Playing tag OR A writing exercise, Either way, it's fun!

I was just tagged by Jamie Debree at The Variety Pages blog. The best tool a writer can have is the ability to lie, to create a great story that is totally un-true. Isn't that what the entire Fiction section of the book store is full of? This meme looked like it would be really fun!

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‘Sometimes you can learn more about a person by what they don’t tell you. Sometimes you can learn a lot from the things they just make up. If you are tagged with this Meme, lie to me. Then tag 7 other folks (one for each deadly sin) and hope they can lie.’

Pride: What is your biggest contribution to the world? Madonna learned her 1980's style of dress from ME. Yep, I was the one who told her that fingerless gloves, stirrup pants worn under a fluffy mini-skirt, old Converse tennies, and tee-shirts torn to Hell would look AWESOME together. Was I right, or was I right??

Envy: What do your co-workers wish they had which is yours? Oh, I just know Joe (my only co-worker) just longs for my 8 year old Compaq Armads E500 laptop. The things he could do with it.....!

Gluttony: What did you eat last night? An entire Australian Lobster drenched in butter, and a HUGE fillet Mignon steak, covered with sauteed mushrooms. For dessert, I had a piece of Lemon Drop cheesecake. Of course, an entire bottle of wine to wash it all down.

Lust: What really lights your fire? Men who have long stringy, greasy hair and tattoos ALL Over their bodies! Ya Know, the asshole types who like to push you around. They really know how to get their gal to do whatever they want. Mmmmm.... I'd love to get together with one of those "Bad Boy" types! Just thinking of them make me all quivery inside.

Anger: What is the last thing that really pissed you off? When I woke up and the sun was shining. What the hell? Why can't it be rainy all the time? Rainy and cold. I think I am moving to Seattle or England. Sun! It just RUINED my day!

Greed: Name something you keep from others. Everything! I refuse to share anything. If I have it, I'll be G*dd**ned if I'll even let you borrow it. I worked hard for my stuff... so NO, you cannot use it!!

Sloth: What’s the laziest thing you’ve ever done? Stayed in my jammies for three days in a row watching movies and eating junk food. No cleaning, no shower, just DVD's, microwave popcorn, ice cream, sodas, and cold cereal! I never even left the house to go into the yard... YAWN! I think I will go take a nap now......

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I hereby tag MontanaScarecrow, MountainMan, OHN, Pepe, CRC (aka Hot Stuff), Colorado Girl, and Zen Panda. Of course, anyone else can participate if they want to! Please leave a note in the comments section if you post to your own blog, or you can just put your answers into the comments section.

The best laid plans....

I was planning on writing part two of my Washington trip, and adding some more photos last night, but Mother Nature had another idea for me.
We have been having some pretty severe weather passing through the Helena area and last night was no exception.
Like many of natures shows, this one was beautiful! The sun was setting through the rain storm making the west glow orange with the occasional lightning strike for punctuation. As the storm quickly moved to the east my home was in it's path, causing some power flickers, so I shut down all the electronic stuff. I did look out the window and saw a full double rainbow, but the rain was coming down too hard to take my digital camera (or cell phone) outside. I love rain storms so I stood at my front door and watched.
The storm moved on, the clouds reflecting the sunset, which made them a brilliant mixture of pinks and oranges.
As the sun set, and the weather cleared, I once again turned on the home computer to write a post.... then I heard sirens in the distance. One, no big deal. Two, must have been an accident. But by the time I registered there were four or five emergency vehicles I just had to look! I could see some smoke rising from a forested hill about four miles from my house and a stream of flashing red lights heading towards it. One of those lightning strikes had started a fire.
With Brooke (my dog) "singing" along with the sirens, and the curiosity that is human nature... I abandoned the blog post and sat on my porch watching until it was full dark.
I will finish "part 2", and also "What I did on the 4th" this weekend. I promise! I have tons of photos to share!

Playing Catch-up!

I promised to write about my short trip to Newport, Washington that I took two weekends ago, so here I am fulfilling that promise.

