Thanksgiving Day Poem

A Thanksgiving Day Poem....Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Day

By Lydia Maria Child

Over the river and through the wood,

To grandfathers house we go;

The horse knows the way

To carry the sleigh

Through the white and drifted snow.

Over the river annd through the wood-

Oh, how the wind does blow!

It stings the toes,

And bites the nose,

As over the ground we go.

Over the river and through the wood,

To have a first-rate play.

Hear the bells ring,

"Ting-a-ling-ding!"

Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day!

Over the river and through the wood

Trot fast, my dapple-gray!

Spring over the ground,

Like a hunting-hound!

For this is Thanksgiving Day.

Over the river and through the wood,

And straight through the barn-yard gate.

We seem to go

Extremely slow-

It is so hard to wait!

Over the river and through the wood,

Now grandmother's cap I spy!

Hurrah for the fun!

Is the pudding done?

Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!

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Fall and Winter Great Time to Visit Bison Range

by Marlene

I was reminded this morning that fall and winter months are a great time to visit The National Bison Range in Moise.  Although the preferred Red Sleep Road is closed for winter, the Range still offers a 10-mile round trip gravel road for wildlife viewing. Cooler weather often means animals are more active during the daytime, thus wildlife viewing opportunities abound. Because I said on Tuesday's post that I hunt with my camera, I've decided today's post will be a pictorial of the National Bison Range.

Visitor Center with Missoun Mountain Range as the backdrop.

Orange Bison Calf

Antler Pile

Arrowleaf Balsomroot Wildflowers

Cow and calf

Antelope

David took this photograph.  I think it looks like a painting.

Elk in Mission Creek

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Tis the Season for Hunter Orange

by Marlene

One would have to have a brain cloud not to know it's hunting season in Montana. With headlines like "It's been a rough year for deer hunters", "Wolf hunt was a success", and "As the rut starts, bucks are going to be on the move", who could forget. I always feel a little left out at this time of year because I don't hunt. I make excuses like "I hunt with my camera" or "One day I'll shoot a turkey with my bow".  When I see photo captions that read "Moose Success"  like the one I read the other day of a 17 year old high school girl that took down a 900 pound bull moose, I feel like I'm missing something. To give you an idea of how popular hunting is here, it was suggested by an outdoor columnists for The Daily Interlake that we forget NFL football, home projects, and church this weekend to go hunting.

Boy how time flies! M and E are starting their second year of shooting sports and I'm still talking about going hunting,

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The New Super Wal-Mart

by Marlene

Wal-Mart under construction

 “What are you doing?” I asked.

“Taking a picture of the new Wal-Mart,” was the answer.

We had just come from eating pizza at a restaurant in Depotland. My husband was taking a few pictures of the construction of the first Super Wal-Mart in Kalispell. His attitude towards the place has been increasingly negative since he discovered the phenomenon of 21st Century Cotton, but still considers a shopping trip to Wang Mart an outing. On road trips he always tells us to be on the lookout for Wal-Mart and sincerely enjoys shopping in a strange, yet oh so familiar store. Every now and then, when we don’t have any particular plan for the weekend, he’ll suggest we take a ride to Missoula and go to Wal-Mart. That’s 120 miles away! I usually cringe at the suggestion and wonder why we can’t make The Children’s Museum, The Carousel, or even Bob Ward’s, the destination. It’s a beautiful drive though, and a visit to Wal-Mart is another reminder of how far removed I am from big city life.

It’s been awhile since we’ve been down there, but the construction of the new store here in Kalispell has had us reminiscing about it. The memory that sticks out in all of our minds is noise. The cacophony of voices, constant beeping of cash registers, and people shopping was something we had forgotten about. It reminded me that even though I live in a small city with lots of hustle and bustle, it is still pretty quiet.

So, I am ambivalent about the coming of the Super Wal-Mart. It will be the only Wal-Mart in the Flathead Valley and will attract people from hundreds of miles away. I moved here to get away from the "big" city even if that meant getting away from "Anywhere in America” convenience. Oh well, I’d better not forget to put paper towels on the list.

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Gee! Oh Cash!

by E

WARNING: THIS GEOCACHE ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS

Geocaching is a fun sport that GPS users actively participate in.  You use the internet to get the coordinates for the geocache.  Then you use your GPS to find a container that can be anywhere from the size of a tiny nano to a 5 gallon bucket.

The other day was pretty boring, so Mom thought up the great idea to go geocaching.  I hooked the GPS cord to our laptop, and loaded all of the geocaches in the Lone Pine State Park area.  I also loaded some coordinates for caches near Heron Park.  Heron Park is a great place where you can take your dogs, ride your horse over hurdles, and sled down the big hill in winter.

Heron Park

First, we drove over to Heron park. I was chilly at first, but warmed up after some running.  Dad announced that we were within 5 feet of the cache.  I remembered what they said online, the cache was "installed" into a log, and Y marked the spot.  I saw some wood in an unnatural formation, with a Y shaped stick on top.  I uncovered the container, and called my family over to the geocache. Luckily, it was a regular sized one, not a micro.  I looked through the contents, and chose to take the magic towel, which enlarges when placed in water.  We left a "FUN" eraser. 

