Ponds and Potholes. . . .

from overhead. Low water tables and habitat are favored by the area's native and migrating wildfowl.

Ninepipes Museum and Lodge

Looking west over the pond of Ninepipes Museum and Lodge near Charlo, MT. The Ninepipes Museum is nicely done throughout with artifacts and histories assembled by long-term resident Bud Cheff and his family. Well worth a visit. The Allentown restaurant next door is excellent with a great menu and preparation, reasonably priced. Rooms are fresh, rustic, spacious, and reasonable as well.

Charolais Bull

This Charolais bull was featured in our recent First Friday art show, earlier this month. He's the "Bass Creek Bull."

Books 1 & 2 . . . .

of the continuing series featuring the farms and folks of Summers Run are available for ordering through your local bookstore on Main Street or around the corner. Service there is fast. Or for those of you who go online, you may place your orders through Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

FYI, to order online, you may be asked to open an account. Be mindful you don't get led off into opening a charge card account as my wife did. It's 25% interest!

Scroll to the bottom of the page for more information and links. 

Alpacas . . .

can be seen on the byways and backroads of Montana, especially in the western side of the state. Found at a petting zoo, Ravalli County Fair, Hamilton, 2012.

Libraries, the heartbeat of Small Town America

Both books in our Summers Run series have been donated to libraries in the Bitterroot Valley, Montana: The Missoula Public Library, the North Valley Library, and the Bitterroot Public Library in Hamilton.

Books have been donated to public libraries in Meadville, Titusville, Springboro, Cambridge Springs, Cochranton, Washington, Williamsport, and Lock Haven, all in Pennsylvania.  

It's been our pleasure to do this, in this day of limited resources and budgetary restraints. 

Patronize your local libraries: there's more going on there than just books. These are not the dull, stereotypically dry and dusty halls of yesterday. They are alive and lively institutions of learning, entertainment, and imaginative, worthwhile stimulation. . . . Jim Cotton

In camp. . . .

grandkid footwear drying after a stroll in the lake. Taken near Lost Horse Lake, one of the many in the Bitterroot National Forest, Montana.