Marble

THEN













NOW

Thursday Challenge : Color

Critter

THEN














NOW

Maybe?

Dark and Cold today. 55 degrees. I actually had to close the windows and put on a sweatshirt.
I love cold weather. I'm sure it won't stay like this, but I'm ready for it. Only, the house wasn't quite ready for it. It's darn cold in here. *Hey Marianna...It's FREEZING in my house!! (Neener)*
Fire news wasn't updated last I checked. There is still smoke hanging around, the smell yesterday was the strongest it's been. Smelled like one big wood stove outside. Actually, I guess it is one.big.wood.stove. Sad :(

I was driving in from Sandpoint this morning, the drive is really beautiful. The water was really choppy today, windy and the skies were grey. It was like a scene from a Stephen King movie or something. I wanted to take pics, but with driving, and two dogs in the front seat I thought I should pay attention. I took the pics above as soon as I got back to my little town :)

Wordless Wednesday

Trout, Midair

Trout has been having a blast today with packing paper. I will pick up the paper and drop it and he flies at least 2 feet in the air to catch it. I tried tried tried to get him midair. This is one of them :)

Brock

THEN

















NOW

Wasted

Such a hard life he has...

Well I do have a post to put here, I really do.
But I'm tired now and don't feel like typing anymore.
I listened to a lot of music today. Past music, new music, you name it.
What I did think about most of the day was, how almost every past song I listened to brought back a memory. Even if it was a bad memory for me, it was interesting to think about that memory and realize that it really wasn't that bad at all.
For example... the song "Insensitive" by Jann Arden. I remember hearing that song years and years ago and it fit perfectly with this idiot I was dating.
But I think back and I'm thankful that it didn't work out.

Anyway... I have more to say... but you'll just have to wait :)

Info

I received this photo and THIS website today from a friend. Some of you inquire about the fire so I figured if you were interested in keeping up, you could do so here :)

Today's Special

Trout and Critter Stew

Treasure It

Seems we might not quite be out of the fire danger yet.

Our town had a fire meeting today. No, I didn't go. But..
Seems we will be getting a cold front next week that will bring in storms and very high winds. The fire service is worried that with the rough terrain, they will not be able to control the fire and it could head right for the area our houses are. Soooo...

Not much you can really do but sit and wait. I think it's around the time hubs will be in town so that's a good thing.
It sure is a weird thing to sit down and think about what you will remove from your home just in case. I know it's all insured and replaceable, but it's still my home.

I'm really not worried yet though.

Not much else to report for this slow, quiet Sunday.

Scarily Accurate

How You Life Your Life

You have a good sense of self control and hate to show weakness. You're laid back and chill, but sometimes you care too much about what others think. You tend to have one best friend you hang with, as opposed to many aquaintences. You tend to dream big, but you worry that your dreams aren't attainable.

How Do You Live Your Life?

A Few Fave's

Sunday Mutter

I say.... and you think?

Visit :: Chat

Cake :: Cheese

Period :: Era

Triumphant :: Successful

Screen :: Monitor

Neglect :: Abandon

Guitar :: Banjo

Loathe :: Despise

Sugar :: Brown

Montage :: Collage

Remember

I realized today, and I'm sure I'm about to jinx myself, but nothing freaky has happened lately. Of course after I realized that, the horses broke the fence again. But, that's nothing new and they are still in a fenced in area, so oh well.
The smoke has cleared out from what I can tell, even though the fire is actually bigger. From what I hear, when there are homes nearby, they try to steer the fire a certain way. So even though it's bigger, it's headed away from us. Works for me.
Someone killed my mailbox yesterday. Again, nothing new.

I've been reading alot of new blogs lately and it's been surreal. I started thinking more how much I miss out on.
I'm not complaining so much, you all know I'm basically a hermit, but I just started recently realizing the things I miss.
Sitting at a bar with a friend and having a few drinks. Going to a good mexican restaurant. Sitting on the outdoor patio.
Going to a movie. Going to see a concert. Walking though a mall. (*yes, normally a mall is not my favorite place anymore) but just the fact that I have hardly entered one in almosts 4 years, has made me just want to shop some.

