Time for FUNNY!

I hope these guys are good Docs too! 

now THAT'S interesting * MORE eIdeas from Nadeen

Happy Autumn . . . and welcome back to more eIdeas !


A California cousin recently posted on Facebook regarding the fact that her brother was going to a BeerFest/Gun Show. Who comes with these events! How does one respond to that?

“Get ‘em liquored up and then sell ‘em the greatest, latest gun”;

“Keeps the medical people employed” were a couple responses.

My response would be, “That’s Interesting.” I guess I was rather numb at the logic of such an event; maybe even a little curious about how it all worked out.

Do you ever find yourself with a lack of words for how to respond? I’ve found that the word ‘interesting’ is a pretty all-encompassing word. It says lots and it also says nothing. Interpret as you wish. But at least you have words with which to respond.

In my pursuit for reasons to celebrate life, I recently found the following list of unusual October holidays. Some are reasons to celebrate. Some are recognition of people in our lives. Some are just plain silly.

Some only merit a ‘That’s Interesting” comment. Regardless of the occasion or the event, there’s always a reason to get your name out there in front of your customers or potential customers and maybe one of these is just that occasion, who knows!

As your local distributor of promotional products, I’m always here to help you find ‘stuff with your logo on it’. Give me a call anytime if any of these special occasions trigger your fancy.

And remember, Christmas is coming. It is not too early to get your Christmas needs taken care of now.

Also, check out the new catalog search engine on our website: www.mlschuman.com It’s as simple as sitting in your easy chair thumbing through a paper catalog.

Meanwhile, consider that October 28th is National Chocolates Day. Now that IS interesting and a reason to celebrate! Chocolate makes a great gift anytime. *** And thanks to my past customers. It’s great working with you!

Green

We're farmers. Green is a favorite color. The color of crops emerging from the long process of seeding. Green wheat, green hay.


Right now, it is golden. Almost ripe for harvest. Also beautiful.

All to earn those GREENbacks!

Spring Wheat in the Yellowstone Valley

Zzoom, Zzoom, Zzoom

Stop the world.  I'm getting off.  Life is too full!  No time to write.  Zzoom, Zzoom, Zzoom right on by me.  When I'd rather get some Zzzzz, Zzzzz, Zzzzz's!

Wearing 3 part time hats
Entertaining a family of Swedish cousins in my home
Helping friends with a wedding reception
Among everything else.

It IS 5 o'clock in Montana....a lot!

and You thought this was about You

So, feel free to ask anytime! 
(Just feelin' a little selfish at the moment.)

For other fun posts, probably not about You, go to:

"X" as in checkmarks

I love checkmarks because...

...I wear several hats.

I'm a farm wife
I work parttime at a ranch (the one Mel Gibson used to own)
I sell promotional products
also,
I'm a grandma
I live in a small community of friends and family

But it is the top three that causes for a lot af empty boxes needing check marks.

Farm:  keeping the bills paid, getting the bills out, keeping the farmer going either via parts runs or food or 'can you give me a ride' or 'flag the swather across the bridge'.

Life at the ranch is the calmest of the three jobs but there is always a myriad of line items to complete.  I'm kinda the go-to, 'make sure the details are covered' gal there.

But it is the promotional product hat that has taught me detail.  Embarrassing and costly if the details aren't covered.  From researching the whole gambit of advertising items to narrowing it down to something specific, narrowing it down even further to desired features, getting art work in a proper format, what kind of font?, shipping, set-up, proof charges, how ya gonna pay, when is the drop-dead date, what color do you want, where do we ship.  Each item needs its own "X".  I'm sure lots of you do these same things, different industry. 

So, I've started keeping a notebook where I write everything.  Phone calls, ideas, grocery list, credit card information.  I update my to-do list often, refreshing it in a sense,   And I love when I can put a lot of checkmarks or an "X" by the item, thus making it go away!

"X" is my friend.  And heaven help me if I lose my notebook!

Put a "X" by the boxes on all the other "X" posts on Jenny's site:

Wet, Windy and Wide Open Spaces

From Vroom, Vroom to Wet, Windy, Wide Open Spaces

We ran away last weekend from a hail storm a couple days before - a storm that did our crops no good.  And it turned out to be a very interesting weekend.

Miserable is how I would describe our ride across the vast reaches of Montana.  Gale-force winds that eventually turned into torential rain.  But what do you do when you are out on a motorcycle in the vast reaches of Montana.  No towns, no trees, no shelter.  You ride.  And so we did , and arrived wet and cold.  Could go nowhere but up, right?  Well, most of the time it did.

This is the scene from Papa Bear's rear view mirror. 

