“Hey, what’s new? What have you been up to?”

Each time I am asked these questions I come up with a lame answer.  One, because I’m not into idle chit chat and two because I can’t come up with a good answer.  

I was at an enchilada potluck bonfire party last night when a young man my daughter’s age asked these questions of me.  I thought of answering with my pat answer of let’s just stop this conversation in it’s tracks answer of “not too much new here”.  But something took over in me to answer the truth.  To remember what I’ve been up to lately.

I replied without pausing; “I’ve been thinking about working at the school another ten years. It’s a job that puts food on my table and a snowboard on my feet so I don’t want to blow that gig.  But I would like to start my own business and have something to keep me working when I do retire. I would like to start working and building on that now.  I’ve considered several business ideas.  For example, I could write a book or I could start my vegan veggie burger business. Maybe I’ll  start a hostel in Darby.  I have so many ideas.

 I’m also teaching myself to play the harmonica, which my dog is not happy about.  I’m training for a half marathon with the Good Times Running Club. I’ve run five half marathons and still dream of running a full marathon.  

 I just joined a book club with a couple of teachers and several high school students.  We are reading “The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat”  Interesting read; thought provoking for sure.  

 The high school science teacher and I are planning a spring break backpacking trip.  We just received the backpacking permit to the Grand Canyon this week.  We plan on taking nine students and I’ll be working on some grants to help pay for the trip.  That’s another business idea I have, grant writer.  I’m going to practice grant writing for the school while I’m employed full time and see if I can become a professional grant writer.

 I also coached  junior high tennis this year.

I was appointed to be  on the Public Library board of directors.

I’ve improved in my yoga practice.  I can do side crow with one leg out to the side.  I can go from standing straddle to headstand without flailing my feet in an egg beater style.

  I am hoping to get some new cross-country skis this year.  Mine are 22 years old. I’ve reserved May Creek Cabin for the end of January to ski into for the night.   There is also a yurt on Saddle Mountian that I would like to ski into one night too.

I write a blog, but I’ve not been writing much since Brett’s accident and it’s time to get back to it.

My headaches have gotten so bad that I finally had to get prescription medicine and it’s working.

 I’ve started making my own toothpaste.  I’ve used the homemade toothpaste for several months and thought it would be wise to go to the dentist.  I wanted to make sure I wasn’t making a big mistake.  He told me my teeth were too perfect and that I might have problems with them because they were so perfect.  What? Did he say that?  I didn’t tell him about my homemade toothpaste.  I lied when he asked if I swished with mouth wash.  

Derek found a break in my dissertation to ask about my job at the school.

“My job doesn’t define who I am.  I don’t usually bring it up in conversation.  I’m the business manager of a public school.  It’s not a good use of my talents.  It is not very creative.  I fake most of it and don’t have much passion for the job.  

Why do I stay?

Because the pros outweigh the cons.  I have a three-mile commute,  I have a flexible schedule,  I make good enough money.  I can take off on powder Thursday when there’s powder.  I have some sort of health insurance, vacation/sick days, and a retirement.  I work with good people who appreciate the work I do. When it’s after hours and the school is empty I can ride my longboard in the halls.  These are good things and one should not take these pros for granted. I have a good job and sometimes I forget that.  

That’s what I’ve been up to.

Wild About Books blog followers don’t give up.  I’m reading 6 books right now.  I’ll have a book for you for the next post.

Let’s start this post with a look back on our first completed year of Wild About Books blog; a seriously great reference for book lovers.

August 5, 2014, was actually the first post.  We currently have 205 followers.  Our most viewed post at 155 views was “The UPS Man”.  The most viewed in one day and the most shared goes to “Dear Barrack”  My personal favorite was “Burton Deja Vu Flying V”  Our monthly book selection choices have all received two thumbs up.  My favorite book of the past year was “All the Light We Cannot See”

Recently, I’ve been in a slump for researching great books for the club, but I’m happy to announce that Ivan Doig ( from his grave) has pulled me out of this unusual dry spell.  Ivan Doig, one of the best authors ever, passed away last April.

