The Fabric of Life

I grew up in a area that is rich with sewing talent and creativity. I was always drawn to things that have a rainbow of colors in them and as child a quilt with this pattern covered my bed. That particular quilt came from my Dad's side of the family and was eventually used as a car cover - fer shame. My mother has the quilt below in her possession and is in the process of having some family members verify that my great-grandmother possibly made it and passed it on to Grandma. So although quilting was something my grandmothers generation did much of I did not learn the skill but greatly appreciate the value of time in each piece.

Jay & I have a dear friend who we both love to spend time with. She loves to have grand discussions and follows the thread of conversation that digs deep below the surface issues. Our lunch meetings after church at Panera Bread are always a highlight on our calendar. She is a gifted and talented quilt maker and over the weekend I was able to take into possession one of her pieces.

This wall hanging means much to me. During the months that followed after the business fire we met with a man of God who provided very wise financial counseling for us. On his office wall hung a piece of art that I had never seen before. I was instantly drawn to the pattern called Bargello. During those questioning days of 'will we be able to survive this fire and can we actually move towards saving the business?' I remember thinking that at if we ever found ourselves in a place of being able to afford it I would have a bargello pattern hanging in my husbands office.

Now 6 years later even though we continue to work hard to make wise decisions concerning the business this dear friend learned of my love for this quilt pattern and offered an affordable price. This spring I met with her at a local fabric store and her trained eye picked out fabrics that fit into my checklist - I wanted black, tan and maroon and all other colors and fabric patterns incorporated into it needed to be on the masculine side (I promised Jay that it wouldn't be frilly and flowery). We met one time (at Panera Bread, of course) for my approval of her fabric choices -- who was I to question her choices but I was amazed, delighted, more than satisfied and quite anxious to see her put those choices together. She has been finished with the wall hanging for over a month but our summer schedules didn't quite match. Yesterday after a delightful 3 1/2 hour lunch with her I finally got to see this long awaited dream-come-true. It is with a grateful heart for God's faithfulness that we will hang this on Jay's office wall.

I have always admired the creative giftedness of those who quilt. The time it takes to design a pattern. The time it takes to pick out fabrics that are perfectly matched or contrasted in textures, pattern and colors.

The time it takes to cut all the pieces and sew them together with perfection.

The time it takes to quilt all those little tiny dashes across the span of cloth.

And while Mom is hoping to verify and give credit to the proper woman who crafted her quilt no one will need to question who the creative quilter was for mine.

This photo is a snapshot of God's love for me.....Jay,the love of my life and world; a dear, dear friend with many talents who has walked with us and shares a love for life and great conversation; a Bargello wall hanging that provides a visable reminder of talent, giftedness, friendship and above all - God's faithfulness.

These are some of my most favorite life colorings.

Rest in the arms of God

Struggles are always a part of life. And some closest and dearest to me are currently struggling with varying degress of severity. In my own life the darkest days were when I felt abandoned by God. His seeming silence made me angry. I even had the nerve to say one time that the Footprints song was all wrong because I wasn't seeing ANY footprints - just dragmarks. We serve a patient God - one who allows us to rant and rave and ready to take us in whenever we're ready to sit back down and let Him rule. sigh.....

Dear loved ones....... Rest.

An evening ride continued

Our evening four wheeler ride had us seeing some of the chores that need to be done.

Mr. Studly cleaned out the creep feeder that the calves use and dumped the coarser grain in piles for the momma's to eat.

On this vast acreage there are 16 windmills that draw water.

Way out, far from the home place, is a place that they refer to as the 'homestead'.

Waaaay back in the day the home settler built his home, barns and other buildings into the side of the hill. At the back of the house he fashioned this concrete arch that sloped down and back into a really good sized root celler. I wanted to walk in and see. Mr. Studly said he didn't bring a flashlight and also wasn't sure how many snakes there may be living there. I told him I'd take his word on the story. Maybe next time we can take a flashlight and a gun.




