and the other was a banana split cake (scrumptious). Gary wants me to get the recipe for the banana split cake.

We spent the night at our friends the Butterfields. They don't like us driving home to Hardin after a night of drinking. Our room was ready for us. In the morning Kitty fixed huevos rancheros. Those are sure good. I got her recipe for that too. I make them at home, but I didn't have any refried beans or churizo.

Big Horn County Flooding

2011-05-27T09:51:00.003-06:00

Last weekend Big Horn County was flooded. We had alot of rain during the month of May and the ground is just saturated. In fact Eastern Montana is flooding. All of this is having a ripple effect. Hardin was ok, just the out skirts of town got flooded. Schools were closed for three days because students couldn't get to school. In fact buses are still not running, only students who can safely make it to school are in school. Most of the flooding in town was basements. Mom's was ok.

Here are some of the photos that I have taken.

This was taken on Saturday. This is Fly Creek

This on Saturday. Fly Creek and that is the interstate.

Taken on Thursday. I-90/Hwy 212 interchange headed east.

This is the frontage road that runs parallel to the interstate at the I-90/Hwy 212 interchange.

Wall Of Honor

2011-05-23T14:51:00.004-06:00

For Armed Forces Day, Beartooth Harley has a Wall of Heroes. Armed Forces Day was last Saturday and we got an e-mail from the dealership asking for photos of military veterans and those currently serving to be put up on their wall.

We had fun looking through our photo albums, but the first order of business was finding the albums. Several years ago I had boxed up all our photo albums and stuck them in the hall closet. I'm sure that I would go through them someday and put them away. We got the boxes down and started sorting through albums.

It was fun looking through the old albums and reminiscing. I also got the closet cleaned out too. Found our military albums and it was fun looking through those too. Jennifer got a kick at how young we were and surprised at some of the photos.

Anyway we picked out our favorite ones. I took photos of the photos as we didn't want to take the originals anyway. Fixed them up on Photoshop and got them printed.

Off to Billings we went, picked up our photos and took them to the dealership. Saw some of our friends and visited for a bit. We wanted to get back home soon before the roads were closed due to flooding. Fly Creek was almost over the bridge.

Here are the photos that we have hanging on the Wall of Heroes. Now I just have to find a good one of Robert to put up. The Wall will be a permanent fixture at the dealership.

This was taken in March 1975 in Australia. Gary was 23 years old.

Me in August of 1981 taken at Parris Island SC. I was 18 years old.

This is the wall at the dealerhsip.

World Trade Center Escort

2011-05-17T13:33:00.004-06:00

For the past month Gary and I have been attending meetings on a piece from the World Trade Center with MSU-Billings College of Technology. We got in on this through Arthur, he was a student and invited us to be involved with the Patriot Guard Riders. Gary was the one who organized all the motorcycle riders involved.

The college applied for a grant to get a piece of the World Trade Center through the fire science program and was accepted. The instructor who thought that this would be a low key affair was very surprised at how fast news got out.

The meetings were geared toward the logistics of getting the piece from New York to Montana which changed several times. The Port Authority only allows certains times for pick up and the trucking company who originally volunteered to get the piece just couldn't work with that sort of time frame. The instructor went personally to New York and picked up the piece and brought it back to Montana.

Gary had suggested to the other motorcycles who wanted to participate to meet on Sunday morning at McDonald's. We are to meet the college personnel at the Montana/Wyoming state line at 9:00 am. We weren't too sure how many would be at McDonald's that early. We suggested 7:00 am so that would give the riders from Billings and other places a chance to warm up and get a cup of coffee. Also give the bikers a chance to fill up with gas. To our surpise 12 bikes and one car showed up for the escort.

Got organized for the ride to the state line and we got there around 8:30 am. There were three other bikes already there waiting along with the college dean with a truck and trailer. A couple other bikes arrived and so the the state trooper.

The beam got transferred from the pickup to the trailer and we all got organized for the escort to Billings. Gary was the lead bike in this. We did stop in Crow Agency to gas up otherwise we would have had stranded bikes along the interstate.

As we made our way west toward Billings, we picked up about 7 more bikes that were waiting in Hardin and the closer we got to Billings more fell in. We also had three fire trucks from Lockwood that followed in. It must have been a sight to see, too bad we were the lead. Couldn't see anything.

We arrived at the Metra 1 1/2 hours ahead of schedule. By the time we all got parked we had 32 bikes, more fire trucks, law enforcement and ambulances at the Metra. We had plenty of time to wander around the Metra before the 12:30 pm parade through Billings. There was a show going on in one of the buildings so we wandered around and looked. There was food for sale, but we just ended up getting a coke. Was not going to pay $7 for a hotdog and chips.

Gary was busy with the police and powers to be getting the line up organized and the route down. We left the Metra at 12:30 pm, went down Airport Road to Zimmerman Trail. Down Zimmerman to Rimrock Road. From there we hit Shiloh to the college. The Billings PD did a fantastic job stopping traffic at all those intersections and the roundabouts on Shiloh.

We arrived at the college and go parked in our designated parking spaces. Everyone got around the trailer with the beam for a group photos. The local news stations were there. Gary was interviewed for Q2 news and his photo of him touching the beam is on the Billings Gazette site.

When people started to leave, Gary helped the college personnel get the piece inside the building. There will be a formal ceremony on September 11. The college is going to build a memorial outside their building.

It was a very good day. Gary did a fantastic job in organizing the riding and all the bikers. He has been asked to organize the Patriot Guard for the formal ceremony in September.

Here are some photos. I do have them posted on my Picasa site.

Champagne and Chocolates

2011-05-09T13:56:00.002-06:00

What a busy weekend it was for us. Friday night we went to the Beartooth Harley HOG Appreciation BBQ. This is the one that the dealership puts on for the HOG chapter. The chapter then puts one on for the dealership in September. This year the dealership had some people cook burgers, hot dogs and chicken for us. What a disaster that was. There were about 30 people that came for the event and the cooks ran out of potato salad. About 10 people went through the line before they ran out. They even ran out of hamburger buns. I guess they don't know how to count. By the time I got through the line, I had my burger on a hot dog bun and chips and salsa. That was it. They did have beer and didn't run out of beer. Priorities. Still had fun even though the food was horrible. I don't think these people will cook again for the dealership.

We spent the night in Billings on Friday night anyway because we intended to drink, besides we also were leaving early in the morning for Meeteetse. Gary was still hungry after his "snack" so we ate at a little casino right next to the motel. After dinner I gambled. I was $1 short of winning back what we spent on dinner and gambling. It was fun.

We got up early Saturday to make our way to Meeteetse, had to be there at 9:30 am for champagne and cake. It was a nice drive and we made it in plenty of time. Met Mom and Grandma at Lucille's and the first thing we got was a glass of champagne. There was chocolate cake, chocolate truffles, cookies and mints for snacks. I did not care for the truffles, not sure what flavor they were but to me it was not good. Alot of people came in to give birthday wishes to Grandma. We then went to the house to get some visiting in and regroup before lunch. Gary took us out to eat at the Cowboy for Mother's Day. It was very good. Took some photos and will be getting those posted up soon. We then went back to the house for more visiting. Gary and I left around 5:00 to head back home.