This week as I was searching for a novel, I saw an Ivan Doig book in the list.

What?!

I’ve never heard of this one, where did it come from, when did he write this??    Apparently he has left us with one last gift.  “Last Bus to Wisdom” by Ivan Doig was published this week.  I’m so excited for this bonus.  I love his writing style.  I’m in love with his characters.  I’m afraid to read it too fast.  I think I’ll just allow myself one page a day.

But no, it’s like limiting yourself to 4 ounces of good wine.  It never happens.  You have 4 more and then 4 more.  But, you drink it slowly, savoring the flavor.  I’m reading “Last Bus to Wisdom” slowly, digesting and appreciating every single word, which is exactly how Ivan Doig should be read.  Don’t read it with the TV on in the background or after 12 ounces of wine.  You need to be aware and mindful.

Other great Ivan Doig books that I would like to recommend are “The Whistling Season” and “This House of Sky”  Doig is a native Montanan and he uses Montana as the setting for all of his books.

“Ivan believed that ordinary people deserve to have their stories told, and he did that in fact and fiction, beginning with This House of Sky, a memoir of his own upbringing in Montana; it attracted a wide readership and was a finalist for the National Book Award. He later wrote a second memoir and another book of nonfiction, but it is for his novels that he became enduringly read. The Two Medicine Country, an imagined region based upon the Montana landscape where he came of age, is the setting for the majority of his novels, including the so-called McCaskill trilogy (English Creek, Dancing at the Rascal Fair, and Ride with Me, Mariah Montana) and the New York Times-bestselling The Whistling Season, which debuted a favorite character, the itinerant charmer Morrie Morgan.”

Thanks for your readership of this blog and of the comments, likes, and shares.  I’ll continue to write, develop and evolve Wild About Books into its second year.  Enjoy.

The greatest invention ever:  The Public Library.

I’m not sure how we’ve gotten this far in the Wild About Books blog and have not discussed  how lucky we are as a society to have public libraries.  To be able to walk into a building, be surrounded by shelves of books, pick one out and take it home to read.  The end.  There are no strings attached.  This is what is expected.  Take a book and read it, bring it back for someone else to read and come get another one or three or eight.

I have used libraries all of my life.  Libraries are a source of comfort for me.  I can wander the shelves in search of nothing in particular, walk out with nothing and still consider this time in the library as productive.

I love when a book picks me out.  I walk through the shelves waiting for a book to pick me out as the perfect reader of its content. Try it next time you are in a library.  Let the book pick you.

The library does not care if I am unemployed or make millions of dollars.  The library does not care if I’m a high school drop out or have my doctorate. The library is open to everyone.  When I was a young mother, the library was a morning of entertainment for my children and I.  We could spend hours in the library, reading, story time and picking out books to take home.

The crazy part about libraries is that they are much much more than books.  They are a resource for so many other connections to the outside world.  They offer free internet, computers, printers, books on tape, videos, reading clubs, meeting rooms, newspapers, magazines, children’s activities, foreign film night and more. You can even download books onto your kindle.  Public libraries are an iconic spot in the community, a source of pride for a for a small town.

In Darby, a town of 850 people, the library truly is an asset to our community.  You can feel the flow of positive energy emanating from it’s walls.  The director and her staff are constantly implementing new and creative programs and visions for our library.  The volunteers work countless hours running the checkout desk, shelving books and helping patrons.  The Friends of the Darby Library auxiliary group put on fundraisers, write grants and assist the director and the board of trustees in any way that they can.  The board of trustees, of which I am the newest member, are very passionate about their local public library.

Yesterday I walked into our library and checked out eight books.  All the books I chose are books that I have read before.  I took them home to my family to pick one out for our river trip. Refer to the photo for some more reading recommendations for the summer.

Check out your local public library and don’t forget to thank the librarian.

