Alma on a leash?

When I was putting together the post about Chloe, I found pictures of Alma out for a walk too!

Summertime walk in the backyard.

Wintertime walk in the front yard.

New family member

On March 28, Maggie and I adopted a truly beautiful dog. Her name is Chloe and she's a 4 YO Giant Schnauzer/Lab mix. We made the adoption from the Bitter Root Humane Society in Hamilton. So far, Chloe is the best dog imaginable. She's sweet, well mannered, loving, attentive, and for the most part completely ignores the ever-hissing Alma. Maggie and I both look at Chloe sometimes and ask "What's wrong with you? You're not really perfect are you?" We will keep you all updated, but here are some pictures for now...

Woof!

I may look sad, but I'm really, really happy!

For a comparison of scale, here I am with Mommy Maggie. I'm 65 lbs. Can you believe these stencils?

I have a sister now. I don't think she likes me very much. She seems to avoid me, and when we do see each other, she hisses at me. From what I gather, her name is Alma, and she thinks she rules the roost. Oh well.

Chloe seems to fit right in at our home. It's like she's been with us, and was meant to be with us forever. Adopters often scratch their heads and wonder, "why did your previous family give you up?" There are many reasons of course. We just feel lucky to have found this girl.

There happens to be a park in Anaconda named Washoe Park, with a creek named Warm Springs Creek. This time of year, it is not aptly named. It is downright frigid. But, Chloe's Lab genes came out in her this past weekend. On a walk through the park, she took a BIG dive. She got out, shook off some water, then went right back in. I bet that creek will be heaven for her later this Summer. We'll take photos of a swim soon.

And while Chloe seems disconcerted by her new sister Alma, things are moving along just fine. There is much hissing, but it's not that bad really. And it's getting better day by day. Maggie and I actually saw Alma go right up to Chloe last night and sniff her paws while she was asleep. Interesting.

Gathering Illinois Friends and Family

A Motley Crue indeed!

Maggie and I were honored, when my brother Rick offered to let us have a party at his house while we were home in Illinois. We thought our trip home would be a great time to gather all of our friends and family in one place and celebrate our wedding all over again. We had a great time, even though it was 85 degrees with 80% humidity (Back home it was a sweltering 10 degrees with snow on the ground!) I haven't sweat that much since I lived in Illinois!

Sweaty boy and Maggie

Our family members who braved the ridiculous heat were, my brothers Jim and Rick and their families, including my sisters-in-law Pama and Nancy and niece Amanda and nephew Tim. Nephews Zach and Greg were not able to join us unfortunately. My Uncle Tom and Aunt Nancy joined us, as did my Uncle Bob and Aunt Marilyn. My adopted family member Kimma, and her sister and brother-in-law Shawn and Aaron joined us as well.

Jim, Nancy, Uncle Bob and Uncle Tom

Aunt Marilyn, Maggie and Uncle Bob

Uncle Tom and Aunt Nancy

Friends came from all over. His Holiness, Pope Bite Me IV, visited from St. Louis. My best friend Jeff and his wife Belinda brought their kids Roan and Teaghan from Chicago. Bill and Carmen also came down from Chicago. Mike and Christie came from Champaign with their kids Will and Emma. Also from Champaign were Barb and Rod. Barb is still my favorite boss of all time! It was great to see the C/U crew.

Barb and Rod

Sandy and Alyce

Rod and Francie

Sandy and Raymond

Pope, holding court

Jeff and Pete

Our Springfield friends included, Pete sans his wife and twin girls, Blake and Jenny came with their kids Evan and Annabelle, Lori and Steve brought Ben and Emily and Amy and Steve came with Leanna and Eric. Illinois State Library friends were also in attendance. "Professor" Arlyn, Sandy, Francie, Raymond, Alyce, and Tom. My former reference department supervisor and current Director of the Illinois State Library Anne brought her son Thomas.
Amy, Lori and "The Steves"

Carmen, Bill, Mike and Belinda

With all of the children at the party, Maggie and I started to feel a little left out without our Alma.

Rick and Pama's perfect Golden Retriever, Sarah

We didn’t get to spend enough time with folks. It’s the curse of having a big party. I just wanted sit down with everyone and say. “So what’s been happening in your life?” “How have you been?” “How do you people handle this heat? In October?!” We just couldn’t do it. It was too busy. For that I apologize. I urged all of our guests to come to Montana. We can have those conversations sitting on the sun porch at 600 Main Street.

