A balloon tribute to Cousin Jay - several more were released and could be seen for miles!

 Oct. 17, 1967 ~ Oct. 18, 2013

Cousin Jay's Memorial

Butte and Our Drive South

October 25 – 31...We arrived at the Butte KOA around 230p on the 24^th. We got set up and then went to Jim and Shelly’s for the evening. On the 25^th Mike stayed at the motorhome and I went to Shelly's where I spent the day. Denita and Family and Doug, Fran and Dad arrived around 5p. Danny flew to Idaho Falls and then drove from there arriving around 8p. On the 26^th we attended Jay's funeral where there were over 500 in attendance. It was a beautiful service and tribute to Jay! After the funeral there was a lunch at 'The Depot'. We stayed there until 530p and then spent the evening at Shelly's. We had a nice time visiting with family and friends...it was just very sad but we reminisced and heard many wonderful stories about Jay.

On Sunday the 27^th we left at 815am in 20 something degree weather (just in time as it snowed later in the day). We drove for 465 miles to Springville, Ut where we stayed overnight at the Walmart. Monday's drive was only 295 miles but it was all in high winds. It made for a very long day. We overnighted at the Casablanca Casino...a good place as the traffic noise wasn't bad. The downside of the day, in addition to the wind was trying to get fuel at the Smith's station. We had to unhook and when exiting the RV I somehow dropped my phone (2 months old) on the pavement....well of course it didn't fair well – the screen shattered in the corner and has a diagonal crack covering it. It does still operate however! All that and we weren't even able to get fuel there as it was too crowded and impossible to get at the pump.

We fueled up the next morning (Tue) next to the casino and hit the road just before 10am. We stopped at Camping World in Henderson where we met up with Bill & Gloria. We visited with them awhile before heading down the road to our destination of Bullhead City, AZ. Today's trip was only 180 miles. We arrived at Ridgeview RV park around 3pm.

Nephew Levi's red Mohawk in memory of cousin Jay!

Most of October 2013

October 1-24...What a busy month it has been! We kept very busy packing up all our stuff to move into the motorhome. Our trip to North Carolina to take care of the grandson got canceled due to the government shutdown. Brandon & Kat's classes in Leavenworth were canceled! We could have still gone to visit but we decided we still had a lot to due to get ready to go south.

On the 4^th we took the motorhome in to Martin's RV to have the motor replaced in the jacks. Dad came back from the farm and we went to dinner at Borrie's in Black Eagle.

On the 10^th I went back to the dentist due to increasing pain in the tooth that I had a root canal/crown on in Mexico last Feb. Well, he x-rayed it and determined that it was abscessed. We made the decision to extract it so I had to start antibiotics and come back on the 15^th to have it removed. It was a difficult extraction (of course) so I had a lot of pain afterwords...in fact still having problems. I went back on the 22^nd and he said it was probably a 'dry socket' so he packed it with Clove Paste and sent me home with more. At this time I am still packing it as it is the only thing that gives me relief.

On the 11th we drove out to the farm. We stopped at the courthouse in Chinook to get Mike's 'carry license' but the person wasn't there to fingerprint him. I guess it will wait until next spring. We attended Tyler's football game in Harlem that night. It was a bit cold but fun! We spent Friday afternoon at Howards house helping Gita go through some of his stuff so they could take it back to Seattle. We also took some stuff to storage. We took a few more jewelry pieces over to Denise's shop in Turner on our way back home on Sunday afternoon.

On the 16^th I took Dad to his hearing test. Denita and Steve came to Great Falls that day to attend Tyler's football game in Chouteau. They stayed overnight with Dad. Doug & Fran also came to town as Doug had an MRI on the 17^th on his lower back. It's sounding like he may need some surgery to fuse some discs. Also on the 17^th we had a meeting with Jodi at H and R Block to find out some tax info. We decided that since we are now leasing out condo we will no longer be doing our own taxes! We all went out to the OP for dinner that evening.

On the 18^th we received very tragic news that my cousin, Jay Bickford was in an accident at work. Him and another guy were trying to reposition a cherrypicker on a flatbed.   It tipped off the flatbed throwing them both out of the bucket. Jay fell 20ft and suffered severe injury’s- head, ribs, lung. Surgery was done on him to stop internal bleeding in Butte and then he was air lifted to Missoula. He died of his injuries that evening. He had just celebrated his 46^th Birthday the day before. It is just so hard to believe he has been taken from us.

