It wasn’t easy to say good bye to Bannack as he took off to Great Falls for his New Year’s trip but we had a great week together, and a great day today. He burst into my room this morning by throwing himself against the door and flopping on the ground. Breakfast at the No Sweat with Ed. Fish feeding at the Merc. A walk into the wind to the science museum with my mother and a ride around the carousel with Bannack on a fish.
I’ll miss you little guy, and I’ll see you in May!
It’s great to be back home with Sara and Chris. But getting Bannack back for a little bit is the real Christmas prize.
Merry Christmas from the Casey’s in Montana. Here’s the living room after the presents were opened and the dinner was eaten. A long and happy day!
On the way back to Helena from the reunion we stopped at the Grant-Kohrs Ranch in Deer Lodge for Western Heritage Days weekend. There was a lot of sun and mosquitoes to accompany the cowboy talks, chuck wagon and blacksmithing demonstrations. By far, my favorite thing was seeing the beaverslide hay stacker in action. You can see it in the video below.
This video is boring, but careful observers will notice a front flip and a driver bucked up from his chair.
The main section of the slide is constructed of two green 55-62 feet lodge pole pine poles. The 15-20 foot span between the poles is called the floor and is constructed of 1 x 4 slats roughly 40 feet long, two thirds of the length of the poles. A frame of 24 x 20 foot wood poles is called the backstop, and forms an immense right triangle with the floor and the slide. The spaced slats in between the main poles are easily seen. -Source
I’m pretty thrilled to be back in Montana for the weekend for a big Roberts’ family reunion. The family booked 22 rooms here at Fairmont Hot Springs, that includes one tipi. We’re off with a bang and a ROAR. (Roberts’ Outstandingly Awesome Reunion.)
But best of all is getting to see Bannack grown up and more capable of antics than ever. Here he is at around ten o’clock last night playing bell boy.