Just say no!!

Note to self: don't throw sheets on the chaise after washing...

How on earth has life gotten so busy? Between running to see dad in Columbus, babysitting the kid-cousins in Billings, going to convention in Bozeman for a week and now trying to catch up my work, I haven't had enough spare time to take my Canon camera out of its case. The photo (such as it is) above was taken with my cell phone. How has my life come down to cell phone photos and 2 hour catnaps?

I guess part of my problem is that I can't say no.

At convention our state employee organization elected new officers. When my name was offered for nomination as the new secretary I didn't think anyone in their right mind would vote for me, after all, I am always silly and usually giggle my way through the meetings.

In fact, I was one of the three people who brought alcohol to this evening meeting. My co-worker Bobbi and I both brought gigantic Margarita's in and while everyone else was politely sipping water, she and I were passing goofy notes back and forth to each other, slugging down tequila.

Maybe they figured I'd settle down if they gave me an office because sure enough...I'm the new secretary of the Montana Association of Conservation District's Employee's organization. Gads! Why didn't I say no? Better yet NO! Even better yet...HELL NO!!!

We returned from Bozeman Friday evening and I have been putting together the district newsletter and getting ready for a board meeting which will be held right after Thanksgiving. I worked pretty much non-stop throughout the weekend, taking only a few hours off to sleep and go to The Bee Movie with friends. It's hilarious, by the way, and I enjoyed every minute. I'll bee thinking about a few lines of that movie for a long while...

Anyway, life has been crazy lately and I'm about to go mad (not really...I usually just get really silly when I'm overworked and overtired-but I might drive those around me mad heh-heh), so I'm working hard to get everything done so I can...drum roll please...GO TO DENVER TO SEE MY SON!!!!!!!! Yes, folks, I'm gonna do it. Come h*ck or high water, I'm leaving Tuesday for Colorado!

So if I don't see you before then (and I do hope to get to all of your blogs sometime in the next 24 hours--I'll sleep when I'm dead don't ya know), have a happy, fantastic Thanksgiving! I hope you all have a wonderful time and are able to enjoy time with your family and loved ones. I love you all!

Is it time to build an ark?

There has been a lot of flooding in Montana recently; rivers, creeks, cities (that are by these rivers and creeks) and also flooding of basements.

There is obviously something going on geologically in the Forsyth area, because people that have lived in their homes for over 30 years are reporting water in their basements when they've never had it before. Granted there has been a significant amount of moisture in a relatively short period of time, but not an unprecedented amount. So the question is, what is causing it?

My watershed group (meaning me) has agreed to be the information clearing house for the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology as they study the basement flooding pattern in Forsyth. The hope is that the cause of the flooding can be determined, and maybe in knowing that, a cure can be devised. Not likely, but an interesting possibility, nonetheless.

There are a few schools of thought on it; the dike along the Yellowstone was raised several years ago, it is possible that the work has diverted water from one of the old riverbeds, of which there are many.

Another possibility is that a seismic event caused a fissure to form which is allowing water from the aquifer that lies underneath the Yellowstone River valley to push up, supersaturating the ground.

Add to that the recent rain event and the high level of the Yellowstone, BIghorn and Tongue Rivers, Rosebud and Armell's Creek and you have sub-irrigation which makes the water table much higher, hence the flooding of anything lower than the current water table.

Another school of thought is that a meteor rocketing through the cosmos caused a rift in the space-time continuum...(ha ha, just checking to see if you were still reading...)

Although I'm not going to bore you with a lot of photos of flooded basements, I am going to bombard you with some of the Stillwater River photos (including the one at the top of this post) that I took yesterday while on adventure with my dad, brother and Shasta the Disasta. As you will note (below), the river is fairly high, but that didn't stop Shasta from demanding that my brother throw sticks into the water for her to fetch.

Nor did it stop him from throwing them. She is the boss, you know.

Happy Shasta...

Very happy Shasta!

The last photo is of a wild rose. This species is very common along the banks of the Stillwater River.

