Montana n: A state of the northwest United States bordering on Canada. Admitted as the 41st state in 1889. The fourth largest state in the union, it includes vast prairies and numerous majestic mountain ranges.
Syn: Treasure State, Big Sky Country, Last Best Place.
Jones n: slang. An addiction or very deep craving.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Hot
- Me:
- Do you want to know what the temperature got up to today? I just heard while I was out and about.
- She:
- Uhhh, sure.
- Me:
- Do you really want to know?
- She:
- Well, yeah. I want to know.
- Me:
- Ninty four.
- She:
- Wow, and it's still June.
- Me:
- What gets me is that in the winter when I am cold I can just put on more clothes. But I mostly just hang out in shorts and a tee shirt. But then in the summer when it's hot, where do I go from there? I don't have much dressing down I can do.
Labels: clothes, conversation, heat, hot, June, temperature
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Truckin'
It was an odd sort of thrill to watch the truck in the rearview. A big truck. An honest to god Smokey and the Bandit style eighteen wheeler and it was following me down a little dirt road. I poked my head out the window and looked back to make sure it would clear the power lines. It did. No sweat.
I met the new driver at the gasit mart up the road and immediately took a liking to him. "I've been driving for thirty years." He said. "I don't know what I would do if I couldn't travel like this." He said. "Tight corners are no problem, I like a challenge." He said. And so I drove him around the last leg of the route and showed him the railroad crossing that was such a bitch last year and showed him the tight corners and the power lines and he said "Okay, lets do it."
I led him with my little Subaru and admired the giant machine in my rearview. The rig owned that little dirt road. It dominated every inch of space while taking the corners. The top of the antenna didn't even come close to the lowest power line. The trees looked like they were stepping back to let it pass. It was a thing of beauty seeing it saunter up to the driveway and settle down with a hiss.
While we were unloading a neighbors pickup truck pulled up the road, took a look at the tight clearance to the side and reversed back the way he had come. "Of course you can't make it around," the driver mocked. "I'm bigger than you."
Labels: corners, driver, eighteen wheeler, large, power lines, supplys, truck, work
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Holy crap do my feet hurt
Makes me wonder if my boots are really all that good.
Makes me wonder if it is the mileage or the elevation gain.
Makes me wonder if I am getting too old for this long dusty trail shit.
Makes me wonder what all of this summers hikes will do to me.
Reminds me that I get to do a heckuvalota hiking in the summer.
Makes me grateful for my blessings and eager for the next time my feet hurt.
Labels: age, boots, grateful, hike, hiking, hurt, summer
Monday, June 18, 2007
The howdy epiphany
The epiphany happened at the party. A sunny backyard flowing with laughs and banter, people drinking beer, the smoke from the grill biting the air. There were folks around that I knew and could talk to. The scene was a striking contrast to life in the first year after arriving here. It was comfortable and I felt I belonged.
In my first year as a Montanan I was alone and adrift among the mountains. A new person in a new place and not yet part of a community. Now, this spring, I have been a different person. I have been out playing and enjoying myself, I know places to go and things to do. I have been meeting people, I know names and we have common things to talk about. I know people I can call when I feel like. I know my neighbors well enough to stop and chat with them. I am fitting in.
It has been two and a half years, and the process is not over, but I am beginning to settle in. It feels good.
You know you are Montanan when you can comfortably howdy your neighbors.
Labels: epiphany, fitting in, howdy, Montana, party, settle
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Back to work
- She:
- So you have a lot of return people on your staff. That's good.
- Me:
- Well, mixed blessing actually.
- She:
- How so?
- Me:
- When someone comes to work for the first time they show up with the attitude of "I'm here to do some work." Then when the summer is over they reflect and think "Hey, that was a lot of fun." So when they show up to work the second season they come in thinking "I'm here to have some fun." It can be harder to get work out of 'em.
- She:
- I see. But still, returnees can be easier in a lot of ways.
- Me:
- Oh yeah. Training them is easier, they already know the job. But I still worry.
Labels: conversation, employees, fun, returnees, training, work, workers, worry
Thursday, June 14, 2007
A hard year
- Me:
- So what is Miss Goodkid up to these days?
- She:
- You know, just when you think it can't get worse.
- Me:
- Uh-oh.
- She:
- She was diagnosed with lymphoma.
- Me:
- Oh, no. I have no idea what that is, but it sounds bad.
- She:
- It's cancer.
- Me:
- Oh no.
- She:
- She is being a trooper. She is being strong. But oh my god, what a year she has had.
- Me:
- No kidding.
- She:
- The doctors say that they don't really know what causes it, some of it may be genetic but one of the triggers they say is stress.
- Me:
- Damn.
- She:
- That pretty much puts the period on the end of that sentence.
- Me:
- Sure does.
