Doin’ Time

Helena, MT  High  85  Low 56

We had some severe storms go through last week but we lucked out and even though we got hail twice, they were only about pea size so no damage. The storms helped to cool the temperatures down and it’s been almost perfect. However, more severe storms are predicted for next week.

Deer Lodge, MT

One day last week the four of us headed over to Deer Lodge (sister and hubby)

Deer Lodge was named because of the salt lick at the base of a Warm Springs Mound that attracted hundreds of deer. Indian hunting parties, approaching the crests of the surrounding mountains called it — IT SOO-KE EN CAR-NE—"The lodge of the White-tailed deer".

Just twenty miles north of Deer Lodge, gold was discovered in 1852 on what is now Gold Creek. This was the first discovery of gold in Montana.

Deer Lodge is also the home of the Montana State Prison. There are actually two prisons – one is now a museum and the other which houses inmates. We chose to visit the museum.

The complex includes the Old Montana Prison, Powell County Museum, Frontier Montana Museum, Yesterday's Playthings and the Montana Auto Museum. One fee ($9 for seniors) covers all five museums.

We only had time to visit three of the museums (we had to get back to check on the girls). We started with the Montana Auto Museum but I’m going to make a separate post for that. Then we headed into the prison yard.

The prison was built by the very prisoners it was meant to house. Over the years, it has been estimated that the inmates hand-made more than 1.2 million bricks in the construction of the prison that many would call their home for the rest of their lives. On July 2, 1871, the prison took in her first "guests."

The walls of the prison are 24 feet high, 3 feet thick at the top, and 4 1/2 feet thick at the bottom. They are 4 feet underground to discourage anyone from trying to dig their way out.

Any inmate that crossed this line without authorization would be shot.

The most famous inmate at the prison was Paul “Turkey Pete” Eitner. He was incarcerated for two counts of murder at the age of 40 in 1918.  A model prisoner, he was assigned to tend to the prison turkeys and soon garnered the nickname of "Turkey Pete." During his stay, he went a little mad and "sold" the entire flock of the prison's turkeys to an inmate for twenty-five cents per bird. This ended his turkey tending days.

The other inmates liked Pete, as did the officials, so they were allowed to print "money" from the prison's press to barter with him. After a while, he amassed so much of the bogus dough that he was allowed to "buy" the prison and run it from his cell. Using his version of money and checks, he "paid" all the prison expenses and guards, and was regarded as a loveable old kook by everyone within the walls.  He would also tell anyone who would listen that he had the coffee crop in Brazil one year, sold pink alligators, ships to the navy, and grasshopper legs to Fidel Castro.

When he died in 1967 at the age of 89, his was the only funeral ever paid for and held by the prison system. His cell (#1) was retired.

 

 

 

 

 

The Hole – inmates serving time in the hole were fed only bread and water.

This is getting way too long, but there are a couple of other things I want to tell you about the prison so I’m going to make a second post.

Montana WILD

Helena, MT  High 81  Low 55

Thanks for all the comments about my orange chicken. Linda hit the nail on the head with her comment that it looked a lot like Panda Express Orange Chicken and I just had to try it. I love Panda Express.

Remember the bear enclosures we can see from our spot?

We wandered down there one day and discovered that the Montana Fish and Wildlife has a wonderful exhibit hall.

This is from their website: Montana WILD is FWP’s flagship education and conservation center, located in Helena, devoted to celebrating this deep connection people have with Montana’s fish and wildlife and its wildness.

One of their major goals is to educate Montana youth about wildlife whether it be through hunting, fishing, archery or conservation classes.

This cute little guy is a Tiger Salamander and the Ranger was able to coax him out of his hiding place by tempting him with yellow tweezers that they use for his food. He’s kind of their mascot along with his buddy in the next cage.

The neighbor – a Rubber Boa. This is the only Boa that is native to Montana. I had no idea we even had a Boa in the state.

Rubber Boas are considered one of the most docile of the boa species and are often used to help people overcome their fear of snakes. Rubber Boas are known to never strike at or bite a human under any circumstances but will release a potent musk from their vent if they feel threatened.

A Grizzly and cub.

Beautiful exhibits.

I took this picture of a picture because a lot of folks don’t know that Antelope do not jump fences – they bend their legs and go under them. And they are really fast. Antelope are runners unlike deer which are jumpers. That is why you see more dead deer on the highway than antelope.

Can you see the black bear cubs in the aspen tree?

This is a red-breasted merganser. They can be found at the lake we can see from our spot.

We had a wonderful time and learned so much talking with the Rangers. One of them was a fisherman and I didn’t think I’d ever get Jim away.

If you’re ever in this area, please take an hour and visit this place. It’s free which is another plus. Still no bears but they are also working on building a bird rehabilitation pen.

Pumpkinseed Fish

Analyze This

Helena, MT  High 75 Low 53

Okay gang – here’s the recipe. I saw it on FB. Mine definitely did not look like this picture. The chicken looked anemic and the sauce was as runny as water.

Slow Cooker Orange Chicken

2 large carrots, peeled and slice. 2 green or red bell peppers, cut into chunks. 2 stalks celery, cut into chunks. 3 cloves garlic, finely minced. 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts. 3 tbps soy sauce. 2 tsps ginger. 1 tsp each salt and pepper. 8 ounces orange juice concentrate. 2 cups mandarin oranges. 2 green onions chopped

Put everything but mandarin oranges and green onions in crockpot. Cook on low 4 to 6 hours. Serve over hot rice and top with mandarin oranges and green onions.

