GA to MT
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.
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.
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.
Started the morning off with snow and my men’s prayer breakfast. We talked about standing firm with our faith and being able to explain it to someone. We also talked about the need to do this with humbleness and not being the screaming people with signs that you see giving Christians a bad name. One guy told a great story. When this happened he had been a believer for only about a year. When he went into the shop a devoted atheist would say, “Here comes that a**h**** Christian.” Many of the other guys would then laugh. The man sharing said it really upset him and he was praying about it. He got to the point that in his prayers he told God if the guy did it again he was going to hit him in the face. He said he heard a clear voice in his head that said he should hug the man. He didn’t like that answer, but he determined he would try it. The next time he was in the shop the other man started to say the same thing. The guy telling the story said he interrupted him and said that God had told him to hug him the next time he made the statement. The guy said it anyway so the man telling the story said we went to give him a hug. The other guy ran and he chased him around the shop. That happened one more time and after that the atheist never bothered him again.
Now for the snow. Call for big storms between now and Monday night.
Have started implementing some changes at work. Had the first morning stand-up with my team. Overall it was a work day. It started snowing really hard. Like an inch an hour. Went to a baby shower for a coworker. Really nice turn out and was fun. The cake was amassing to see and tasted very good. Sorry the picture is blurry. I am posting it anyway so you can get an idea of how great it was. Everything on it was cake except the baby rattles. The bear was made with rice crispy treats.
Went to the bison in winter discussion. It was really good and I learned a lot. Many groups with strong passions about bison. One group thinks that no effort should be taken to contain the bison. They want them to roam free all over Montana, even the major cities if the bison wanted to go there. Another group thinks they should not be contained, but that people should be allowed to hunt them once they leave the park. Another group thinks that the population should be controlled by taking some to slaughter. Yet another group thinks that the extra or any that try to leave the park should be captured and given to a Native American Indian group in north east Montana that is building a herd with the plan to repopulate all Native American reservations across the US with bison herds. Given all that you have the biologists that are trying to understand what the bison want and how to provide a good home for the bison with the least amount of politics as possible. I also learned that it is very hard for a wolf pack or a bear to take down a bison and that more bison die drowning than from predators each year. Seems the bison get used to walking on the lakes and rivers during winter and the when spring comes a few break through the ice and drown. The grizzly bears pull them out of the water to eat them.
Was “fun” driving home in the little scooter car. Missed the turn for my road again. Well didn’t miss it. Applied the brakes for what I thought was early enough and then slid past my turn. Made it up the hill fine. Weather calling for 40% chance of snow every day for the next week. Will be taking the BMW in the AM.
Well today I got to see more of the weather everyone has been talking about. You know it is bad when roads start closing in Wyoming, but it is lovely. 
View outside my office window.
Received my company car. I think it was a bad idea to drive it today, but it was just a little rain when I left the house. I stopped off at a men’s prayer breakfast. The food was good and had a good discussion about loyalty and what it means to be loyal to Christ.
Had a nice dinner with some people from work at a new restaurant. They were working the kinks out for how they handled the survive. The food was good and dinner helped to break up the white knuckle drive home. After dinner I stopped at the post office to check my box for the first time. I put one foot out of the car and started to go out with the other when the first foot went in the air. I plopped back in my car seat. The parking lot was nothing but ice. Back on the road and getting close to the turn for my road. I slowed down and started applying the break for what I thought would have been enough distance. I was wrong. I slid by the road and past the mailbox after the road. Luckily no one was on the road so I put it in reverse and backed up to my turn. Now for the hill that goes to the sky. I started and made it about 2/3 up and the car stopped. I backed up and tried again multiple times. No go. I ended up backing the car all the way back down the hill. Did I mention it was dark and one side has a sheer drop? Made it back to the bottom. I literally put my foot on the gas all the way to the floor. I am weaving and bumping up the hill at 25 miles an hour. sliding around all the way (sheer drop reminder). As I top the hill to have a level drive with my foot all the way to the floor I am doing a massive 6-8 miles an hour. I make it to my house thanking God I am still alive. Saying it will get down to 19 tonight and 7 tomorrow night. Think I will be driving the SUV the rest of the weekend.
Car door opens just fine. I got in and it closed just fine. Success, no door issues! When I got to work I have the same issue as the night before. I can’t open the door. This time I even roll down the window and try to open the door from the outside. No go, off to the passenger side to get out. Hope no one I work with sees me doing this …..
All is well once I am inside my office.
Sprint sent me a love note telling me that I am about to run out of roaming data minutes. I call them and explain I am in Montana and will be here for some time. After thirty minutes the answer is once I hit my roaming limit on an “unlimited data” plan they will just turn my data off until the first of the next month.
Go out to the car. Holding breath….door works fine. I need to get the snow off the windows. Front and back wipers do just fine. Rolling all the windows down some I find that the driver window is not working. Then as I start the car the “engine needs service soon” light comes on. Come on get me home…..Thank the Lord I get home just fine.
Now this may look like a perfect winter post card picture, but not as much fun when your car door will not close.
Once I am home I am in for another surprise. I can’t open the door! I have to crawl over to the passenger side to get out.
