movie review

So this is kind of fun, I will continue to publicly review all the movies I watch. What the heck, All a movie reviewer does is offer his opinion, which I have no shortage of. Last night there was nothing worth watching on TV, so Jeannie rummaged through the video pile and came up with a movie called "Tigerland", a Vietnam era flick starring Colin Farrell. I think Wyatt gave me this video for Christmas and it got lost in the shuffle and I never got to see it. It was a guy flick, lots of pushing, shoving, name-calling, swearing, shooting and being shot at. There were also the requisite ass shots of Farrell in the shower, which I can only imagine was included to get the women to sit through this. All in all, it did have a story line which was fairly interesting. Colin is the rebellious bad boy his whole life, in and out of trouble, jail and school. When he drops out of college, he's immediately drafted. He goes to basic, but doesn't much give a rip for the Army or anything they do. When the movie opens, he's being released from the stockade for another infraction. Of course, he ends up as the de-facto platoon leader against his will. But he has a big advantage over all the others, he somehow knows military law. So he ends up getting at least 2 and in the end, 3 men in his platoon out of the army, due to loop-holes in the system that seemingly only he and the top brass know about. It's pretty much "Rebel without a Cause" circa 1971. It did have some funny lines as he is the smart mouth with a ready reply to any order. All told, I was pleasantly entertained for 90 minutes. A testosterone fueled film that you may enjoy too.

first email today

from our new exchange student, Amalie Knudsen from Norway. She just received the letter yesterday from the organization telling her that she had been placed. She's all excited, wanting to know how old we are, how old our children are, and "what you do in a normal day?" Well now, that's a good question, isn't it?

a big turn

I have lots of different things I like to do, that most people would think are not fun. One of which is driving a semi-truck. My friend Steve has a truck and he's gone most of the time. I thought it would be fun to be able to give him a break and also fulfill my truck driving jones. So I studied and got my CDL with all the endorsements, so now I can legally drive anything on the road. Steve wanted me to take a run out west for him yesterday, as they are trying to prepare for the Sturgis rally and are trying to stock up on Coke products in Rapid City. I left Dell Rapids at 5:45 am and got to the Coke plant in Rapid City at 11. It took them 2 hours to get me unloaded. Then it was off to Colony, Wyoming to the bentonite plant. Bentonite is just a kind of clay dirt that all kinds of products are made from, and Colony is the largest bentonite plant in the world. Bentonite is the binder for many pharmacutical products, such as aspirin, the base for many cosmetics, and the material used to make kitty litter. That foundation you applied to your face this morning? Bentonite. Anyway, the inside of this amazingly huge building in the middle of the prairie is stacked to the rafters with pallet after pallet of kitty litter, all shrink-wrapped and ready to go. Their biggest vendor is Wal-mart, and that's where the load I picked up was going, to the Wal-mart in Seymour, IN. So I had to wait in line another 2 hours to get loaded. Then it's time to head for home, all I have to worry about now is crossing the scale at Tilford Gulch, and fueling in Mitchell. I made the scale OK and headed for home. Start time- 5:30 am. Home 11:00 pm. Total miles- 865. Was I legal on the logbook? You decide. PS- in trucking venacular, a turn is a run to your destination and back home. Yesterday was a BIG turn.

War of the Worlds review

I forgot to mention in my last post that we went to the late showing of War of the Worlds last night. I am not enthusiastically endorsing it. I know everyone has different taste in movies, and as a rule, I like action flicks. I also have a strong dislike of Tom Cruise, which is probably coloring my opinion. The special effects were really good, the story line was really non-existant. I left the theatre feeling ambivilant. I'll probably never watch it twice. There was one bright spot however. Dakota Fanning. That little kid is amazing. I have never seen a child actor with a more powerful screen presence..

