Creature of Habit?

I know that I am not alone in this...everybody does it at some point or another and that is to put some item someplace you'll be sure to remember where you put it and then the hunt is on because you just cannot for the life of you remember where in the hell you put the item though you know you just had to have put it someplace where you were for sure to remember?  Whew!!  Sound familiar?!

The search was on...where is my ipod?  I had put it someplace and it was driving me nuts that I could not remember where.  I had wanted to take my ipod with to Montana as there were some areas where radio stations didn't come in real well or what did wasn't something I really wanted to listen to...cattle markets and auctions come to mind.  But...couldn't find the damned ipod.

I am somewhat of a creature of habit but not so much that there is one place and only once place for an item to be put.  There are always a few suspect places to look for an item like the vehicle keys, etc. and the same goes for the ipod...or so I thought.  Time was starting to dwindle on finding it before the big trip to Oz. 

But today I wasn't looking for it as I was picking up one of my bestest friends and we were going out for lunch.  As I was driving down to pick up PJ I started to put papers & junk from the front passenger seat into the back so he'd have some place to sit with a bit of comfort.  I had a couple of jumbo packs of gum from the trip out west and I decided instead of hiding them in the growing mess in the back seat I popped the glove box and tossed them in there and shut the door.  Or at least I tried to shut the door but the latch didn't catch and it popped back open.  Somehow one of the packs of gum had gotten stuck in one of the hinges and jammed the door so it wouldn't shut.  Crap!!  Not what I needed while driving or any other time for that matter.

I reached over and tried pulling the gum paper loose with no success.  I pulled and twisted and pushed and pulled and then gave a big jerk.  Bam!!  Crash!!  I had succeeded in pulling the gum paper loose but in the victory the glove box door unhinged and dropped down to the floor spewing out all of the contents.  What a mess!! 

But wait!  What's that I see??  Well I'll be damned!  So much for me professing to be somewhat of a creature of habit.  Much to my surprise there amongst the mess on the floor was my ipod.  Who knew that that ipod went to Montana with me.  I would never have thought of looking in there for it.  Break the damned glove box but find my elusive ipod!!  What dumb luck!!

Fortunately with only a bit of elbow grease I was able to get the glove box back on its hinges and was hurriedly stuffing all of the junk except the ipod back into it when PJ came out.  Needless to say he seemed to get a chuckle out of my dilemma but all's well that ends well and the elusive ipod has now been found and I am not going to let it out of my sight between now and when I head to Oz.

Now...where did I put my passport??

Got The Milk?

Ever have one of those days you probably should have just stayed in bed and forgot about running any errands?  Well, that's kind of like how my day has gone.  I'm one of those people who make a list of what I'm going to get before heading off on the errands.  Guess you could say I inherited the trait from mom...I am still finding a list here or a note there as I slowly go through the packed boxes from her condo among other things.  Just yesterday I came across a recipe for venison sausage in mom's hand writing and lo and behold there was an attached note in dad's hand writing with his tweeks to the recipe.  Mind you dad has been gone now almost 10 years so I was a bit tickled to find something in his hand writing. 

Dad wasn't exactly the letter writing kind of guy and also hated talking on the phone (probably because of his hearing difficulties).  So whenever I was hankering for a note from him when I was living in one of the numerous states I have throughout the years I'd just send him a self addressed, stamped envelope and a couple of pieces of paper...I always got a note back from him then...might not have said much but it was still a note and always said 'love, dad.'  Wish I'd saved those but when one is younger you just don't think about those things.

Anyways I got sidetracked here but that doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary...actually happens alot and more often as one gets older...guess it must mean I'm getting 'fuller of it' a bit more each day?!  LOL  Probably...mom told me the day I got my B.S. degree that finally I had a piece of paper to prove I was really "full of it!"  She was quite proud of her humor that day!!

So...back to the errands...there's a certain retail store here that has a 'spinner' of sorts where they can put tons of plastic bags on and, as they fill a bag, they can spin it to the next one.  Fairly efficient and handy but so damned easy to miss a bag and of course this is what I did this morning.  Now if it had been just an item or two and only cost a few $$ I doubt if I would have called them or taken the time to drive all the way back to the store but it just so happened to be the most expensive purchases of the day in that one bag.  Guess that will teach me to not make small talk with the clerk or b.s. as mom would have said.  Even so I hated having to drive back there but they were actually very good about it and the gal who waited on me in customer service tried (in her own way) to make me feel better saying "I do it all the time."  It was a nice try but somehow not very convincing coming from someone who was young enough to be my daughter. 

Anyways...with my expensive but light plastic bag in hand and my gallon of milk off to the post office I went on the other errand I forgot to do which was mail the birthday card that I left in that first bag which I forgot and had to go back and get...I must be losing something upstairs...I can understand missing a plastic bag but a gallon of milk?!  Really?!?!