In the middle of the house rubble is the remains of a Model T car. Only the steering wheel is visable from the top.

Some of the farm equipment that was used still sits in the open field.

I wonder if the home settler knew when he parked it there that it would be the last time it would be used. He certainly didn't know that it would be still be there all these years later.

I can only imagine the stories these spokes could tell. How far did they travel? Did their journey begin in the east? I gained a new sense of awe for the folks in our history who loaded up their belongings and families into a covered wagon (not a car pulling a UHaul) and trudged along the many, many miles to a new place out west.

And I wonder how many sunsets the old settler saw.......

It was a wonderful evening. Next time Mr. Studly is going to take us further out and show us the teepee rings on their land. I want to dig around and find an arrowhead.

Isaac and Elianna

Future CEO


Also CEO material

An evening ride

I think Jay & I would agree that our favorite moments on our ranch visit was the evening Mr. Studly took us out and about to see the acres of ground around the home place. Jay & I were on one 4 wheeler and Mr. Study and Betz on another.

Betz took all the pictures that evening with my camera - I needed both hands to hold on.

We crossed miles of ground and only saw a teeny portion of the land to the ranch.

Occasionally we'd come to a part of the fence where Mr. Studly would open the gate and then close it again behind us.

This is the view from the back side of the ranch. The homestead lies in the center strip of green. The gravel road past their place runs left to right in front of the 'mountain ridge'.

Twice we came across some deer and the last time they ran across our path in front of us.

Although it's a tad fuzzy Betz was quite pleased with herself that she captured this one on film.

A peck of pickled peppers

Rachel picked a peck of pickled peppers......

Silly Grandma - they're pickles, not peppers.

Rachel eats anything.

The stem may not be the best part of the pickle.

Jessie's reaction to the thought of eating a pickle stem.

Jessie is much happier with her pacifier in her mouth.

Dinosaurs in Ekalaka, Carter County

Ekalaka, (population 436) is the closest town from the ranch for Betz & Mr. Studly. Ekalaka, pronounce Eee-ka-lack-a, was named after a Sioux girl and wife of David Russel Harrison, a scout and covers an area equivalent of one square mile. It's in Carter County, the Home of the Bulldogs. There is no grocery store except for one tiny little convenience store. There is one church in town and they hope to visit it when harvesting is done and there is a chance they have a Sunday off. Betz goes to Miles City for her groceries - the same town she'll be doing her nursing in.

I stood on mainstreet just outside the Carter County Museum in Ekalaka and snapped this photo....

...walked a little further up the street, turned around and took this one.




Just down the road and on the outskirts of town is the funeral home.

And a little further down the road is the rancher's main home where his wife has her vet practice. This photo was taken from the back of their 'settlement' as we were coming down from a drive 'up the cliffs'.

Back to Main street and the museum. The museum is small but packed with interesting things: Native American tools and artifacts, geological finds, all manner of fossilized marine life, historical photos and items from settlers and on and on. It is one of 15 Dino Museums in Montana.

Montana's first county museum, its paleontological finds include a mounted skeleton of Anatotitan copei (one of only a few nearly complete skeletons of this species found in the world to date), as well as complete skulls of Triceratops horridus (three horns), Pachycepalosaurus wyomingensisi (dome head) and Nannotyrannys lancesis (tiny Tyrannosaur) – all collected from the nearby Hell Creek Formation.

The rare Anatotitan copie.

This partially exposed skull embedded in rock of a Triceratops horridus (three horns) was discovered approximately 20 miles northwest of Baker, Montana, in the 1930's by Coleman Krokker, Baker, Montana.

There was a section with samples of the surrounding animal life - wild and on the ranch. This poor critter had some messed up DNA going on - one too many snow snakes, I'm thinkin'.

I didn't as many pictures as I should have - I was too interested in the oodles of things that they've found 'in the middle of nowhere'.

For a small town museum they sure were packin' with fascination.