Happy Birthday David!  

This is a man who likes to do things.  He's always all in on any adventure or project and he always gives 100%.   Did I say he's an optimist?  Absolutely.  He finds something good in every bad situation.  He loves a challenge whether it's just one playing a game or when it's a more serious problem to solve. I hope he enjoys looking at these photos as much as I did.

 The first photo of David and his Aunt Linda is perfect.  There was a bit of a competition going on and the look on David's face tells it all.  Can she really be trusted, especially if she's standing behind you.?

David at the bottom of the infamous sled run at the Loman cabin.  His most memorable run was the one when he went underneath the pickup at the bottom of the hill.   Luckily, he only had a slight gash to his head.  (There was a LOT of screaming, though)

This photo was taken on a dinosaur fossil hunting trip near Drumheller, Alberta, with friend Ray Salinas and Jon.  They spent a week there one summer, maybe in 2002? 

Here he's picking ducks after a day of duck hunting at my sister Kathy's place in Helmville, Montana.   Thanksgiving - 1993.

A great photo from the "family cruise" in 2006.  This port was in Honduras.   David proposed to Julie on that cruise.  Seventeen family members, from both sides of the family, went on the trip.  So many great memories. 

Here he is taking Ben on his first walk in the woods, Sept. 2009.

He took us mushroom hunting in the Bitterroot along with good friends, Neil and Ann Wimberley.  What I remember from this trip is that ALL of the terrain was steep, except for 50 feet at the beginning of the hunt... 2007

David and family - Thanksgiving 2009

At JP's house after one of our fishing trips to Lake Mary Ronan.  

As a member of the Hamilton Players, he learned to tap dance for one of his roles. 

Have a great day! 

Happy Easter! 

 

Yes, we have snow!  Eight to nine inches of the cold, wet stuff, but I'm not going to blog about it.  Instead I'm going to write about what we did yesterday.  

We're getting ready to install a new heating system at our place, a mini-split system.   Yesterday was the day to have our electrical line installed with a new breaker in the panel for the mini-split and a something called a "kill switch" on the exterior wall of the house to turn the system off in an emergency. 

To do this we needed to run an electrical line from the panel at one end of the house to the other end of the house and this would be done in the basement.  My task was to clear out stuff which was stored on the top shelf in what we call our root cellar.  What a mess that was since what we have stored up there hasn't been moved for years.  There was a lot of dust and spider webs and I even discovered an old wasp nest.  

All I can say about the task is, "yuck"!  

The whole operation went quite smoothly though and our friend, Tim Gunn, had it all finished in a few hours.   That said, it set me off on a goal to clean out and get rid of some of the things we just don't need to store any longer.   I now have at least one carload of garbage to haul to the dumpsters. 

I did come upon a few treasures though in the process including some old photos.  I do not remember them so they have been lost for a very long time.  

Interestingly though, two of them would have been taken near Easter time in 1974.   

May, 1974.

This photo was taken in front of Kermit and Ruth Kiebert's home.  Jon's parents are on the far left and next to Jon in the red hat, is cousin Marty.  Aunt Ruth and then Ruthann and Glen Nordgaarden, and finally, Uncle Kermit.   JP is standing with Glen and also Eric and Kiersten.

It would only be a month later and we would move to Hope.

April 1973

JP had just had corrective surgery and both legs were in a cast.  He was hunting eggs with assistance from Grandpa Jim and Jon.  JP says he remembers the Easter Egg hunt.  

The photo was taken with a Poloroid Instant Camera.  The photo quality did not hold up well, but instant cameras were the rage at the time.  Who knew we would have digital cameras in our future.

The Easter Egg hunt was at Grandpa and Grandma's house in Missoula.  There was no snow.  

 August,1974

I am not positive, but I think we were up Lightning Creek on a huckleberry picking expedition.  David's little jacket that he's wearing was red.  I do remember that.  This photo was taken with plain, old black and white film. 

April 17, 2022  6:30 a.m. 

This photo looks like it's a black and white photo, but it was snowing so hard that very little color shows through.  

I had to clean off the satellite dishes with a broom - at 6:30 a.m.

In 1974 no one had even thought about satellite TV or the Internet. 

 The sun is trying to shine and it's thawing now, but I have a feeling the snow will still be here tomorrow.  

There will be Easter dinner though.  

Tradition. Ham and scalloped potatoes. 

Ah, spring.  Isn't it wonderful?  

It isn't exactly what I was hoping for, but I won't complain because I know the sun

 will be shining soon and this latest snowfall will soon melt. Son JP, in Kalispell,

 sent a photo this morning of the snow on his deck.  Whoa!

It does make it easier to find those bright colored Easter Eggs.

The Easter Bunny is hesitant about the whole situation since the forecast really

 doesn't change much through Easter Sunday.   Poor bunny.

Mr. Willie, the runaway, now has new restrictions in his life.  Jon and I discussed

 our options and decided on a 75' trolley line which has worked out well so far.  He

 has the shade of our large cedar tree on one end of the line and his outdoor kennel

 is there for some additional shelter. 

He doesn't seem to mind it, especially if we are outside with him.  I also take him

 with me to the garden and he's happy with a tie-out in the grape arbor as long as

 he has some toys to play with.

After all of the snowfall yesterday, Willie ended up with his version of a snowball. 

 He had spent some time dragging and rolling his buoy around in the snow.

We are actively working on changing his herding instinct of wanting to chase

 wildlife by giving him other choices.   We are taking him on daily walks around

 our property line to reinforce boundaries.  All of our other border collies learned

 the boundary and knew that their job was to keep the wildlife off of our property. 

 However, they did not chase the animals once they left our property. Willie still

 has some learning to do.

At the suggestion of my friend Marianne, who has three border

 collies in her life, we bought Willie a Chuck-it Ball.  He

 absolutely loves it because I can now

 throw the tennis ball a lot farther and faster.  Fifteen minutes of

 Chuck-it, twice a day, wears him right out.  

A tired border collie is a good thing.

Batten down the hatches.  We have a wind advisory today! 

Happy Monday!