Sometime near the middle of May I was asked to attend a friends surprise 60th birthday party. This is a friend that I haven't seen in fifteen years (or more!). I was happy to be invited and Joe, my boss, allowed me to take the day off. As the day approached, I became more and more apprehensive about attending. I didn't know anyone that was attending except my own family and the birthday boy and his wife.

When I start to feel this way, many times I chicken out and make some lame excuse as to why I suddenly cannot attend. I have to admit, I was very close to that! But, I did want to see Don and his wife so I packed up the Rav-4 and had an adventure!

I worked a full day on Thursday, then headed north from Great Falls to Kalispell. I had packed a cooler with easy meals so I wouldn't have to eat fast food and I had plenty of cold drinks, too, so I didn't have to stop at the convenience stores. I am not used to eating my supper until about 8pm, so I didn't eat before leaving town at 6pm. By the time I was passing through the tiny town of Valier, I was feeling a little hungry, so I stopped at a picnic area next to Lake Francis. Here is where I ate:

After eating a quick meal consisting of some crackers, cheese, ham, and tuna salad... followed by a dessert of fresh strawberries (thanks, Albert!), I got back on the highway. The drive from Great Falls to Kalispell takes you from the Plains of Central Montana, along the Rocky Mountain Front, and finally into the heart of the Rocky Mountains. About 50 miles of the trip you are in the Blackfoot Indian Reservation. At each boundary line on the major highways the Indians have placed sculptures like these:

This one is at East Glacier, where I left the Reservation. I forgot to take a photo of the sculptures when I entered the Reservation just out of Valier while the sun was still up! Silly me! It was about 9:30pm when I stopped here, and the sun was behind the mountains casting everything in early evening shadows. These sculptures are life sized warriors mounted on horses. They are made completely out of old car parts and the three I have seen are all different! Oh yeah, for all you fellow Geocachers... there is a cache hidden here, too!

After leaving the Blackfoot Reservation and passing through the tiny tourist trap town of East Glacier, the highway enters the mountains. The Great Bear wilderness is to the left, while the towering peaks of Glacier National Park flank the right. Although the light was not good enough for photos, I could see the scenery quite well as I travelled along. The beargrass was in bloom everywhere! I also stopped at a place called Goat Lick and watched mountain goat nannys and kids playing on a steep hillside. The mountain goats like this particular place because salts and minerals seep out of the rocks here.

I finished the drive to Kalispell without another stop, arriving at my daughters home at about 11:15pm. She had already gone to bed, but had left blankets and a pillow for me on the couch. I don't care what anyone says... I personally think a couch at a loved one's home is far better than an impersonal hotel room! I settled in, and a few moments later I was befriended by one of the cats, Socks, who decided I needed company. He slept on my hip, or behind my legs all night. It has been years since I owned a cat, so I thoroughly enjoyed his company.

Friday dawned bright and early. I was awake for about half an hour before Heather and the grandkids, so I quietly enjoyed the morning. I had thought we were going to be leaving Kalispell for Newport, WA fairly early... only to find out my Mike ( my SIL) didn't get off of work until 10am, then they had a few errands to run before leaving town. That meant we weren't going to be on the road until about noon or so. After showering, I had nothing to do so I accompanied my ex-husband on a few errands. He and I had an early lunch at a local taco joint (Taco John's) before I left him to finish his packing while I filled my gas tank and washed the previous nights bugs off the car. Had I known we weren't leaving until noon, I could have left Great Falls early Friday morning instead of driving so late at night. *sigh!* Kids! Oh well...

I had told everyone that I was stopping at Kootenai Falls just outside the town of Libby, no matter what time we left. Everyone else thought that was a great idea, so we planned to all meet there. By everyone, I mean Heather, Mike, and their kids in one car, Harry (my ex) in his car, and me in mine. We were all heading different directions on Saturday after the party, so sharing rides was out of the question. Besides, I didn't want to ride with Harry because although we get along OK, that many hours in a small space, the fact he smokes and I don't, and the crazy way he drives would have combined to push me over the proverbial edge and I would have had to strangle him.

