Winter at home

We came home to this sight. Much of our snow is blown into drifts.

Roger had to do a bit of snowplowing this a.m.

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Not-so-happy Montana fans

The Montana Grizzlies and Carrol Saints went all the way to the national chamionships and then fell to powerful teams. Right now 2nd place doesn't feel so good, but pretty soon folks will appreciate that going that far is a big achievment. Most of you would know Roger and I as Bobcat fans, because after all Roger went to MSU and two of our kids graduated from there and Brad was a MSU track athlete, but when the Bobcats are out of contention and the Grizzlies are in the playoffs, we can be heard cheering on the Griz....unlike some diehard fans who are for the Bobcats and anyone else who is playing against the Griz. For us, that's because we have known some special Fort Benton boys playing for the Griz...Loren and Brandon Utterback.

Today, I shared a laugh with Betty F. and Cyndee B. about this. Cyndee was looking for a MSU Bobcat t-shirt to give a special little someone for Christmas, and found that in Great Falls it was really hard to even find such a thing, but there were row upon row of Grizzly sweatshirts and hats and so forth, and likely lots of people buying it to wear while they watched the championship game. But, finally Cyndee did find some Bobcat stuff stashed off in a corner, and the nice thing about it, for her pocket book anyway, was that it was on clearance. Well, today, now that all the Griz glory has faded, I saw Griz stuff marked at 60% off! All you Griz fans, now's your chance to stock up...there's always next year.



That blue and gold really does look nice on my favorite Bobcat Fan!

A very special time indeed

It was so nice to have the workers gathered round our table for lunch on Monday. It was a very cold day outdoors, but it was a very 'heartwarming' time for us to share in this time together.

Hawaii !!

No, we are not going to Hawaii...though that would be nice! It must be a lot warmer over there right now. I've already had enough of this subzero stuff.




The last of the state quarters was issued this month. I couldn't wait to finish my collection, which took 10 years start to finish.



I have to credit my Dad for getting me started with this. He gave me the collectors map and my first few state quarters. It brings back precious memories of Daddy. He loved to collect coins and other memorbilia. He would have relished the past political season and would have followed it closely. He loved statistics and sports and scores and lists, such as states and capitals and counties and county seats and their license plate numbers, and he passed this interest along to a few of his offspring. Dad didn't live long enough to finish his state quarter collection...maybe that's why I was so happy to complete mine....in remembrance of him.



This is one of the last photos that I have of Dad. He was sitting by the fire and enjoying his grandsons guitar music and the singing. The occasion was our last complete family reunion at the 'Haymoon', just a couple months before Dad passed away.






I cherish this photo of Dad greeting Joellyn and his new little great granddaughter, Sarah.

Testing out the Edge

Roger was determined that he would have room in the garage to park our new car when we brought it home. Every since we added on, the garage has been the work room and storage for building supplies... so it was an accomplishment to make room for the car for the first time! I am going to enjoy not having to go outside to the old garage to get the car and unload groceries, etc. It's still a little tight as we still have a couple saws and supplies on the edges, but it fits in nicely. We still need to install our garage door opener, to make it really nice.

The first trip home with the Edge last Friday, we stocked up on groceries, and had plenty of room for them all. We were stocking up before the storm, and before we had company here for special meetings. No problem for the Edge

We drove it up to Havre on Sunday for Special Mtg. there. It was a very wintery day with sub zero temps. We had lots of snow drifts in our yard and icy roads, but again, no problem for the Edge...so I guess it's passed quite a few tests in our first week of ownership. Let me tell you....you'll never be sorry to have heated seats in Montana winters!

Happy Thanksgiving

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Charles Hinderager

We felt so thankful to be able to attend Charles' funeral yesterday in Great Falls. He was such a special man and had such a good testimony, so his funeral was not sad at all....just a time of rejoicing and being inspired.

It almost felt like we got to enjoy two Sunday's this week, with the funeral yesterday and Sun. morning mtg. today. Clarence and Bob had dinner with us after mtg. Marilyn flew out early this morning for Illinois to visit her family. This afternoon I spent some time reading updates about Joel Bridger and Courtney Nelson. Our hearts do go out to them and their families who are keeping a vigil at their sides. It reminds me that I do not have anything to complain about and so very much to be thankful for.

One other happening here....we enjoyed Kieth Braaten's overnight stay with us Thurs. night....just a day after his 50th birthday! He was undecided (because of the weather) if he would head to Harlem for some hay or go home on Friday....so when we awoke to snow on Fri. a.m. he knew he didn't want to head north for hay, but that worked out well for us, as he and Roger loaded up a load of our hay which he then hauled to Judith Gap....and then he got to go home, I think!?








