RAGTIME

Helena, MT   High 94  Low 57

Had a great day yesterday. Jim brought home three more walleye. Slowly getting our freezer filled up. Got our hair cut so we don’t look so much like shaggy dogs.

Stopped and visited with more friends. Hadn’t seen Kathy and Walt in probably 20 years. I worked with Kathy at this building when I worked for the IRS in Helena.

Over 200 Malamutes were rescued from a gentleman who had become a hoarder and they are currently being housed at a defunct nursery which just happens to be right across the road from Kathy and Walt’s home. (forgot to get my camera out) Needless to say, you cannot sit out and visit because the noise level is incredible. I feel real sorry for all those dogs and hopefully the courts will get the guy to release them so they can be adopted.

Went out to dinner with my sister and her hubby at a great little Mexican restaurant.

My sister and I

 

After dinner, the four of us went to the Grand Street Theater to see the musical Ragtime. Built in 1901 as a Unitarian Church, it became the public library in 1933 and then the Grand Street Theater in 1976.

Beautiful interior of the theater.

I wasn’t sure what Ragtime was about and I expected maybe a lot of Scott Joplin. Wrong. It’s a story of America in the early 20th century when Ragtime was popular. It’s the story of three groups of people: upper-class white suburbanites, African-Americans, and Eastern European Immigrants (Jews) and how their lives all become entwined during this very turbulent time.

Jim and I really enjoyed the show. An amazing cast.

FUN, FISHING AND FOOD

I love trains – not like Sam  who loves and knows trains, but just from a perspective that they represent freedom, and movement and new places.

One of the great blogs that I follow belongs to Danny and Shula.     They have a post today about a train ride they took in West Virginia. Sure wish I was there with them.

Danny and Shula are from Israel. They spend their summer months here in the United States in their fifth wheel. Then they return to Israel to spend the winter months with their family and friends. They are avid hikers and, like all of the rest of you hikers out there, I am so grateful for you because you take me places that I will never get to. They also know I love waterfalls so they find lots of waterfalls for me to enjoy. Thanks you guys.

Guess what Jim is doing. Yep, fishing. He’s having a great summer.

This is our new neighbor. I think there’s a Mom around somewhere but I haven’t seen her yet.

I’m still playing chauffeur. This picture (mural??) was hanging on the wall in one of the dentist’s hours and I thought it was really neat.

Last night I talked Jim into taking me to a place in East Helena for dinner. Big Paul’s Pasty Place. The pasties were excellent – better than the one’s we had in Butte, which is famous for them. They are huge, Jim and I should have split one, but this way we have dinner for tonight again.

Quite a storm tore through here last night. We barely got the door to the rig closed when it hit. Lots of lightning and the rain came down in buckets. Not a nice gentle rain. Back to the heat today though.

Montana Sunset

RAIN, RAIN, GLORIOUS RAIN

Helena, MT   High 80  Low 58

We actually had about an hour’s worth of nice steady rain. You could just see the earth rejoicing as it drank it all in. However, our days of nice temperatures end today. Tomorrow back up into the 90’s with no signs of rain after today.

Since the rains usually come in the afternoon, Jim has been out fishing every morning. (I sure am tired of getting up at 5:00 a.m. lol) He brought home four nice walleyes yesterday.

I’ve been playing chauffer for my sister to a bunch of dentist appointments. She hates to drive – absolutely hates it and always has. My brother also doesn’t like to drive, maybe doesn’t hate it as much as Judy, but still doesn’t like it. So what happened to me??? I love getting behind the wheel and going somewhere, anywhere, even to the store. Talk about being the odd child out in the family.

Have been visiting with more old friends and hope to see more this week.

That’s about it from here. I’m still having a terrible time with my internet connection so I struggle to read blogs and comment when I can.

TAKE IT EASY

Helena, MT   High 80  Low 57

Got about thirty drops of rain last night. Not nearly enough. Today is overcast with a 70% chance of rain. So our fingers and toes are crossed that we get rain and not much lightning. We don’t need any more fires. Did cool us down though.

Jim’s been catching but nothing big enough to bring home yet. He’s one happy, contented fisherman. Amazing how his mood improves just by being out on the water.

Had dinner with friends the other night. I worked with Deb at the IRS office here in Helena many years ago. And remember Dianna? My good friend from grade school who lives in Phoenix? Her daughter lives in Helena so she is here visiting family and friends. The four of us decided dinner would be a good way to catch up. We also planned to take in the East Helena Rodeo on Friday night but I wimped out because they were calling for thunderstorms. I don’t do well with storms of any kind.

And once again, Dianna is telling me to put the stupid camera away.

Found these snails on a side street in Helena and had to find out how they came to be.