U.S. Highway 2 from Kalispell to Newport, WA is a beautiful drive. Had I been on my own and not part of a caravan, I would have stopped and taken many photos. The only stop we made was at the waterfalls. The photo does not do them justice!

Not too far from the Kootenai Falls is a suspension foot bridge across the river. Harry and I hiked to it since we knew Heather and Mike were at least half an hour behind us leaving Kalispell. They had stopped at McDonald's Drive-Thru for their lunch on the way out of town. The bridge was awesome! I would have loved to have been able to spend more time in the area exploring, so I know I will return! Here are a couple of photos of the bridge:

See the people? I don't know who they are, but I wanted them in the photo to show scale. It's a pretty wide river! Here is one from the "far side" looking back the way I had just came. I snapped the photo, then went back across and hiked the half mile back to the parking lot.

I am glad I insisted on stopping at the falls. It is a beautiful place that I will return to. Next time I will be sure to have more time. I have a goal of taking better pictures of the falls themselves.

We didn't stop the rest of the trip, driving through Libby, MT; then across the Idaho panhandle through Bonner's Ferry, ID; and Sandpoint, ID. Bonner's Ferry and Sandpoint are beautiful towns and appear to be rich in history. I will return there, too!

The state line between Idaho and Washington runs through the middle of what looks like one town, but the Idaho side is named Old Town, while the Washington side is Newport. We had arrived at our destination!

It was 4:15pm Pacific time, and Don's surprise party was to be at 5pm. We checked into our hotel rooms and headed to the restaurant / bar where everyone was to gather before Don showed up. He thought he was meeting his wife and two grown boys for a quiet dinner. His friends and family were so good at keeping the secret that he was truly surprised. His wife had even managed to fly his sister and brother in from California, picking them up from the airport only hours before the party!

The party went well, but I did end up sitting on the sidelines the majority of the evening. I wasn't alone, though. Mike, my SIL, didn't know anyone either, so we drank our bar drinks and "people watched" together. Heather was mingling with some of the guests she had met after Harry and I had divorced while her kids had found other kids to play with. After Heather said her hello's, she joined us, with Harry coming and going as he saw old friends from his past.

I was thankful the party began breaking up early, and was pretty much over by 8:30. Heather and Mike had found out about a carnival that was in town, so they took the kids to that while Harry and I drove out to Don's home to spend some more time with them. I had never been to this house, so I was given "The Tour". Their home is right on the banks of the Pend Oreille River (pronounced Ponderay). While out on the boat dock, I took a photo of the last rays of the evenings sunset:

We visited with Don and his family until about 11:30pm, then returned to the motel. Heather and Mike were just returning also, so after the kids were put in bed all the adults fixed their drink of choice and we sat outside enjoying the summer night. It had been a good day.

(To Be Continued: Saturdays Adventure!)

The first food from the garden!

Baby lettuce. There would have been more if the grasshoppers would have left my tiny garden alone.

Storm on the divide

Cool storm cloud over the Helena valley as seen from the Continental Divide friday evening while on the way to Alberts cabin.

Happy July 4th, American Independance Day!

