A Ladle??? You’ve Got to be Kidding Me!

Billings, MT   High 94   Low 58

Good News! Skitz doesn’t have diabetes. Dr. Mike thinks maybe she has a bladder infection. But the only way to find out for sure is to do a urinalysis. And for that you need urine.

Those of you with female dogs know that they squat very low to the ground, especially when they have really short legs. There is no way that sterile cup is going to fit under her.

Dr. Mike suggests we use a ladle. Good grief. We didn’t bring our home which means we do not have any kitchen utensils with us. Thank goodness for Walmart (I really do not like that store but it was nearby). Now Jim has his ladle. This definitely is going to be his job.

We don’t need to worry about her needing to pee because she is drinking so much water. Out she goes with Jim and his ladle and me and my camera.

Okay, Skitz, let’s get this show on the road.

Finally. Success. The ladle really does work well. Skitz didn’t even realize it was under her so she didn’t freak out.

Off to the vet with the sample. Takes three hours at least to process and we want to get out of town. Wait, wait, wait.

This greets you when you come into the vet’s office. Jim tried to talk them into giving it to us.

They have this really cute fan and I wanted to put it in my purse but they kept a really close eye on us.

No bladder infection. Dr. Mike doesn’t know what else it could be. He suggests we keep an eye on her to see if the situation gets worse. He says it could just be the heat that has finally gotten to her.

The good news is she has actually made it through the last couple of nights without having to go out. Fingers are crossed she is going to be okay. If we still don’t think everything is right she will need to have blood work done.

A fire was being fought just a few miles from town. They’re saying that it was a cigarette thrown out of a car that started it. One home and garage burned. This is the smoke we could see from our motel.

Drove home this afternoon and the entire state is under a blanket of smoke.

Extremely happy to be home even if it is rockin’ and rollin’ with the wind as another cold front comes through.

WE’RE IN BILLINGS

Billings, MT   High 93   Low 55

We’re in Billings for some doctor appointments. I’ll have to catch up on blogs later. We didn’t bring the rig with us and are staying in a motel for the two nights we are here. I hate it.

Jim’s appointments with his dermatologist and his ophthalmologist went really well.

This afternoon we take the girls to the vet. I think Skittlez may be diabetic so that needs to be checked. Who knows what else besides shots need to be taken care of. 

Nice to see the son and his bride again. Went to dinner with them at Carino’s.

Hopefully I’ll be back with internet service again in a couple of days. See ya all then.

RELAXING

Helena, MT   High 64  Low 41

A cold front went through and we dropped from the 90’s into the 60’s with lots of wind. I’m sure grateful we weren’t up in the Great Falls or Cascade areas. They had winds at over 100 mph which did a lot of damage. We had gusts up to about 60 mph but they didn’t last very long here in Helena. Then by Saturday we will be back into the 90’s. What a summer this has been weatherwise.

When not exploring Helena we’ve been doing laundry (nice laundromat). 

Going out to dinner with friends. Sometimes I remembered to take a picture, and other times the camera stayed in my purse.

We went to Riley’s Irish Pub one evening with Nancy.

Nancy also worked at the IRS and we went to a lot of training classes together. She is one of the best cooks ever and used to make all these wonderful treats for our classes. Dinner was a lot of fun but the food was just so-so.  

Sharon and George were also here for a week. They are the ones who organized our Death Valley Cancer Walk but have since retired. My brother-in-law, Don, is Sharon’s uncle. We sure have had fun with them.

Putting up a tent

Tying shoes

 

Going to the Farmers Market

Buying nuts

And barbequing

 

              Don

             George

             Sharon and Jim

Jim has been fishing and catching so we got to have a fish dinner one night. And more fish in the freezer.

Skittlez helps me with the blog.

Scooter loves to hunt in the weeds.

And beautiful sunsets. Not sure what that little black cloud was all about though.

BUILDINGS OF HELENA, MT

If you love old buildings and fascinating architecture, you could spend days exploring this town.

Goodkind Building: Transitional Western Commercial architecture typical of the early 1880s. It is the oldest standing commercial building north of Broadway. A pressed metal cornice crowns the top. Built in 1884 as a wine, liquor, and cigar business.

 

Helena Civic Center: Originally built as a Shrine temple in 1920

 

The Securities Building built in 1886.

 

The Montana Club was Montana’s most prestigious private club: Membership was open only to millionaires.

The Power Block was built in 1889; note that on the corner, each of the five floors has windows grouped in corresponding numbers of panes.

 

 

The Atlas Building is one of Helena’s most fanciful; on a cornice upheld by Atlas, a salamander and lizards do symbolic battle. An insurance company built the building (for $40,000) as an advertisement. The salamanders—mythical creatures like phoenixes that fire cannot destroy—cavort atop the building while stylized flames lick across the building’s top. Atlas bears the symbolic burden for the policy holders.

