First Snow!

This past week ago I had my first accumulating snow at my house, about 4-5 inches. It was a wet snow and stuck to everything. So I took a walk down to the river and sat on a rock for awhile to watch the sunset and to take some pictures.

Devner & Colorado Springs Weekend

A little late getting a post out but thought I would show some pics of my birthday weekend to Denver Nov 2-5. On the way down, I had a good visit with Scott and Kelly and their boys as we went to Chillis for lunch. Once in Denver, I stayed at The Homewood Suites in Lakewood. My very good friend and former boss from Key Bank, Donna and her husband Jim drove up from Colorado Springs Saturday evening. Also, my good friend Linda, from the bank, and her husband Lewis drove down from Fort Collins. Plus, my former roommate in Fort Collins back in 1994, Brook drove down as well. We all went to Old Chicago's for dinner. Of course, Donna and I had a few margaritas!

Then after dinner, I met up with a friend from my Fort Collins days in 1993-1996 and we went to some clubs in downtown Denver. Very fun! Although, I can't dance as long or stay out till closing like I use to! On my birthday Sunday, I drove down to Donna and Jim's in Colorado Springs for lunch at a very good Mexican restaurant, then came back after lunch and went to a beer bust with my friend in Denver starting at 4pm. All you can drink for 7 bucks! Very cool because he and his tennis team were the servers walking around with pitchers of beer. Every time your glass was going empty they filled it up. You never had to go get your beer! It was a fun weekend!

Same Ole Same Ole

Just a quick update since my trip to MI. Hmmm, no updates necessary! I did take a trip to Denver for my birthday weekend Nov 2-5 . On the way down, I stopped and met Scott, Kelly and their boys at their house and we went to Chillis for lunch. I didnt really take any pictures during the weekend but I did take a few and may post them later. It is just too much of a hassle to take a camera around to restaturants and clubs, etc. Sort of been in a big rut the past couple of months. The time change and darkness are not helping. Will try to get a post of the weekend soon.

Trip to Petosky, Michigan

We took a few family photos before my sister had to head south to Detroit. Very rare when everyone is together. The first pic is my sister, mom, and brother and me. The second is my sister, sister-in-law and brother...and the third is all of us with my brothers family, 1 niece and 3 nephews.

Boyne To Boyne Marathon

Here are some pics of the marathon. It took place from Boyne Mountain Ski Resort to Boyne Highlands Ski Resort, or vice versa, I can't recall! Anyway, it was very intense as most of the marathon was through VERY hilly country. The first pic is my brother at a water station with my Mom off to the right. (She fast walked a few steps with him!) The next couple pics are the back of the resort where the runners approach the finish line. My brother is just making his entrance onto the grass. The last pic is my brother crossing the finish line!! I am not sure what his time was, I believe 4 hrs 30 min but he finished! The had an electronic clock and someone announcing the runners names as the crossed.

It was interesting as we drove to different mile markers to wait for him and give support. He had his times written on paper from his 5 months of training about where he would be at what time. The also put tiny microchips on your shoe laces to keep track of everyone.

MN and UP of MI

On September 25th, Mom and I drove to Petosky MI to visit my brother and his family and my sister from Detroit. We went to support my brother while he ran the Boyne to Boyne Marathon. On the way, we spent a day and a half in Grand Rapids, MN visiting my former college professors, Dr Bruce Lee and Dr. Cathy Finley. We had a great time. The foliage across MN and Upper MI was awesome. I had forgotten how colorful the leaves are back in the Midwest. Bruce and Cathy live on a lake. One afternoon Bruce took me out cruising in his motor boat and to show me his fishing spots and to view the foliage (middle pic). The first picture is Mom at Michigan's first rest stop which is in the Upper Peninsula. By the way, all the rest stops in the UP have chemical toilets...no plumbing. Felt like I was back in the mountains again.

Oh, it took FOREVER to drive across the UP to get to the Mackinaw Bridge to cross down into Northern Lower MI. It is two lanes with virtually no traffice and the speed limit is 55 mph. that is sooooooo 1980s!

The last pic is of Mom and me with Bruce and Cathy when they took us out to dinner. We had such a great time!

Dr. Purcell Leads the Way!

(I have my postings in reverse order.)
After the survivor lap, the team lap begins. This year there were about 204 teams. Each team participates in the lap. Billings Clinic Cancer Center was the first team to start. Dr. Purcell,
my Oncology Doctor, (hopefully not for much longer) is on the far left. He is AWESOME!
Some teams are very creative with their themes and costumes and "getups". Like First Interstate Bank did a baseball theme with scoreboard and everything. All their shirts said someone like "knocking cancer out of the park". It was neat to see all the ideas. There were also tables and tables of donated items for the silent auctions.

