"NO SWORDS IN THE BOAT!" Bigfork Trip Part II

Ivan bought a big honkin' motor boat.
This is Part II

I'm sure there's a proper name for the type of boat he bought, but I have no idea what that might be.  It's not a cabin cruiser, it's not a yacht, it's not a little aluminum fishing boat....it's a big honkin' motor boat.  And it has a horn so it's LITERALLY a big, honkin' motor boat!  Yes!  We tested the horn extensively, even in the driveway, where the kids poured into it and proclaimed it THE pirate ship.

I had made French toast and bacon for breakfast; Ivan and his family had brought the boat up from Missoula that morning, calling ahead to let us know that they'd be REALLY hungry when they got to Bigfork.  REALLY hungry.  French-toast-and-bacon hungry.  (You should see Ivan eat breakfast...it's delightful to cook for him because he really does justice to the cook's efforts.)  Anyway, while breakfast was getting on the table, Ivan noticed the pirates and stepped out the kitchen door to holler, "Hey! No swords in the boat!"
You'd think that would go without saying, wouldn't you?

Pirates are pretty dang useless when they are denied swords, so they gave it up for a little while to eat and make alternate plans.  (He didn't say, "No STICKS in the boat!", did he, now?)

After the kids abandoned the boat, the BIG buccaneers commandeered the tub and started taking inventory.

And then we all loaded up and went boating on Flathead Lake.

Launching...

C-c-c-c-o-l-d!

And speedy!

It's ridiculously picturesque, there...

Ivan found an island and some of the pirates went swimming.

Some of the more fierce pirates put a hurtin' on the cookies....

Jenny, enjoying the ride back...(with the boat's bow up)

Jenny, enjoying the ride back....(with the boat's bow DOWN)

Cap'n I. (as opposed to Cap'n Bligh)  Check out his groovy hair!
OH!!! Speaking of "groovy", the boat has...and we can scarcely believe how wonderful this is...an 8 track tape player!  Yes!  We're looking for lake music, now!
We will, of course, have to have some Beach Boys tunes.

Ridiculously picturesque.
And just when we thought it was too good to be true, the yellow sailed boat drifted into the picture.

What a great time!
But wait...
there's MORE.

Part III, on the way...

...and just like that, the whole family was there! Part I

The kids and I went to Bigfork for a visit with Grandma Celestia and Grandpa Jasper, last weekend.  We never go with any sort of schedule or plan except to visit lots, eat great food, sleep late and often, play with the kids next door.  This summer was a little different, though, because the boys bought boats.

I mean....the boys bought boats!!!
(Yes, very exciting and SHOULD have multiple exclamation points!)
They wanted to share the boats and this was the weekend to do it.  It reminded me a little of Thanksgiving, except with nice weather and a more laid-back menu.  Think beef shish kabobs instead of turkey and swimming suits instead of wool sweaters.

Now,
the boats are just as different as can be, just like the brothers.

Frank on the left, Ivan on the right

They were laughing because I sort of yelled at them and they think it's funny.

(It's NOT funny.)

First, Frank would look over his shoulder....

Then, Ivan would look over HIS shoulder....

I finally lost patience and told them that it would make a much better picture if they'd BOTH turn around at the same time!

Now then.
Frank bought a sail boat.
This is Part I.

She's a Thistle, a very fast little boat that's used for racing, mostly.  I was looking up the specs on the Thistle class boat and found this:

Thistle hulls are relatively light for their size; they have no decking or spray protection, which saves weight. The sail plan is large for a boat of this size, consisting of a marconi rigwith a main, jib, and symmetrical spinnaker. The sail plan is larger for the boat’s weight than in many other dinghies, which makes Thistles perform extremely well in light wind. Their hulls have wide, rounded bottoms, allowing the boats to plane in winds as low as 10 knots. It is not uncommon to see thistles efficiently making their way, while other dinghys of similar design are becalmed.

