Ahhhh...it was good. Seeking "Fort Benton" brought about this vid/music...rousing hell raiser tune that always tickles me to hear. Not all the shots are from Montana, but that don't make it a bad thang...*S*
The miles of golden fields surrounding Fort Benton were wonderful to see as I drove home Sunday...the landscape stretches out forever, with nothing but blue sky keeping it down. A lot of people might think it monotonous driving, but it just makes me feel GREAT to be there, alive to see it.
Mostly I listen to my Celtic flavour music on long drives, but I did tune in to a couple clear stations that gave me some Western/country twang. They were playing the hell out of a tune by some gal I don't know...
I was appropriately tired upon arrival home...it's only 325 miles, but there was a lot more traffic as people tried to cram in one last day of summer fun before school and work life beckons. Drivers are being more cautious I think...I know I have slowed down a lot to conserve fuel, and it helps to just dawdle along at 55 or 65 mph...a lot less stressful than keeping the pedal to the metal in the futile attempt to 'get there quicker'. By using the cruise at slower speed I can pull over 400 miles out of one tank of gas...so except for pit stops I never needed to stop for anything at the gas pump.
Weather here has definitely turned autumnal...it rained HARD last night and was chilly this morning. Only 63 F out right now, but it's comfortable enough. I did sleep in comfy lightweight sweats last night though.
Have 3 tomatoes from the barrel planter for salad tonight; won't be many days before I'll have to make a newspaper tent to keep the plant from frost...and there are LOTS of 'matoes still struggling to ripen on the vine. I'm pleased with the tiny harvest.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
Lost Weekend...musing for Monday...
Sometimes days, even entire weekends are pretty forgettable around here. Sundays and Mondays are generally a waste because nothing much goes on and many businesses just shut down. We didn’t go out on Friday, for a change we missed Happy Hour at the local, since I had something planned for dinner.
Saturday we got an earlier start as it was Pinehurst Days AND the Comancheros Car Show, which is always a pleasant experience for Himself. In my case not quite so much enthusiasm, but I needed to return an item to the Thrift store we like to shop and it was a big sale day for them, with tourists and locals alike out for a day of dawdle-gawking at the 150+ vintage/restored/custom cars lining every available space in the village. The weather was perfect…hot, cloudless, just breezy enough to navigate through the moderate crowd in comfort.
While Himself browsed the cars, I went shopping and picked up a few good deals. After finding him we packed my haul in the trunk and meandered around until I got tired and thirsty and we headed to the old locals…to barhop a bit before the drag races and burnout, scheduled for later in the afternoon.
At the King’s Inn we ran into friend Jackie and her husband, who had some things saved up for us at her house across the way in Kingston proper, so we agreed to go over to Tor’s where I would stay and socialize while Himself went to the noisy, crowded finale to the car show. I can’t sit still in the sun for that kind of racket, even on my best days. Air conditioned bars are my venue.
Jackie brought me a sackful of excess nebulizer solution that was piling up at her house. There are several of us who use it, and a kind of network of sharing has developed because some of us have to pay for it, while others get the cartons of it free.
As we chatted the afternoon away I learned that Jackie and her man had divorced, some years ago in fact…to facilitate his considerable medical care expenses. I’ve been aware that this practice of divorce has become more common for elders at wit’s end how to survive the American health care fiasco, but DAMN…that doesn’t make it right.
Now we are personally acquainted with four couples in long-term relationships (a combined total of 110 years!) whose marriages have been set asunder solely to survive this bullshit economic crisis. Educated, hard working couples whose only mistake was getting ill BEFORE becoming millionaires, and not dying straightaway as a result; what’s up with that?
Jackie told me they were so stupid about what was happening to them they panicked and hired a lawyer to handle the divorce procedure, costing them $600, back in the day when that was REAL money to most people. They were unaware of the divorce-kits available to the savvy DIY folk at the time. My self employed, logger brother-in-law and his wife used that cheaper option, and at the time even that lesser expense was a hardship on them. Now the BIL is unable to work, as his former wife requires constant attendance for dialysis. Her care has cost well in excess of a million, but her health regime is state dictated.
Another couple we know divorced so the wife could get cancer treatment. The husband went to work in the Nevada mines, they sold their home, and he moved on, while she bought a manufactured home in a cheaper neighborhood. Fortunately she had widow’s benefits from her first husband, or she’d be a bag lady today.
I don’t know of any other solution to this bizarre phenomenon. I just think it really stinks. I’ve never particularly been crazy about matrimony, even though I’ve been married continuously (to one man or another) for 52 years. The idea of HAVING to go single to survive is abhorrent.