I hope that you can see the pictures and words on the funeral flyer. Isn't that quite the spotted pony? And yes, that cowgirl is Alice riding it. I don't know how long ago it was taken. I do know Alice has been gone since 2001 so it was before that. We heard they were married in 1933...so by doing the math, they would have had 68 years of marriage. They professed in Nellie Williams and Fern Loebs meetings around the time they were married and spent the rest of their years faithfully serving God. They were ranchers for many years and were just plain, simple, good and kindly people.



A few thoughts shared at the funeral:



He had silver in his hair and gold in his heart.

He had big hands and a big heart...he was a calm and steadfast man.

Those big hands were working hand...he loved to fix and make things

He loved God's way, calling it "simply wonderful because it is a wonderfully simple way"

He looked forward to the end and did not fear it. "some look to the past and glorify it,

Some look at the present and complain about it and have no hope for the future, but

Charles looked forward to end of life and his hope for eternal life.

Charles was a "fellow laborer" He cared about the workers at home and abroad...and wrote to

them. One of his last hand written, but never mailed letters to a worker was shared with us.

Charles had a good testimony. Like Abraham, he was a friend to God and a Prince among us.

Spectacular morning

Yesterday began with this beautiful sunrise. We went on to have a record breaking warm day for November 18...nearly 70 degrees. But then today....its gray and dreary with a touch of snow...much more normal for November I suppose. We've been busy working on some projects. I can't wait to show you here, but I promised to wait until they are done, so thought I'd just show you a little of God's handywork instead. Nature is so awesome and there's much in it to appreciate.

Remembering Gary and thinking of his family

It was one year ago today that Gary passed away, and we are sure thinking of his family at this time. I'm sure it hasn't been an easy year. This photo of their family was taken at Brad and Amy's wedding in June '05. It meant so much to us at that time that they traveled so far to be there. Brad told me that he could get more prints of this picture if anyone would like one.

We are also thinking of my brother Larry today. Happy Birthday to you!

Favorite things to do on a cold dreary day

I discovered how easy it is to fix squash. I couldn't resist buying a couple of these beauties at the super market. When I was ready to fix them for a meal, I couldn't face peeling all that hard skin off before boiling in a pan. (it seems like that is how we did it when I was growing up and helping Mom cook) This time I just cut it in quarters and scooped out the seeds, covered it and microwaved them for about 10 minutes and it was ready to scoop out, add a little salt and pepper and it was ready to eat...and it was delicious...which leads me to one of my favorite thing to do on a cold dreary day...cooking and then getting to eat....things like home made soups or anything with pumpkin and apples. Funny how our menu changes with the seasons. Now, comfort foods and something that's been simmering in the slow cooker really hit the spot.





It is a cold drizzly post election day. Maybe you can see there was a little snow sitting on the grass this a.m. We are glad to be getting some moisture. It was drizzling all night and is still doing it today. We got cement steps poured (front and back) on Monday, and now they get to do some cold weather curing. We are keeping them covered and a little heat underneath. Our dog is a little put out right now, as his way into the garage through the doggy door is blocked off right now...but eventually she will appreciate the improved access.

I don't have too many comments about the election. I guess the people have spoken and we now have a couple months to get used to saying "President Obama". The Montana people must have been fairly happy with the status quo....our Governor gets another four years and we will continue to have Baucus and Rheberg (sp?) representing us in Wash. D.C. All the news commentators were commenting on McCain's gracious concession speech. Maybe he should have let a little more of that nice and gracious side show in his campaign. For my part, I know I need to always remember to pray to the one who is in control over all, for the rulers of this and other countries, that peace will remain and that all of our workers in overseas places can remain safe and continue the great work they are doing.

Happy Halloween

This is about as scary as it gets at our house! I don't know if we've ever had a trick-or-treater at our house out here in the country. We don't even have any Halloween candy on hand. Guess who'd have to eat it if I did have it around? It will be fun to see some pictures of little ghost and goblins on other blogs though!

A busy week

Twins, Ashton and Josh

have some lunch with help from their Grandma Cindy and Betty.

We had the privilege of attending Paul Pitman's funeral in Lewistown on Saturday. It was a wonderful service with Scott Rauscher and Anita Trevithick having a part. There was beautiful instrumental music before the service and hymns sung by Donna Hinkle and Stan Kuipers. There was also Bagpipe music at the graveside and John Siems and Marylee McMillan had a special part there. Many family and friends came to pay their last respects and it was nice to have time to visit with many at the reception held afterwards. Several from my family were there and it was great to see them....Anne Coles, Dale and Marie S., Dale and Bonnie B and Betty who rode over with Roger and I. Roger's family was well represented also with his brothers Bob and Darrel and sister Joanne and Don Parsons. As was mentioned by both Scott and John, Paul was a friend to them and to many others. Paul and Luella never thought it was too far to drive to mtg. and it was a long ways to where ever they went...into Lewistown or to Roundup. Like Scott said, "you were never surprised to see Paul and Luella show up at mtg." Kieth and Cindy Braaten invited us to stop for supper on the way home...tasty oven stew and apple crisp.

