Powell, WY

At work we finished labeling all of the inner and outer envelopes for sending the absentee ballots out.  We finished this up yesterday.  Today Teecee and I began pulling these envelopes by precinct, counting them, pulling the same number of ballots, folding them, initialing them, and stuffing them into envelopes to mail to voters.

We did not get all of the ballots processed.  We still have about eight precincts to go.  Plus, when Teecee took the completed ones out to the big blue post box, she found it almost full already!

During lunch I went to Wal*Mart to get some canning jars and lids.  I am going to have to can more tomatoes.  I am also going to pick my biggest and best green tomatoes and can some of them.

After work today a thunderstorm came up.  It was very powerful - like the storms in Florida.  There was a lot of lightning, heavy rain, and some wind.  I out ran the storm on the way to Powell, dropped in at Jerri and Leonard's to pick some peppers, and then hurried home.  It was raining when I got home.

Tomorrow we have to meet our contractor in Clark at 10:00 AM.  He wants to be sure that we want to place the house where we have it staked, where the driveway is staked, and we want to discuss where the garage should go.

Once we finished with Chris and Laura we are going to Cody.  We are meeting Teecee at the courthouse around noon.  We will spend a couple of hours working on Elections stuff, then Bob and I are going to browse the floor covering stores to shop for low-pile carpet.

House Elevations

Post 2265

View from the southwest.

Our house is starting to take a more concrete and specific shape now.  Chris sent dimensioned plans to us today.  Soon he will have the budget finished and we will forward all of it together to the banker to be appraised for a construction loan.

View from the front.

We are meeting Chris and Laura in Clark on Saturday morning just so that we can all be sure that we are locating the house where we want it, we have the driveway where we want it, and we will locate the garage where we want it to go.

Ground floor plan.

Excavation has been delayed (again).  Now it is scheduled to start on Monday, October 1.  That will be a nice birthday present for Bob!  It's too bad contractors can't stay on schedule.

Bob went to the office with me today.  We had to count the ballots out.  There were 18,803 ballots in this order.  Mike, Bob, and I counted all day long.  We got them all counted by the end of the day.  It sure made for a tiring day.

Upper floor plan.

We had a big Caprese salad for dinner.  Hey, we've got to get these tomatoes eaten up somehow!

There are more drawings in our set.  Perhaps I will post elevation views tomorrow.

Powell, WY

Sunday was fairly relaxing for me.  I got to work in the garage with my wood machinery.  I continued working on my chicken feeder and I built a winter floor for the top bar beehive.

Today it was back to work, and Mike, Teecee, and Jerri were back from the County Government Convention in Jackson.  They were full of stories about their trip.

Our ballot order was delivered today.  It fills 11 boxes.  There are over 17,000 ballots and we have to count all of them before we can start stuffing envelopes with absentee requests.  Bob is coming in tomorrow to help count them.

We got a U-Haul trailer today and had it connected to Leonard's truck.  Mike, Leonard, and I filled it with boxes of documents dating back to 1904.  The most-recent documents are from 2010 - that's 106 years of documents going down to Cheyenne tomorrow.

Jerri and Leonard are going to Cheyenne to get Leonard's shoulder operated on at the VA hospital.  By taking the documents to the State Archive, the county can pay for their gas!

We had fresh salad for dinner this evening.  I had a slice of Bob's zucchini bread too.  His zucchini bread turned out really good - like a chocolate cake!

Powell, WY

I got through the week at work okay.  Mike and Teecee never made it back to the office.  No big surprise there.  As it turns out, I got everything done that I had intended to do, except one quarter of the voter registration cards never got filed.  They would have, if I didn't have to do EVERYTHING.

Tomatoes in our fridge.

We are still picking tomatoes from the plants.  There are three or four newly ripened ones every day.  We really need to keep eating them, or else get busy and can a few more.

After taking the dog for his walk this morning, we went to Pepe's Restaurant for breakfast.  I had pancakes and Bob had a bacon quesadilla.  When we came home I went to the garage to work on my chicken feeder project.  Bob came to get me at 11:15 and we went to the American Legion to get our Bountiful Basket. 