Always keeping his brood tagging along.

But sometimes he probably couldn't tell who was in his brood

because they were all so bundled up to ward off Montana's summer weather!

In spite of it all, we still play poker.

Can you believe this hand. 

Of course, she won.

I've never seen this good of hand when we played poker on our rides.

Besides giving a short ride to the 91-year old mother of one of the gals,

we stayed at a century old hotel on Fort Peck Dam and went to the play.

Me.

We always pose our bikes for an official picture

to remember the ride.  One or our riders is a professional

photographer and does us up a big poster after the ride.

I will probably never go back to eastern Montana

because I will never see it as pretty as it was this time.

They had had so much rain that all the reservoirs were full,

creeks were overflowing their banks, pastures were lush,

cows were smiling, it was beautiful.  See?

As we approached Billings, we were all mesmerized by the cloud structure.

Spectacular cloud formations, shadowing was second to none. 

I was clicking my camera constantly from the back of Papa Bear's bike.

It was a beautiful day's ride with beautiful scenery

and beautiful weather.  And a beautiful bunch.

Just after this picture, we parted company next to a grocery store

and across the street from Montana's biggest event center, Metra Park

(aka Rimrock Auto Arena)

And within 1/2 hour this happened:

Left picture is the auto arena

Right picture is taken from inside the auto arena

And the middle picture is the culprit.

The tornado (Montana doesn't have tornados) hit 1/2 hour

after we'd been next to the arena.

We holed up in a restaurant across town, knowing where the

walk in freezer was, just in case.

This is a business just down the street from our stop.

This just is across the street from our stop.

So, we started windy and wet and we ended wetter.  2.25" of rain fell with the tornado and many, many homes were flooded and a mess.

But guess what?  When we arrived home 40 miles away, it was dry, sunny and we shared an outdoor fire pit with friends before calling it a weekend.

Vroom, Vroom

As you can tell, the easiest topic to write about, especially when in a hurry, is ME.  So, here is another.


What has Vroom, Vroom got to do with life on a farm.  Not much really, except sanity.  You see several years ago when my second son was in his mid-college years and came home one summer to work on the farm and worked an average of 8 hours per day every single day he was home, he said, 'NO MORE."  But when he couldn't get an internship the next summer, back he came to work on the farm.  But this time, my husband let an aching passion of his arise and he bought a 1100 Yamaha road bike.  And before and after irrigating on work days, they would ride this and a friend's bike whenever possible, even sometimes carrying their irrigating boots on the back to the irrigation site.

Fast forward a half a decade. There are now 4 bikes in our garage. That first bike, a Harley-Davidson (our pairs bike), a 650 Yamaha on which I learned to ride and a big Yamaha that outruns everything else ('had' to have that one because it was 'a good deal' and now it isn't.) sigh

Anyway, Vroom, Vroom also sometimes represents running away from it all.  And that is what we are doing this weekend.  Last night we had the biggest hail storm either of us have ever seen in 50 years of life in Montana and it reaked havoc on our beautiful wheat crop.  So today, I trudge through the day with a heavy heart but knowing God's will is best for us. 

But we are going to run away this weekend.  With other bikers.  Family and friends.  Actually 8 of us.  To the grand town (just joking - look it up on a map) of Malta, Montana.  It is on the Hyline of Montana, US Highway 2, actually, and has next to nothing to offer.  But we are going there because one friend who was widowed last year and hails from Malta - well, she bought a bike and rides and she wants to bring her biker gang to her home town to show everyone the Biker Chick that she is. 

At Sturgis last year

Actually at Spearfish Canyon, one of the prettiest places we've found

The plan is to also take in a play at the Fort Peck Theater, stay at the Fort Peck Hotel (less populated than Malta) and come home on Sunday via eastern Montana. 

Believe it or not, I have lived in Montana my whole life and the entire region we are riding this weekend are parts I have never seen.  I'm in charge of the cinammon snacks.  Cinammon Twizzlers and Hot Tamales.  Yum.  Watch for pictures next week of this weekend's ride.

So, VROOM, VROOM.

U want one more Mel Gibson story?

Ok, so we all find famous people intriguing.  Me too.  So one more Mel Gibson story.  Because I was always intrigued too.

We were having a back yard barbeque at the ranch during one of Mel's visits to the ranch.  All the ranch employees and their families were there.  One of the adult gals (whose father and whose husband worked at the ranch) and I were visiting with Mel and the accountant/producer guy (Bruce).  The gal had a big bandage on her hand.    Mel cringed and reacted to it by asking, "What happened to your paw?"  And then in his, by then, expected typical humor, he clarified, "I don't mean your Pa.  I mean your Paw."  (I can still hear his deep, clear voice saying that.)  She explained the surgery she'd had.