Thistles are generally raced with a three person crew: a skipper, a middle, and a forward person. The optimal total crew weight is generally 450 lb to 480 lb (US) depending on wind. The crew weight, however, is generally not the deciding factor in determining the outcome of the races. In fact, class rules do not limit crew weight. In all but the strongest winds, an experienced two person crew can manage the boat.

You'll note that they do well in extremely light wind and an experienced two person crew can manage the boat.

You can imagine, then, what she would do in a pretty good wind with a two person crew that was made up of an experienced sailor and a sea-dumb prairie girl who'd never been sailing in her life.
Very exciting!  And not necessarily in a good way...
But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Here she is!
Meet "Whisper Go!"...

Well, here she is on the trailer...it's not her best angle.
Did you notice her name?
I named her! My first colt was named Whisper Go and I've always wanted to use it again.  When Frank was trying to find a name, he was thinking something Scottish because of her heritage but names like Nairna and Adaire just didn't seem to work.  I sent him the name, it stuck, and it's perfect...with only a whisper of wind, she'll really go.

 Frank is raising the mast.
I wasn't helping; as you can tell, I was doing a photo documentary on the project.

It didn't really look all that stable to me...and it seemed to lean, which was alarming until we realized the boat was not level on the trailer.
I also was happy to see the cables staying in place.

Frank told me all the proper names for the cables, lines, and parts of the boat, but I'm afraid I was not very good at remembering.  Mostly because I was scared to death on the first outing...

I DID learn the terms "tack" and "jib".  I was bad with the tacking, but better at it when we were just using the jib.
(I know...it's like Norwegian or something, isn't it?)
I like the word "spinnaker" but if we had used it, I would've been using the word, "capsize" or more likely, "#$&^%".

 And here we are...sailing on the Flathead!  Oh, my goodness, it's a beautiful way to cross a lake!
We had good wind.  A little TOO good.
Whisper Go! sizzled across the water, taking the waves almost casually. I was scared to death.  Turns out, Frank was nervous, too, especially when we tried to "tack" and nearly tipped over. (Mostly because I was no help at all.)

Sails are just like wings...

It got rougher, after this.
Frank took Whisper Go! and her shaky crew to the dock, took off the boom and mainsail, then we went out again with just the jib sail.
Perfect.
I went from being terrified to being enchanted...

Sailing is very active; always moving, shifting, adjusting, watching.  On those waves, it felt very similar to riding a horse, which sounds strange, but it had that same sort of balance and rhythm going.  When I mentioned this to Frank, he said that he'd always felt the boat was almost alive.  I know I felt very alive while we were out on the water and love that little boat for behaving so that I could enjoy the ride on the last time out that morning.

In the article above, you'll see that the Thistles have no spray protection.

I can vouch for that.

I was sitting at the front and was soaked by the time we came in! 

We were home by lunch time, safe and sound, ready for

Part II

(Coming soon!)

Day 29: Black and white

Cookbooks are scrapbooks, really...

Day 28: Flowers

I know.
Ho hum...

These are roses I found in a greenhouse at a restaurant that my friends Kim and Bryan took me to for breakfast on Sunday morning.  Such a relief to be able to post something besides my fraggledy old flowers!

Day 27: From a distance

Okay, is it just me or are you all now singing that song?

"From a distance
You look like my friend
Even though we are at war
From a distance
I just cannot comprehend
What all this fighting is for
From a distance
There is harmony
And it echoes through the land
And it's the hope of hopes
It's the love of loves
It's the heart of every man..."

Thank you, Nancy Griffith and Bette Midler.

Here's my submission:

This is the horse we see in the pasture off the road on our way to Miles City, EVERY trip.  In fact, we worry when we DON'T see him.  He's a landmark that moves around a little and everyone thinks he's THEIR horse. 

I've always wanted to stop and take his picture, but we're always in a hurry, so on my way home from Billings yesterday afternoon, I took a few minutes.

Day 26: Close-up

And, unintentionally, when I blew the little seeds, they turned into....bokeh! YES! 

Day 25: Something pink

It didn't say to find something pink AND adorable, but I DID!