In addition to the basket of fruits and vegetables, we ordered two boxes of strawberries.  Tomorrow I am going to clean them, make up 12 pints of jam, and freeze the rest of them.

After we got our food safely inside, we got back into the truck and went to Linton's Big R Store.  Here Bob got some knee high muck boots.  Then, with the tackle box, rod, reel, creel, and net in the bed of the truck we headed to Clark.

Living the dream.  Clark, WY.  9/22/12.

First we stopped at our property to stake the driveway.  Park County is coming out this week to give our lot an address and the driveway has to be marked for the technician.

With that out of the way we headed down to the Clark's Fork Of The Yellowstone River where we parked at a public river access point next to the Road 8VE bridge.  We waded out into the river and Bob got some practice casting.  He didn't catch anything, but I think he enjoyed himself.

It was after 5 PM when we got back to Powell.  We ordered pizza from Domino's and tended to our plants.  Tomorrow I am going to run the vacuum cleaner and make strawberry jam.

Getting Started

Bob with our new Jøtul 602 CB.

We drove to Cody this morning and Bob left me at the courthouse.  Then he drove to Red Lodge, MT to visit Beartooth Electric Cooperative, Inc. to start the process of bringing electric power onto our property.

He phoned the wood stove store in Billings to ask about the Jøtul 602CB wood stove that we are interested in, and the lady told him that the stove usually retails for over $1,000,  but that she only had one left in stock.  If we came to get it today, we could have it for $875.

So, Bob left Red Lodge and went right to Billings.

This stove is rated for 33,000 BTU.  Chris told us to get a small stove because our new house would be air tight, and this is the smallest one we could find.

My day at the office was nice and quiet.  Mike, Teecee, and Jerri are still down in Jackson.  I have about half of the election day voter registration cards filed now.  It was a boring day, but it was productive.

During lunch I walked to the newsstand and got a couple of magazines.  Then I walked to a Sheridan Avenue store to get a surprise gift for Bob's quickly-approaching birthday.

Right after lunch Chris Gunn came in to the office.  I gave him a deposit of $18,000 to start the excavation, plumbing rough-in, foundation insulation, and concrete pour.  He expects to have the excavator on-site next week.  He also went to get the building permit and have the county assign an address to our lot.

Bob returned to the office shortly before 5 PM.  We drove home and both of us carefully picked up the stove and set it down on the ground.  It weighs about 160 pounds.

Dinner was pork roast with carrots, potatoes, and onion.  This slowly cooked in the crock pot all day.

Powell, WY

Bob went to Cody with me and worked in the courthouse today.  It was kind of quiet today.  Jerri, Mike, and Teecee are at the County Government Convention in Jackson, WY.

I  got quite a bit done.  First thing I did was label envelopes and stuff ballots into envelopes for MOVE-UOCAVA voters (military and overseas voters).  Then I worked on the 2012 Election Judge Manual.  I updated the one made in-house from 2010 and printed a draft copy out. 

During the afternoon we really started to get busy on our house.  We are making a deposit tomorrow for foundation and site work.  This $18,000 deposit will cover excavation, septic system, slab insulation, drain plumbing rough-in, pouring the slab, making the drawings, and some labor.  With the slab finished, we will be ready to begin setting panels.

After work we completed the application for Beartooth Electric Cooperative, Inc to extend electric service to our lot.  This requires a letter from me designating Bob as my representative for this purpose.  It also requires my passport, drivers license, social security card, and a check for the deposit.

As soon as Gunnstock Timberframes/Tite Homes gets construction figures and drawings back to us, we will schedule another appointment with the banker to have get financing.  I will need to purchase Home Owners Insurance/Builder's Endorsement before that time too.  USAA quoted me $314 per year for the policy.

I am glad we are finally moving ahead on the house now.  Perhaps we will have a ground breaking for our birthdays.

Powell, WY

Yesterday we drove to Billings to price doors, appliances, lighting, carpet, and other assorted stuff for the house.  We went to Home Depot, and Lowe's.  We got the roto-tiller attachment for our grass whip at Lowe's.

For lunch we stopped at Pizza Ranch and had the buffet. 

Later we went to Barnes & Noble Bookseller and we bought three books.

Then we went to Sam's Club where we got a Food Saver vacuum sealer machine.