I think I'll just have to make another note on my note to remember all the bags and the milk before leaving the store...wonder if that'll work?? 

Thoughts of Springtime

So far this month it has snowed 21 out of the 24 days and we are on track for setting some records for snow falls of 80+ inches which does pale in comparison to other regions in this country such as the cities surrounding the Great Lakes region that get astronomical lake effect snows in one fell swoop or many areas in the Rockie Mountains to name just a few.  Even areas in the deep South have experienced snowfalls that haven't been seen in generations if ever.

I remember my amazement cross country skiing in March of '88 during spring break on Rabbit Ear Pass above Steamboat Springs, Colorado where 80+ inches was the snow pack and didn't include the recent powder that had fallen over night that was knee deep on me. So 80+ inches here doesn't seem so much but for Minnesota that is a hefty amount and there have already been struggles of where to put all the snow and thoughts are already turning to springtime and what that may bring.

Even though it is just past the midpoint in January and springtime is two months away all this snow has prompted talk in my home area, the Red River Valley in eastern North Dakota, of yet another flood this spring that may surpass the record set in the spring of '09 and reach 42+ feet above flood stage.  Already they are in the midst of plans to start filling sand bags next month in preparation of flooding and should be well prepared for another springtime onslaught of frigid, melting waters.

All this talk of snows and floods find us in the Upper Midwest starting to yearn for springtime despite what may come and I too am anticipating the many photo opportunities I will have come February 19th when I step on to Aussie soil in the midst of their summer and amongst those ops all sorts of flowers in midsummer bloom.  Not sure just exactly where my love for shooting flowers came from...it certainly was not born from my allergies or maybe it was since a bouquet of flowers inside can be miserable at best and flower shops are definitely not frequented.  But let me out in a flower garden and I am in heaven.

I leave you today with an image of springtime with a favorite picture of mine I took while Mom was in the hospital of one of the bouquets of flowers reflected in her hospital room window.

Have a great day!!



Reflections




Pre Travel Jitters?

Gotta love major newspapers and their tabloidesque headlines...they can be so comforting...NOT!!  There's nothing quite like pulling up the website to The Herald (a Melbourne, Aus newspaper) and this is the first headline one sees...

Masks drop as jet plunges...passengers suck oxygen as Qantas Melbourne flight loses cabin pressure.

Ok...what is up with that?  It seems since I made the decision and followed through with booking my flight to AUS every few days there is some type of sensational headline in one of the Australian newspapers (or all of them) regarding yet another incident involving a Qantas flight.

Maybe I'm just being a bit paranoid and starting to get 'pre travel jitters' as I've not ever done any international travel but you sit up a little straighter when you  see a headline before Christmas within days of booking your flight about an oxygen tank blowing a hole in the side of a jet in mid flight...and it just happens to be the airline you're going to be flying at 30,000-40,000 feet or however high they go over the Pacific Ocean in the middle of the night.

Last week I was a bit more encouraged when I saw a flight was grounded before take off for an engine 'blowing up.'  Granted it did not actually blow up...the engine just wouldn't work but that's how it was explained in print...at least the pilots figured this one out before take off.

Ok...ok...enough of the bad mouthing of an airline I've not yet had the pleasure of traveling on and not really how I want to come across.  I guess I just wanted to voice 'out loud' that maybe, just maybe I'm starting to get a few "pre travel jitters" which is probably pretty common place.  It's getting to seem like the 'full moon phenomenom' where one happens to notice more weird things happening when the moon is full. 

Anyways...time to get back to booking another tour for Tasmania.  Wonder what airline we're flying on over to Tasmania????

They Left the Light On!

It was a debate as to whether I should leave today or wait until tomorrow for better road conditions.  We had to cancel our trip to Billings, MT yesterday due to hazardous road conditions from snow, freezing rain and blowing winds. None of us really wanted to drive into snow nor over some of the passes between Billings and Broadus that were already snow compacted from previous snows. 

As it was the roads were snow compacted and icier than I really preferred but what made me really pause and wonder if I wanted to continue driving was meeting the snow plow only a mile or two out of Broadus.  After my 'adventure' with one on the way to Montana it was more than a little ironic that I would encounter a snow plow almost right away.  But fortunately this plow was going the opposite direction than I was so I wouldn't have to follow it worrying about a snow cloud engulfing me so I continued on my way.

I traveled slowly for a good 60 miles barely reaching 45 mph but I'm sure I was being a little overly cautious but it did allow me to pay closer attention to the scenery and wildlife as I went.  I spied several bald eagles and was able to stop quick enough to get a couple of pictures of one.  It isn't an awesome picture but one can see how bright and blue the skies were today.  Someday I'll capture that one picture of a bald eagle in the wild that will be breathtaking (at least for me)!