Sunday I had a pleasant day just relaxing around the house. Nothing special.

Anniversary Celebration

2011-05-05T14:12:00.002-06:00

Yesterday Gary and I celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary. First of all can't believe that 24 years has already gone by and they went fast.

We didn't do anything special, saving our pennies to celebrate in style next year. We are planning on going to Las Vegas for our 25th.

We had a meeting in Billings anyway yesterday, so we just made a day out of it. After the meeting we ate lunch at the Red Door Casino on Grand and Shiloh. A very nice place. When we got our tab we also got a coupon for $5 matchplay in the casino. It was only redeemable for yesterday.

I played the machine and lost. I was doing pretty good playing poker, at least I was winning a couple bucks. Gary came in and told me to play keno as that is what people tell us to play. According to them that is the only way how to win. Well, I promptly lost my money and it went fast. I only lost $5, we are saving our gambling money for next month when we go to Deadwood.

It was still too early to go home, so we did some shopping for little stuff that we really didn't need but bought anyway. Had a good time.

MSU Billings Graduation

2011-05-02T13:10:00.002-06:00

Saturday we were invited to our student/friend Arthur's college graduation. He graduated with honors and now has an AS degree in Fire Science.

The graduation was held at the Metra in Billings, this is the first graduation since the tornado last year. We were excited to see the "new" Metra.

The graduation ceremony started at 10:00 and we got there about 9:45, we were directed to park in the upper parking lot. They had attendants directing traffic. Found a place to park and made our way down into the Metra. The steps and tunnel are not completed yet, so we had to wind our way down the hill.

We were very disappointed in the "new" Metra. As far as we could tell, nothing new about it, just repaired things. The seats are the same seats as before. The ones that were damaged in the storm were just recovered. They did add cup holders on the seats, but they are still on the ground. No extra leg room. No changes in the restrooms either. The paper kept stating that there are more restrooms and they are bigger. Nothing just new fixtures.

We stayed long enough for some of the speeches, but as soon as Arthur received his diploma we left. There were 900 students graduating, but not all of them showed up. There were quite a few empty seats in the graduate section. Wanted to leave before all the chaos of traffic trying to get out of the parking lots. Besides we received a text from Arthur telling us to do so.

We made our way to the west end of town for the BBQ at his sister's house. We found the house without any problems, in fact we were a bit early. There were about 15 people there and we were served steaks, several different salads, fruit and of course cake. It was all very delicious. We actually knew some of the people there and got in some visiting. The weather held out for the BBQ, it didn't rain until later in the night.

Arthur's mother flew in from California so we got to visit with her a bit. Poor woman was freezing in Montana. She lives in Palm Springs and it was 91 degrees at her home. She couldn't believe that on Friday morning there was snow. She was wearing heavy sweaters and such while we were wearing just light clothes.

We got Arthur a wallet on a chain. A couple weeks ago he took a motorcycle trip to Missouri and somewhere along the way lost his wallet with all of his money and ID.

It was a nice get together, Jennifer went with us. She and Arthur are good friends and she really wanted to go to his graduation.

Easter

2011-04-29T15:22:00.002-06:00

We had a nice quiet Easter. Saturday night I boiled my eggs, but didn't get them dyed. Jennifer and I went to the movie instead. We watched "Rio". It was a very cute movie and I liked the birds. We had fun and enjoyed ourselves.

Sunday Gary and I went to biker church. The Christian Motorcycle Association sponsors a bike blessing ceremony every year. There was a very small service before the blessing then they serve a breakfast of biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs and juice or coffee. There is no charge for the breakfast however they do accept donations. It was very good. We met our friends and got the bike blessed.

This way we won't have any troubles while we are riding on the bike. It was cool in the morning when we left Hardin, but turned out into a beautiful day. After the services were over and the bikes were blessed we came on home.

We took the long way home and made a nice little ride out of it. Went through Huntley, Pompey's Pillar to Custer and then home to Hardin on the frontage roads. Not much traffic out and it was perfect for riding.

Got home and I transplanted some tulips that I got from the head maintainance woman at the court house. I got two clumps of tulips so I planted them by the old sand tire. The tulips look pretty pathetic right now. I was told that I won't get any blooms this year, but not to worry they will be nice and pretty next year. In fact she is going to give me about three more clumps.

I had some help with the transplanting by my neighbor's cat Oscar. He was left home alone while she was gone on Easter break. I felt sorry for the little guy, so I sat on the back steps and gave him some loving. He got up on my lap and wanted to hug my face, but no can do. I did let him sit on my lap if he was good. He did get a bit excited when a bird landed in the yard. I told Oscar that he had to behave if he was going to sit on my lap. I got him off before he dug his claws into my legs.

The rest of the day was spent just relaxing.

Birthday Celebration

2011-04-19T14:23:00.004-06:00

Saturday we went to our friends the Butterfields to celebrate Garys and Sandi Breckenridge's birthdays. Our usual group was there, Gary and me, Dale and Kitty, Sandi and Pat, Marty and Vicky.

We got to their house early as Dale and Gary changed the oil on our bike. Gary has decided to change it himself since last fall when he changed the oil and found out it wasn't changed the last time we took it to the dealership.

Kitty made a delicious dinner for us. The only thing we had to do was bring our own booze and a card for Sandi. Kitty made everything homemade, tortillas, chili rellanos, tamales, enchiladas, spanish rice and charro beans. Everything was a hit and it was all very tasty.

Vicky brought a cake for Sandi and Gary. Kitty put candles on it but she didn't know how old Gary was. Sandi turns 60 on Thursday and she isn't thrilled about it, until I told her that she is only two years away from collecting social security.

Kitty bought these cute little birthday hats for Gary and Sandi to wear while we ate cake. They looked so cute, but were highly embarassed. They both said that it was a good thing we were amongst friends and not out in public.

Had a very good time. Then Sandi figured out that Kitty and I have the next birthdays and since they are close together will be having one party. I hope I don't have a wear a birthday hat.

I took some photos of the dinner and posted them on my picasa site. I promised both Gary and Sandi that I wouldn't post on facebook so I won't. Here is the photo of them in their birthday hats.

VIC Party

2011-04-15T11:05:00.002-06:00

We went to the VIC (Very Important Customer) party at Beartooth Harley on the 13th. It coincided with Gary's birthday, so we've been telling our friends how nice it was for Beartooth to host his birthday party.

Whenever we shop at the dealership, we get points towards our VIC rewards and this year we earned $25 worth. We have until the end of the month to use them, so while we were at the party I browsed through the clothes. Found a couple shirts I like, so will probably use our rewards towards something. Gary just has to find something for him.

