When I was four or five or thereabouts, I remember being at home with Dad - Mom was off somewhere - when a fire was called. We got in the car and went to the firestation and got into the firetruck and went off to the house that was on fire. And Dad LOCKED US IN THE TRUCK!! I remember very clearly the injustice of this. I wanted to get out and go around to the other side of the house and see what the fire looked like from there. I knew that it was important to stay far away and not get in the way of the firefighters, and I would have! I was big! I could be very good! Hmph.

So tonight, I got half of my ancient desire granted. We were just done having pizza when Dawn got up and put the paper plates on the fire. A few minutes later, she glanced up and saw fire flickering up where the pipe went into the chimney. And as she said this, we heard it start to roar. So we shut all the dampers, called the fire dept, and went outside to gawk. It was a chimney fire, no question. Flames coming about 2 feet out the top, and black black smoke. So we stayed out and watched the firemen come, and climb up to the roof and dump stuff down. And squat and watch it for a while, and dump more stuff down. And wander around inside looking for hotspots. And watch it a while longer, and dump some more stuff down... Most excitement we've had since we went to the horse races! (that's another post - I should have made it before this one.) But all ended well. It was a ceramic-lined chimney, and they managed to keep it from getting too hot. All the Dumping Down of Stuff was to keep from using water so as not to crack it and make it unusable.

Ok, so I thought I should actually post something here. I do now and then, believe it or not.

Laurel and I both went to Oregon for special mtgs this year. They are about 10 days after ours end here in MT/WY. We stayed to see Tammy Carr off in Billings, and then went up to Kalispell, where I got on the train and rode out to Washington to surprise Mom and Dad for their 40th anniversary. (The actual date of the anniversary was a few weeks earlier, but it was still in the same month! It counts!) Scott picked me up so the 'rents wouldn't know I was coming, and I snuck into the house. We took all precautions, including only shutting one car door, and tiptoeing up the walkway. I didn't use the ramp, but crept along on the grass below. Dad was at the kitchen sink, but thankfully the curtain was closed so he couldn't see out! They were properly surprised.

I had a very fun week at home. Some of Dad's family was out for lunch on Christmas Day, which was a really nice unexpected pleasure for me! And I learned to play Cribbage! (Don't tell me this is an old person's game, ok?) Mark came down to spend a few days also, and we went rock hunting. I found a really nice rock - small enough to almost close my fist around, but a nice orangish-brown carnelion with both dendrites and something-else's inside. The something-else's look like tan seaweed fans. That's not a very good description either. Hmmm. Maybe better would be a very tiny tumbleweed, flattened out. Anyways, take my word for it that it is Cool.

Then off to Oregon. They only have 2 weeks of specials, which seemed oddly short to me (we have about 4 weeks out here), but after having 4 weeks here and then 2 weeks there, I was more than ready to come back to Wyoming! I had a very nice time, special in many more ways than can be easily stated. One thought that's been on my mind is w**** (Editing in to say - I have no idea what happened here. I'm sure I had some thought other than alphabets and symbols to say, but... well, it's lost and gone forever now, alas.)

Then I had a week with my kidz. :D Oh yeah, and their parents. ;) It was a great time; very relaxing. Not much sleep, precisely, but who needs sleep? (and it doesn't sound like I'll be getting any anytime soon, either!) Our field has expanded to include Casper, so we are looking into having mtgs Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. The exact places which will fit into each time frame are still up in the air a bit, and any meeting is liable to cancellation with no notice, depending on the roads and the weather, but we're going to try!

I feel a bit like a kid let loose in a candy store, here in Casper with their lovely library! Lovely LARGE library! Absolutely crammed full of Books!! I think I went a little overboard, but... I really tried to restrain myself. Honest, I did! And I can always renew them, right?

I think that brings things up to date. Laurel and I are here in Casper for the weekend, and then I think we're heading over to Torrington. After that, who knows?

"The more I practice, the luckier I get."

Quote attributed to Jack Nicklaus on being complimented on a lucky shot he made while golfing.

Well, I had a first last week... I led the singing AND spoke. You may pooh-pooh this, saying, "Oh that's nothing, Leilani, you wimp!" But wait! There's more!

This was at special meeting. With a wireless microphone. At Cheyenne. And lest this mean little or nothing to you, 'at Cheyenne' should bring to your mind an image of the stage from which you speak... which is at least 200 or more (I stink at mental measurement) feet long. So not only am I sitting in the front row, off the stage, in approximately the middle, singing my little lungs out; but I have to drop the mike, charge across the stage, remember what I had to say, then race back and snatch up the mike while John was patiently hovering waiting to announce the next hymn.

