August 2010

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Fair 2009

This was our last year to have someone in 4-H. It was will be remembered as the most unusual year. As fair ended the previous year, Glenn had decided to go all out with his market hog project. He made arrangements to buy 2 excellent pigs. We picked up the first one early in April and the second a few weeks later. (The first one just happened to have a perfect curly tail, so Glenn named it 'Curly' and 'Larry' was the next logical name.) Well, within 2 weeks the first one died - we have no idea why. Since pigs grow better in pairs, we bought a 'buddy pig' and he was named 'Moe'. Larry had a great disposition and was easy to work. Moe had big floppy ears and loved to turn around in circles when he was let out of the pen to exercise. Fair came around soon enough. For the last time of loading the pigs ever, it was quite traumatic and Larry was quite upset, squealing and breathing heavily. Within minutes of unloading at the pig barn in Deer Lodge, Larry was dead! Glenn experienced a wide variety of emotions - mostly disappointment, as he was left to show Moe. After years of showing well, red ribbons were hard to realize.
It's a good thing that Glenn had other projects that had positive results. He did very well with his woodworking project. His photography enlargement was considered for Cream of the Crop. Glenn and Moe

Showing for the last time. Moe was running all around the ring - not a good thing.


One of the fun past times at fair

Being awarded Reserve Herdsmanship.

Continuing the Catch Up - Glenn's birthday

This year Glenn's birthday was a little unusual. To start with, he had been working in Lemhi, Idaho building fence on the ranch that Wes manages and lived with Allison and Brayden. So it was his first birthday away from home. We had just returned from our trip to London and weren't able to travel to celebrate with him for a couple of days. Glenn had requested cheesecake with triple berry topping in place of traditional birthday cake and ice cream. When it was time to light the candles, the matches were hiding. SOOO....Brayden solved our problem in a big way - with a propane torch!! (normally used for soldering)









Sunday, September 20, 2009

The Law of the Harvest - As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap!

We have loved growing our garden and other yard projects this summer. I posted earlier when we began and now want to update our progress. This shows onions, beans, peppers, zucchini, and cucumbers. The zukes took a hit from the frost and we weren't too worried as we needed them to slow down a little in production.

We are so excited over our corn and potatoes! The corn is almost as tall as I am.


Peppers!


Tomatoes!

We had a garden lunch today! Our menu included potatoes, zucchini, onions, peppers, cucumber, cherry tomatoes and CORN ON THE COB! Plus ham from the pig we raised with Glenn. Such satisfaction - both in accomplishment and taste!!
A hill of potatoes along with, corn, cucumber and a zuke.

Our Patriotic Petunias


As our grandson Ethan would say, we planted our 'grass garden' Saturday. We have much more to do, but here is another start. Notice our completed steps.
Grass seeds!











Friday, September 18, 2009

London Chapter 3 - From a Tourist's View

It has been almost 2 months since we returned from our trip to London. It has been a very busy time with little time to detail the the last chapter of our visit - London as a tourist. We were digesting history from a thousand years ago. We couldn't take it in fast enough! Since we had only one day we had to move along, sometimes before we were really ready. But we knew that we were going to miss so much any way and dawdling would only make it worse. It was great to have Amber as our tour guide as she had already been to all of these sites. This is Amber in front of her flat. I don't know why they call them flats as it is anything but flat! Her bedroom was on the top floor so she was the 'princess in the tower'!




Harry Potter, The Half Blood Prince was just out on the screen and so to honor that book and movie, we had our picture at the King's Cross Station. We would have loved to go to the movies while there but, had too many other choices and it was a lower priority.




Dinner our first night was Chinese Dim Sum. It was something that Scott had loved while on his mission in Hong Kong. It had been since our cattle showing days in San Fransisco 20ish years ago that we had enjoyed this treat. Our favorite was the BBQ Pork Buns in the right hand bottom corner. We loved the time visiting with Amber.


The tube! What an experience! We were so thankful that Amber knew how to navigate public transportation. We enjoyed 'people watching' while traveling. Amber thought we were pretty fun to watch as we were doing this. It was so interesting. There is such a diversity in nationalities.



'The Old Curiosity Shop' immortalized by Charles Dickens in his writing survived the London fire of 1666. It was near the LSE campus.



Tower of London - such an intriguing place. I could have spent a whole day there so that I could read every information plaque and gone on the same tour several times! So much history. I was amazed at the building materials and engineering - some had lasted 1000 years.



A river tour on the River Thames.



Graduation Day dinner at 'The Blueprint Cafe' on the River Thames. We enjoyed pickled walnuts and Creme Brulee. The food was awesome as was the view of the river and city. On one side was the Tower of London and Tower Bridge and other historical sites and on the other was the very modern business district of London. While we were eating, a rain storm came through and we enjoyed the lightning display.



The London theater experience has its own unique. We wanted to see Les Mis, Lion King or Phantom of the Opera, but tickets were unavailable for the night that we were able to go. We did enjoy '39 Steps', a take off of an Alfred Hitchcock story, that had only 4 actors.



A picture in front of the Drummonds Bank Building!



London phone booths!



The London Eye - a ferris wheel of sorts that rotates every half hour to give a panoramic view of the city. You could see it from all over the city making quite a contrast to the old architecture.




Big Ben - We learned that Big Ben is the bell in the tower not the clock! It is another site that is visible from many places in the city.




Westminster Abbey - what an incredible building. Compare the people walking on the sidewalk to its size. Another place where the engineering accomplishments of 1000 years ago are amazing.





Buckingham Palace - Another huge building. The gates were massive. Sadly the queen didn't come out to greet us!



At the end of the day our treat was gelato! It tasted heavenly. I could get used to a taste of that each day. For the fun of it, I had worn a pedometer to keep track of how many steps I walked - 24,010! We were tired but thoroughly enjoyed the day.