On the 21^st we moved into the motorhome and parked it at Dick's RV park for 3 nights. We needed to be able to put the slides out so we could go through everything. We found more 'stuff' to put in storage. We were also waiting for a sensor for our jacks (somehow they didn't have that when they installed the motor). Well of course the part didn't come in so we will be leaving without it and they will send it to us.

On the 23^rd Doug and Fran come to town and we took them out for dinner at the Willow Creek Steakhouse in the Heritage Inn. Steve Keller was playing at the Blue Max lounge so we ended up eating dinner there but with the dining room menu. Fun!

It's Oct. 24^th and we pulled out of town at 1115 am. Destination – Butte KOA for 3 nights. Jay's funeral will be on Sat. and we will head south on Sunday.

 Nephew Shay in the Missoula Children's Theater.  He's the one with glasses

                                                              One of my jewelry pieces

September 2013

September...Tyler and Dad drove to Great Falls on the 2^nd as they both had doctor appointments on the 3^rd. I went with both of them with lunch in between at the El Commodore. They left around 3 and Mike and I headed to our Dentist appointments. It was a busy doctoring day!
On the 6^th we headed out for our last RV rally for the summer. This trip was the 120 miles to Lewistown. We took in the Chokecherry Festival on Sat. (the largest street fairs we've seen in Montana) and the Bale Trail 'What the Hay' event on Sunday. It was a fun weekend!
I stayed busy making up jewelry pieces to put in the Beauty Salon in Turner.
On Friday the 13^th we drove Dad's Motorhome out to the farm. I took the jewelry to Denise's shop and set up a sales display. On Saturday we attended the Missoula Children's Theater presentation of 'Blackbeard the Pirate' in Turner. Shay had a great role as 'Peach Fuzz'. Sunday Denita, Fran and I went through the storage room in the shop and got ride of a bunch of stuff! We went back home on Monday, with another stop at the courthouse in Chinook...this time to license the motorhome. Dad came back to Great Falls with us.
Monday the 16^th Brenda Maloney and Shawna Billmayer overnighted with us on their way to Milwaukee. On Tues. evening Doug/Fran & Steve/Denita overnighted on their way to Yakima, WA to buy a semi truck. We went to the Stein House with them for a late dinner. They left at 630a on Wed. but had car problems just out of Simms. We took our car and met them at Vaughn where we switched cars. We took Doug's car to the shop. The got back to Great Falls late Thurs. evening and left again on Friday. I made more jewelry this week ~ this time for the Sugarbeet Festival in Chinook on the 28^th. Fran is going and offered to try and sell some of my jewelry.
Friday, Dad, Mike & I had brunch at Perkins and then went to a 'Mature Driving Class' in the afternoon. It was pretty interesting and it gives us a little discount on insurance.
We also attended the farmers market on Wed. and Sat.
Sunday the 22^nd was church and spending time getting organized for our move back to the motorhome which will take place mid-Oct.
Monday was a trip to the eye doctor with Dad and then for groceries and gas.
Dad drove to the farm on Tue. (his first one on his own ~ not sure that it was a good idea but we didn't have much say in the matter). Mike had his annual doctor visit and I gave blood. I also made a trip over to Dad's so the repair man could replace a blind cord.
We spent the rest of the week sorting through items going to the motorhome and/or storage or give away! We made a few trips to the MH and storage...glad it is in the same facility.
Thur. we ended up taking our computer to CTR Computers to install additional ram memory ~ we ended up leaving it with him so he could wipe out everything and take it back to it's original purchase state. There was Malware that was slowing it down a lot! Denita/Steve/Shay overnighted with us Thursday evening.
On Fri. we loaded up our spare bed, desk, chair and stools for them to take to Levi. He has an apartment in Missoula that needed furnishing....between all the family he is furnished! We picked up the computer Fri. evening and oh how much better it runs. We do have to reinstall the software that was on it but it is better than trying to remove all the junk! All total it cost $185 but that was much better than what Staples wanted!
Sat. was more running around. Denita/Steve/Shay came back through on their way home. Fran sold 4 pieces of my jewelry to the Sugarbeet Festival in Chinook ~ that's 6 so far! We went to the Stein House of dinner.
Sunday & Monday was spent getting more stuff ready for the move to the motorhome. The list is whittling down. Next Sat. we are schedule to go to NC for a week.