The Four S's

Stan, Steve, Syd and Sam went fishing today.  Our four S guys!  They had a great day!

Excited about the day!

Best buds-they are going to be inseparable growing up.

The catch-they each reeled one in.

I'm glad they had the chance to do a last fishing trip before school starts-a week from Wednesday already!

Summer Stuff

It's been pretty hot here.  We've had a couple of storms that actually brought some nice rain, but then it warms back up again-so not like Montana.  Usually it's hot for a few days, then rains and gets chilly.  I don't mind this one bit!

Took the grandkids to the Bogert pool, but it's an outdoor pool and the thunder and lightening hit, so the pool was closed.  They played in the playground for a while and then Millie stopped by and picked up Grace and Sam.  Syd talked his dad into staying for the farmer's market and concert, so he was with us all night.  Mostly he played on the playground-we positioned our chairs at the concert so we could watch him all evening.  He had a blast, and we heard a nice concert.

His dad gave him enough money to go on the bungee bouncer:

We celebrated Independence Day by going to the fairgrounds to take in the Bozeman Symphony's all-American concert, followed by fireworks.  The Symphony even accompanied some of them.  The best fireworks evening I think I've had.

Since Syd had to go back to his mom's soon, he, Stan & Steve took the boat out fishing.  They had a ball!

A beautiful Montana sunrise!

 Yesterday we took our Costco rebate and a World Market gift card to town-time to get them spent.  We made quite a little haul-I got a new vacuum cleaner, a small TV for the kitchen, a 16G memory card for my camera, and ribeye steaks for two meals at Costco.  At World Market I found a new outdoor rug for my deck.  When Stan and my cousin built the deck, my cousin talked him into leaving a gap between the floor boards.  The only problem is, the thin legs on my chairs fall through, so I put a rug over it to prevent that.  The old rug was bad enough to make it into the trash.

Chloe and I both think it looks snazzy-kind of tropical.  It's quite a bit larger than the old one.  This one is made from plastic, so maybe it won't rot quite so quickly.

We assembled the vacuum and I took it for a test drive in the living room.  I was astounded to see how much dog hair ended up in the dirt cup!  Plus a lot of dirt-and I thought my old vac was working!

Now that my deck is spruced up, I'm headed out there to catch a cool breeze and eat ice cream with fresh strawberries from the garden.  Can't beat that for a summer evening!

Needles are Still Clicking!

I've still been knitting.  I decided I needed a really wide, long scarf to wind around my head during these nasty cold days.  We were in Walmart and I grabbed a couple of skeins of Red Heart (I know, but this one is pretty!).

I started out with this:

But I decided it wasn't wide enough so I ripped it out.  This is better:

Then I knitted, and knitted, and....well you know!  I ended up with a scarf about 68 inches long.  I have test-driven it many times this week and I think it was a good move in my part.  My other small fleece scarf just wasn't cutting it.  Now I'm starting leg warmers so when I go out and start my car after a closing shift at work my legs won't freeze.

I look a little loopy in this picture, but maybe it was my red nose.  I have yet ANOTHER cold!

All I did was cast on a bunch of stitches on #9 (US) needles in a multiple of four, and do a checkerboard pattern-K4, P4; next row P4, K4; repeat for two more rows then reverse the order.  It took about 8 ounces of knitting worsted.

Then my friend Lera sent me this pattern she had featured on her blog.  When I commented how much I loved it she e-mailed it to me-wasn't that sweet?!  I had to make one right away and I'm hooked (literally-it's crocheted).  This will go to a certain little girl, but I'm not sure if I'll give it to her now or wait til her birthday in April.  I'll be making more.

Isn't it just fetching?  Gracie will absolutely love it.  It came with instructions for ages newborn to six years so the possibilities are endless!

On a sad note, the fisherman that was lost when his truck went through the ice was found dead a couple of days ago.  My prayers are with his family.

Here's an eagle picture hubby took on his last fishing trip:

Oh, and I got sort of a promotion at work.  I will be a core associate in the Linens department.  The department manager actually approached me about the job, and after thinking about it and being reassured by her that I can get time off for my trips I took it.  I got a nice raise and my hours will be set-no Sundays and a mix of day and evenings.  I will have a 3-day weekend every other week.  Can't believe my luck-plus now I can fatten up my IRA-haven't put much in there for a while.

Happy Fisherman

One benefit of the cold weather is a nice thick layer of ice on the lakes.  Stan was able to go fishing three times this week, and pulled in quite a catch.  He went twice with a young man from church, and once with his best friend.  Saturday he and his friend were extremely late because they almost had their limits and were trying for just that one last fish.

He loves nothing better than to stand out on a frozen lake waiting for the poles to bounce.

Mexico Dreamin'

Very excited that it might get up to 30 F today, but for right now:

Hubs went ice fishing with a young man from church-hope they enjoy the day and catch lots of trout.  I'm not wild about trout, neither is Stan, but he cleans them, sticks them in the freezer, and when he has a lot, he brines and smokes them.  Then he gives them away.  Don't like them smoked, either!  I'm just waiting for Mahi Mahi and fresh shrimp.  In the meantime I'll eat a lot of good Montana beef.