There’s a spot in Idaho, coming out of Salmon (and ultimately from Missoula in our case), where you hit the flats in the high mountain desert. For years, every Mother’s Day, I would be on that road. Our team would take the scenic route home from Missoula after a weekend of rugby and fun. This picture is taken along that road although I have no recollection of taking it. It makes me miss the west just now.
I finished the Lost Grizzlies and started ‘Cycling The Great Divide’. I see a long bike ride in my near future.
Got in a little poker last week with the boys and we will play again this week. Seems I lose more often than the others—but then I am not particularly patient, and never have been too bothered with counting money. Two traits that I suspect are at the core of my poor performance.
Finally broke quarantine and visited mom and dad for Mother’s Day. We, for the most part, distanced. Dad and mom are struggling to follow the rules. Mom tries but finally said fuck it and gave me a hug. Dad just forgets about the whole thing. Good weekend though. We had brie with baguette and cheese plate for starters and then fried chicken with noodles and salad and carrot cake for dessert. Nice day.
Larry and Terri’s restaurant is getting close. Still a bit of a mess, but the heavy lifting is done. Now just final checks on equipment, some finish work, lots of cleaning and ordering of initial inventory. More work left yet than they realize, but I only know because I’ve been down that road a few times. But they’ll get there. Probably a July grand-opening.
I brought home some amazing flowers from Terri’s shop and a lovely painting Rick made for me for my birthday. The sibs and mom and dad chipped in to get it for me. It’s a painting of the farm, just off the side of the house looking up at the corn crib and barn and butcher shop. Rick knows I dig cows, so he painted in a couple cows where there would not normally be a cow in that scene.
Another movie about the Leadville Trail 100 came out and I watched the trailer—it’s called Victory Lap. This one highlights a woman from Sun Valley and a man from Jackson on their journey through that amazing experience. That made me dig around once again to find my time when I did it in 95’. Maybe in 2025, I’ll do it 30 years after the first time. Or maybe not. I was very slow–finishing in over 12 hours. But finish I did, and not quite dead last. 500 started and 258 finished. I was 240.
Work is picking up steam in a hurry. Wrote an RFP yesterday and today. Talk with the lawyers about review and T&C’s and trying to have this ready to get out the door by end of month. Lots of open questions yet though—especially considering we still have not aligned on our technology stack. Also, I don’t yet know exactly what our internal capabilities are, so not sure how much help we will need from SI or other vendors. Still need to do a draft org. chart, finish project charter and RACI and a scoring system for vendor reviews. Lots to do, but it is unfolding.
Good people to work with though and so no worries on work front.
Last year I was in Missoula with a bunch of the usual suspects from Portneuf Valley Rugby. Eileen came across from Coeur ‘dAlene and met me for the weekend. That led to me trying to find a picture of the last time I was at Maggotfest with Bullit—I did not find that picture, but I found a bunch of others in the rugby category and a few in the Navy category. So, why not, in these boring house-bound times, post a few way way back pics.
In other news, an absolutely brilliant full moon on my early morning walk the other day. Lovely picture coming through the forest and over the lake.
No other news of note.
The Martini Tales 