Camping and the Fair

Meg and David quickly figured that they needed to escape from us, and to do so required planning a brief camping trip to Glacier National Park.  Actually, they'd planned this before they left, so we had made some camping purchases, like a tent and sleeping bag pads, before they arrived.

The first order of business was for them to check out the new tent to make sure all the parts were there, they knew how to put it up, and maybe more importantly how to take it down and pack it up.  David, a boy scout in a previous life, had no problems......

Meg enjoyed the results.......

Good teamwork......












Later in the day, we all headed to the Montana State Fair, an annual summer event we enjoy with our good friend Shelly.

The Blue Angels followed us from Lynchburg to Great Falls and were putting on a show at the airport that we were able to see from the fairgrounds....

That's me in the great hat.....

Farm animals are part of the big treat for the state fair....

The sheep were particularly enjoying themselves.....

And how 'bout those great rabbits.......

And horses.......

Meg, David, and believe it or not, Beth, enjoyed some of the rides in the midway...

All topped of by the Charlie Daniels Band...........

And, finally, an interesting sticker on the back of a car in the parking lot, for Whit and Jess to ponder (from a dog's point of view).....










Meg and David hurried to Glacier NP this morning to try to snag a camping spot before they were all gone.

And the Verdict on the Pie is...

Turning Rhubarb into Pie

 Before and After...

 

 Separate the stalks from the leaves..

 Chop it into little pieces...

 

The filling gets precooked with sugar and cornstarch (and a few blueberries) to keep the kitchen cooler.

 

Brown the crumb topping and crust...

TO BE CONTINUED WHEN WE EAT IT!

Chillin' on the Front Porch

Meg and David are Here!

Meg and David left NYC with no problems, but it didn't take long for their airline to find a way to make them delayed. We had already left for Great Falls when Meg called to say they would be at least 2 hours late, so here's a picture of Harry, passing time the way he loves best.

We spent some time enjoying the view from the airport, only missing seeing the Blue Angels landing by a matter of minutes. However, we did get to see Meg and David's plane land.

Although you can barely see it, that's their plane landing above the buildings.

An Almost Perfect Day

If a good day includes a motorcycle ride, a great day includes a motorcycle ride to Glacier National Park on a day with perfect weather.  Which is what we did today.

We'd been planning our longest ride for quite some time.  So this morning, we headed out towards East Glacier.  That ride takes us up route 89, then route 2 through Browning.  And you can bet it will include the rest stop at Dupuyer (sorry, this picture is AT the rest stop, but doesn't include the jons)....

We passed through East Glacier and took a quick look at Glacier Park Lodge.......

Then on up the road to Two Medicine, where the scenery was spectacular.  This is after a short hike to Running Eagle Falls....

Notice, not a cloud in the sky in any of these pictures....temps in the upper 70's.......and perhaps most remarkable, no wind......

And some of us had to ponder the possibilities......

After that, we had huckleberry pie at Luna's in East Glacier (thanks for the heads up by Clay on the pie)....











Back home safe after a 200 mile ride, butts only moderately sore.

Anticipation in Choteau

Things have remained quiet around Choteau until this weekend.  I think anticipation of Meg and David's visit starting on Wednesday (I'll be vacuuming) is getting things cranked up. 

This weekend, Choteau is hosting the Montana State Old Time Fiddler's Convention, which for Choteau, is a really big happening.  We're sure it's keeping our friend, Al, entertained for the weekend.  It includes a street dance and fiddle-off last night, and an all day, all age, fiddle contest today.  Things start at 9:00 AM and won't conclude until the winners are chosen tonight.  Lot's of fiddling around.






There were some great dancers.....




We're thinking we're seeing our future granddaughter, Lucy, in pink hat and cowboy boots in a few years.....

There was a pretty good crowd......












And my brother-in-law, Buster, was almost there (except for the mustache, but certainly for the hat)....




I probably won't get into today's events until tonight, since I keep the visitor's center from 1:00 - 5:00 on Saturdays, which I love.  I like talking to tourists, and I've found you can tell them about anything and they'll buy it since they don't know any more about this area than I do.

This week did include a little work.  I got to watch while Beth repainted the front porch.  I think this was one of those tasks we just weren't too excited about, and therefore put off for too long, but turned out to be a lot easier than anticipated - especially for me.