There were quite a few people who came for the party. The dealership catered the event with Old Chicago. We had two different kinds of pizza rolls, pepperoni and buffalo chicken, two different kinds of wings, BBQ and buffalo, chips and salsa and a veggie tray with ranch dip. For drinks there was soda, beer and wine.

I told Gary that since it was his birthday, I would be the designated driver home, but he owes me. This is the third party that we have gone to where I had to be good. I did have one beer with my pizza rolls, then after that I drank diet coke.

Most of our harley friends were there and we had a great time. The party was supposed to be from 6-8 but we didn't leave until 8:30 and there were still people there.

Had a great time but we both decided that we are getting too old to be out partying on a week night, it's getting too hard to wake up at 5:30 am.

April Fool's Ride

2011-04-12T14:42:00.002-06:00

Sunday we went on the HOG Chapter April Fool's Ride. This ride was originally scheduled for April 3, but due to the nasty weather it was rescheduled to the 10th. Had a good turn out, there were 37 people who signed in. On this ride we got a free meal.

This is a ride where we don't know where we are going or how long we will be gone. We all met at the dealership at noon. The day was nice, the sun was out but a bit on the windy side. The wind wasn't too bad when we left Hardin, but there were moments of some strong gusts.

We got to the dealership around 11:30 and met many of our friends there. Everyone was excited to just get out and ride, winter has been a long one. Normally the dealership is closed on Sunday's but the 2nd man in charge rides with us and he will open the dealership up, have coffee made for us and most importantly we get a bathroom stop before heading out.

It was time to head out, we got our instructions for the ride. All we had to do was follow the arrows that were put on sign posts, hoping the wind didn't blow them off. Then we had to watch for the man in charge at the last intersection then watch for his son waving the chapter flag at our final destination. Gary is a ride captain for the chapter this year. Since there were so many of us, we had to leave in two groups and he was the sweeper in the first group. We are the last ones in case there are problems. Had it easy all we had to do was follow the others.

It was a short ride and we were reminded to watch out for the twist. We ended up heading out on Shiloh road with all the round abouts, then out on Molt road, heading south to Laurel then back into Billings. We almost missed the very first arrow as the wind was blowing so hard that the arrow sign was bent in half, the rest of the arrow signs were taped pretty good.

We kept waiting for the "fool" part of the ride. I guess it was we ended up back on the round abouts. Everyone did make it to our final destination which was Tiny's Tavern in Billings. We were served pizza and chicken with free sodas.

Had a very enjoyable day despite the wind. There were a few times where a gust would catch me and about yank my head off. I did have to hold on to my helmet at one time. Looking forward to our next ride to Lavina on the 17th.

Dentist and Therapy

2011-04-08T10:03:00.003-06:00

Tuesday I hade my regular dental appointment. My appointment was at noon this time as I had a HOG officers meeting later that evening.

I went to Billings early to get in some errands. My first stop was at Wal-Mart to pick up a few things and I also got my hair cut. Then I got a phone call from my Mom. My grandmother had an appointment that morning and when they got done they called me to meet for a cup of coffee before going to my dental appointment.

We were going to meet at Applebee's, but they weren't open when we got there, so went to IHOP instead. Had a great visit with them and got the scoop on my Mom. She ended up seeing the same doctor as my grandmother. That is another story.

Went to my appointment and things are going good. I still have a sensative spot on a tooth. Didn't have that until they put in a filling there. Been battling this for about a year now. I don't mind it much myself, but every once in a while when I drink or eat something cold, I will get a good zinger. I just cringe when the dental assistant gets near me with her cleaning tool.

I had to get some x-rays taken this time and then the dentist came over and examined my teeth. I'm healing well and things are going good. He did tell me that I can get some implants and bridges. I told him that my partials are working well enough for me. My insurance won't pay for implants because they are considered cosmetic. I had already gone through all of this at the very beginning when it was decided for me to get partials. I did come out of the office with a new salad recipe to try.

Now it's time for my therapy. Went to the mall and bought two new pairs of jeans. I tried getting into the next size down but not a go yet. I can at least get them over my hips but just can't get the zipped or buttoned. I supposed if I had fought and struggled I could have, but then I wouldn't have been able to breathe and that is important.

It was frustrating but still a relief knowing that I can get them on but not just yet. Have been at this stage for quite some time. Just need more working on it, but I just hate the idea of what I need to do.

Soon it was time to get to my meeting. I got home too late to call Mom to get an update on her doctor appointment, but I got all of that the next morning.

Garage Party

2011-04-04T14:32:00.007-06:00

Wednesday I attended the Beartooth Harley Davidson Garage Party. This is a women only event to get women interested in getting out of the back seat of a bike and into the front seat. It was alot of fun.

The party started at 6:30 at the dealership, they had some snack sandwiches for us to eat since it was dinner time. There were about 30 women at the party. I only knew one other woman that was there. The only men in attendance were a couple workers who were demonstrating. The local news crew was also there to report on it. Fortunately I missed getting on tv.

We were divided up into three groups. My group went to the clothes department first. We were told the important items needed for riding were leather chaps, leather coats, ankle boots and a helmet. A few women confessed that they don't always ride in safe clothes, some ride in shorts and flip flops. I don't because Gary won't allow that. I stressed the importance of a helmet. Not necessarily for when you go down, but mainly to protect your head from rocks, bugs and debris on the road. My helmet is knicked up from rocks and debris. We then had time to shop, found a couple things I would like but didn't buy anything this time.

Next we went to the station where we learned how to pick up a bike after going down to the ground. This demonstration was a first for the Billings garage party, mainly because they didn't have a female employee who could pick up her bike. It wasn't that hard at all. You just squat down, get your butt on the seat one hand on the handle bar the other on the fender and just start walking backwards. Soon you will have the bike up. I had a hard time and was spinning because I was using one leg more than the other. Once I got equal pressure on my legs, I got the bike up. Sure felt like it was going to tip over the other way, but the kickstand was there to prevent that. It really wasn't that hard at all. Then we learned how to change a seat on the bike. That was very easy.

My last station was the demo drive. The last time I went to a garage party I chickened out on this, was too scared to try it. This time I promised Gary that I would do it. It was very intimidating at first, especially when other people are watching you. The guy was very nice in explaining things. He asked if I knew how to drive a stick shift and that since I do it's the came concept. He had us go through a dry run on all the gears. One down five up. We all had a hard time finding neutral. That is between first and second gears. I got the bike started and on I went. I got it up to 60 miles per hour and in 5th gear. Then he had me shift down. Piece of cake and I didn't stall it. It turned out not to be so intimidating after all. I'm sure it would have been a different story if I was actually moving.

After it was over and we all got through the stations, we had a door prize drawing. This was for the two day safety course that is taught by the Riders Edge. You go through this course, then all you have to do is take the written portion to get the motorcycle endorsement. The dealership bought class time for June 11-12 and if you won this that is the only time that you can go. You would not be able to exchange it for a different class. We are going to be in Deadwood South Dakota that weekend, so I didn't get a ticket for the drawing.

