The Fair, Friends, and Elves in August?

So, things are finally starting to seem more homey... Well, they were... Until I realized I was within a block of a halfway house. I will continue to be glued to my cellphone.

Over the course of the last week, I've had a complete change of perspective on several fronts. I met a real cowboy (yes, he wears cowboy boots and hats, and knows how to break a horse) who turned out to be one of the coolest people I've met out here, and learned how to drive stick. We (the Terry VISTAs, Susan and I) wound out going camping outside of Terry on Ian's (the cowboy) family's ranch, which turned out to be a ton of fun.

The training in Helena went well, though got really long, really quick. I cought up in the last session with some of the Billings kids, and joined in on their games, which helped pass the time. Getting home at midnight wasn't so much fun. Jordan wound up leaving earlier than I had expected him to, which wound up being ok, as it led to the aforementioned camping adventure.

Sunday led to lots of wandering- I learned more about the cool things to see and do in Miles City. With Ben's help, I discovered that it's a lot easier to escape here, if one pleases. There's also a place that has "special cows" and some pretty cool places to walk near the Yellowstone River. It's apparently called Fort Keough (I might have mispelled that...). Anyway, people research cows there, and apparently cut out parts of their skin near their stomach and replace it with glass as to see what's happening on the insides. Interesting? Maybe.

This week at work has been kind of full. This weekend is the Eastern Montana Fair, in which we have a table, and some Elf Hats. The theme this year is Christmas in August, so the fair buildings are all pretty and shiny. Our table also has a 5-foot singing and dancing Santa- it's pretty neat. There are a lot of cool things to see, including lots of 4-H stuff, several barns full of animals (mostly cows and horses), two buildings with displays, rides, a rodeo and a tractor pull, and even several musical things happening. There are also clowns and magicians occasionally floating about. It's pretty much the best weekend ever.To make it better, Matt from Wisconsin is coming in (hopefully) tonight after a crazy long drive from Colorado. Whoo hoo Wisconsin friends! There are also some kids from Billings and Terry in town as well!