Emptyknitster

Today was the first day of school for the teachers, students will be arriving on Wednesday. With a new superintendent in the district, there are many changes afoot.  Beginning with today's agenda, it was an interesting day at school and ended with me coming home to this: The fire was six miles away and with the wind blowing in the opposite direction from our home we are safe. Over two thousand acres of much needed feed for cattle is going up in smoke and with the drought this year this may prove disasterous for our nearby ranchers. "The Chick Who Flew the Coop" has taken two weeks of vacation from her office job at the state capitol to fight fires this summer - what got her through collage and she thought was out of her system apparently is still there. Like father like daughter, they are currently both fighting on this fire.

"Luwak Coffee, or Civat Coffee, is made out of coffee berries which have been eaten by and passed through the digestive tract of the Asian palm civet. After being collected, the coffee beans are higienically processed and perfectly roasted for the complex distinctive flavors." For years my BFF and I have said that the only person we know who would drink "Poo Coffee" would be my son-in-law, the California Dreamin' Boy. Well, we were given a big surprise this spring when that very young man went to Asia and brought back "Poo Coffee" not for him - but for US! We decided it had to be a special occasion when we drank the coffee. Perhaps the first morning of our summer. But it didn't work out and week after week we kept putting the event off. Finally, our coffee could no longer be delayed and today, the last morning of our summer, we indulged. With heirloom and handpainted china, a cutwork tablecloth from Germany, scones and lemon butter we had a...

Last weekend the brothers breezed into town for a quick visit. We enjoyed our adventures, playing games, catching up on family happenings, and meals together. All four cousins enjoyed their visit but the two little ones created quite a friendship.  Our time together quickly came to an end and we sadly had to say good bye until the next visit! Sam. Cameron, Joe, and Chloe

Family from out of state have been visiting Montana this week. Hubby and I thought it might be a fun adventure for all of us to visit some ancient Native American pictographs. These pictographs are a well kept secret we discovered about twenty years ago.  In past posts I've written about Hubby and how he never gets lost. He can find his way through unfamiliar wilderness and has even retraced steps days later to find lost keys or arrows. Yesterday it proved the same with with the pictographs. He hadn't visited them for over five years. Although he said he wasn't sure he could remember, he led us right to the area. It was an amazing trip, the contrast in landscape and beautiful clear sky made this one of the most beautiful trips to the site I've ever taken! Everyone enjoyed the trip even though the temperature was in the 90's. A late night before the trip and a hot hike proved to much for The Pirate and he gladly took a two hour n...

While we were in North Dakota the fire season began with a vengeance. Without a doubt Colorado is the hotspot of the nation, but Montana's fire season is heating up. There are fires just outside the state capital, another 30 miles to the north of us, and to the southeast there is a large fire on the reservation. With smoke in the air comes beautiful sunsets:   I took a few shots and then decided to put the finishing touches on my Rainbow Brite socks (a project isn't done until it's photographed!) Pattern: LaLa's No sock, sock pattern, and Stashbuster Spirals (both free patterns on ravelry) Yarn: Dyer Straits, Lorna's Laces Amount: bits of three different sock yarns Needle size: US size 1 A bit of Christmas in hundred degree weather! After taking a few photos on the deck I looked up and saw a beautiful full moon. A brilliantly red sunset and to the east a clear moon rise.

The week before school ended the principal approached me about becoming the science specialist for third and forth grade. I gave it some thought over the weekend and on Monday asked for the position. While exciting, it changed the dynamics of the last 8 days of school. Not only did I do the usual end of the year things - teaching, reportcards, fieldtrips, and storing of items - I also immediately went into moving mode, taking only items I thought would be science worthy. Students happily grabbed boxes as they went to science class making the physical movement much easier. This last week I worked on developing lessons and now have the first quarter ready for fall. Lessons for the fifth grade "math review" class that I will also be teaching are lining out nicely. Having the first quarter ready to go allows me to relax and enjoy the summer! My only reservation is the fact that I will have 450 students and because I have a hard time with names, there will be a lot of "Hons...

When we were at the California Dreamin' Gurl's graduation she casually mentioned we should return in a few weeks for a Beach Boy's Concert. Years ago a Beach Boys concert had been the gurls first experience at concert going and she remembered it fondly.  Little did she know that Hubby had been trying in vain to arrange just that event. "The Beach Boys Concert - It Might Be Their Last, After That They Might Be Died Tour" Hubby had talked about it so much, I actually thought that was the name of the tour and so was surprised to learn the concert's actual name is "The Beach Boys 50th Celebration Tour!" He hadn't thought to look for a date while I was still teaching school. Hubby had tried Red Rocks, "No the grandkiddos would be visiting," How about Seattle? The answer was again no for the same reason.  But when The California Dreamin' Gurl said they were singing in the Greek Theater on June 2 his eyes lit up and who was I to say ...

This is what we woke to this morning: Poor little petunias! On Memorial weekend, Hubby and I usually drive up the Beartooth Mountain Highway to see the snow accumulation but this morning all we have to do is look out our window! We received about three inches which is better than the foot of snow in Redlodge, 50 miles away. Cinnamon rolls are rising and the toboggan we bought at Christmas is at the ready...