Roosevelt Cookout

Jeanette picked me up just after 2:30 and I hopped in her truck with Carrie. We headed upturn hill and picked up Mel. Traffic was light and we made it to the corrals by 3:35z as we arrived, one of the wranglers started explaining the ride. He was a fantastic speaker and was able to stretch his talk when the other speakers were not loading the horses as quickly as he expected.
Cole and Ric were our wagon leaders. We had a lot of fun on the way out with a mixture of Cole telling us some of the history and explaining some of the natural elements here. Then he had everyone introduce themselves and say their favorite part that they've seen or want to see.
Then we made it to the cookout and Jeanette brought out her water bottle which was filled with wine. And we sat and enjoyed that while the food line went down. Then we got up and waited in line with options for cornbread muffins, coleslaw, potato salad, corn salad, and steak. Delicious, perfectly cooked steak.
Then there were songs and stories around the campfire. And back onto the wagons and back to Roosevelt.

Chili Cook off!

For, like, the third year in a row, I convinced myself that I wasn't going to make a chili. And then Saturday, I was cleaning out my pantry and remembered that there were only three people signed up to bring food so... away I went! It was truly a Kitchen Sink chili. And even though I threw a TON of spices in, it just tasted sort of bland. Apparently the lentils just sucked it all right up. Things to remember for next year. But, hey, at least I got double the number of votes (4) as the last time I participated.

The Gardiner Fish Fry

Fish fry tonight. Went with Dad and enjoyed the meal. It was fried. And there was sugar. But it was good.

Ski, Swim, and Cribbage with a bread bowl

Fur Ball

Every year the Stafford Animal Shelter throws a fantastic “ball” to raise money. There’s a silent auction and a live one with great items that are donated. Last year, the food was fantastic, the lines were short and the wine flowed freely. This year, they sold more tickets and expected that folks would move around as they ate so that people would circulate through the seats. I don’t know who thought that this would be a good idea or even feasible but it made it a little less enjoyable. Also, the food just didn’t have as much pop. I splurged on a martini and it was okay but not fantastic. Hopefully Vicki will be on the volunteer board again next year so we’ll get to hear what the plan is but I’ve got to say, if I’m spending $75, I would hope for something a little better than what we were given. I want good food that I can eat in one to two bites. They did a fantastic job in 2010 and I hope it gets back to that.
Other than that, over twenty people from Gardiner came, which was a huge percentage of the town and a great percentage of the number of people that actually showed up. A great chance to reconnect with some folks that I don’t normally get to see and probably won’t get to see with the business of summer coming up.

Fancy eyeliner from Birchbox. Pretty but it itched after awhile

Me and Pat

Laurel and Leigh Anne

Heidi and Leigh Anne

Leigh Anne and me

Dave's Sushi and clinicals

There is a restaurant in Bozeman that has the best sushi in Montana. It's a small place with something like eight tables but it's always packed because the food is fabulous. See below:

Carrie and I went up to Bozeman to do our clinicals and, since we started at 7 in the morning, we decided to sleep at Josh's. As a thank you, we invited Josh and Courtney out to dinner and had a ton of fun with good food.

The practicals went well but it was a long-ass day. We got there at 7 and were on our feet pretty much the whole day until we got done at 5. We took blood pressures, temperatures, pulse ox, and some histories (which we really weren't supposed to). We also cleaned a lot of rooms. Because it was a Sunday, it was pretty slow. I was hoping for some fun April Fool's mishaps, but, alas, it didn't happen. Also, there had been a pretty big snow storm so a lot of people stayed indoors. Thank god that's over.