On the way back to Powell it began to rain.  It rained all the way home.  I read this morning that we got three tenths of an inch (0.3") of rain.  I didn't have to water the plants after that.

Today I learned that Chris expects to be pouring concrete on our house during the first week of October.  Somehow I am starting to doubt that.  Our schedule just keeps slipping.  He wants us to let him know where we are with the bank, but we are only waiting on him to get construction figures and dimensioned drawings to the banker.

Tomorrow Jerri, Teecee, and Mike will be going to Jackson for a county government conference.  I will be by myself in Elections.  I guess the clerk side will be unsupervised too since Barbara accidentally ran a knife through her hand today and had to go to the Emergency Room.

Temps are moderate right now, with highs in the 70's and low's in the 40's.  It won't be long until Old Man Winter comes marching in again.

Update

Keri, Mike, Jerri, and Me at Clark Landfill.

I know it's been a couple of days since I wrote.  I have had some long and productive days this week.

On Thursday Bob came to work with me and on Thursday evening we went to Willwood and met with Chris and Laura again.  We are trying to move toward details and specifics about our house so that we can come up with a budget for the bank.

We were at their house until almost 10 PM!  Chris said that he was not going to give all of the requested information to the bank because he felt that the depth of information they were requesting was "too invasive".  Great.  An uncooperative contractor.

We keep putting things into the plans that add to the price and it's a struggle to find things to cut to offset the price increase.  For instance, we said that we wanted knotty pine tongue-and-groove boards on half of the living room ceiling, all of the loft ceiling, and our master bed room ceiling.  To offset the cost of this we had to remove the on-demand hot water heater and just go with a traditional hot water tank.

Because some of the things we would like to have would put us over budget with the bank, we have asked Chris and Laura to price them out, and if there is money left over as we approach the end of the project we will decide then if we can have them.  Some of these items are:  Trex deck on sleepers on the rooftop deck area, French doors (or a single glassed door) on the back of the house, and a timbered entry for the front of the house.

We had a cold snap this week and that concerned me because I was thinking about pouring concrete at this time of year.  Chris asserts that this is the perfect time to pour because it is not so hot like July and August.  He said the concrete guys will cover the concrete so it does not dry out too quickly and so it won't freeze at night.  We are considering giving them a deposit to get the slab poured before the weather gets much cooler.

Bob went to work with me again on Friday.  After work, Jerri, Mike, Barbara, Peggy, Bob, and I went to the Irma for Happy Hour.  We had a couple of nice hours in the bar before we all went our separate ways.

Vince and Bob went to Super Wal*Mart to get a big cart load of groceries.  It was after 10 PM when we finally got home.  Boy, was Buddy glad to see us after a long day locked up in the garage!  Oh yeah, I forgot that, he was locked in the garage all day because realtor was showing the house again.

Today we agreed to meet Jerri, Mike, and Kerri in Clark to pick up trash at the Clark Landfill for three hours.  This is a competition between teams and departments as part of our health insurance program.

We went to Rimrock Tire to get the left front tire replaced and went over to McDonald's for breakfast.  When we returned the technician said that the tire did not require replacement.  He said that the nail in the sidewall only passed through one layer of rubber.  But they did find a nail in the tread portion of the tire.  That nail has been removed and the tire was patched.

After that we drove to Clark and met Jerri, her husband Leonard who works at the landfill part-time, Kerri, and Mike at the Edelweiss restaurant/convenience store.  We got a couple of bottles of water and then headed to the landfill to pick up trash.

The morning started out cool, but we were taking our flannel off by afternoon.  I think our team picked up over 1,000 pounds of trash.  We will know soon because the county is going to weigh the loaded  truck, dump the load, and then weigh the empty truck.

Mike found a $100 bill while picking up trash!  Kerri found another $7.  So, after we finished at the landfill we went to the Edelweiss and enjoyed Tatanca Buffalo Burgers with beers for lunch.  This was good.  Then we all went home.  We felt dirty and hot.  Bob and I laid down on the living room floor for a couple of hours and napped, but now it is time to walk the dog and water our plants.  This day went quickly.