- She:
- Can you believe what she has been through? The rape happened back in # and now less than a year later we have to deal with this. Everyone in our family is all 'how is this fair?'
- Me:
- I can't imagine how hard this must be for her.
- She:
- You know, she is amazing. She is saying that a year ago all she wanted was to die, and now, now all she wants to do is to fight. She says she has a new appreciation for every little thing. Seeing something beautiful or smelling something nice.
- Me:
- So is she doing chemo?
- She:
- Yeah, she is doing the chemo and they say she has a 97 percent chance of a cure.
- Me:
- 97 percent is good odds.
- She:
- And they say that is for the cure. Not just controlling it, but a cure.
- Me:
- As it should be.
Labels: cancer, conversation, lymphoma, strength, stress
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Grab bag
- She:
- Are you wearing shorts already?
- Me:
- I've been wearing shorts all winter.
- She:
- I believe that.
- She:
- And how are you doing today?
- Me:
- I'm still kicking and screaming.
- She:
- That's horrible.
- Me:
- No, it's a good thing. It means the man hasn't beaten me down yet.
- Me:
- Definitive proof that I'm not young anymore.
- She:
- What's that?
- Me:
- I just tried to send a text message but couldn't.
- She:
- You couldn't send a text message?
- Me:
- Yeah, I accidentally sent it to myself. And typing on those phone pads, screw that.
- She:
- Kids these days love their text messages.
- Me:
- Yup. I just proved that I'm no kid.
Labels: age, banter, conversation, miscellaneous, random, shorts, text message, the man, youth
Sunday, June 10, 2007
June rituals
- Waterproof my boots and hiking hat with mink oil.
- Tune up and change the oil in my car.
- Stock the pantry with convenience foods.
- Put new batteries in all my flashlights.
- Inventory my first aid kit.
- Make a new mix CD for the car.
- Buy new socks.
- Trim my hair down really close.
- Stock my car with a change of clothes, extra tee shirts and underpants, hand towel, toothbrush, deodorant and sleeping bag.
- Make backup disks of all computers.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Choose irony
Anyone else see the irony in the Snyder Drug conflagration?
greatfallstribune.com
greaterfalls.com
Snyder drug is using a pro choice argument to support their limiting the choices of others. Counts as ironic don't you think?
My understanding is that the law allows Snyder Drug to make the choice that they have. It makes an interesting thought exercise to ponder what if licensed pharmacies were required to sell all legal medications. In that scenario the pro-choice groups would be limiting Snyder Drugs choices. That would be even more ironic.
The saving graces here are the choices available to everyone in the community. Currently everyone is free to choose their own morals. As it should be. Patients now get to choose other pharmacies and those pharmacies are allowed to choose their own product line. Everyone still has their freedom. The danger is on the slippery slope. It is within the realm of possibility that every pharmacy in town could choose to not sell oral contraceptives. I think this is unlikely, but it is possible and it would create a serious issue whereby the morals and choices of all would be controlled by a few. But defending against this particular slippery slope involves removing freedom of choice from the pharmacy. An equally dangerous slippery slope in the other direction. Let's not go there either, okay.
I think the status quo is about right on this issue. All parties still have all their choices available to them. Snyder Drug has publicly come out as part of the anti-women crowd and their customer demographic will change accordingly. The pro choice group has done the appropriate red flag waving and noise making about the dangerous slippery slope in the community. We all have had an interesting issue to take sides on and enjoy bickering over. And I got a chuckle about some irony.
Labels: choice, Great Falls, irony, issue, links, morality, news, oral contraceptives, slippery slope, Snyder Drug
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Don't Panic
- He:
- I got your stuff ordered.
- Me:
- Sweet. One less thing to panic about.
- He:
- Nope, don't panic.
- Me:
- Well, if I have to now is the best time for it. No point in panicking too soon.
- He:
- And later you don't have time to panic.
- Me:
- Yup. No time to panic later. So if you have anything panic worthy, now is the best time for me.
Labels: conversation, panic
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Disparate things that I am not creative enough to make complete blog posts from
The most exciting page to tear off the calendar is May. It is an odd sense of excitement and dread to suddenly see a new month with my last days of spring leisure and first days of summer labor reflected on the same page.
I can spend all weekend psyching myself up to have a positive attitude and treat my customers super nice on the phone, but as soon as I get three phone calls in a row asking what "No Vacancy" means I turn into a grumpy little cuss.
The best ways to make the phone ring are to take a bite out of your sandwich or go pee.
I've been doing my warm ups and stretching exercises and jogging regularly but ten minutes of sprinting in ultimate frisbee and I start pulling muscles like crazy.
I have fallen off the wagon and started consuming caffeine again.
Labels: caffeine, calendar, customer, excercise, muscles, phone, random, sandwich, things, Ultimate Frisbee, work
There is more Jones in the archives: February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 December 2009 January 2010 May 2014