Everyone did get a grab bag. They were all different. I got a shot glass, a keychain, a pen and a necklace charm. Now I just need to buy a chain for it. We all got reading material and a coupon for $350 off a windshield or seat if you bought a new bike before May 24, 2011. Gary already said that I can't buy a new bike.

It was a fun night and very enjoyable. Two hours sure went by fast and I got some more goodies.

Black Belt Test and Tournament

2011-03-31T08:14:00.003-06:00

Last weekend was a busy one for the Limings. Friday night was the black belt test and we had two students testing for their first degree black belts, Vann and Arthur. We left Hardin early on Friday, when we have this event we always get a room in Billings. The test gets over late and with an hour drive home just to get up early and head back to Billings just doesn't work. This year we stayed at the Best Western. Very nice motel and I recommend it.

After the test was over, we were invited to dinner by Arthur. He had us meet him at Fuddruckers, he had some friends come and watch his test. He was going to buy our dinner, but we wouldn't let him but we did let him buy us a piece of pie. We weren't counting on going to dinner after the test, but it was fun. It was late by the time we got back to the motel, so we just went to sleep.

Had a hard time figuring out how to turn on the heat to the rooms. The are motion sensor controlled, so Gary got our room going. Had to turn on the heat to Jennifer's room. She said it got very hot in her room, she woke up about 3 am to turn it off as it was 85 degrees. When she woke up again at 7 am her room was 91 degrees. She opened up her window to get some cool air. She said that explains why her window was open when we checked in.

Saturday morning was the tournament. We had 11 students compete and as a school Hardin came home with 22 medals. 7 golds, 7 silvers and 8 bronzes. The only two students who didn't medal were my two adult females. One mainly because she missed class for a month due to her being sick and the other hurt her knee and the doctor advised her not to compete. She has to wear a brace and is looking a knee surgery later.

Arthur competed in Judo, which we don't teach in Hardin. He ended up winning a silver medal in Judo. He had only been working on judo for a couple weeks, thanks to youtube and what little Gary worked with him on. It helped that he has some wrestling experience when he was in high school. Now we have other students wanting to do judo.

Every kid got a medal in every event that they entered. I think this is the first time that that has happened. We had in years past that a student at least got one medal in the tournament.

I took the group photo on Tuesday, now I just have to tweak the photo and add a couple that were late and missed the first shoot and then get it all in the paper.

Mariah, Brandon and Alexus with their forms medals.

Tae Kwon Do, Patriot Guard and HOG

2011-03-21T14:47:00.002-06:00

What a weekend Gary and I had, been on the road for three days.

Friday we went to tae kwon do class for the black belt pre-test. We have two students who are testing for their first degree black belt. I also turned in all the paperwork for the test and the tournament for the 26th. We have 8 students who will be competing in the tournament. Three are grandkids. Brandon, Alexus and Mariah will be competing. I hope that I can get some great photos of the kids. After class we went out to eat. We found a new place to eat in the Heights. It has probably been there for quite some time, but we just found it. It's called Montana Jacks, a casino and restaurant. The food is great and very reasonably priced. We also found out where the new Sonic drive in is, but that place is so busy that we will have to check in out later in a couple month. Traffic is backed up on Main Street with people waiting to get in the drive in.

Saturday was a Patriot Guard board meeting in Bozeman at noon. We got there right on time, found the meeting room. The deal with these meetings is that the Patriot Guard will get the meeting room for free if we order off the menu. Gary and I decided to split a cheeseburger with fries and we both had diet cokes to drink. Our meal came and we got a hamburger. We only got about 5 choices off the menu and no prices were listed. We figured we would be safe with a burger. It was ok. Had the meeting. Gary and the other guy representing Eastern Montana get the privilege of organizing the Gathering of the Guard this year. It will be held in Billings on the last weekend in June. Neither one lives in Billings, the other guy lives in Roundup. They are going to have to get together and find a place, but they need to get moving on it so that the general membership can make plans. Before leaving Bozeman had to pay for our burger. Our meal was $14 for just a burger, fries and two diet cokes. What they did was charge the group a gratuity and then she had to split the gratuity up amongst all of us who ate. I really don't like being forced to pay for someone's wages. Nothing at all was on the little menu we had stating that a gratuity would be added for a large group.

Sunday was our HOG chapter meeting. This is the last one indoors until October. Next month we start our riding meetings. It was a very short meeting as afterwards there was a riders safety course offered. Gary was asked to be a road captain and all the officers are defacto road captains. It was interesting, but not much for me to do because I'm a passenger. The place that we meet is Bones Brewery but they have been going through a remodel so their kitchen is closed. We ate before we got to the meeting. Once we arrived we found out that Bones had brought in a cook for us. Many did order off the menu. We eventually ordered a basket of onion rings to snack on for the safety course.

The weekend went pretty fast, but we better get used to it because they are going to go by once we start riding and summer gets here.

Sunday Ride

2011-03-17T14:29:00.002-06:00

Last Sunday the weather was beautiful so we took a Sunday ride. The guys were talking about meeting up for a ride at the bar on Saturday. We women said whatever you guys want to do is fine with us.

Our friends met us in Hardin on Sunday afternoon. Our original plan was to eat lunch at the Spring Creek Bar, but when I tried to call there was no answer. We ate lunch at the 4 Aces. It was nice to get together with our friends and catch up on what we all did.

It was just a short ride, rode up Sarpy to Hysham over to Custer and then back to Hardin. That is about 110 mile round trip from Hardin. A good ride to get broke into riding again before we head out on these chapter rides. Besides we have been waiting for along time to get the bikes out and on the road.

There is a strech of road on the Sarpy Highway that is horrible and that is on the Treasure County side. There were signs warning us about water on the highway. Just one low laying area where there was water on the road, not too bad on Sunday. Alot of water everywhere. There is also a huge bump in the road.

The road is bumpy once you get into Treasure County, this particular bump is across the whole road and when Gary hit it, I literally came off my seat. In fact when all the guys hit it, all of us women looked like those gophers in that game.

We were going to take the frontage road in Hysham and Custer, but when we got to the junction of I-94, the frontage road was closed due to flooding. We had to take I-94 to Custer. We stopped in Custer for a drink before saying our goodbyes to our friends. They all live in Billings or Laurel so they continued on from Custer, while we came home.

It was a very nice afternoon. Keeping my fingers crossed that winter is behind us and we can enjoy the spring and summer. This has been a very long winter. Not getting my hopes up too high, after all Easter is not here yet.

It has been a very long time since we have had winters like this year that we are spoiled. When the real thing comes along then we complain.

St. Patrick's Day Parade

2011-03-15T14:16:00.002-06:00

Saturday we rode in the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Billings. Had a great time. It was too cold to ride the bike in the morning, so we loaded it on the trailer. Besides from past experience we knew that it would be late getting home and we didn't want to be riding in the dark.

