Friday:  We spent the morning sorting through the laundry, shuffling through the toys, trying to make sure we wouldn't leave anything behind:

Linda came from Chinook to say hi and g'bye:

Took a while to get all our meat loaded onto the car; the added weight made an incredible difference in the way the car responded on the road.  Wow.  Kirby stopped for water in Big Sandy; I took over and drove to Lincoln:

In the dark, on the windy way out of Lincoln, a few miles before Helmville Junction (between mile marker 61 and 62, to be specific), we spotted a car beside the road, hazards flashing.  Kirby turned around and stopped to see if someone needed help.  A man and his wife were inside; they had hit a deer, the front of their car was scrunched / disabled, they were shaken but not injured -- in the middle of cell phone no-man's-land.  I watched the phone ("Searching for service...") 'til we reached Ovando, where we stopped to use the phone at Trixi's.  (After years of driving past her signs, I would have expected saloon girls in their short skirts, but it's more of a farmers' pub than a burlesque hall.)

There are many everyday moments that I would like to see captured on film... or canvas... or somehow.  Moments that are beautiful not because of color / composition, but because of their familiarity, because of the friendly memories they evoke.  Driving in the dark, for instance.  Driving in the rain.  A road trip, with the whole precious family in the rear view mirror.  I was mentally framing the view through the windshield when I noticed the silhouette of the cowboy (I picture him as a rancher, 60ish) in the car ahead of us.  I suppose someone, somewhere could fit the whole experience in one frame... This is the clearest of my attempts:

Came home to voice mail telling us that Audrey had collapsed (at Todd's house), was "unresponsive."  They brought her to the hospital in Bozeman...

yesterday:  It wasn't until I called Tommi for an update that Mari knew about Audrey.  She was upset, to say the least.  Torn between knowing that Audrey could be with Jesus, without pain... and the selfish prayer that she'll come home.  This is the closest person with whom she's had to come to grips with mortality.  "I didn't really know [great] Grandma Faye or [great] Grandpa Bob, and the horses are just animals...  Audrey is my friend."

Just before I went to bed, I chatted online with Anna.  She said her Grandma was coming home (to Todd's house) from the hospital.  Happy news.

today:  Kirby left for two weeks on the job in Spokane.

Currently Watching: Martin Chuzzlewit

Friday, November 21:  Bri spent the afternoon at Conrads'...

Grandpa Rick and Grandma Nancy came down to give goodbye hugs and kisses.  The kids turned on the Cotton Eyed Joe music and invited them to dance.  (Kendric has the steps all figured out, though his timing needs a bit of work.)  Dancing turned to tumbling:

Saturday, November 22:  Drove to Havre...

Guess who we saw at the gas station in Lincoln!

Stopped to say "hello" to Dick (gone hunting) and Carolyn.  They live in Ken and Deb's old house -- it seems like a completely different place now...

Sunday, November 23:  Kirby and I had dinner at Kody and Amber's...

Monday, November 24:  Grandma Lois let the girls make cookies.  They couldn't agree on which kind to make, so Lois let them each make their own recipe:

(not pictured: Myra Jayne, making chocolate chocolate chip cookies)

A nice day for playing outside:

Left the girls to play at Jon and Gina's; brought the boys to play at Todd and Mona's.

Kirby got a white tail buck...

Tuesday, November 25:  Betty, Monica and Abby; Belinda, Luke and Andrew to visit...

Helping Grandma Lois make chicken and dumplings for supper:

Lance and Karleen, Faith, Sally, Molly, Ben and Hannah came for supper and a bonfire:

Logan and Ben are such pals.  Too bad we don't live closer apart:

Wednesday, November 26:  Lois had to babysit Emily and Burke; Bri and Kendric went along for a few hours.

Mari and I went to town for a few groceries...  Drove to see our first house, which has been split into two apartments...  Made place cards for dinner tomorrow...

Kent and Kirby had five deer to process...  I'm allergic to deer hair, so Kirby gave me a Benadryl.  Totally knocked me out.  *ding-y, la la la*  I fell asleep in the living room; they all cut, cleaned, packaged, and cleaned up without me.

Thursday, November 27:  They cleaned the kitchen so well last night, all I had to do this morning was set tables, set the rolls out to rise, boil the giblets, boss Kate around (ha), etc.  We started to peel potatoes, but didn't have enough; had to call Lois to pick some up on her way home from babysitting...  Amber stuffed the turkey, Lark made the pies, Lois mashed the potatoes; the work was so nicely spread that none of us felt any stress at all.

Sunday:  Firewood brigade after church.  "It's like a water brigade, only backwards.  Instead of passing water to put out a fire, we're passing fuel to start a fire."

Peggy and Pebbles  ...  My life is so peachy...

Monday:  Mari and Bri to Tautiana's grandma's house...  Went to Dan and Jackie's to see new baby Havilah. 

Tuesday:  After six Red Dot days, we took a deep breath and did... nothing.  Well, we cleaned the basement, but otherwise...

Wednesday:  The kids played at Angie's house while I brought Mari shopping for jeans.  Mari found a fooseball, etc. table at Goodwill and bought it herself.  Kirby has arthritis.

Thursday:  ?

Friday:  Bri went to Conrads.  The rest of us packed and cleaned the house.  Kirby got my camera back from Teagan.

Saturday:  Drove to Havre.  Saw Kayl at the gas station in Lincoln.  Stopped to see Dick and Carolyn in Ulm.

Sunday:  Kirby went hunting.  Lois and I went to the mall for coffee.  Saw Angela Anderson, now married to Andy Something, 4ish month old baby named Malachai.  Dinner at Kody and Amber's.

