Big Sky Country

As Kristin and Jon guessed and others may know, I took a vacation to the MT/WY area. I flew into Billings, and Anna and I went down to Red Lodge to get some skiing/snowboarding in for a couple days. We were joined later by Megan and Beth. After the downhill activities were finished, we headed up and over to the Gardiner/Yellowstone area for just under 24 hours. To finish out the trip, we did a quick stay in Big Timber. I DID remember my camera this time, and it was a tough task to pare down the three or four hundred pictures to less than ten for this post.

Small glimpse of the Beartooth Mountains

At Red Lodge ski area

Puma/mountain lion we saw at the Beartooth Nature Center. I thought this was cool because I worked on a project at work for a couple years that was called Puma.

The gang's all there

Elk with antlers still on

Sisterz

Good Yellowstone view

Close encounter of the buffalo kind. NOT at the nature center.

Oh yes, and we mustn't forget the list. Items are not in order of importance. Best things about my vacation to Montana:

1. Spending time with my two sisters
2. Spending time with my cousin/sister in spirit
   
3. Meeting a bunch of great people in Montana. Matthew 19:29 has God's promise to those who leave everything to follow Him. I have experienced the flip side of that also - that those who have been left are given something special too. God is no man's debtor.
4. Having it made real again how interesting older people are. They've seen so much change in their life and have so much wisdom, and many of them are still avidly learning and doing at the age of 80 or 90. My friend Avis has a post that is a great example.
5. Beautiful scenery (Beartooth mountains, Yellowstone, and everywhere in between - even Billings)
6. Some great animal viewing - whether in the wild or captivity. (elk, pumas, bison, bald eagle, deer, owls, bobcats, etc.)
7. Lee, Marlys, Leo, Beulah, Della, George, Cami, Cole, Jake, Emily, Lance, Chuck, Shirley...This is kind of a repeat of #3, but that's OK since it's my list.
8. Fresh snow for snowboarding
9. Taking a dip in the Boiling River
10. No airline flight troubles (Yeah, I was running out of ideas. I lumped too many of them together in the ones above.)
    

Stewin' and Brewin'

I'm back from my most recent vacation. No "official" post yet on that. You know how it works. I need some time to get my thoughts in order and my "list" made. But let me just say that it was a great vacation. To hold you over, I thought I would implement a dare/suggestion I was given to post this picture and let my readers guess the location. The rule is that you must be specific. No generic "in the state of xxxx" type of stuff. Name the landmark I'm near, the mountain or mountain range in the background, or the body of water in the background. I call this work of art "Mel in Boots". It kind of goes with my new quote on the sidebar too.

Bathroom Behavior Observation #8

There are two bathrooms on the floor of the building where I work, and the one that is closest to my desk that I use most frequently has been out of order the last several days. They put up caution tape all across the doorway with a handwritten sign that says "Do Not Use". A second handwritten sign appeared today that said "I repeat, Do Not Use" and was signed by the HR lady for the building, so apparently some people can't read. I suspect someone may have died in there or something.

This means that I have to trek all the way to the other end of the building to use the restroom, and when the cleaning people are cleaning that one, then you have to go to the floor below. My life is so hard. The bonus of the other bathroom is that it has way more signs than the one I usually use. Here's a sample of one of them. It's such a drag that I can't eat my lunch in there like I usually do in the other bathroom....

For Back Seat Drivers Everywhere

My two favorite are Quickish and Ooh!

Steppin'

I was going to be stubborn and wait until I got five comments on my sweepstakes, but I decided there was no point in doing that. If my readers snooze, they lose. People can still comment to get a home made item, but I'm not waiting anymore for you slowpokes.

Recently I've discovered the beauty of the exercise classes at the Y. In October they changed their membership fee/structure. My membership fee increased by a few dollars a month, but I can now attend any of the exercise classes for "free". Around Thanksgiving I happened to wander into the multi-purpose room where they were just starting a class, and I decided to try it out. I didn't want to waste my extra membership fee you know.

To make a long, boring story short, I've gotten into going to this step cardio class after work two days a week. It's an hour long, and you have to be on the ball to keep up. It's a great way make the exercise time fly really fast and way better than plodding along on the stair-stepper or treadmill. I also like the challenge of trying to keep up with the instructor. Speaking of which, I wonder how someone gets into being an aerobics instructor. This lady mentioned once during class that she has done personal training in the past, so maybe that's her in. Still, how do you decide to be a personal trainer? I guess you'd have to really like exercise and working with people. Two nights a week this lady teaches an hour long step class, a half hour abs class, and then an hour long weight lifting/toning class all in a row. One hundred fifty minutes straight, that's a lot.

The only drawback to these classes is that I have to try to curb my workaholic tendencies in order to get to class on time. The great thing about this is that it works better with my schedule. If I want, one day I can do a class at 4:30 PM, and the next day I can do one at 7:00 PM if I want. Now the only thing they need are some classes that start at 8:00 PM.

Homemade

I "won" a homemade gift by leaving one of the first 5 comments on another person's blog, and as a result I'm required to return the favor. The first five people to comment on this post will get something made by me. Offer not valid in Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. Some restrictions may apply. Side effects may include indigestion, anger, or laughter. OK, kidding on that stuff. Anybody from the world can get in on this. I will be a rogue and bend the rules and say that even if you do not have a blog yourself, you can still comment and win a prize. Maybe you'll just have to pick five people in your life to give something homemade to. If you do have a blog, you can't cop out and not do this if you comment. The "official" rules of the sweepstakes are:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year. (might be a little while)
4. You have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be poetry or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may draw or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.
6. The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it! So....who will be the first 5 people?
   

FYI: My favorite rule is #5.... Don't say I didn't warn you.

Charity

You know how women have several charities dedicated to disease fighting/prevention specific to women? Like the American Breast Cancer Foundation or the little red dress symbol for the American Heart Association. Well, what I want to know is, "Where are all the foundations for diseases of men?" Maybe since Viagra was invented they don't need any foundations anymore? They should make a "Pros For Prostates" foundation or something. Maybe women are just more concerned about health and feel like they need to form those charities. Or, maybe men are in charge of most of the general public charities and feel like they're doing their part already.