I plan to post of few more pics in the next few days.

Survivor Lap

Here I am being silly, although you can't tell much, at the start of the survivor lap which consisted of making on lap around the Billings West track around the football field. We were all given a red rose before the lap. It is quite impressive as the outside and especially the inside of the track was packed with 1000's of people and they all stopped what they were doing and applauded everyone as they walked by. It was like 20 min of non-stop applause!

Relay For Life 2007

I participated in my 2nd Relay For Life this past July. It was another fun and emotionally filled evening to celebrate surviving cancer and remember and honoring those fighting the disease and those that have died.
Last year the event raised $525,000 and this years goal was $550,000. In a span of 17 hours the goal was reached and exceeded with a total of $640,000!!!!!!!!!!! What is great is this money is suppose to stay at the local American Cancer Society. That amount of money sure says a lot about the generosity of the people and buisness's of Yellowstone County.

The 1st pic is the survivor dinner which I participated in along with my Mom. Last year there were approx. 500 participants, and this year the number grew to around 700!
700 people is a lot, but when you think of the thousands of people that don't make it each day, it is so sad. To put that in perspective, the number of people that die from cancer each day is like having a 9/11 everyday!!! It is sad to see young kids at the dinner and in the survivor lap... BUT they are survivors!

The 2nd pic is Mom and I at the dinner. I look wasted as it was very hot inside the gym and I had on my survivor shirt we all received. I later took off my first shirt!

The 3rd pic are the survivors gathering at the start of the opening ceremonies and survivor lap.

Sparty!

Well, what can I say? I must be getting older as I bought a budgie, also known as a parakeet, 3 months ago. I waited to post as I wasn't sure how he would adapt. So of course I am jinxing it now. A month or so after the painful decision to give back Sage, I was still in need of some sort of pet. I actually did what I considered extensive research for about a month. Of course, you hear good and bad tales to everything. After much reading, and some hesitation, I decided to get one. I was skeptical for a week after the purchase, but then my skepticism quickly faded. He is actually very fun and entertaining to watch. Obviously, it is not like cuddling with a dog, but more interactive than an aquarium. Plus, much, much easier to clean and maintain then an aquarium. I have tried the aquarium route several times since living in Billings, and fish are hard to keep and tank cleaning can be cumbersome.

I named him Sparty, which is the Michigan State Spartan mascot, because of his green chest and front, and dark green back tail. The end of his tail is a dark blue. The sex of the bird is determined by the color of its cere, just above the beak and the age of the bird is determined by the number of stripes on its head.

Anyway, I have become a bitter 40 yr old that stays home and talks to his bird. He actually was mimicking me a month or so ago. He has several toys that are rotated every week or so to keep him occupied. He even now eats out of my hand and sits on my finger or shoulder at times. He loves looking at himself in the mirror and playing with those beads. But what male doesn't like to look at himself in the mirror! haha And his sounds are very cool to hear, and anytime I want to make sure he keeps quiet, I cover the cage. So far so good! I will have more pics soon.

2nd Year Survivor Anniversary/Stillwater Float

Saturday, June 23rd was my first day floating the Stillwater this summer. To make a long story short, it was awesome! I was hesitant to go on a Saturday as I try to avoid the rivers on the weekends. But with the float season expected to be short due to low water, I had to take advantage of the day off. Plus, it was suppose to be 99 degrees and the flow was about 2300cfs
which is about the fastest flow I have floated it.

But, since it was my 2nd year survivor anniversary, I wanted to get the heck out of the house. My friend and I got up to the put in point about 8am and launched about 830am. The water was "gin" clear. As it turned out, it was one of my best days on the Stillwater in 8 summers! I netted 12 nice trout, all about 14-16 inches and my friend got about the same amount. PLUS, we were the only ones on the river the whole day. I later found out their was a caddis hatch on the Upper Yellowstone River and that is where most of the fisherman went. Also, the lower Stillwater was off-color so that may have turned fisherman away, not knowing to go further upstream.

It was as if God planned my whole day for me. The weather was not as hot as forecasted, (typical meteorologists), there were clouds which is good for fishing, hardly not a breeze (rare on the Stillwater), and no one else on the river, plus lots of action. What a way to celebrate my 2 year survivor mark!

Beartooth Pass con't

The lake photo was taken on the Cooke City side of the pass as we were heading down towards Cooke City. What an awesome scene. The last photo is of the red rocks on the east side of the Absaroka/Beartooth Mountains driving down towards the plains between Cody and Billings. It is a whole different scene and things get quite arid. However, as you can see, conditions are still very green and lush and was like that throughout the trip. However, things will be drying out very quickly.

Beartooth Pass con't

Had to have a photo of holding a snowball in June. Boy, that snow is COLD and make's one's bones hurt (elbows that is). This was not at the top yet but at the ski run that is usually open during the month of June but it was already closed.

