"I'm just saying..."

Not complaining, merely noticing...

The road between Baker and Plevna is 13 miles long, without a single street light. Often, in warmer weather (35F+), herds of deer, both mule deer and white-tail, feed along the highway. There are also white rabbits that have ill intentions. And owls in the morning. Sometimes foxes, pheasants, snakes, cats and coyotes.

Turning the brights on when you're driving seems reasonable. But what does not seem reasonable, at least to Stephan and me, is leaving them on until you get 50 feet away from the approaching vehicle (or "outfit"). Why do you do this, oh people of Southeastern Montana? We turn our brights off right away. Sometimes we even flash our brights at you to let you know that we're about to be blinded by your headlights. But still, you leave them on. I think my retinas are seriously being damaged.

Not complaining or making fun- just saying.

Blatant Plagiarism

I don't even know if this is legal... but we honestly have just been spending all our free time recovering from the stupid colds we got, and we're really boring right now. I may have more to write once Stephan gets back from his first welding class tonight, but for now, here's more excerpted from the 75 year history of Plevna:

"The name "Plevna" in the Russian Language means "City of Churches." Originally, the Milwaukee Railroad chose to call the new station "Edina." Many Bulgarians worked on the Milwaukee Railroad when it was built and officials of the Milwaukee approved the workers' choice of the name "Plevna." Plevna, Bulgaria, was a historical site where the Russians were engaged in a great battle with the Turks."

What we're doing now...

I don't even really know what day it is. As soon as the water problem was discovered Stephan got called in to work the night shift for two nights in a row. It feels like living backwards. Instead of picking him up from work at 6pm, I dropped him off, and instead of dropping him off at 6am, I'll be picking him up. He tells me the water thing got fixed. I'm taking his word for it.

Health-wise, we're doing much better after two days of bed-rest. We rented 8 movies and read River of Doubt about Theodore Roosevelt's trip down the river of the same name in Brazil. We've got one more day of antibiotic, but it's such a relief to actually breath through my nose again. We feel very lucky that it's not lingering too long.

In other news, more professional than anything else, I finally got the letter in the mail that tells me my application to be a Certified Healing Touch Practitioner has passed! This represents about 3 years of work, a LOT of paperwork, LOTS of research, and a fair amount of harrowing self-development. To find out more about this type of bodywork, check out the Healing Touch Program's website, and their cool new video (scroll down to see it using QuickTime).

The computer problem is on it's way to being solved thanks to some amazing friends. However, I'm still missing a lot of email addresses that were stored on the laptop. If you haven't heard from me in a while, use the yahoo.com account in the profile to get a hold of me. Stephanie H. and Kristen D. please email me so I can talk to you!!

Water

Living near water has always held allure for me. The few years I lived on the lake I found serenity in the reflected light off the waves. The soft lapping instantly calmed my mind.

But water inside the house is a completely different story. Water carves canyons, bleeds through ceilings, and, now, water drips slowly through pipes in the basement, soaking drywall and allowing mold to grow up out of the concrete floor...

More to come as this new story develops.

These are the people in your neighborhood...

"Ruth Sieler's postal career began July 1, 1946, when she accepted a position as clerk in the Plevna Post Office, a position which she did not apply for. The postmaster needed help, and she responded to his request, thinking it would be temporary at most.

"When Postmaster Herbst retired, postal officials approached and urged her to accept the position as postmaster. She was acting postmaster from December 1, 1953 until July 28, 1954 when she received her commission and has held that position until the present time.

"Since she did not apply for either position, Ruth feels that God Himself placed her here, and therefore she is making no plans for retirement, although she is eligible."

from "Plevna Montana: 1909-1984" published by the Fallon County Times in 1984

I met Ruth last week at the post office. She showed me the plaque and certificate she received a year and a half ago for serving the US Postal Service for 60 years. She also showed me a 100 year old ball of string. The current post office building was built in 1965.

Are those lighthouses up ahead?

No, the dueling foghorns you're hearing are just Stephan and I trying to have a conversation through snorkels at 10 fathoms. We've tried Dayquil, Claritin, Nyquil, and Sudafed. Stephan is claiming that someone left immune-boosting juice for us at the hospital, so perhaps that'll be tomorrow's experiment.

Why aren't we skipping ahead to antibiotics? The answer lies somewhere between testosterone and pure, unadulterated Capricorn.

Happy New... Loogie?

We're sick. Stephan's coughing up stuff, and I'm just starting to feel the pain of this cold that we'd both thought I was immune to. We were in bed by 11pm on New Years Eve. Thanks to everyone who called at midnight. Sorry we turned off the phones. More later.