I have been back from Idaho/Washington for six days now. I have some photos I'd love to share, too, but here is how things went for me:
When I was out of state, for some reason while roaming off of AT&T cellular service, I could not send photos from my cell phone to my blog. Heck, about half the time I couldn't even get a call to go through! I don't know what was up with that, but it was irritating, to say the least.
I have downloaded the photos onto my home computer, and posted some to Facebook, but that is about as far as I got.
I usually use the slow periods at work to write my posts, but this week my lap top here at work is not working very well. I know I really need to just buckle down and buy a new one, and I have been budgeting for one, but that is quite a bit of cash to save up! It takes about five minutes to just log into an Internet page, and about half the time the page crashes the computer. I just don't think this little baby can compete with the newest technology. Her processor is too slow, her hard drive too small.... but she has been good to me and I seem to have a strange attachment to her!
I was planning to write a post about my trip on my home computer, but that hasn't happened, either. Lately, When I get home (Helena) I am just SO tired. I try to not let my physical troubles get in my way, but this week I just couldn't help it. I have been very run down, fatigued, and in a bit of pain. Today (Friday) has been especially bad. I was able to rest up all day on Sunday, so I don't think the road trip is the cause. We have been having some strange weather passing through, so maybe the barometric pressure changes are messing with me... or those pesky hormones? Whatever is the cause, I can't wait till I feel better.
Other items to catch up on:
The garden is doing great... well, it was! On Sunday I had a row of peppers about half an inch tall, and a whole row of onions about 4 inches tall. Last night, as I was watering, I noticed all my peppers are gone, and half the row of onion tops. Also, many of my carrot tops are half gone, my lettuce is looking munched on, as well as the tops of the radishes. A closer look revealed why-- GRASSHOPPERS! UGH! I made a little tent out of nylon mesh to keep the buggers out, and sprayed Sevin onto the plants that were left to kill the 'hoppers that managed to get trapped inside. I did try to get them all out, but some insisted on jumping back into the garden area. Hopefully, all the plants will send up some new leaves. I'd really like to get at least one or two of those pepper plants to grow.
The trip last weekend was awesome! I will post about it in the near future. I promise! If you want a preview of the photos, check them out HERE.
This weekend Joe and I are heading up to our friends mountain home. He lives off the grid high up in the Helena National Forest. If you want to know more about him, check out my followers and click on MountainManAlbert. We are going just to relax, with BBQ'd steaks to celebrate the 4th. Just peace and quiet. No fireworks, no yelling kids, no crowds. Sounds like a perfect holiday weekend.
Hope everyone has a great weekend! Stay safe!

Off I go, on another roadtrip!

As of 6pm, MDT tonight, I will be on the highway heading north, then west... only to return to my home in Helena sometime late Saturday or possibly as late as Sunday early evening.

"Where are you going?" I hear the peanut gallery ask.

I am going to Newport, WA. If you don't know where that is (and you have a map of the North Western U.S) look along the eastern-most edge of Washington.... or, if you prefer, the western-most edge of northern Idaho. Up there near the top.... no, that is Canada, a little lower.... Yeah, you found it! And, yes! The state line DOES go right through the center of town. OK, actually, the state line separates Newport, WA from Old Town, ID. Basically, one town, but I guess the different states wanted their own sides of the town distinguished or something.
I have not been to Newport, WA for something like 15 years. A great family lives there, but they were my ex-husbands surrogate family during most of his teen years, so when we divorced I did not feel comfortable visiting. If you have ever gone through a divorce or major split of one type or another, then you know all about the "my friends" and "His/her friends" thing.

Well..... many years have passed, and the ex has remarried and divorced, but all the while, whenever the ex would visit Newport, these friends (aka Don and Murial) would ask about lil'ol me. It just so happens that Don is turning 60 years young tomorrow and his family is throwing a surprise party for him. My ex was asked if he would see if I would attend.
Sure, I'd love to see Don and Murial, as well as their kids who are all grown by now.

So, this is where I am going, and why. I am looking forward to the road trip, heading north to Kalispell to meet up with Heather and her family (where I am spending the night tonight), then meeting up with the ex-husband to caravan to the shindig. Yes, I did say caravan. Yes, it would be much more economical to all ride together, but unless someone has the cash to bail me out of a jail in MT, ID, or WA.................. (I think you get the jist of my thoughts here!).

Am I looking forward to the party? Not so much. I really do not like being in a large group of people, especially people I don't know. I'm what used to be known as 'A Wallflower'. A 'people- watcher'. A loner. The 'quiet one'. I will be uncomfortable, to say the least, but I would like to see these fine folks from my past. I am looking forward to doing a little catch-up with Don and his family on Saturday, though.
AND... could I really turn down the chance to take a road trip? A trip that I will be in my own vehicle, alone? My own music choices, potty stops when I want to stop, stopping at sights I want to savor. Sounds heavenly, doesn't it?
I will post some random photos from my phone along the way, with a full write-up and more photos when I return.
In the meantime- Ya'all have a good weekend!