Mawage

You know, "marriage" like in the Princess Bride?

Unfortunately, we have very few photos of the wedding! I guess we never really thought of that...with a professional it takes time to get you the product. SO, you have to wait (like Sarah and I) until we get those in. I can tell you from the samples he put up on Facebook...they are going to be incredible. Everyone I've talked to agrees with me...Sarah needs to consider a modeling career.

But, back to the wedding! This is going to be short as I don't remember much of it. Nono, not partying....but all I can see are flashes. The morning of the 12th was pretty stressful. I was running errands and generally trying to stay busy. Nervous as hell, but after a great phone call to a buddy of mine, I felt ten times better. I was sitting by the bay when I called him, and before signing off, he was able to ease my mind with a prayer. All of a sudden (and this is what I told him), "I've got someone sitting in the passenger seat with me now. I'm good."

It was a pretty darn cool feeling. I had no nerves after that!

So I rushed back home and Zach and I met the other guys up at Elk Point for our pre-wedding photos. Three hours flew by in a heartbeat and all of a sudden, people were showing up! We had to try and hustle Sarah into the back room so too many people wouldn't see her, but it was tough as the photographer kept wanting "one more" photo! That all got accomplished, and somehow everyone ended up near the ceremony area and I was standing down there in front. I still cannot remember walking down there. I don't remember anyone but my angel walking down the aisle...I THINK her Dad was with her. (Just kidding Jim.) I can't even remember Lucca the ringbearer coming down the aisle with Mayana holding the leash. But, the ceremony started and I heard Sarah whisper to Craig, our officiant, "Can everyone sit down now?" HA! I'm not sure how long everyone had been standing, because I couldn't see them. Seriously, it was only after Sarah said something that I noticed!

Everything was going well, but at one point (during some critical reading) I felt myself start to mist up a bit. NOT wanting to stutter and babble like I did at the proposal and when I was baptized, I quickly searched my brain for something else to think about. That's when my passenger from earlier in the day came over and I am NOT shitting you on this one. All of a sudden, Sarah, Craig and I were in what felt like a tepee. A large cloak if you will. All my concerns were gone, all my nervous emotions were gone, I couldn't see anything but Sarah. I was comfortable and serene. It was blissful and indescribable.

Now, I have had an encounter like this before in Stevensville. There was a gal that couldn't buy groceries because of some issue with food stamps. She left in tears mumbling something about taking care of her Grandmother....after a moment of deliberation, I left my aisle and ran outside after her. It was raining at the time and I caught up to her and told her to come back inside with me. Same kind of feeling...as neither one of us got wet. I bought her groceries and wished her well. But I digress...

Alright, so there I am kissing Sarah and I think people applauded. Then we're in the reception line...shaking hands and hugging a lot of people. Then I can see a plate of food in front of me. Then we're standing for toasts. Pretty quick, I'm dancing with Sarah...then my Mom (and I was right, that was basically the only time I got to talk to her) and I don't even remember what we talked about. I remember being very nervous getting the garter off Sarah while everyone stared at me. I managed to peel away from the activities and visit with my South Dakota friends who traveled all that way for such a short wedding! (Thank you guys.) I then got to visit with Rod and Jonaca...and that was it! All of a sudden, they turn the music off due to a noise ordinance, and we're headed out! (After trying to clean a little bit of the crap off Sarah's car...thanks a lot Thayne.)

We made it to the Hampton after stealing a bottle of our wine from the reception and sat on the balcony and caught up on all the activities.

The next day we slept long enough that we missed our wedding party's brunch. We floated around the rest of Saturday feeling drunk. It's amazing what a down feeling you get after riding an eight month stress-high. I've slept a lot lately, and keep feeling like I could continue sleeping.