Wild About Books

If you live in Montana and are not listening to live music this weekend, then it is your own damn fault.  There is so much live music happening just within 20 miles of my house that I would not have the capability of viewing it all.  There is nothing that takes the place of live music; not cd’s, not scratchy records, not NPR, nothing can match the beat of live music reverberating in your own heart.  Nothing makes you move in a way that you had no idea you could move, like live music.  You no longer look like a fool, you have become the music and it moves you and controls you and you surrender to its primal power.

On the flip side, there are the musicians.  They are completely and fully absorbed in their art.  Nothing else is taking place, they are living in the moment.  A prime example of mindfulness.  They clearly are not wondering if they took some meat out for dinner. They are not checking their phones.  Their passion alone is enough to make you enthralled as the watcher.  As I watched the third band beginning their set at last night’s live music venue, the bass guitarist looked out at the audience and said about his band; “you have no idea how much fun we are having”.

What’s the difference between a musician and a large pizza?

…….A large pizza can feed a family of four.

Here’s the music menu that I am aware of this weekend.  Starting on Thursday there was live bluegrass at The Bitterroot Brewery.  Friday there was a free concert in Hamilton featuring the iconic Big Sky Mudflaps.  Friday and Saturday were the annual Bluegrass Festival just north of Darby and the Wood Tick Music Festival up the West Fork.  I was at Wood Tick which is on a private ranch in a beautiful setting on Chaffin Creek.  Bring your lawn chair and even a tent if you would like to stay the night.  The music goes well into the night and the crowd is delightful.  Saturday night is the Bitterroot Brewfest featuring a live band as well.  If you were looking for big name bands you could take a road trip to White Sulfur Springs for the Red Ants Pants Music Festival.  Take a tent for sure to that one.

What’s the difference between an accordion and an onion?

…..  no one cries when you cut up and accordion.

If you haven’t had your fill of live music this weekend you can always come to Darby’s Last Fridays; music and art in the park, next weekend.  Art vendors, local wine and cider, children’s activities and the band for July 31st is Pinegrass.  This event is held on the last Friday of June, July, August and September in the Darby City Park from 5:00 to 8:00.  This is a relaxing evening of socializing, wine tasting, art vendors and, of course, live music.  Come as you are to this free event celebrating the beauty, art and authenticity  of Darby Montana.

I have been searching for a book for us to read and have not come up with one in a while.  So this month’s book choice is still up in the air.  If you are in need of a good book please feel free to browse through some old “Wild About Books” post and you’re sure to find something.  Here’s the link:  Wild About Books.  Or look at Amazon’s 100 Books to Read in a Lifetime.  Or, better yet,  it’s summer; go listen to some live music.  Dance.

 

 

I always feel bad for dads.  They struggle with the whole parent thing. Parenting is just not as natural to dads as it is to moms.  You can see it from the very beginning when handed their infant.  The father awkwardly takes the baby into his arms, stiff, scared.  There is nothing natural about the whole situation.

…and the silver spoon.

My advice to all you dads on this summer solstice of father’s days is that there is nothing you can give that takes the place of spending time with your child.  The key to a successful father/child relationship is time.  I don’t care if the kid bitches for the entire event.  In the end, the child will remember that you took them camping or golfing, they will not remember that they were an ass.

….little boy blue and the man on the moon.

Children remember evenings of broom ball in the back yard or dad’s invention of frisbee golf tournaments (who can throw the frisbee completely around the house in the least amount of throws).  Or who can forget dad hitting golf balls at you in the front yard.  Having your dad hit golf balls at you may not sound like a good time and probably looks dangerous from the neighbors view, but here’s the deal.  My dad was spending time with me and only me.  Now he wasn’t using one of those big clubs that you tee off with; he was using a pitching wedge, and I was catching the balls with his baseball glove and throwing them back at him.   Side note that my dad is left handed and I am not.  I’m catching golf balls with a grown man’s left handed baseball glove and have to take the glove off to throw the ball back.  It’s about spending time, not about the wrong glove or mixing up sports.

