Crocadoggle Hunting!

Notice the fierce scowl upon our faces--you have to show those crocadoggles you mean business! We are also wearing some pretty sweet--and very versatile--crocadoggle hunting capes. Also, you must carry a flashlight in case you need to spot them in dark corners or clonk them over the head.

We are riding a particularly active yellow crocadoggle. It was hard to break to reign, but we finally managed to get it calmed down enough to ride docilely. You just have to watch out for those teeth!

Casper Adventures

And I am back!
Not yet unpacked, but the boxes are in my room, so that is a start.
Kaelan was so happy to see us! He came running into the house yelling my name and gave us hugs all the way around. We are having fun. He has quite the imagination, which I must admit I love about him, and we are fending off 'crocadoggles' by the dozens! That is crocodile, to the layperson. We are learning that if you hit their snouts, they don't want to bite your feet. Also, the red and yellow ones are the most persistent and can pop out of nowhere! What was once a 'crocadoggle' free zone can be swarming within seconds. It's been pretty intense, but we're surviving and even flourishing, which all 'crocadoggle' hunters tend to do, for mysterious reasons.
We have great plans to go bike riding and to visit the waterfall and eat lots of popcorn.
I will start my job search soon, as soon as I get everything unpacked. I have a few things to pick up today, such as a reading lamp--mine has been drafted into service at my parents' house, which means that I need a new one.
Mom brought Kaelan his own cell phone, complete with camera--it is very fake, but the camera button makes a realistic camera-noise, which suffices for an almost-3 year old. He has been taking pictures by the dozens! Most of them, strangely enough, are of our shoes...
And he's been talking to Brandt every 5 seconds on the phone. Apparently, Brandt crashed his firetruck and needs to fix it, or possibly buy a new one--this is all according to Kaelan, keep in mind. I'll have to tell Brandt this story. He'll get a kick out of it.
We went to an Alpaca open house today and petted and fed the Alpacas. Kaelan was more impressed with a trio of baying hound dogs. We howled along with them until they were really worked up. It was a good time.
Now to fit time to unpack amidst the many 'crocadoggle' attacks...

Confirmed

Brandt was confirmed last night in front of the Helena city council as being officially off of probation and a city firefighter. We went and sat in with him while it happened. He introduced us to the room and said a few words. It was pretty cool. All his shift came, and they sat in the back in their dress blues, and the captain came up and introduced him. His friend and roomie, Doug, was also confirmed last night. They were hired at the same time, so that's been fun for both of them.

I'll tell you, it was pretty much one of the proudest moments of my life. I was just beaming at him the whole time. He's worked so hard! And he's doing what he loves, no doubt about that.

Afterwards we went out to eat dinner, because it is Mom's b-day today.

I'm trying to convince her she needs to go skydiving with me, but I don't think I've hit the combo just yet to working.

Building

Dad and I spent 9 hours yesterday building the deck. Ok, so I was mostly a holder, a measurer, a straight-edge plyer, a board carrier, a fetcher, an eyeballer to make sure the spaces were even, etc. I did get to pound in a few nails, and didn't break a finger doing it. I was also pretty darn good at all my tasks, I must say. No splinters!!!
We have to put on the stairs and the railing, but the rest is pretty much finished. And of course it is pouring today, so no deck building.
It was pretty cool to see it start to go up. Once we actually got going with the building, time flew by. My knee was very upset with me, though, and I had to take massive amounts of Ibuprofen.
Brandt came home last night and so Mom and I stayed up and talked to him until midnight. He was involved in a fire in Helena that tried to burn this little community in the middle of town, and Brandt and one other firefighter saved the grizzly bears at the Fish and Game headquarters. Of course, in the papers, the game wardens got the credit, but it was really Brandt! I like hearing his stories.