Which of course turned me to remembering all the concerts I've been to. It's been years of course, at least 10 years or more. I remember a meme not too long ago where everyone listed the concerts they had been to. So, why not.

Tom Petty (many times)
Garbage
Alanis Morrisette
U2 (few times)
Steve Miller
Cranberries (few times)
Jimmy Buffett
Sarah McLachlan
Billy Joel
Spin Doctors
Reba McEntire
Dave Matthews
Natalie Merchant
Pearl Jam
Hootie & The Blowfish
Red Hot Chili Peppers
80's Texas Jam (Several times, which included): Foreigner, Loverboy, Black Sabbath, Journey and Aerosmith might have been at one).
B52's and The Go-Go's (high school)..:P

All I can remember at the moment. I do have to admit that some of those were with friends, and I probably couldn't tell you ONE song they sing. But.. certainly a few were my first choice.
Jimmy Buffet was an awesome time.
Tom Petty, Cranberries and U2 also.
Natalie Merchant..just beautiful.

Oh and Jerry Seinfeld...which was great :)

Funny, besides those few right there, I haven't really listened to any of those bands in years. Guess my music tastes have changed a lot. Actually, they have.
If I had the choice now, who would I go see?

Maybe that's the list I should work on.

Scavenger Hunt : Blue

Dating 101

Ok..I think this is funny :)

Over at AskMen.com, here's the Top 5 Dates She'll Hate.

1-Taking her paintballing. (*While she may like wearing the costume and playing dress up at first, it won’t take more than a couple of yellow and red paintballs to the face before she is heading back to the truck. By the time the swelling goes down and the bruises start to show, she’ll be telling you that she's fine with you doing this on your own next time.)

2-Take her hunting. (*Invite your girl for some outdoor activities, but instead of going on a hike and having a romantic lunch by a stream, take her fishing or hunting. Give her a handful of slimy worms for bait and let her know it may take hours before you get a bite. Tell her she’s in charge of gutting the fish if you catch something. You can also surprise her by using that cute little bunny rabbit she is admiring as target practice with your double barrel shotgun. The next time you invite her to the great outdoors, she’ll be sure to make up an excuse.)

3-Suggest a Sci-Fi Marathon.(* Grab all six Star Wars movies and the complete series of Firefly on DVD, and invite her over. Anakin Skywalker and Joss Whedon may be your masters, but they certainly won’t be hers. She’ll be calling her girlfriends and watching her girl movies with them instead, and you’ll have the day to do whatever you want.)

4-Make her play video games. (* If she wants to go low key by staying home, tell her you think it’s a great idea since you’ve been wanting to play Battlefield 2 for weeks now. After all, both of you believe terrorism is bad, right? And what better way to spend time together than by blasting people’s faces off? If you can say, “A couple that kills terrorists together stays together” with a straight face, you’ll be sure to have an evening that is girlfriend-free.)

5-Spend Saturday watching cartoons. (*Tell her you want to do something that will work on your parenting skills. What better way is there to train at becoming an awesome dad than by watching Scooby-Doo all day long? She’ll be so bored that you’ll have the next three Saturdays all to yourself, guaranteed.)


--Ok..I would play paintball, but it hurts.
--Umm..Hunting, yes I would pass. But everyone knows that.
--I think I'd pass on Sci-Fi too, but only because it's just not an interest.
--I never did get into the video game thing either.
--Actually I like some cartoons :)

I hope this list doesn't apply to guys in Montana.

Photo Friday : Circle

Are You A Geek?

GEEK TEST

You are 20% geeky.

You're quasi-geeky, you're semi-geeky, you're the margarine of geeky. You're the Diet Coke of geeky - just one calorie, not geeky enough.

The current average score is: 31.19%

Fact: 17.70% of people who took this test believe in The Force.

*Hat-tip to Samantha.