A great variety of wildlife were out enjoying the gorgeous day and I spied a herd of antelope amidst round hay bales in a field.  The bales are about 6 feet tall and 5 feet wide so the pronghorn antelope you can see are small creatures.

It is now getting late into the evening and actually past midnight as I sit next to the heater in my Motel 6 room in Mitchell, South Dakota.  It is below 0 degrees F with the wind chills and I am missing the more moderate temps of Montana already and, more importantly, my brother and his family.

I stayed at a Motel 6 in Wall, South Dakota on the way out to Montana & spied one coming back when I had begun to tire of the long drive between Montana and home.  Nothing all that special about the motel but I did find it quite ironic and a bit humorous that I was assigned room 104 without specifically requesting a specific room both times now.  Makes one wonder if the number 104 has some significance for me?  Guess I will just have to ponder this in my dreams.

Just Another Day

I think for most of my life I have been enamored with the ‘cowboy way’ of living but it was my brother and not me who followed through and has been ranching for what seems like forever.  He’s been in southeast Montana for going on 40 years so I have made my fair share of trips out to visit and even worked one summer on the ranch back in 1985 helping hay…one of several years that saw a heavy grasshopper infestation.  Never was very fond of the bug and after that summer an even deeper dislike for the ‘hopper’ was instilled in me as they were everywhere one stepped. 

But this visit it is snow and not a ‘hopper’ to be seen anywhere. For the past few days we have seen rain/sleet/snow/wind and yesterday was no exception going to the ranch and a very poor time for the 4 wheel drive wires to disconnect on the truck as the snow had been melting and running over top the ice accumulation and several inches of snow had fallen on top of that so driving was somewhat difficult but I was just along for the ride.

The cattle were happy to see my brother drive up with their breakfast of cake and later hay and I snapped a few pictures of the snowy creatures.  They didn’t seem any worse for the wear and I imagine this was a fairly typical occurrence for them to have snow and icicles hanging off them during a Montana winter.  Despite the 4 wheel drive not working my brother was able to get all the cattle fed and happily content at the Daley Ranch where he is wintering part of his stock.  Just another day in the life of a cowboy.

Celebrating a Heritage

The day was absolutely gorgeous once the sun decided to appear and the snow glistened as if there were tiny diamonds imbedded in the drifts as I set off for my last few hours of driving to southeast Montana.  The sun warmed the roads up and what snow/ice had accumulated had had a great start in melting by the time I hit the Montana border so there were few worries and definitely no scares like I had had the previous day in Minnesota.  Even so the memories of that event had stuck with me and I was happy to travel at a moderate pace plus once you hit the Montana border you started to see gorgeous vistas appear in front of you each time you crested the next hill that were definitely cause to travel at a more leisure pace.  Though I didn’t take the time to stop I did manage to get a few satisfactory pictures through the front window of the truck which showed some of the vastness and beauty of the countryside like in the picture above.

Not far into Montana as I crested a hill I saw before me a state highway patrol vehicle with lights flashing and in front of it was a school bus.   Not sure what was going on I waited and when the semi tractor trailer in front of me eased around I could see some students getting off and some getting back on the bus as it crawled slowly down the highway.  Of course I grabbed my camera and took a few shots not knowing what I was seeing.  Finally finding a space to ease around the bus I passed and as I topped a hill I saw a van pulled over that had obviously been decorated by kids so I decided to stop. 

The older gentleman driving a van full of high school students seemed pleased that someone would stop and take the time to ask what was going on and with great pride proceeded to tell me about how these young adults (high school age) from the Northern Cheyenne Reservation at Lame Deer, MT had been running through 4 states commemorating the forced march of their ancestors in the 1800s along the route that Highway 212 ran in Montana which, since  2007, has been dually called the Warrior Trail.

 As the bus slowly approached two new runners emerged from the van getting ready to take their places in the relay.  I asked how long a distance they would run and the one young man, with a cocky grin on his face, stated they were the best runners and would run until the van stopped for them and then chuckled to himself.  I am not sure just how many miles each of those young runners accumulated over the days it took them to run through 4 states but I commend each and every one of them for their endeavors and commemoration of their heritage.  If only more of us took notice and celebrated our heritage.

Not wanting to interfere with the exchange I quickly got into my truck and headed out ahead of the group glad that I had stopped and taken a bit of time to ask.  As the miles increased between me and them I came to yet another hill top and knew I was within 15 miles of Broadus as the Nisley Buttes as they are called loomed on the horizon in all their glory.  Years ago my oldest brother had worked for the owner of the Nisley Ranch and I did get to go partway up the backside of one of the buttes but never ventured to the top.  I can only imagine the vistas that can be seen from these but I will probably never know though I did have the good fortune when I was 16 to fly in a two seater Cub airplane over the vast ranges of the ranch which was something like 30,000 acres.  But my first flight in an airplane is another story for another time…for now I was almost to my Montana ‘home.’