Plevna Cougars Basketball - Girls

This is very exciting (I think) for the town of Plevna today. The Cougar Girls are in the Southern C Divisional Tournament this weekend up in Glendive, Montana. They did lose one game last night, so they're technically in the "loser" division right now, but they just won their game this morning and will play again tonight!

Check out these links to keep up to date:

Game List
Listen live!
Plevna School Website

Photos I took of the team

Will Post Soon

But we're blanketed in snow and ice and it's stifling my creativity. All I can think of is that I want spring NOW!

Listening to the Weather

It's really hard to listen to the weather in Montana. If there's a big storm coming they alert the whole state. And, much like Illinois, it's possible for more than one weather system to be affecting different parts of the state at one time. It's like someone from Chicago getting a weather advisory for Memphis Tennessee.

It's an interactive blog today... compare:

Plevna Weather to Bozeman Montana.

(Okay, when I did this I really thought the two places would be very different, but right now they're not. Maybe by the time you click on it things will have changed. Post a comment if they are.)

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Blog...

... for a blatant advertisement.

A few weeks ago we had our photo taken for the Lutheran directory. We just got a few prints back to send to our families, and Leslie sent us the one that's going in the directory:



Leslie is very professional, her prices are amazing, and her studio (for now) is just down the street from us. Check her out here.

(PS- her husband was involved in this incident almost a year ago)

Sharing some Yumminess

I just looked it up. We live 636 miles from the nearest Chipotle.

Although the Dairy Queen is a mere 80 miles away, sometimes you just want a brownie sundae NOW! and someone sent us, like, a gallon of the worlds best hot fudge topping. Schwann's will deliver ice cream right to the door (twice a month) but where to get the brownie??

Read, do, eat.

[thanks Dad!]

4 Tbsp flour
4 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp cocoa
Dash of salt
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp water
1/4 Tsp vanilla

Whisk together dry ingredients in a large coffee mug. Add oil, water and vanilla, and mix thoroughly.

Microwave on high for 60 to 90 seconds. It should not be quite set in the center. Cool a couple of minutes and eat right out of the mug.



The receipt came from Instructables.com

Day at the Ranch

Rancher Gary sold his winter wheat to the Co-Op in Ismay last week. We stopped by to watch as the grain was vacuumed from the grain bin into a truck. Stephan remembers all the details a lot better than I do (but he's at work and I wanted to post these photos this afternoon). So you'll just have to make due with my city-folk descriptions.


In this photo you can see, from left to right, the motor-thingie that did the sucking, Gary in the tractor running the motor-thingie, the hose that the wheat is being sucked through, Stephan learning things, Rancher Dan teaching Stephan, the truck driver helping out, and then the grain bin on the far right.


This is the raw winter wheat, along with the natural powder that helps keeps the bugs away.


Stephan inside the grain bin (view from the cab of the tractor).


Rancher Gary and ME!! I had a lot of fun, but the tractor was very loud. I also learned a lot about winter and spring wheat, and peas, and grain, and farming, and tractors.

Any questions?

Cat's Reign of Terror Continues

I learned my lesson last time I posted a gruesome photo... so you'll have to click the link to see the most recent victim of the Koruba Felines...

But first, the victim.

Now, prepare yourself, breath, Click HERE!

Email Forward via Blog

From my Dad
Title: Montana Bear Problem



"The photo above captures a disturbing trend that is beginning to affect US wildlife. Animals that were formerly self-sufficient are now showing signs of belonging to the Democratic Party... as they have apparently learned to just sit and wait for the government to step in and provide for their care and sustenance.

This photo is of a Democrat black bear in Montana nicknamed, Bearack Obearma."

I was rolling my eyes while reading the text (it's a learned skill) until Bearack Obearma. That's gonna keep me laughing all day.

Overheard: On the Phone

OR

"I was going to post about winter-wheat, but then something happened that changed my life."

Me: ...and then the doctor said the egg would drop in just a few hours.

Mom: Does that mean it's fertilized?

Me: No. That means we should try to fertilize it.

Mom: Anna... Have lots of sex.

Me: [stunned] Mom...?? I....? Um...? I'm 30 years old and I never thought I live to see the day when you'd tell me that.

Loving on the Big J

For some reason, Blogger.com isn't letting me embed (post) a video. I'm sure a lot of people have seen it already, but it made me laugh so hard that I wanted to share it with you guys. As many of you know, Ellen DeGeneres holds a special place in my heart, and this video really takes the cake.

The funniest part happens just about 4 minutes into the 6 minute video, so be patient. It's totally worth it!

I'll Just Have a Salad

Or maybe not. Incase you can't tell, this is shredded lettuce, a pickle, a slice of carrot and a deviled egg. With a side of ranch. On this particular day, we were happy about the egg and pickle.

I've had a few different things to say about the food out here, mostly that we are not on the "fresh produce" railroad. I won't tell you where this salad came from, but we ate it, mostly because the egg showed so much effort.

And was delicious.

Overheard...

While watching The Art of Travel...

Me: What did you think of the movie?

Him: Well, except for the 125 mile trek through the jungle, it was kinda been there done that.

Me: Where's my computer?

Have I given out enough personal information on the internets?

Hello everybody. We have some potentially "beautiful" news to share today. It was doctor day again, this time with 3 tests all in one day! First up was another test for Stephan. We had 2 hours to wait for those test results to come in, but once they did the doctor said...

Well, she used the adjective "beautiful." Really?! Beautiful? Like, they put on their fancy clothes today? Sure. We'll go with that.

Then was the HSG (see previous TMI post for details) which was easy, painless, and successful! So the pipes are clear! And since it was buy-two-infertility-treatments-get-one-free day we went in for a follicle ultrasound just for good measure (that's a joke, but only if you actually work in radiology). She measured both of my ovaries and saw that the right one (am I including enough specifics for you?) looks all set to release an egg sometime next week. In fact, she took a close up photo of the follicle/egg for us and printed it out. In the space where they normally type your last name she typed B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L and made the cursor into an exclamation point.

After all this good news I got a phone call from Benedictine University that I was accepted into their Master of Public Health program online. So, yeah, we're gonna be a bit busy here for a while. If we don't answer the phone... call back later!!

Welcome to February!!

I was just waking up when I heard Stephan stop home (he was out feeding cows). He yelled that he was dropping the dogs off... a calf was born this morning and they had stuff to do. Born?! Already?! It's not one of ours, but this is the beginning of February, and most calves aren't born until at least the beginning of March. This could be dangerous for the calf (it's only 4F today) to survive the rest of the winter, but it gives him/her plenty of time to gain weight before sale-time in the fall. I don't know if Fuzz has the vaccines and tags ready for calving yet.

So whatever is going on is very special, but Stephan didn't take the camera when he left. Sad face.