It has been nice since Wednesday with very warm temperatures that melted all the snow and ice in our back yard. We got the bike loaded onto the trailer early Saturday morning. By now we know how to do this so had plenty of time for a quick cup of coffee before heading to Billings.

We had a dilemma this year. The Patriot Guard Riders and our HOG Chapter were both in the parade this year, who do we ride with. I'm an officer with the chapter and Gary is on the state board of directors for Patriot Guard.

We called some friends, who are on vacation, to see if we could park our truck and trailer at their house. There is an empty lot next to their house that we can park. No problem. We got to their house and apparently they will be getting new neighbors. Wonder if they know. There were pipe laying across the empty lot. We just parked in front of their house, careful not to block their mailbox.

We met our friends at the restaurant for breakfast. We decided to ride with the Patriot Guard mainly because we felt being a state director trumped being a secretary. We did have a mission after the parade and Gary had to sign some papers for the Patriot Guard. Many of our friends were riding with the Patriot Guard.

After the parade we had a quick snack with the group at Burger King before going to our mission. Our mission was at St. Patrick's Co-Cathedral downtown in Billings. Fortunately it was a nice day for the mission, not too hot and not too cold.

When the mission was over, we met with our friends at a bar for a drink afterwards. We all went our separate ways to regroup. We loaded the bike back up on the trailer. Gary got in trouble by the letter carrier for blocking the mailbox. We didn't actually block the mailbox, the letter carrier just couldn't park up to the mailbox and deliver the mail. Would have had to get out of the truck.

Went to the bar and met our friends, had a couple of drinks and ate some Italian nachos. It was dark by the time we left Billings.

We got pulled over by the deputy just a block away from our house. Turns out we lost the lights on our trailer. We gave the little deputy our information, good thing we didn't get pulled over in Billings, would have been in trouble. At first we thought that the lights just got loose from traveling down the road. The cord was broken in half, looks like the cord got loose and was dragging on the ground.

Gary got a warning out of it mainly because we were only a block way from home and the cop said that he doesn't write up veterans.

After that episode, we have decided that we will never drive home again after having drinks. We have said this before.

Wrestling

2011-03-14T13:14:00.003-06:00

I'm already behind. Two weeks ago Hardin hosted an AAU wrestling meet. Tristan, Donnie's son, is a wrestler. We went to go watch his meets. There were a ton of kids running around, there were 8 mats going on at the same time.

Donnie found us and gave us all the information that we needed for Tristan. All of his matches were on mat #4 and Donnie had already camped out an area where we could get good viewing. He told us what the match numbers were for Tristan and then we just had to wait.

There were other kids that we know who wrestle too and some friends' kids wrestling so we were able to watch alot of matches. I was very surprised at the number of girls wrestling and they weren't afraid to mix it up with the boys. In fact Tristan had to wrestle two girls.

He lost his first match but won his second. He placed second in the tournament for his bracket. The first girl pinned him, she was from Hardin and a friend of his so he wrestles her all the time. Donnie told us that he usually wins against her. The other girl he has wrestled in tournaments before, no sure where she is from. He is not able to pin her, she can move out of that but he usually beats her by points.

I took my new camera with me and was able to play with the sports mode and the video on the camera. My camera has a flip down live view finder which came in handy. It was announced that all photography and video taping has to be done from the stands. Only wrestlers, coaches and officials were allowed on the floor. Well most people ignored that. Not me, I stayed in the stands. Flipped the view finder down and started taking video. A man sitting behind me sure liked that feature on my camera.

I wasn't too sure how the video would turn out, but I was sure surprised at the quality and the sound that my camera picked up.

Tristan and Donnie went to Great Falls this past weekend for the state tournament. Donnie kept us informed by text. Tristan didn't win. He was in a bracket of 32, he lost his first match, won the second and lost the third. He didn't get pinned, he lost by points. Donnie said that he got injured in the first match. He didn't quit and stayed with it. Now he wants his dad to teach him speed and strength for next year.

Car Damage Estimates

2011-03-03T13:45:00.002-07:00

I finally got the estimates for the repair on my car bumper. I went to the two body shops here in Hardin. One estimate is for $705 and the other is for $739. I called the people who hit me and they would like to pay out of their pocket. Their deductable is $1000 and with the estimate lower than that they would rather pay themselves. This will also keep this off their insurance and help their rates. I know what it costs to have teenage drivers on your insurance and can just imagine what this will do to their rates. Especially when I found out that this is the girl's second accident.

We would like to have them pay us directly and then we will make the appointment to get the work done and then pay for it. This way we know for sure that it was paid for. Besides with two different people might confuse the workers and that would be a nightmare. This way we will have the work done and pay for it. We have decided to go to the $705 estimate. I'm sure both do a good job and this body shop came highly recommended.

I am just appalled at how much cheap plastic costs. The problem with my bumper is that it is two tone and naturally the damage is on both colors. Not that it would matter anyway because the bumper is one piece and would have to be painted anyway.

Not My Week

2011-02-25T13:04:00.003-07:00

This has not been my week. Tuesday night our furnace decided to act up. It would try to ignite and we would get flame for a bit then die down. We got back from class and is was only 58 degrees in the house. First I had to find the papers for the furnace and air conditioner that we had installed about 4 years ago, then I called the number for the company that installed it. Our furnace is still under warranty for parts. I get a recording advising me that an after hours service call to a home is $175. Well we can wait until regular hours on Wednesday, just put an extra blanket on the bed.

Woke up Wednesday morning and the furnace is working just fine, heating up the house like it's supposed to. Still called the heating company anyway, wanted to have the furnace checked out before Thursday because we are supposed to get below zero temperatures. Sure didn't want to furnace to die then. Got ahold of the company and they would send a guy down in the afternoon. Worked for me because Jennifer was off anyway so she would be home to let the service guy in and I would be right home. He got to the house at 2:00. He called me on my phone to let me know that he was leaving Billings at 1:00 before the roads got too bad.

He checked out the furnace, did some cleaning, checked all the drains and the filter. Over time the flame sensor gets a carbon build up on it. Said all furnaces do, so he cleaned that and it was working fine. He stayed for a bit to make sure. Then he had to go out and get his paperwork. I had my checkbook ready.

My checkbook is $246 lighter. He charged me $74 for the 1 hour labor, the rest was mileage to and from Billings and that was $172. I got my receipt and off he went. He wasn't even there for a full hour, about 40 minutes. It still cost me an hour of vacation. We are toasty warm now.

Yesterday while we were at McDonald's during our lunch hour, my car was run into by a teenage driver. My car was legally parked and we were inside. The guy who was parked next to me came up to us and asked of the silver car was ours, because some girls just hit it. Sure enough, have a good sized dent on my back bumper. I went outside to talk to the girl, surprised that she didn't take off.

