THE BREAD WAS GREAT BUT...

I accidentally dropped a measuring cup into the bowl while the mixer was kneading bread dough, causing the dough hook to be forcefully stopped by the foreign object. Subsequently, an unusual worrisome noise developed when I tried to turn the mixer on again. Ha, I must have stripped one of the gears, I said to myself. Our "old faithful" Kitchen Aid is at least18 years old and going strong, so I could not see trashing it before at least troubleshooting the problem and trying to fix it. It was smooth sailing pulling the mixer apart until I got stuck at one point. "I'll google this and look for a video" said Linda as she came to my rescue. 

Sure enough, she found a video that explained how to pull this machine apart. Close inspection revealed the stripped "worm gear", which I will order tomorrow. JIR 

SUNRISE

One of the benefits of being on the road early, especially this time of the year, is being able to witness and enjoy some of the most beautiful displays of nature's art.This one speaks for itself. JIR

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..

"Weebles wobble but they don't fall down!" http://www.hasbro.com/playskool/en_US/weebles/?cid=ppc10-001427  is back on television advertisements, so it must be the time of year for all good parents to start spending all their saved money.  Do not confuse weebles with Wibaux (pronounced: wee-bow) the eastern most town in Montana. http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=27853 but weebles will wobble even in Wibaux!

Well, I better get sewing.  I mostly just wanted to share this sunrise I saw this morning.

What a difference a day makes!

The next day we had to drive to Great Falls to meet our good friend and pick up a 1/4 side of beef, but the weather had become a little less pleasant.  Inspite of the bad weather, we still always enjoy the scenery between Helena and Great Falls.  We had to fit all that beef in the freezer in our house since our 'extra' freezer stays in our home in Piedmont, and boy was it packed.  But after some fun shoveling and and more great sledding, we had a super steak dinner, which Jorge was nice enough to grill outside, because I would have taken the wimps way out and cooked inside on the cooktop! 

Carroll College Play off game 38 -2

It was perfect weather for football, in the 30's with the sun shining.  Jorge and I had great seats, center section 8 rows up and got to watch Carroll beat Marion IL, sending CC to the semi finals next week.  Due to Carrolls zero loss record, they are again playing at home.
The hill I focused on is 'the sledding' hill at Carroll, where sledding is popular for all the community. And as you can tell, the view of Mt. Helena is always a wonderful backdrop.