T-4 Days to Janet arrives!

This is American Top 40 I’m Casey Kasem. Now we are up to our long distance dedication and it is from Yellowstone. It’s from a computer guy working in a wilderness with a girl far away on his heart. The letter begins, “Dear Casey, during our many wonderful years of marriage we have been separated for short time periods as we moved. Those other times we knew about how long we would be apart. With this move things are more uncertain. It makes me think of the uncertainty of us getting together when we were dating due to rain. You may find this hard to believe but my wife (girlfriend at the time) had a car that would not start regularly when it rained so she had to be very selective about driving it when it was raining. Many times you think about the big things in life and if you had a do over how you would change things. When it comes to my wife I find myself thinking more about the little things and how I would have changed them. I think about the time we didn’t spend together because of the inconvenience of her anti-rain car when I could have fixed that by just driving more. I think about things like that especially since our time together is very precious to me as we are separated by so many miles. No matter what distance separates us she is always on my mind. On this T-4 day will you play  Here Without You signed Dillard”

Dillard here’s your long distance dedication.

T – 5 Days until Janet arrives!

This is American Top 40 I’m Casey Kasem. Now we are up to our long distance dedication and it is from Gardiner, Montana. It’s from a Georgia boy living in Montana that has a story to tell. The letter begins, “Dear Casey, over 17 years ago a tall and thin man with a little too much of an attitude had a conversation with a tall and lovely lady at a river side restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia. From that moment he was smitten and over time he would prove his love to her. One day as they were leaving work, as they worked in the same building, he asked her if she would like to do something after work. The beautiful lady said that she wasn’t in the best of moods and would not be good company. The man who was losing some of his attitude said that he wanted to be with her in the good and bad. They agreed to take a walk which he will always remember as every civilized man should always carry a handkerchief. He knew that she was the love of his life. Later that year at Christmas they were engaged right after a bow fluffing incident that they both look back on and laugh about. On April 6, 2002 they were married. After many life challenges that included multiple un-welcomed moves.  They are still together as they were both hand picked by God to be together. Casey for this T-5 day will you play The Right Left Hand signed Dillard”

Dillard here’s your long distance dedication.

The road less traveled

I went out for a hike.  On the way there I saw a coyote. He was actually very pretty.

The scenery on the hike was gorgeous.

Looks like a wall.


The snow is a little deep here.

Hello Mr. Bison. A very different view when you are close and you don’t have the metal of the car around you.

This will give you an idea of how powerful the bison are by seeing him run in snow knee deep to me.

End the day with another bison jam.

Gos-Pill

The pastor was sick so during Sunday School a plan was made for the service.  They first asked if anyone had a message they would like to give. I thought that was cool. When no one volunteered scriptures and songs were selected and some topics were picked out to support the scriptures. People volunteered to do certain readings. It worked out well.

I do have to say the children’s church service was awesome. The leader talked about how great it would be if we could only take one pill for any sickness, allergy, aches or wellness. Then she explained that it already existed. It is called the Gospel (Gos-pill).

Peanut AKA Buckaroo Banzai

While I was cleaning the house and taking the recycle in to the bear attack zone Janet was having big issues trying to get Peanut on the flight in Atlanta. The paperwork from the vet didn’t have everything needed. It had turned really cold here so I thought they might not let him fly due to the temperature. I had been praying that it would work out. Thanks to prayers and some help from Ann (you are good to have around in a pinch) Peanut took off from Atlanta.

It is a beautiful day. Here are a few pics of the house and ride to Bozeman.

By the time I got to Bozeman I already had an email that he was ready for pickup. I got to the airport and asked to find where I could pick him up. It’s the details that will get you. I was asking a Delta ticket agent. The first question they asked me was what airline was shipping the cat….. I guess they get a lot of random people coming up to them to get pet cargo that is on a different airline? Once it was clear that Peanut was coming on Delta they found a walkie-talkie and tried to reach the ground crew. After multiple attempts they figured out that the walkie was turned off.  I think this person was having a bad day. I was told where to meet the ground crew. Once I found the spot it wasn’t long at all before they came out. They had me sign a claim form and they dropped the carrier and quickly went back behind the closed doors. I guess if you show up asking for a cat they figure it must be yours. I didn’t have to show the waybill or a picture ID. I look in the carrier and all I see is blankets. I call for Peanut and put my fingers in the carrier, nothing. At this point I freak out and think he is not in the carrier. I quickly start cutting off the zip ties. In the process of doing it under stress, I cut my left hand. I quickly wrap my handkerchief around my left hand to catch the blood and continue getting the carrier door open. Once the door is open I am feeling inside the carrier. I feel him under the blankets. OK he is there. Then the next fear hits hard. As I am garbing him he is not moving. Until I can get the blankets back and pull his head up to look him in the eye, I really think he may be dead. By the time I am sure he is OK I feel like I am about ready to pass out from the fear and adrenaline rush.  Not a peep from Peanut during the ride home. Once in the house it took a little bit for him to calm down. It took a lot just to get him out of the carrier. He seems to be settling in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

He howled a lot during the night. I think he is trying to find Leviticus, which will be here soon.

They saved some winter for me

Looks like we are finally getting some of the storms they have been talking about. Was in the mid 40’s but not today. As I rolled out to go to my men’s prayer breakfast it was 9 degrees.

The breakfast was good in two ways. The food was good. Had bacon, sausage, eggs, potatoes and flapjacks! The message was good too. Talked about Jesus taking what we have to multiple it. Used the story about the loaves and fishes, but with a different take. The disciples didn’t see any way to feed the people. Jesus knew it was going to happen, but waited. No gold stars for the disciples.  The gold star goes to the child that brought what loaves and fishes he had. He knew they would not be enough but he brought what he had to Jesus. This is true for us. We may not see how we can do something, fix something, help someone, etc. God is just waiting for us to bring what we have or can do so he can bridge the gap and make it happen.

On the way to work the snow was coming down.

Can’t beat the view out my desk window.

This was the view when I walked out of the office to go to lunch.

Went to dinner with people from work and watched some of the opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics.

When I got home I found that all the cat supplies had arrived from Amazon. I am now ready to start receiving cats.

 

Making new friends

Normal work day, but I have a new friend at my house.

Janet and I are in the news section on the official Yellowstone National Park Lodges website. This is a little scary. When they asked for a picture I thought is was just going to be used for an internal news letter.

This is the link:

New Folks in Town

 

 

Icy…Icy

With the temp rising up during the middle of the day it has caused a lot of melting, which then freezes again at night. That in turn creates a lot of ice. Hard walking around. Had a few arm windmill moments to stay upright.

Monday and Tuesday were just long work days.

The bison can’t make up their minds. Last week they didn’t want me to leave work. Now they don’t want me to get to work.

After the two in the road moved off to the right and the road was clear I started off again. Right when I got up to the ones on the left one darted out onto the road and ran to the other side. Guess he was having his bison zen moment and it was critical that he was on the other side of the road just then.

 

Crazy Weather

It was in the high 40’s yesterday and went down to 10 overnight. While at church it showed hard. Got a couple of inches on the ground while I was in church. That said we missed the big storm. Cook City about an hour plus to the east got two feet of snow over the weekend.

Went to a Super Bowl party with some people from work. Had a great time. Great food and a great game. Enjoyed watching the Patriots lose.