150 Blurry Memory Joggers (Plus 7)

The STP and I got up before the sun.

And we quietly took the tandem kayak out onto Flathead Lake.

And we watched the sun rise.

And I took a few pictures.

One hundred and fifty seven pictures.

It turns a kayak in the middle of the lake is an excellent location to watch the sunrise.

But the gently rolling action of a kayak makes it a little challenging to photograph the sunrise.

Leaving us with just these seven pictures.
And a wonderful memory.

Wildlife Report

 We went for a hike.  On our way in we met a man who had just seen a moose ahead of us on the trail.  We kept our eyes open, but we couldn't keep our mouths shut as we forged ahead.

 We did not see a moose.  

On the way out we talked to people who had seen a bear crossing the river just ahead of us.

We did not see a bear.

We were obviously not sneaking up on any large wildlife. We were okay with that.

We did see a water ouzel and I got this picture which I am happy to share with you. 

Because its not everyday you see a water ouzel.

Vacation Day Uno

How to have a great vacation--A pictorial travel guide.

Start the first day of vacation with a peach/mango smoothie on the balcony.

Pile most of  the people you are vacationing with onto your bed.

Have a tickle fight.

Photograph it.

Go to church.  Sing hymns with the STP on one side of you and the Queen of Queens on the other side of you. (Best not to take pictures.)

Come back to the lake and fire up the grill.

Play a few hands of Uno while the coals get hot.

Learn how to say,"Good game." like you mean it, and be a good loser, because the STP wins three hands in a row.

Enjoy grilled venison, smashed potatoes, tossed salad, and chocolate mousse cake for lunch.

Spend the afternoon swimming with your grandkids.

All of them, one at a time.  Have the pool to yourselves so you can race and dive for dinosaurs with wild abandon and without thought to how you look in your bathing suit.  Be sure to lose most, if not all, of the races.

Get the kayak out onto the lake.  Try not to covet the big fancy lake houses you see along the shore.  Let the STP do most of the paddling.

Go to see Despicable Me 2 in the evening. (See it in 3D so you can all wear the glasses.  Eat popcorn for dinner.)
Be sure to take the best grandson in the world along.  Watching him watch the movie will make you laugh as often as watching the movie.
Pick up supplies and make a few plans for day two.  Go to bed happy and sleep soundly.
Be sure to charge your camera battery because tomorrow we head to Glacier.

As Exotic a Thing As Has Ever Grown in my SFG

42.  Grow something exotic in the SFG.

I bought 4 kohlrabi plants and dedicated a square foot of the SFG to growing kohlrabi.

Unlike last year's eggplants, the kohlrabi grew quite nicely.

I harvested my first one this week. 

 What's a Kohlrabi, you ask?  An exotic member of the cabbage family, the kohlrabi was once the favored vegetable of European nobles and peasants alike. It was first grown in Europe in the 1500's and imported to America 300 years later.  It has a turnip like appearance, with leaves standing out like spokes from the edible portion, which is a rounded, enlarged stem section growing just above the soil line.  

My favorite kohlrabi recipe: 

1. Peel it.

2. Slice it.  3.  Salt it.  4.  Eat it raw.

Sharing is optional.

Travel Day

Spent most of the day traveling.  The STP did all the driving.  I did all the map reading.
We stopped at MacDonald Pass.

The STP took pictures of the scenery.  I took pictures of the STP.

And pictures of me with the STP.

We just missed having lunch with Sean Spellman.

We arrived at Flathead lake early this evening.  The best grandkids in the world will not get in until later tonight.  So the STP and I had to spend a little time in the hot tub and enjoy this view of the sunset from our balcony.

They better hurry up and get here.

9, 10, And Closing in on 12

9.  Kayaking with the STP.  On the Big Horn River.  Put in at little town south of Dodge City.  Got out at the bridge in Dodge City.  A distance of 7 miles by road and 11.5 miles by boat on the winding river.  Saw deer and cranes and ducks and an eagle and skinny dippers.  Managed to get a picture of the STP.  

10.  Kayak with friends.  At Paint Rock lakes.

It was a long and bumpy ride to the the mountain lakes. We would have gotten there faster if the wildflowers were not so beautiful. ( If this were a wildflower post I would share more of the 117 pictures I took.  But it is a kayak post, so on to the lake.)

 Time to unwrap and try out the new tandem.

Which in one day became my favorite kayak.  Because it is black cherry red. And because I can chat with my rowing partner.  And let my rowing partner row and steer while I take pictures.

And more pictures.

Of my kayaking friends.

Kayaking.

