I Should Count to Ten...

...before writing this. One, two, three, four, screw it.

Of the many, many reasons we love living in rural Montana, an ironic sense of the quaint ranks high. For example, we have high-speed DSL access and it's less expensive than we paid for regular DSL in Seattle, but there isn't a whole lot of local info to access.

We want to attend a Christmas Eve service. Not in the online version of the Daily Interlake newspaper (oh, bastion of reasonable editorial!), not in the Flathead Beacon, not in the Bigfork Eagle is there a calendar listing service times. So, okay, I went to the website of the church we visited last year.

Here's their monthly calendar.














Surprisingly, frustratingly, agnostic-inducingly empty, doncha think?







And they're not alone in having nothing scheduled for Christmas Eve or Christmas. I don't care if they're not up to snuff with flash and animated GIF's and weekly messages from pastor/priest and staff; some content would be helpful. As much as I loved Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean," I don't think a church should take the Isla de Muerta approach, where a service can only be found by those who already know when it is.

Yes, yes, I'll call around tomorrow and find out whose service is when....

In other news, it's gorgeous here, I'm having tremendous fun reading the "What Global Warming?" articles on the web, and feeling quite meteorologically lucky, compared with Spokane, Seattle, the Midwest, the East, etc.

This photo shows two of our five outside trees with lights. There's been no wind here, so the very powdery snow is still in the branches.

I hope to post again tomorrow and Christmas, but if I don't, peace and joy, Merry Christmas, safe travel, and blessings to you and yours. --Bob

A Winter Wonderland

Monique and I are back from Helena and a visit with my cousin Lynn and her family, and Hall with a visit to Monique's parents. A busy, fun weekend.

Along the way we stopped twice for eats, and in the spirit of Christmas, I'll be generous with the first review.

1. Safeway Deli, Polson. Oh my dear good god this was bad. You know the taste when you nibble a piece of synthetic leather utterly devoid of moisture? Warm it up and you got their fried chicken.

2. No Sweat Cafe, Helena. A Hippie hangout, with anti-social tendencies like a no cell phone rule, fair-trade coffee, and other weird stuff. Great food, the service is, shall we say, "casual", and lingering is encouraged. Buncha non fast-food hippies....

3. Muralt's Cafe, I-90 and Exit 96, Missoula. Outstanding. Good food, excellent fries (and I'm not a big fries guy), and friendly service.

Okay, enough with the silliness. Visiting the Bubbs was a blast, and seeing their spastic black lab Scout made it that much more fun. Very much in the "It's a Small World" vein, as we were just about to leave, the couple that occasionally helps clean Lynn & Shawn's house came over, and voila, it was Monique's music director from Flathead High. My dad and his Two Degrees of Separation theory would've loved it.

Hall was wonderful, and the food there is always good :). Not really having gotten into Montana college football too much (either for the Griz or the 'Cats), I was still interested in watching the National Championship game between Montana and Richmond. We all watched, and just like all those actors who don't win the award, "it's an honor just to be nominated." Well, the Griz should be proud they made it to the championship game... literally. Finding the stadium and getting their uniforms on was the high point of the evening. Richmond quickly, decisively, and inarguably destroyed them. It was over way before halftime, and Montana had no idea what was going on.

Unlike Seattle and Spokane, we've gotten moderate snow this weekend. On the left is a shot of steam coming off Flathead Lake, and on the right, our backyard with 7" of snow perched everywhere.

A Season of Plenty

Thanksgiving was, as is usual for the Blazek clan, plentiful. Carla had a dozen people for dinner, and everything was delicious. It was a good trip, and Spokane provided lots of snow!

Monique and I hadn't intended to do much Black Friday shopping, but maybe because we didn't feel pressure to be there right when stores opened, that's why we were out as long as we were. Yes it was nuts, but so am I, so it's a wash.

The lovely family pictured is enjoying a deer block from our local ranch supply store. After putting a couple treats right in front of the house, we decided to move them into the trees so the deer can feel more protected. They have nothing to fear from us (unless they go for buried bulbs and whatnot), but it's a bit disconcerting at night hearing animals pawing and chewing just outside the bedroom window. And since raccoons found and destroyed one of our bird feeders, it's just better to be a little more conscious of our outdoor food supplies.

Decorations are going up, the wood stove is running nearly every day, and this weekend we'll go tree hunting. I'm very nearly done shopping, so it's just down to cards and/or the Christmas/Epiphany/President's Day letter.

Given how little I've blogged about stuff this year, it should be a doozy.

Here's to warmth, love, security, deep sighs of contentment, and the settling in for winter. Peace!

Yesterday

One of the things that amazed me most about the election yesterday was how little we heard about Barack Obama being black. In some circles I'm sure that was the main subject, but not from where I sat. For me, I was impressed how this was about new vs. old, change vs. status quo, anybody vs. President Bush.

Just for grits and shiggles I went to Fox News this morning, and saw two of the comment areas: Why Did John McCain Lose? and Why Did Barack Obama Win?

I went into both, and unfortunately read some incredibly ignorant, frightened, and racist comments. Hopefully Fox has either taken them down, or handed them over to the Secret Service.

A friend on Facebook wrote she was wondering where we go from here. My answer was, I dunno, but a lot of people would have to work VERY hard to do more damage to the country and the world than has been done in the past eight years.

I'm not much of a figurative Kool-Aid drinker (literally, however, I love the stuff), so my expectations for President Obama are realistic. Part of me wants him to use the executive signing statement as much as President Bush has, except to use it within the law and for good purposes. But really, instead of tit for tat, I think America needs a steady hand, an articulate voice, and a less petulant personality in our leader.

