EXPLORING

Exploring every day in everything around you makes all things new.

Thunderheads (by Karren)

It has been another week of Covid 19. Although that can mean shutdown and shutout, it can also be a time of refreshing perceptions in the ordinary and not so ordinary life around you.

Grandma Karren phoned one morning quite upset about the fact that they were taking the steeple off of the Church. Few people noticed but they had brought in a huge crane and had proceeded to take off the steeple and set it in the parking lot north of the church. They put a big fence around it along with a “Porta-Potty” and chained everything up tight. We have no idea what is going on and wonder why it had to be fenced and padlocked. Whoever needs to use the “Porta-Potty” better have a quick way of getting through the locked gate. :-) We will keep you all informed if anything develops.

Dad started holidays on Friday. It is the first time we can remember having a holiday and not cramming in the car to go somewhere on vacation. So we decided not to let the opportunity go to waste and we started out on our staycation.

Del Bonita Transfer Station

The first place of interest was the Del Bonita waste transfer station. Did you know that Del Bonita had a designated waste transfer station? We didn’t and isn’t it well kept!

While we were in the vicinity, we decided to explore Shanks Lake. We had never been there before and were quite surprised that it was so large. We saw pelicans and hawks and little calves that had strayed beyond the fence and some really big Momma cows looking for them. The fields were covered with purple lupines and beautiful wildflowers that were new and interesting. There was a fair bit of land owned by the Church around the lake and there was a sign saying there used to be a school there. One can only imagine a little one room school so far away from any town or village.

We then decided to explore a road south of Crystal Springs Hutterite Colony.

We came across a group of Hutterites branding their new little calves. It was quite the cowboy affair with bawling calves and men on horses and kids chasing the little critters back to be with their moms. It was quite the scene.

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At the end of this road, we came to this sign indicating that it was a Conservancy property and we could explore it all on foot. It was just awesome situated on the Milk River (which is quite low right now because they are fixing a broken weir in Montana) and surrounded by little springs and hoodoos. Which are also called tent rocks, fairy chimneys or earth pyramids which I found particularly charming. It will be an exciting place to explore with everyone in the future.

As the day rolled on, so did the thunderheads.

And it wasn’t long before we found ourselves in a rather frightening hail storm.

As usual after the storm, out came the sun and a rainbow suddenly appeared. There was one moment that we seemed so close to the rainbow it was like it was right in the car with us. We just couldn’t take a picture of it but we were really in the pot of gold.

So, as the day was coming to its end, we braved the weather to get take out from our favorite Vietnamese Restaurant and then we watched the movie “My Spy” with David Bautista, which was rather charming. It was indeed a marvellous day.

Karren is home for the weekends and still is taking fantastic photographs. This is one of her in a field of clover just west of town.

Lisa has had new developments and although it was all rather stressful for us all, she did graduate and will probably be spending a bit more time in Chicago. We will be glad to eventually have her get closer to home.

Joanie and Alec have been doing chores around the house and checking in on Lisa’s house to make sure it is still standing. Brigham and JR are NOT enjoying the coronavirus pseudo quarantine, although they have definitely made their fair share of muddy puddles at this point (that is pretty much all they do).

John and Amy are still hanging out. Their garden is fun and they got their first zucchini. We are waiting with bated breath to see what they finally do with it. They must send us the end result of all their effort. :-)

Janet and Adam have celebrated Janet’s birthday by getting a brand new, sparkly barbeque. They are using it to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries and just when they feel like it. We expect them to entertain us all when we can finally get together.

Of all the things this past week, there were three very important celebrations that we had. Firstly, in celebration of Dad (and all the other great father's in our family), it was Father's Day on Sunday! There is so little regard these days, it seems, for good men. We are lucky to have so many of those men in our family. We are grateful to Dad for the protection and love that he has always shown us. We see the hard work that he puts in for us, to support us and help us out in the world. Dad always pushed us to fulfill our potential and never made us feel like we were incapable. Thank you Dad for loving us! And thank you to John, Adam, and Alec too! The work you all do for your families does not go unnoticed. We are so blessed to have you.

The second important day was Janet's birthday. Janet always jokes that she was switched at birth, but if she was that was definitely the Lord's plan. We needed Janet in our family, for her sparkle and joy. She has always brought laughter into our family, and even on her grumpy days she has the ability to change the mood in the house and make us happy. The Lord knew that we needed her. She will always be our little baby.

Finally, we got to celebrate Dad's birthday! I think that he might feel a bit forgotten each year as we have so many things going on at the end of June. But we are so grateful for him and his inspiration for all of us. (And thinking of Mom and Dad's anniversary on June 29th) Hopefully, both Dad and Mom see all the wonderful things that wouldn't be if they hadn't gotten married.

So ended another week. There is always something new and it can be found everyday around the next corner. The only thing that would have made the week better would have been to have you all here to share it with us. We are waiting impatiently to see everyone again. Then, we will definitely go on another adventure and we will bring a picnic lunch for us all with sandwiches, chips and popsicles of course.