Friday evening I got to go to a stamp camp at our Stampin'Up demonstator's house, along with Ruth and Betty. We got do all these fun projects...two cards, a gift bag, a gift card holder and a fancy candy bag, complete with candy enclosed. I think that was to make the husbands happy! It's fun to try some of the new things without having to buy them....like the new Bigz die cuts and the Crop-A-Dile that puts in those Jumbo Eyelets slick as can be. Our demonstator is really good at coming up with inspiring paper crafting ideas and has them all through her house....from cards and gift ideas to wall decor and its fun to stamp with other ladies who enjoy it as much as I.

Roger nearly has all the siding on the house after working on it several days last week. There's still lots of work to finish things up with soffits and fascia. I don't know if you can see it very well in the picture (which is as well, I'm not sure I want anyone looking too close), but it was my job to apply the trowel on foundation coating. That was a down on your knees type of job. Thank goodness for knee pads. Roger is quite sure why builders don't do steel siding very much, but that is what we had on the rest of the house before the remodel. We were glad we could still get the same siding in the same color.

Is anyone else following the world series between the Phillies and the Rays? Roger likes to tune into the games on the radio while he's busy at something else. The Rays are trying hard to make it a 3 -2 race, as they just tied it up half way through this game which they are playing in cold, rainy Philidelphia. I'd like to see the Ray's win and keep the series alive. It's a welcome diversion from politics. I'm sure everyone is also following the presidential race and will be more than happy to see that over and done with a week from tomorrow. What I'm not so sure about is if everyone will be happy with who wins??

The writing is on the wall

Before

I've been slow to put things on my walls since we remodeled. I've just been waiting for just the right thing, I guess. This space betweeen the windows in the dining area was just begging for something on it. I also wanted something for over the patio door.

After

I found these sayings for applying to walls, and loved the idea when I saw them. These welcoming words seemed apt for our dining area, the place we love to gather with friends and family. When are y'all coming?

I loved this quote too. My only regret is that the vine behind the words doesn't show up better. I thought the linen color would show up better on my golden hued walls. My other choice was sage green, but I thought that color might overwhelm the words. Well, I guess this will do, the message is there, which is the main point. It was all fun to put up, though just a bit tricky.

Our light saga

A light is something you should put up and then just forget about it....just click it on and off as needed. Not this one. When we were remodeling, I bought two pendant lights for hanging over the dining table. We soon found out they wouldn't work, because of the spacing of where the light boxes were wired in, meant that they wouldn't hang over the table where we needed them too. The one on the right was where it was in the origianal dining nook...the second one kind of eyeballed in place in the new part of the dining area (lack of planning and foresight) So next we found this light on sale at the home center. Someone had ordered in too many. We thought it would work well to wire in the original light box and then hook on the ceiling and hang down right where we needed it. I checked on the websight for this light and saw that we got it for about a third of the retail price, so we thought it was a good deal and I liked the rustic old iron look and the shades matched our other lighting and we could hang it over the center of the table. So what's the problem you say. Well, it has some unusual fluorescent bulbs (not screw in) that plug into a special ballast. So I insisted that we make sure we could get replacement bulbs, if needed, so the gal at the home center ordered some so we could have a couple replacements on hand. First she got in the wrong size, and then they came in broken, and finally we got the right ones. Yes! (It's been a couple years now and we haven't needed the replacements yet) All was well until one day I was working underneath the light and stood up and bumped the light shade which came tumbling down onto the tile floor and shattered. The bulb came out too, but didn't break! What did break and allowed it all to come apart was the ballast. (honest, it was a light bump! I didn't hurt my head or anything) After looking at it all closely, it doesn't seem like a good setup. That is a lot of weight resting on those fragile little wiring nubs of the ballast, and that is all that was holding up the glass shade which has a heavy iron ring around it. So, we went back to the home center and told the lady our sad tale of woe and had her order a new shade and a ballast. When we got those, Roger wired in some extra support to make sure things don't fall apart again, and being the fix it all, never throw away anything type of guy he is, had painstakingly put together the old ballast and put it back in and the light was working fine. Fine that is until last week, when that bulb starting flickering and just wouldn't start up any more. We soon found the bulb was still fine, we just needed to put in that new ballast. No problem, we just had to first find where I stored it. Find it I did, and lo and behold, it did not fit! Someone had ordered a 13 watt instead of a 18 watt ballast. So now, at least 8 months after ordering it, we have to explain why we were just now finding out that we got the wrong one, and please order the right one ...argh! O.K. maybe very soon all will be well and we can just turn that light on and off and not think about it again for a long time. There's just two other problems....I still don't like that double loop of chain and how that bubble light (put in mainly to cover the other light box) just does not look good. Roger, just says, "please be quiet, no one looks up anyway and notices that"....but now you all will because I called attention to it. Oh my, can you believe it....as I am writing this, the lady at the home center called and said our ballast is in and we can pick it up anytime. Yeah!