She was writing down all her information and was going to leave it on my windshield. She was looking for her insurance information by the time I got outside. She kept apologizing and said that she would pay for any damages. Her car started sliding and she couldn't stop. It was too cold to be standing outside writing all the information down, so we went inside. Nobody was hurt, it's only property damage. We got all the information down and she also gave us the name of her parents, since I will be dealing with them anyway.

I called her mother to see how they wanted to handle this. In Montana the person at fault on a private property accident has the option to pay out of their own pocket for damages. I gave her mother what had happened, that her daughter hit my legally parked car. I have to get some estimates on the repair, give them a call back. Once I give them the estimate they will decide if they want insurance to pay or out of their own pocket.

I did reassure the mom that we are not mad, it's just one of those things. She said that she realizes that parking lots do get slick when they are snow covered. I also wanted to commend her daughter for staying and doing the right thing. Most kids would have panicked and taken off. I did not tell her that I have a witness though.

We have seen how the kids drive around town during their lunch hour. We have witnessed numerous near accidents in the McDonald's parking lot. Quite frankly if the girl hit my car she was driving too fast for the conditions of the road, basic rule.

I dropped Gary off at work, pretty soon he called me and said that when he told a co-worker what had happened she said "That was you". The mother was just at the check out when she got the phone call from her daughter. The mother told her daughter "this is why your dad doesn't want you going over there for lunch and you were told not to go there today because of the slick roads. We will discuss this when you get home." Now I'm not responsible for what her parents do to her when she gets home.

I know if it was my kid, they would not be driving for at least a week. That would also depend on how much the damages were. Here are a couple photos of my injured car.

Spring is Around the Corner

2011-02-22T14:34:00.002-07:00

Legend states that if the groundhog doesn't see his shadow on Feb. 2 then spring is around the corner. It just didn't state what corner. Punxsutawney Phil didn't see his shadow but Montana Murry did.

Since then we have had two snow storms. One didn't last long and the snow melted in just a couple days. Our last storm we got 12 new inches over the weekend and below zero temperatures.

Mother Nature was playing a mean joke on us. Thursday we had temperatures in the 60's and it was very nice. Friday the wind was blowing and it was cold. I think we had wind chill factors of below zero. I know it felt like the wind was cutting you in half. It started to snow Saturday night and it snowed all night and day on Sunday.

We went to Billings Sunday for our HOG meeting. The roads were ok. Driving lane was clear, however the passing lane was snowpacked. When vehicles passed you especially the semi's we were in a total white out. But we got where we needed to be and back home safe and sound.

Monday morning the temperature was 10 below, at least we didn't have wind. The forecast doesn't sound appealing at all. More snow and cold temps are coming. We are supposed to have 20 below on Friday.

I really hope that this is the last snow storm of the year. Really tired of all the snow. This is the first time in a long time that we have had snow all winter long.

Class Reunion

2011-02-10T13:53:00.002-07:00

This year marks the 30th class reunion for my graduating class of 1981. Doesn't seem like it has been that long, but it has. When I told mom this she said that it wasn't right. Yes it is right.

The dates have been set for July 1-3. I got a preliminary schedule in the mail and it is a survey of activities that we can chose from.

Boating on the Big Horn Lake on Friday not interested in because it would only be limited to the class members, they won't be able to accomodate families due to the boat limitations. I can do the social hour on Friday night, don't mind having to bring my own booze.

Saturday they have an open house scheduled for the morning with beverages and snacks included. The high school is going through a huge renovation and we would get a tour of the building and see the changes over the past 30 years. Not at all interested in the golf outing because I don't golf, but I am interested in an alternate event. Not sure what it would be, but no cost would be involved. I am definately interested in the cocktail hour, dinner and dance for Saturday night. Right now it is scheduled to be held at the golf course.

Sunday is the BBQ which I would be interested in. I don't mind in the least helping out making a salad or a dessert.

The schedule sheet states that the initial cost for everything will be around $25-$30 per person, this excludes the golf and boating. The cost will also depend on the response they get from the survey. The schedule will be finalized once they get a better fell of what item has the most interest.

Vist With Linda and Kids

2011-02-09T14:34:00.003-07:00

Last Saturday we went to Sheridan to visit with Linda and her kids. Linda is now living in Greeley CO and she drove up with her two daughters Alyssa and Randee so that she could visit with her son Andrew before he moves to California.

About three years ago Linda lost custody of Andrew to his father.This was the first time she has seen him in three years. Linda went through a very rough patch, but now she is in treatment and counseling and is doing well. We haven't seen nor heard from her in about five years, so at Christmas she started texting her Dad and we have been in touch ever since.

It was good to see her, and we are extremely pleased that our Linda is back. She has a long way to go, but she is getting there. Alyssa and Andrew have grown up so much. Alyssa is now 13, Andrew is 9 and Randee is 3.

We met Linda at their hotel and she had Andrew's other sisters with her. His dad let him spend the night with Linda and apparently the deal was that she had to take his two sisters also. She was not allowed to take Andrew out of Sheridan County so they couldn't come up to Hardin or Lodge Grass to visit, but Sheridan is not that far away that we and Linda's mom were able to see them in Sheridan.

Linda had 5 kids total. She said that she would do anything to have quality time with her son and she wasn't going to do anything to jeopardize the trust that she is building with him. She also said that with the two other girls they figured she wouldn't get the urge to just to take off. The kids went swimming in the hotel pool and hot tub so I was able to get alot of photos.

We visited for a couple hours and had a good time. Randee has hearing problems so she talks in sign language, now we have to learn how to sign. Linda taught us a few words, but not enough to talk to her. We left before Linda's mom got there, that probably would have been too much for Linda.

Linda's mom still blames Andrew's dad for taking Andrew away and there are some hard feelings there. Linda said she knows she made mistakes and now has to live with the consequences of her choices. She also said that Andrew is doing fine with his dad and she is happy because the lines of communication are opening. They are talking about making arrangements so that she can visit with Andrew more.

Linda's husband was not able to make the trip, he owns his own heating and plumbing company and with winter has been pretty busy.

I got my photos posted on Picasa and facebook.

Vacation Planning

2011-02-07T15:37:00.002-07:00

It's that time of year to start planning our vacations. We went up to Billings on Friday and met our friends for dinner. This year we are planning a motorcycle trip to the Oregon coast. The original plan was to spend a day in Canada. Gary applied and received his passport. We had a hard time finding out where is parent's were born, but we got it.

We met at a Mexican restaurant for dinner, then over to the Breckenridge's house for planning. There are six of us going on this trip that have committed and we are all on trikes. Gary and Marty really want to see the redwoods and in order to do this we had to cut out the Canada leg. If we kept the Canada leg in, then we would have to cut out the redwoods. The whole idea of this trip was to see the redwoods.

The problem we ran in to was vacation time for us working stiffs. The Breckenridges are retired but the rest of us are still working. Gary only gets 10 days of vacation a year. I get five weeks of vacation a year, so an extra day wouldn't hurt me in the least. Our friend Vicky gets 15 days a year and her husband Marty can only take a limited number of days off for vacation. He is self employed in the dry wall business.

