Posts from the ‘Montana’ category

The lamp shade with bullet holes

The lamp has been next to my chair for many years.

In my previous home, the chair and lamp were situated much like my current home – in a corner with windows on either side.

One night, I was awakened by what I thought was glass breaking. It was midnight and I was sound asleep. I came awake thinking I heard the tinkling of glass breaking, but it was so quiet by the time I was fully awake that I was unsure if I had heard a real sound. Both cats were still on the bed next to me and Karl was quietly sleeping so I thought it was a dream noise and went back to sleep.

The next morning, I had been up, outside, had breakfast and done a few chores before I saw the hole in the window by the chair. That explained the breaking glass noise… On seeing the hole, I thought a bird had flown into the window and broken the glass. I went outside – no body… Back inside, I noticed that there was also a hole in the screen, then I noticed the holes in the lamp shade. It was such an odd experience – noticing the hole in the window first and jumping to a quick conclusion, never noticing the screen and the lamp …and then slowly seeing everything…I had to laugh at myself.

Then I got to thinking about what would have enough velocity to go through the window, the screen, the lamp shade….and where was the bullet now, and who was shooting at my house (me?)?

I turned around and saw a gouge in the wall opposite the chair and then a nick out of the bottom of the picture frame above the wall gouge.

Photos are the same picture in my current house – no wall gouge.

Being a good CSI fan, I started looking back across the room where I thought the ricochet might have gone. Didn’t find it! I called the Sheriff – I really didn’t know if they would be interested, but they were and a deputy was at my house in less than 10 minutes. He found the slug which looked like a tiny bit of solder melt. It was where I was looking but so small at that point and partially buried in the carpet. So much for my CSI career…

With the handy holes in the lamp, the screen and the glass, we could see the trajectory and it led through the trees at the edge of my property, right to a speed limit sign – about 100 yards away, in front of my neighbor’s home. We walked out and the sign was pockmarked with dings – unfortunately, not that unusual here. The neighbors’ kids, teenagers – came out to see what we were doing and they got all excited as they had been up late watching a movie and heard what they thought were firecrackers – close – 3 of them. We made a small party of looking through the grass near my house for a bullet in better shape – the deputy wanted to nail the group that was shooting near homes. We had a good time, but didn’t find anything so a bit of an anti-climax to the story.

I fixed the window, screen and wall. I intended to replace the lamp shade and the frame, but I’ve never done it and now it is all part of history and I have no plans to do anything about either.

The lamp shade with bullet holes…a bit of the Wild West.

Rainy day Monday

Another gray day, making for not much “easy” in the way of photo taking…that, and I’ve been mostly “nose to the grindstone” with my day job…

But as I was working late morning, some movement out the window caught my eye…

And a friend of hers was munching away in the side yard…

Bob kept an eye out…

Karl was with me saying “Please, Mom, I don’t feel like chasing deer”. He generally doesn’t like them close to the house and will convince them to move into the woods where he’ll stand and look threatening until he’s sure they will not venture back. But on occasion, I’ve seen him pointedly ignore them, as if he’s tired of the whole thing. Not the rare bucks, but the does which are abundant, will often not move unless you get seriously close to them. Then they bound effortlessly away. I can understand his frustration.

The golden glow of the ground is not just dying grass… some of the gold is the larch needles that have fallen. The trees are looking a bit sparse, some already bare. There is some color left, but between the sparsely leaved and needled trees, the gray skies and clouded in mountain tops, Karl and I in our hunter orange were as colorful as anything!

Rainy day Monday.

Two walks

A bleak day… but as always, some beauty to be found. From this morning’s walk at the state park on Flathead Lake:

Below are from an afternoon walk at “home”. I believe Karl would title the first: “My mama dresses me funny”.

It is deer (gun) season. And although the land we walk is private and posted “No Hunting”, it is adjacent to 40 acres of state land which is huntable. I choose to be cautious. My personal vanity prohibits showing my own “hunter orange outfit”…I have a “one size fits all” vest made to go over winter jackets. It has been alternately rainy/snowy so I’ve been wearing raingear over fleece. With the gigantic orange vest I look like the great pumpkin in a cowboy hat. I have a felt, waterproof cowboy hat that has ear flaps that fold down for real cold. The thing keeps water off my face AND neck – my ears warm when it is very cold. I’ve had it a number of years so it has a somewhat odd shape at this point… However, vanity aside, I am warm and dry and both Karl and I are visible – which is the point.