Long Night

M, R and I spent Christmas in South Dakota with M's sister and family and their parents.  We always have such fun with them and this year was no exception.  Discovered it's hard on the stomach to drink mimosas ALL day, though!  We had good food, great company and wonderful gifts.

M, R and M's parents headed back to Montana yesterday morning while I hung out at his sister's house waiting for a flight to Arizona.  My mom had hip replacement surgery on her 85th birthday, December 14, so I was on my way to stay with her for a week while she recuperates.  I had originally planned to leave from Billings on the 28th but then our Christmas plans changed and I was able to change my flight.  Seemed like a good idea at the time--not so much later.  I think I've been traveling too much and the travel gods are no longer smiling on me. 

7:20 pm  M's sister drops me at the Rapid City Regional Airport.  Check in, breeze through security and head to gate 7 to wait for my flight.
8:00 pm  Airplane arrives from Mesa.
8:30 pm  Boarding begins.
9:00 pm  Pilot reported a slight problem but informs us that we should be on our way shortly.
9:30 pm  Deplaning while waiting for mechanic.
10:15 pm  Mechanic arrives.
11:30 pm  Informed that a rescue plane will have to come from Las Vegas.
12:00 am  Rescue plane on its way.
1:30 am  Dominos pizza arrives.  No beer!
2:30 am  Rescue plane arrives. We are moved to a different gate.  Have to take a shuttle to the plane and board through the aft door (that's at the back of the plane--FYI)
3:10 am  And we're off!!
5:25 am  Arrive in Mesa to the loving arms of my sister.
6:00 am  Arrive at my mom's house--better late than never.  Hug my mom and go to bed.

Got in a couple of naps today and should feel much better tomorrow!  There's a blizzard going on at home and I'm missing it--I feel better already!

Snow Day

I had many important things to do in town today; first of all, go to work, then see my accountant and most importantly, get my nails done.  We woke up to snow and wind so I am staying warm at home instead.  We were up early to try to decide what we were going to do and I started packing an overnight bag. I was pretty sure that if I made it to town I wouldn't get home tonight.  M and J were going to head out in the trucks to haul grain so M said he'd let me know how the roads were.  Before that happened, C called and asked if I was going to work because there was already 6" of new snow on the highway, and he thought M was crazy to try to get to Wolf Point in the truck.  By that time, I had pretty much decided to just stay at home.  M called later to say that they made it to Scobey but couldn't go to Wolf Point because the snowplow went into the ditch three times because he couldn't find the road.  He thought I made a wise decision to stay home.  I am meeting with my accountant via fax and phone.  Too bad I can't meet with my nail technician that way!


Last night we had the boys and K over for an early Christmas since we won't all be together on Christmas day.  M, R and I are going to South Dakota to be with M's parents and sister while J and K look after things at home.  After we ate and exchanged gifts, M and I went to the church for the annual carol service.  I just love the service because it's all music, congregational carols and special numbers by members of the comunity including lots of kids.  I usually sing with a couple of friends, but we didn't get it together this year because of a lack of accompanists--they were all out of town at the same time, how inconsiderate!  I was very disappointed that we didn't get something prepared.

M gave me a Canon PowerShot pocket-sized camera for Christmas.  I love my Sony, but it's too big to take everywhere so I've been wanting a small one that can go along everywhere.  It was a great gift, and I'm so excited to try it out.

I have to say it's kind of nice having the day off so I can get ready to leave home again.  A good day to pack for Arizona!

Loving Winter

When winter hits, it seems like every snowstorm or arctic blast just reinforces how unprepared we are.  It was pretty cold here when we got back from Hawaii, and my car hadn't been started for two weeks.  I went to go to work and my battery was dead, M was already gone, the pickup needed fuel, and I didn't have a fuel card.  Luckily, M was still in Richland so he could fuel up the pickup.  He was headed out with the cattle trailers and had to beat the brakes which were frozen so he wasn't too happy either.

We had a snowy, blowy day on Friday and I thought about shoveling the little bank of snow in front of the garage.  I'm glad I didn't waste my time because we had more snow on Sunday and by Monday morning there was a much bigger snowbank in front of the garage.  I spent an hour shoveling that off.  When I was done there was a big pile of snow beside the deck, and I kept thinking that it would be fun to jump off the deck into it......maybe if I was a kid.  At my age, I'd probably hurt myself.