From KXLH news on August 9, 2010:

A new public art display is urging motorists to "Take It Easy" in a Helena neighborhood.
Monday morning, Helena's Public Art Committee celebrated the work of Belgrade artist Kirsten Kainz. Kainz welded the three snails together using found objects. The snails are located on a traffic circle at the intersection of Sanders and Butte. Kainz says, "The snails were kind of the craziest idea, but also I think they were the most appropriate and really fun and whimsy. I love the concept of slowing people down. 'Take It Easy' folks we're in a round-a-bout, it's a traffic situation." The "Take It Easy" display captures the history of the neighborhood by using steel, reminiscent of the Caird Steel building located just a few blocks away.

WHITE SANDY

Helena, MT   High 89  Low 57

My internet connection is really lousy so I’m having a hard time reading blogs (pictures don’t want to load) and commenting (I keep getting disconnected when I try to publish my comment).

Uploading a blog post is a real challenge. Takes me several hours and I get extremely frustrated. I just want you all to know that I am trying to keep up with you and if you don’t see me comment it’s because I can’t, not because I don’t want to.

As we pulled into our spot here in Helena, Jim got a code from the computer on the truck. Into the shop it went. There was some kind of valve that needed to be replaced. Under warranty!! Yippee!

When Jim got home I asked him if he wanted to take a ride out to Hauser Lake to see if we could find Dana and Vaughn who are camp hosting at White Sandy Recreational Area.

They were busy working with the sprinklers but took time out to visit with us for awhile. Jim and Vaughn could talk fishing for hours. Dana and I could care less about the fishing.

Beautiful campground right on Hauser Lake. This is BLM land and there aren’t any hookups but a great place to camp. Especially since it’s only $5 a night with the America The Beautiful Pass.

Returning back to Helena (about 15 miles) we came up Green Meadow Drive where we could see the damage the fire had done. All the black you see in the picture below is burnt land. The fire came really close to many homes but I think only four were lost. Great work done by the fire fighters.

Jim went fishing today at Canyon Ferry. No catching but he had a great time and that is what it’s all about.

VIEWS ACROSS CENTRAL MONTANA

We left the driveway Sunday morning. It was so exciting. We did get a chance to visit with the kids for awhile to find out how their honeymoon in Kauai was. They had a wonderful time and were busy the whole week. But it was fun to come home again.

Leaving Billings – not many trees.

There are times when I wish I had a “way with words”, and getting back on the road is one of those times. There is such a feeling of happiness and excitement and knowing that is what we want to be doing. I can’t imagine life in a house without wheels. I know that some day we will have to come off the road, but I am going to enjoy every second of the time that we do have traveling. I am so grateful that Jim feels the same way.

The pictures in this post are random photos of Central Montana. I wanted to take a different route back to Helena rather than the interstate so we went north out of Billings to Lavina and then turned west on Highway 12.

It’s a beautiful drive but let me tell you – do not take this route for the next couple of years. The road construction was horrendous. Miles and miles of dirt and gravel. Speed limit of 35 but we didn’t dare go over 25 and even then we had several cabinet doors come open and spill their contents everywhere. Our strap on the sliding door in the bedroom was broken loose and the doors were sliding back and forth. Opening cabinets proved to be very dangerous. We will definitely not be going back to Billings that way.

We spent Sunday night at the Conestoga Campground in White Sulphur Springs. Great campground if you are in that area. You are surrounded by the Belt Mountains and near the Smith River. Really beautiful.

 

They even have a trout pond but Jim didn’t have his rod with him. So very sad because there were a whole lot of beautiful rainbows just waiting to be caught.

The sunset was gorgeous.

Lots of trees the further west you go into the Helena National Forest and through the Belt Mountains.

This is where Jim puts his boat in the water at Canyon Ferry about 30 miles from Helena. This area is called the Silos and there is a KOA as well as a state park campground.

We are now set up in “our spot” in Helena for a couple of weeks. Look out fish – Jim is here!

NUMBER ONE

Billings, MT     High 94  Low 62

Not a lot happening here in Billings. The kids get back tonight so my dog sitting position will be over. Zoey is really a sweet dog but I will be glad to be back in my own bed.

Jim took the truck in for yearly maintenance items. Since he retired as the Parts Manager at Denny Menholt Chevrolet, they treat him really good. It also gives him a chance to go visit with all the guys he worked with or those that worked for him.

We are headed out in the morning towards Helena, MT. Jim needs to do some fishing over that way. And I am more than ready to get out of this drive-way. It’s been fun being able to see some old friends and it’s amazing how rapidly the time does go when you look back on it. The wedding was wonderful, but it’s time to move on.

Watching the National news this morning, they had a piece on hospital safety. Consumer Reports put out a list of the top ten hospitals in the country. They ranked 1,159 hospitals in 44 states based on data and interviews with patients, hospital staff and safety experts.

The Billings Clinic came in at the top of the list, with 72 points out of 100 possible. This is where I had my colonoscopy done. I thought that was pretty reassuring. However, 72 out of 100 still isn’t very good and the Physician in Chief at the Clinic acknowledged that they still had a lot of work to do because 72 wasn’t acceptable.

More than half of the rated hospitals received a score below 50. Sure hope this is a wake-up call for them.