Monday:  Left the girls to play at Jon and Gina Kaftan's, brought the boys to play at Todd and Mona Warnuk's.  Kirby got a deer.

"Why isn't the word for palindromes a palindrome?" 

Logan:  "Everyone who knows me loves me."

Kendric:  "Is that real meat from an animal or is it from the store?"

Bri borrowed my camera for a walkabout this afternoon:

yesterday:  Tautiana and Gaebriel came up to play.  That is, Tautiana played.  Gaebriel wasn't feeling well.  Bit of a cough.  I tucked her in for a nap on the couch, and she didn't complain.

After the girls' grandmother picked them up, we rushed to get our kids bathed and packed; brought Bri and Wilson to Jerry and Tommi's, Mari, Myra, Kendric and Logan to Gramma Betty's.

A quick stop at Harvest Foods turned into a long in-the-car conversation in the parking lot.  Kirby described some of today's events at Greg's shop...  I have a new respect for people in service positions.  I thought it was bad enough to have a customer watching over your shoulder while you work, but when they want to have conversation with you... and you need to get the work done in a timely fashion... but you can't be rude to the customer and tell him to shut up...  Yikes.

While we were sitting there, we noticed a young man walk in to the store.  Noticed, because he was wearing sunglasses.  At night.    Several minutes later, as we were stepping out of the car, he wandered out of the store, looking ... strange.  Tyler met us at the door, but abruptly turned back, muttering something about checking the [surveillance] tapes.  Kirby figured the kid must have stolen something, so he stayed at the door to visually track him.  Tyler came running back -- yes, the guy was a shoplifter, but Tyler was more concerned 'cause he was apparently out of his mind.  Stoned?  Drunk?  Whatever.  He called the sherrif; by the time we left, there were officers with flashlights combing the field across the highway.  Hopefully they found him before he passed out and froze to death...  (Bri:  "I hope they caught him. Then they could punish him for stealing.")

today:  We drove to Hauser Lake, ID to check out a property.  Got there at the very same time as the realtor.  Ha.  The place was creepy / trashy, but Kirby sees much potential.  Yes, Kirby!  Usually it's I who can imagine a fresh coat of paint, a little trim, new landscaping, etc.

Also drove to look at five acres of bare land.  (I prefer the location, but we can't afford to start a house from scratch.)  In the same place where I'd seen the quail before, two moose were nibbling on the side of the road:

They moseyed up through a yard:

We drove from the property to Kirby's prospective workplace to check the driving time against Google's estimate.  Even supposing that Saturday traffic is smoother than workday morning traffic, it was considerably faster.

Stopped to see Riverfront Park / Spokane Falls on the way back:

Downtown, a streetcorner protest occasionally interrupted the everyday sounds of the city.  Whenever a passing motorist honked in support, the crowd would cheer.  I suggested to Kirby that a smart protest group would send a good tenth of its numbers out in cars to keep up the sound.  Ha.

Despite impressive architecture and quaint spots, I do not care for cities.  I am unspeakably grateful that Kirby is willing to make the commute so the children and I can spend our days Out of Town.

Stopped at Cabela's to ask about Idaho's hunting regs:

While Kirby visited with the guys in the Hunting department, I wandered the store looking at the impressive taxidermy displays:

A Cabela's employee greeted me with some standard question, and I responded with the standard answer to the effect that I was just enjoying the scenery while waiting for my husband.

"Taking pictures?  I'm sorry, ma'am, I'm going to have to confiscate your camera."    "I'm from Security blah blah blah" and "These animal mounts are the property of Cabela's blah blah blah."

Wide eyed, I asked if there was some sort of posted notice at the door that I had missed.  Then, thinking of all my photos of the house, the park, etc., I asked if he would be willing to watch me delete all the photos I'd taken in the store.  Eventually (very eventually) he said, "Aw, I'm just messin' with you."

By then, though, I was a mess of unnecessary guilt and shock, "Man, I just want to sit on the floor and cry!"  Well, I didn't sit on the floor -- but I did cry.  (Go ahead, laugh.)

Then... it was his turn to be shocked.  "Hey, I was kidding!"  I assured him over and over that tears are a natural reaction to such a huge emotional load.  It didn't help that I was trying to laugh it off -- the tear fountain was on, and laughing only made it worse.  Poor guy.

I found Kirby...  We blew a dollar at the "shooting range":

Kirby phoned Jason to ask his advice about fixing the house. While they talked about floor joists and framing, I slept through Coeur d'Alene and much of 4th of July Pass.

Jerry and Tommi were roasting hot dogs when we stopped to pick up Bri and Wilson.  Wilson heard Kirby's voice through the dark, and ran, "Daddy!"  Took him a while to realize I was there too, then he ran to me, "Mommy!"  Love that boy.

Mom had stopped at Gramma Betty's on her way home from work, picked up Mari, Myra, Kendric and Logan so we wouldn't have to drive in to town.  Mari, Myra and Kendric wanted to walk home from Grandma Nancy's by the light of the car's headlamps.  They held hands and ran / skipped together.  What a sweet bunch of kids.

Kendric had a morning appt. with Dr. Windauer.  Fixed up his toothache right proper:

I stopped by Jackie's house on my way home to see if she was about ready to have that baby or what.    Invited her kids to spend the day at our house:

The kids came running in when it started to snow:

Cozy, inside fun:
 

Driving the kids home, we talked and laughed about slugs, Ronan Sports and Western, belts, wooden spoons, hairbrushes...  Jackie invited me to stay for a cup of tea -- didn't have to twist my arm much.  Dear people.  I'm gonna miss 'em.

Bri with her new tap shoes: