Sunset in Turner

 Mountain Meadows RV Park - Hungrey Horse

Libby Dam

 Danny& Lexi

Harvest

Beartooth Highway

SEPTEMBER 2016

SEPTEMBER – On the 7th we headed out in the motorhome for our last rally of the season. The first stop was Havre for Dixie to see the Chiropractor. It was a first visit to Dr. Adams and it went very well. Then a stop at Dad's and on our way. We hit rain at Browning and drove in it to our stop in Hungry Horse. It was raining a lot when we checked into Mountain Meadows RV Park. It was a wet hookup! On the 8th we headed to Libby with a couple of stops in Kalispell. First at Pierce RV and then Costco & Walmart. Mike hopped to get a quick check up on the hearing aids but they weren't able to do it. We made an appt for Sunday morning. We arrived in Libby around 2pm. We all went to dinner that evening. We had a fun rally once again. We didn't tow the car so we went with Dave & Sharon Miller to the Libby Dam on Fri. and that afternoon into town to the local brewery. We conducted our last Big Sky FMCA meeting on Friday. Kathie & Andy came from BC. It went well except for Mike, Susie & I all sitting down on the picnic table bench at the same time – causing the table to tip backwards. Mike is feeling the effects in a side/back muscle that he pulled while trying to keep us from completely tipping over! Saturday we went with Dave/Sharon to the Nordic Festival parade and walked around. We had lunch with them afterwards. We left Sunday morning before breakfast to make the 10am Hearing Appt at Costco. All went well and we also purchased a nice Blue Spruce Tree for our yard. On our drive back we hit rain once again and had it most of the drive to Havre. We stopped to see Dad and bought groceries. We decided to overnight at Walmart in Havre so we could go to the movie “Sully” and also pick up a part for Dad on Monday morning. On the 14th we went down to the bar to have a drink to celebrate Steve's Birthday. We also got a call from Timbercreek advising that Dad's eye was looking bad. I made an appt with Dr. Obie for Fri. Dixie worked at the school on the 15th. The 16th we took Dad to Dr. Obie and found out that his left bottom eyelid is inverting inward causing abrasion to the cornea. He said it would not correct itself and that he needed to see someone to have it surgically corrected. In the meantime we must tape it open. From there it was a VA appt at 11am. Dad came home with us so I can put in an additional antibiotic drop and tape the eyelid.....easier said than done! On the 19th Dixie drove to Chinook to to get her mouth night guard. Afterwards she went to Hebbelman's to cut John & Angie's hair. Dr. Obie called and advised that he was able to get Dad an appt on Thur with Dr. Santin, a plastic surgeon in Great Falls. On the 22nds we drove to Great Falls for a 3pm appt. We overnighted at the condo. We went in early the next morning to get our bloodwork done for appt next week. The 24th was the Tristan Billmayer Suiside Prevention Walk. It started at 9am at the Catholic Church. We made the 7.5 mile walk to Turner. The weather cooperated and it was just the right length. Much better than last years 13 miles. There was a great story about it on the KRTV news. Afterwards we had an excellent Brisket dinner in the old Gym and then listen to a speaker. The 26th I drove Dad to Great Falls and overnighted. Dad's surgery was the next day. It was a long day but it all went well. I also had my Mammogram that morning. Doug & Fran were in Great Falls as well. We overnighted on Tue and I drove Dad back to Havre on Wed. Our new living room furniture was delivered on Tue......Mike got it all set up! Another fun filled month!!!

AUGUST 2016

AUGUST – We took an Uber car to the Sheraton hotel in Springfield, MA. We walked around town and had lunch and then walked (1.8 miles) to the Exposition center for our meeting with our NW Area FMCA group. Kathie gave us a run down on what would be discussed at the meeting. Afterwards we went to the RV of a couple and had a glass of wine and they gave us a ride back to the hotel. Dinner that evening was at the hotel. The next day, the 2nd we again walked to the 'Big E' (in the rain, with a stop at McDonald's for a quick breakfast). Today was a pre-meeting going over what would happen at the Governing Board meeting on Wed. They provided a box lunch afterwards. From there we took an Uber to the Basketball Hall of Fame. We toured that for a few hours and walked backed to our hotel. We rested a bit and then walked around town some more. We walked through the Dr. Suess park and then stopped at a local bar for a local microbrew. Dinner was appetizers at the hotel. On the 3rd we walked back to the Big E for the Governing Board Meeting (this time in the fog & another stop at McDonald's). The meeting was over by 1pm. We walked back to the hotel and chilled. We took an Uber back to the fairgrounds where we met our NW area group for dinner at Storrowtown Tavern. It was a neat 18th century setting. Mike had Yankee Pot Roast and Dixie had lobster casserole. The NW Area FMCA paid $50 towards our meal! It was fun visiting with the group. Another couple from WA gave us a ride back to our hotel. We got an Uber car early on the 4th back to the Hartford airport for our 8 something flight back home. We made a connection in Denver where we met up with Danny. We arrived in Billings around 1p. Of course the new rollerboard bag has to be checked and it got scratched up! We headed to Costco as Mike had an appt to have his hearing tested for hearing aids. He will test drive some next week when we return. We headed out of Billings shortly after three. We had dinner at the Turner bar and Danny overnighted with us. On the 5th Denita/Steve picked up Dad and brought him to out. We had dinner at Dougs/Frans and he came home with us. On the 6th we had a wonderful Brisket dinner at Denita's. Danny stayed until Sunday, the 7th and drove Dad's convertible back to CA. He is buying it. On the 10th we took Dad back to Havre. The 11th found us driving to Billings once again, this time in Dad's Motorhome for a FMCA rally in Joliet. It was a long, slow drive on the hilly road to Billings. Never realized how many up's and down's there are. We were a bit lat for Mike's appt at Costco hearing but all was well. He got fitted for 24 hr trial hearing aids. We stopped for fuel and then headed for Joliet. We dry camped at Will/Shirley Ketterling's place. We had a wonderful rally with lots of wonderful food provided. On Friday we drove back to Billings to return the hearing aids and do a bit of shopping. On Sat. we drove the Beartooth highway to the top and turned around. When back in Red Lodge we walked through the festival and had beer at the local brewery. On the 14th we headed back home. On Sat. we found out that Buster was in the hospital with heart problems. On early Monday morning we found out he had passed away. On the 21st we headed back to Billings to catch a flight to California for Buster's service. Mike had an appt at the Costco Hearing center first to get fitted for his Hearing Aids. It went quick and we were able to get on our 130 flight to Denver. We arrived in Los Angles later in the afternoon where Danny & Lexi picked us up. He lives just a mile or so from the airport. We walked to a local bar/restaurant and had a great dinner. We overnighted with Danny and in the morning walked the mile down to El Segundo beach. Then we took the convertible and drove to Aunt Marge's. We stopped in Corona and had lunch with Roger & Karen and Sandy. We then went to Sandy's apartment to visit. We had dinner with Aunt Marge and stayed overnight with her for two nights. Tue. we met Roger & Sandy for Breakfast. We visited with Marge in the afternoon and then we all went to the Spaghetti Factory for an early dinner. We drove on to Corona for Buster's Viewing at the Pierce Brothers Crestlawn funeral home. On the 24th we drove back to the memorial park to attend Buster's graveside service at 10am. It was a wonderful celebration of his life and what he meant to so many people. Afterwards we went to their church, Grace Fellowship for a wonderful lunch and fellowship. Our nephew, Casey from Texas flew in so it was great to see him. We also were able to visit with Charity, Andrew & family and Carece & family. We took a different route back to Danny's & drove the coastal road for a bit. We walked back to The 'Tyler Surfboard' store we saw on our walk on Monday to buy Tyler a Birthday present. Danny, Lexi and us walked to the 'famous Mexican restaurant' for dinner. It's not quite as good as in the past! On Thursday really early we got an Uber car to LAX to catch our flight back to DEN/BIL. We arrived in Billing around 1245p. On the 30th Mike had an eye appt with Dr. Obie in Havre. The 31st we went to Chinook to the dentist. We had our teeth cleaned and Dixie had an impression made for a new mouth guard. Oh and in between all that we took dinner to the field for harvest a few times! WHAT A BUSY MONTH!