…..when you coming home, dad. I don’t know when.

It’s even tougher for the divorced dads.  They lose their mentor.  Any dad who loses the mom through divorce, death, substance abuse, abandonment, will struggle.  It’s not an easy task.  Mom’s are the glue that holds the familial unit together.  No.  Mom’s are more like a big bottle of Triflow Chain Lube.  Everything runs smoothly from gear to gear, up hills, down hills, as long as the mom is around.  As soon as you throw a dad and kids together without the mom, it’s going to be awkward.  Who’s going to make sure there is food? Who’s going to keep the conversation going? Who am I going to tell if my butt hurts?

….but we’ll get together then.

My divorced dad would take my sister and I out for pizza on a scheduled day.  We spent more time with my dad after the divorce than before. We were now scheduled in his week.  He worked a lot and played golf and now he had to pick up his kids and make plans with them.  We would sit at the Village Inn Pizza waiting for the pizza, watching how his Natural Lite would react when he added salt to it.  He would ask us lame questions, and we would respond with equally lame one-word answers.  We would look at his watch and ask how much longer for the pizza.  Eventually, it would arrive, and we would not have to come up with a conversation for a while as we ate quietly.  One night after pizza he talked us into seeing a dumb science fiction movie called “Star Wars”.  He drug us into the movie theater.  That’s another thing, for some reason kids don’t whine with their dad.  That’s for Triflow Chain Lube mom.  We don’t complain we just go along.  But Dad won some points that night. My sister and I came out of that movie in love with Han Solo and having imaginary Lightsaber wars the rest of the evening.  Time.

…..you know we’ll have a good time then.

 

 

I will be presenting a book for the month of June. I would also like to present you with other options in case you find yourself without a book to read or don’t think the June book is your cup of tea.

Presenting: “Lisa’s top 5 books she’s ever read that she can remember at this moment.”

#1. “The Brother’s K” by David James Duncan.

#2. “The River Why” by David James Duncan

David James Duncan is a fantastic writer and storyteller. I love his character development, his style of writing and his compassion for the human spirit, which he can portray through his writing. Both of these books are classics and should be handed down to the next generation.

#3. “The Poisonwood Bible” By Barbara Kingsolver

Barbara Kingsolver is also a fantastic writer and storyteller. If you’ve never read a Barbara Kingsolver book, this would be a good one with which to start.

#4. “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall

You don’t have to be a runner to enjoy this book about the Tarahumara tribe of runners from the Copper Canyon in Mexico. A fascinating account of trying unsuccessfully to implement our societal ways on others.

#5. Number five is a tie. “Unbroken”, “The Warmth of Other Suns”, “Drive”, All the other Barbara Kingsolver Books, “The Book Thief”, “The Emerald Mile”, “The Untethered Soul”………..

Also, if you did not get a chance to read the May Book of the Month; “Nightingale”; you should add that to your list too. It was a very good read, and I highly recommend it. The survival of women in occupied France during World War II. Great story.

The June book of the month I have read before and am now re-reading. My mom is re-reading it as well. We both enjoyed the book before, but this time it has more meaning to our current life. It must have meant something to me from the first reading as I had saved the book in the storage shed. The book is Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment“.

“Time isn’t precious at all because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time—past and future—the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is.”

Once again we touch on the subject of living in the moment. I believe this is a talent that we should all practice. The past is history, the future a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why we call it the present.

I’m also reading Jon Krakauer’s newest book. He wrote “Into the Wild” and “Into Thin Air”. His newest book is “Missoula, Rape and the Justice System in a College Town” When this book first came out I was upset that he titled the book “Missoula”. A Rape town is not the way I would want the beautiful college town of Missoula Montana to be considered. Some of the reviews I have read in the Missoula Independent have praised Krakauer and Missoula for having the courage to address the subject of “date rape”. It is often dismissed due to “drunken college antics”. I’m curious if other societies have this issue. I believe in Europe that sexuality and nakedness are not as taboo as they are in the United States and, therefore, are not the proverbially “prize to win at the fair”.  Krakauer is more of a reporter than a book author. That is one reason I like his books. This reporter style writing makes this book “Missoula” a very difficult book to read. The facts are stated as told to the police. I believe everyone should be concerned that our society seems to say:

“….you put yourself in that situation; what did you expect.”