There should be bonus points that offset the deductions for using old photos in previous posts....

Day 24: Animal

Let's face it; salamanders really aren't all that photogenic...

Day 23: Sunflare

Obviously older, but one of my favorites....especially the sun in his eyelashes and the droopy diaper!

Day 22: Hands

Who's got it better than us?  NOBODY!!! 

We're a good team. 

In which the Underground Bookclub Meeting and Visiting Author Party happily coincide, resulting in a good time for one and all...

That may be the longest blog post title I've ever done!

It's good to stretch oneself, don't you think?

I'm frantically trying to catch up on blog posts, so this event actually happened a week ago, but I'm just getting time to sit down and pull my thoughts together.  Deepest apologies for the post barrage...

Our little bookclub decided that we'd continue meeting in the summer.  Traditionally, we've had one book for the summer that we all read, but didn't meet until September to discuss it, taking the three summer months off essentially.  But we miss each other.  We need a reason to get together that our husbands will agree is legit. So far, it's been patchy, but at least we're trying! 

I happened to have the June read and knew that Homer, Linda and Frank would be here in July (when we discuss the book) so I chose Sky of Stone, the last book of Homer's autobiographical trilogy.  I think it's his best book and often overlooked.  If you have the chance to read it, Sky of Stone by Homer Hickam...write and let me know what you think.  (That makes it sort of an extension of bookclub, doesn't it?!)

We had scheduling difficulties.

We're so very jumpy about fires and storms that when we read the forecast the morning of the scheduled dinner, we decided to move it to the following Thursday.  It turned out to be one of those 104 degree days, so we just stayed inside the air conditioned house instead of picnicking like we usually do.  Traci and Anne were the only ones who could make it, but they were essential: Traci had appetizers and Anne had margaritas and daiquiris.  Yes.  It would not have been a party without them, you can plainly see!

*Disclaimer: Wayland took all the pictures because I was busy being the hostess and testing daiquiris. 

Angus shows EVERYONE this ratty old sticker book.  There are no stickers IN the book because he put them ALL on the wall in his room.  I despise stickers....

I have no idea what prompted the hilarity, but I love the smiles!

Angus is VERY serious about his food.  For my foodish friends, the menu was:
Beef fajitas, Spanish rice, empanadas (Traci...recipe? Please?), fruit salad (Thanks, Marisa! Wish you had been here!), buttermilk salad, homemade ice cream and a full bar.  We discovered that afternoon that it was National Daiquiri Day...yes!  As one of my friends said, "It would be unpatriotic NOT to commemorate the holiday."  We are nothing, if not patriotic...

Frank and I sat in the kitchen and discussed Brittanies and old books, two topics that I'm pretty passionate about.  Meanwhile, in the living room....

The bookclub discussion was rolling right along without me! Dang!  If only there were two of me...
(A-a-a-n-d all my readers breathe a collective sigh of relief that THAT is not possible...)

We visited as long as we possibly dared, wishing the evening could be just a little longer...

I think in the future, we should start the shindig around 1 p.m. in the afternoon.  Maybe 9 hours would give us a good start.  

The next morning, when I got up, there was Maggie sitting in front of her goodies from Homer and Linda.  She looked very sad and I couldn't figure out why...had she lost something? broken something?

"What's the matter, baby?" I asked.

There was a deep sigh and then she said, "I MISS 'em."

We all do.  

Until next year!

Day 20: Bokeh

I know.
What in the world?
I was hoping it was a type of food from India or Thailand, but no...
Bokeh is the weird little background lights that appear in photos like little hanging, shiny dots.
I couldn't get one, try as I might, this time, but I remembered one I accidentally shot a couple years ago.
Am I eliminated from the challenge?

Day 19: Something orange

Day 18: Your shoes

I love 'em...

Cows

I know.
It's not the blog challenge.
I'm working on catching that up this evening!

