2025, August 25-31

Mike came down for the weekend to visit everyone and get some more items to make his time in Missoula feel just a bit less Spartan (not that he's complaining). Would that everything went smoothly, but that has not been our experience of late. 

We had Kitty for another few days. She tried cozying up to Kai and Fergus. Kai seems to have taken over Dad's side of the master bed. 

UM's classes officially started Monday, including Mike's first in-person graduate course in a while. It was like getting back on a bike, and he had a great time interacting with his in-person and synchronous online students. 

Afterwards, he attended Academic Convocation with incoming Freshmen and members of the academic community. They had ice cream afterwards! 

Hello, pretty kitty!

 

Hallie got Kai a bandana from Dutch Bros. 

As summer winds down, Starbucks is shifting over to its fall theme. Hallie helped out a couple of times during the week.

 

Hello, again, pretty kitty!

 

Mike hit yet another Duolingo milestone. He may be done now. 

Hello, yet again, pretty kitty!  Her parents were quite happy with all of the photos.

Hello, handsome Ferg!

The night before he drove down to Springville, Mike got to experience Shakespeare in the Parks' performance of As You Like It on the UM Oval. So fun! Too bad Henry V was scheduled for Saturday. 

The weather proved to be a bit blustery, and the wind blew a wee visitor onto Mike's jacket. 

We're talking wee. Here she is on Mike's water flask. She eventually took to the wind again and drifted away. 

Mike had a good time with the others watching the play. 

Kitty continued hanging out with us until Saturday.

After some nine hours on the road, Mike got into town in time to join Hallie and Eliza while Eliza worked with Leslie's horses. 

Later in the evening, he got to hang out with Ferg. Let's say the kitty seemed quite happy to have his person back home. 

Yeah, what? 

Mike encouraged the little kitty and the big kitty to make nice, with limited success.

At school, Landon is learning the bass guitar. In his free time he has learned a line to Nirvana's Come As You Are. 

Earlier in the day, Mike had taken Eliza to work at Creekside. She made friends with the animals there.

She took a selfie too. 

Later in the day, she took a solo ride up to the east bench in Springville. She enjoyed racing down Center Street and taking in the views. 

Saturday meant it was time to take Kitty home. Here's a parting shot. 

But before we took her back, Landon had a driving test. He passed! Congratulations on qualifying for a license, Boy! 

Mike found some sunflowers at the high school and took some pics. 

After dropping off Kitty with Heidi and visiting with Gma and Gpa M before getting Mike's office boxes, and picking Landon up from Jimmy John's, Mike finally got this year's First Day of School picture. He's grateful to have gotten the picture he did get. The kids were not too interested in doing more than one picture.

  

Mike and Hallie visited with Hallie's Smith's friends while running a couple of errands. Thank you Ty and Julia for her yummy iced chai with salted caramel cold foam.

Unfortunately, in the evening things went off the rails with E again after Mike caught her with an old tablet of Hallie's in her bedroom when she was supposed to be asleep. Things escalated to the point where we needed to call the police to keep her safe, and she ended up staying overnight and Sunday at a local residential facility. 

Landon seems to take it all in stride, but we feel so much remorse for both the kids when Eliza loses it. Here Landon is trying to convince Hallie she needs to learn how to play the electric guitar. 

Mike, Alicia, and Hannah helped Hallie clean and organize the garage so we can get more things packed and ready to take north. 

Later on, we had our Sunday Social and got to know new neighbors and old friends. Here's Aunt Hallie's favorite baby, Brooklyn.

Mike jumped right back into tending the fire pit and helping roast marshmallows for the littles. 

They had fun with sidewalk chalk and s'mores. 

2025, August 18-24

It can cool down any time now. Seriously. Another week has gone by. Mike had new employee orientation, and the College of Education and University Kickoffs in anticipation of Autumn Semester (UM has Autumn, Spring, and Summer Semesters. Winter is a forbidden word here 🤣). 

He had some fire and rain early in the week. He can't take credit for the below picture, but late Tuesday afternoon was fun.  

On a walk later in the week, he caught sight of a fire a few miles to the west.

In Springville, we didn't hear much else about the fire from last Sunday. 

Ferg decided to jump into Hallie's lap, and here is the evidence. 

Several activities in Missoula finished off the week. On Thursday evening, at Caras Park on the north side of the Clark Fork River they had Missoula Downtown Tonight, complete with music and food trucks. 

Mike caught a glimpse of some people kayaking on the artificial rapid to the south. 

Earlier in the day, the College of Education had its Fall Gathering with Ron Clark, whose story was made into a movie about 20 years ago and who heads the Ron Clark Academy in Georgia, as the keynote speaker. Interesting cat. Mike's always up for learning from people with out-of-the-box ideas.

On Friday, Mike had the Fall Welcome and New Faculty Orientation. So much to learn about UM! He's excited to be here.

All these meetings meant lots of SWAG, including stickers, pennants, and other items from the university, college, and department. Maroon is our new favorite color. Go Simi Pioneers, er, UM Grizzlies! 

   Fergus even has cozied up to Kai of late. 

Landon has a new guitar for one of his classes. We hope he enjoys it and finds his inner rock star! 

Mike figured out where to put some more of his B-Side Labels from Japan. 

On Saturday, he put in some 20,000 steps window shopping at all the different downtown activities and events. Here is A Carousel for Missoula, comprised of 38 hand-carved ponies and a huge pipe organ. 

Here's the county courthouse, made famous as the double for the Montana Capitol in the Yellowstone TV series. 

Local landmark XXXX at the top of Higgins Street. 

While the street vendors and performers drew his interest, The Import Market grabbed his attention. 

Friday and Saturday showcased the River City Roots Festival, which included all sorts of eclectic musical acts. 

Murals abound in town. 

As do fish and other water critters in the Clark Fork River.

After tooling around downtown, Mike ran an errand at the Southgate Mall and found some more interesting surprises he'd missed last week, including this Asian blind box-themed store, Miniso. 

His on-campus dining plan gave him two free meals this week, so he went to the Lodge on Saturday and Sunday and indulged. Here's your UM view of the day. 

While Mike was trekking around Missoula, Hallie, the kids, and Jocie went to the Utah Renaissance Faire down in Mona. 

Weather in Mona got quite windy leading into a storm Sunday morning. 

The kids really got into character. Eliza even got a plaited braid and a henna tattoo. She said she was melting from the heat. 

She enjoyed watching the melee fighting. Hallie wanted to see the jousting but didn't get to. 

The Springville pack is looking after a kitten owned by Heidi, Kai's groomer. In Woodland Hills, they saw this herd of deer. 

As part of the new school year, UM freshmen (and other?) paint the bear paws that dot the sidewalks on canvas with inspiring words. Mike loves this idea and found many such tracks on his walks around campus. 

He ended Saturday with a bike ride along the river and a smoke-hued sunset. 

Joice has been chosen! 

Here Hallie found Fergus Sunday morning. He's not too sure about the new kitten. 

Here's the kitten. She's cute. 

Without air conditioning, Mike's house can get a bit stifling. Fortunately, he has keys to the College of Education building, where he can watch streaming video on the big screen while prepping for Monday's class. 

He also wandered over to the library, where he was pleased to find a favorite book, Terry Pratchett's Nation, among the stacks. He also found this unusual sculpture. 

He startled this wee faun while walking on campus. Mom's gotta be somewhere nearby.