As a final note, I want you all to know that we are doing OK. The memorial was lovely and very well attended by Dale's friends and family. Cathy, at Looking Up, sent a gorgeous bouquet of flowers, and Karen, at Karbon Kounty Moos, brought an ice chest of Dasani water that had, yes, you guessed it, ice crystals in it just as Dale had been craving so many weeks ago.

It was a time of great sadness, but also a time of celebration. Dale was remembered fondly and lovingly. He is gone from this earth, but lives on in our memories. I believe he is at peace.

More Adventures

Once Wolf had led us safely to his apartment, we hauled our things up and settled in. Tired from the trip, but still giggly and silly, we all talked non-stop for several hours; then went to bed. We awoke the next morning to blue skies and birds chirping. Wolf went to work and Cousin Kay and I puttered around the apartment, waiting for word from the boy cousins. We went walking twice (and yes, we got lost both times), to the store (don’t ask) and I introduced Kay to blogging.

Around 6 pm we finally heard from the boy cousins. Their day had been a busy one; doctor’s appointments and running around town picking up the items Dale would need for his long hospital stay. They were tired and had decided to order in dinner and stay close to the room. We were disappointed, to say the least, but understood their need to relax. After Wolf got off of work, he took us shopping and out to dinner.

Wolf took Friday off, which was great fun. Dan wanted to take Dale to his appointments, so Wolf took us to downtown Denver to look around. Kay is a huge fan of Starbucks, so Wolf made sure to take her to the Starbucks that is across the street from a Starbucks.

Yeah, I know I cut off the rbuc...

I thought Wolf was teasing when he said they were right across the street from each other, but it's true! I stood in the same spot and took both of these photos.

This is the capital building. I love the dome.

The park across from the capital was full of squirrels. Probably because all of the politicans are nuts...

This little guy wasn't at all afraid of me or my camera...

I always have to take one shot from the middle of the street. At least this time no one tried to run over me.

And that concludes my tour of downtown Denver. Later tonight, or tomorrow if time permits, I will share with you the story of what happened the night before Cousin Dale went into the hospital.

Until then, take care everyone. Please keep my Cousin Dale in your thoughts and prayers as the next several days are critical for him.

Please remember to hug the people you care about today and tell them you love them. Life is short and time is precious. Always remember that.

The Last Lost Adventure (we can only hope)

As some of you may have noticed, I occasionally lose my way in conditions of heavy traffic or in unfamiliar territory. There have even been times when I’ve taken a misstep or two in somewhat recognizable areas. Okay, and maybe once or twice I’ve gotten lost in my own home, but come on people, who among us hasn’t lost our way going from the kitchen to the living room?

It has been pointed out (a time or two) that there are devices out there for people with my particular disability and some people have even suggested I look into procuring such an apparatus. With that in mind, I did a bit of research.

There are many wonderful navigational devices available for purchase.

There’s a Garmin hand-held device.

And there’s a Garmin navigational system that is mounted in the car. I see Mr. Garmin was able to locate High Street…



One can purchase a Magellan Road Mate,

or even a TOM TOM GO.

I seriously, and I do mean SERIOUSLY considered purchasing something along these lines or trading in my car for something equipped with Onstar.

However, because I have the world’s most incredible son, I no longer have to worry about getting lost!

Presenting for your viewing pleasure…

Not only can this device be used to take photos and make phone calls, this marvelous invention comes complete with VZ Navigator, including My Places, Local Search, and HELP! The help feature seemed especially appealing to my son. I’m not sure why.

All I have to do is type in (or do a search for) the destination address and this incredible piece of technology plots a course. It warns me when a turn is coming, even telling me what lane to be in! It suggests, in a sweet voice, that I should stay in the right lane and prepare for a right hand turn. A little gauge on the screen indicates how far, in feet, it is to the next turn-off and a large arrow points in the correct direction, just in case I mistake right for left (not that it could happen, this feature is for other folks...yea that’s right).