Back on the farm

Roger is digging a trench in very hard dirt with a very little back hoe, and it is taking awhile. He wants to get water piped to the truck trailer you see in the picture. The trailer is used to store a water tank and chemical used for our crop spraying, and it will be much handier to have water piped right to it. The hope is to get that done before the ground freezes and the snow blows...well we were almost too late. We had a hard freeze and a little snow while we were gone to SLC. Fortunately, it has warmed up some this week. I mowed the lawn today...for the last time this season maybe?? Part of what I was trying to do today was mow & blow to the edge all the fallen leaves and pine needles. It doesn't seem like the ponderosa pines should lose so many needles. It's hard to keep trees healthy and watered enough in this country.

Tractor re-tired

That's a pile of tires wouldn't you say? What do you do with old tires anyway? The old tires have been on the tractor since it was new sometime in the 80's. Anyway they have had a lot of wear, and some of them kept wanting to go flat while they were seeding this fall, so Roger says it's time to change them. Gotta keep that tractor going a few more years. We could say, "old tractors never die, they just go flat." The John Deere tractor you saw loading hay recently is even older...purchased in '76. Since doing all no-till farming, the tractors don't get used as much as when they had to get over all that summer fallow a few times each year. Now the spray trucks get all the hours.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Having Fun

Just had to try my hand creating with Smilebox....watch for future productions! All I need now is more birthday photos...which we should have lots of after our trip to SLC this weeekend.

Make a Smilebox greeting

Indian Summer

This is along the tree lined street where I work, in Fort Benton. I am amazed at how fast the leaves are turning colors and starting to fall.

The trees along the Teton River, on our drive into Fort Benton, are always so colorful this time of year, too, as they change colors. I'm a little sad that summer seems to be mostly over, but I like the slower pace on the farm this time of year and we are having some beautiful warm afternoons. I'm trying to savor them while they are here. The cool nights and shorter days tell us they won't be around for long. I saw 31 degrees on the outdoor thermometer this a.m. and that wasn't super early, so it may have been lower than that. Maybe frost will kill the weeds and bugs! I just cleaned a bunch of them off the front bumper and windshield of the Mountaineer.

We had another special Sunday. It was nice to have Ashley home this weekend. After Sun. a.m. mtg. at Bob and Marilyn's we were into Great Falls again for Julia and Della's gospel mtg. and then enjoyed Pizza with Tracy and Jenny and kids and Betty and Dennis and Kristi. We got up to see George D. in the hospital again. He was very cheerful and seemed glad for all the visitors. Julia and Della were just leaving as we stopped in. We said good-bye to Julia. She leaves tomorrow a.m. for Alaska for a month. It sounds like the plan is for George and Barbara to fly to SLC on Wed. where he will be admitted to the Huntsman Cancer Center for possible surgery. Three of there kids were in Great Falls to offer help and moral support... Bonnie (&Norm), Doug and Linda. Roxanne had been there for a couple days.

Sisters are special

"When sisters stand shoulder to shoulder, who can stand against them?"

Wish Anne could have been here, too!

Scrapbooking fun...Dicie is our inspiration. She is so creative, using simple supplies to make beautiful pages.

Bonnie has so many sweet pictures of her granddaughter, Paige, it's hard to know where to start.

Betty, our gracious host

#30 on the 30 yard line

Brendan's team, the Hellgate Knights, were in Great Falls to play the CMR Rustlers.

This was one of the rare moments he was seen on the sidelines.

Brendan's loyal fans

It was CMR's homecoming night and the stands were packed with their fans. There weren't so many Hellgate fans come from Missoula. We almost doubled the number! (slight exaggeration :-)

Ashley came home for the weekend. Nice for Roger to have help today putting up siding.

Hay Day

Roger spent the day gathering up bales ready for Kieth Braaten to load onto his truck. The destination...Dale and Bonnie's at Kalispell.

This is the first of 52 bales that they loaded onto the truck. It was an impressive looking load...unfortunately my camera battery decided to die and I didn't get a picture of it loaded. We couldn't talk Kieth into staying for supper as he wanted to get a ways down the road before nightfall. Guess, you'll be seeing him tomorrow Bonnie! Maybe you can get a picture of the full load.