A little tidying up

I wanted to do something to help Paul with all his many, many little projects around the house. A lot of them I am unable to do for lack either of skill or strength. And I haven't felt like doing much physical anyway until today. But today I thought maybe I could do something. I had heard Paul bemoan the mess around the driveway, but cleaning it up was a low priority. Part of that mess was a tangle of  8-10 or so garden hoses, some of them very sturdy, long, commercial grade. I thought maybe I could untangle them, coil them and tie them so they could be moved and stored  more easily. I asked Paul about them and it turned out they were hoses left behind at various building sites where he had worked that would have been hauled away as trash, if he had not "rescued" them. The problem was, he had no idea what shape they were in and especially if they leaked or not. So I offered to untangle, test, throw away the faulty ones, and then coil, tie and stack the good ones. He was very glad to have my offer. So that's what I did.  It turned out to be quite a job and I had to take some breaks, but it's done. We threw away only two, but the connectors on a couple will need replacing. I didn't think to get a "before" photo but here are some "afters":

      This area was completely covered with tangled hoses

              Coiled, tied with tape, and stacked

I left two long ones coupled and hooked up to the faucet so Paul can water his trees on the berm

                    The front of the house looks very nice 

Fireworks

We did not go to Alpine after all. The next  door neighbors, the Bells, said they would set off some fireworks and Max wanted to stay. After dark, E, M and I walked the big loop in front of the house. We saw distant fireworks in about five places.

                                           Distant fireworks 

Then, just as we went by the Bell's house, they set off three rockets. Wow! Right overhead! Just enough! Caught a couple of them:

                                A nice ending for the day. 

A quiet 4th of July here

Today has been a very quiet day. I got up really late, worked a bit in bed on a service I will be leading July 23rd, got up and had Bfst almost at noon, then read much of the afternoon: Doris Kearns Goodwin's No Ordinary Time, the history of WW II, focusing on FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt. A totally gripping book for me, esp. since I have recently been immersed in my father 's WW II memoirs, journals and letters. It has brought me to tears several times.

Tonight, Ellen made potato salad, slaw and peach/blueberry crisp and Paul grilled burgers. A trad fourth meal. We'll go to the modest Alpine fireworks later.

Yesterday, we went to Jackson, I to the Library, E&Max to the pool. On the way home, we stopped at Jenny's workplace, the Sporting Club, for a very simple little rodeo. It made me wish I had learned to ride a horse as a kid. I think I would have liked it. 

                       Max in the pool (photo by Ellen)

                 Two cowgirls explaining the rodeo 

                          Roping a calf

                     A kid's race  (Max wasn't interested)

                        Jenny was the official Club photographer 

Catching up

I have a lot of catching up to do and not much chance to do it. We got back to Alpine yesterday evening, about 8:30p.m., after a nice drive through Yellowstone and Teton NP's. After leaving Roosevelt Lodge, we went to Yellowstone Falls outlook, stopped and had a bite at Lake Lodge on Yellowstone Lake, and then in Teton, made a short hike to Christian Lake to see the waterfowl. There were two swans and some coots - not a lot else. We had ice cream at Moo's in Jackson, and then drove to Alpine. That was the day. The whole week was fun, but tiring. I slept late this morning, am now at the Alpine Library which closes soon. We are still uncertain about our exact itinerary from here on, but I think we'll be in Salem this coming weekend. I'm starting to think about the service I will lead at Windham Congregational Church on July 23rd - that is our "drop dead" date for return.

I realize that I have not posted about our visit to the capital building in Helena, nor our time in Yellowstone.

Here are a few more photos. Hopefully, I'll  have a chance to fill in later.

              Montana State Capital

                Interior scene at top of stairway

                 Wildflowers in Yellowstone

                 Lower Falls at Yellowstone

More scenes from Glacier National Paek

Today we were able to drive the Going To The Sun Road from one end to the other. It opened just today. Hundreds of people got the word, so it was crowded, but it was well worth it. What an amazing road and what an amazing place! We pulled over several times, stopped at the Logan Pass Visitor's Center, but mostly we just tried to take in all the incredible vistas that each turn in the road provided. We got off to a very late morning start - about 11a.m., got to the other side after 2:00p.m., and then had a snack and drove down through the expansive Montana grasslands to Helena, the capital, where we met up with the rest of the family. We found them at a local restaurant, had a quick bite there and then we all gathered in Paul and Max's room and had a round of Salad Bowl,  the word guessing game I described in a previous blog post. A lot of fun!

I took scores of photos; here is a sample, in no particular order:

Swiftcurrent Creek - taken on a Ranger-led nature walk

Jackson Glacier

Glaciers from the Going to the Sun Road

Lake MacDonald Lodge, one of the classic lodges in the park

Max skipping stones in Lake MacDonald

Interior of lobby at  Many Glaciers Lodge

Tamar with friend

U-shaped valley formed by a glacier eons ago. At one time, the snow would have been up to the top of these peaks!

Beautiful Glacier NP

  Ellen, Jerry, Tamar and I had a wonderful day in the GNP today. Very reminiscent for me of the Swiss Alps. That's how special it is.

We got back very late, but here are a couple of photos. More later. 

                                   The glaciers 

                         Many Glacier Lodge

                         From Sunrise Point

Glacier N.P.

We had a full day yesterday. I actually made a 4- mile r.t. Hike, much of which was pretty steep. My knee is complaining a bit but not too bad. The Road to the Sun road is closed by snow, so you can't do the whole trip. Thus we decided to go to East Glacier , stopping on the way for our hike, then going on to Glacier Park Lodge, one of the classic lodges, then to Two Medicine Lake for a short hike to some falls , back to W. Glacier for supper. In the car we had Mimi, Ben and Tamar, and we played Contact over and over, another word game. A person who is it, thinks of a word and gives the first letter. The others ask questions. Let's say the word is camel. First letter "c." Someone #2 asks, e.g., "Is it a guy out west on a horse?" The it person says,  "it's not a cowboy." Then questioning continues. But if it can't think of an answer, and another player #3 thinks #2 is thinking of. "Cowboy", #3 says "contact," and counts down 3-2-1 and if #2 and #3 then simultaneously say "cowboy" together before #1 can say anything that would reasonably answer the question (they could say "cowhand" for example), #1 then has to give the second letter of their word ("a") and play continues. It's sort of complex but once you get the hang of it, quite fun. Allowances are made if #1 hasn't the slightest idea what the question means. 

I took a lot of ohotos, here are some:

Bear Grass - the iconic wildflower here

          Two Medicine Lake

            Glacier Park Lodge

     Lobby of the lodge

      Classic Red Bus

    Paul, Max and Tamar in a HUGE chair