Georgetown Lake and Mt. Haggin

My brothers and I followed Maggie and Kathy to Philipsburg to go candy shopping the day after the wedding. BTW: The Sweet Palace and 7 Gables Restaurant (Best damn chicken in the state) at Georgetown Lake is a must stop for all Anaconda visitors. Bring plenty of insulin. It was a snowy trip through the Anaconda Range. As I said earlier, we had three inches on the ground in Anaconda and we were headed up about another 1000 ft or so. Snow at Georgetwon was beautiful. I desperately wanted my brothers to see some wildlife. Moose preferably. They were nowhere to be seen. But we did catch a glimpse of a rather thoughtful looking Great Grey. My brother got a pretty good shot of it...

What do you think?

Rick and Jim and Kathy all left the next day. I recommended a road to the boys. I think they took it because this view of Mt. Haggin is from that road. Pretty spectacular snow for September 2.

Wedding guests and fun photos

Our wedding day was made very special because of the people that were able to join us on that day. As I stated in the previous post, my brothers Rick and Jim made the treacherous trip from Illinois to Vegas and then drove a rented Hyundai Sonata the remaining 12 hours! I was honored that they agreed to be my Best Men. Maggie's two attendants were her best friends... The Kathys. Kathy from Missoula and Kathy from Portland. Rounding out our guest list was of course, the Reverend Sue, Maggie's parents JoAnn and Mike, brother Scott, Grandma Millie, and Aunt Bek. My wonderful stepdad Don and his wife and my friend Rose were also there for the Big Day. Of course how could we forget, our special needs daughter Alma. She enjoyed all the company we had that day. Here are some more fun photos of the day...

Scott and Aunt Bek

JoAnn, Kathy Majidi and Sue

Kathy Majidi and Maggie.

Scott and Millie in the Red Room

"Ahhhh.."

Me and Kathy Kelly on the couch, Sue at the Piano, Bek looking at the camera, and Rose with her back to you. What a fun crowd.

Bek and Alma were fast friends

Finn Boys eating? I don't believe it.

Yum. Food.

Me and Jim in the Stencil-riffic kitchen

Alma is overwhelmed with emotion.

It was a big day for all of us.

The Wedding photos... Finally!

Bliss.

As many of you know, Maggie and I were married on August 31, here in Anaconda. We had been planning a very small, very secular ceremony for the backyard. However, the morning of the wedding, it was rather cold and drizzly. Not a very nice day to be outside. We moved our guests indoors. It was a great day. My brothers and stepdad were here. And Maggie's family joined us. The Reverend Sue performed the ceremony. (Sue and Maggie were both ordained online through the Universal Life Church, the month prior to the ceremony). It was all legal... really.




Reverend Sue's Credentials... just in case there were questions ;-)
Maggie's beautiful grandma Millie, just before the ceremony

Assembled Friends and Family

We promised a five minute cermony. I think it seemed like two minutes, but we are told it was actually around ten. It was an emotional blur for both of us. Sue mentioned the fact that Mom and Dad couldn't be here and I lost it. Then Maggie lost it. We were both in tears by the end. We performed the wedding in the doorway, so people could sit in the living room. It was very cozy. Here are a few shots of the ceremony...

The "I Do's"

The vows

The Rings

The Kiss

Us and Sue

After the ceremony we toasted our guests with a glass of bubbly, and proceeded to do what both families do best... eat! We had quite a brunchy spread. Maggie's dad Mike grilled chicken in the backyard, I made fresh fritatas and lemon spaghetti, Maggie's friend Kathy Kelly made some great salads, and we had awesome huckleberry cream cheese danish shipped in from Sweetgrass Bakery in Helena.

Mike the grillmaster...

The Spread

Maggie and I sat at Bernice's Bakery in Missoula once, while a young couple had a presentation from the baker about their wedding cakes. We were very jealous, because they got to taste all these great cakes. We wanted to do that too! But when we overheard how much a wedding cake costs, we were taken aback. We didn't need to do that did we? No, we decided to do something very simple yet tasty. We ordered a Huckleberry Torte from Park Avenue Bakery, also in Helena. It was truly great.

The Torte... OMG!

What a day. To cap it all off, there was a hailstorm in the afternoon. Then it started raining. Then it never stopped raining, until sometime in the night the rain turned to snow. We woke up the next day with 3 inches of snow on the ground. That was good for my Illinois brothers to see.

Other fun pictures...

These are some forgotten photos that were found on Maggie's camera recently...

Alma is looking particularly ragged here. She needs a good old fashioned brushing. But, look at those eyes.

Biker Boy!

I recently had the Bridgestone Mb-3 tuned up. New tires, lube, etc... it rides better than any twenty year old bike should... Maggie likes it when I wear the helmet...

Damn Hippies and their crazy beliefs...

It's still cold here. June 4, and we're looking at highs in the lower 40's...