But it gave me the opportunity to ask.....

I'd heard the Paul Harvey story too about the fact that "Man Without a Face" movie was actually a true story about Mel.

"If Jeni's hand makes you squirmy, what about the story that Paul Harvey told about you being the "Man Without a Face"?"

Cringing again, he said he'd heard it to but Mel told me that the worst that had ever happened to him was when he was a kid himself and that some other kid had slugged him in the gut.

So, there U have it!  True story.  Straight from the Mel mouth.  Well, through me.  That's close enough to gospel truth, right?  And now you know the real rest of the story!

For
The Rest of the Alphabe-Thursday Stories
this week, check out

The Rendezvous

As instructed, I settled into the comfortable movie theater seat with awkward 3D glasses perched on my nose, a small tub of popcorn on my lap, and a bottle of water lodged into the seat holder. It had been a long time. And then my heart leaped. The man I love appeared. My husband of 26 years had sent me on an intriguing but fun scavenger hunt only to end up together in the back row of a darkened, empty movie theater wearing, of all things, 3D glasses…and smiles! Wonder how much movie we were really going to see!



All fiction, folks.  But it does sound like a great date!  Hopeless romantic here.

I bit.  Jenny hosts a Saturday Centus where she gives a lead phrase (in italics) and folks write a story around it using 100 words or less.  Mine is 99 total words.  Honestly didn't think I could do it but maybe I have more of my mother's blood in me than I thought!

Check out the other great slants to the lead-in phrase:

When I was THIRTY-NINE

 And Mel Gibson said to me ,

 "I want what you have."

Yes, he said that to me.

I know.  Shocking, isn't it?

Let me put that statement in context:

We were sitting in the ranch office where I work, visiting. There was Mel, his accountant/producer, our ranch manager and me. Mel found it hard to believe he'd owned the ranch 12 years already and commented how no one seemed to get older at the ranch. And it was then that he wheeled his chair around and looked straight at me and made his memorable statement. After which he followed it with his own answer. "Must be those little bottles of booze they sell on the airplanes!"
Bwahahahaha.

It was a couple days from my 39th birthday at the time. 

What better birthday present for a girl than to have something

Mel Gibson wanted ????!!??!?!?!

Especially when she's 39!  Shucks, any time!

One remembers exact dates

when something like that happens. 

One remembers the setting. 

One precisely remembers the conversation.

One also knows what one was wearing and hasn't yet sent the clothes to charity because sometimes she goes to the closet, looks at the shirt and wonders, "What part did the clothes have to do with that comment?"

I could tell you many a fun story from my tenure in Mel Gibson's world, but instead I will just say what a wonderful ride it was. 

He was fun and funny.  It was a treat to be on the edge of his world and work with his people.  He was good to us at this ranch that he owned for 17 years.  His entourage of people were good to us too.  I liked working with them during all 17 years.

I will be forever grateful to Mel Gibson not only for the treasured comment he gave to me but also for how his ownership of the ranch enhanced my life.

And to think...he said it during my chubbier days.

Mel and me at the ranch on farewell day.

And life goes on.....me today.

Thanks, Mel !

Movies that Mel starred in during the time I was employed at his ranch.

"Complete Savages" .... Officer Cox (3 episodes, 2004-2005)

   - The Complete Savages in...'Hot Water' (2005) TV episode .... Officer Cox
   - Thanksgiving with the Savages (2004) TV episode .... Officer Cox
   - Car Jack (2004) TV episode .... Officer Cox
Paparazzi (2004) (uncredited) .... Anger Management Therapy Patient
The Singing Detective (2003) .... Dr. Gibbon
Signs (2002) .... Rev. Graham Hess ... aka "M. Night Shyamalan's Signs" -
We Were Soldiers (2002) .... Lt. Col. Hal Moore
What Women Want (2000) .... Nick Marshall
The Patriot (2000) .... Benjamin Martin
Chicken Run (2000) (voice) .... Rocky
... aka "C:R-1" - USA
... aka "Chicken Chicken Run Run" - Japan
The Million Dollar Hotel (2000) .... Detective Skinner
Payback (1999/I) .... Porter
Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) .... Martin Riggs
FairyTale: A True Story (1997) (uncredited) .... Frances' Father
Conspiracy Theory (1997) .... Jerry Fletcher
Fathers' Day (1997) (uncredited) .... Scott the Body Piercer
Ransom (1996) .... Tom Mullen
Pocahontas (1995) (voice) .... John Smith
Braveheart (1995) .... William Wallace
Maverick (1994) .... Bret Maverick
The Man Without a Face (1993) .... Justin McLeod
The Chili Con Carne Club (1993) .... Mel
Forever Young (1992) .... Capt. Daniel McCormick
Lethal Weapon 3 (1992) .... Martin Riggs
Hamlet (1990/I) .... Hamlet
Air America (1990) .... Gene Ryack
Bird on a Wire (1990) .... Rick Jarmin