And just floating. And soaking up the quiet peacefulness.  Until it was time to reload the kayaks and head back down the mountain.  Because I had to go to work today.

But those kayaks are still on the SuperSuzuki.  Because tomorrow we head to Flathead Lake and onto Glacier Nat'l Park.  And those kayaks are going with us.

Sadly, these friends are not going with us.  

But I couldn't be more excited about who we are meeting there.

Free Shipping

When you live in Dodge City, online shopping is a way of life and free shipping is your best friend.

But sometimes 'free shipping' is a better deal than other times.

Say 'Hello!' to the latest addition to the kayak collection.

Somehow '13 feet' is bigger in person than in my best internet imagination...

Jackson

When you grow up in house and a time where your parents were country music fans before country was cool, you know some good ol' Tex Ritter songs, you watched HeeHaw episodes when they first aired, and you've wondered what it would feel like to fall into a burning ring of fire.  Also, when you say "I'm goin' to Jackson,"  suddenly Johnny and June are singing a duet in your head.

We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout,
We've been talkin' 'bout Jackson, ever since the fire went out.
I'm goin' to Jackson, I'm gonna mess around,
Yeah, I'm goin' to Jackson, 
Look out Jackson town.

We've been talkin' 'bout Jackson ever since we moved to Dodge City.  Jackson has been on the sand bucket list for several years.  But it isn't easy to get there from here.  Until this past weekend.  When I just got in my car and drove myself there.

And met up with a friend from high school whom I had not seen in about 25 years.  But thanks to the exchange of a myriad of well written Christmas letters we were able to pick up pretty much where we had left off.  And we hadn't changed a bit.

I asked a young lady to take this picture of us with Einstein.  We were telling her that we were friends from high school, that this was my maid of honor, that this was my anniversary, blah, blah, blah.  "Just push the silver button on top,"  I say.
"Oh, my Mom has a camera just like this,"  she replies.
Oh, I have a 'mom camera'.  Guess I'm not as young as I feel.  Guess that zit on my face wasn't fooling anyone.

The quintessential Jackson picture.  Part of the thought is that if we stood in front of really large things, we would appear smaller.  At least you can't see that our faces are still breaking out.
We ate some really good food, talked and laughed, and maybe teared up a time or two.  We rode the ski lift to the top of the mountain.

And we hiked back down.

And we decided that we should not wait another 25 years to get together again.

 I am immensely glad that I made the trip.  And I will go back to Jackson and take the STP with me.  Because he is a fan of good food, and talking and laughing, and beautiful countryside.  He does, however, consider 'country music' an oxymoron, so we will not be belting out a duet of 'Jackson' in the car on the way.  (Sometimes it is not a bad thing to travel alone.)
Taking numbers 13, 48, and 49 off the non-resolution list.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Finished book 3 in the Harry Potter series.
3 things I would not give to a thirteen year old:  A rat, a time turner, a flobberworm.
3 things I never learned in school:  How to read tea leaves, how to change a teapot into a turtle, which teachers were werewolves. 
3 things I might like to own:  A crystal ball, an invisibility cloak, a signed permission slip.

Alpha and Omega

Crossed off the first and the last things on the non-resolution list this past weekend.
1.  List 54 things to do in 2013.

54.  Photo with a roadside wonder

While traveling across Wyoming I happened upon the World's Largest jackalope in Dubois.   So I had to stop to pee to take a look.  Fortunately I had my camera with me.  Unfortunately, I had left the memory card in my laptop in Dodge City.  So on my way back across Wyoming (after purchasing a new memory card for the camera), I stopped again to pee take a picture.  And really you can't judge the size of a jackalope by it's picture.  In the picture it looks like you could display the World's Largest jackalope on a sturdy shelf.  But trust me that is not the case.  This jackalope is huge.

Because I was wearing my blind woman sunglasses, I didn't notice the saddle, so I did not get a stranger in a convenience store to take my picture on top of the world's largest jackalope. (Although I don't doubt that that would have been a possibility.)  Instead I just stood on my tiptoes and gave it a hug and took a facebook pic for you.  So you could better judge the size and appreciate the awesomeness of the World's Largest Jackalope.

I also did a little research on jackalopes for you and found that Douglas, Wyoming has laid claim to the World's Largest Jackalope.  Which turns out to be an 8 ft concrete statue of a jackalope.   Clearly not a real jackalope like my friend here.  

You can't fool me, Roadside America.  I know a fake jackalope when I see one.

Thirty Three

Thirty three years ago today I walked down the aisle with my best friend.

Still married to the guy waiting at the other end, but looking forward to the weekend with my maid of honor.