cody, wyoming

from buffalo and johnson county earlier this week i drove back to casper for the evening on wednesday and watched the country music awards with scott - i didn't last to the end, but he went to bed even earlier than i did. i did some work in the office thursday morning for an hour, and then left for cody, where i am now at the wyoming farm bureau annual meeting.

last night i had the pleasure of going to dinner with friends marvin and janie, who live just outside of town. we went to the irma, the historic hotel of buffalo bill's, which is our habitual landing spot while in cody. it's where most of the locals go to hang out, and it's a very comfortable place.

this morning we're in the midst of putting the paper out, with which i'm helping remotely, and i'm covering the various topics here until 3 this afternoon, after which i'll leave and hopefully make it back to casper by 6:30.

being out of office for four days in a week is a challenge, but we've got the paper almost done and it will soon be history. cattlemen's editions are sure a big project to add to our regular full-time work.

so that's all i've been up to this week - driving, interviewing, writing and editing. tomorrow i have free! scott will head up to the ranch in the morning, and i'll probably go up there tomorrow evening so i can be around to help two of the association members with their stuff on sunday. one will gather and trail his cows into the meadow, and the other, whose stuff we gathered last weekend, will ship his calves and take his cows to winter pasture.

oh, we got our first measurable snow this week. it's about time! not much accumulated, but we've turned the corner from autumn. i picked a great week to criss-cross the state on the highways, but it's actually turned out ok, as the temperatures are still warm enough that it doesn't stick to the roads.

scott and i have talked about our christmas tree, which is exciting. i'm looking forward to have a real one in the house. not that i haven't already said that 348675 times on my blog. :-) we talked about heading up to the association's mountain pasture the day after thanksgiving to see what we can find. although it wouldn't be perfectly groomed, i'd rather have that than one from a grocery store parking lot. unlike iowa, there aren't christmas tree farms in wyoming, at least in most parts of the state, and that's how my family always gets ours in iowa. my plan is still to decorate the house that weekend, which will be here before we know it.

next weekend is scott's 35th birthday party, and i'm planning pineapple chili, regular chili and white birthday cake with white frosting - his request. our guests will fill in the rest with their food contributions. i'll also figure out how to set up a table for cards, which he wanted. not sure yet if we'll use the main dining table, or if i'll move and adapt the craft/sewing table that i know have in the spare room.

that's all the random ramblings for now.... not sure if i'll get any house projects accomplished tomorrow, or just cleaning.