As if the act of rape is now the victims fault. Tough read.

For more book of the month selections as well as an entertaining blog post, check out Wild About Books.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope it’s ok to call you Barack.  It feels right.  I voted for you twice.  You seem like a good person and I think we would be friends given the chance.  I assume you must be getting “short timers” disease and wrapping things up.  This letter may fall on deaf ears as you are already planning your next adventure.  I’m writing this letter to let you know how it’s going out in the real world.  I would assume that you quickly loose touch once you become president and you need people like me for a reality check.

First of all I want you to know that despite all of the bad things you hear, most everyone is good and honest and dependable.  Lots of people are really good.  They help out their neighbors when they need it.  They look out for each other’s kids.  Most people want to help others.

I know you have tried hard in your job and that you have lots of obstacles and hurdles to jump in order to get anything done. I appreciate all you’ve tried to do with the Affordable Care Act. I’m still excited that it will work out in the end.  In the mean time, it’s a bit of a mess.  My husband and I have health insurance through my work and my employer pays the monthly premium.  It’s catastrophic $5000.00 deductible per person per fiscal year health insurance.  When my husband goes to the doctor he tells them that he doesn’t have health insurance.  He then ask for a discount for paying on the spot in cash.  We never come close to the deductible and a doctor’s visit is very expensive.  Just to put things in perspective, my husband and I each made $30,000 in 2014.  I work at the public school as the clerk and business manager.  My husband is a wildland fire fighter in the summer, an activities school bus driver in the school year and a substitute dorm staff at a local Job Corps.

I was driving to work on a Monday morning and was listening to a story on NPR.  The person telling the story made the comment,

“I was lucky….. I had health insurance”

It made me think how unfortunate that it takes luck to have health insurance.

That same evening I was driving home from the hospital emergency room 70 miles away at 1:00 am thinking “I’m lucky it’s not later in the year when I would have to pay my $5000.00 deductible twice”  My husband had just been Life Flighted to Missoula that afternoon after having a tree roll over him. I’m lucky that we have health insurance.  I’m extra lucky that our bills should all come through before July first so that I don’t have to pay another $5000 deductible.  Hopefully he’s healed enough by July first that he doesn’t need pain medicine or physical therapy. He may not have a choice.  He will be as good as he can be when it’s the new fiscal year. Of course $10,000 is going to be a drop in the bucket compared to the total medical bill, but it’s also a third of his income.  This is how we have to think in the real world.  He will not be working for at least two months.  He will not fight fires this summer which is where he makes most of his money for the year.  I’m not complaining.  We will be fine on the money I make. We are survivors not whiners.

Brett is a volunteer fire fighter.  The fire department has already come up to our house and finished sawing up all of the trees that Brett had in the yard.  They already have a date set to come back and split and stack the wood so that we will be ready for the next Montana winter.

Last night the Volunteer Fire Department had a fund raiser spaghetti dinner, silent auction and live auction for us and another fire fighter who has also gone through some expensive emergency medical issues.  Unfortunately the other fire fighter does not have insurance and is also out of work.

We didn’t ask for help.  People just do it because they know that between the out of pocket cost and the time out of work that it’s a lot to deal with while you are healing.

This is the real county that you are managing.  It’s small communities like ours that don’t think twice about spending their Saturday preparing to feed over 200 people in the community. They spend $10 for a plate of spaghetti.   They donate items to the auction.  People that don’t even know us are donating.  An anonymous individual walked into the local bank and asked about the signs for the spaghetti fund raiser and wanted to know what had happened to the two firemen.  She left a $1500 check with the bank to deliver to the fund raiser.