Now go find other fun stories, not necessarily associated with 'thirty-nine', but with the letter 'tea' 'tee' 't' 'T" at:

Succulent S'mores on Sunday

For about a hundred years now, I have been 'Going on the Hill'.  I have 'Gone on the Hill' on my family farm with my grandparents, my parents, my siblings, my kids, my grandkids as well as a parade of extended family and friends throughout the years.  We have extended the coming together for weddings and wedding receptions and even funerals by 'Going on the Hill' for a picnic.

'The Hill' overlooks the Yellowstone River valley.

I guess going on 'The Hill' became official when we permanently laid an old steel tractor wheel for our fire ring and things grew from there.  The tables wear out and get rebuilt.  The chairs (tree stumps) rot and get burned and more are made.

We eat and eat and eat. 

We play cards. 

We play games. 

We drink. 

We cook "The Hill" hamburgers and have even known to have flameless martini picnics when the season was dry and we didn't want to chance a forest fire. 

The rest room is somewhere beyond the bushes.  The horseshoe pit always gets used.  Nowadays, we have to have all 4-wheelers on deck for the young people to ride up to 'The Hill'.  The rest of us pile in the back of a pickup with the groceries, old sleeping bags softening the trip, beers in hand.  Great views and great memories and great conversations occur just coming and going from 'The Hill'. 

Sometimes, we can see the local volunteer fire department wandering our direction because in the dark summer evenings someone has seen, from afar, a flame on 'The Hill' and reported us.  Most often, we are home before that, dowsing our fire meticulously.

We've encountered a bear, lots of deer and a variety of other wildlife on 'The Hill', including ourselves.  We even shared our Hill picnic area with a teepee that my cousin set up there and left for a long time.

Hill hamburgers, Grandma's potato salad and potluck after that.  And s'mores.  Always s'mores.  I don't like them (not a chocolate person) but I love the marshmallows roasted just right.  But.....

just last week when we went on "The Hill" (this trip triggered by west coast nieces/nephews home for my brother's birthday), our s'mores rose to a whole new level.  Take a look.

The view from "The Hill" looks out over the chickenfarm where I grew up, and beyond that is my husband and my fields.  Beyond the horizon is land we used to own with my brother-in-law.

The S'more cooking crew

Our fire pit captured

by an old tractor wheel. 

We even have a hook

on which to hang a

bean pot or coffee pot,

concrete rebar holds

the cooking racks

over the fire.

It all happened by accident. 

My nephew saw the strawberries

sitting there as he was

about to eat his S'more.

The experimenting continued. 

Next were gluten-free S'mores

(no graham crackers);

the strawberries and chocolate

stuffed inside the roasted marshmallow.

One of the gluten-frees and

her masterpiece. 

So, what do you think?  Shall we patent?

See other Sweet Stories at

Riding the Ranch

I work at a 20,000 acre ranch in Montana. It is beautiful, especially in May. Especially with friends.  and cheese and wine and thou. Sit back and take tour of my world. My work world place.

A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT

HAY MEADOWS

BREATH-TAKING, EVEN TO THE NATIVES

SHARING SPACE WITH THE CATTLE

HARD TO SEE BUT WE PUSHED A BROWN BEAR, HER BLACK CUB AND GOLDEN CUB OUT OF THE THICKET THAT WE WERE RIDING THROUGH.

THE CRAZY MOUNTAINS

THE BEARTOOTH MOUNTAINS

 

A STEP BACK IN TIME

OUR 'WINE AND CHEESE AND THOU' LOCATION.

KNOWN AS THE 'STONE HOUSE' NOW.  BUT OUR FAMILY USED TO OWN THIS BEFORE MY EMPLOYER RANCH BOUGHT IT FROM US.  I KNOW IT AS THE 'HOLTEN HOUSE'.  MY GIRLFRIEND'S FATHER GREW UP IN THIS HOUSE.

THE CLOSEST LEVEL LOCATION FOR THE WINE GLASS WAS.....A COW PIE!

  OH POOP!

TIRED HORSES. BACK TO THE BARN.

(and you thought it was going to be 4-legged horses!  :)  )

Time to check out some other 'rrrrrrrrrrrrrrr' posts at