That done, I went on a quick camping trip with Butch later in the week. Following that, Sarah and I headed to the Clearwater! Unfortunately, it was very crowded down there...but we ended up at a dandy camp up the Selway about 16 miles. Within an hour, poor Lu-dog twisted her leg and had to hobble around for the next two days. Turns out she basically tore her ACL. Pretty major surgery coming up next week. :(


We picked blackberries. A little early yet, but we got 3.5 gallons in two hours!


Our private little patch


We had a phenomenal swimming hole at camp!



Yea, the rock looks like it's two feet under. Sarah's standing on it! Gin-clean water!



Po Lu-dog




Our early morning view upriver!


And Sarah made blackberry crepes Monday morning!


It was hard to leave

So, we made it home and got things straightened out. I went to get rid of trash at Blue Creek and saw something out of place in the lake!


See that spot in the middle?


Twas a moose! Just hanging out chewing his cud.

I know this is a very choppy post. I just wanted to catch up and fill in some gaps. I plan to write a better story about the wedding in the future. Perhaps it'll go better when I have some photos to refresh my memory!

But real quick. So there I was, on the Tuesday after the wedding...thinking, "I want to get some exercise and some sun...I'll go check the trail cam!" Well, I got to the trailhead pretty quick and headed down to the camera...changed the card and boogied out of there. I was about halfway to the truck when I looked down at my ring finger...ooooohhhhh sssshhhhiiiiiitttt!! I didn't have my ring anymore! I lost it on a two mile walk in the woods! Okay, deep breaths. That's exactly when my phone rang...my Dad, just checking in to see what was going on. I was pretty short with him and started gridding my way back to the truck. I was staring at the ground and about 150 yards from the truck when I heard, "Hi!" I damn near had a heart attack when I finally looked up and noticed some guy about 5 yards from me! He asked, "Do you get cell reception up here?" Yea, I was just talking to my Dad...have you seen a ring? "Oh, you must have verizon huh?" Uhmmm, yea. Have you seen a ring? Then he said something else and I came back with, "I AM GOING TO ASK YOU ONE MORE TIME. HAVE....YOU....SEEN....A.....RING?!" All he could say was, "Oh, no man. I'll look for it on the way back to the car though." Whatever, I left him and headed to the truck, thinking, "Who do I know with a metal detector?" No ring.

First things first, check the truck. I searched the cab and then realized the first thing I did was to get stuff out of my pack before heading out. So I pulled everything out of my pack and searched. NADA. So I'm reaching in the bottom of the pack and I feel something small, metal, and round!! Getting it into the light...."DAMMIT. Bottlecap." I did this one more time with the same result. Pack empty, no ring. Panic attack. Heart attack. Light head. Check the pack ONE MORE TIME. Feel something small, round, metal...with a hole in it!! I felt like Frodo when I pulled the ring out of the pack and held it up to the light!

Disaster averted, I went back to the fella up the road, "I REALLY have to apologize for my behavior man. I just got married four days ago and I had already lost the ring." He came back with, "No problem. I thought you were just keeping to yourself." We talked for quite awhile after that. I left and got to the bottom of the hill and called my Dad to explain what happened.

Since then, I now have a bright red lanyard for it that I can wear around my neck...when I'm in the woods of course.

Well, gotta sign off. More to come later!

It Keeps Getting Better

Sarah got home at about 7:00 on Monday night. We had just started to catch each other up on the day when we started hearing a lot of sirens. And they were CLOSE. Pretty quick Sarah said, "They're parked outside!" I asked her to stick her head out and see what was going on...turns out the shed of the newly-vacated house beside us was on fire!

I started spraying the side of OUR shed (since it was so close) while the firefighters continued to hose down the burning building. We opened up our shed to get the ladder out, when we noticed it was FULL of drifting smoke! Well, the side of our shed that was closest to the neighbors is where we were storing a LOT of stuff for the wedding...as well as all our valuable camping gear! Sarah hauled stuff out of the shed while I continued spraying down the outside and generally just get in the firefighters way. And of course, I put the ladder right on the bald-faced hornets nest that I was going to get rid of on Tuesday. Got one dandy sting and I'm not sure about others...kinda had a lot of adrenaline going.