We are members of our community; period. No one cares if or where we go to church.  No one cares who we voted for.  They just care.  I want you to understand that people care.  They are good and generous and they care.

I read a book once that was describing the problem with our country was the lack of “community” within our own congress.  It said that in the past, members of congress lived and worked in Washington D.C. Their children went to school together and played baseball together.  The congressmen were often at social events or sporting events in which they got to know each other as individuals.  Because of this social interaction they respected each others opinions at work in congress.  They could discuss options in a civilized manner and come up with a common solution.  The book explained that now members of congress commute to Washington D.C. from their state of residence. They spend their time commuting  and campaigning and fund raising for the next election. There is no social interaction.  They don’t even try to get to know the guy on “the other side”.  It’s an us vs them congress.  This is why there is no compromising.  You can not successfully run a country with this mentality.   Why can’t we all just get along?

Congress could learn a lot from my small diverse community.  But I bet no one in congress has to pay one third of their income towards their health insurance deductible.  I bet they don’t need five cords of wood each winter to heat their 1200 square foot house.  I bet they would still get paid if they were out of work for two months after a trauma accident.  I think maybe that they don’t even understand what it’s like in the real world.

In closing, I was hoping you could go ahead and implement a real socialized medicine health care plan for our country.  There are plenty of other countries that make it work.  I’m sure we could too. I’m pretty good at budgeting if you need some help.

Sincerely,

Lisa Poe                                                                                                                                                                                   Darby, Montana

 

 

 

Seriously.

This has gotten too serious lately.  Where’s the fun, the spontaneous, the whimsical, where’s Tom?  Where are the books? Crazy ass blog.  No more scheduled once a week blog.  No more scheduled monthly book.  If there’s a new book to read we will read it.  If there is something worth writing about let’s write it.

I just got a call from my good friend who I really don’t communicate with except to see pictures of her on facebook and vice versa.  But the kind of friend who if she were at my front door you would think it was just last week that we had seen each other instead of once in ten years.  What made her pick up the phone to call?  Was it to schedule a visit? No…was it to check on Brett?  No she doesn’t know Brett or know that he is in the ICU in Missoula.  Was it to check on our mutual friend whose got serious shit going on? No. No. No.  She called to tell me that her two pack E-Cloths just arrived from Amazon and how crazy amazed she is at how quickly she can clean her windows with no streaks.  She will be up all night cleaning windows.  It’s already changed her life for the better and she’s considering upgrading to the e-cloth 8 piece home cleaning set or the e-cloth deep clean mop.  How is this product not a network pyramid marketing scheme.

Oh let’s have an e-cloth party.  We’ll have cocktails and warm brie on rosemary crackers as we wash the host windows for demonstrations.  Then you can all sign up under me and buy $800 worth of e-cloths so that I can make $15 and get an e-cloth Cadillac and quit my job.  Oh the joy.

But where’s the book?  I read this blog for the book.

I’m writing a book.  I do have one rule about this blog and that is that it remains PG.  That there are only innuendoes or maybe a quote with an inappropriate word.  The book I’m writing may cross the line a bit. If there are young children in the room you should politely ask them to leave for a moment.  I’ve been writing this book for 20 years.  The title is “One Hundred and One Pubic Hair Jokes”.

I have two.

BUT.  Today while Brett was getting fitted for an epidural, the ICU male nurse gave me a third joke for my book. I screamed with delight that I now have three jokes for my book. I don’t want to ruin the book for you so you’ll have to be patient for me to get 98 more jokes.

That’s not the book of the month because it’s not finished yet or published.

Let’s talk about some books.  One of my favorite authors died this month.  Ivan Doig.  A Montanan who writes books, mostly novels,  about Montana.  He is a writer whose every sentence should be savored and backwashed.

Maybe “backwashed” is not the right word.  The words should be worked through with small gravel as if you had a gizzard.  His books read like poetry.  My favorite is “The Whistling Season”.  I highly recommend it.

