You got a reaction. You got a reaction, didn't you. You took a white orchid. You took a white orchid, turned it blue.

Odds & Ends...

Today's police blotter contained the following items:

€ Officers heard screaming on East Main Street Thursday. It was a drunken woman and she was told to quiet down.

€ A woman was walking in circles in the middle of North Fifth Avenue Thursday. Officers took her home.

€ A driver threw a paper cup out of her window on Hyalite Road Thursday.

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Over the last week, I have covered 35 miles running, 5 miles walking and approximately 15 miles by "sweet bike." 55 miles under my own power in 7 days.
Before we grow dreads and start yelling Green Power! Save the Earth, man!... let's review:

I didn't really go anywhere, since most of it was just for exercise, with the exception of a few trips to the bank and the post office on my sweet bike.
And even if I did accomplish something with all 55 of those me-powered miles, I only saved about $ 5 worth of premium gas, even in my gas-guzzling car.

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Our golden retriever, Barney, is really high strung, as you can see by these pictures:



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I love that White Stripes song in the title bar of this post. I still cannot stop listening to the new Foo, either.
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I accomplished an awful lot today, assembling a dresser and eleven sets of shelves, all while constructing a ghetto version of a california closet for my walk-in closet. Then, of course, I finally unpacked all my clothes, and put them in their proper slots. India predicted that this fit of organization will last approximately a week to ten days.
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The renter moved in today to our rental house four houses down. I still can't believe how easy that was. No ad in the paper, no screening, no nothing. Just my builder finishing building the house and saying, "Hey, I have a really good renter for you for about a year."

Boom. Done.
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This was the first year since the 1970's that I did not watch a single game of the NBA Finals. I watched some of the first two rounds, because I was still in Wisconsin, but I watched none of the finals. We're pretty isolated from professional sports here, but somehow, I think I will find better ways to fill my time besides sitting in front of a television.

Like using all that free time entertaining you yahoos with this blog.

I'm not sure that is an improvement.
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Tomorrow, we are going on a huge hike. Eleven miles, round trip. 2000 feet of vertical gain and 2000 feet back down. We pass a dozen waterfalls, and end up at a high, alpine lake. I am super excited. Besides the snowboarding, this is really why I moved here.

Although, it is liberating to ride a bike with a huge, dorky, orange milk crate attached to run errands around town, and not give a flying fuck what anyone thinks.



You think it's badass. Admit it. Go on. Nobody's watching. Just say it. "That is badass."

I knew that you could.

You've got to cry without weeping, talk without speaking, scream without raising your voice.

So, last night was the Gallery Walk in Livingston.

Livingston is about 20 miles east of Bozeman, and you drive up and over a beautiful, potentially perilous, mountain pass to get there.

Livingston is at the northern end of Paradise Valley, through which the Yellowstone River flows. (Odd tidbit- the three major rivers here, the Yellowstone, the Gallatin and the Madison all flow north out of Yellowtone.) Paradise Valley is the principal northern gateway into Yellowstone. Highway 89 snakes along the Yellowstone River. It is a gorgeous, wide-bottom, U-shaped valley (as opposed to the more V-shaped Gallatin Canyon on the way to Big Sky). I will post some pictures eventually. It was kind of stormy last night, so it wasn't great for pictures.

Anyway, Paradise Valley is aptly named, and due to the gorgeous setting, a number of celebrities have chosen to live in or around Paradise Valley. Dennis Quaid, Peter Fonda, Tom Brokaw, and Michael Keaton are all locals. Ted Turner has a ranch between the Gallatin and Madison rivers, and Han Solo and some other folks live down near Jackson.

Supposedly, all of the above are reputed to occasionally frequent the Gallery Walks. But more on that later.

The Gallery Walk is an event they hold on the last Friday of each month, while the weather holds. There are about a dozen galleries on the main drag. They all serve free wine and drinks, and have free appetizers, catered by the bistros. I enjoyed some olive/bacon/cucumber concoctions. People walk up and down the street with their drinks, mingling and walking in and out of the galleries.

Livingston has an odd feel. There is a strange juxtaposition of art galleries, dive bars, fancy bistros, railroad workers, movie stars, miners, hippies and artists. I saw this burly, 275 pound dude wearing a flannel shirt, with a huge chaw in his mouth excuse himself to pass between two botoxed, 50-something ladies eating brie and sipping chardonnay. I am pretty sure the burly guy was there for the free beer and not to purchase the $ 8200 lithograph. But you never know.

Everyone was amazingly friendly. We were hanging out on the stret and people were just approaching, saying hi, and engaging us in conversations. We met a lot of nice folks and had a good time.

Here is a picture of the main drag:



Here is a blurry picture of folks hanging out on the street (I tried to take it in a hurry. I felt weird. I was the only one with a camera):



We didn't see any of the aforementioned celebrities, but I have it on good authority that Meg Ryan was out, strutting her stuff, flirting with the Bozeman OG's and burly miner dudes to make Dennis Quaid jealous.

She specifically asked me to take a picture of her ass and post it on the internet, so that bastard Dennis could see what he was missing:



THERE IT IS, DENNIS! IT USED TO BE ALL YOURS, NOW IT BELONGS TO THE BOZEMAN BAXTER MEADOWS CRIPS! GO CRY IN YOUR BEER, DENNIS!

Hot cup of coffee, the donuts are Dunkin'. Friday Night and Jamaica Queens funkin'.

The police report from the Bozeman Daily Chronicle today shows how we keep it real here in B-town:

-An East Peach Street man told police Wednesday that he feels threatened by his upstairs neighbor.
-A caller reported that there was a chair in the middle of North Seventh Avenue Wednesday.
-There was a cow at large Wednesday on Durston Road.

Respect. For real, yo.

But these Montana gangstaz don't know who they dealin' with. An OG from the BDC.


If these foolz try to step to me, they gonna get dealt wit', real quick, yo. Wisconsin-style. I'll mess these bitches up. Proper.