Entertaining Again...and enjoying it!

Here is the deal; I have to redecorate the outside of the house. Mother nature did a number on my outdoor decorations this week and now they are in the front yard rather than on the house...and of course now it is cold (currently 14 outside) so climbing up on the ladder again will not be the easy task it was the first time. I hope to have that done tomorrow morning prior to watching the ACC Championship Game and rooting for the Hokies to get revenge on the Eagles of BC!

Tonight I am going to a friends house for a surprise birthday party! That ought to be fun...and tasty; I heard that there is going to be Aces chicken there (only the best fried chicken north of the Mason Dixon Line!) We're supposed to park up by the car wash and walk down to their house (next block east), I may just walk from the office; it's not like this is a huge town so it's not too far.

I am hosting a Christmas party at my house on the 14th; having some friends over and having a good time...we'll see how it goes in the small house! I'll probably have to put the dogs outside; I'm sure that Maggie will love that! I don't know what to make for the party...any suggestions? I may do a brioche as a dessert and maybe a batch of lil' smokies...everyone likes lil' smokies right?

Speaking of pork products, I just put in for a hog from one of my ranchers. I am hoping to go out and help process the meat when they butcher...you just can't beat buying right off the farm; well, maybe growing it yourself (not an option for me since I live in town). That will mean that I have pheasant, pork, and deer to choose from...not to bad. I am also hoping to get some shell beans from this rancher; pintos to be exact. I do hope that they have some left. Maybe next year I can buy a little bit of malting barley from them and try my hand at home brewing. I've tried wine making and would like to try beer...we'll see.

I went over to the primary school today for Native American week. The Native American Club at the high school came over and did some native dances for the kids. Pictures can be found here.

Quick Trip

This was a good weekend! I went hunting on Friday; I didn't kill anything, but a bad day hunting is still better than a good day doing most anything else. I did see a couple of pheasants while we were out, but I did not have a clear shot at anything and I didn't want to pull a Dick Cheney on my hunting partner! Saturday I watched the VT/UVA game on television. Very good outcome...UVA lost. I then went down to Cody, WY for the evening; shopped at the Sierra Trading Post outlet store...very cool (and I HATE to shop) and ate a saloon in town. Sunday I got up and drove across the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway to Cooke City, MT (11 miles of the road was closed, but I made it just fine). Cooke City is at the end of the earth; there were a lot more snowmobiles in town than cars. After refueling in Cooke City, I drove through part of Yellowstone and up through Gardner, MT to Livingston and back home. All in all a good weekend. Pictures from the trip can be found here.

FIRST SNOW!!!

Yesterday, we got the first snow of the season!!! I usually don't like snow, but this is kind of nice...for now. I took a couple of pictures of the house decorated for Christmas during the snow storm. All said and done, we got around 4 inches. Not too bad!

Last Week, Weekend, and Upcoming

Wow, last week we had an amazing wind storm across Montana! The wind was blowing so many tumbleweeds that it actually stopped train! The train ran over the tumbleweed and got stuck on them and then the tumbleweeds actually buried the train...it was pretty neat. I was driving over to Billings during this and the interstate was black with tumbleweed; fortunately, I did not get stuck on them!

I did hit a deer on the interstate last week...just caught a rear hoof so there isn't any damage to the truck, but it was close. It's amazing when these bucks get something on their minds how they lose track of everything else. Anyway, I am kind of glad that it was a deer and not a 'lope or an elk...certainly not an elk.

I went pheasant hunting again this weekend and I brought home another bird. I am probably going to hunting again of Friday...really looking forward to it. I am also looking for a dog, probably a German Shorthair, but there are some Weims for sale here in Hardin right now...so we'll see.

I got the outside Christmas decorations up this past weekend as well. We are having unseasonably warm weather in Montana right now, so I figured I'd get it done before the cold sat in later this week...the high on Wednesday is 29. I will probably work on the inside decorations this week. There are a few folks that want to have another party at my place so I want to get things decorated before that. I guess that I will be buying most of my decorations new this year...I used to have some really nice things, but the whore that I was married to thought that those things would be better suited to her and she kept them in the divorce...not that I had much say in the matter. I am planning to go get a tree on Wednesday or Thursday...I have to get a "permanent" tree due to travel times this holiday season and since there aren't any trees in Eastern Montana.

Work, life, and anything else...

Well, here it is Veteran's Day and I am the only person in the entire court house. I have a class tomorrow that I need to prepare for so I am working on the holiday...oh well. I am burning valuable hunting time at the office; maybe I can get out this afternoon...maybe. The rest of the week does not appear that it is going to slow down; tomorrow I am teaching in Billings, Wednesday, I have a meeting in Circle, MT, Thursday and Friday, I will be finalizing a class for December and planning 4-H activities for January. I also have to sell beer and porn to the citizens of Big Horn County on Thursday and Friday nights.

This upcoming weekend I had planned to go to the Cat/Griz football game in Bozeman, but maybe I'll just watch it on television...I'm not sure that I really want to drive to Bozeman and go to a game that I can't really get in to. I'd much rather watch the VT/Miami game, but it regionally televised and we won't get it here in Montana...everyone is showing the Cat/Griz.

What's goin' on?

Well, I know that Montana's weater is different from Virginia's, but this is really crazy. Yesterday was 72 and today it is 33 and snowing...crazy! It's not snowing hard and it isn't sticking, but there are in fact snowflakes falling from the sky. I kind of like it.

This weekend didn't produce any memorable moments, I cleaned out the truck, went to the financial peace class, watched the Indianapolis Colts do their best impersonation of the Hokies and give up the game in the final minutes of the game...way to go Colts. Looked an awful lot like the performance that the Hokies had against BC.

Now this upcoming week should be interesting. I am preparing for a class that I am teaching next week in Billings, I have 4-H Council this Thursday night (always full of excitement), I am selling beer and porn to the fine citizens of Big Horn County on Wednesday night (Crow Tribal payday...yippee!), and I am tryng to register for spring classes at MSU-Bozeman. All in all a fairly busy week.

Something New!

I just added a link on the profile page to a photo gallery. I have posted pictures from Yellowstone, Glacier, and Waterton Lakes National Parks as well as a few pictures from Big Horn County. I will post more pictures as I take them. Yes, I did take these pictures with my camera...I know that some of the pictures are REALLY good, but it helps to have beautiful scenery.