Riverbend Journal

 Wishing my blogging family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! See you all when I return from the AI generated scene of where I told it I would be!

  I'm a bread junkie. I can sit down with a fresh loaf warm out of the oven, a tub of butter and put a serious hurt on the loaf and my stomach. I have been fortunate all these years that my wife isn't a bread baker and other than a rare loaf of banana bread from some over ripe bananas or an even more rare loaf of "English muffin" bread, both of which I make, there isn't a lot of freshly made bread around our house. At least until recently. My wife for some reason, got a book on making sourdough bread and has been growing a starter, which is what you are looking at above. On her request, I tried my hand at it awhile ago but the fruit flies kept getting into it rendering it unappealing. But now that winter is upon us and the fruit flies gone, my wife made her own starter from flour, water and the microbes in our household air. It needs a week to grow before use and this is I think day five. Each day, she scoops out the majority of the starter and throws it away and ...

Lunch in Paradise Valley, Montana I come from a long line of picnic eaters while on vacation. I know my grandparents did so quite often whenever my brother and I were with them on a vacation. In fact, I have no memories of ever eating in a restaurant with my grandparents while on a vacation with them. Evidently, that trait came from my grandfather's parents, my great grandparents, as I have found numerous pictures of their picnic spots in my great uncle's slide collection.  Below is a picture of the Hungry Horse Dam which according to the writing on the slide, may have been the fourth tallest in the U.S. back in 1966. According to Wikipedia, it was at the time it was completed, the 2nd tallest in the world and now only ranks at #10 for the tallest in the U.S. This box, #5 according to the penned label, was pretty light on interesting pictures. All but these two were mostly scenery pictures spanning from Yellowstone to Glacier National Parks. I didn't save any of the scenery...

  This morning, by the light of a headlamp since our power was out, I assembled my antique furrow maker and put another coat of boiled linseed oil on the handles. I think it looks quite nice with the new handles, fresh coat of paint and shiny fasteners, this time made out of stainless steel and using locking nuts so things don't rust out and loosen with time. Perhaps it will now see another 50+ years of life, long after I'm gone. Now I have another reason to look forward to spring. I've blogged about it before why big box stores stink when it comes to purchasing fasteners and why I went the internet route with this project. Well despite all my careful planning, I forgot to order a nut for the axle bolt the wheel spins on. Unlike all the other nuts, it was a size larger, was almost rusted completely and was square and not hexagonal like modern nuts were. So I made that dreaded trip to the big box store. I could buy a regular stainless nut in a box of 12 but I didn't want...

Bear Jam Here are a few more slides from my great uncle's box full of them taken back in July of 1966 according to the stamp on the slide. The box itself was only labeled #3 but the writing on the various slides indicate that these were all taken from within Yellowstone Park. The one above though only said Bear Jam. How times have changed. I went there back in the late 80's, 20 years after my great uncle's trip, and whenever a bear was nearby, park officers would stand guard and make sure nobody got out of their vehicle or heaven forbid, got as close as the lady in the red flannel jacket did to take a picture. But traffic jams on the road due to bear sightings were still a thing even in the late 80's and I would guess even now. Bear & 2 Cubs This one scares the bejesus out of me and I'm sure the person in the station wagon the mama bear is leaning against as well.  Bear In Trashcan This one looks more like a juvenile bear.   Parents at West Thumb Geyser Basin Fi...