Jester

County Road Jester born 6/30/99 of sire Champion Thistleglen Fairfax and dam Stornoway Myra at County Road, crossed the rainbow bridge at 3:20 pm on 8/23/07. I held him as he crossed. His bravery through all of his surgeries and his gentleness throughout his trials made everyone at the vet love him and stop by his run for kisses and pets. Many thanks to his primary vet, Lori MacDougall who celebrated his life and cried at his passing with me.

Our Last Night in Montana

I sit in bed all cosy with my laptop on my lap and my spouse by my side (also be-laptopped) and reflect on the past two wonderful weeks in Montana. It's always hard to leave here, but this time is harder than usual. We spent the majority of our time up on Finley Point at Flathead Lake just collecting rocks, reading, drowsing in the sun and swimming in the lovely cold, clear water. Every afternoon and evening we saw the resident deer--the doe and her two fawns, the three year-old buck, and various of their friends. At night we carefully put everything inside the cabin so the resident bear wouldn't get it. But the bear didn't bother us as the last cherries are falling off the trees bursting with late summer juice and he has all he can eat from them--keeps him busy.

One gray day Dave, Jessie and I drove up to Logan Pass at the top of the Going-To-The-Sun Road in Glacier National Park. We thought about going on up to Canada and seeing the Waterton side of the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park, but the day got away from us and the construction on the GTTS Road slowed us down a bit. For those of you who have never been to Glacier--and for those who just want to marvel at the incredible feat of engineering that is the Going-to-The-Sun Highway, the etours on this page are fascinating (especially the power tour).

I still haven't replaced my broken digital camera and the iPhone is just not meant for panoramic shots so I don't have any photos from our day. I was forced to live not commemorate the sightings of a herd of bighorn sheep grazing at the pass, a columbia ground squirrel, a pika and a young mountain goat grazing at the side of the road. There wasn't any snow at the visitor center and not much on the mountain above it, but it has been a particularly long, hot summer. For good snow shots, and a previous day in Glacier, see the original post on Siyeh Pass. What great days I've had in Glacier.

Tonight we stopped by Van (from that day on Siyeh Pass) and Molly's house and Jessie played with their daughters Emma and Sally. I could go on about how I have known Van since first grade, but instead I am just going to say, take it as read that we had a Big Chill kind of evening and are hoping to repeat it again next summer.

Now to close, perchance to dream of high blue mountains rising into the clouds, snow kissed air flowing down from them--even in August, and the beautiful wild country that is the home of my heart.

Mika - Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)

Saw this on Lilith Saintcrow's blog and had to grab it. no, this is not *entirely* how I am spending my vacation...