The things we do.

Oh, the things women do in MT during the fall to spend a little time with their man. It is very much worth it!

In Good Company

Grif's mom is here visiting for awhile. She is here to look for something to buy in MT. She is keeping an open mind for now in deciding between a home in Livingston and land in Paradise Valley. She arrived a week ago now and will be her until the middle of October. It has been fun to have another woman around the house. It is hunting season and G is gone a lot of the time. We have been having a great time together. We all enjoyed a fabulous meal at the Livingston Bar and Grille, and we have gone house hunting together. Aside from that G has been in the mountains so Brenda and I have taken in a girlie movie (The Women), eaten at fun spots, I have been shoeing her may favorite spots to shop here and we hit the last Farmers Market of the year last night. When G got home from hunting last night and we told him what we had been up to his reply was.........'You are getting to spend more time with my mom than I am'. Not really true because he is on a week of vacation so they see each other during the day between his hunting expeditions. But we are getting plenty of time to bond and get to know each other pretty well. I am really hoping that she can find a place that suites her so that she can spend more time up here. She is super fun and full of energy. It is nice to be in such good company.

MEN

It is starting to feel like the Isaly clan is being over run my males. My cuz Ruby and her man Derrik (Butch) just found out today that their little bun in the oven is a BOY!!! What will it take to get a little GIRL around here?? Just kidding. I couldn't be happier for Ruby and Butch.....But were sure are getting quite a large collection of little BOYZ!

Here Elkie Elkie

I was able to join in all the hunting fun yesterday. I was both excited and not so excited remembering back to last season the one time that I went out and we saw nothing, froze to death and I had to sit under a bush for a long time with out any talking. That is the hardest part for me. The no talking and being sneaky. It seems that I am not so sly in the woods.

Glassing the countryside in my real tree camo pants.

We went to find Elk following a tip off on a spot from my bro. The spot was BEAUTIFUL! We could see 360 views of all of the surrounding mountain ranges and it wasn't too terribly cold. We could see a group of Elk grazing and hanging out in an alfalfa field quite a ways off and knew that those Elk were not going anywhere but Keegan had said that Elk move across the spot where we were every evening to feed on fields that were on the other side of the hill that we were set up on. So we watched the Elk that we could see and waited. Just after the sun went down we were standing around getting ready to go and I started to hear a very faint cow calling. (Elk cow; not mooo cow) Sure enough 20-30 elk started filing over the top of the hillside on their way to eat. They were just under 300 yards away and of course across the boundary onto private land. The cows were talking and the bulls were bugling. VERY EXCITING! I have spent all of my life in MT/WY and aside from seeing herds on hillsides from the road or seeing the Elk in YNP I have never seen Elk being Elk. It was pretty amazing. G called back and forth with them for awhile and just as quickly as they had come they were gone. We stood and talked for a few minutes more and I spotted two satellite bulls just east of us coming up the hillside. I am pretty sure that they spotted us too and changed their direction. The bull is pretty much right in the center of the shot to the right of 2 pine trees.
As we walked back to the truck it was dark out but we had a bright full moon shining down on us so we didn't use flashlights. As we walked we could hear the bulls still bugling. We couldn't see them and they couldn't see us but we could hear them moving.

All in all....totally worth it!

Almost married.

My friend Sarah is getting married one week from today in HAWAII!! I headed over the hill for a little bridal shower/bachlorette party celebration.

Sarah and I post shower/pre party. On our way out. Wendy (Sarah's mom) had a very flattering hat for Sarah to wear.

Wendy, Sarah and Annie at 317.
Paula and I at 317.....self portrait.
Sarah and her mama.


Just me at 317. My drink looks huge....It probably was.

Sarah and I had a slumber party at Wendy and Terry's house because Wendy was wonderful enough to be our driver for the night. It seems I am a lightweight these days as is Sarah and we were not so bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning. But Wendy made us a yummy breakfast and Terry whipped me up an Americano.........Just what I was needing.

Stupid Frost!

So, as you can see. The frost that I awoke to on Monday morning did some significant damage to the tops of my tomato plants. I am hoping that the fruits that are still on the plants will go ahead and ripen even though the top half of all of the plants are dead. Stupid short growing season!

Slowly but Surely

I just sent in my sixth and final home study course exam. Now if I can just get through a semester long online group counseling course and 600 more hours of being an intern I will be eligible to take the licensing exam and be a real life LAC!

BOOO Frost

I am afraid that my garden may have froze last night. It got pretty cold and there was frost on the yard this morning. The garden in really big and I don't really have anything sufficient to cover it. Plus when I saw the weather report a 33 degree low last night I was already tucked into bed. No way was I going to get back up and try to figure out a solution. Yup, I'm lazy.

Fall is in the air. YIPES!

I sure feels as if fall is upon us. We didn't get a very long summer here this year. I am hoping that it will warm up again for a bit and the forecast says that it will but I tend not to count much on the forecast. They don't seem to be all the wonderful at predicting what it is going to do around here.
I made 2 trips to Wyoming to be with my family in the past month. The first time to celebrate how awesome we all are and how much fun we all have together. The second to celebrate a family members life...........A life lived well.
I am slowly chipping away at my home study courses for getting my LAC. I am working on my last of six courses. I also had to really become a student again. blah. I am taking an online course through UNR for the fall semester............Individual and Group Counseling. Can anyone tell my how I will learn to run run groups online? I guess I will find out.
It seems that many of my friends and family are experiencing BIG changes in their lives.....
*Cousin Ruby is prego...Due in March
*Friend Sarah gets married in HI this month
*Friends Ashley & Austin are prego...Due in Nov & engaged....getting married July 09
*Friends Joe & Darcy had sweet Walker a few weeks ago
There are other happenings that I am not sure I am at liberty to disclose just yet.
Fall in MT brings HUNTING SEASON.
My brother's big dream is to become a hunting guide. He got hooked up with an outfitter and went into camp for the first time yesterday up Hell Roaring. Pretty exciting. I hope that he loves it all as much as he thinks that he will.
Tomorrow is opening day for bow season. Which means I have spent evenings scouting and went to sleep watching a video about processing an animal to get into the spirit. Gotta love being a Montana girl this time of year.

Ruby and I climbing down into the Natural Bridge in WYO
The crew at Grams setting out the hike the Natural Bridge

A stop at Jackson Lake for boating on the way back to MT

The caravan crew at Yellowstone Lake on our way to WYO

Look closely......The big bucks are out there.