A View From My Office

Most of the time my work for Dome Technology is done from some type of office, either in a job office trailer, a storage/office container or a desk set up in our apartment. 

For the Holter Dam job in Wolf Creek, Montana my office looked like this.

Tuesday August 28, 2018

That's right. My main responsibility on this job was to batch the concrete and drive the mixer truck onto the dam to unload the mix into the concrete pump. 

Holter Dam is on the Missouri river as it runs through the Montana Mountains. For me the views were beautiful...

...as long as I was looking to the right or left.
It just looked narrow  and precarious if I looked straight ahead.

Since the narrowest part of the dam was just at 10' wide and my truck was just over 9' wide there was no turning around. It was drive on and back off. The greater portion of the dam was at 12' 6" wide, thank goodness.

The view of the dam from the Ox Bow Ranch road.

Holter Lake and  Holter Dam on the Missouri River.

Every single day we saw deer. some of them would walk right up to our staging area near the base of the dam. 

Being blessed to take in these beautiful vistas was a wonderful way to end the summer.

It was a rough life but someone had to do it. Sometimes, when they were moving equipment I could relax and ponder on the beauty of this gorgeous area.

..... and then it was back to work, work, work.

It was about 1/4 mile to back out to the dam entrance.

Our crew doing shotcrete repair inside the bays under the dam.

I had to drive about 1/2 mile to our water source for mixing and batching the concrete and cleaning the equipment.

The last few mornings there was a mist of steam rising off the water above the dam because it was so chilly.

Sightings of big bucks and large herds of deer were very common.

Although driving the mixer truck is not the normal work I do for Dome, it was fun and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Minnesota State Fair!

Saturday August 25, 2018

I understand the when measured by average daily attendance the Minnesota State Fair is the largest state fair in the United States. 

After attending for just 2 days, I believe it!

I don't have any photos from the fair because I was so busy babysitting the kiddos. But we did have a ton of fun!

Rachel, Hyrum and Ryan meet the Sheriff stationed at our lot.

I left after the girls last show to start my drive to Helena, Montana to meet up with Darryl. Dome Technology had sent him to Montana to do some minor repairs on Holter Dam. 

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It took me about 17 hours to make the drive. I know that country is beautiful, but by the time I got to the area of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota (Pictured above) the smoke from the wildfires in the west obscured much of the view. I arrived in Montana at 6:00 Monday night, so happy to be back with Darryl and ready to get back to work.

Sauk Centre and Minneapolis, Minnesota

Friday August 24, 2018

Yesterday I met up with Cody, Alisa and the band and we drove through the night to Minnesota to do a show at noon at the Eagles Nest in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. This is a Non-profit healing center for veterans, service members and their families who are suffering from "The invisible wounds of war".

While everyone else was setting up and playing the concert, Grandma Cindy and the nanny played with the kids on the lawn.

We camped in St. Paul for the night, ready for a big day at the Minnesota State Fair tomorrow. NO - not in this Tepee, but in the bus and our tents. (The tepee would have been fun though).

Peaceful Hoosier Morning

Thursday August 23, 2018

This morning finds me studying scriptures and enjoying the beauty of an Indiana summer morning on Michelle and Kevin's back porch.

Yesterday morning I left North Carolina and arrived here at 6:00 p.m., just in time for supper. Michelle and Kevin were gracious enough to put me up for the night.

I savored this peaceful morning as I knew that later in the day I would be meeting up with Cody and the Redhead Express. This morning seemed like a good time for studying scriptures and meditating on my many, many blessings.

Well... to be perfectly honest, I was supposed to meet up with Cody at 8:00 a.m., but he called and said they were delayed. So I just made the best of a beautiful day.

*****

In my  humble opinion, Michelle and Kevin have the perfect Grandparents house. This is the back of the house with the screened porch where I enjoyed my breakfast.

Lots of room for entertaining family and friends inside, a great yard and a lake right outside their back door. 

Shelly loves her flower gardens along her walk and in her yard. Our Grandmother Eppert always had a lovely yard and flowers.

It was a very peaceful morning, and I was grateful for it because I knew what was going to be happening the next 5 days!

Around 11:00 in the morning I drove into Terre Haute to visit our dear friends Linda and Jimmy Garber. Oh how I love these sweet people! Jimmy is doing so well since his strokes last year!

O also drove by Shelly's work to drop off an elephant painting for Erin since she works with elephants in the zoo in Indianapolis. (Shelly is Michelle- Y'all knew that .... right?)

After lunch I drove up to Covington, Indiana to meet up with the bus and we were off on another Redhead Express adventure. 

Running and Lost Treasures

Saturday August 18, 2018
Shiloh and Jason picked me up at Cami's at 6:30 and off we went to a big Cross Country open meet down in Charlotte. Emily, Jonas and Adrianna were all running for Lincoln Charter High School.

Jonas did very well finishing in the top ten I believe.

Emily had a good race day.

Shiloh, Jason and I had time to visit between the races.

Way to go Emily!! She did very well and was close to her PR.

Adrianna playing with her 'baby brother' Benny. He wanted to run too!

Here comes Odi Podi!

I think she set a PR on this course. Great job Odi!

It got very, very quiet on the way home.

It seems that Adam is the only one with any energy left in the van. I do think that Lydia was awake in the back seat, but she was reading quietly and blended in very well with the slumbering hoard.

Sunday after church we went for a walk in the woods behind Cami and Jacob's house to take a look at the storm damage from a few days before.

I think we counted 10 big trees down and Ransom ended up with one fierce case of poison ivy.

On Monday the 20th I went to Shiloh's and we sorted through the several tubs and boxes of keepsakes I brought to her from our storage. Inside I did find a couple things that were very special.

First, one of Cody's baby announcements.

Name: Darryl Cody Cunningham

Date: August 16, 1990

Weight: 7lbs 9oz.
Born to: Darryl and Cindy Cunningham and Daughters.

We also wrote a poem I included in each announcement:

Our Baby Boy

His sisters love to hold him dear

and whisper sweet things in his ear.

His Daddy takes his little hand

and marvels at his "little man".

His Mother looks into those eyes

and to her son sings lullabies.

Our family is overcome with joy

because we have a Baby Boy!

by Cindy and Shiloh

 And we found this gem... A napkin from our wedding 42 years ago.

Wow, look at that Confederate Soldier and the singer from a local saloon. 

or

It might be Darryl and I from the mid 1980s. Probably taken at the Ft. Worth Fat Stock show or someplace like that.

Oh ... and I found this photo from a dance Cali went to with Chad Clayson at Utah State. Probably 1998 or 1999.

Hey! Cali won an award in High School for an essay she wrote. First Place and $100!
You go girl!

We found this card from my Grandmother Eppert.

It was for Baby Hillary. How sweet was this?

The oldest item in the bunch was a picture taken Jr. year in High School. 

And finally a drawing Shiloh made for us to thank us for... well, I'm not sure what she was thanking us for, but I am grateful the the sentiment and the drawing.

Back at Cami's, this little munchkin keeps us smiling.

Izzy insisted on wearing her swimming goggles that day.

After staying in North Carolina a week longer than planned, and with my car 'sort of' working, I took off on Wednesday August 22, to meet up with Cody and the band in Indiana. Stay tuned for more adventures!