Happy Birthday, Dad

Happy Birthday, Dad!
From your three lineman punks.

The old Chevy

My lineman has had this old Chevy longer than I can remember. I love the old thing. He paid $100 for the old '49 truck at an auction up in northeastern Montana a few years before we were married. I have so many memories of that truck. Mostly trying to move it from place to place.



Years ago we needed to move the ol' gal to his uncle's farm and my lineman says to me "You drive the truck and pull me in the old '49". Oh, great. Hey, I don't mind helping out where I can but his uncle's farm I would be towing him to was 5 miles away. Not usually a big deal but there were some good hills from our place to his. Not a very big deal either..... except..... the ol' gal does NOT have brakes! "Don't worry" he says, "I'll give you hand signals and you just look back at me and you'll know what to do. And hey, don't worry Carin". Oh, this isn't going to be good.


Off we go on the dirt roads and it was going pretty good. Then we start going down a hill. I look in my mirror at him and he waves his hand from atop his nice 5-gallon bucket for a seat. I slow down. He waves again. So I speed up. Then he starts waving again like he's mad at me or something. I slow down again. And we are just getting jerked around something horrible. Then he really starts waving his hands at me. Hey, I usually do good at this kind of stuff. Why is he so mad anyway??? I gently speed up to get the trucks to work together and then he just goes wild with his arms! GOOD GRIEF. What does he want from me. Finally we get to the bottom and around a section corner and I have had enough of his non-verbal argument with me. I stop the truck and he gets his truck stopped. He comes flying out of that ol' '49 faster than I've seen him move.....


Turns out there were some bees in that ol truck that didn't want to go for a ride that day.

Enjoy Your Day

Hair Raising

I remember a trip my family took when I was a little girl. We drove to the Grand Canyon, my brother and I fighting the whole way I'm sure. I love him now (hopefully it's mutual) but back then we would sure get into it. I'll have to tell some stories sometime! Well, for traveling my big brother would stack books and whatever he could get his hands on to make a WALL. He put that wall right between us so I couldn't bug him. Hey, I was his little sister and I looked up to him. Ugh, that wall was like the Great Wall of China, The Berlin Wall. Okay, so it wasn't like either of those things at all, but it did serve it's purpose.



Okay, a little off track there. The Grand Canyon. Yes, that's where I was, the Grand Canyon. We were at the Grand Canyon and we were walking along a rim of some sorts. My cyclops dad says he wants to take my picture with my mom. Oh, my dad's not really a cyclops, we just think he is because you can only see one eye due to the fact that the other is firmly placed behind the lens of a camera - Okay, so that trait seems to be genetic. Continuing on.... My mom and I go out onto this ledge to have our picture taken. Oh, by the way, there is a MAJOR lightning storm in the area. We walk out to the edge and the cyclops, uh, I mean my dad is getting ready to take our picture. My mom is saying "hurry, please hurry dear". I don't know it was a long time ago, it might have been a bit different. All of the sudden my mom looks down at her arms and all the hair on her arms are standing STRAIGHT UP! I look at her and her hair starts standing straight up! She grits her teeth through her smile and says something about hurrying with the picture, but..........



Oh, we were fine. He got the picture taken but is sure was hair raising!



Yesterday afternoon I spent some time snapping pictures of a storm that rolled through. I didn't dare go outside so I propped the door open and stood in the door way. Yeah, as if that was going to keep me safe. Enjoy the pics.

Oh Give Me a Home

Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam, and the deer and the antelope play.

We have all heard that song and if you're like me you probably haven't given it much thought.

The other day I was driving and I saw three antelope chasing a fox. I was so upset I didn't have a longer lens to capture it. At first I thought they were chasing it away because it was getting near the new fawns. That may be the case but on the other hand I am convinced the songwriter for that song knew that antelope "played". I was watching this doe play tag or chase with this bird. I watched and watched and the play continued for nearly 5 minutes.
The bird would turn one way and the antelope would turn to chase.
Back and forth this went. Sometime the doe would just trot along and other times she would turn up the speed. Talk about good entertainment watching these two play.
It was the bird who eventually quit the game. The antelope looked so dejected after he left. I guess that's why the song doesn't go "Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam and the bird tease the antelope all day".

We grow 'em BIG

I tell you what, here in Wyoming we grow 'em big. Just take a look at this big' ol humming bird that keeps visiting my feeder. I tell you, they don't get any bigger than this! Okay, so he may not be a hummer but at least we know for sure he's got a sweet tooth!

Show Off

My little man is finally showing off some teeth. And I'm showing off my photography skills. What photography skills you are asking? You have no idea what it is like trying to get a "tooth" picture with this little guy. I'm telling you, we must be related to Michael Jordan. That tongue is always hangin' out. But alas, he isn't dunking a b-ball so he gave me a split second to catch this picture.

Oh Give Me a Home......

Two of my children were born here in Wyoming. They were the 4th generation to be born in this great state. My other son was born in Montana, the other side of the family homesteaded in that beautiful state. Their Great Great Great Grandparents homesteaded in a wonderful home site in northern Wyoming that still remains where it began. Times were different back then. A slow pace, everyone was respectful of each other, agriculture was a way of life for all. Buffalo still roamed with the very last of a few wild herds. I was lucky enough to have these photos passed on from earlier generations.
How did they ever manage to get so close up to those Buffalo without being trampled to death? Maybe there was a large fence I, I mean, they stood behind. I went ahead and took the liberty of photoshopping out ear tags. I wasn't aware they had ear tags that many generations ago. None the less, how thankful I am to have these pictures of a simpler time in America.

Ewwwww

We took the back road home from up north over the weekend. In fifty miles the only thing we saw on the road was one car (what was it doing out there?) and this little fellow.

Awww, doesn't he just look so cute and cuddly? He was also just too friendly. Look how he is being so polite and saying hi. He even said "cheese" for the camera. We even thought about bringing him home for a pet. Of course that was not really possible after his date with a tire. Poor guy, we'll miss him so.