My real Bday.

Happy 26th Birthday to me!!!!! Talk to you all tomorrow!

A drift fence is...................

To answer your question Meg.........
I will try my best to explain the importance of a drift fence and what it does. The second fence that you see (only the very top is visible just behind the drift of snow) is put up in the fall sometime in October. The county comes and puts a stretch of it up in our field following the part of the road that is county. This makes less upkeep for them throughout the winter. And we follow suit. Extending the fence as best we can following the rest of the road up. It is placed in the field approx 25 yards from the road. (I really don't know that distance for sure, I am really bad at guessing distances) But you get the idea. This little fence (though not sturdy or solid) creates a change in direction when the wind hits it. As the wind sails unobstructed across the open fields it picks up the snow and carries it across the field until the force and trajectory changes (even slightly) and then it drops the snow on the other side of whatever causes this change. There are ditches that run parallel to the roads and without the drift fence the ditches would create the same situation and the wind would drop all of the snow onto the road. The drift fence makes this happen before the snow carried by the wind reaches the road. (In theory) This past year the drifts pretty much met the road and still covered the driveway. So the drift fences certainly don't fix the drifting problems completely but definitely help us out.

Hope this all makes sense.

I LOVE FLOATING!

Floating the river. One of my all time favorite things to do (on a raft of course). -I do not float the river on tubes so don't ever ask me to do that- But on a raft. Now that is the ticket. For those of you who don't know it is like, well nothing else really. Obviously floating the river is all I am really thinking about today. That and some warm sunshine on my skin. (one of the perks of floating the river) I love basking on the warm sides of the raft dipping my toes into the water. I love seeing want an amazing place we live in from such a different perspective and angle. I love pretending I know how to row....only for a short time and then passing the oars back and feeling like I have made my contribution. I love that I really don't have to make any contribution at all and those that I go with happily take me down the river..They don't really want me to row anyway. I love that I am going to try and fly fish more this year and hopefully get good. I love stopping on islands and looking for treasure (rocks). I love when I go with the fam and Aunt Tracy has brought along a cooler full of fruit, wraps and drinks. I just really love to float the river. Hello Mr Weatherman......turn up the heat!

hmmmmm

I realize that I live in Montana but when will it get warm. I am freezing today. I mean freezing. Sitting in my office trying to read blogs (important work) and am being distracted by the cold. I am contemplating turning on my personal heater that my boss bought for me last summer because the AC is too cold for me. Spring in MT drives me crazy. On day we are granted the gift of sunshine and warmth only to have it taken away the next day to be replaced by freezing cold rain/snow. Come on Summer................I want to float the river and get a tan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Snow

Waking up to snow at the end of March ROCKS MY SOCKS!! G was just telling me yesterday that we need to take my studded tires off of my car cuz I am wearing out the studs driving around on dry pavement......I just knew that it would snow today because he said that. I think I might wait until the county comes to take down the drift fence in the field. I will take that as my cue. Happy snow day; I mean Wednesday!

Happy Easter and Happy EARLY Bday to me!!

My Birthday has only really fallen on Easter once so far in my life. But when everyone starts to go in their own direction you have to celebrate together when you can. My sister came home for Easter and eventhough it was over a week before myr eal bday I got to celebrate anyway.




A beautiful handmade silk bag from the Drawing Room. Fleece jacket for springtime. I always need a new coat.....right G?? Soap, candles, coffee. My bro gave me a canning kit for the fall. I want to make homemade salsa, jams, and can veggies from the garden.

My most exciting gift is my new Browning BL22. Grif took me to Sportsmans Warehouse on Saturday afternoon and let me pick the gun that I wanted. Very exciting for me. This is my first gun.



We went straight to the range to try it out. I am real tough now!!

Long Term Goal

I almost forgot my more long term goal of working out on a regular basis. G is really helping me with this one also as I am for him. I have had my membership to the Firehall since late January and have been really good about using it. I have not really lost any weight..........frustrating. There was a slight dip a few weeks back but it didn't last. I am telling myself that it is a result of me getting 'big'. Building muscles and getting toned. I am pretty mush all bones and no muscle. I am enjoying it even though the scale is still reading the same number. I feel much healthier and better about myself anyway.

2008 spring/summer/fall goals

I have set some personal goals for myself that I will be working towards through the spring, summer, and fall of this year.