Pantpantpant.

special mtgs

Cheyenne - Nov 29

Pine Bluffs - Dec 2

Torrington - Dec 6

Lusk - Dec 9

Gillette - Dec 13

Buffalo - Dec 16

Sheridan - Dec 20

Then I go out to Oregon - Jan 1 - 17.

BEAR

(so sorry, Jen!)

Well.  

Where to start?  At the (almost) end, I think.  

Monday, a few mondays ago, Nichole and I set out to Dillon on our way to Yellowstone on our way to Billings on my way to *drumroll* Wyoming!

We drove south, through Centennial valley (where are supposed to live many moose, but they are of the mythical variety, as we saw nary a one.)  But it is a beautiful drive none-the-less, and Nichole and I saw several houses we would be quite happy to live in.  We finally decided on one in particular, and happily divvied it up between ourselves as we drove past.

Then we got stuck behind a cattle drive.  This has happened to me once or twice before - cows walk exceedingly slowly, if you weren't aware of it.  We gave up at last, shut the car off, and sat in the road waiting for them to get far enough ahead that it was worthwhile driving after.  Good thing we were on a not-very-traveled gravel road!  No one came along to honk at us for hogging the road until the cows turned off and we were gone. 

Yellowstone was gorgeous.  We went in at the west entrance, and down to Grant Village.  Along the Madison River (I think that's the right one?) we saw quite a few elk, but only one bull.  He was quite the patriarch though - I think he had 6 points on each side.  We stopped to see Old Faithful, and found we were only about 20-30 min ahead of when it was scheduled to erupt, so decided to stay and watch it.  (This decision had Consequences, I will tell you, but such is life.)

Then on to our campground.  Consequence #1 was that we didn't get there until it was dark.  We were informed at the gate that there was a grizzly who had made this area part of his or her territory, and to be extra cautious about anything smelly in tents.  We promptly decided to follow the rules to the hilt, and didn't leave anything in the tent at all except our two selves, our sleeping bags and our air mattresses.  We didn't even eat in it, for fear of stray grizzly-attracting crumbs.  

Consequence #2, arising from Consequence #1, was that we decided to turn our car lights onto our campsite, and set the tent up in their light.  After about 20 minutes spent putting together poles and threading them through nylon tunnels, we retired to the car to plot our next move, noticed the lights looked dim, and discovered Consequence #3.  Our battery was not in the flush of its strength, and had gone dead. Consequence #4 has been alluded to above.  We set up the tent by flashlight.  Thankfully, it wasn't complicated.  Consequence #5 was that we didn't get to have a campfire, having neither matches nor car to go and get firewood from the ranger station.  Consequence #6 was that we went to bed early.  This one might be a good one... it would have been, surely, if I'd gotten any sleep!  

I can't say that getting no sleep was a consequence of having stopped to wait for Old Faithful.  Nor was it a consequence of learning there were grizzlies prowling our campground.  I had successfully convinced myself there was nothing to fear from a bear - everyone around us had a campfire, and any grizzly who wanted to come wandering past would have to dodge a maze of smoke and fire with nothing tasty-smelling at the end of it all.  However... the elk kept me awake.  They started bugling at about 11 pm, kept it up until about 12:30, stopped, then started up again around 2 am.  It was gorgeous.  Really it was.  It sounded like there was one about 200 yrds to the north of us, and one 200 yrds to the south of us, and they were calling back and forth to each other.  But it would have been a lot more gorgeous if I hadn't wanted just to Go To Sleep.  

Consequence #... 7!  We got quite a nice amt of exercise bright and shivery early Tuesday morning!  No one nearby us had jumper cables so we got to walk out to the service station.  It was at /least/ 700 miles, I'm sure.  (Ok, ok, only probably 1.5.  I think.  Not sure.)  The rest of the day went much better.  We went to see the mud pots, stopped at several of the prismatic springs, and zipped on out the east entrance towards Cody - and saw a grizzly bear!  Right along side the road.  I got a picture of him from about 20 ft away.  That was very exciting.

The rest of the trip is dull by comparison.  Got to Billings, headed on to Buffalo, ate brownies, arrived in Torrington, and now am awaiting Laurel's arrival.