TGIF already

Getting home on Tuesday night certainly makes for a short week. I can't believe it's Friday already. This week has been brutally hot & muggy, with highs in the 90's with humidity to match. We did get 1.30 inches of rain Tuesday night, which was needed badly for the crops. My lawn seems to be in cruise control, it doesn't look dead but it's not growing either. I mowed over a week ago and still don't really need to mow again, just a few determined stems here and there. That really doesn't bother me much, I get sick of mowing about this time of year anyway. I got my enclosed trailer lettered with the LandMark logo and our names and phone numbers before we left last week and it really looks cool. It is such a good advertising tool, I feel dumb for waiting 2 years to get it done. I washed the bugs off the trailer when I got home and I've been trying all week to get it polished. I get about 1/4 of it done a day. It's so hot, even at night, that's about all I can stand to do. Plus, when I'm standing out in the street, people stop by to visit and that is more pleasurable than work. I took a new listing last night, right off the golf course. Built new in '03, 2700 sq. ft., 5 bdrms, 3 bath, triple garage, sprinkler system, better than new for $239,900. I hope it sells quickly. Open houses this weekend, one on Sat., another on Sun. No rest for the wicked, I'm afraid.

And, we're back!

We just rolled in from Red Lodge at 7 pm last night. It was an awesome trip. We spent the first night in Rapid City, visiting with our old friends, Lee & Lola Walton. It had been a few years since we'd had a good convo with them. We met a place called Phatty McGees, on the corner of 7th and Main in Rapid. What a cool place! And the best part was, 2 hand-tossed pepperoni pizzas and 4 pitchers of beer was $20! Not kidding. We rolled into Red Lodge about 5 pm on Friday, unloaded the bikes and set up camp, then head east to Bear Lodge, MT for the famous pig races. They aare set up just like horse races, the pigs even wear racing silks. They really run for a treat at the finish line. Sat. was the big Poker Run. The Beartooth Hiway was washed out in a mudslide earlier this year , so the poker run was re-routed through WY to Chief Joseph Hiway, which would be the back way over the Beartooth. We ended up in Cooke City. It was a very hot and windy day. The power of the wind gusts at the top of the mountains was amazing and frightening. I had a stiff neck at the end of the day from being tense. But there was some beautiful scenery. I had my tall windshield installed so Jeannie didn't get buffeted by the wind like she did with the short one. I have to admit it was nice to be able to visit without hollering over the wind. Sunday was the motorcycle rodeo, but we opted to skip that so we could go riding in the beautiful MT countryside. It was totally wonderful scenery, and we literally rode 'til the road ran out. It dead-ended in a horse camp in the mountains, and the only way out without back-tracking, was gravel. The man we talked to by the edge of the road said there had recently been a grizzly sighting, so all the hikers were on alert. Monday was a leisurely breakfast in town and packing up for the trip home. We lucked out and got the last spot in Perry's campground. It's about a mile south of Red Lodge, and a roaring mountain stream runs right through the middle of the camp. We had stayed there before on a guys trip so it was good to go back. There was a huge communal firepit every night and hot coffee and doughnuts every morning. Most of the other campers were from WA, CA ID. I only saw one truck with IA plates and I think he was lost. We left town at 1pm on Monday and took a different route home , through the Bighorn Mts. It was another day of great scenery. We spent the night in Deadwood, then fought the relentless SD wind all the way home yesterday. Good trip! I slept 10 hrs last night in my own bed. Sleeping in the tent is fun, but it must not be so restful, cause I'm always tired when I get home.

July 4th, 2005

and we had a great weekend camping again. We went back to Pierson Ranch, by Lewis & Clark Lake in Yankton. Very nice, calm, relaxing weekend. We left on Thursday afternoon and got back Monday evening. Camping was pretty much a clone of the Memorial Day trip except this time we went golfing once, and I went to the beach twice, for only an hour each time but still. At least I got some sun. And I like the beach, laying in the hot sun 'til you can't stand it another second, then dashing into the cool water. Nobody else wanted to go, so it's not as much fun by yourself, but I still enjoyed it. This trip with the camper was a lot less traumatic since the purchase of my new tow vehicle. The 2500HD crew-cab handled the camper just right, and looked good doing it. No more rear bumper dragging, and engine screaming in 2nd gear at the slightest hill. I guess it's that time of the year, in a week we'll leave for another long weekend trip to Red Lodge, MT. We're planning to go with some friends, pulling the Harleys in the enclosed trailer. Should be a fun trip, I'm really looking forward to it. I get all excited any time I get to travel out west. There is a Harley Rally and Rodeo in Red Lodge that weekend, we've been there before and it's a lot of fun. We'll be camping under the stars so that'll be a lot of fun too. Can you tell I'm excited to go? Check it out- redlodge.com or beartoothrally.com.