 Brandon's Change of Command

Just missing Bailey

JULY 2016

JULY – We spent from June 30 – July 5^th at Beavercreek at a great spot in Shambo. We hiked a bit, went to the lake to fish, drove around and just relaxed. Tammy B came from Chinook and overnighted with us on Sat. A very relaxing time was had by all. On that Friday, Doug, Mike & I went to Havre and took Dad to his VA appt. to go over the results of his CT. She felt that he would benefit from having his gallbladder removed and advised us to see a surgeon. We made an appt with Dr. Sparks for the 5^th. Doug & I took him to that appt in the motorhome. The Dr. felt that since he wasn't having any pain that we should not do the surgery at this time. We all agreed.

On the 7^th Steve came over and installed our new Water Softener. Of course it ended up taking more time and parts than expected. But it works! We bought lunch at the 241 Grill for Steve & Shay.

On the 12^th we drove to Great Falls with a stop at Dad's. We did some shopping and overnighted at Doug/Frans. Dinner was at the Pit Stop. At 7a on the 13^th we got on a flight to DEN then IAH and finally AEX. We managed to get on all the scheduled flights. We arrived in AEX around 645p. Brandon picked us up and we drove to Leesville where we met Kat and Nic for dinner at Chili's. We walked in the hot/humid morning on Thur & Fr. (dripping wet). We had lunch at the PX on Thur. On Fri we hung out! Sat. the 16^th we drove to Natchitoches, LA (the oldest town in LA). We went on two plantation tours (Melrose & Cane River Oakland). We had a cajun lunch at Merci Beaucoup! We walked along the river and toured the Louisiana Sports Museum. We had a great day and ended it with a great steak dinner at home. On Sunday the 17^th Mike, Brandon & Nic went to the shooting range on post. Later some of Kat's family came from Houston and we all enjoyed at Spaghetti Dinner.

The 18^th was Brandon's Change of Command Ceremony. It was a wonderful experience where Brandon and Kat were thanked for their service and Brandon turned over his command of the “Wild Boars” Battalion to another Lt. Col. It's always moving to see our military at work! Afterwards we all went to lunch at Lindo's Mexican restaurant. From there we went back to Brandon's where they packed for their week long trip to Jamaica. We left for Houston around 3p. We had dinner at Rudy's BBQ and then overnighted with Mike & Hope.

The 19^th was travel day. We started our trip out of IAH on the 787 Dreamliner (our first trip in one) leaving at 9am. The flight in DEN was full so we didn't make it on that on. We hung around in the club for a couple of hours and left on the 310p flight ti GTF. We arrived their around 515p. We decided to stay over since we had a few things to do in Great Falls. We dined at the Montana Club and then watched some of the Republican Convention.

On the 20^th we departed GTF at 8am. We stopped at Dad's and picked him up some groceries. We arrived home around 130p. It's great to go but it's always nice to get home! Dad called that evening upset wanting us to come pick him up. Apparently he was quite upset with the staff as they were trying to help him take a shower. I encouraged the staff to let it go for today. I tried calling back but he didn't answer the phone.

The 21^st Doug/Fran came for dinner. They are heading out on a Motorcycle trip on the 22^nd. We will water plants and watch Cali.

The 24^th we attended church in Hogeland.

On the 25^th we received a call from Dad and Timbercreek. He wanted to come out here and was quite agitated. Denita and I drove up to pick him up. The next day I called the VA nurse as I had determined that Timbercreek had run out of his anti-depressent and hadn't been giving it to him. We decided to leave him off of it and monitor. He seems to be doing better without it and his appetite has improved since going off the Diabetic and Cholesterol medication. We went back to Havre for an appt with Dr. Boes on Friday. We took Dad back to his place afterwards.

On the 31^st we drove to Billings to get on a plane to Hartford, CT. While in Billings we did some quick shopping and purchased a new rollerboard bag. We overnighted there after arriving at 1130pm.