Today was one of those rare days where neither of us had to be anywhere, turn anything in, complete anything or fix something. It was very relaxing.
We took our dog for a walk. In spite of her age she still likes to run.
We did a little cleaning and hauled our pile of newspapers and catalogs to recycling.
We closed out the evening with a concert,
http://drumbrothers.com/groups.htm#bros

We lost a little friend today. Lady, the one on the left, didn't wake up this morning. Missy and Lady are from the same litter, I am sure Missy will miss her too. We have had them for about 15 years.

I'm all thumbs, really, I have all these thumbs. Six of them, and they didn't fit!, bummer.

I made mittens in January, starting with the thumbs. Each thumb is 3 pieces sewn together then made waterproof with an iron on seam tape.
Shown here is an inside out thumb pulled over a mini ironing form. I am applying the tape with a small iron. That thumb is then sewn into the palm of a mitten, but not these, I sewed them with a seam that was 3/8 and they were supposed to be sewn with 3/16 inch. That made each thumb 3/4 inch too small when it was complete. Back to the cutting table.

This is the little fellow who got in the car tonight after singing practice.

I had put my tote bag and purse on the floor and he jumped right in. He didn't want to get back out. So naturally, the first thing I did was take photos!!

He was probablly looking for food, he was not at all afraid of me. He went from the front to the back seat of the car, but would not go out either door.

I tried to push him out with a pillow, He grabbed it, so I tried to coax him out with it, he didn't come.

He stepped on my tote bag and my pitch pipe went off and that scared him and he jumped out of the car. When my friends came out we were very careful not to let him back in, he was still close by.

The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle is a children's board book with a flashy last page. There are 8 tiny light bulbs embedded in the back cover that turn on and blink when that page is opened. The illustration on that page is of 8 fireflies with the lights in their abdomens.
The switch for the bulbs is a plastic strip connected to the 3rd to last page; it goes through the next to last page and slides under the last page to operate the lights. This switch quit sliding back into place and left the lights on when the book was closed running down the little batteries.
My friend at the library asked me to fix it.
I pulled the back cover off revealing that the slit in the page for the sliding strip was torn just a little. This gave just enough slack for the strip to bend backward and not turn off the lights. I cut thin strips of plastic tape and repaired the edges of the slit, glued the cover back on and the fireflies now light up when they are supposed to and sleep when the book is shut.

We sang today at the Buffalo Bill Museum and then sat with Santa for a photo. The group has changed a bit from last year.

We are still doing fun songs and having a great time singing.

I came across a comment that we only have one word for snow. One of C.J, Box's books, Winterkill, I think, debates that and gives a list of words. The ones I remember are powder and slush. Anyone have other words that we use for the mantle of white?
I can think of many adjectives, drifting, blinding, gentle, sparkling, deep. I have driven in a whiteout that was probably a blizzard and shoveled 3 or 4 inches of what the weatherman called partly cloudy.

Whistle While You Work

I heard a new term tonight, "aggressively friendly". It seems our local hospital is taking the Disney approach to quality health care and going out of their way to be friendly.
I have been visiting friends in the hospital the last few days and have noticed that the staff seem on the alert for ways to make you comfortable.

The Disney institute is spreading the magic with seminars and showing the health and hospitality industry how to be more hospitable, "Be our guest! Be our guest! Put our service to the test." Their 4 elements of good service would improve nearly any organization.

Quoting an interview on Line Zine " One example is our program called Take Five in which cast members take five minutes out of their day to proactively do something special for a guest. We call it being aggressively friendly. Our cast members look for opportunities for magic moments—those little things that happen for guests that are utter surprises. For example, a housekeeper in one of our resort hotels discovered that a guest was not feeling well so she took the time to get chicken soup from a resort restaurant and bring it back to the guest.

As Mickey would say, "That sure is swell!"

Friday night we were invited to dinner and the ballet. The St Petersburg Classic Ballet Theater performed in Cody. They were fantastic!
Saturday was an all day coaching session for Yellowstone Harmony. Sherry Feller was a delight to work with. We are selecting songs that we will take to contest in the Spring.

We have been reading a series of books written by C.J. Box. His books are set in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming and have a very distinct Wyoming flavor. I am now reading Trophy Hunt and Johnny is on Winterkill.
These are mystery books with the main character being a game warden.

The Book Query
A book that changed my life, besides the Bible:
Spilt Grape Juice and 12 Steps for the Recovering Pharisee

A book I have read more than once, besides the Harry Potter series:
The Far Arena A wonderful novel about life in Ancient Rome

A book I would take with me if I were stuck on a desert island:
My best answer would be an inflatable book, so I Googled that and found this. Not only is there a book, there is a treasure map for the island!

A book that made me laugh:
I Stink by Kate and Jim McMullan. A board book with fragrant presentation of the alphabet

A book that made me cry:
I cry at Hallmark commercials! So pretty much anything that involves tragedy/romance
Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Anne Burns would probably fit nicely here. It was recommended by my mother-in-law several years ago. She said it was a pretty good discription of what southern life was like when she grew up.