M and the expandable washcloth

On to "Harley Meadow", which was a dog friendly cache. We had to climb a steep hill, and discovered a new part of Heron Park. We reached the area, and began to search. I was just about ready to give up looking when Dad spotted it.  He grabbed the large ammo can, and opened it up.  I instantly spotted a travel bug, which is a trackable device, meant to be moved from cache to cache.  I had truly been wanting to find one, so we decided to take it.  We plan to give it to our geocaching relatives who are visiting for Thanksgiving.  They'll take it back to Alaska with them.

Dad replaced the ammo can, and we walked down the hill to the next geocache, named "Herron There."

M found it in a matter of seconds, even though the coordinates were just a little off.  We took a peace necklace and left another eraser. M and I ran back to the car, as it was time to find the ones by Lone Pine, and nearby Foy's Lake.

Marlene holding peace necklace.

It was just a short drive up the road, and we stopped at the nearest geocache. It was cold, windy, and very discouraging.  We didn't find it.  Actually, Mom and Dad were really the only ones who looked.  Anyway, we went on to "King of the Lake."  It was quite easy to find. It was a plastic snake with a bison tube attached to its tail, hidden by rocks.  My hands froze as I signed the log book.  Time to head on to the last, but not least cache.

It was a little ways up the Lone Pine road.  At first I thought it was a screwdriver stuck in the ground that I spotted, and then a wine bottle.  But no, after a little more looking in that area, we found a small lock n' lock.  I signed the log book, but there really wasn't anything worth taking. It's the find that gives you a feeling of accomplishment.  We headed home knowing that we had made a successful geocaching trip.  It's lots of fun, but we only found cache, not cash!

Our loot:  The Travel Bug, the washcloth, and the peace necklace.

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Seely Lake Preschool Named After Liz Claiborne

by Marlene

Today's  post is another bit of celebrity trivia about Montana. It happens to have a New Orleans connection, so that makes it all the better considering my link to the Crescent City.

We've all heard of Liz Claiborne, the founder of one of the world's most famous fashion design companies.  She was born in Brussels, Belgium, raised in New Orleans, and had a home in the area of Seely Lake, Montana.

Now, two years after her death in 2007 at age 78, a preschool in the town of Seely Lake has been renamed the Liz Claiborne Preschool.  Through their foundation, she and her husband Art Ortenberry have supported the school since 1996.  The Liz Claiborne and Art Ortenberry Foundation also has provided money for other programs at Seely Lake Elementary which enrolls 213 students from kindergarten through eighth grade.

With so much of Montana being rural, there are lots of small schools and even one room schoolhouses. I like that!

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The Spook House

by M

Meow

Leaves rustled along the quiet streets as a cool breeze passed between the houses. The sky was clear, and a bright almost full moon lit the neighborhood for trick or treaters.


My parents, sister, and I stood in line and watched as people walked out of the curtained spook house. Two teen girls stood ahead of me, texting and giggling. The line was long, but luckily we were pretty close to the front of it. A hunchbacked clown puttered around trying to scare people in line. He didn’t frighten me, but the girls ahead of us started screaming and fled the line. They were too scared to continue into the spook house. I wondered what was in store, because horrified screams emanated from behind the canvas. I heard a chainsaw, and thought of what I’d read in the newspaper about a deranged clown with a chainsaw. The line moved, and we were yet closer to realizing our fate.

Mom joked that a real killer may have taken the place of the clown inside. I shuddered at the thought, and hoped this was not the case. But the screams of horror still foretold something terrible. Before long, we were at the gate. A man with a strange appearance greeted us. His irises were white, and he showed us his unusual contact lenses. Finally, he opened the gate and we entered.

First we saw a witch sitting on a chair surrounded by bubbling cauldrons and potions. “It’s a beautiful night,” she murmured, standing up, “Be careful in there.” The whole time Mom was laughing hysterically. I couldn’t believe Mom was laughing at some woman just trying to act like a witch.

We continued through a cornfield with nothing of interest. I passed a scarecrow, which was hanging up and wondered if he would leap off and attack me. Nothing happened. Suddenly, I heard Mom scream. I saw the scarecrow, which had a hideous face, lunging towards us. I realized that we were in the midst of an insane asylum. A crazed person with a terrible appearance ran towards me. I jumped back, fearing I would be caught and eaten. Luckily, there was a chain around his foot so he couldn’t get any closer. As I passed him, I felt cruel hands on my shoulders as I leaped for safety. Ahead of me, I saw an evil pig doctor murdering his mangled patient with a chainsaw. The pig turned and walked toward me, and I stepped back in fright. Now I was on the verge of going around a sharp corner. What would greet me behind it was unknown. Everyone stopped in his or her tracks.

“You go first,” I said to Mom and Dad, “You’re adults.” At first they were slow to move, but I got Mom to lead. A hand wriggled from in a hole in a board. Mom and Eileen disappeared. Frightened, I proceeded. A clown holding a chainsaw menacingly approached me. I ran for my life. My hat flew off behind me. I needed it, because it was my mom’s but I’d never turn around and pass those creatures to get it. I hung onto Dad for dear life and ran the rest of the way out of the terrors. I realized Dad was carrying my hat. Where were E and Mom? Had they died? They had disappeared altogether. When I left, I saw them standing around nonchalantly.

The spook house was only about four blocks away , we walked home. Dad commented that this Halloween was just like the Halloween on To Kill a Mockingbird - the clear sky, leaves, and great weather.

I’d call that a Happy Halloween.