I slept three hours last night and now I can’t get to sleep and it’s past my bed time.  The Good Times Running Club is counting on me to be there at 6 am.  I need to go to sleep.  All this time you thought I’d been sipping some wine and really I’m just sleep deprived.

I thought the May book was going to be “Farmacology” a book that was brought to my attention by my brother-in-law who thought it would be a book I might enjoy.  I have enjoyed it very much but now it’s getting a little long and drug out.  Drug out?  is that a term.  Peace out.  This book is quickly becoming not suitable for the book of the month.

Then I started reading “Wild”  and thought this could be the choice. No. Don’t like it too much either.

Let’s make amazon do the work.  It’s a little wrecked since I find books for Brett to read on his kindle through my account.  We’ll go to “Lisa’s Amazon .com” then “recommended for you” and see what we come up with.

Well, first of all it will be a book that neither me or my staff have previewed.  Talk about spontaneous.

First book on the list “The Girl on the Train: A Novel”  No.  We’ve already read a book about a girl on a train.

Next.  Non-Obvious: How to Think Different, Curate Ideas & Predict The Future.  What???

Next:  The Nightingale;  HUMMM…this one has five stars.  It’s another World War II novel which we’ve already done.

That’s it. Decision is final.

The May 2015 Wild About Books book of the Month is: NO wait.  The book that we will now read just because we want to and not because it’s almost time for the May book will be:  The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah.  Lots of good reviews too.

Whew.  I feel better now.  Maybe I can sleep.  Good night.

Today I’m appreciating my friend Jennifer Ray.  Last fall Jennifer suggested I wash my windows with “E-Cloth”.  This weekend I finally did that.  Holy smokes what a liberating product.  Fast, easy and sparking clean with no streaks.  No more saying “well; the windows look better than they looked before; kind of..”.  The windows are perfectly clean.  I even cleaned the light fixture over the kitchen table.  It was such a feeling of satisfaction, I’m considering starting my own window washing business.  I highly recommend E-Cloth.    You don’t use Windex or vinegar; no paper towels or newspaper.  Just hot water, a wet e-cloth washing cloth and a dry e-cloth for buffing.  Done.  Look at this photo of my kitchen window.  You can see the garlic on the inside of the window and the reflection of the front yard clearly in the clean window.  I’m starting to sound like that infomercial guy; but I’m telling you this as a friend and possibly loosing business in my new window washing career; buy the e-cloth window cleaning 2 pack.  It’s $13.85 on Amazon.

I was also appreciating the warm sunny days of this weekend which brings me to the subject of this post, appreciation.  Do you have to not have something to appreciate it when you do have it?  For example.  Do I need a cold Montana winter to appreciate a beautiful sunny day in April?  Do I need to have lived in three cold houses to appreciate the warm house I live in now? Do I need to have hand split cords of wood every winter to appreciate the neatly stacked and cut wood that is always available to me now?  Do I need five days a month of an horrific headache to appreciate every single day that I wake up pain free?  I could go on and on.

When do you stop appreciating and start expecting.  I hope never.  But it happens.  Hannah and Meg worked in a place that provided fresh fruit in the break room every day.  Everyone appreciated this perk in their office.  I asked Hannah what would happen if the fruit buying person forgot one day and there was no fruit in the break room.  Oh, they’d be pissed; she said.  When do we go from appreciation to being pissed? When do we go from being happy to have a job to “….if I don’t get at least a 5% raise this year I’m out of here.” ? When and why do we cross that line?

