Family Mellmann

First thing Monday morning, before it could get too hot - and since the Rosebud Cafe is closed on Monday so we couldn't go out for breakfast - I went out to seed the next roll. The second roll went faster.  Now that I know what I'm doing, I can do larger patches of raking and seeding.  This time, the five+ hours of work included setting up the irrigation.  Now I get a "day off" to let my blisters heal over and my achy muscles to relax before starting the next roll. Is it just me, or does this look a little like a...runway?  Well, except for the little obstacles running down the middle. :)

A few weeks ago, we attempted to put down grass seed on our post-construction property.  I researched what landscapers use for new construction lawns - besides pre-grown sod or must-mow-every-week (and water all summer) lawns.  I ordered native prairie grass seed.  I bought "tackified" straw, purported to create a woven "glued together" mat once wetted which would hold down seed against seed-eating birds and wind.  Oh.  You noticed that I said "purported".  It didn't work.  Once the tackified straw dried, the first breeze blew it away (a Montana "breeze" is more like a strong wind to my New Englander friends). Anyway, back to the drawing board I went to find a better option...one that could be nailed down. I ordered more native prairie grass - to replace what blew away.  I ordered 112 foot rolls of erosion control mat.  AND, to make sure this round stays put, I bought a case of wood spikes! As every project goes, the first one of whatever you...

In an effort to get acquainted with our new home state, Joerg and I went to the 107th annual Crow Festival in Crow Agency, Montana.  It is a week-long festival attended by indigenous people from across the country.  It is hosted by the Apsáalooke (Crow) Nation. Apsáalooke is the Crow word for "Crow" and from which we get the name of our town - Absarokee - where the Crow once lived.  Our subdivision continues this theme by being called Crow Chief Meadows and having several Crow-related road names. Anyway, the festival is closed to the public except for the weekend during which they open it up for non-natives to observe.  This is also a good time for their food trucks to sell lots of goodies and their vendors to enjoy a little tourist ba'laa (Crow for money).  Like any good festival, there are competitions and pageants, and of course, a parade.  They have indian-style horse races (bareback) and a native-style rodeo.  There are dance competitions, drummin...

The photographer we hired to capture pictures during Dad and Sharon's 50th anniversary celebration took some really fun pictures.  Rather than loading up this post with tons of pictures, I'll share my Amazon Photos album of that day.  I think it will be pretty obvious which ones are from the professional and which ones are...mine.  👀  In case you missed the link above, here it is again.  Link . Enjoy 

After a brief but moderately violent storm (lightning, high wind, and driving rain) the sky turned into an evening show. We even had a near full rainbow. And if you use your imagination and squint really hard, you can see the start of a second rainbow. Seriously, squint really hard.

Today what a beautiful day. This afternoon the clouds rolled in bringing some rain. But what they really brought was crazy cloud formations, wild colors, lightning, low rolling thunder, and a rainbow. For a few minutes we even had a double rainbow. I am loving Big Sky country!

This afternoon, I took a little time to relax on the patio in my rocking chair next to my flowers (the only flowers I have at the moment) and was surprised to see this critter making use of their nectar.  He stuck around for awhile but I nodded off so I'm not sure when he left.  So much for being a gracious host.  

As long as I was already in Livingston, the remaining travelers for our anniversary party got together with me one last time for a dinner in town and dessert back at Dad's place.  They would be in Montana for a couple more days visiting Yellowstone again and hitting the other things on their wish list, but we wouldn't be getting together as a big group anymore after this.  I snagged a few last pictures including this one of my dad and is sister.  It was a really sweet time sitting around with this branch of my family hearing stories of when they were young.