The yearling heifers are in the pasture next to the house, here, and are a constant source of amusement to me.  Think: eighth grade girls.  They like excitement...of any kind.  It might be something like a sagebrush blowing or a bird landing on the fence; one of them will notice something amiss and they all throw their tails and noses in the air and run. Together.  Like one big, black bovine mass. They don't know WHERE they're running or WHY, but it's deliciously scary to run from something.  However,  it occurs to them that they're running away from something that has potential to be interesting to examine and they throw on the brakes and trot back; heifers are ALSO notoriously nosy.  (Have you noticed? It's all drama...)


They're beautiful little cows, unencumbered by the responsibility of raising calves, (oh, yes...that's NEXT year) and they tickle me to no end if I'm not trying to move them to another pasture or get them through a gate.  We laugh at them because there won't be a yearling in sight...really!....and the minute we start feeding the bums, they appear from out of nowhere to watch the goings on.  (You can see how exciting it is, to live in Cohagen; we watch the cows, they watch us.) And of course, they're in a group. They are looking for action, hoping for action, but so far we've been pretty lame in that department.  There's really not many ways to jazz up bottle feeding, you know?


This morning, though, the dogs and cats followed me around, down next to the barb wire fence.
This showed promise. 
They pretended not to know what a cat was, even though they've seen them every day around here.  (Apparently, it was a slow day for sagebrush scares...)


Hoping, hoping for something to happen...anything...

This is how they look when they're REALLY checking you out; nose up, ears alert, tail ready to go.

My camera "scared" them, so they have to run away from the cow-killing eye or whatever they thought it was...

A-a-a-n-d they're back, because they just remembered the cat who is more intriguing than the camera is scary.  

It's good to have perspective.

Pretending to notice the cat for the first time in their LIVES...

Elizabeth the cat has a very low tolerance for cows.
Don't you think this heifer just wants to snuffle up the cat's fur?

They're disappointed that the cat didn't do something scary.
The cat is practically rolling her eyes, can you tell?
Oh, well...better luck at the evening feeding...

This picture is for Shelly, who likes cow's eyelashes.  I, myself, like their top knots and their sweet little cow lips and nose.
Yearlings really are pretty, I think.  And so silly.

   

And just like that, he's SIX!

My son had a birthday, last week.
A BIG one; the now-I-can-go-to-Maggie's-school birthday!
He wanted to go swimming, have a super hero theme, the Incredible Hulk on his cake (which was to be white with white frosting; what's THAT about?) and open presents that contained LEGOs.  All these things happened!

(I know...the kids cannot believe I pulled off TWO parties that actually looked like parties, either. Once every 10 years, babies...it's a long, long time to wait for another super hero party.  But if I save the leftover decorations, I'm halfway there, right? Can you imagine Angus's 16 year old face? This could be really fun...)


The obligatory singing of the birthday song...
(I didn't take pictures of the magnificent crepe paper streamers hung above the table! Drat.)

Birthday boy, making a wish (for more LEGOs) and nearly toppling the Hulk with his enthusiastic blowing!

Cake'n'ice cream, with Ben telling the whole party about the super hero movie...the Avengers?...I think.  Maggie looking like she's going to contradict his "facts" even though she knows nothing about it.

Hope it's more sharp little plastic pieces to scatter around the living room, down the hall, under the stove...

This picture makes me laugh!  See the beautiful teen age girl in the midst of the kids?  That's Haley, who ALSO had a birthday on July 20th (her seventeenth) and who spent the afternoon with kids significantly younger than her without pained sighing or rolling of eyes, even when we all went to the pool! We didn't even PAY her to do so!

Travis and Jen Pluhar just had their third baby, Sydney, and Maggie got to hold her and feed her.  This was such a precious moment!  And NO matter how much you beg, dear girl, you ARE NOT getting a baby sister.  You can just borrow Payson and Katie's once in a while.

After that, we went swimming and THEN....

BONUS!

We went out to Beth's house to play with cussins, eat pizza and watch a movie!

(I had to pick up 4 months worth of People magazines; what richness!)

It was a good birthday for the boy.

And now he can go to Maggie's school.

Skies...for my wish-we-were-in-Eastern-Montana-right-now friends!