Winter Happenings

By: Alex


With the holidays coming quickly after Thanksgiving, so did the cold weather. We decided we should do as proper Ashlanders do and cut down our own Christmas tree . We all came to the realization that Christmas trees one would cut down out in the wild are not quite like the ones you'd by at your local lot, though we loved it all the same. After a little TLC, including popcorn strings, decorated pine cones, and your classic white lights, it looked as good as any of us were used to. Couple that with a creatively done fireplace that Anne made and our house became quite festive.
Tim and John revealed to us a house gift of a years subscription to the a house favorite magazine, which followed with a dramatic reading- everyone was delighted.

Since it was so brutally cold (night temperatures reaching -20 and beyond), the males of the house figured the best thing to do with our time was to lap around the house in our skivvies (an adaptation of last year's event). We indeed decided it was nippy out not by our scantily clad run, but by "crinkle coat" syndrome and beards that develop frost without any water application.

We all spent some quality time with our families back home for Christmas and New Years and returned to Ashland with energized spirits and intentions.

John and I spent a day back at the St. Labre ranch sorting buffalo with Ray, Pat, Dave, Chad, Doug, Jon, Lance, and of course Rose and Buddy. We learned to move buffalo you need power the skidsteer and run them through the chute into the tub to which you send them down into their proper pen. Get that? Yeah...neither did the two of us. Of course, with most things here, we soon learned as we went on.

Two weeks ago, Bruce, our area director came to visit for the better part of a week. We were all excited for his arrival as he brings a great deal of energy back to our house. We spent plenty of time catching up, with a mandatory game of Settlers of Catan. He introduced us to sa-lad(?), which we realized had never had together as a house (its pretty good).

The following weekend we headed into Great Falls for our second retreat with the rest of the Big Sky region. Though we were significantly creeped out by the Ursuline Academy, I think most of us learned to love it (with help from George, the night-watchmen/tour guide/guy who loves it there, and the creepiest game of sardines I'd ever seen.
On the way home we stopped in Judith Gap, Montana for famous shakes and took killer photos of the massive wind farm, which partly provides energy for sites hundred miles away.

As always, we have many things planned for the next couple of weeks including visitors to our humble abode, a Denver trip to see the Celtics play the Nuggets, and Sheridan WY. Stay tuned to see if we make it.