UPDATE 26 JANUARY 2018

All is well up here in Montana.  We have been getting some good snow in the mountains and I was skiing yesterday in some of the best powder this year.  Snowing over an inch per hour so the powder was replenishing itself.  Not many people on the slope and did a lot of untracked powder all day.  Skied by myself as Connie did not want to go.  We still have some ice around so we have to be careful of where we walk.  Zeph had his stitches out and is doing well.  And we are starting to plan and pack for our spring trip down to the desert or at least I am.  No date has been set though.

The Bitterroot River with some ice still on the sides.

We have been walking with ice cleats on to keep from slipping on the ice.

Ice with a little sand on top.

An afternoon snow shower while walking the dog.

The top of Lost Trail ski resort looking southeast.  One of the entrances to Hollywood Bowl behind the double diamonds.

ACTIVE DUTY RECONNECT 2018 (2)

We took the active duty folks to a dinner at the Edge restaurant in Hamilton on Saturday night.  It was sure nice being around these young military folks.  We had a good time and hope they also had a good time.  Just a couple of pictures was all I took while there.  The next day we did some skiing at Lost Trail again.  I just did not get to take as many pictures this year it seems.

Legion members Ike and John who put in a lot of time making this project work.

Air Force sergeant John doing some boarding.

ACTIVE DUTY RECONNECT 2018

Our American Legion Post here in Corvallis sponsors active duty military folks to come to our pretty little valley and partake in skiing, snowmobiling, and other activities.  We provide air transportation, food, lift tickets, snowmobiles, cars, and lodging.  Most of this is donated by the local community folks to show their support for our troops.  Most of which have been deployed numerous times to the middle east.  This is our valley's way of showing support to these fine soldiers and airman who are fighting to keep our country safe.  This is the second year of this program and we hope to keep it going as long as there is a need.  Like I said, just about all of this is donated by local businesses and individuals.  What a great valley we live in!

I flew over on this private airplane last year and this year to pick up these military folks.  The owner of this aircraft donates it with no cost to our unit.  This picture is a few minutes after take off from the Hamilton airport and we are flying west to the Tacoma area to pick up our passengers.

One of the soldiers talking to one of the pilots before we load up with people and snow boards!

Michelle ready to go.

Paul and Michelle  at the Lost Trail Ski Resort.  The resort gives us deep discounts for these fine people.

John has joined them.

After skiing and boarding, we went to the Rocky Knob for a cold beer and dinner.  And maybe a game of pool.

The active duty folks on the left - the Legion folks on the right.

Paul, Michelle, Shane, and John. 

SKIING THE TREES

Connie and I did some great powder skiing today at Lost Trail.  Lots of fresh powder and the skiing in the trees was great.  Some of the open area was a little wind blown but the trees were great.  Both of us just love to ski powder.  And we had to get a lump removed from Zeph's chest as it was getting bigger and bigger.  Was just fatty tissue the vet said so should not be a problem.

Skiing out of bounds in the trees.

Connie is really getting good and skiing powder.

Zeph's stitches on his belly.

Connie giving him comfort!!!  She does love her dogs.

SNOW BALLS ON ZEPH

A week or so ago we had some snow that really stuck to Zeph and made snowballs on his legs when we walked in the morning.  We had this happen to Ryan when we lived in Anchorage and have not really seen it since until it happened to Zeph. 
All else is going well.  Well the weather could be better as we have a lot of ice around our place again so have to have ice grippers on our boots when we walk around outside.  Hope it melts next week as they are forecasting.

 

Zeph was not impressed with this extra weight.

We had to finally put him in the tub and pour water on him to get them off.

SKI JORING IN KALISPELL

We drove up to Kalispell to watch the Ski Joring competition there and do some skiing over New Years.  Got to see the ski joring but missed the skiing because we all were coming down with bad head colds.  Ike, Brenda, Connie, and I rented a house for a few days and goofed around in Kalispell and Whitefish.  Had a great time but it was very cold and snowed quite a bit.  It would have been better if we had not caught colds.  We did not go skiing on New Years day because we all felt pretty bad so just went up to Whitefish and spent a little time there exploring the town.

Driving into Whitefish from Kalispell.  You can see the Whitefish Mountain Ski resort up on the hill.  It used to be called Big Mountain years ago.  And it is big and lots of skiing area.

A local's car. 

Going into Whitefish Lake Lodge for lunch.

Just pictures of down town Whitefish.

Ski Joring - A horse and rider pull a skier who has to go over jumps and pick up rings off of poles. 

You can see the skier picking up the rings on his arm.

Me and Brenda trying to get warm.

This girl lost her rope going over the jump but kept her rings!!