Beartooth Pass

Mom and I took a drive to Cooke City via the Beartooth Pass this past Tuesday. What a beautiful day for a drive. Not a cloud in the sky except for a few cirrus. As is usually the case,
there was very little traffic between Red Lodge and Cooke City over the Pass. Our destination
was lunch at the Beartooth Cafe in Cooke City. As always, great food, service and prices! Oh,
they also have over 100 bottles of beer. But since I was driving through the mountains, I played
it safe with Pepsi! We came back home heading back up the pass but then took the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway. It is a totally different drive but well worth it.

Mom's Day

I know, very late with posts here. But here are a couple pics from Mother's Day. We had a fun evening. I worked til 3 then took Mom out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. It was

soooooooo good you guys. Here are a couple pics of some flowers Mom received and then

a bag of Bath & Body goodies I gave her.

Green Grass!

Earlier this Spring my grass really started to green up. Thought I would just share a few pics of my lawn. Things are more flourished now and will have a few pics soon as I have added another landscaping addition.

Kelvin Hemholtz Clouds

Here are some Kelvin Hemholtz clouds(not sure how to spell them) that I took on Mother's Day outside the office front door. Here is the definition of such clouds:

Kelvin-Helmholtz instability can occur when velocity shear is present within a continuous fluid or when there is sufficient velocity difference across the interface between two fluids. The theory can be used to predict the onset of instability and transition to turbulent flow in fluids of different densities moving at various speeds. Helmholtz studied the dynamics of two fluids of different densities when a small disturbance such as a wave is introduced at the boundary connecting the fluids.

Basically, this means the there is a lot shear in the atmosphere. A pilot definitely wouldn't want to fly near these! A few hours after these pics were taken, Billings and especially areas just east, got hit with severe thunderstorms with 60+ mph winds and golf ball size hail. Click on the green text (not sure why there) to enlarge the pic.

Fishing with Perry

A couple weeks ago my Mom and my friend Perry went up to West Rosebud Lake for a day of fishing. Perry had never been on a float tube before and he had a blast! We both netted some nice fish and all had a great day and picnic lunch.

Cub Cadet

Well, I am finally getting around to posting on my page. After two summers, I finally have a riding mower! It just arrived about 10 days ago. I mowed my front and side yards for the first time this past week and it was awesome! It only took 1hr and 5 min whereas last year it took from 2 to 3 hours with a push mower. It's very cool and even has a beverage holder on the right drivers side. I purchased it through Ace Hardware in Laurel, and by the way, they rock! They matched the same deals as Home Depot PLUS free delivery and pickup for servicing at my house. Oh, and another awesome thing with Ace Hardware, which by the way is where I do most of my hardware/home stuff shopping, they actually have sales associates that stop and ask if you need any help. They also take you to the item instead of pointing down 5 rows and telling you to turn left, then right, then go halfway down etc. They actually have heard of the term "customer service", AND, get this, they have more than one register open. I have been working quite a bit in the yard this past week getting it ready for Spring and all. I hope to have some pictures posted once the bushes and trees foliage. I don't plan to do anything with the back yard this year as I have other items on the agenda. More on that later.

Easter Egg Coloring

Yesterday, Good Friday, my Mom and sister did our annual Easter Egg Coloring. We didn't get too creative, but the colors did come out fairly nice. Just the old fashioned Pas coloring. That is not a very good picture of Suzy and me, but oh well. The first photo is Mom with her decorations
outside of her apartment.

West Rosebud Lake

This past Tuesday, Josh and I headed up to West Rosebud Lake for some fly fishing. He took his pontoon and I took a float tube. Hard to explain a float tube so I will have to show a pic soon. I am basically out in a tube around my waist that I sit and and use flippers to get move around. I was warm enough with clothes but my toes got so cold I couldn't feel them a few times. Still would rather have numb toes than be at work! It was about 50 degrees and very windy. Hard to tell in the pic, but you can see the snow in the background. Actually, the ice melted off about 1 to 2 months early, not a good thing for summer. The fishing was slow for us compared to what it usually is here but I managed to catch a rainbow but had 7 strikes and lost a few. Still beats work!!

1st Day on the Stillwater

On March 12th, I hit the Stillwater River for the first time this year. I took Mom up and she sat in the truck and read, and fell asleep. Hard not to with the sound of the river. It was 76 degrees so instead of fishing under the surface, I decided to throw a dry fly on the water. I had a strike right away and landed the trout, a small 12" rainbow. However, I missed the actually strike, darn!

But a few casts later, I saw the next strike and landed a small brown. Not much action on top but it was of course very early in the season. Overall, a great day. Of course, a slow day on the river sure beats a good day at the office anytime!