sturgis rally

it is the week of the motorcycle rally in sturgis. this is a gas station in belle. too bad if you need gas. the bikes are everywhere. good for business, but it makes it difficult to travel. there have been several accidents, but none fatal. most of the bikers have a lot of skin showing, and are not wearing helmets.

there are a lot of interesting bikes and trikes. so a few with side cars, some had trailers. one was the front of a bike welded to the back of a ford pinto. the guy had hacked off the engine part and replaced it with the front of a bike. just too weird for me.

helpful chicken

while in maryland for pony penning, we visited my nephew. his wife has a pet chicken, still quite young. the chicken, larry, (we called it peepers) followed her all over and cried to be let out of his cage in the living room if she was in the room. my sister became addicted to hand held computer games and larry is helping her play. he did peck at the screen!

pony penning

my sister and i were able to get 200 dollar round trip tickets to pony penning at chincoteague. we had to drive to sioux falls and her son had to pick us up at the baltimore airport, but still a good deal. i think my sister got tired of riding in my mini though, or maybe it was my driving.

anyway we arrived at her son's around 2 and got up at 5 to drive out to the island to get a good spot. we found out that to really get a good spot you have to know to walk away from the park and go down the road a piece to the actual holding pens....and you need to bring a folding chair you don't care about because it is going to be in the muck. you also need to wear wellies so you can wade through the muck to get to the shore where you can really see. we did sort of see them swimming, but we got the best view of all the ponies when we went early to the auction pens and waited for them to be herded in. they came running in, mares calling for their babies and babies calling for moms. the stallions ran around the small pen challenging each other to re-establish the pecking order and to gather up their mares. pretty ponies and cute foals. the really tiny babies didn't have to swim across. they got to ride the ferry!

on the way home, we got up half and hour late and were late getting to the air port. we still might have made our flight, but the tickets were confusing and the major domo traffic director at us air didn't help us out much. we finally figured out that we need to be at the united counter. but by then our flight had gone. we shamedly admitted our ineptitude to the man at the counter and asked nicely if he could help us. he didn't say anything but typed away at the computer. and he got us on the next flight out which would allow us to make our original connections in chicago. he was so helpful, in fact, that he upgraded us to first class on both flights. that was the first time either of us had been in first class....an probably the last. he really didn't have to do that, as there were seats in the other area on both flights. we should have gotten his name and reported him for good service!

fires and men

i haven't met a male yet that doesn't like fire. this fire was tended by every male in our camp.

my sister and her family whisked me off to a lakeside camp in the black hills as soon as i moved into town. even though the elevation is not that great...not like camping in the rockies--it was significantly cooler. had to use hefty sleeping bags inside the camper to keep warm. ...not those wimpy cheap bags you pick up for sleep overs for the kids.

it was warm enough during the day for the kids and their shepherds to swim in the lake. i found out later that the park people hauled in truckloads of sand to make the beach. just right for small groups. we were there before the fourth of july so it was not crowded. being there in the middle of the week helped too.

my nephew --in the picture-- was a cook in the coast guard. he likes to cook, so even though my sister and i were in charge of breakfast, he helped with the eggs taking special orders. lucky for the group, i would have just made scrambled.

my sister and i developed a list of things to always take on a camping/picnic trip even though other people may be in charge.

new friends

after a few weeks, sam decided that it was okay for cc to take a nap in the same space as sam was taking a nap. they chose the new bed downstairs because it was cool, quiet, new, and to be ornery i guess. trying to keep that room cat free, but it is a little difficult when you don't have a door!. will have to wash the bedding just before company comes, and hopefully, we will have doors.

we measured the opening and went to the hardware store in spearfish to get doors. gave them the size and came home with doors. had to take them back as it turns out the door size has to be two inches smaller than the opening. the clerk, though very nice, failed to ask the old ladies the right questions. hopefully we won't have to special order. the guy that framed in the downstairs should have picked a more common size of door. what did we know? he should have known though. it is all in the details.