Blurbing About Outdoor Living

What's the date today?

AUGUST 8?

Yes, August!!! June is over... July is finished... August is here. It's the month that school starts again. It's the month where the weather starts turning colder. It's the last official month of summer.

It's August and this weekend was the FIRST weekend in the summer of 2010 that our family could go camping!

GAH!!! That's terrible!

Since Buttercup is 18 now and since she just loves camping (NOT!), and since she just started a job, we left her home and the three of us (plus Lola dog) headed to the land I love best. I also took along iRis my iPad. (Yes, I named my iPad.)

Usually, I'm EXTREMELY OPPOSED to the use of electronic devices while we are in the mountains. Thankfully there is no cell coverage where we go, so that is never an issue. Also, I'm vehemently opposed to TV's, and DVD players of any kind while we're up there (I laugh at people that take their portable DISH satellites and hook them to their RV. I don't understand why they would take all the time and effort to drive up to the mountains, just so they can sit inside their motor home or 5th wheel and watch TV. Can't you do that at home?)

I took iRis because that's where the book I'm currently reading is located (Freckles by Gene Stratton-Porter). And since I had iRis, I thought, why not do a little Facebook/Blogging about our camping trip? If I used Twitter, (which I don't) these would have been my Tweets during the weekend:

• Dang mosquitoes! Whoever told me they were dead is a LIAR!!!
  
• I am so happy to be camping in Montana
  
• If you pull into a campground after 10 pm, and if you drive a diesel truck, please turn it off!
  
• I am happy to be camping in Montana!
  
• I miss Buttercup!
  
• $@#!! mosquitoes (and horse flies)
  
• Terrible night sleeping. Stupid knee hurts and we blew the air mattress up too much and it's too hard.
  
• Yummy breakfast casserole!
  
• I HATE MOSQUITOES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  
• Inigo, please pee on a tree FAR from camp!
  
• $#@!!!! horse flies!! Who invited you along?
  
• Just watched 3 bald eagles flying. Was that a baby with them?
  
• There is an osprey fighting the eagles!!
  
• I LOVE MONTANA!
  
• So beautiful
  
• Trailer awning just about took my head off in a gust of wind. Maybe I should move.
  
• Smoke follows beauty. (cough, hack, cough)
  
• Thunder storms in the mountains are WONDERFUL!!
  
• Jiffy Pop popcorn cooked on the camp stove and eaten around the fire.
  
• Star light, star bright... There are a gazillion stars in the sky when you don't have the city lights dimming them.
  
• Going to bed at 58*. No, wait... is it 61*? Oh, the clouds are rolling in.
  
• Reading a passage from my book to Max was met with deafening silence. The two paragraphs that I found stirring and beautiful, put him to sleep.
  
• Laying in bed with a throbbing knee, listening to all the sounds outside. Hoping there isn't a crazy bear on this side of Yellowstone Park that wants to drag us out of our trailer and eat us. (No disrespect to the poor families of those who were injured and killed last week in Cooke City.)
  
• Did we get the fire put all the way out? Mostly certain. Too cold to check.
  
• I miss Buttercup. I hope she is feeling better.
  
• Next time we come camping, if Buttercup doesn't come, we are leaving Lola Dog home with her!!!
  
• Don't forget to check for ticks!
  
• Ummmm.... WHO STINKS!?!?!
  
• I love the second night of camping! I usually sleep so well!
  
• Miraculous Ibuprofen! It's almost like I have a new knee! (Well, it's about 80% better.)
  
• Shooting the pellet gun... I'm the only one to hit a target! Two shots = two hits! ... Make that three for three! How many have you hit boys? (None!) tee hee

Shortly after we put the pellet gun away, we left the campground and came home. What a great weekend! We are debating whether or not we'll go again next... maybe every weekend during the month, to make up for lost time!?!

My two favorite pictures from the weekend.

This is the culvert we climbed in for the pictures. It's right off the highway and it has a beautiful DEEP pond that is fed from the beautiful stream and waterfall (next picture) -- snow melt. I've wanted to stop here and take pictures for YEARS!

Another of our stops. Of course Inigo couldn't take the designated path to the top. It's all about exploring. (And he chose to take and wear his pirate outfit this weekend.)

This is Inigo's redneck/pirate/angry face with a pellet gun picture.

Finally, this is how Inigo hit his target! HA HA HA HA!!!

"The awning that tried to take my head off."