Crazy Weather Adventures

Like I have already lamented, the warm summer seems to be over. Yesterday we had 50 mph winds--I don't actually know how fast they were blowing, but it was pretty darn hard and the trees were tossing every which direction, so I'm assuming fast. Anyway, I wore my vest all day because it was chilly!
I decided to take the puppies for a walk and explore some areas of the farm I haven't seen in a while. We ended up going out to the tree island in the middle of the field, but to do that, first you have to climb the fence. I'm not very good around barb-wire, and I didn't want to add bleeding to my list of adventures, so I crawled under it. The ditch on the other side was very deep and very overgrown with weeds, so I stumbled through it, but so did the dog! Trisket, who is turning 12 this year and is not quite as mobile as she used to be while still retaining her portliness, tumbled in after me, right on her nose. I got her picked back up and made sure there were no serious injuries, and off we went again. Most of the trees out there have fallen over and been cut up, but there are exactly 3 left, and they are huge! There has been one that fell over ages and ages ago--back when I was in grade school, and it was always too big to cut up. So when they burned the field this last time, I guess they just let it get the tree too, so it's covered in this layer of char. It didn't burn all the tree, when you stand on it, you're still up in the air by about 3 feet, but you do get ash all over your shoes.
Anyway, Trisket decided she would climb with me. It's never been a problem before. She's always a tree climber, even the straight-up and down ones she'll try to climb, but when she's 12 and very stiff, it was not a good idea. She found her own way up, but I had to walk her through crossing it and getting back down. She kept wanting to leap off the top of the root tangle at the end, which is about 5 feet off the ground or higher. Probably higher. I think it's taller than me, actually. Once she was safely down, she was covered in soot. As were my shoes and my legs, come to think of it.
Kind of a tame adventure, as far as adventures go, but the puppies and I enjoyed it.
Mom and Dad and I have been watching The 10th Kingdom. We watch about an hour every night, and we are half-way through finally. It's a fantastic mini-series that Hallmark made for tv I don't know how long ago. It's a mixed-up fairy tale, and I love those! Even Dad is getting into it.
After our nightly session, we played Scrabble. Dad and I lost. Mom is pretty good, but that's because she always takes our spots, especially if it's on a triple word score. She's sneaky like that.

Where Did the Summer Go?

I feel like the crickets in Charlotte's Web--you remember, they were singing that the summer is ended and winter is here? Anyway, ever since I came home the summer has felt a little less warm. We've had more chilly days than we have warm days. My tan has pretty much faded. Still have color, but not quite as much. I'm still wearing my Chaco's everywhere and my toenails are still painted pink, so I'm keeping up the allusion of summer. But the other day Mom and I bought new cold weather jackets. I found a green North Face vest and Mom got a leather jacket she's always wanted. So we are in the prep for cold weather.
Dad is rebuilding our deck out front. It is a pain to have to go in and out the back door all the time. The kitty is enjoying it, but our dogs aren't too thrilled. Buddy keeps forgetting and falling on his beak out the front, and Trisket wouldn't survive that jump, not with her short legs. She's getting too old.
Brandt came home for a day and a night and we all spent a soul-sucking, mind-numbing 3 hours at Home Depot picking out lumber. I learned more phrases of carpentry than I know what to do with--flashing, joist hangers, angle brackets, lag screws, galvanized...I guess if I ever have to build something, I'll know what's what.
Mom and I painted last night, so now we are ready for Dad to build the deck. He discovered, once he tore down the old one, that a lot of wood underneath the house right there was rotten, so he had to dig it out and replace it. I think we're good to go now.
I've been writing again! I have a book that I started when I was in college and just never got around to finishing. Life gets hectic and there goes the creative flow. So I started reading it again while I was home and now I'm hooked. I write pages and pages and I thought originally I had a few chapters to go before being finished, but now I know I haven't finished the story. I am on page 300 right now, but I'm only getting started. It's exciting to be writing again. I would like to send this one in and see if I can get published.
Brandt is officially off of probation today! He has been a city firefighter in Helena for one year. He gets a raise and doesn't have to do any more training. And yes, all that you hear about probies having to do all the grunt work at the station for everyone else is true. But he's done! He is pretty excited. He gets confirmed in front of the city counsel on the 24th, so we're going over for that.
Kat got us Elton John tickets for the 30th, so I'll move to Casper on the 28th. I'm excited. Kaelan is a lot of fun, and I enjoyed getting to know Kurt and Kat better. And come January there will be another nephew to play with!

A Boy!

Kurt and Kat are having another boy in January! I will have another nephew. I'm pretty excited about that. Yay, another baby! Congratulations, Kurt and Kat!

Slack Line!

I finally got my slack line. I purchased the component parts while I was in Casper, but never got around to putting it up there. Kaelan bugged me for days to put it up so he could try it. He didn't even know what slack lining was, but he knew the word. Anyway, Dad and I put it up here and it took us a couple tries. I had never put one up by myself. Finally, though, we found a good spot that wasn't a military base for mosquitos, and put it up. Dad put one foot on it and said "No, I'm going to break a hip". So I hopped up. I haven't done it for about a month, so it was tricky at first, but then it's like your body remembers what it feels like and it gets smoother and smoother. I can do 3 steps again! I can also sit cross-legged. Mom came out and tried it--same story as Dad. I still think I can get them to try it. Maybe if I lower it? Brandt called me from Helena and said he'd come home and try it with me. He's on Kelly days right now, which means he doesn't have shifts at the station, he just teaches ARF at the airport. That stands for airport rescue something or other, and he teaches it for the fire school. I'll have to raise it up for Brandt, because my hip level will be about at his knee.

Kaelan Pictures

Here are some pictures of our vacation. Specifically, mini-golfing! Grandpa and Kaelan hitting the ball, then me and Kaelan posing with our clubs, and finally, Kaelan and Jack! Jack enjoyed Wyoming.