It's a bird, it's a plane, NO it's a crane!!!

Last weekend Dad and Raylene came up for a visit so Ben and I took them to see the cranes! I think that the story is every year they stop there beofre heading south for the winter. It is a field all for them and after they stay the night they take off in the morning. Every night a new batch arrives! Ben and I went last year but only saw a few hundrend because we went to early in the day! This time we went right before sun down and were blown away! Not only were there tons of cranes but there were tons of people! Dad told me I should hide my little old digital camera because everyone had professional cameras with them! I tried to get some good pictures but they were far away and my zoom only goes so far! These are sandhill cranes and they can get up to 3 1/2 feet tall and up to 150 pounds! Yikes! I know that it does not look like there are that many cranes in my pictures but the field is huge and I chose to get a closer look instead of taking of picture of the whole field. They also say that they fly in groups of 2 -500 and that when they pick a mate they stay together for life.

Joe Cool...The Bear

Hey..just wanted to show everybody Jacob's new trick! He is one cool dude that's for sure! Love you all and can't wait to see you in a few weeks!! I felt so bad because one time he got SO excited he fell straight backwards and hit his head on the floor! Poor guy!!

*Kendall*

My New Little Hobby

I am only posting these pictures because I was trying to explain to Mom and Kendall what I was making and they needed visuals! I am not trying to be showy or anything! This past weekend I was bored to tears because Ben was working on his solar heating thing for the garage. After a few hours of sighing and complaining I decided to do an art project. I wanted a WELCOME sign for our porch so I decided to make one. After a few hours I finally got an end result and decided to make a few more to hang around the house! I know they are not perfect but they work for me and they were free!

A Nake! A Nake!

Monday afternoon Ben and I went outside to finish weeding the raspberry patch. Yes, I helped and I was not forced to. I volunteered! I am showing Ben that I do not mind working outside with him as long as it is not 95 degrees outside! I also have to say that he got a little peeved at me when I went downstairs to put 'work clothes' on which consisted of his shirt and windpants! Sorry, I could not get my own clothes dirty! Anyway we were weeding when Ben told me to look at something which resulted in me screaming that there was a snake on the ground right by his foot.

Now, even though it was just a little bitty snake I was sure it was a cobra. I have watched the Nature channel and although they do not live in this area I was still sure it was one because it had the flappy things on the side of its head. I was freaking out and Ben kept assuring me that it was only a hog snake and that I was being ridiculous. He starts poking it and I kept telling him he better stop or it was going to bite him. Even though it was not venomous I knew if it bit him it would probably not let go and just hang there off he leg! Then he would pass out because if he cannot handle shots how could he handle a snake hanging off his leg?

After, he told me that I had to much of an imagination he proceeded to move the snake into the wooded area behind the house.

But before he did I ran to the house for the camera so that I would have something to blog about! I am sorry the pictures are not so clear. I was having problems with our ancient digital camera and started pushing buttons which I am sure messed up the focus. Hopefully, you get the picture. I would also like to thank Ella for the title! If you all don't know the story she caught a caterpillar and called it a Nake! So cute!

I really am sorry the pictures are so fuzzy, they are making me go cross eyed at the moment!!!

Montana or Bust

Last weekend, our friend Jen, Scott, and I went to the great state of Montana! Our friends Dave and Ashley got married in Dave's hometown of Culbertson. Culbertson is in the North Eastern corner of Montana on US Highway 2. The land is beautiful and varies over every hill and around every turn. We were thankful to be able to spend Saturday morning with Dave as he gave us a tour of their ranch which sits along the Missouri River. It's amazing how raising cattle differs in Eastern Montana from how we raise cattle in Northern Minnesota.

The Saturday evening wedding was beautiful and the reception was a blast. Quite a few of our friends from UMC made the trip to celebrate and we had a great reunion of sorts! We danced and visited until 2:00am. Scott, Jen, and I were up and on the road by 8:00 the next morning and had a tiring trip back home. Scott, our historian, filled Jen and I with little tidbits about pretty much every lake and town along Highway 2. It was a fun and educating trip!

The rest stop we visited in Western North Dakota

This is the view of Dave's ranch as you drive over the hill

Some pictures of one of the Anderson's pastures, which is 1800 acres.

The tiny, narrow lane on top of the steep hills in the pasture.

The Missouri River, which runs through Dave's ranch

A common sight in pastures and fields; old tractors and combines.

Culbertson, MT

A few of the UMC crew

Jen's first trip to Montana!

The Machlitt's are Ready for Fall!!!

As most of you know Fall is my favorite season!!! I love the colors and pumpkins. For the past few weeks Ben and I have been getting things ready for the season. For Ben this means killing the garden off, cutting down and covering the asparugas, and weeding and covering the raspberries!! For me it means buyiny mums, pumpkins and gords and displaying them on the porch!!!!! However, this year I did put a little muscle into getting ready! The weekend that Mom was up we weeded my entire flowerbed. For those of you who have seen it you can agree that this was not an easy task. We had to wet down the bed twice before we could pull anything up!! The fun part was going and buying bulbs to plant!!! I do not remember what all we got but I can not wait to see them all come up in the spring!! Mom also bought me a huge mum and two plants for my birthday!!! They look great and I hope they come up again in the spring!!

Everyone, I would like you to meet George.

Who is George you ask? Well, maybe you should ask what is George?!?!?! George is the peace lily that Ben and I recieved from Mom and Mark. I know it seems funny to give my plant a name but George and I have been through a lot together. It has been a rocky road for both of us, especially at the beginning when he first arrived. He started out very happy. He looked so proud and then one day I saw that he was drooping over with sadness. So immediately I checked his water situation and then moved him to a warmer place in the house. Two hours later he was back to his usual self. I was quite proud of myself for figuring out what was wrong until a few days later when he was sasd again. He did not want to tell me what was wrong so I kept moving him to different places. Let me tell you, his emotions must have been haywire. His leaves kept going up and down. Finally Mom came to visit and informed me the George wanted to move to a bigger place. I guess he was feeling quite cramped in his litte surroundings. So, Ben and I got him a 12 inch pot with a under bowl watering system ( nothing but the best for our George)! I am glad to say that George is quite happy in his new home, so happy that he has not drooped for a whole week! He is now permanately stationed in the kitchen on the table. Is was touch and go for awhile there but he pulled through!