A book that I wish had been written:


A book that I wish had never been written:
Joseph Smith's book

A book that I have been meaning to read:
Blue Like Jazz, I am at least half way through this one and like it, I just got bogged down and didn't finish it.

I am currently reading:
Open Season by C.J. Box. (just finished this one) He is a Wyoming author with an award winning first book, I checked out his second book today.
Childrens Writers & Illustrators Market 2007

And the Ladies of the Club needs some sort of category of its own. It was a wonderful book written by a woman in her late 80's.

Rain!!

We had almost an inch of rain this week. That is a fourth of what we have had all year according to the national weather service. That means there is snow in the mountains surrounding us.

Crowded!!

We have 3 couches, 3 love seats, and 3 chairs and a few sets of miscellaneous cushions in the shop. I had a very busy month. The college brought in several pieces of weight room equipment to be recovered and the hospital is bringing exam tables. Repairs for the furniture store are coming in steadily and they are opening a new store, so there will be even more.

Party!!

Yellowstone Harmony celebrated last week. We unveiled our new Sweet Adelines charter by hosting a party. There was food and singing. Howard and Joanne introduced us to new tags.

The inconsistent blogger returns.

My car and sunglasses have been restored to their rightful place, they came back with a whopping bill for replaced seals and a timing belt.

I am 8 lessons into a 12 lesson writing for children class, hoping to learn how to publish a manuscript.

Johnny blogged about our Labor Day drive. We hiked along the Clark's Fork of the Yellowstone River. There is a place where the river has sculpted the granite into sleek curves. Our friend is peering into a round hole that tunnels all the way through the rock.
The hole reminds me of looking into someone's ear!

There is a wonderfully serene waterfall above the rocks. It is a small waterfall that you can step across at the top. In the bushes above the cascade there are delicate spider webs.


This month at work, I am covering workout equipment from the local college and exam tables from the hospital.

Last week I called up an old skill and helped a friend pack all of her dishes, crystal, and glassware. Today we moved it and carried several boxes up 13 stairs. Whew!!

I miss my sunglasses. They are in the little swing-out holder in my car.
I miss my car, too. It is in the shop getting fixed. The day after the long trip my car leaked its oil out in the driveway.
I am thankful this didn't happen on the trip to Estes Park.
Estes Park was wonderful, The Region 8 Sweet Adelines had their big workshop there.
Nine of us from Yellowstone Harmony went to the workshop and had a great time learning from 3 fabulous coaches.
I left for Estes the same day Jason and Christa started home.
Jason and Christa had been here for about a week. We hiked down to Porcupine Falls with them and their dog, Sinapaw.
Earlier in the week Jason and Christa went with Johnny, Cody and Tina on a rafting trip while Griffin and I joined Mark and Nancy in the children's park in Cody.
Griffin had come to see us and Uncle J and Auntie C. Cody and Tina brought him from Colorado. They also brought Blake's motorcycle for Johnny and their dog, Cade.
I saw Griffin again in Estes Park, he came for dinner with his parents and little brother Adam to visit for a couple hours.
We have had a teriffic time with family and friends lately.

Performing in Billings
The performance went quite well. We sang for the biggest audience we have ever had. We all tried not to have that deer-in-the-headlights look when the coordinator said there would be about 1000 people sitting in the grass. It was an outdoor concert, a beautiful evening and the crowd was terrific. Our program flowed smoothly and the sound system was awesome.

We had a fun time together even though we were squeezed into the car for an hour and a half each way. Driving home I saw a deer, a coyote, and several rabbits, on the highway as well as a very big bird that gained altitude in the nick of time. Fortunately we slowed down and missed all of them, a few mice however were road kill.

We have a new photo, a new baritone and a new paid gig. Thursday afternoon we will be traveling to the big city to sing a 45 minute program, opening for another more well-known group.

Salsa

We have a new friend, his passion is dance. He is teaching a community education class here.

That class is full, with a waiting list, but he told us he would teach us to dance privately. Saturday afternoon we went with our friends Max and Nancy to the dance studio and learned the basic Salsa steps.

I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks!!

We rode the Powell bike path yesterday. It heads north on Absoroka, turns east on Lane 8 then follows the cannel back to 7th street. It is a firm wide path.
Last night we had a cook-out and volleyball in the church yard, then the kids shot fireworks in the parking lot. From there we had a terrific view of the city display.

Left over coffee, a scoop of ice cream and a couple squirts of chocolate syrup in a tall glass with a little milk is a wonderfully refreshing concoction.

Make over

When these booths came to us a couple weeks ago they were blue with the back inset Burgundy. They are now ready to go into a new place in Powell, Joey's.

There are 3 double booths and 2 singles. I finished the last one this afternoon. While I was doing booths, Sandi has been working on tall chairs.

Monday, Boone, the owner of Joey's is coming to pick up the booths and chairs and bring us 20 more chairs. Both of us will be working on those chairs. Boone plans to open Joey's June 30th.