fingers crossed

Running water, who knew how much we would come to appreciate running water :) It has been about 2 mo's since we had a functional well. After much speculation and testing of our well, we learned that our water table dropped, leaving our water level in the well at 81 ft. Unfortunately for us, our well was only 82 ft deep and the engine to run the pump was as low as it could go, and sucking air at 80 ft. We tried to lower our 30+ yr old well to make room to lower the pump, but, it failed :( leaving no option except digging a new well. Chuck, who dug our original well, is also digging our new well. His rig is a rusted out 1950's relic, not as speedy as the newer rigs, but on all accounts he is good at finding water and creating a good well. The weather has not been helpful. It has alternated between cold, snowy days and warm, muddy days. Neither of which are helpful in getting a vehicle up the slope from our well site.


On Monday, Chuck thought he may have found water at 85 ft (the table has continued to drop and probably will for another month or two til the mountains start to thaw). He had to go to Helena Tuesday. Weds he continued "drilling" to 110 ft and confirmed that we have water at 85-90 ft flowing at least 20 gallons a minute ( a very nice well), with 20 ft of storage (so as not to have the same problem in the future). Thursday, he never showed. Friday it was snowing heavily in the morning and we didn't expect to see him. However, he arrived late morning and started pumping out all the muddy water to clean out the well and make sure it wouldn't collapse. Jan was able to arrange for our neighbors and friends to come by fri night/sat morning and dig the 6ft hole we need to set the well apparatus in so it will not freeze. The Dunlaps, who have been allowing us to shower at their home and use their water for our horses and for in our home, will come by with their tractor to help haul out equip from our well area. The pump person (Bob) will be by to set the pump up late morning (ish) :) soooo, IF everything works out, fingers crossed, we may have water by Sat night!!

When asked what we are doing for Easter, Jan's response...."showering" :) Personally, I have been longing for a nice hot soak :) and am so ready to have water again.

Junior prom '08

As you can see in the previous post, Jamie went to the Junior Prom this year. Although he is only a freshman, he went with a Junior girl named Nikki. They had a great time! They went as a large group of friends to dinner then the dance. There is a tradition here called the grand march. Parents, family and friends all fill the bleachers, camera's ready, to see the participants be formally announced, stroll down the path in a spotlight and strike a pose for pictures before being seated. When all names have been announced, the parents, friends and guests leave the gym so that the dancing/partying may begin :) He looked so dashing and yet so like a my little boy..geesh they sure do grow up fast! The background music is Jan's pun regarding Jamie going with the older girl ;). The march was actually to modern pop music played quietly so as not to be heard over the announcer.

Auri almost went to Prom, however, the guy she wanted to go with was unable to attend as he would be out of town for the weekend. He did invite Auri to go with him, however, upon learning that it was a proselytizing activity for his christian church...she decided that she couldn't miss anymore school :)

Jamie Prom

Jamie looked pretty snazzy. Check it out.

Maid Marion's Maid

The Missoula Children's Theatre is world famous for traveling to various national and international cities and towns, large and small, and putting on a play within a week using local children (k-12). There is even a documentary about it called The Little Red Truck. They set a prearranged location (for us Frenchtown High School) and have try-outs (involving singing and acting); they choose which children will have which roles and start practicing right away (the same night for the larger roles)!!!!

This years MCT Frenchtown play is Robin Hood. Auri tried out Monday afternoon and has one of the top 5 roles :) She will be Maid Marion's Maid, who is much more interesting and has as many lines as maid marion (per Auri)!! So, she will be exceptionally busy this week, as if TAG, dance class, singing lesson, and pep band were not enough things to do in a week! She is so excited and states that the play is going to be so funny. She really shines as she describes her character and how she is going to portray her.

There will be 2 shows on Sat. I am not sure if they will be in our theatre or in at the Missoula Children Theatre, either way, it should be great!!! For those of you who are able to come up, you are more then welcome to stay here...just think of it as indoor camping :)

Skiing Fun

We went skiing at Discovery yesterday and had a blast. Sara took lessons and learned a lot, so we can go without fear next time, and I turned Auri into a speed-freak. By the end of the day she was trying to go as fast as possible down the blue slopes :) Jamie did boarding and lots of neat tricks.

Some (few) pictures at our site.

1+1+160+166 horsepower

Here's a nice picture on this sunny day. The two 1-horsepower... ahm... horses and the much more powerful cars, including the new one.

friends, neighbors, skiing/sledding and a new CR-V

Well, we are still showering at the neighbors.... Laundry there also (if at all) They are wonderful people, but I still don't feel right bringing all our laundry, so I suppose I'll head to the laundromat this week :) Max and Jill came out Feb. 7th-11th...It was so awesome to have them over!! Max introduced us to a new board game called Blokus. It is like 4 player tetris. We went horseback riding, but the horses were so excited to be out for a ride that it was more rodeo then trail ride :) Jan, Max and Jill went skiing up at SnowBowl (Missoula) on Sat. Sunday, Max & Jill and the kids had an awesome time sledding and riding Jamie's snowskate (snow skateboard) on the hills of our yard and also on our neighbor's hill. The kids are doing well. They took advantage of the 3 day weekend to hang out with friends. Auri went skiing Sunday with her friends. She had a great time and was very sore the next day (yesterday) :) We are still trying to get her 50 hrs of driving logged (for her license). To that end, she drove us up to Kalisbell yesterday (Monday) to pick up our new car, a Honda CR-V 4wd. It is going to be nice to have a vehicle that is suited to country living. We bought it through the Costco program which saved us a couple grand. We could have bought one in town at full price, but decided that saving $2,000 was worth the 2hr drive!! The Mission Mts are breathtaking and Flathead lake is spectacular! The dealership was having technical difficulties, and Jamie had an appointment for his NFT. So, Jan and Auri left early to get back to town and I waited for the CR-V. Unfortunately, I was so tired of waiting by the time I got the car, I didn't pay attention to the interior color. We had requested grey(leather), but we got black leather....So now I am waiting for a call back about exchanging it. Black leather in the summer does not sound fun.... Jamie is doing well. He has been taking his meds, mostly without reminders (He made signs for his room to remind him to take his meds twice a day). He sprained/strained his wrist last week while sledding with friends and has been wearing a brace to help protect it. We took Jamie in to a GI specialist to get some help with his chronic diarrhea. The MD thinks it is IBS, but is running some tests to rule out other factors. Auri and Jamie are doing well with school, except for getting their make-up work when they are absent. Therefore they are each failing a class at this time. Auri's case is complicated but he fact that her teacher has been out related to her father's health and so Auri has not been able to make up a test or turn in her missing work. Jamie has lost his science book and will have to buy a new one. It has been missing for awhile and is probably a factor in his low science grade. The weather here has been gorgeous!! highs in the upper 40's/lower 50's, lows in the 30's. Unfortunately, it is melting all our snow..such a bummer. However, this morning was quite nippy (18 F). So, I guess winter is not over yet :) Thankfully, it seems to be warming up quickly (25 F at 9:30am) Well, I need to get myself movin', lots to do before I take Jamie to his orthodontist appt this afternoon and Auri to her theatre group and dance lesson this evening.