Caption This :)

Click it to big it :)

Thought Bubbles

**The fire is up to 400 acres as of yesterday. It seems to be blowing the other way. Thank goodness.
**One of my Montana cats (cat who just decided to live here) was missing for over a month. She just showed up this morning. A little skinnier, but she's back. Where do they go?
**I have muskrats in the pond. Four that I can count. They're busy little things too.
**The Fawns are just popping up everywhere lately, I have 4 in the yard right now. You might be forced to look at more fawn pics.
**Today is Blog Appreciation Day. So in honor of that, I sent Neil a pic of his blog on my computer, trying to show that his blog was being read in Montana. I wasn't really sure how to prove I was in Montana, so I included one of the cats. Even though now I found out I did it wrong, I was supposed to appreciate someone else!

So here's Neil's appreciation to me... his proof that someone in California is reading my blog :)

















I didn't think of using Montana underwear for proof.
Anyone got any Montana undies??

Smile :)

Ya gotta click on it the pic... she's smiling ;)

Still Don't Know Enough About Me Yet?

I stole this from Gary, I have nothing else to post about today anyway.
Well you know my life, nothing YET.

1. What is your occupation? Zoo Keeper?

2. What color are your socks right now? No socks on.

3. What are you listening to right now? Tom Petty.

4. What was the last thing you ate? A few tomatoes from the vine.

5. Can you drive a stick shift? Terribly, yes.

6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Green.

7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Hubs.

8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? Yeah, he’s alright :P Actually I stole it.

9. How old are you today? 38

10. Favorite drink? DIET COKE or Heineken.

11. What is your favorite sport to watch? Hockey

12. Have you ever dyed your hair? No..I've added highlights before, but that's about it.

13. Do you wear contacts or glasses? Nope.

14. Pets? 3 horses, 2 dogs, 2many cats, few deer, birds, squirrels...

15. Favorite food type? Mexican.

16. What was the last movie you watched? Firewall with Harrison Ford.

17. Favorite day of the year? Hmm, Any day that I’m in the woods at daylight by myself watching the “real” world come alive. (*I kept this from Gary..perfect answer isn't it?)

18. What do you do to vent anger? I rarely get angry, but if I do, I clean house.

19. What was your favorite toy as a child? I loved Weebles and Big Wheel and Barbies..and and and...

20. Fall or Spring? Fall

22. Cherry or Blueberry? Cherry

23. Do you want your friends to email you back? Naww...if you want to answer here you can I guess.

24. Who is most likely to respond? Umm..Stacie?

25. Who is least likely to respond? Umm..John?

26. Living arrangements? The zoo and my hubs.

27. When was the last time you cried? When Bustopher died.

28. What is on the floor of your closet? Lots and Lots of shoes.

29. Who is the friend you have had the longest? Liz

30. What did you do last night? Chatted and watched The Food Network.

31. Favorite smell's? Anything baking...bread, cakes, cookies.

32. What inspires you? Generosity, Respect, Selflessness.

33. What are you afraid of? Losing someone close to me and FIRE.

34. Cheddar or pepper jack cheese? Both..I love cheese :)

35. Favorite car? Love my Dodge Ram Mega Cab... even though I rarely get to see it.

36. Favorite dog breed? Westie.

37. Number of keys on your key ring? ONE. Just ONE. NOT Thirteen!

38. How many years at your current job? 4

39. Favorite day of the week? Any day is good.

40. How many states have you lived in? 3

41. Favorite holidays? Halloween. Christmas I guess would be next.

42. Ever driven a Motorcycle or heavy machinery? ATV...bout it.

43. Favorite music to listen to? Anything. Depends on the mood.

Wordless Wednesday

Creating

Youngster

Time Waster

Go play with THIS :)

Drag your mouse around the screen....don't forget to click every now and then to change colors.
If you hit the space bar you get a new screen :)

Stolen from LizzieDaisy.

Playing Live

I'm testing out the Windows Live Writer today. Blogger (the pill) won't let me post any photos. This Writer is pretty cool. I can insert photos and move them anywhere in the post I want :) It publishes everything into my blog for me without ever entering Blogger.

You can read about this Nifty little program over at John's :)

Now maybe I can finally write posts this morning, and Medicine Monday.

Bad Sign

No really. That's a bad sign ---> !!

We took the 4 wheelers up as high as we could before the signs stopped us. The photo below shows the color of the skies. There were several retardant planes flying over and a few helicopters.













