Psychopoodle Update

The Psychopoodle had another x-ray and, though not 100% in the right hip, he's pretty solid. Our vet doesn't feel that surgery is warranted or that he'll be taping Chester up the left side after all. Lyle said that he's amazed that Chester can walk at all, but he's walking pretty well. Yes, this x-ray doesn't look ideal, but it is much improved from where he was on June 2. His range of motion is good, he's getting around well and was REALLY GLAD to come home from the vet. Today, Chester was able to go to tennis lessons with Augusta, have a brief squirrel chase in the front yard and a ride around town in the car. He's tired, a little sore, but relatively content.

Fairly Good Fair...

The Park County Fair is done for another year. Augusta and I went to fetch our entries this afternoon. Augusta won red ribbons (second premium) for her poppies and a jar of strawberry peach ginger jam she made.

I won a few ribbons this year, with far fewer entries. Both Scott and I were unable to make the deadline to enter photographs this year, with traveling the two weekends to the prior to the drop-off date. As a result, this was the year for food, veg and fruit. Here's the list of ribbon winners:

Grand Champion - cucumber dill pickles with onion and garlic
Reserve Grand Champion - chokecherry jelly

First Premiums
plum jam
pears in light syrup
sweet pepper pasta sauce
peach jam
chokecherry jelly
cucumber dill pickles with onion and garlic
blueberry walnut coffeecake
English toffee

Second Premiums
applesauce
raspberry jam
fig apple chutney
apple butter
salsa
pineapple salsa
pear topping
red raspberries
turnips
choke cherries

Third Premiums
cucumber bread and butter pickles
pear cranberry orange sauce
sweet peppers
red currants
coconut pecan fig bars
light wheat bread

I just hope I can come across half as much free and interesting food as I did this past year. Augusta has already asked me what she can make so she can win a blue ribbon. Suggestions?

Words of Advice

File Under Things NOT To Do For Your Kids

Today was Kids' Day Races at the Park County Fair. Both Charlie and Augusta took part, to their monetary benefit. Charlie, the C H A M P I O N of running off from Mom and Dad, won a dollar bill for the 0 -4 year old dash. Augusta won an assortment of quarters and fifty-cent pieces for her efforts. "It's just like what the Tooth Fairy brought me!"





THEN came the mom and dad dashes. "Mommie! Will you run?" says Augusta. I'm in shorts, tank, decent bra and Keens. "Sure" says the stupid, forty-year old me. "I hope I don't fall..."

On your marks, get set, GO! > > > > > > > > CRASH! Skid.... ouch.

"It was the shoes. I know I'm clumsy, but the damn shoes helped!"

Bloody knees, bashed hip and grass rash to boot.

Scott's turn. He's wearing Keens, too.

Guess what? Lather, rinse, repeat...




Our children, scarred for life by two parents with the Scandinavian klutz gene AND deadly shoes.
Me? Just scarred.



As Scott said "good thing we weren't running from a bear..."
Or a mountain lion.
Or a ticked-off moose...

So, to recap...
• Charlie and Augusta, about three bucks richer from their running.
• Justine, two big band-aids from the EMTs' first aid wagon.
• Scott, believing me the next time when I say "it was the shoes!" Like there'll be a next time...

Think I should write Keen about their $90 death rides?

Summer and Its Involvements

I was thinking it might actually be a low-key summer this year. We'd planned to stay a little closer to home, not take an official vacation and just go a couple of places as weekends allowed. I was working quite a bit a the outset, but now things have slowed. I'm trying to build the video business and it is progressing. But, now, I find myself asking "where did the summer go?" It's been cyclone-like since July began; a wedding in the mountains above Buffalo over the weekend of the Fourth, the National Folk Festival in Butte, the Yellowstone Jazz Festival in Cody and a dash to Red Lodge for pizza and an unintentional look at all the motorcycles that descend there on that particular weekend. Today is the turn-in day for Park County Fair entries, so we're off to do that shortly. Augusta is entering her first items in the Fair with a jar of Strawberry Peach jam and some poppies she grew from seed...


So, for now, Monday is all about getting stuff to the Fair. Maybe there will be a visit to the Froggy Pond later...

National Folk Festival in Butte, Montana

July 10 - 12 found us in Butte, Montana, for the National Folk Festival. Again, it was great to see what we did, but there was not enough time to see it all...

71st National Folk Festival from Justine Larsen on Vimeo.

A Visit With Thomas

On our way to the National Folk Festival, we made a stop at the Billings Depot on Montana Avenue to see Thomas the Tank Engine...

Augusta & Charlie Visit Thomas from Justine Larsen on Vimeo.

Quite A Pair of Rum Runners

Another fantastic photo shot by Mike Carroll. He certainly knows trouble when he sees it...

A Little Princess In A Field

Our friend Mike Carroll took this picture of Augusta in a meadow near Buffalo during the wedding our our friends Anna and Kevin. The tiara was a loan from Jen...

On The Way Over The Big Mountains

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We stopped at the Medicine Wheel on our way across the Bighorn Mountains to Buffalo. It was the Psychopoodle's first trip post accident.
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Little did we know that by the end of the hike, we'd be soaked to the skin. It was the Medicine Wheel spa experience: exfoliation by hail, hydration by downpour, comb out by pine tree and mud pack on the hike down. Buy one, get six free!
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I do believe the three moose were just an extra bonus for the adventure-filled afternoon...

*Photos by SherBeari