Dinner w/Josh and Tanya

A week ago, Mom and I went to Josh and Tanya's for a Holiday Dinner. It was a good visit as we don't get the chance to get together as much as we would like. After dinner and a tour of the house, we had a group picture taken on the davenport. (That is a midwest term meaning "couch" for all of you who are saying "What the heck is a davenport?") As you can see, we had about two too many on the couch! We are sqeezed in there and I look 6'0, while Josh looks like a little kid! haha Thanks guys for a fun evening!

Christmas Tree

Here is a photo of my Christmas tree in my living room taken from above in my kitchen. I put 100 white lights and about 300 colored lights on it! Many have requested pictures of my house. With my old computer, downloading my digital cam pictures was a huge process and took forever IF it even worked. Now with my new computer I bought last Christmas, I have found this process very easy.

Kitchen Balcony

Here is another pic...this one of my kitchen area and balcony that overlooks the living room.

My House and Outside Decorations

Here are a few pictures of my house with my decorations. Most of you have not seen my house so these are my first pictures. I had the front and side yard landscaped this past summer and the grass really looks nice. I also had various sizes of cobblestone around the house and you can see my new aspen trees. However, I have a pesky deer that has about killed one of them as he keeps sharpening his antlers on the trunk. I think I may be having deer jerky for Christmas!

40th Bday pic with Josh

Josh and I are laughing hard in the photo below because right before the picture was taken, he blew in my ear!!

40th Bday Party w/Josh

My good friend Josh at my party. I won't tell you why we are laughing so hard. Well, maybe I will another time. Dang, that flash sure makes my head look really bald and bright! I really don't look like that! haha I am so vain!

40th Birthday Cake

Here is my birthday cake I had at my 40th birthday party. I have only had 2 or 3 birthday cakes in my life as I always have pumpkin pie.

So the cake is a pumpkin cake and everything is edible except the man and fish. The evergreen trees are ice cream cones and the mountains are chocolate cup cakes. (click to enlarge the pic. It is awesome!)

Rainbow Trout

Here is my largest fish of the summer. It is a 19.5"x8" rainbow trout. I caught it on the Yellowstone River using a #10 Dave's Hopper. My buddy Josh took the pic. He caught one almost as big (but not quite) just down the river about 200 yrds.

Emerald Hills Fire (South Billings)

This was one of several fires that were very close to Billings this summer. This particular fire was just south of the city in a subdivision called Emerald Hills. The lights in the foreground are of the city of Billings.

Derby Fire

On Wednesday 9/6/06, 3 co-workers and I were able to make a trip to the Derby Mountain Fire Complex and observe a burn-out designed to stop the westward progression of the fire. The fire itself burned 200,000 acres and destroyed 26 residential homes and 20 outbuildings. (We are laughing because something was said right when the pic was taken, but I don't recall what happened.) The helicopter traffic from where they picked up new loads of water or retardant was non-stop right over our heads. The best description of the experience at the fire base camp was like being in an episode of "MASH. This plume of smoke produced showers of ash over the Columbus and Billings areas. By the way we look, you would have thought they were burning a mountain side of marijuana! (click on pic to enlarge)