Powell, WY

Bob went to work each day this week.  He is taking tomorrow off because a couple of real estate agents want to show the house and he has to meet his attorney.

Today we put Buddy in the garage with his bed, a bowl of water, and the fan blowing on his bed.  We had to do this because another agent wanted to show the house.

While busily working on voter registrations today I looked up and saw Chris Gunn going down the hall in the courthouse.  He waved at me.  Later he came in and invited Bob and me over to their house in the Willwood to view the drawings Laura has created and talk about options and costs for the house. 

The maintenance representative from ES&S, Kirsten, was in the office, and later the jail, today to do PMS on all of the voting machines.  She will be working tomorrow too.

Strange day.  A School Board 6 candidate came in and just would not stop talking.  He talked about education, fishing, flying, rocks, geology, biology, etc, etc.  It went on for over an hour.  Could not get rid of him.  Later, "Old Eric", Eric Romango, the Eric that Molly fired before I was hired came in.  He didn't have anything good to say about Molly.  It's hard to know who is telling the truth because Molly told us some doozies about Eric too.

I am starting to pick ripening tomatoes from my plants.  The first few are all split, but the later ones should be very nice.  They taste very sweet! 

Yesterday we got a big box of Utah peaches.  I am going to skin these, slice them, pit them, and put them into ziploc bags for freezing.

Jerri will be going to the county commissioners on Tuesday to ask that she be allowed to hire Teecee and me on permanently year-round.  This would bring a raise to $13.64 per hour plus benefits.  We will see what happens.

Powell, WY

On Saturday we got breakfast at Pepe's.  Later we picked up our basket of vegetables at Bountiful Baskets.  Bob also bought 40 pounds of tomatoes.  In the afternoon we went to Cody so that I could work on a few election-related things while Bob went to Wal*Mart.

On Sunday I canned 40 pounds of tomatoes.  I cored them, and lowered them into a pot of boiling water for one or two minutes and then dumped them into the sink full of cold water.   This loosened the skins.  Then I peeled the skins off, split them with my fingers, and dropped them into hot quart jars steaming out of the dish washer.

40 pounds of tomatoes filled 21 quart jars, plus 6 pints of stewed tomatoes with peppers, onions, and celery were made.  Today I removed the rings, cleaned the jars, dated the lids, and put them up on a shelf.

Bob went to work with me in Cody today.  He worked for Barbara Atkinson on the clerk side today.  He mostly scanned in car titles and liens.  I began "beeping" in all of the voters who came out last Tuesday  to vote.  I did this by scanning the bar code next to their name in the poll book.

I am still tired from last week and my back still hurts.  I am going to have to take a genuine weekend soon.

Canvassing Board

This morning we hosted the 2012 Park County Primary Election Canvassing Board.  This board consisted of Paul Sibley (R), Dawn Decot (D), and Jerri Torczen.  Mike Demoney presented the polling materials and Tami Keehn took the minutes.  The canvass took about four hours and it was concluded successfully.

The rest of the day was spent processing a petition filed by an independent candidate to appear on the ballot for county commissioner.  By the end of the day I had 19 of the 28 pages processed.

Jerri asked me if Bob could come in for several days next week to help the clerk side catch up.  Barbara wants Bob to scan titles and other documents into the iDoc program.

I am still beat.  Perhaps I can sleep in tomorrow morning and start getting my sleep caught back up.

Front Page News

On the front page of the Powell Tribune was a photo of Carol Bednarz, Me, Jerri Torczon, Keri Smith, and Mike Demoney on Election Night in the courthouse.  This was a nice surprise!

I am just glad CJ did not use the shot of me making rabbit ears behind Jerri with my fingers!

Mirabilis

To read more about Molly's resignation click here.  What a way to commit career suicide!

We had to scramble to bring everything we needed together to make the election work, but it looks like we got a miracle.

My red PC Elections shirt.

Yesterday we had our Primary Election.  We got a quick breakfast at McDonald's and then headed over to the polls to open up and get started.  I was wearing my red Park County Elections Staff shirt with black slacks.  Keri Smith, from the Clerk's office was there and she was dressed the same way.

I went in to face a barrage of complaints, "There is no table to put my crock pot on!"... "We need a table and chairs for old people to sit down and vote."... "We need a Head Table in the next building too!" 
Then I had a few problems with the equipment - the M100 Ballot Tabulating Machine for Precinct 9-1 would not start up.  It had an error message that said, "Error reading Election Definition on Module C, Line 3684".  Great.  From reading the manual the night before, I knew "election definition" meant the PCMCIA computer card that held the election for that precinct.