Also want to explain this picture. We have three steps outside and one step inside our fifth wheel to enter the rig. Skittlez loves to lay on that inside step in the sun. Nice and cozy. I took the picture looking down at her from my chair.

Had a really exciting t-storm go through last night but no hail so I’m grateful even though I’m tired today. Certainly cooled down our weather.

Hope you’re enjoying your summer. It’s really slipping away rapidly.

Dinner Disaster

Helena, MT  High 83  Low 54

Found a new recipe and it sounded so good. Crockpot Orange Chicken. I chopped veggies and chicken and went to the store for everything I didn’t have. Put everything in the crockpot and figured dinner would be ready in about 5 hours.

Five hours later, I took the lid off the pot and thought, this doesn’t look very good and it really doesn’t even smell very good. But I tried a bite. Then I made Jim try a bite, just to be sure. It was horrible. In fact, it was not edible. I double checked the recipe and everything was as it should be but it still wasn’t edible.

So we went out to dinner. All that time and money. In the garbage.

Once again, I am almost out of gigabytes so I’m not spending much time on line. I’ll have to catch up with everybody next week.

The Bucket Truck Returns

Helena, MT  H  94  Low 62

The electrician showed up about 9:00 this morning and headed right on up and up and up.

He installed the new conduit and wires and then installed the new meter base. Sure looks different than the old one.

After Darren finished his installation, it was time to call Dean. Dean is the one who could give us the seal of approval. That green seal means we can have the power company come out and hook us up again.

Finally, the bucket truck arrives. Hooks up the power and installs the meter dial. We have electricity!!

Scooter is so happy.

Skittlez just wants sunshine.

Almost Had Us A Fire

Helena, MT  H 94  L 59

Yep – we were really lucky.

Monday night, Skitz needed to go out in the middle of the night and we noticed that the power was off. We weren’t sure if it was just us or everybody else but since we didn’t need any power while we were sleeping, decided it could wait til morning for Jim to check out. When Jim checked the surge guard, he found that the voltage had dropped to 107 it should be 110 to 120. By the way – if you don’t have a surge guard, I highly recommend that you get one. It just saved us from losing everything electrical in the rig.Don called the Power Company and the guy came out with his bucket truck. As you know, we are hooked up to electric on my BIL’s lot. There used to be a mobile home here and the electrical meter base and all that stuff has to be about 50 to 60 years old.

Front of the unit:

This is what the guy found. This is what is behind the dial that shows your meter usage. Notice all the burnt wire on the left lower side.  Once again, if you don’t have a surge guard, you really do need one.

Then we found out that this part of the whole set-up is the owner’s responsibility, not the power company. He disconnected the power at the top of pole by using his bucket truck. I missed that with my camera. When everything else is replaced, they will come back out and hook it all up again.

It is amazing how much work is involved in getting this fixed. You have to get a permit. Sounds easy – yeah right! When they pulled up the actual address of this lot the records showed it’s in the city limits. But we’re not in town, we’re in the county. That means that the city and the county have to get this straightened out before the permit can be issued.

And all the new rules – we have to have two ground rods eight feet long, at least six feet apart, put in the ground. It’s in the 90’s and they are pounding the rods.

The conduit that runs up the pole has to be 6 inches away from the pole so you need special spacers to hold it in place. Originally they were told they had to have a outlet box with a 20amp outlet with GFI for some reason. Meant another trip back down to the power company office to explain that we just need a 30 amp RV hook up.

We had a nice discussion about the fact that I will not let either of the guys install the conduit up to the top of the pole. They did agree with me that it would probably be stupid of them to try. So we will hire somebody younger with a bucket truck to take care of that for us.

Then they need to go buy all the necessary parts. Everything has to be replaced because it is so old nothing meets codes. So Jim was busy this morning taking all the old stuff down off the pole.

The Home Depot receipt shows a 125A Meter Main Outdoor, a 30 AMP Travel Trailer Panel, a Breaker GE 30A 2-Pole, Rigid Conduit Nipple, and some Raintight Hubs. Means nothing to me.

Found an electrician who will be out in the morning to help get everything installed and up to specs. Then hopefully the guy from the power company can come out and certify that everything is good to go.

I can’t imagine how we would have survived this heat without our generator. It may be noisy but it runs the A/C and that’s all I cared about when it hit 92 in the rig. Both Scooter and I had our tongues hanging out.

I’ll let you know how tomorrow goes. Wish us luck.

Celebrating

Helena, MT  High 91  Low 61

Thursday night my sister, Judy, and her hubby, Don, took us out to dinner at the Marysville House Restaurant. Marysville is a an old mining town that almost became a ghost town. Along came a ski area and brought the small town back to life.

I blogged about Marysville last year  Marysville

I had one of the best steaks I’ve had in a long time. Jim and I split a rib eye dinner. Even the broccoli was good and I am not a cooked broccoli person.

We all agreed that we just would have to make another trip back up there again.

This was the view from the back deck of the restaurant.

Judy, Jim and Don relaxing before dinner.

I loved this chair.

Friday morning Jim took me to breakfast for my birthday. After we got back home Judy and I went garage sailing. My sister is a hard core yard sale person. I usually go along so I can drive and she can concentrate on the deals. I hit the jackpot – a new to me t-shirt and some books.

We met up with my niece, Kim, for lunch. Her birthday is on the 20th so we were celebrating both days.

Friday afternoon Don bought me a new birthday present (NOT). He bought himself a new toy and brought it over for Jim to check it out. 

A really wonderful day.