Anyway, I’ve been to the hospital numerous times. I’ve gone to Walmart, Target, Krogers and several other places in this bustling metropolis and I have yet to get lost to the point that my Navigator Lady can’t direct me home. Sure, there have been times I’ve tried her patience; “Please make the next available legal U-Turn” and “Recalculating Route” seem to be her favorite phrases, but for the most part we get along just fine.

Now if she could just make the traffic go away...

Lewis and Clark, the Lost Episodes, Part XXII.V

My dear son, a.k.a. Help Desk, Tech Support and Mr. Google Earth, tried to put together a Google Map for me to post that showed the path we took trying to find the hospital. He spent quite a bit of time on it and finally threw up his hands in disgust because they would only let him plot out 10 stops. We had many, many, many, many, many, many, many more than that. Hence I will just attempt to explain it to you.

Here's how it went. Kay had been to Children's Hospital several times for varying reasons. I imagine she will mention it on her blog (which you really must check out) some day, so I won't talk about it here. Anyway, she had been to that location many times and thought she had a pretty good idea how to get there.

We drove down um, er, well, "I Don't Know Street" and then turned on to "What the Heck Avenue". We followed that for several miles until we came to "The Street Named after a President". Kay said to turn "right", which I did, however, apparently her right and my right are two different directions, so I had to make the loop around again. I turned left (a.k.a. Kay's right) and we followed "The Street Named after Yet Another President" until we came to…..drum roll please….THE HOSPITAL!

We were home free! We had directions, sent to us by the kind folks at the hospital, which would take us directly to the hotel! I can tell you, we were feeling pretty confident at this point. Giggling and laughing, we said things like "all roads lead to the hotel" and "nothing but net" (I did mention we were exhausted at this point, didn't I?).

We circled the hospital looking for High Street; no success. We tried it from a different direction, still nothing. We went one more time around the hospital and still nada (by that time I was starting to think that whoever put the map together was probably high).

Around and around and around we went, searching "high" and low for High Street. Every time we passed the entrance to the hospital I'd say "Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament", giggling uncontrollably (did I mention that I get extremely silly when I’m tired?). By about the tenth pass I was nearly hysterical, and I'm pretty sure Kay was concerned for my mental health. She kept muttering something about the psych ward...

We finally abandoned the map altogether and (men, cover your eyes and ears here, I don’t want to offend your sensibilities) decided to ask for directions. We saw a very friendly looking woman talking on her cell phone in front of a house a few blocks from Parliament (see, it still cracks me up). She was very friendly and gave us directions to the hotel, which was about 5 miles away. She said to take a right at the next intersection and follow that street to Quebec Street.

Woohoo!! We were “on the road again”.

We took the appropriate turn and started driving. The very nice blonde woman said we couldn’t miss Quebec Street. We drove and we drove and we drove and we….well you get the picture. No Quebec Street. Eventually we came to Lafayette Street and Kay got very excited. “See,” she said, “we are in the French section now, Quebec should be right up here!” I got the giggles again. About 5 miles later, give or take, we abandoned yet another plan.

We finally called the Help Desk (my son) again for assistance. We told him our current location and he mapquested a route to the hotel for us. I was weak from a mixture of laughter and exhaustion, but finally, the Red Lion Central Denver came into view! We rubbed our hands in anticipation. I kept saying over and over, “The Holy Grail is within our grasp.” Kay giggled in delight.

And then the Grail slipped through our fingers. We missed the d&mn turnoff to the hotel and ended up on an off-ramp to I-70!

ARGHHHHHHHHHH!!

I won’t bore you with any more of our lost adventures. To sum it up, we called the boy cousins and they HAD found the hotel and were already settled in. We called my son, yet again, for directions to his house, and he suggested we meet him at his work instead. We (and I know this is going to shock you) missed the turn to his work and called him from a shopping center. Fortunately, he was just getting off of work and met us there. He took us out to dinner at a Chinese Restaurant in the shopping mall. I went to use the rest room, turned the wrong way coming out and ended up in the kitchen.

After dinner, my son had us follow him to his apartment.