I quickly dialed Teecee on the Trak phone assigned to me and let her know about the situation.  They told me that they were sending Karen from our office up to Powell with the duplicate card.  We put Precinct 9-1 into operation using the Emergency Ballot Bin for the time being.

Next I heard that Precinct 6-1 in Garland had opened their ballot box to discover that they had zero Republican ballots!  Oh no!  Did I mess this up?  After all, I loaded all of the ballots into the ballot boxes.  Later the ballots were found.  Teecee told me to guess where they were found..."Uhh.. I dunno.. did 4-1 in the Southfork find them?"  She replied, "Nooo!  We found them in Molly's desk drawer!"  Oh man!

Karen arrived with the spare election card.  We put the replacement card into the M100 and turned that ballot scanner to service.  The election judges took the five ballots out of the emergency bin and quickly were caught back up.

Soon everything settled down and then I realized it - we are running an election!  Voters were coming in, being processed, marking their ballots, and voting.  Finally a breather.

I got into the truck and drove out to Ralston to visit Precinct 21-1 at The Mountain View Club.  Judy Braten was the Head Judge here.  I dropped off a poll book update and left her with my phone number.  Then I got back into the truck and made a run to Clark to visit Precinct 1-1 at The Pioneer Rec Center.

Bob next to the Pct. 10-1 M100 ballot.

Susan Hoffert is the Head Judge at Precinct 1-1.  She had everything perfectly under control.  I was very pleased.  I left my phone number with her in case she needed anything and after visiting a few minutes I headed back to Powell.

The afternoon went by quickly with mostly questions about persons trying to register to vote and acceptable identification.  Before we knew it we were announcing, "Ladies and Gentlemen, the polls will be closing in 30 minutes."

At 7:00 PM we closed the polls and began to close up.  There was still plenty to do.


Each precinct had to take all of their signs down and pack up their supplies into their plastic bin.  Then we had to close out the M100 and balance the Ballot Report Form.  Then all judges had to sign the register tape from the ballot counter and sign the Ballot Report Form.  Poll Book 1 of 2, Write-In Ballots, Provisional Ballots, Completed Voter Registration Forms, Unmarked Ballots, Voted Ballots, and the Black Security Bag were placed inside the gray steel ballot box and closed with a tamper seal.

For the eight precincts in Powell, 9-1, 9-2, 9-4, 9-5, 9-7, 10-1, 10-2, and 23-1, the ballot boxes were placed on the bed of my truck and I ran the boxes with their load of information directly to the Park County Courthouse in Cody.  I think my trip took 25 minutes.  I was the last one in because my precincts took the longest to close up.

At the courthouse we had a Receiving Board bring the boxes inside, inventory the contents, and run the various items to boxes to hold these items until they were needed.  The computer cards were taken to Mike in the Unity Computer Room where the election report was being generated.

The entire Clerk's office staff stayed late to help with receiving, running, and manning various boards.  I was placed on an Absentee Ballot Board and then later a Resolution Board to help get the absentee ballots processed and counted.

It was 12:30 AM when we finally left the courthouse for the run back home for a few hours of sleep.  We had to be back at the courthouse early to help get the equipment back into storage.

We are all tired like zombies today, but I think Jerri was very pleased that our primary went off so well.

Jerri came to the Elections counter while Teecee and I were assisting the Write-In Board with separating ballots with write-in votes from all of the others.  Jerri said, "I don't think I am going to fill Molly's position right now."  I said, "Good.  Because I don't think anyone wants it!"  We laughed.  She said that if the county commissioners approve it, she is going to bring both of us on permanently full-time and she will make it retroactive to August 1!

Not only did I lasso a permanent job for myself today, but Bob was assisting with the write-in count and Tami asked if we had a pay voucher for him.  I said that I did not, but that I would prepare one.  Jerri said, "You know what, Bob's been helping out a lot lately when we need it.  We had the funds to hire a third person in this office, but we never did.  Why don't you give Bob a Park County Employment Application for the position of Elections Clerk at the same pay you were making, and I will put him on the payroll Monday.  We will just use him from time-to-time when we need a little extra help and this way I can pay him."

Even though we were tired,  this made us very happy.