Tomorrow we are going to Cody to browse carpet stores for a sample low-pile carpet for the upstairs loft portion of our house.  Later we will go to Cassie's to watch Jerri and Leonard play fiddle while we enjoy and early dinner.

Powell, WY

Today started at 5:30 AM when the alarm went off, but I did not get up until 5:45 AM.  Then I took Buddy for his morning walk while Bob made a breakfast of asparagus/cheese omelets, Canadian bacon, sliced tomatoes, and tea.

I got my shower, shave, and teeth brushed, and then we headed to First Bank of Wyoming for a meeting with Trace Paul, Loan Officer, to discuss "Project House" with him.  He liked our project and thought it was "interesting".  He took our loan application, but Gunnstock Timber Frames did not submit their financial information.  He will need the financials and completed drawings before he can submit the application for Appraisal.

He said the Appraisal process lasts about three weeks, and after that we will know how much the bank will be able to loan as a Construction Loan.  The Construction Loan is a short-term loan (6%) used during the construction phase of the project.  Once the project is completed and an appraiser inspects, a second closing occurs and a Mortgage (3.5%) pays off the Construction Loan and we pay the Mortgage until the house is paid.

I dropped Bob off at the house and then headed to Cody to go to work.  I arrived at 9:30 AM.

Teecee got pulled over this morning in Cody because she was texting while driving, speeding, and ran a stop light.  Incredibly, she only got a warning.

My day seemed like it was very long.  I had to make new election certificates for all 102 democrat and republican precinct committeemen and committeewomen.  Then I matched them up with form letters and stuffed them into envelopes.  That took most of my day.

Another technician from ES&S came to work on some of our equipment today.  I had to babysit him in the jail for awhile.

Jerri canned 41 pints of salsa yesterday.  She said she wore rubber gloves and swimming goggles while making it.  You KNOW  that is some hot salsa!

Bob made white bean chicken chili for dinner.  We watered the plants and I sprayed them with insect repellent.  It's a little cool this evening, it feels like cold front came through.

We are trying to arrange a time to meet with Chris and Laura to finalize our house plan and get the last things the bank requires to move forward with our project.

Saturday

Source of the slow air leak?

After taking Buddy for his walk at 7:00 AM, Bob began making breakfast and I got the truck ready for its oil change.  I changed the air filter first, then got the pruning hook and shears and trimmed back the briars and bushes next to the house.

After a breakfast of spinach-cheese omelets, Canadian bacon, and  tomatoes, I went to the garage to do the oil change.  With the oil change out of the way, I pulled the truck outside and positioned jacks to lift the truck and rotate the tires.

When we got to the tire that has been slowly leaking since we moved here, I  got a big surprise - I found a nail passing through the sidewall!  I think I purchased road hazard with these tires, but I need to find the receipt so that I can be sure.  If so, we will have to claim a new tire.

At 11:30 we went to the American Legion to pick up our Bountiful Basket.  This week it had strawberries, corn on the cob, broccoli, potatoes, tomatoes on the vine, oranges? grapefruit?, lettuce, and a bag of pluots.  We put the produce away and then went to the Homesteader Festival up on First Street where antique farm equipment was on exhibition.  We were fascinated with the old hay bailer that was working in the middle of the street!

Canned hot peppers.

We stopped at Ace Hardware and got some copper-based spray to put on the tomato plants in a bid  to halt or slow down the late blight they are showing.  I just want them to live long enough to ripen the tomatoes they have already produced.  We also went to Napa Auto Parts where I got new wiper blades and two cans for Gunk engine degreaser.

Later I cleaned up the peppers that Jerri gave us last week.  I packed these into pint jars and got the pressure canner ready.  I ladled boiling salt water/vinegar over the peppers, put on the two-piece lids, and processed for 35 minutes.  They were still boiling inside the jar when I pulled them out!   I had enough peppers for three pints.  The rest I diced up, put into a quart freezer bag, and dropped into the freezer.

Vince adding flagging to stakes.

In the late afternoon we drove to Clark to stake out the footprint of our house.  We drove one stake in where the first corner would be, then we measured 26 feet down the west side of the house to the south and drove the next stake.  Then we measured 40 feet to the east, temporarily drove the stake, measured 44 feet, eight inches across the center, and adjusted the stake position.  Then we drove that stake in.  Finally we drove the last stake into the northeast corner and I tacked surveyors flagging on the stakes to make them more visible.

