House Warming Gift

My Friend Patricia gave us this rug as a house warming gift.

It fits just perfect in front of the fireplace.

We think it is an elk hide, Patricia's Dad thought it might be reindeer.

Either way it looks really good.  Thanks Patricia

Sunday Drive- Oct 9th

Dave and I wanted to go for a drive and see the fall colors.  More specifically we wanted to see the Tamarack (Larch) trees.  We figured that since the larch trees on the Bitterroot Mtns were starting to turn yellow, that they should be in good color up near Sealy Lake.  Well not so much.  In fact they weren't turning color at all.  But it was a nice day for a ride and we had lunch at Sealy Lake in the Littlebird restaurant.

These 2 pictures were taken between Sealy Lake and Swan Valley.

We also stopped in Big Fork, but they close up the town at 1700 on Sunday and since we got there a little after 1600 we didn't spend much time there.

Flat Head Lake below.  We drove back home on the East side of the lake.

After we got back to Lolo, we stopped to have dinner at the Lolo Steak House.  It is the best steakhouse.  I love how they cook the steaks over wood.  So good.

September 28th

I am taking a class called Leadership Bitterroot. 

On Sept 28th, our class went on a tour of the St. Mary's mission located in Stevensville. Stevensville is the first establishment/city in Montana.  It started out as a mission for the Indians.  The Salish Indians actually wanted the priests to teach them.

Father Ravali 's cabin can be seen in the picture above to the right of the church.  Father Ravali was a very inventive and creative person.  When he got older and was unable to go visit sick patients, he had a walk up window put in his cabin to administer drugs and medications.

He was also a carpenter making most of the furniture. He also did most of the architectural carving in the chapel.

Below is the inside of Father Ravali's house.  He made most of the furniture in this room.

They have rein-actors at the mission

The Daly Mansion was another place that we toured that day.

I love the kitchen.  The old stove is so big.

 This was one side of the ice box refrigerators that are side by side in the house.

Both were as large as walk in closets.  One side was for storing meat and fish and the other side stored the dairy and other items.  The ice was placed above in a compartment that was accessible from the outside.

Pretty fancy for it's day.

Mrs Daly's headboard of her bed.  Her bed was made from burled wood.

The front fence had some interesting ironwork so I thought I would take a picture as I was leaving the grounds. 

Bagpipes

Todd is the public affairs person for the Bitterroot Forest.

He is also part of the Forest Service Honor Guard.

He was practicing for a presentation that was coming up.

Sunrise or Sunset?

I took these pictures on Sept 10th.  The question is... Sunrise or sunset?

Because of all the smoke that we had from the fires it was hard to tell if it was morning or evening except for where the sun was located.

The smoke was pretty bad for over a month, but it made for colorful sunrises and sunsets.

Saturday Morning-Oct 8th

The view from our front yard Saturday morning.

As we were leaving to go to the farmers market Saturday, I had to stop and take this picture. 

The morning fog is still lingering behind the trees.

FIrst Friday- Scarecrow Contest

The first Friday of every month, the local towns have activities and the shops stay open longer.

October's First Friday in Stevensville was the Scarecrow Contest.

Dave and I went to Stevensville for dinner at the Blacksmith Brewery (BB) and met our friend Shari.

On Fridays BB has BBQ catered by Longhorn BBQ. Besides brewing beer, they also have homemade root beer.  It is really good.  It reminds me of the root beer my family used to make.

After dinner we walked down the street to see the scarecrows.

It was a brisk evening.  Fall was definitely in the air.

The scarecrows were set out along the road on the way into town.

 

 

 

The one below was called "Monsters like Girl Scout Cookies too"

One of my favorites,

The scarecrow below was called Matilda. 

Shari enjoying her hot chocolate

The one below was sponsored by the Forest Service, Stevensville District

It was called "Trout Wrangler" 

 

Another one of my favorites is the one below.

It is called "Pooh in the Garden".  It was sponsored by the Stevensville Garden Club. 

After we looked at all the scarecrows, we got to vote on 3 that we liked. 

There were about 30 scarecrows.  All were pretty fun. 

Riding the Hiawatha Bike Trail- 2nd time

October 1st, 2011

East Portal-the beginning of the ride.

The first tunnel in the back (tunnel 21 is 1.7 miles long)

This time I went riding with my friend Shari.

She had not done this ride before and this was the last weekend of the season that the shuttle buses are running.

 It was a little hazy from the prescribed fires in the area.

 Below the Kiosk that explains the grave is of a Gandy Dancer. 

 It is always kinda freaky to look down from the tressels.  Especially this one that is so high up.

The trees from this perspective look sureal.

  Some of the flowers this time of year include the purple asters and some white daisies.
edited later-Apparently these purple flowers are spotted knapweed, a noxious weed

The Indian Paintbrush was really vibrant

edited later-the ohter flower/seed plant is Queen Anne's lace

I'm not sure what the cute purple flowers below are.

edited later-I was told that they are in the mint family

A previous tressel in the back.

 The end of the Trail at Pearson waiting for the shuttle ride back to the top.

 It was a fun ride and a great day.

More SEAT Base Pics

The Hamilton SEAT base was closed down for the season Friday Sept 30th. 

A record season for retardant out of Hamilton.

Below is Robbie, SEAT manager from Denver.

 Andrew O'Neil- the Fuel/retardant loader for T-487, was nicknamed "Ranger Boy" by (Dale- the water tender operator).

Jackie Johnson- SEAT Pilot (T-487)

Russ (T-847) and Jeff Tidwell (T-432) They were ordered from Ronan, MT.

Joey Wimmple- He is "Awesome"

A different view of the SEAT loading operation.