As usual, Comedy Central's Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert provided brilliant insight and analysis, while CNN premiered their holographic analyst. That's a head-shaker, that one.

Winter is approaching quickly, the wood pile needs a little more attention, and there are many rocks left to skip before the snow covers them. Now is not the time to just sit back and coast. The bloviators are catching their breath and regrouping, and the Republicans are still stunned. Gotta keep working, people.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is Election Day in the U.S.

I can't comprehend how the presidential candidates sustain their schedules. Recently I was in San Jose for five intense days of meetings, and I was exhausted for two days when I got home. The pace, the demands, the energy required to do what they've done is remarkable.

In 2000, I voted for Nader. Governor Bush's primary campaign against Senator McCain -- really, a foretaste of his presidency -- was nasty, deceitful, and brutally effective. I didn't believe Al Gore best represented my interests, and I thought George Bush was a political aberration.

Senator McCain employs many who got George Bush elected in the anti-Clinton wave, but McCain's caught in a torrent of anti-Bush sentiment. He's been grabbed by a thresher, with blades named Bush, Cheney, Rice, Wolfowitz, Bremer, Perle, Rumsfeld, Rove, Miers, Gonzales, Feith, Ridge, Brown, Chertoff, Ashcroft... (and that's without using The Google!). Even Governor Palin, undoubtedly picked for her uncanny resemblance to President Bush in mentality, philosophy, experience and vocabulary, hasn't seemed to help the McCain campaign much.

Should Barack Obama win, he will not (cannot) save the nation. The debt, the wars, the economy, the culutre of corruption, the propaganda, the unitary executive, the mistrust, the bold and bald admitted lies; these are why George Bush's approval ratings are in the low 20's, and no one can easily or quickly confront (much less overcome) obstacles that large.

But tomorrow morning I'll gladly, proudly vote at the Swan River Elementary School (Go Warriors!). I hope you all do the same, whomever your candidates are.

Oh. Except, don't all show up at Swan River Elementary (Go Warriors!). That wouldn't work.

Ridiculous

Over a month since I last updated this blog? Insanely ridiculous, that. So much going on, such wonderful weather, so much to blab about. Let's start with the super good.

This nasty-looking beast is Scout, the newest member of my cousin Lynn's family. Scout is a black lab, famous for their energy, but she has two boys, Jake and Nicholas, to run her ragged and teach her the ways of the world. The first time I met her, she ran right up and put a couple little puppy piranha teeth into my hand. But dangit she's cute, so it didn't really hurt.

Whenever we next see her, be it next month or next spring, she'll be huge (and, no doubt, just as menacing a cur as she is in this photo).

Now for some sad news. These are a couple lovely apples from one of the trees on the property. It was was right on the river, between my grandma's and aunt and uncle's places. I say "was" because a few weeks ago a beaver got it. I'm bugged threefold: 1) the beavers have been active all year, so I should have seen this coming and could have easily prevented it; 2) of all the apple trees here, this by far produced the biggest and sweetest fruit; 3) I have no desire whatsover to either kill the beavers or see them gone, but when Monique and I found the tree down, I was not pleased with the thoughts of revenge / vengeance that entered my little mind.

All the other apple trees are protected, as are some of the shrubs, which the beaver have started taking en masse. But there are too many to protect, so it's got to be selective. One willow stump I protected this spring has 6' shoots; that one will stay protected.

In the living room, we have a 4'x5' window about 12' off the floor; from the outside, it's about 20' off the ground. It was cracked and had moisture between the panes, so we wanted it replaced. When "The Guy" came over to do it, I helped as I could, but much of it was left to his strength, balance, and confidence of hauling a broken window down a 24' ladder and pushing the replacement up the same ladder. Long story short, it's in, but it was almost a tragedy as Jeremy was very nearly knocked off the ladder as he moved the new window into the frame. I was on a ladder inside the house, watching as the window started backward -- there was nothing I could do. I still shudder at that image. Luckily (and unbelievably) he recovered his balance and somehow kept the window from falling.

Lastly, autumn is fully here. No snow in the Swans yet, but we're hopeful, maybe for the weekend. The turkeys have come back, we have a deer lick out and more hearty bird food in the feeder than just the black oil sunflower seeds.

Peace, and for our American friends who aren't (convicted) felons, please remember to vote next Tuesday.

Really, It's That Time Again?

Yep, really. The first dusting of autumn snow fell on the Swan Range while we were in Arizona, there are piles of bear poo around, the turkeys are back, and we... are... home.

Home from a long, hot weekend in El Mirage, AZ, where theater simple worked their interpersonal magic and interviewed dozens of residents about what they like about their current community, and what they look forward to in the future.

Thanks to everyone's kindness and hospitality, and huge thanks to Maria, Racquel, Mike, and Jan.

Oh, and Monique is home, which is a grand thing. The latest installment of Myth Understandings went well, and Gerda's Journey was a hit. I'm confident this fall's run without Monique will be good, too, 'cause ya can't have her back right away!

We brought Christine, who plays the main character in Gerda's Journey, back to The "Cabin" with us. She was a superb houseguest and had no trouble embracing The Way of The "Cabin" almost immediately.

The first apples were picked and pied, the last of my huckleberries were eaten, and the inaugural game of Apples to Apples was played. We had a blast, and hopefully she'll be back to take more naps here.

It is quiet, it is dark, it is cool, and it is home. Four fundamentally good things. Peace!