Casazza

January 2025	Back to Home Page



We started the year with a walk where we saw these footprints and some busted ice. What a mystery!
	Mystery solved, these guys (Cody & Lane), out without coats, thought it would be fun to fall into the lake - several times.

A patch of sun is making it's way through the window and all the pets want it.
	Our boxes of gifts from Oklahoma have arrived, Buddy did not appreciate his new dog booties AT ALL.

What he did like was this new Frisbee. He enjoys this gift.
	Lily's favorite toys are Amazon packing paper and Topo Chico lids. She's easy.

	On a family walk, Buddy tries to find the mice he can hear under the snow.
Work has been progressing on Eric's climbing gym. We had new friend Jason Olcott over from Portland two times to work on it with Mike & Kenna.

"I know you're in there, you little bugger!"
	Enjoying the beauty on the back part of our favorite walk.

Our friend Jane has worked for about 18 months on renovating this 120-year old home into a yoga studio. She FINALLY finished it and has created a beautiful space. This picture was taken on the night of her first class.
	Buddy was going to have to sit in the car without me for a time, so we added this fluffy blanket to the seat heater and remote start (added after-market, just for him) for his comfort.

Blue skies! We actually got about 10 days of clear skies in January, it was awsome.



This is a story of a very bad dog. Eric was out of town so I took Buddy on a walk. First, he took off across the lake which always makes me nervous. I called for him to come back, he did not return. Next, he decided to go to Dan & Tracie's house to visit their dogs. I called him back, he did not return. I followed him there. I finally convinced him to come back. As we were almost home, he disappeared. I called and looked and called some more for 20 minutes, he did not return. I decided I needed to go to the barn to get the 4-wheeler so that I could find his dead body that the coyotes had surely left somewhere. Of course, the 4-wheeler is hooked up to the snow plow. As I was deciding what to do next, I looked out of the barn to see him staring at me, wondering what I'm so upset about. GRRR!!!! From this point forward, if Eric is out of town, Buddy is on a leash when he walks with me.
	Enjoying the lack of inversion. It's so beautiful here when it isn't gloomy gray!


Canada, as seen from our driveway.



With Eric out of town, we have to take the occasional selfie to send to him.	Buddy dreams about another walk where he gets to do whatever he wants.

	Eric has returned and has made a new purchase - a one-seater UTV that he wants to use for weed spraying on steep hills.
This is my view when I eat my meals. He's ready in case I ever become messy.


Out on a walk, Eric convinced me to walk on the lake, which makes me nervous. However, there's a mule out on the ice behind me so that gave me comfort.	On a family trip to Quinn's Hot Springs in Paradise, MT. We got a dog-friendly cabin so that Buddy could join the trip. It was nice.


The restaurant was excellent and the hot springs were very nice. We met a bunch of people who used to live in Eureka and they kept us entertained in the hot springs area.	The next day we had to stop at the St. Regis Gift Shop, a huge gift shop that includes a large aquarium full of many kinds of trout. Also I got an unintentional selfie here.


We spent the day in Missoula, and saw beautiful sights on the 3 1/2 hour drive home.	Back at home, Eric sees what look like wolf tracks on the lake - yikes!!

	The snow did this weird thing where it became shards of crystals instead of regular snow. When the sun shined it was unbelievably sparkly. I took about 20 pictures, but they all look like this. :-)

This was on Facebook, talking about a charity poker tournament that raised money for a community member. I thought it was funny that a picture of 30 people is somehow really just a picture of Jeb.

I skipped out on yet another hike, this one to The Crevice. It's a small gorge in Trego that becomes super beautiful in winter because of the frozen waterfalls.
	Buddy was NOT feeling it that day. He just wasn't enjoying the day at all.


	It was only later we figured out that he had received a vaccine booster that morning, and probably had flu-like symptoms. The poor baby. We were bad parents!!


This used to be a rope with knots in it, they've upgraded!	Some of the pretty ice formations








The gang at the bottom give it scale to show how huge it is.	Poor Buddy got carried a lot that day.


Group photos	Cheese!

	Desirae shared this photo from Oklahoma. What we would call a skiff of snow in Montana made them let school out early and caused a normally 15-minute trip to take over 2 hours.


Success!! Eric's climbing gym is finally done. We have high hopes for this becoming a chance for Eric to socialize more in the winter.
	Eric is busy adding holds to the walls now.

	At the end of the month, I attended a 3-day quilting retreat in beautiful Lakeside Montana. The lodge is right on the edge of the lovely Flathead Lake. We were under a severe winter storm warning all weekend with talk of up to 20" of snow, but thankfully nothing happened.
It's been one year since he started the project, but now it's ready for action!


Our sewing room, where 24 ladies spent about 18 hours a day for 3 days.	We all got so much done!


The sunrise over the lake was worth taking a break from my sewing machine to capture it.	The weekend included one group project, where we learned to make this storage pad that sits under the sewing machine.
My personal projects were:
This tiny lone star, which took me over 6 hours to make. I wanted to see what making lone stars was like. Now I know, they are no fun!
	I completed these 5 scrappy strawberry blocks for a small quilt I plan to make.

I made this baby quilt which is a copy of one I made 6 years ago for baby Noah.
	These were as difficult as they look! The pattern was for table runners, but I plan to use them in a quilt.



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