Tomorrow will be a little slower than today.  Friday we will have the 2012 Primary Election Canvassing Board meet at 9:00 AM, and after that, the election will be officially over.  I am very pleased that it went well.

Big Update

Jerri Torczon and Bob on Aug. 11, 2012.

Wow.  So much has happened this past week.

We will begin with last Saturday.  We went to Jerri and Leonard Torczon's house for the 3rd Annual Chicken Roping and Lawn Mower Races.  This was a big barbecue at their house and over 100 guests were there!

We watched riding lawn mowers compete in races.  Later we went to the chicken coop and pairs of people took turns competing for the big chicken roping championship belt buckle.

Bob entered the roping event with Jennifer Lohrenz, Park County Fair Director.  Their time roping the relatively subdued hen was 25 seconds.  The winner, Roly Hernandez, had a time of 5 seconds.

When we left the party at 1:00 AM, Leonard was passed out on the ground under a table.  His faithful dog, Trucker, was right there next to him.

On Sunday we drove to Billings.  We returned the second Kitchen Aid food processor and got a Cuisinart this time.  Using Bob's smart phone, we got a 20% discount on the device.  We stopped at several other stores to price appliances and almost bought a gas range with convection oven.  We were prepared to bring it back to Wyoming, but the store was out-of-stock.

Coming back to Wyoming we stopped in Clark.  I got my shovel out and began filling in the dry well.  I cannot believe those yahoos left the 500-foot-deep hole yawning wide open!  While I was shoveling, I was being bitten and eaten alive by biting flies!  It was like something out of Amityville Horror!  Disgusted, we got into the truck and drove back to Powell as fast as we could.  It's just deer fly and horse fly season.

This past week of work has been very stressful.  We have been dealing with Molly's wide mood swings all week.  On Monday we traveled to Meeteetse to train the election judges there.  Molly was all fun and happy coming back, but the next morning she was all sour and dismal again.  It's like she has bipolar disorder.

Mike was out for most of the week having radioactive iodine treatments for his thyroid condition.

Molly took Teecee down to the basement with nobody else present to chew her out.  "You know you only got this job because of our friendship.  You are a mean-spirited and evil person!  If you don't watch it, you won't be staying here.  You KNOW Jerri and I decide if you are staying after the elections."  Well, when Teecee told me this, I chuckled and said, "Don't worry about that.  The only person you have to worry about keeping happy is Jerri."

Nevertheless, the tension in the office this whole week has been severe.  Our counter has been extremely busy with voters who are requesting their Absentee Ballot at the last minute, and then we have Molly putting more stress on top of it.

On Wednesday, while training Head Judge Kristine Fusco on M100 operations in the old jail, I realized I had forgotten the machine keys.  I walked back to the courthouse to get the keys and saw Molly and Tami outside at the picnic table talking.  I told Teecee about this when I got inside.  Later Jerri asked where everyone was and Teecee told her.  Without thinking she said, "Oh, and Molly is outside with Tami having a pow-wow."

On Thursday, Teecee was home sick with a bad headache.  I was there by myself to handle everything.  When Molly arrived at 8:30 AM, I was in the middle of preparing 4 ballots at one time for voters waiting.  There were additional voters waiting and Molly said, "Has anyone here been helped yet?"  She really had some nerve!  Then she told the two people I had not gotten to yet, "He will be with you in a minute."   I was seething all morning long.

I went to Barb Atkinson, the second deputy on the Clerk side and asked her if she had lunch plans.  At noon as Molly brought Tami over to help with the counter, Teecee arrived, looking terrible, but she was there.  At that point I walked with Barb over to the Irma where we had salads for lunch.

Barb and I had a good pow-wow of our own.  I basically unloaded everything on her and she was horrified at what we had been putting up with.  She said she would be talking to Jerri about some of those issues.

The afternoon was much better because we got some needed help from the Clerk side.  Kari and Tami helped us all afternoon and the work load was a little lighter.  Still, I was not too happy even though Molly was all chipper and happy again - those extreme mood swings again.

Then on Friday it happened.  The Melt Down we did not expect until Tuesday (Election Day) came early.  Jerri said something that Molly did not agree with and she became very upset.  After arguing with Jerri about it, she picked up the phone and began crying to Lori in the Secretary of State Office in Cheyenne.  It just spiraled out of control after that.

Jerri was not happy about that when she found out, "Doesn't she know that I am friends with all of those people down there?"

