Accidental Insurance Fraud

Unknowingly, I was involved in an insurance mistake at work.  Through an error at Blue Cross Blue Shield, I was never properly processed into their system.  I had been paying into the pool for eight months, but never actually receiving coverage (luckily I didn't have to use it).  When it was discovered, I was promptly resigned up, and informed I would receive a retroavtive payment for what I was paying for but not receiving.

Kind of a nice bonus right before the Holidays!

State of Mind

Purchasing a new vehicle was entertaining this weekend, as was taking it to Missoula for a concert.

Got one of two deer butchered, got the Christmas tree up and house decorated, and got a little headstart on Christmas shopping.

A little productivity does wonders for one's state of mind.

Pickle

I've found myself in a pickle.  My grandfather gave me an older truck that I got fixed up but continues to have issues. My brother and I got snowed in at Boulder last weekend during the final weekend of hunting season, forcing me to leave the truck there.  The truck will not idle, dying at every stop.  We managed to limp it home late last night, but I need to have it fixed yet again (the ball joints went bad the weekend prior, and took a week to get fixed to allow the vehicle to steer).  My grandfather (who currently doesn't have a driver's license) let me borrow his Honda Pilot all the while to get to work.

He is now convinced that he needs his Honda back.

I do not want to upset the man, I love him dearly and respect what he has given me.

I gave my last car to a friend to help him out of a financial pickle of his own (a decision I sort of regret at this juncture (I've always been too nice for my own good)).

So now I need to get the Honda back, get the truck fixed, and figure out a way to get to work until the dust settles that hopefully doesn't involve walking 8 miles in the freezing cold.

Cricket

For three days a cricket has been chirping nonstop in our basement.  I know he's just down there singing a love song, but I do feel bad for him.  Both myself and the spiders that dwell down there would like to find him...

On my Mind

Sending out drivers to the far reaches of the state when the snow flies at it did last night, their safety is on my mind.  Often out with or before the plows, breaking trail is a frequent occurrence for our delivery vehicles.

My faint sleep was not interrupted with a phone call of emergency last night, so I'm assuming that all is well...

Here

Riots in the streets,

flames in the night.

A country divided,

no end in sight.

The end of the road,

or the start of a new?

Here in Montana,

not much to do.

Problems less dire,

questions less searing.

Like a bum truck,

with no power steering.

Binoculars

While hunting this last weekend and watching my dad and brother constantly throwing binoculars up to their faces, I was reminded of a garage sale we had two summers ago as we prepared to leave Missoula.  For at this garage sale, we had a pair of cheap binoculars on the table, and literally every single person who stopped by took a moment to look through them.

It became almost a joke and experiment when someone would stop, 'you think they're gonna look through them?'

Sure enough, everyone did.

I guess it is human nature to look through binoculars.