The hard part then would be to find the things we should appreciate but don’t.  If you have to have not had something to appreciate it when you do have it; then what about the things you’ve always had.  Do you remember to appreciate those things?  How would you know?  I’ve always had food in the house.  Except for that one time where I was close to not having food in the house and was un-robbed.  An anonymous person or persons broke into my house and filled my pantry and refrigerator with food.  I did appreciate the food so that’s not a good example.  Here’s a better example.  I have a mud room full of shoes and boots for every sport for every season.  When I went to Belize we had to have closed toed shoes for caving and I took an old pair of slick bottomed, paint covered running shoes with the intention of throwing the old wet shoes away once we were done.  After changing into dry clothes and looking for a trash can for my shoes I had to ask our guide where I could throw them away.  “…oh, I’ll take those; there will be someone in my village that can wear them”.  Appreciation.   Not only do I appreciate the mud room full of boots and shoes now, I plan on shipping several of them to Belize for Juan Carlos to take back to his village.  Shoes that are not slick bottomed and paint covered.

It is officially that awkward time of year in Montana.  Snowboarding is over.  Cross country skiing is done.  Too mucky and icy to mountain bike and usually too cold on the downhill as well.  Hiking trails are still too wintery.  Too cold to float the river.  You’re probably assuming we just catch up on some reading, maybe do some spring cleaning.

You would be wrong.

Get out your jerseys and gloves,  Lace up your cleats and pump up that pig skin.  It is Powder Puff Football season.

No! Don’t pump up the pigskin.  As I advised Tom Brady; proper deflation  in the football and your whole team plays better especially if you have little hands.  A flat junior sized football is optimal in powder puff and not so painful on tender breast.

Darby Powder Puff Football League started several years ago by my eternal optimist friend  Christina.   The league is a school fundraiser for the Destination Imagination Teams.  Each football team pays a fee to play, people pay to come watch, there is a concession stand and there are paid sponsors.  We have referees, a chain gang, a clock/scoreboard person and an entertaining announcer who makes the cost of the $2.00 ticket, the deal of the day.

We have encouraged the spouse like people to create a cheerleading squad but clearly need to up the encouragement ante as this had not yet become a reality.

The league originally started as a fall event.  Then one year a Destination Imagination team won state and were headed to Knoxville for the World Competition.  This meant a mad scramble for more fund raising and the advent of Spring Powder Puff Football.

There was even an experiment to have a men’s league.  A testosterone filled football field without any bodily protection is just an invitation to a catastrophe.  The men’s championship game ended in a fight and everyone was told to go home.

The women seem to be more tame but I would have to say that “powder puff” is a misnomer.  This game is rough and tough.  I’ve been flattened, run over and stepped on all in one fell swoop and once by my own teammate.

Traditionally, I have played the quarterback position.  Number 16; Poe Montana; in case you haven’t heard of me.  Most people assume I’m the quarterback because I have such a good arm and an insanely accurate throw.  No.  I am the quarterback because I can immediately get rid of the ball, step back and let the play take it’s course while I’m safely in the background with no one coming after my flags.  I’m the oldest one in the league and I’m not stupid.  Quickly getting away from a mad rush of competitive women is your safest bet.

It was my childhood dream to be a football quarterback.  One year I asked my mom to buy me a “Mr. Quarterback” a battery operated devise that you placed your football in and it would throw you the ball.  My mom said that was the saddest thing she had ever heard and instead brought guys home to throw the football with me in the yard.  Thanks to my mom for teaching me that men are better than battery operated devices.

Powder Puff games are played rain, sun or snow.  Some seasons there are just smeared event signs up and down main street as the weather has wrecked them before the games have even started. It’s always a good time whether you are standing by a burn barrel to keep warm or getting burned by the hot sun.  We’ve always had 4 teams in the tournament; Dotson’s Barmaids, Hamilton Wild Things, Darby Destroyers and the green team or blue team; I can’t remember.  The Barmaids have won most of the tournaments but we have made them earn it.

After the tournaments you’ll find most of us  supporting some of the local drinking establishments and having  a celebratory or congratulatory shot. A shot whose name is usually a particular body part paired up with a descriptive adjective.

If you’re looking for a good time and want to help out a local fund raising event then come cheer on the teams on the evening of April 24 and all day April 25 to help send another Darby DI team to Knoxville again this year.