Shake, Rattle and Roll

Hi everyone!  Holly cow, have you been following the earthquakes and erupting volcanoes around the world lately?  There is something going on big time and I think we are in for some dicey action very soon.

I have been learning all about Geology lately.  I've been checking out books and CD's about volcanoes and have found them to be fascinating! I have also been following some of the earthquakes rattling  the areas around the world.  We have a ton of volcanoes going off all around the world.  One of the most beautiful is located in Iceland.  It is located under a glacier and the glacier ice in and around the crater is slowly melting.  The lava from this volcano doesn't have a huge amount of silica so it has been putting on quite a show.

There have been some earthquakes in Southern Oregon as well that the scientists are keeping an eye on.  I wonder if we will soon see a big quake there or some other form of activity.  Only time will tell.

We were to have gone on a Big Foot hunt a few months back but it never got to take place.  I had some health issues that came up and the new cabin or should I say "money pit" kept us here in Montana.  We have been spending a great deal of time up there working on it, laying carpet and cleaning up.  The roof was seriously damaged by a hail storm and needed to be replaced.  There was so much to do at the cabin that we had a long talk and decided that we would stay home this year.  It is looking quite nice up there but be have had a very difficult time getting someone to work on the roof of the cabin and the pole barn.  Two companies pulled out at the last minute and left us without a new roof.  Then, just a few days ago, the temperature plummeted and we had snow.  None of us were ready for this to happen.  It has been bitterly cold here and we have been staying close to home.

My company sold our building and moved us across town to a cleaner and more secure location albeit we are now sharing offices 3 to 4 to a room.  It has been a challenge to not step on toes and get used to working together.  My office mates are all great and one will only be with us until January.  She has been with the Mental Health Center here in Billings Montana for over 28 years and will be retiring.  Work has been quite difficult lately.  I've had to deal with some very sick individuals and it is sometimes very hard to keep them stable.  It wouldn't be so hard if I didn't like them so much.  I have some very intelligent clients with whom I can have some very wonderful conversations with when they are stable.  Unfortunately, when they are not stable, they are very hard to manage and keep safe.

I haven't been making jewelry lately as my CMC joints are pretty messed up.  I have to wear braces at night when I sleep to keep the swelling at bay and I have to have injections every three to four months at the base of my thumbs to help with the pain.  It affects my grasping of small items so it is very hard to work with the beads and makes tearing apart the old pocket watches very painful.  Hopefully, I can get back to normal soon so that I can work on my hobbies again.

I have had some great times with my little granddaughter and there is word in the wind that another may be on the way.  We don't know for sure right now and my daughter is being closed lipped about it all.  I suspect that we will know for sure around Christmas.

We are hoping to take one small trip before bedding down for the winter. Not sure yet where we will go but we know it will be someplace warm.  The house sitter is  ready to roost as soon as we give the word.

Well everyone, I hope we won't be dealing with fire and ash here in the United States but it's all up in the air right now and with all the earthquakes and mountains going off, who knows?  Alaska is getting their fair share as I write this with Pavlof tossing her cookies!  I hope all of  you have a great Christmas and a very happy New Year!  Cheers! Freedancer

Well, happy 2014 everyone!  I thought I'd better get to blogging so you all don't think I got buried under all this crazy life has to offer.  Much has happened since the birth of our new granddaughter.  She is already a year old and gaining an attitude.  With two teachers as parents, she is one smart cookie if I do say so myself!

We have a new cabin now.  We spent much of 2013 looking around at many different cabins and locations.  We ended up three miles away from our one that burned down!  This one is much nicer and.....wait for it....has indoor plumbing!  Yes my savvy friends, not one but two bathrooms!  It also has four bedrooms which will allow us to have guests over.  It is truly a genuine log cabin.  We have been steadily working on it every chance we get, tearing out carpet, painting and decorating.  I have a tremendous amount of bare walls to hang my photos.  We ended up keeping the burned land as we now have two wood stoves to gather wood for and the seared wood will burn just fine after knocking off the blackened outer shell.

My husband finally sold his ranch near Miles City Montana.  He had been wanting to sell it for years but couldn't get his sister to agree.  She is part owner.  Finally, she stated she wanted to sell and my hubby jumped at the chance.  He has been cleaning out the old ranch house as the new owners are going to strip it to the 2X4's and rebuild.  There are some nice antiques there and my hubby has been bringing them home.  We will put a few of them at the new cabin to give it a little character.

We have purchased some furniture for the new cabin with the insurance money that my husband received for the one that burned down.  I actually found a couple of second hand chairs that really were very unique. I found a stellar rocking chair with a beautiful pattern on the head rest portion.  We also found a wonderful chair at a used furniture store that is fairly old fashioned but in great condition.  We have a couple of other older chairs that we are going to get recovered and repaired.  One is a rocker from the 1800's!

You have to understand a little about this new cabin to get the jest of the type of furniture that we want to decorate with.  This cabin was built in 1983 so it really isn't that old.  In 1992 it was purchased by a man and his wife who basically wanted to reside there "off the grid" so to speak.  This man was not a friend of the US government and he did not believe in paying his taxes so the IRS took ownership of the cabin in 1993.  However, no one would go up and get the current squatter out of the cabin so he kept living there.  In late 1993, the man had three other men move in with him.  His wife had left him so he had lots of room.  The four of them started a movement in Montana called "The Montana Freemen".  They resided in the cabin until September of 1995 when they moved out and went up to Jordan Montana where the "Freemen 81 Day Standoff" took place.  So as you can see, we purchased a little piece of Montana History!  I have spent some time researching what went on at our new cabin during those years they were there.  There was quite a bit of counterfeiting and had they all stayed there, the Freemen Standoff would have been at our cabin instead of Jordan.  They named our cabin "Redemption Township" and the Jordan Montana location was named "Justus Township".  It's kinda cool knowing our cabin had a history even though I would never condone or believe what the Freemen preached and lived.  We actually purchased the cabin from a retired minister and his wife who resided there for 12 years before they decided they wanted to move into Billings.  We actually had gone and looked at it once before we looked around for a while more.  However, we were both drawn back to this quirky cabin and just knew that we had to have it.  Although my hubby constantly states "there is nothing square in this cabin" as he measures spaces and thinks about what he wants to do with them.

We have quite a few plans for this new cabin.  We are hoping to make it a place that we can go if the "you know what" hits the fan some day.  My hubby is going to have his ham radio tower there and we are going to try to install solar and wind power as alternative emergency power sources.  We are excited about this endeavor and I will keep you well informed of our progress.

We are planning our first and only trip of 2014.  My hubby has gotten to know a man from Washington State who knows a great deal about Bigfoot.  Now my husband is quite sure that these creatures exist.  He believes that he heard one at one time and has had a bucket list desire to go on a hunt.  He has been invited to join this man in Washington to do a little hunt and we are very up for this!  After all, one can combine two favorite pastimes, Geocaching and Bigfoot hunting!  We are only taking one trip due to the fact that we have a lot of important work to do on the cabin and cannot afford to let it sit too long.  We want to have wood cut and all the improvements done on the inside by the time Winter rolls around.

Well, that is my update for this year so far.  I am sure there will be many other interesting things to report as the rest of the year flies by. I truly hope all of you have a great Summer and a safe one as well.  Cheers for now!  Freedancer