We had to do this so that the man doing the septic tank perc test can know where this house will be and will excavate a suitable spot away from the house.

House footprint staked out.

Buddy got to ride in the bed of the truck out to Clark and back.  We stopped at the grocery on the way home and got a frozen lasagna for dinner.  It baked while we watered the plants and misted the tomatoes and potatoes with the fungicide.

Tomorrow I plan to mow the lawn and vacuum inside the house.  After that I would like to work in the garage on my chicken feeder project.

Homesteader Day

We came across the Homesteader Day street party in downtown Powell when we went to pick up our Bountiful Basket this morning.  After taking our basket home we returned to check out the antique farm equipment.

Post 2255

It got chilly last night.  I hated to get up when the alarm went off this morning.

I took Buddy for his morning walk while Bob prepared breakfast.  Then I showered and dressed for work.  Bob came to Cody with me today.  He worked on the clerk side scanning titles and security agreements.

Jerri and Mike asked Teecee and me who wanted to go to Jackson, WY with them later this month to attend a clerks meeting.  I volunteered Teecee to go this time.

We had leftovers for lunch.  This was chili from last night's dinner.

The Election Day voter registrations and absentee ballot requests were finally caught up today.  There are probably over 1,000 of them.  It is going to take days to file them all.  I also got all of the surplus ballots from the election packed into boxes and moved to the basement for temporary storage.

This evening it was overcast and cool.  I think a cold front came through today.  I picked six more tomatoes this evening and set them in the kitchen window to finish ripening.

Tomorrow is Friday and we are permitted to wear jeans on Fridays.  Yay!

Powell, WY

Back safe and sound in Powell, WY.

I returned to work yesterday and Jerri asked the commissioners to allow her to bring Teecee and me on permanently, full-time.  They agreed to this.  Lots of congratulations all around!  Jerri invited Teecee, Mike, and me over to her house for a taco dinner.  I wrote to Bob to let him know this so he would not start dinner.

During lunch I went to Cody Feed to get a bag of Dog Fuel for Buddy.  He eats a 45 pound bag every eight weeks.

After work I drove to Powell, watered my plants, fed Buddy, checked on the peaches that Bob skinned, sliced, put into freezer bags, labeled and put into the freezer.  Around 6:30 PM we headed over to Jerri and Leonard's house.

Teecee was there, as was Mike, his wife Dominique, their two boys Corey (4 yrs) and Kaden (4 wks).  We had a nice meal at their big dining table with lots of conversation, food, and beers.  A lot of discussion about the recently departed Molly Cozzens too.

We were with Jerri and Leonard until 10:45 PM.  Jerri gave us a big bag of hot peppers to take home, eat or can.  My bladder was about to burst when we got home!

Work today was continuously busy.  Jerri did not make it in.  I don't know why for sure, but my guts were in an uproar, and Mike confessed that he was feeling it too, but he was not sure whether it was from too much beer.

Bob made a skillet of chili today with tomatoes we canned two weeks ago and some hot peppers from our last Bountiful Basket.  We watered our plants and were pleased to see several more tomatoes ripening.  We also saw a couple of shiny red potatoes erupting from the ground beneath our potato plants.

The bankruptcy was filed for Bob last week and it appears to have been noticed by all of his creditors.  This evening we went to pay on his Lowe's account and found it blocked from online access!

The sun seems to be rising later in the morning now, and it is setting earlier in the evening.  The nights are getting cooler too.  I am sure the first frost is just a couple of weeks away.

Labor Day

Colorful hives near Bynum, MT.

We got up at 7:00 AM and went to the dining room for the complimentary continental breakfast offered by the Stage Stop, then we packed up and headed out.  We checked out at 8:45 AM.

By 10:00 AM we were at Great Falls, MT and got on I-15.  We headed south on I-15 down to Helena, MT, the state capital.  From here we got on US 287 and followed it around to Big Timber, MT where we got onto I-90 East.

We filled the gas tank at Bozeman and ate lunch at a Subway restaurant.