A marriage license means absolutely nothing, except to prove you once thought you could afford it. How many couples frame and display the thing? Mine is filed under Legal…along with my passport! Has anybody ever filed it under Assets? Pffft.
Welcome to the Golden Years Pool kids…the water’s frigid and shocking, but as more people jump in the chill might become bearable, IF you’re wearing a money belt.
End of rant for Monday.
Ruminating has depressed me so much I've booked a room in Fort Benton for three days, later this month. There's more than one way to get over disturbing thoughts...I just wish I had disposable capital to indulge in my escapism. Yeehawwww...goin' to Montany.....hot damn.
Meanwhile the wee Mister emailed me HIS latest flight of fancy... hmmm
Saturday we got an earlier start as it was Pinehurst Days AND the Comancheros Car Show, which is always a pleasant experience for Himself. In my case not quite so much enthusiasm, but I needed to return an item to the Thrift store we like to shop and it was a big sale day for them, with tourists and locals alike out for a day of dawdle-gawking at the 150+ vintage/restored/custom cars lining every available space in the village. The weather was perfect…hot, cloudless, just breezy enough to navigate through the moderate crowd in comfort.
While Himself browsed the cars, I went shopping and picked up a few good deals. After finding him we packed my haul in the trunk and meandered around until I got tired and thirsty and we headed to the old locals…to barhop a bit before the drag races and burnout, scheduled for later in the afternoon.
At the King’s Inn we ran into friend Jackie and her husband, who had some things saved up for us at her house across the way in Kingston proper, so we agreed to go over to Tor’s where I would stay and socialize while Himself went to the noisy, crowded finale to the car show. I can’t sit still in the sun for that kind of racket, even on my best days. Air conditioned bars are my venue.
Jackie brought me a sackful of excess nebulizer solution that was piling up at her house. There are several of us who use it, and a kind of network of sharing has developed because some of us have to pay for it, while others get the cartons of it free.
As we chatted the afternoon away I learned that Jackie and her man had divorced, some years ago in fact…to facilitate his considerable medical care expenses. I’ve been aware that this practice of divorce has become more common for elders at wit’s end how to survive the American health care fiasco, but DAMN…that doesn’t make it right.
Now we are personally acquainted with four couples in long-term relationships (a combined total of 110 years!) whose marriages have been set asunder solely to survive this bullshit economic crisis. Educated, hard working couples whose only mistake was getting ill BEFORE becoming millionaires, and not dying straightaway as a result; what’s up with that?
Jackie told me they were so stupid about what was happening to them they panicked and hired a lawyer to handle the divorce procedure, costing them $600, back in the day when that was REAL money to most people. They were unaware of the divorce-kits available to the savvy DIY folk at the time. My self employed, logger brother-in-law and his wife used that cheaper option, and at the time even that lesser expense was a hardship on them. Now the BIL is unable to work, as his former wife requires constant attendance for dialysis. Her care has cost well in excess of a million, but her health regime is state dictated.
Another couple we know divorced so the wife could get cancer treatment. The husband went to work in the Nevada mines, they sold their home, and he moved on, while she bought a manufactured home in a cheaper neighborhood. Fortunately she had widow’s benefits from her first husband, or she’d be a bag lady today.
I don’t know of any other solution to this bizarre phenomenon. I just think it really stinks. I’ve never particularly been crazy about matrimony, even though I’ve been married continuously (to one man or another) for 52 years. The idea of HAVING to go single to survive is abhorrent.
A marriage license means absolutely nothing, except to prove you once thought you could afford it. How many couples frame and display the thing? Mine is filed under Legal…along with my passport! Has anybody ever filed it under Assets? Pffft.
Welcome to the Golden Years Pool kids…the water’s frigid and shocking, but as more people jump in the chill might become bearable, IF you’re wearing a money belt.
End of rant for Monday.
Ruminating has depressed me so much I've booked a room in Fort Benton for three days, later this month. There's more than one way to get over disturbing thoughts...I just wish I had disposable capital to indulge in my escapism. Yeehawwww...goin' to Montany.....hot damn.
Meanwhile the wee Mister emailed me HIS latest flight of fancy... hmmm
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Pinehurst Days...Comancheros Car Show
It was a gorgeous day for car buffs in the wee village of Pinehurst, in the heart of the Silver Valley of Idaho. Hundreds of carefully restored cars and thousands of people, strolling up and down the main thoroughfare in admiration.
Old cars, new cars, buffed and polished for the show. Lemonade and Italian ice vendors did a brisk business as the heat of our dog day afternoon radiated from the pavement.This lovely reminder of yesteryear led a small parade of
Studebakers on a cruise through town, steered proudly by an elegant, silver-haired woman. She looked grand, and her beautiful car purred like a pampered cat.SMOOTH!
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