Then Molly began asking for more Clerk assistance because "we are in crisis mode right now!!"  Very dramatic.  As the morning went on, Jerri began to collect more and more of what was happening from Tami, and later, from Barbara.

Bob came to the office and he could sense the extreme tension in the air when he came in.  Molly was giving him the evil eye too.  After lunch I took Bob over to the old jail and we began the work of inserting the programmed PCMCIA cards into the 29 M100 Ballot Tabulating Machines and sealing them with serial numbered tamper seals.  We also put programmed SIM cards into the AutoMark machines and sealed those up.  We had to record all seal numbers on the Ballot Report Form for each precinct.

It was about 6:00 PM when we got back to the Elections Office.  Molly left right at 5:01 PM.

Jerri and Barbara were in there, and they began to ask us questions about what Molly had planned to do on Election Day, how many runners and receivers we had scheduled to work, why the Clerks had not attended Election Judge Training, etc.  I told her I did not know what Molly was planning.  Jerri was astonished that we were planning to print the poll books on Monday evening and we were going to wait to put the ballots into the ballot bins for delivery to the polls.

This morning we drove to Cody, ate breakfast at The Sunset House, got a couple things at Wal*Mart, and then headed to the courthouse to get the elections equipment, poll books, and supply bins ready for transport on Monday morning.

To my surprise, I found cars belonging to Peggy, Teecee, Tami, and Molly in the parking lot.  I honestly did not expect to see Molly there.  She did not stay long.

Molly resigned this morning.  She sent an email message to everyone in the courthouse with an apology for leaving so suddenly and assuring everyone that she stayed as long as possible to ensure that the elections would proceed smoothly.

Bob and I worked in the old jail moving the equipment into the hall way in packing list order.  We did this so that Facilities could load the trucks in the proper order.  Then we went to the courthouse to print out election judge pay vouchers, and assist with assembling Master Voter Lists, Poll Books, and completing supply bins.

I brought in pizzas from Pizza Hut for our lunch and we continued working all afternoon.   Mike came in to help for a little while.

By 6:00 PM we had all of the supply bins ready to go, all of the equipment staged for pick up, and all of the books prepared for the judges.  This was a really big effort - let's hope it pays off on Tuesday.

On Monday I have to be at the courthouse at 6:00 AM.  We will help Facilities load the trucks and then a couple of us will go out with the crews to help set it all up properly.

Jerri has decided that Mike and I will go out on Tuesday as Election Day Field Techs.  Mike will cover the Cody area and I have Powell.  Teecee and Tami will man the office and the counter during the morning.  In the evening Mike will have to return to the office to process the election results in the Unity computer.

Let's hope we can pull this off without too many glitches.

Powell, WY

I know I haven't posted in a while.  We have been quite busy since my last update and it seems like I just don't have time for the full accounting you are expecting.

We are very busy with Election Judge Training, processing Absentee Ballots, and getting ready for the Primary Election next Tuesday, August 21.  Last weekend we went to the 3rd Annual Chicken Roping and Lawn Mower Races at Jerri and Leonard Torczon's house.  On Sunday we drove to Billings to turn in our second defective Kitchen Aid food processor.  We purchased a Cuisinart to replace it.

Hopefully things will settle down enough soon so that I can get this caught up.

Looong Day

Teecee wrote me an email that said, "What is HER problem.  I can tell this is going to be a long day!"  She was referring to Molly.  Molly was quiet and brooding all morning.  Then suddenly, after lunch, it was as if she had taken speed - she was full of energy and all jolly.

We really had a lot going on today.  Lots of absentee requests.  A few people came in trying to register although voter registration closed on Monday evening.  They are not happy, but WS are the law.

Our Election Day shirts came in.  They are red with a red,white, and blue American flag embroidered on the left side.  They look nice, but the sizes are running a little small.

In the evening we carried our training materials up the hill to the Cody Public Library and gave Election Judge Training in the Grizzly Room.  Molly gave the talk and slide show.  Later, while half the room was taking a test, I went over M100 Ballot Tabulating Machine operations in the hallway.

This training session was yet another feather in our caps.  It went very well.  The attendees were grateful for such good training.  They really like that we are using a "live" M100 for training purposes.

Training was from 5 PM til 8 PM, but we had to have all of the people out by 8, all of the chairs put up and all of the tables folded and put back away.  We were done by 7:30 - a new record!  LOL!

It is sprinkling outside now and we see flashes of lightning occasionally.  Bob is feeling a little sore from the high humidity.

