Thankful Thursdays

The Teachings of Montana...

My SO (significant other) and I called the great state of Montana home for almost two years. SO was presented with a great job opportunity for a large purebred cattle ranch and we decided that there was no better time than the present. We had no strings tying us to the Hoosier state, so we packed up our Featherlite trailer and moved 1600 miles away from home the week after our first wedding anniversary.



SO and I in our younger years!



Were we crazy, nuts, insane...not for a a minute. We both ended with job opportunities that helped us grow and mature, not only as individuals, but as a married couple. The year we moved out there, was a year full of traveling. We figured out by the end of that year that SO had been in 29 states in the US, plus Canada and I had been in 23 states...all in one year.

Montana had so much to offer us, but it's beauty is like no other state. There is a reason they call it Big Sky Country. The sunsets, the moutains, the wildlife, the storms...there was so much to see and experience.



Please note...this pictures is more than 12 years. We could not afford a digital camera then!



The stories we have to tell our children are too numerous to count.



Felipe

How many people can tell their children the story of the young man from Brazil that had aspirations of being a veterinarian? Felipe lived with us for a few weeks during his intership in Montana. We learned a lot of Portuguese and he learned a lot of inappropriate English words (thanks to SO). He spent an entire week taking scrotal measurements on yearling bulls...over 1000 to be exact. The blue jeans in the picture of above were torched...I've never see this much bovine poo on one pair of jeans!!!



Quake Lake



There's the anniversary trip to Quake Lake. Fishing in the snow...that was a sight I will never forget!!! There is a unique story about Quake Lake. It's not a natural lake, persay. An earthquake hit Yellowstone National Park in August of 1959, measuring 7.3 on the Richter Scale. The earthquake killed 28 people and caused a massive landside. The 80 million ton landslide, traveling a 100 miles per hour, created a dam on the Madison River. When you see Quake Lake and you read it's story, the feeling you experience is one of awe. Never underestimate the power of Mother Nature.

Little Known Facts about Montana:

1. As of 2009, there were not a million people that lived in Montana.

2. The Montana Yogo Sapphire is the only North American Gem in the Crown Jewels of England.

(I own some too!)

3. 46 out of Montana's 56 counties are considered "frontier counties" with an average population

of 6 or fewer people per square mile (Some days I would love to NOT see my neighbors.)

4. As of 2007, Montana had over 2.6 million beef cattle. (More cows than people?)

5. It's home to the Little Bighorn Battlefield, where General George Armstrong Custer lost

in a fierce battle to Lakota-Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians.

What I loved about Montana:

1. It's breathtaking beauty.

2. My allergies were much better in the dry climate!

3. I could drive for miles and only see a cow!

4. The slower pace of life.

5. What Montana taught me about marriage, life, love, and business. I could

never had learned so much at any other school!

Part of my heart will always belong in Montana!