The smell was a little scary and too realistic for me. We heard that there are actually three different fires burning.






Tomorrow we are on a RED FLAG alert, which means, and I'm quoting Os here, "This is the designation given when the combination of low humidity, high temperatures, lightning storms, gusty winds and general drought conditions are such that even a nasty glance at a bunch of grass could cause a horrendous wildfire. Fire restrictions are set through out the state, and the fire danger is considered "extreme".





Oh yay.

Heineken anyone?

Morpheus

Which of the Greek Gods are you?

Sunday Mutter

I say... and you think???

1. Cruel :: Intentions


2. Jive :: Turkey


3. Weak :: Sensitive


4. Understand :: Accept


5. Bum :: Rear


6. Stairs :: Kitty 500


7. Tone :: Dial


8. Quickly :: Hurry


9. Moment :: Magic


10. Beating :: Icing

Never Dull

See that? That's smoke.

Yep... that's fire. Looks pretty big eh?

I'm standing on my back deck here.

Ugh.

**update: it's 8 miles away. It's pretty big. We might ride up later and check it out. Pics to come :)

Youth Continued...

Ok, so I just had to add one more...

Scavenger Hunt : Youth

I know you've all seen this photo recently. I had other ideas for "Youth", but I posted alot of youth in the previous post, and this is the only youthful photo of me on this computer. So...here I am :)

Troublesome Two

Southern Treat

I was reading a blog last night that the writer had just recently experienced Blue Bell Ice Cream. *sigh*
I miss Blue Bell ice cream. It has to be, hands down, the BEST ice cream ever. Anyone want to mail me some?

Pretty Please??

Talent

Ok, so we have a bunch of comedians reading :)
The captions yesterday were great and way too hard to choose a winning one. I was torn between John and Kaliblue, with Carrie right there too. This caption game is way too fun :)

I never mentioned that while camping a couple of weeks ago that I read a book called Marley & Me. If you have a dog, or a huge goofball like Brock, you will enjoy this book.
I had forgotten how much I like reading. With DISH network and Computers and Blogging..reading seems to slip by the wayside. I'm really going to try to get back into that.

I watched the Food network most of the evening tonight, and one show really had me glued, Charm City Cakes. Wow, can this guy design a cake. There was a time I wanted to go into culinary arts, mainly to be a pastry chef. I remembered why after watching this. If you ever get a chance, check it out. If you like food. Or better yet, CAKE ;)

We had more thunder & lightning tonight. I wonder if sometimes it's just a test. The ground is so dry, the lightning is scary. Isn't it funny, any other time of the year you wouldn't think much about lightning. But here, in August, just one bad strike and we have forest fires.
Oh and I forgot to mention, we had two fires that day by the house. I just didn't know about the second one. I guess that's ok right?

Ignorance is bliss?

I can't even imagine trying to pack up this zoo alone.
It's animals first, cameras, then shoes...right?? :P

Caption This

Trout & Sinclair

*not one of my best, but I think it's funny :)

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Odds & Ends

1. Interesting TT header eh? I'm not sure where I got it, but it's the only one on this PC.
2. I still haven't gotten everything onto the new PC, one reason for not as many photos as usual.
3. I can't get my Itunes moved over either, which is really a bummer.
4. Tuna has figured out how to walk on the splint now. She's still a little crabby, but at least she can get around.
5. She has not tried the stairs. I have to help her there.
6. I only had 3 bird suicides yesterday. We have talked about tinting those windows.
7. I keep losing internet around the same time everynight. Odd?
8. Back on the treadclimber this morning. Interesting how you feel great afterwards, but you still DON'T want to get up and exercise. Or is that just me?
9. We're pretty sure Carmel is pregnant. Kind of exciting :)
10. Of course she'll give birth when I'm alone. Leesa's Law.
11. I keep trying to get pics of Trout & Sinclair together, but as you can imagine, it's hard to get them still.
12. Rained some last night. Good thing :)
13. I would really like a blueberry scone right now.

Wild, eh?

One Year Later

Wordless Wednesday

Update...

Amazing photo isn't it?

Just Two Hours away.

The smoke is here today. Very hazy and grey.