Goal #1:
Be more competent with guns. I don't necessarily need to be ready to take down an animal this fall but I want to feel confident and sure of myself when handling guns. And I want those around me to feel safe when I am armed. I have started by spending last Saturday at the gun range with G shooting 120 rounds with my bros .22. I signed myself up for hunters safety which starts March 31. I realize that I do not have to take this class and will most likely be surrounded by little kids but I will feel much better about handling guns if I take this class. Can't hurt right? I also am feeling like I am ready to own my very own gun. I can't use Keegans forever and if I am making this a goal of mine I need to be able to achieve it on my own. I have been looking and I have a pretty good idea of what I want. I am going to start out with a .22. Can't go wrong there. Gofers..............watch out!!
Goal #2:
While maintaining my immense fear of the river I would like to be a little more brave and get to a place that I trust myself more in the water. The waders and boots are helping with this already.
Goal #3:
I want to be a fly fisher woman. G had agreed to teach me and I asked for the gear from my dear old dad and step mom for my bday. I grew up fishing but not fly fishing. I really can't wait to catch my first fish on a fly rod.

I always welcome the warm weather with open arms but having set these goals for myself has really given me spring fever.
So check in with me and hold me accountable.

WTF

So I am really smart and I think that I left my Ipod at the gym last night in the locker room!! Called the gym, called the place that we ate after the gym, checked my two coats that I was wearing, checked my gym bag (even though I never put it in there) and it is NOWHERE!! I am really sad. How will I manage being at the gym with no distraction from the fact that I am working out?? The most frustrating part for me is that someone had to have taken it from the gym. I was there from 6-7p and they close at 8p. Not many folks there between the time that I left and the time that I called this morning to check if they had found it. Who does that; take something that is very much not theirs?? I will keep you posted.

Really??

My mommy ordered me a yummy bday cake for Sunday.... mmmmmmmm. Can't wait. And how do I know; why is it not a surprise? Because she called me after she ordered it to make sure that all the parts were good picks, she was checking if she should call back and make any changes. Am I really that picky and hard to please?? WOW. Maybe I should work on that and make that one of my goals. Be easier to please. More laid back. I have actually been trying for a while but it must be so imprinted in peoples minds that even when I say anything is fine no one believes me.
ps. My real bday is not until the last day of the month but I get to celebrate early because my sis will be home for Easter this weekend. Which really means that I will get to celebrate my bday twice! Yippee!!

Happy St. Pattys Day

Just realized that it is St Patrick's Day. I am not wearing green, or even red. OOPS. I am however eating a morning cupcake (9am) with green frosting and little shamrock candies on top. I would like to compliment myself on the amazing diet. Better hit the gym tonight!!

Eastern MT...... Blah

Grif and I scheduled ourselves a 3day weekend last weekend so that we could head East to the Terry Badlands in search of the infamous Montana Moss Agate. This is the agate, when cut, can create the picture agate. We read in a Big Sky Journal an article about hunting for agates in the Terry Badlands and surrounding areas of Eastern MT. We decided to check it out.

We stopped on the way in Forsyth and checked out the river access to see what we could find on the gravel bars on the Yellowstone. This is exactly what we do here in the valley. We did find some pretty big pieces of agate. But once we reached the badlands we found..............................

NOTHING!!!!

I mean NOTHING. As the sun went down we found ourselves in GlenDIVE, MT. Great experience. We could not get a room anywhere because of some sports tournament. Well, I take that back. The front desk girl did find us a room at El Centro. The place that was advertising rooms for $29.95 on billboards that we had been mocking as we rolled into town. We were also prepared to set up camp but the only place to set up a tent cost $ and was pretty much in the middle of this shit hole under the river. I did not feel like being killed by the transients who may be living under the bridge so we decided to drive an hour back west and stay in Miles City. But not before we ate dinner. The same front desk girl told us that we hadto go to the Blue Room if we wanted a good meal. 'They have steak and shrimp and stuff' she tells us. Neither of us have ever seen anything so amazing. Lets just say that we were both very grateful that the Blue Room was not our option for a nice place to eat at home. But it was quite the experience. I don't think that either of us will be forgetting that any time soon.

Day 2 we set out for some badlands near Miles City because the rock hounding book that we were using as our guide described large pieces (limbs, trunks, branches) of petrified wood sticking out of the hillsides as well as large beautifully colored agatized petrified wood in the wash beds. We searched all over for hours. Again..............................

NOTHING!

We made our way back to the Forsyth fishing access and checked the river out again and then set our sights on home.