The consensus of the group was to save the Canada leg for another trip. We decided that we could take a four day weekend for the Canada trip.

Once we got the days figured out, then we had to figure out the route. Since we will be gone during Labor Day, we decided to hit the coast part after Labor Day. We figure it won't be so busy with people. Along the way we will be traveling through the Columbia River Gorge, along the Oregon coast and up at Oak Harbor we will be taking a ferry. Looking forward to it.

Gary and I are also taking a couple days to go to Deadwood South Dakota with the HOG Chapter for the Gambler's Run. Hoping this year we won't have the rain like last year.

In August, Mom, Jennifer and I are taking our annual girls road trip to Minnesota to visit with Bonnie and family. Kevin and Sam said they would take me to the zoo to see the bears. Jennifer and I would like to spend a day at the Mall of America for some shopping.

In between those times, we will be taking some weekend rides. I did receive an e-mail from Jason today and they are planning a road trip to Idaho, Wyoming and Montana in June. Jason said that they are leaving California on the 16th. Will keep in touch with him for those dates. Will be fun.

Groundhog Day

2011-02-02T14:41:00.002-07:00

Good news. Punxsutawney Phil didn't see his shadow today. Means that we will have an early spring. However, Roundup Murry did see his shadow.

Roundup has their very own groundhog and this was his first year predicting the weather. I'm not counting Murry because he is just an apprentice groundhog, when Phil has been the official one for years.

Looking forward to an early spring.

Munchie Bowl II

2011-01-31T10:57:00.003-07:00

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

2011-01-28T13:31:00.001-07:00

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

2011-01-25T13:54:00.002-07:00

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

2011-01-14T15:14:00.005-07:00

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

2011-01-10T13:41:00.002-07:00

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

2011-01-07T15:09:00.002-07:00

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

2011-01-05T15:51:00.002-07:00

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.

Christmas 2010

2010-12-29T13:23:00.003-07:00

We had a nice and quiet Christmas this year. Sure was nice to finally stay home for a change. We had parties and were gone every weekend in December.

Gary had Thursday off from his work, so he got the day to himself. He didn't know he had it off until he got to work that morning and they told him to go home with pay. I had just pulled into the parking lot of the court house when he called me to get him. I was two minutes late getting clocked in. Thursday was also when the court house had their annual Christmas brunch. It is just a small get together before the holdiay and we much on brunch stuff. I didn't think we were going to have a brunch will all the construction going on. When the head janitor told me that the notice was in our last paychecks I told her that I didn't get anything. She said she didn't either. She went and found out that the notice was printed in real small print on our check stubs. I am now one of the employees who don't read their check stubs. I do now. At the last minute I made some cookies for the bunch.

I had Friday off, so spent the day cleaning house. Jennifer had it off too so she helped. I picked Gary up for lunch and he told me that the store was having an inhouse raffle for the employees to win items such has a computer, tv, golf bag and other bunches of goodies. He said with his luck he would win the golf bag because he doesn't play golf. When I picked him up he was waiting outside with a golf bag. I just laughed. He said he actually won the canoe, but one of his co-workers wanted the canoe so they traded. We have an item for the HOG White Elephant party next year.

We rented movies to watch over the weekend, but ended up watching them all on Christmas Day. We even watched a couple movies on tv. I did make it to church in the morning, was too tired to go to Midnight Mass. I fixed dinner and then we just munched all day long and watched movies.

I got a new digital camera for Christmas. I actually knew I was getting it because Gary told me to order it. I did on Monday and it arrived Thursday afternoon. I have a Nikon D5000 digital SLR camera with a 18-55mm lens. I've been snapping photos at home and learning all about the whistles and bells on it. Haven't had a chance to take it out and have fun, but that will come when I go to the dentist on the 4th. I also got a new leather vest, another piece for my village and a scented oil burner.

Gary got a pair of leather gloves and a big jar of mixed nuts and a $50 gift card for The Outback. Jennifer got a new jewelry box, some jewelry and money.

Being a Grandma is Fun

2010-12-20T13:50:00.002-07:00

I am a grandma by default. There are 9 grandchildren between my three stepchildren and six live here in Hardin. Three call me Grandma Pat, the others I'm just Pat and that is ok too. The kids range in age from 16 to 3. There are 6 girls and 3 boys.

Carl has two girls that live here, Alexus (10) and Mariah (7). These girls are the ones who call me Grandma Pat and they even call Jennifer their aunt. They really like it that Jennifer has the same name as their mother, even though she spells her name different. The two girls with their mother take tae kwon do lessons from us.

Donnie has three kids and a step daughter. Shayla (16) is his step daughter that we have adopted as ours. Brandon (14), Tristan (8) and Elyse (4). Brandon and Tristan take lessons from us too. To these kids I'm just Pat.

Linda is living in Evanston and she has three kids. Alyssa (13), Andrew (10) and Brandy (3). We don't get to see these kids.

I admit that I had a hard time with the kids calling me Grandma, but it has grown on me and it's pretty easy now. I would tell our friends that we would spend time with Gary's grandkids and they would look at me funny and ask "well, aren't they your grandkids too". You should see people's faces when I tell them that the kids are my grandkids. Some know my three kids and are surprised to see that they have kids this age. Then I have to go through the whole thing and explain how this works.

This weekend we were busy with grandparent duties. Friday night at the basketball game, Elyse and her dance class performed for half time. They were real cute and I got some photos. Not very good because my camera just doesn't have the range, but they will work. Brandon is in 8th grade and he playes in the high school pep band. He plays drums and is real good, he even gets to play the drum sets. I got some photos of him playing, but those didn't turn out at all.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon shopping with Brandon, Alexus and Mariah. We got them gift cards for Christmas. Gary talked to their mom and told her that we would like to take them shopping and out for lunch. The kids were so excited and couldn't wait until after Christmas, so we took them yesterday. Brandon turned down going hunting with his Dad, just so he could spend time with us.

I rode in the back of the pickup with the girls and let Brandon have the front. More leg room for him and he could visit with Gary. I colored with the girls. Been quite a while and my coloring skills in a moving vehicle are rusty.

We plan to take Tristan and Elyse later. The invite was extended to Shayla, even knowing that she wouldn't want to be seen out in public with us oldies.

Even though the kids' mothers are no longer married to Carl and Donnie, Gary and I still get along with them. We didn't take sides when they split and we always talked to Jenifer and Sasha. In fact Sasha works in the court house with me, so I always get updates on what the kids are doing.

Jennifer and I get alot of hugs from Alexus and Mariah. Mariah even got her Aunt Jennifer a gift for Christmas.

Being a grandma is alot of fun, can't wait for more.

Dinner Party

2010-12-14T14:52:00.002-07:00

December is the month for parties. This past Saturday we were invited to a friends house, Dick & Joan Russell, for a dinner get together. All we had to bring was a dessert or salad. I told her that I would be bringing a dessert.