On Saturday we are having the Chicken Roping and Tractor Races at Jerri and Leonard's house.  On Monday we will be taking our training show on the road to Meeteetse.  Training in Powell will be Tuesday and Wednesday, and our last training session will be back in Cody at the library on Thursday.

Oh yeah, the second food processor stopped working yesterday.  So, it looks like we will have to go to Billings to return it.  It is worth the extra $50 for a Cuisinart.

Next week and Election Day are going to be killers.

Post 2242

Laura Viklund of Tite Homes provided a quick sketch and proposed floor plans for the house in Clark, WY.  See her first draft sketches to the right.

We are very excited about this floor plan because it is so large!  All added up, it comes to about 1500 square feet.  She is including a lofted bonus space and an unfinished attic area.  She said that the upper floor will not cost as much per square foot because we are only lengthening walls that we are going to use anyway.  Plus, it does not require any additional foundation.

We still have a few questions for her, but this is the start of our conversation with her.  We expect quite a bit of back-and-forth as we refine the plans and decide how much we can afford.

Work today, like most of this week, was hectic and continuously busy.  We had to deal with an angry citizen who found out that we are not using him or his wife as election judges this year.  We had to deal with an entire angry community that found out that we are not automatically sending absentee ballots to them.  We had to deal with eight voters in Frannie who are having their ballot replaced because ES&S left off the House District 26 race.

I had to write a couple of letters and mail merge the addresses for the voters into the letter.  This dealt with 67 voters in Sunlight/Crandall who have not requested absentee ballots.  This also dealt with the 8 Frannie voters.  All we could do is tell the angry ex-election judge is that his wife was a no-show in 2010, and we were not interested in working with them this year.  Boy he got mad!

"One of our kids was sick and she had to go to Minnesota.  I know she called you.  We are not like that!  Check your payroll records - they paid her!  You guys weren't even here!  You sure go through a lot of people in this office.  I bet you are all just a bunch of Democrats!!"

Molly told him, "I am not comfortable working with you, because I am afraid that you will treat the voters the way you are treating us."  I agree.

To top it all off, Molly lost her car keys and only discovered this in the afternoon as she was getting ready to go to the post office and library.  She looked everywhere.  She dumped her purse and kept looking.  She retraced all of her steps, but could not find the keys.  She suspected Rolly, since he plays so many jokes, but he denied having her keys.  She cast sideways glances at me too.

Mike and Rolly went out to her car to look around her car and under her car.  Rolly opened the passenger side door and found the keys right on the floor on the passenger side of her car.  I am glad those keys were found.

Amazon.com wrote to tell me that my photo album and pressure canner have shipped.  These will be here sometime next week.

Tomorrow we are conducting election judge training at the Cody Public Library in the Grizzly Room.  I won't be home until after 8 PM.  I am sure this event will be interesting.

Work Week

We are steadily getting ready for the 2012 Primary Election.  We are coordinating the opening of the polling place buildings so that equipment can be delivered, planning the preparation of the equipment, and handling a heavy load of absentee ballot requests.  Voter registration closed yesterday and will remain closed until Election Day (WS 22-3-102).

The well drilling team returned to our property on Monday, but as they were drilling the hole began to cave in on itself at 180 feet.  They pulled their gear up and left.  We only paid for the 400 foot test hole.  Now we are planning to use a cistern and have water delivered until a future date when we are ready to try to drill again.

Now we are trying to find a contractor to put in the septic tank and drain field.  Hopefully it will be easier to get rid of the water than it is to obtain it in the first place.

I placed an order on Amazon.com this morning for a new photo album and a 23-quart pressure canner/cooker.  These should arrive next week.  I paid for these with the money from my Park County Fair Beer Garden job.

After watering the plants this evening I counted my tomatoes.  We now have over 170 tomatoes growing!  I just hope they can ripen before the frost comes again!

Weekend

This morning I prepared a breakfast of sliced mango, canteloupe, and blueberries.  I cut my little finger really good with the vegetable peeler while doing it.

A cold front came through yesterday and temperatures today were pleasant - in the 70's.  I think temps dropped into the 40's last night.

Cody Balloon Club outing on 7/4/12.

After breakfast we drove to Cody to get some groceries at Wal*Mart.  On the way there we spotted about 12 hot air balloons rising from the north side of Cody.  We took a detour to get a closer look at these.