M and I had to do a little surgery to three bull calves on Sunday.  They were late calves born out in the pasture so didn't get rubbered at birth.  M and R banded them earlier in the week so we ran them into the chute to cut the sac off.  It was amazing how gentle they were after what had been done to them.  M thought I should make a coin purse out of the sac.  If I knew how to tan the hide, that would be a good idea.  An interesting conversation piece at the very least.

Poor R is feeling a bit like Schleprock these days.  He was moving our loader tractor to his place to load some hay that we had sold when the windshield exploded.  He's not sure if he kicked up a rock or what happened.  It was snowing and blowing so he went the last five miles backwards.  Then the next day he got stuck in the new snow with the 4-wheel drive pickup while trying to feed, and I had to take our other 4-wheel drive pickup to pull him out.  Then he went to Canada to get a new windshield, got home and discovered it was broken and was broken when he picked it up.  We always say that if any freak thing is going to happen it's going to happen to him.  Someone will be making a trip to Canada again tomorrow to get another one.  Thank goodness they HAVE another one.  M was freaking out about being able to find one, but it wasn't as hard as he thought.  We're kind of lost without that tractor, and R loaded three loads of hay with it yesterday.  Thank goodness it was a nice day.

M spent the weekend at his sister's in South Dakota where his parents are.  His dad had four stents and a pacemaker in the past two weeks.  My mom had hip replacement surgery today, her 85th birthday.  We're concerned that the old people are falling apart!

Kauai

It's a cold and windy, snowy day here in northeastern Montana and I am wishing I was where I was last week at this time--Kauai, Hawaii.  I wonder if people there have any idea what it's like to live where we are.  We had a wonderful time on the beautiful island.  Perfect temps, highs in the 80s, lows in the 70s.  We did have quite a bit of wind and some rain showers.  Our room was right on the water.  There was a rocky shoreline and the waves would crash, and at times it was too loud for me to sleep, especially in the early morning when the wind seemed to come up.  One morning I swore we were in a hurricane.  There was a beach not far from our condo so we wandered there a few times.  We explored the whole island, driving west as far as the road went one day and up Waimea Canyon--kind of like the Grand Canyon of Kauai.  The next day we drove to the northern part of the island as far as the road went and explored some beaches up there.  We found a little inexpensive golf course and golfed there twice.  The first time we were paired up with a couple from British Columbia and the second time we golfed with an older Hawaiian gentleman.  We enjoyed him a lot.  He was very interested in where we lived and what we did and gave us some good information about the island. We spent a day on the east side at Kapa'a where a lot of surfers hang out.  It was kind of a rainy day so we were in and out of shops and restaurants to stay dry.  There was also a local craft fair so we bought some gifts there for friends at home.  Our goal was some rest and relaxation for M so we were pretty lazy and unadventurous.  He said he found a slower gear.  I was a bit concerned about getting him geared up again once we got home!

We booked the whole trip on Expedia and were very happy that it all turned out just great.  We loved the location of our condo and think we picked the right area of the island to stay.  We were amazed everyday to walk outside in the morning and have it the same temperature outside as it was inside.  We ate breakfast out on the patio every day--loved it!

The trip back is such a killer with flying all night and getting to Billings in the morning, made worse by the cold and snow on our return.  Our pickup had a foot of ice and snow on it, and we just about froze trying to get it cleaned off.  We had a couple of things to do in Billings and then headed home.  We ran into icy roads and freezing fog on the way--UGH!

The boys took good care of things while we were gone.  R stayed at our house to take care of the dogs and the cows.  J and C even took some loads of cattle for neighbors even though that's not their favorite thing.  It's taken a few days for M and I to get back into the swing of things at home, but we'll survive, and I'll be gone again in a couple of weeks so I think I can tough it out.

View from our room

Right in front of our room

Wailua Falls--from Fantasy Island fame

Waimea Canyon

At the top of Waimea Canyon.  Drove all the way up and saw nothing because of clouds and fog.