A most splendid weekend in the making...

Being the lucky girl that I am, I get to spend the weekend with most of my favorite people in the world. We are all gathering at my daddy's house to spend some time together.

My dad and brother, pictured above on one of our infamous Buck Creek walks, will of course be there.

Cousin Kay and Sadie Rose will be there as well. Luke won't be able to come because the heat bothers him so and it is supposed to be over 100 F this weekend.

Big,strong, handsome Eric will be there too. He has the most amazing sense of humor and is kind hearted and full of love.

Rissa, family beauty and socker-star is coming too! I can't wait to spend time with her. She's a love-bug.

Of course there are family members I wish could attend, but for various reasons cannot. My son is in Colorado, Cousin Sharon can't attend for health reasons, and of course my mom and Dale won't be there physically, but I know they will be there in spirit.

Wherever you are and whatever you are doing this weekend, I hope you are surrounded by the people you love. Because in the end, it really is love that makes the world go round.

I'll tell you all about the weekend soon. There WILL be pictures.

The Eye of the Needle

On Saturday Dad, Mike, Shasta (the Disasta) and I took a drive up into the Beartooth Mountains, near Absarokee. It was about a 70 mile round-trip and a good time was had by all.

Shasta, of course, was ready to go as soon as the word drive was mentioned. Mike actually had to put her in the car because she kept running from room to room barking. We made mental notes to spell the word d-r-i-v-e from now on.

Let's get this show on the road, already...

We call this "The Eye of the Needle", for obvious reasons. This outcropping of rocks is located near Dean, MT, population not-so-much.

Here is another needle's eye we spotted above Beehive, Montana, population less-than-Dean.

I took this shot of the mountains, about 10 miles from Nye, MT, population a-few-more-than-Dean-or-Beehive. Can you guess why these mountains are called the Beartooth's? It was rather hazy, probably from the high humidity, but I think you can still make them out fairly well.

And another adventure ends...

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.

My Name is Laurie and I'm an Elkaholic

These pictures were taken this weekend. My dad, brother, neighbor Lois, Shasta (the Disasta) and I drove up the West Rosebud River drainage, above Fishtail, Montana.

We saw a lot of wildlife on the trip. The photos, below, were taken about 20 miles from home just off of the gravel road that leads to Mystic Lake, where my dad was raised.

We were driving along and my brother spotted an elk coming out of the barrow ditch on the side of the road. I bailed out of the car (ala Mary) with my sweatshirt half on and the camera bag around my neck. I nearly choked on the seatbelt but managed to untangle myself and started snapping pictures. I think the other members of the expedition thought I was nuts.

Lone elk crossing the road...

A few of her friends followed...

And a few more...

They didn't go far...

It must have been dinner time.

There were more of them in the trees, but I couldn't get them all in the shot.

We drove further up the road and had another adventure (or two) which I will probably blog about later in the week. It was a splendid road trip and a good time was had by all. Even the elk.

**I hope my blog title doesn't offend anyone**

My Hometown

I have arrived safely in Absarokee (Montana). The weather is absolutely splendid and the trees are finally budding. The only birds I've seen so far are robins and grackels, but I am hopeful that with the change in weather, other varieties will be arriving shortly. I have my camera at the ready for just such an event.

This morning I went on a walking tour of town, such as it is. There are approximately 1,000 inhabitants of this fair berg, so there really isn't a lot to see. As usual, I wasn't particularly interested in taking pictures of buildings and people, my main focus was on the scenery.

So here, for your viewing pleasure, is my hometown.

The street where I live(d)...

About a half a block from home
.

About a half block from home, in the other direction.

Where I went to school, ages 10-13. It's a community center now.

Main Street, USA.

This would be a good picture, if there weren't any powerlines in it. How DARE they run those through such a beautiful area!

Heading Home for Our Christmas

As you may know, Christmas 2006 was cancelled due to the bad storm that settled over Denver. My son was unable to fly out, so we decided to wait until he could come home to celebrate the holiday.

I drove up the night before my son was due to fly in. I needed to put up the mini-tree and do a bit of last minute preparation for the big event. This is the sky that greeted me as I neared home.

More to come...

Dinner and a Mountain

The wind howled most of the time I was in Absarokee. We had gusts up to 80 mph for 3 days straight. It calmed down some in the late afternoons so we were able to take a few river walks, but I didn't take any photos because it was too dark (and I didn't want to risk pitting my lenses). When I left this morning, it was still fairly windy, but I managed to get out in the field and take a couple of mountain shots to share.

I also wanted to share a family picture from last night. My uncle John, our neighbor Lois, my dad and brother are shown here eating dinner. I made a pork roast, potatoes with onions, gravy, and biscuits. Lois brought over her famous jello salad and a cake that looked wonderful although I did not try it as I am watching my waistline (expand).