Boston Block (1890) - The Boston Clothing Company, purveyors of “gentlemen’s furnished goods,” was the first occupant of this flamboyant commercial block. Upstairs were gambling and furnished rooms. When Helena’s red-light district a few streets south closed during Prohibition, the women resurfaced here. Well-known madam Ida Levy located upstairs. She moved next door to the St. Louis Block in 1933, and Pearl Maxwell operated the Royal Rooms here in the Boston Block until her death in 1953. 

 

Granite Block – Rebuilt in 1929 after a fire destroyed many of the buildings on Last Chance Gulch.

 

 

Iron Front Hotel, (1888)  Its prefabricated iron façade was locally cast at the Stedman Foundry. In 1889, House Republicans of the state’s first legislature regularly caucused in the hotel’s meeting rooms. The fourth-story ballroom, added in the early twentieth century when the Independent Order of Oddfellows (I.O.O.F.) owned the building, features an oak floor billed as the best dance floor in the West.

 

St. Louis Block, (1882)  Upstairs longtime madam Ida Levy ran one of the best-known brothels in Montana from the 1930s through the mid-1950s. Her successor, “Big Dorothy” Baker, ran the house until 1973. This building houses the Windbag Salon, a fine eating establishment.

 

 

New York Block,(1929) The New York Store, founded in 1885, was one of Helena’s longest operating businesses. After the 1928 fire, owner Herman Fligelman changed the name to Fligelman’s and operated here until 1958. Fligelman advertised his business in the façade. A tiny tailor and seamstress perch on the second-story corners along with the centered family crest. Shields of historic Florentine clothier guilds remind shoppers that Fligelman’s offered a long tradition of quality clothing.

Masonic Temple, (1885) This building was the third home of the Helena Masons, serving until 1942. It has now been converted to apartments and my sister lived on the second floor of this building for several years.

 

There are so many more that I could really bore you to death. But I did want to share some of these unique buildings with you.

HELENA, MT

Helena, MT   High  91   Low 53 (two days ago)

The next couple of posts are going to be a tour of Helena for those of you who have never visited this capitol city.

Helena was accidently founded by four men, all from Georgia, and known in the history books as the “Four Georgians”. These four men, rather desperate after searching throughout western Montana for gold and finding nothing, stumbled into the area that is now Helena. That night, on July 14th, 1864, the men decided to take one last chance in mining the nearby creek. As luck and fate would have it, the men found gold that evening. They named the stream they found the gold in, appropriately enough, Last Chance Gulch.

Pioneer Cabin:  Built in 1865 by miner Wilson Butts. Now owned by the State of Montana and managed by the Montana Heritage Commission.

Word soon got out about the gold strike and, seemingly overnight, Helena became a boomtown. In just a few short years, several hundred businesses had opened up shop in Helena and more than 3000 people called Helena home.

Initially, the new town had the less-than-inspiring name of Crabtown, named after one of the four Georgians who found gold. Soon, though, other names were bounced around, including Pumpkinville and Squashtown. However, many of the miners were from Minnesota. These miners soon began to call the town after another town in Minnesota, called Saint Helena. This name was soon shortened to Helena.

Last Chance Gulch walking mall

Helena became the territorial capitol in 1875. Last Chance Gulch remained the main street in Helena even though the capitol building was built about a mile to the west. Today, you can drive (one way) down part of the Gulch and then it turns into a walking mall.

Reeder’s Alley is the oldest intact piece of early Helena. It was built in the 1870’s by a Pennsylvania brick and stone mason named Louis Reeder. He made his money, not by mining for gold, but by building and investing in land. He built small tenements and bunk houses that catered to single miners.

Morelli Bridge (Reeder’s Alley)

 

The Stone House (Reeder’s Alley)

Some of Helena’s more famous residents:

Gary Cooper was born and raised in Helena.

 

 

 

 

Myrna Loy was also born and raised near Helena in Radarsburg, MT.

 

 

 

 

 

Charlie Pride spent a lot of his youth here and played baseball for the Helena Brewers, a semi-pro team. He also worked at the smelter and performed at a night club two nights a week.

 

 

 

Not every city can claim an entire mountain as a city park, but Mount Helena City Park is 5,468 feet above sea level and is 620 acres, making it the second largest city park in the United Stats. For all you hikers out there, there are six different hiking trails to the top.

 

 

 

 

 

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The Sleeping Giant of the Helena Valley. Seven miles of ridgeline hiking routes offer spectacular panoramic views of the Rocky Mountains.

Next post I want to show you some of the buildings in downtown Helena.