MMMMMMMMMMMMM....Juice box. Fuel for the long ride home. It was very nice to see mountains again. Did I mention that Eastern MT is barren earth.

Monday we enjoyed our day off. Took the 4-wheeler to the shop in Bozo. We got a letter in the mail that there was a recall on an electrical part that sometimes just bursts into flames. Yikes. Needed to get that taken care of. I found myself a great little Carhart hoodie at Murdocks. And they have their chicks. Soon they will be getting the ducklings. We better start cleaning out the duck house so that I can get new baby duckies. Hopefully we can do some renovations to keep them a little more safe from hungry neighbor foxes!!

We also had a nice evening ski. I crashed harder than I ever have before. I told Brooke about it today and hopefully next year she can give me some lessons on the ski hill so that I don't freak out when I start going too fast.

SO GLAD TO BE HOME!

AND

Tomorrow is also my BBBS 'little' sisters bday. She turns 11 tomorrow. She and I went to breakfast today before school at Chadz a local coffee shop. Very cool. Forgot to take any pictures because, well, I had to get up and hour earlier than usual and that would have been too much for me that early in the morning. I could hardly remember her card and charm for her charm bracelet. I forgot it in the car and she had to go back out and get it. (Great big sis huh??) ;) So Happy Birthday to Summer too!!

Happy Bday Bro

Happy 19th Birthday to my little brother Keegan tomorrow. It is crazy for me to think about my little brother turning 19!! He is 7 years younger than I and it is really kind of a joke for me to call him my little brother now. He is at least 6'2" and is by no means little when we stand next to each other. Now he is a 19 year old college student. WOW The nice part is that we have a great time together now which was not so much the case when we were younger so I do love that part.

We got him a SWEET digital video camera for hunting, fishing and just having fun. I am really jealous and want one but I just got my camera for my bday last year so I don't expect I will be getting another. boo Anyway.............Have tons of fun Keeg.

My mom made us all our own little Cornish game hens for dinner and for dessert we had individual blackberry baskets (Keegans Favorite) from a bakery in Bozeman. G and I are going out of town for the weekend so that is why we had dinner last night. Keegan is staying out at the ranch for us on his bday night (how nice of him)........................NO PARTIES

So......Happy Birthday Keegan!!!!!! We love you!!

Jacq & G

(I couldn't get g to look at the camera like a normal person last night for some reason)

Happy Monday

DON'T I LOOK HOT!

Grif took me to Dan Baileys fly shop on Saturday morning to get me some boots and waders to that we can get across parts of the river to other sand bars and islands to look for rocks. If you know me well you know that I am very afraid of the water. Especially the river. I LOVE being on the water but being in the water is a whole different story for me. I have been getting more and more brave. By the end of last summer I even got out chest deep with my family while they swam. But that was really pushing it for me. Anyway, Saturday I didn't quite make it across. The place where we went was just a little too fast for my comfort level. I think G realized that as he lost feeling in his hand as I help onto it for dear life. So we went to a place where I didn't have to cross and just practiced being in the water with the boots and waders. It was not a very nice day and G even got sold so we called it quits for the day.

Brooke and Peter came over for dinner Sat night. It was really great. I think Brooke took some pics so I imagine you will be able to check her page for them. We had a great time. Dinner was really nice and then the boys disappeared upstairs on google earth and Brooke and I got to visit. I am SOOOOO glad that they came out!!!

Sunday morning G got up to go feed the cows before we met my god father for breakfast at Pine Creek. He was in town visiting from Wyoming. Grif was standing in the kitchen and I was still laying in bed when he started yelling at me to get up. He had just watched a MOUNTAIN LION walk across the road about 100 yards from the house in the creek bottom. Before we went to breakfast we went down to investigate. There were obvious tracks going both directions up and down the creek bottom and it had just snowed on Saturday so it was all from the night before. Pretty creepy and awesome at the same time.

After a nice breakfast G had some snuggle time with kitty while we decided what to do with the rest of the day.

We decided to try the river again.....................And I got across!!! WooHoo for me!! We went down to Pine Creek access and it wasn't as fast. Still scary but I made it. G caught fish and we found some great rocks.

We also realized that we were being carefully watched by two Bald Eagles. The sun and blue sky came out enough on and off to keep me from freezing. Great weekend. Can't wait for the next one. Have to get through these days in between first though.

PS. Thank you to those sending your prayers to my cousin. She is doing considerably well and in beginning her long road of recovery.