Had a fantastic time in Montana.
Considering the forecast called for rain the 72 hours I was there, it was a real blessing that it held off and we had two terrific morning rides. Visiting Connie is such a great way to get my horse fix!
When indoors, we watched the first season of "Yellowstone". And played some board games. Such a peaceful time.
I saw the dark comedy "Fargo" a year or so ago. I could never figure out why the main character was talking so funny. A really weird "Yeeah, yeeah" drawl. Lo and behold, when a fellow rancher visited Connie's while I was there, he had that same drawl! I asked her, "What's the accent he has?" She said, "I dunno. Montana, I guess? His family has been in Montana for generations." Then, when we visited Connie's grown son, I noticed the same accent! Never noticed it before. So, now I'm wondering if the character in the "Fargo" movie was trying to speak like a "normal" Montanan (or more broadly, north central region), rather than doing a purposely exaggerated accent.
Under the heading of "new experiences", I got pulled over by a Wyoming cop for speeding -- 90mph in an 80mph zone. I was relieved that he didn't catch me at 100mph, because my car frequently hit that speed so smoothly that I didn't notice until I happened to look at the dashboard. Getting pulled over for speeding happens to me every few years, but this was new because it's the first time in my life I've merely gotten a warning. The patrol officer was really friendly and talkative, and we moaned about how horrid the traffic is in northern Colorado (he has family there), so once one hits the sparse traffic of Wyoming, it's easy to just zoom along. He actually sounded apologetic for pulling me over for just being 10mph above the limit when there's so little traffic, but he said the Wyoming fatality rate had doubled this year, so they were being more vigilant. Anyway, I took the time to fill out an official "compliment/complaint" form after I got home, so the officer's bosses would know I felt he'd done a good job. It's not often that one drives away from a police car with a smile.
I'm anticipating a lot of free time between now and early January, since there's not much in the way of hard deadlines for work. I'm delving into the app Notion, and still toying with how I want to use it. It's sort of like Evernote, sort of like Trello, sort of like a To Do list, sort of like a journal... it does everything, and more! Both the wonderful and complicated thing about it is that it's a minimalist interface that leaves one to create as they wish, so it can be hard to get started. They have dozens of pre-made templates, but I always end up wanting to create from scratch.
I only got a Facebook comment on my recently posted story, but when I returned from Montana, there was an email with a few sentences from a new (to me) fan, who had read the entire "Adventure" series and then my other stories. Those little messages are so nice.
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