K, here are my two favorite quotes for the week.

"We have enough youth!  How about a fountain of wisdom?"

"Don't become like other people.  There are enough other people in the world already!"

Della had never yet seen a rodeo, so when we saw that the fair in Twin Bridges was going on this week, and that tonight was the Ranch-hands Rodeo, of course, we had to go! 

In order to enter the rodeo, you had to be working for a ranch in the three neighboring counties here.  So it was the Real Thing.  At least mostly.  I some how doubt that Wild Cow Milking comes under your normal everyday ranching duties!  

There were about 15 teams of 4 cowboys each entered; and they raced (on horseback, of course) after cows in a pen to separate out their specified one and rope it and brand it with lime, and let it go again;  raced after cows in the arena to rope it and catch its nose and tail and milk it (you had to have enough milk to pour after you'd raced over to the judge in the pen); raced after cows to rope them and throw them and give them a 'shot' (marked on the head with a pen) and let them go again; and raced after cows to rope them and haul them into a trailer.  Then you had to get all four of your horses in the trailer with the cow, all your ropes /out/ of the trailer, and your four selves into the cab of the pickup.  This last one was my favorite.  

All in all, we had a great time. Oh, and we walked around the rest of the fair too, and ate funnel cakes (which if you never have had, you should!  Just once!) and admired the chickens and ducks and goose and pigs and cows and steers and goats and sheep and... Speaking of cows, there were some Scottish Highlander cattle, which I think should have gotten an award solely for the virtue of not being Angus.  We also saw some of the milk goat judging.  Did you know that milk goats are partially judged on their femininity?  I didn't.  So if you ever want to enter a goat in a fair to be judged, be sure to get out your curlers and little lace hankies and the like.  

Della took a little video clip on her camera, which I would post, if I could ever figure out how to do it.  :/  I thought I was doing it right, but it had taken over 3 hours and still wasn't uploaded - which /can't/ be right.  (And if it is, y'all will just have to live without videos!)

The Perseid Meteor Shower is tonight!  Go out and look!  No excuses, what?  It's cloudy?  Bah.  Go anyways, wimp!

I stayed out last night until about 12:15 - which was when the moon got so bright that you could hardly see the stars.  But we saw a good number before that, and one really really bright one that actually left a trail behind it of heated air.  That was cool.  So - planning to try again tonight, even though it's a bit cloudier.  

(I hope you all have noticed my gorgeous Beartooth Pass pictures in the slide show, as well as Nichole's moose!!)

It was so nice tonight; we had a little biblestudy with the family where we are staying.  They have a son who is 5 or 6, and a daughter who is around 9, and both children read with us.  The girl on her own, with a little help for the harder words.  And the mom read a couple words at a time of the boy's verse, and he repeated it after her.  It was so cute.  I've never seen anyone do it like that.  

HOORAY!  Nichole has seen a moose!  (and me and Della too).  See slideshow for details.

It was very exciting; Nichole has for a long time now asserted that moose were mythical creatures, along the lines of dragons or gargoyles.  And for her first sighting, not only did we see the creature, but it was a gorgeous bull, and not obscured by bushes or branches.  

:D 

Beartooth Pass. Mmmmmm. When I'm not on dial-up, I shall post pictures.  

We started keeping a list of what we'd seen in the way of living creatures, because there weren't very many!  

1 crow.

1 unidentified songbird, grey.

1 robin (heard, not seen)

several chipmunks, 1 very fat and greedy.

massive numbers of grasshoppers and butterflies.

Once we got into the park, things began to look up and we could add:

1 grizzly bear (!!)

several herds of bison

1 more crow

3 antelope resting in the rain

a very large herd of elk

a smaller herd of elk lounging on the courthouse lawn

an infestation of fishermen who were clearly scaring away all the moose

Up in Billings to see Stephanie off to Russia.   She leaves this evening at quarter to 5 or so.  Tomorrow, we're plotting getting up early (ugh) and driving through Yellowstone (woo!) on the way back to Dillon.  

This may require a trip over Beartooth Pass (hooray!!).

I haven't posted anything for, um, a really long time.  Probably nobody's even reading this anymore, because there's Never Anything To Read!

My excuse for the last two weeks is that I was at Darla and Michael's and waaaay too busy playing to be bothered.  (did it work??)

So anyways, we took a drive up into the mountains the other evening and saw two moose.  We also saw a bunch of cows, snags and stumps who were immoosinating.  Evil immoosinators!  Immoosination should be prohibited!

Three !s in one post... surely that makes up for 3 months of no posts?