A Peaceful End...

... to a long and stressful 12-hour work day.

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Fenced In

Today, after pouring concrete yesterday and finishing the kennel patio this morning, we built the piece of fence that was necessary to block off a portion of the yard for the furbabies. They can finally run around without a leash now! They're so happy they just kept running circles around the trees.

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Masonry

We poured concrete today to make a walkway out to the new dog kennel patio, which we also laid brick for today. I'm tired of concrete work. Hopefully, this will be the last of it for a long, long time.

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Goody Delivery

My Mela.leuca order came today. I had to re-stock on cleaners and decided to get some smelly lotions to put near the bathroom sinks. I love cleaning with my Eco.Sense cleaners; I don't need a face mask and my skin doesn't burn from harsh chemicals. And the lotions are the best my dry skin has ever known! I love delivery day.

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Lonely Nights

Hubby's gone an extra night this week... most weeks he's only gone 2, maybe 3 nights... this week, he was asked to attend a meeting in person rather than by phone so he's gone yet another night. It's been a long week. I miss him. I'm resorting to comfort food and popcorn's always filled the bowl for me.

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Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

One would never guess from the picture above that it was almost 90 degrees outside today. It looked overcast. It was smoke. It blew in during the day from the fire across the valley to the west that sprung back into heated action yesterday, as well as a new fire in the range directly to our east. I opened the doors to let the dogs out for their afternoon potty break and almost immediately started coughing. It's hard to breathe and I didn't want to leave the furbabies out there very long. You can barely see the mountains in the picture, which are only about 10 miles away, maybe. You can see it enveloping the trees in the middle of the picture, which are only about a quarter mile away.

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Lack of Modesty

My little Karma... as she usually lays on my office floor.

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Cone Cluster

I just think this turned out cool. I may frame it for bathroom art or something.

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Perfect Summer Day

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Bath Time

Okay, obviously I didn't take this picture because I'm in the Jeep you can barely see through the big splash! After wheelin' through mud and over rocks all day, we encountered this water hole on our way back to the lodge. Because our top was off, we got drenched. I was wishing we had a picture so our trail guide (and new friend) who was behind us said he'd take one if we went back through it. Like I needed convincing to do it again! We got the water to splash way higher and harder the second time through and got totally soaked! I don't think we had any mud remnants left over. Awesome!

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Follow the Leader

Jeep Jam.boree is to Jeeps what Stur.gis is to bikes. I loved wheelin' with other Jeeps. We had 8 in our pack on day 1 and there were 12 of us on day 2. There were at least 4 other trails being run at the same time for a total of about 30-35 Jeeps for the weekend... which isn't bad for a 1st annual event.

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Hittin' the Road

We left for the Jeep Jam.boree today, driving all day to get there for evening registration and vehicle checks. Of course, we signed up for the most difficult trails but the Big Ho.rns are typically more scenic and difficulty ratings go down as summer goes on. Trails are typically harder in the spring and early summer when run-offs and water levels are still at a maximum.

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Another Blessed Year

Happy Anniversary, Baby!

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Lake McDonald

In Glacier Park... we'll be going there next month with our friends from Germany. I love riding the bikes through Glacier.

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Gag Me

This ugly, icky critter tried moving in near our front door. Had another one like him near the back patio door. Neither of them are living any longer. Anyone have an idea what it is (other than spider)? It's HUGE... at least the size of a quarter, if not half-dollar... so about an inch to inch and a half. Which doesn't sound huge in and of itself, but a spider that size?!?! Ick. And he was FAT... big, round body and long legs that spread pretty far once he opened up. *shiver* I'm so glad he's gone.

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Cold Water

Never fails. Yesterday, we woke up for a work day, with my parents here to help, and had nothing but cold water for showers. Unbeknownst to us, our propane had totally run out. We had to pay extra for Saturday delivery. Today, we woke up to cold water again, this time to a failed water tank. Everything we had planned to do took a backseat for 9 hours while we tried getting the old one out of the way and the new one lowered... yes, lowered into the crawl space beneath the house. Fun times.

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Gettin' Ready

The hubby and I are going to a Je.ep Jam.boree this next weekend for our anniversary. Tomorrow, Gil will continue working on fabrication of a custom tire rack and mounting the CB antenna. I'm so excited to go... don't know if it's more because of getting away from the house and the joys of moving/settling in, though.

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HD Road King

Or should I say "Road Queen"?!? This is a pic of my bike... for the same game room.

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HD Fatboy

I took this of my husband's bike. I plan on using it for wall art in our game room.

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Fringe Trim

I got my hair cut last night... after I'd been growing it out for 2 years; I had about 4 inches removed and layering done all over. Here, I'm getting ready to have bangs (fringe) cut back in after growing them out for 8 months. My friend/stylist took this pic with her phone, which is why it's a bit fuzzy.

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REI Visit

I saw an REI specialist today for the first time. It was a visit chock-full of information, decision-making, and a few diagnostic procedures. Dr. M even gave me his notes he used to illustrate what he was telling me during our discussion.

To my fellow 365ers: I'm sorry for the lack of a different picture. I just couldn't bring myself to pull out my big DSLR when there was so much going on. It was a bit more stressful than I had anticipated.

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Nineteen Twenty

This barn was built in 1920 and sits on the property adjoining ours.

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Mammoth

I love the crispness of color in this picture, how the steam is rising from Mammoth Hot Springs against the cool air in Yellowstone National Park.

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Wind Energy

I posted yesterday about rain... today, wind. We get quite a bit of it here in certain parts of the country. I was actually almost knocked off the road by it yesterday. I love how a sunset can make big ol' pieces of metal look beautiful.

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Rainy Daze

We've been having a lot of rain lately, summer storms full of thunder and lightning. We had quite the torrential downpour today, rain beating on the windows and lightning lighting up the cloud darkened sky. It was beautiful.

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Energy?

Energy... I need more of it. I just don't have any. I found this little 4-pack of Red Bull leftover from New Year's while unpacking and I'm tempted... doubt it'll work, though. I am not susceptible to the caffeine rush.

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Sleepy Puppies

I have a "temporary" desk set up in our office until Gil builds us new, facing desks. While I'm working, this is what I usually have underneath... Mojo to the side and Karma right on top of my feet... for a majority of my workday. Arrow, the ornery step-child, chooses to lay on the other side of the room.

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Daring

I'm not very creative in my photography this week but such is life... guess I can be creative in painting our bedroom. I chose a pretty dark color, even for me. It's called Midnight Dreams. I thought it was appropriate, at least. Once the first coat has dried a little bit, it looks sort of like dark denim and I'm cautiously liking it... I may not even do a second coat because I'm liking the light-to-dark variations I'm seeing... I'll withhold a verdict until I've got all four walls done!

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Office View

It was my first day in my new home office and since I spent last night making sure my furbabies were all washed and smelling pretty, they're darn happy to be inside with me today. With Mojo, however, I'm thinking he'd rather be outside getting a closer look at those cows.

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Broken Wheel

I am selecting from a past arsenal of pictures because I've been so busy trying to get moved in to a point where I can at least bathe, eat, and work, I haven't had time to even think about turning my camera on these past 3 days. I took this picture last week up at the homestead and for some reason, I just really like it... rusty nail and all.

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Angels With Us

This is a garden angel my brother and I gave to Mom on Mother's Day many years ago. I love how she looks now that she's a bit weathered and aged.

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