College Frustrations

I used to have this grandiose vision of going back to school to receive an education and then go forth and make the world a better place. I now realize that graduate school is a synonym for "jump through hoops" or "dance puppet"...either one. I have been battling not with the course load but rather with people of authority in administration that obviously never make mistakes (read EXTREME sarcasm). It has taken over a month to get my account settled and registered for fall classes because of a mistake made in the university computer system! It's all taken care of now and at Christmas I will be half way done with my degree!!!

On a totally different subject; I have been riveted to news about the DNCC in Denver this week. It's all over the local channels in Montana as well as the national feeds. I am riveted because of the historical significance of nominating a black man for president, plus the man is a wonderful orator that gives you the "warm and fuzzies". That being said, the man still, in my opinion, is not the best choice for president. I'm not sure that McCain is either by the way. I would not vote for Obama on one simple issue...his vote in the senate to extend social security and welfare benefits to illegal immigrants. How can anyone think that is an acceptable plan for America?

What's goin' on?

It has been an interesting few days. Not really anything spectacular going on, but a few things that have been fun. I went to Crow Fair on Friday night and had a blast! It was really cool seeing hundreds of folks in their outfits dancing. It was impressive seeing hundreds, literally, of teepees set up. Aparently, it is a big deal to have a teepee at Crow Fair. I guess I stayed down there watching the dancing and exploring the fair for a few hours Friday night...I didn't get back to the house until after midnight! I know lots of people that camp in Crow for fair, but I managed to only find one family...actually, the kids found me and took me to their camp! Only three of my pictures turned out from Crow Fair and they can be found here. This was truly an amazing experience and I can't wait to go again next year!!! There is a video of Crow Fair at the bottom of the post...it didn't turn out very well, but you can kind of get the idea. Enjoy, but please don't get motion sickness from watching!!!

Saturday, some friends and I drove out to Spring Creek Resort (bar and cafe) for their grand opening. They had free food and live music...the band was Mile 7 from here in town and I really like them. I was fun and an interesting crowd; there is NOTHING close to Spring Creek and the crowd was the local ranchers and their families...very different to see 15 kids running around at a bar. I didn't spend any time in the bar...the music and food were in the parking lot, so that's where I was all night! Another late night, but it was fun.

Big Horn Mtn Camping Trip

I just got back last night from a few days of camping with some friends in the Big Horn Mtns of Wyoming! I took the motorcycle down and had a good ride to the mountains...it also cost a heck of a lot less than driving the pickup!!! I met up with the guys on Wednesday night just in time for hot dogs and chili over the campfire. This was not a usual camping trip for me, in that we didn't move camp around and there weren't any hikes scheduled. It was just a time to relax and be in the high mountain air! I did do some rock climbing there, nothing too 'hard core' probably didn't climb anything over twenty or thirty feet, but it was fun. Yesterday we all did take a pretty nice hike up to the Medicine Wheel National Historic Site on Medicine Mountain. It was a short hike but the day was perfect and the scenery was incredible so we all just sort of took our time and enjoyed being outside. I had meant to meet up with the church group that was camping over in Red Lodge this weekend, but I didn't leave the Medicine Wheel until 5 yesterday afternoon and its easily a 2-3 hour ride over to Red Lodge from there...which isn't bad if you know exactly where you are going. So I just came back to town last night and played with the puppies and went to bed...I actually slept better on the ground in the Big Horns than I did in my own bed last night...must've been the cold nights up there!!! Pictures from the Big Horns can be found here. Also, as promised, pictures from my trip back east can be found here.

Fair 2008

This past week has been our county fair. All I can say is 'thank goodness it's over'!!! I really enjoy the 4-H portion of my job, but this fair was a killer! For the most part the kids were great and their projects were excellent, there were just some issues that needed to be dealt with along the way. I could not have been prouder of the goat project kids (I have been working with them since March on their showmanship). These kids were AWESOME!!! The judge came to me and told me how difficult it was to place the showmanship class...GREAT JOB GUYS!!! The two top showmen got to go into the 'Round Robin' portion of the show to compete against the top showmen from the other species and while the goat kids didn't win, they had a great time and are really excited to go back. All in all, fair is a great experience for the kids and I hope that next year's fair will be an even better experience for them! A few (very few) pictures from fair can be found here.

Visit back east

I have been out of the office for the past couple of weeks, so my writing has been very limited. I got to go back and visit the folks and spend some time in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, TN. The family rented a chalet in Pigeon Forge and we spent the week down there going to Dollywood and Splash Country, playing miniature golf, seeing Smoky Mountain National Park and the Cherokee Reservation (just for comparison's sake), and hangin' out at the cabin. I didn't get a whole lot of pictures, but I will post some a little later...I left my camera at home. The picture with the post is a panoramic shot from the top of Clingman's Dome (the tallest point in Tennessee).