What used to be a blog about experiencing the places and cultures of the world has morphed into one of living in my adopted home of Wyoming.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Near Red Lodge, MT....redux
I drive by this same spot today and snapped a pic with my phone to illustrate the difference the moody skies provided.
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
White knuckle drive
This may not look like a white knuckle drive....but it was. This was the road from Red Lodge back Eastward toward Billings yesterday. What made it white knuckle- for me, anyway- was the 7% downhill grade, the coming hairpin turn, and the fact that the road was as slick as snot!! Made it back down without incident. Thank goodness there was no other traffic!!
Monday, April 15, 2013
Near Red Lodge, Montana
I'm exploring this southern part of Montana for a couple of days, and this is the first time I've been to Red Lodge. It's a beautiful town that reminds me somewhat of Telluride. In this cell phone photo, both the sun and an emerging snow fall are battling over this scene. The road leading into the mountains here is someone's private road. Can you imagine that being your driveway??
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Friday, April 12, 2013
Cloud Peak...from the front deck
I'm not sure if I'll do this daily, but I'm somewhat sad to see the snow receding up into the Cloud Peak wilderness. This may not look wonderful from a cellphone camera (and zoomed), but Cloud Peak is the snow-covered dome just left of center.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Yeah, about that "imminent update"....
What I think might be a better approach for me is to use this as a photoblog - maybe not so much written content, but a regular posting of snapshots. This will be easy because I've got a pretty ok camera on my phone, and I take a good dozen or so shots a day. The beauty is the Blogger app, which allows me to upload photos (along with commentary) directly from my phone.
For a basic run-down of what I've been up to over the last few months - I'll see if I can't recap that here. First off, I've moved. I'm still in Hyattville, but I'm now at a log cabin next to a creek and a beaver pond and some cow pastures. It's down a 2-mile long dirt road. At first, I was worried that it would be too remote. Since then, I've removed all the window coverings and really love being able to sit on the front porch in the morning in my PJs and not be concerned that anyone can see me. I love seeing the beaver build his dam at dusk, and there is a mated pair of sandhill cranes that sing-up the sun every morning down by the creek. Life really probably couldn't get any better, but it has.
Since December, I've been able to help out on a few ranches nearby - for sheep shearing, calving, and cattle moving - and some of this by horseback!! The hardness of the water (I suspect) has really helped my nails - formerly as strong as wet newspring - not only grow, but strengthen. If you've ever seen my nails you know what a big deal this is. I've been working with the state's economic development forum and small business administration - and have been enjoying some guest-lecturing spots with them as well.
My company is officially a company, too - Paintrock Consulting Services, LLC. I know, I have a lot of LinkedIn updating to do. While I've bought the domain name, I haven't built the website yet, either. Oh, and I finally went ahead and bought a Verizon network extender - so now I can use my cell phone at home (aka, "the cabin") - provided that the internet or electricity don't go out on me.
All right, I think that pretty much does it for updates for now. I'll be sure to post some snapshots tomorrow. Thanks to those (all 5) of you who still read this blog and prompt me from time to time to keep it alive! I'm glad it's here, I'm just bad about giving it the attention it deserves.
Golden Hour
The close view is South from my deck...the long view looks East. Daisies, citrus mint, lemon balm, and found feathers make a great windowsill during the Golden Hour.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Update is Imminent!
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Bountiful Baskets, Indeed!
Friday, November 16, 2012
Snow Woes
One is that the underside of my vehicle is covered in what I affectionately call "road snot" - the partially melted, then re-frozen drippings of driving. The ugly part of that is when they congeal all up under the wheel wells to the point of rubbing on the tires during driving. I've asked around and the options are to either not drive in the snow, get the vehicle "lifted" (which I seriously might do, so it's as high as the 4Runner was), or 'bang it out with a long stick' (which is what I currently do).
The other issue that the melting causes is with my dog. I'm going to have to curb her off-leash activity at the ranch. The other day at the ranch, she rolled around in a slushy mixture of snowmelt, mud, cowpiss, and manure (oh, and oats). Now, the stream is too cold for her to take a dip into for rinsing purposes, and she is an anti-bath dog. My solution has been to buy cans of dry shampoo, spray her down good, let it dry, brush that out, then rub her down 2 or 3 times with baby diaper wipes. She seems to love that - even leaning in to me - but I'm not keen on doing this all the time.
Interestingly, when I let her walk off leash around the house, she doesn't get dirty - somehow, even though where I walk is mud 2 inches thick, she is able to find remaining solid spots of snow and walk on those. So, it's really only at the ranch that I have to watch her. Which means I probably won't be taking her to the ranch much when it's muddy.