I made a chocolate cheesecake for the dinner. I made it Saturday morning and it turned out nice. We left Hardin later in the morning to get some shopping done, so packed up our stuff and headed out.

What a nightmare it was getting around Billings on Saturday. Alot of traffic and it was slow going to get anywhere. In order to move around, you better head where the traffic lights were. If you wanted to get on a street without the benefit of a traffic light you probably should have brought a book to read to get across the intersection. The stores were pretty crowded too. We did get some of our shopping done. Gary said that he would never shop during the Christmas season again. It's only this crowded on the weekends when people are off work and the out of towners come in to shop. Just image what this weekend will be like shopping.

We went to our friends the Butterfields house to follow them to the Russell's house. We had been to the Russells once before and it is not an easy place to find, especially in the dark. We got there at just the right time.

There were nine couples at the dinner and we had a great time. It's always a great time when we get to spend it with our friends. The dinner was at 5:30 pm and we didn't leave until 10:00 pm, as I had to get home. The meal was delicious and all the women laughed over stories. One of the girls ( she is a girl only 19) will never be the same. We are getting her educated and her boyfriend doesn't have a chance. Keep in mind that I'm one of the young ones of our group of friends (under 50). That poor girl was blushing all night and her boyfriend sat at our table. He said our conversations were more interesting than the mens.

We were all sent home with a package of Joan's homemade fudge, very yummy, and some lasagne.

Tae Kwon Do Party

2010-12-09T10:32:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was our annual Tae Kwon Do and Judo Christmas Party and Awards Banquet. It is held at the Billings Hotel every year.

This is a dress up party and Gary just hates it. Not the party itself, just the fact that he has to wear his suit and tie. He swore that when he retired that he would never wear a suit and tie again. I like to dress up real nice once a year.

This year we spent the weekend with our friends in Billings. Friday night is the Toy Run party, Saturday is Tae Kwon Do and Sunday is the Toy Run. Last year we drove back and forth, this year we stayed with our friends the Butterfields. I think they just wanted to see us dressed up in our fancy clothes.

We had to be at the party by 5:00 for a short business meeting and also for the instructors to sign the black belt certificates. We got a run down on what happened during the year and a schedule of events for the upcoming year.

Every year there is a raffle for prizes and this year the grand prizes were a blue ray dvd player and a 27" flat screen tv. There are also other items wrapped up. This year they tried something different. Each school had to make a basket for the raffle. I made our basket with different flavored coffees and teas. It was hard coming up with an idea and I didn't want to make one strictly for a male or female. You don't know who would end up with the basket.

We had our meal and it was very good. We had three different kinds of salads, rice, mashed potatoes and gravy, chicken and roast beef. It was very delicious. There were all kinds of desserts on the table. No chocolate for me to choose from so I was forced to take a piece of raspberry cheesecake. Oh the sacrifices one has to make.

After dinner is the awards. All people who are third degree black belts and above have to come up front. I am the only woman high rank. My job was to pin the roses on the people as they came forward to receive their black belt certificate. I just handed the people their flower, or else it would have been a huge mess. Most of them didn't want it pinned on anyway, just two people did and I didn't poke them. I received an award for 2010 Outstanding Associate Instructor. I was surprised. I received a very nice plaque that we will hang up in our school.

After the awards the fun begins. A DJ is hired every year for the dancing and in between they draw tickets for the raffle items. I buy $10 worth of tickets. After a drought for the past couple years, I did win a small raffle item. I got a mobile organizer. Not sure what I will use it for, but have decided that I already have a white elephant item for our HOG group next year. I didn't win any of the big prizes, but then there is always next year.

All dressed up

My award

Roaddogs Toy Run

2010-12-06T14:24:00.000-07:00

Jake & Aletha Moran; Gary; Kitty & Dale Butterfield

What a busy weekend we had. Friday night we headed up to Billings for the parties. We stayed at our friends the Butterfields for the whole weekend.

Friday was the Roaddogs Holiday Jam at one of the bars in town, Bones. We go to this place for our HOG meetings and they do cater to bikers. There was a live band and dancing. This year the band was Zen and they play classic rock. Music from the late 70's to the 90's. Funny to think that the music we listened to when we were teens is now considered classic. To me classic rock is the music from the 50's & 60's. We got there early to get a big enough table and to save seats for our other friends who were coming to the party. We got a table right in front of the band so that we can see what is going on. We ate our dinner and waited for our friends to arrive. There were some already there when we got there, so our group had two tables with enough chairs with backs to sit comfortably. To get into the party you either paid a cover charge or you had to bring a toy, we opted to bring toys.

The Roaddogs also auction off alot of real nice stuff, this year the big stuff was a 50" HD tv and a grandfather clock like the one I have. Some of the other items were laptop computers, smaller flat screen tvs, digital cameras, leather coats and more nice stuff. There is also a silent auction at the same time, but nothing that I wanted. At one point Gary was trying to get the bar servers attention during the auction, so without thinking he raised his arm. I grabbed his arm and put it down, then informed him that he just placed a $130 bid on an item. Fortunately he was outbid in no time. Whew. All the money raised on Friday night is then spent on Saturday morning for the toys to deliver on Sunday. The paper reported that $23,000 was raised. We had a great time with our friends and dancing to good music. We left the bar at 12:30 and then stayed up and visited with our friends until 2:00 am.

We slept in a bit on Saturday morning, got up around 8:00 which for us is sleeping in. Also our friends were up and about and it would have been rude to be lazy. Saturday was our tae kwon do party, but all of that info will be in another post.

Sunday morning we packed up our clothes and loaded our truck up and then went down to the fire station to meet up with our friends and be in the Toy Run Parade. The Christian Motorcyle group hosts a breakfast for everyone, they serve biscuits and gravy at no charge, but we leave a donation for them. Got to visit with people and watch the bikers get their bikes ready for the parade. The side streets of Billings are horrible, not plowed and there are deep ruts and ice. It was cold about 20 degrees, cold enough but not below zero like last year. We drove the parade route in our truck. Everyone arrived at Rimrock Mall in one piece.

We managed to find a parking space and make our way into the mall to help unload the toys. I carried in one load then stayed inside and took photos. The goal every year is to bury the Salvation Army tree, which was done in no time.

Gary and our friend Kitty caught a family stealing a bike, a very large bag of toys and a large stuffed animal. I missed it but apparently Kitty saw them carrying this stuff and said that it didn't look right. All of the stuff should be going in and not going out. She turned around and Gary followed her and confronted the family. The items they were trying to walk out with were already delivered to the tree. The guy said that he though that this stuff was for anyone "poor" to take. Anyway, the toys were taken back and delivered to the tree. What kind of dirt bag would steal from the Salvation Army.

My photos of the weekend are posted on my Picasa site, but here are a couple from the parade.

The trucks loaded with toys.

The Salvation Army tree getting buried.

Didn't take much time to bury the tree.