Woodland, women, and weather

Having seen Whitefish, we drove to Kalispell where I bought tickets to the Bibler garden tour on Saturday. Then a quick stop so Diane could buy a pair of shoes that she liked. She had found the shoes in the Whitefish store, but not in her size. The Kalispell store had the shoes she wanted.

We walked a little of the main street in downtown Kalispell and also visited the historic Western Outdoors store and Norms News. Western Outdoor has all manner of cowboy hats, boots, and clothes.

We ate at Scotty's Bar & Restaurant as my uncles and aunt were in the mood for steaks. No other customers were in the restaurant when we arrived but it filled by the time we left. For a Wednesday the bar was sure boistrious by the time we left. The restaurant did not have a large menu. Mostly steak, steak, streak, and pork ribs.

During the meal my relatives were poking me in the ribs about our waitress and were asking, "What about her? She's not wearing a ring. You interested in her?" I wasn't especially.

After the meal I worked on my uncles and aunts to take a short stroll through Woodland Park in Kalispell before returning home. They relented and walked around the park with me. They told me to take it easy on them as they didn't have a spring in their step like they noticed in mine.

Larry, Diane, and Cathy speed walked while Curt and I walked slower while Curt explained some of the plants and trees to me, and we agreed the City could have done a better job trimming dead branches from trees and in keeping the ponds cleaner. The ducks and geese didn't seem to mind.

A woman walked by on the path and Curt loudly said, "My nephew here is single and he likes to hike and he has a ranch with 12 head of cattle." She ignored him and kept walking away - probably even faster now to get away from these two lunatics.

It was still early when we arrived home so I gave them a short tour of the middle pasture and also checked my gopher traps. I had 3 gophers in the traps. Two were dead and one was sticking out of dirt that filled the hole's entrance. The gopher's upper half stuck out of the dirt that now covered the hole while the trap and the lower half of the gopher were buried in the loose dirt. My aunts and Larry left to check another trap while my uncle Curt watched how I dispatched the gopher.

Then we retired to the RV to watch my videotape of the Monday and Tuesday episodes of "Dancing with the Stars". Curt and Cathy are fans of the show like I am.

Earlier Curt asked if he should put their portable table and chairs away for the night in case it rained. I looked at the sky and said it wouldn't rain. Later that night when I was reading my email I heard a strong wind come up. I checked the internet and a line of rain storms was coming this way.

I ran outside and in the strong wind and among a few rain drops I gathered the table and chairs and bar-b-que grill and placed them in the bed of my pickup which was inside my pole shed.

Larry and Diane apparently were out like a light and never heard the wind storm. Curt and Cathy did but felt it was too late to do anything about the table and chairs so never got out of bed.

The next morning Cathy looked outside to see the table and chairs missing. She figured they blew out into my pasture and looked for them out there. Eventually she found them in my pickup bed.

I never lived down my incorrect rain forecast. We always put the table and chairs in my pickup bed each night from then on.