We loaded up our shopping cart at the store and even bought a few things to keep in the freezer chest.  We picked up a freezer thermometer too.  The thermometer says the inside of the freezer is 0°F.

Hydroponic lettuce growing in the basement.

Later I pulled the lawn mower out and mowed the backyard.  While I was emptying the grass clipping bag, Johnny, our talkative neighbor, came out to yack at me.  He talked for over an hour and my scalp got burned.  Bob came up and I left them out there to talk while I finished mowing the yard, fertilizing the tomatoes, and preparing for my next wood project.

I am now working on a treadle-operated automatic chicken feeder.  I am building it out of plywood.

My paycheck from Park County Fair Association came today.  It totals $90.73.  I think I am going to deposit this check and purchase a 23-quart pressure canner.

While watering the plants this evening, I counted 107 tomatoes.  The plants have become huge monsters.  All of the tomatoes are still green, and I wish they would hurry up and ripen.  If we get an early frost, I guess I will take them in, slice them up, and can them green.

Disappointment

Bob holds a horned toad today.

I took the day off from work today to be in Clark for well drilling.  The drill crew showed up at 8:30 am, and they pulled out with two of the trucks to get them filled with water. 

When they returned they started to set up and began lifting 20-foot pipe sections and lowering them down the drilled well shaft.  They set sections for 380 feet, and then began drilling deeper.

The majority of material that came up was soft friable shale with thin layers of sandstone interspersed in it.

When 5:00 pm came, they started to pull the pipe sections out of the well and told us that it went to 540 feet, and was dry.  The drilling chief said that this was the deepest hole he'd drilled that did not make water.

While watching the drilling, a green truck came up the hill.  A man and woman got out and came down to meet us.  This was Daniel and Casey Glieck, our neighbors.  They have horses and are living very frugally on their land next door.  I mean very frugal - no electricity, propane stove, propane refrigerator, they bring the water to the site that they use, and they live in a 14 x 20 storage shed.  They take their laundry to Cody to wash, and bring their water and propane from Cody.

It looks like we might be installing a large cistern and having our water delivered too.

Powell, WY

It's nice and cool when we get up in the mornings.  We have the window fan blowing fresh air in from outside and the bedroom gets nice and cool.  The rest of the house is still kind of warm from the day before when we get up.

Bob rode down to Cody with me this morning and he kept the truck to go to Clark and follow the progress of our well.

We had plenty to do today to update our Election Judge Training lessons, rearrange the Election Judge work schedule, and record the training dates.  Teecee left at 10:00 AM to go to Basin and judge entries at the Big Horn County Fair.  It must be nice to be able to take a day off for something like this, but I guess she can since she actually made tips at the Park County Fair.

Mom called today afternoon.  She said that Grandma Pat called her to say that she got a box in the mail from 1-800-Pet-Meds, but she didn't order anything.  Also, the box came from Wyoming, but she doesn't know anybody in Wyoming.  I asked Mom, "Did you remind her?"  She said, "Oh yeah, and then she said, 'oh yes, my favorite grandson!'"

With Teecee out all afternoon, most of the office tasks fell to me to get done.  I had to register people, process absentee ballots for them, and at the end of the day get the absentee ballot mailing ready.

Bob came into the office at 4:30 PM.  He was sunburned from being outside all day.  He said that the drilling crew got down to 390 feet before stopping for the day.  They have pipe on the rig to go to 420 feet.  The drilling will have to resume on Friday because the head driller, Sean, has court tomorrow.

This evening we phoned Dave Newton to talk about the well.  He said he would meet us in Clark on Friday morning.  He wants the opportunity to go down to 500 feet to find the water.  He said that he would work with us to fix it so that we can afford the well.  If he does not find water, he will only charge us $10 per foot for the first 400 feet.

He needs to find out where the aquifer is in our section of Clark because he has other customers asking for wells to be drilled and wanting an estimate of the depth and cost.  So, it benefits both of us to continue drilling.

I baked pork chops and made small salads for our dinner.  While the chops were baking Bobby took a cool shower and I watered the plants.  I think we have over 90 tomatoes on the plants now.  I will make more Miracle Gro and feed them on Friday or Saturday.

Jerri said that she is taking Leonard, her husband, to Sheridan tomorrow to see a doctor.  Then they are driving to Billings to get food from Costco for the Chicken Roping and Lawn Mower Races event on August 11.  Jerri expects to have over 120 people at her house for this fun time.