It was 3:30 PM by the time we arrived in Laurel, MT and turned on to MT 212.  We followed this familiar route to Rockvale, MT where we got onto US 310.  We followed US 310 to Bridger, MT where we took MT 72 to Belfry, MT.  Then it was WY 120  to our property in Clark. 

We stopped at Clark and inspected our property, and then headed the rest of the way to Cody to pick Buddy up from the kennel.  They would be open from 5 PM til 6 PM.  If we did not get him by the time they closed up, we would be charged for another day.

Buddy got to ride back to Powell in the bed of the truck.  The wind was blowing so hard it was lifting his eyelids up! 

I was able to pick eight more ripening tomatoes this evening.  Then I watered my plants again.  We had Caprese salads with the vine-ripened tomatoes.  There is nothing from the store that can compare to home-grown!

Now I have to get ready for a short week of work.

Glacier National Park

We got up at 7:00 AM, packed our bags, and stepped next door to the Fireside Room for the continental breakfast.  After a breakfast of cereal and donuts, we checked out and headed out.

Bob and Vince at Glacier NP.

We drove around Flathead Lake to the east and went north to Big Fork.  Here we filled the gas tank and headed up past Hungry Horse to West Glacier.   Because this is a long holiday weekend, and the last good weekend to drive Going-To-The-Sun Road, the park was very busy.

Our first stop was at Apgar Village where we took pictures at Lake McDonald.  Then we got into the truck and headed up the road to Logan Pass.  The views were stupendous.

Vince at Lake St Mary in Glacier NP.

At Logan Pass the visitor center parking lot was packed.  We gave up finding a parking space and headed down the pass to the east side.  We took a few nice pictures at Lake St Mary, stopped at the vistor center at the east entrance, and then left the park.

We drove north to Lake Shelburne and drove back 12 miles on a very rough road.  The wind was blowing very hard and it almost blew us over when we stopped for a picture.  I don't have pictures to upload right now because I forgot the cable to connect the camera to the computer.

After this we headed south on US 89.  We stopped at Byrum and visited the Montana Dinosaur Center.  We saw a model of the largest dinosaur discovered - the seismosaur.  It was about 13 more miles down US 89 to the town where we are spending the night, Choteau, MT.  Choteau (pronounced "SHOW-toe") is named after a French trapper who was first to bring a steamboat up the Missouri River.

Bob and Vince at Lake Shelburne.

We are staying in the Stage Stop Hotel in Choteau.  This is a nice new hotel with an indoor pool and jacuzzi, exercise room, and other nice features.  It is pet and smoke free.

Tomorrow we have a 6 or 7 hour drive back to Cody to pick up Buddy.  Then we head home and get ready for a short work week.

Polson, MT

We got up at 6:30 AM and I took Buddy outside because he was crying.  He peed some.  I watered the tomatoes really well - soaked them.  Then we went into the house and he ate his bowl of food.

Meanwhile Bob and I packed clothes and other things into bags for our long weekend trip.

We drove to Cody with Buddy in the truck with us and we ate breakfast at Bubba's BBQ.  Then, after 8:30, we went to Blessing Animal Hospital to check Buddy in for lodging.  They gave him his bordatella vaccine and led him away.  Then we headed north.

Up WY 120 out of Cody to Clark.  We stopped at the Edelweiss to get water and I had to go to the restroom.  On the way out we saw Bob Torczon and said "Hi" to him.  Then we got back onto the road and continued north.

Belfry, Bridger, Fromberg, Rockvale, Silesia, Laurel.  At Laurel we turned onto I-90 West and headed past Big Timber, Bozeman, Livingston, Belgrade, Butte, Anaconda, Deer Lodge, Missoula.  At Missoula we turned north as if to go to Kalispell.

We had a reservation at the Port Polson America's Best Value Motel.  This was right on the water at Flathead Lake in Polson.  When I made the reservation, the description said the room had a king size bed, but no windows.  That proved untrue.  This room was upstairs and large picture windows opened out onto the lake.  We were pleased to find rough timbered furniture in the room too.

After settling in, we went to Wal*Mart to get something to calm my guts down, and then we went to the East Shore Smokehouse restaurant for dinner.  It was after 9:00 PM when we got back to the room to read and nod off to sleep in our king size bed.