Neighbor Helping Neighbor

It remains a quiet time around Choteau, as the temperatures finally reach more toward summer normal.  It was 97 for a period yesterday.  Even though I've bragged on our cool summer temperatures so far this summer, I'll still say 97 in Montana ain't nothing like 97 in good ole Virginny.

The 97 did give us a good excuse for continuing a long lazy streak we've both been enjoying (that's beginning to change as of this morning with the initial steps towards repainting the front porch floor).  I did get the gumption during the more mild morning hours to take 15 minutes or so to help our good neighbor, Laurie, install her new Blue Bird house on the corner of her garage, in a place where she and many of her neighbors can see.  It carries the brand of the local rancher who is making them.  We all hold high optimism that by next summer it will be the new home for some type of bird - even if Blue Birds don't decide to become town dwellers.

Yesterday evening, even though it was still in the 90's, the master chef began grilling...

 for friends that were coming over later.

One, Mike, was still sporting the Va Tech cap he was given the first summer we were in Choteau (2007).

A good time was had by all (picture is of our spruce tree and the blue Montana sky).

Hiking to Yeager Flats

Yesterday I took a hike with about 20 people from various parts of Montana to Yeager Flats, a high alpine meadow below Ear Mountain on the Rocky Mt. Front. The Montana Wilderness Association, working to protect Montana's wildlands, and leading hikes into those parts for 49 years, regularly organizes hikes that stop in Choteau to pick up hikers like me. Harry and I have done one or more of their hikes each summer, and although I got a late start due to high water and cold weather, yesterday was a great beginning for me. This five mile hike took us up the Bureau of Land Management trail below Ear Mountain, to Yeager Flats, and on to the Metis cemetery, at The Nature Conservancy's Pine Butte Guest Ranch.

The weather was perfect and the views were spectacular, but my little iPod camera can only do so much to capture the essence of what I saw. (it tried, bless its heart)  I have to admit I discovered something not so good about my common sense (or lack of it). I was behind the leader and in front of 18 other hikers when we spotted a baby bear in front and above us. Worried of course that there was a mother bear close by, we all stopped and made defensive moves in case she suddenly appeared. At the time I didn't know it, but I was the only hiker carrying bear spray. That would have been the appropriate time to get it out of the holster (yes, it's a Wyatt Earp thing, Clay) and have it ready to go as needed. I did think about it for what seemed to be an eternity (probably 1 second) and went for my camera, instead. Stupid, stupid, stupid. It wasn't even a good picture! I must admit we all knew it was a black bear and the immediate consensus of those in the know was that it didn't appear to be with any mother at all, sadly enough. no excuse. I did take the picture and then get the bear spray out, after one of the hikers noted some movement in the shrubby growth nearby. That turned out to just be wind, but it was sobering enough for me to evaluate my decision-making and decide I was no better than those (idiots) who stop the traffic in Yellowstone and get out of their car to take close-up pictures of dangerous wildlife. I promise next time I will use better judgement. By the way, our friend, Ellen from Roanoke, lives very near this trail and encountered a grizzly in her yard last week. She estimates it was 4 feet tall standing on all four feet. And I was the only one with bear spray???

The rest of the trip was through a sea of wildflowers. Because the spring was late and wet, many flowers that would have bloomed in progression are blooming simultaneously. We saw blue fields of lupine, pink fields of wild geraniums, and yellow fields of stonecrop, beardtongue, and actinella. I think I could have determined our elevation by the type of flowers in profusion. Our 5 mile hike took all day because we moved so slowly through these flowers, discussing what they were and taking pictures to remember. By the end of the trip I discovered that many of the hikers were school teachers. No shock there. My friend, Laurie, wisely says that we should try to commit the memory of what we see to our brains, rather than the pixels of our camera. That will be my excuse for poor pictures, and she's right.

We ended our hike at the Metis cemetery, and everyone was sad that our friend, Al Wiseman, couldn't be with us to tell us more. These graves represent a very important part of the culture of this part of the world, and the names on them were very familiar. I thought a lot about our late neighbor, June, whose relatives populate this ground.

Friday Nights are Hoppin' at the Buckhorn

Harry's been hankering for a hamburger, fixed like none-other at the Buckhorn in Augusta. It was also a nice excuse to get on the motorcycle for the beautiful ride to get there tonight.
This picture does not do it justice. It's at least 1/2 pound of Montana beef.



Unfortunately, our friends Shoney and Dave didn't make it there in time to tell us to get the Jo-Jo's and white sauce instead of regular fries. There's always NEXT time!