So when it was all winding down, this fella comes walking into our garage and says, "Hi Tom." Uhmmm, hi random guy. Turns out it was Buddy, Sarah's uncle and Ryan, her cousin! He recognized me from photos...and when they heard all the sirens, they knew it was close to the house and decided to mosey up. Sarah and them went to dinner...while I sat down and attempted to finish the dinner I had sitting there and to calm the hell down!


We're thinking firecrackers started the old X-mas tree and 2-foot tall grass on fire. The flames started out there, but quickly started burning the INSIDE of the roof.


This is how close our sheds are.

At least I'M firesmart


But we DID inherit their awesome grapes and tomato plants!

Okay, that gets me to yesterday...uhm...the 10th. So I'm all over town running errands when I get a call from our minister. He was up checking his dock and said the wind came up making our rope "sing" from tension. This rapidly led me up to his shop to grab more rope and put another line on. Things were going smoothly until I got an automated call telling me my debit card had been locked! It said, "Please press 1 to unlock your account." Funny...I just used my debit card to get propane.. Then it said, "Please enter your 16-digit account number." Hmmm, wait a minute! I know this game!

So there I was, sitting in my hot truck calling the bank and asking about my accounts. They checked them all out and said it all looked good except for something trying to charge my Visa account but was denied because of an expiration date! Shoot. I got phished and found out about an attempted hack! After the wedding I'm changing out all my accounts. Just another thing to think about!

But overall, people are starting to flow into town and the phone lines are getting busy. I think the rehearsal today will help...help me at least get a feel for how this is all going to happen. AND, we're getting the tuxes fitted and BROUGHT HOME today. THAT will make me feel better!

I just hope this developing zit on my darn face doesn't decide to make an appearance! SONUVA!

Wow

I never believed that one of the most stressful things a person could do in life was to get married. Isn't it supposed to be a fairy tale, lovey-dovey, float on clouds kind of thing?

Not a chance.

Then you add the stressy Tommy you already know and love and you get quite the basketcase!

It STARTED off being pretty easy. There were a lot of Internet searches, phone calls, and meetings. There was plenty of time to do this and that. You could actually go camping or fishing and allow each activity do what it was made for...NOT thinking! Leave the rest of the world behind for a bit, recharge the batteries, and RELAX.

Hmm, I guess that brings us to the past two months. With all the big things taken care of (or most of them) it was all about coordination, payments, final head counts, pick up odds and ends, finish the projects, etc. This is easily one of the longest tests of endurance that I've ever had. Mental endurance that is. Even with Sarah taking the lead on most of this (I do not know HOW she has maintained her sanity) I have become a shaky, tense, twitchy wreck. I've learned quite clearly that I HATE having a to-do list that never gets fully completed, and once one task is crossed off, another two rapidly replace it. (This literally happened one day...I erased something and when I came home two hours later...the whiteboard was full again.) I took last Friday off thinking I'd head into the woods, pick some huckleberries and chill for a bit. Well, it was requested that I take Lucca...okay, but with a lot of spots taken at 0930 in the morning...we ended up walking a ways. The berries are late this year, so I didn't do much picking. Having a hot lab sitting three feet from you...staring at you...and panting for an extended period of time while the flies buzz around your head isn't much fun. Plus I couldn't concentrate! I finally gave up and headed home...where I was busy doing projects until 4:30 in the afternoon. I worked harder on my dang-ol day off!

I never thought I'd plan out a lawn mowing schedule...but even that wasn't easy. First, how does one get rid of old saw gas so you can use the container for weed eater gas? Solution...use old saw gas (50:1) in the weed eater and "eyeball" more oil into it...assuming it will get you down to the required 25:1 mixture. I know, I know, probably the worst thing I can do for the machine...but at this point...whatever. Now you have to weed eat a week in advance so any bad cuts have time to grow in. Then you have to mow. Then you have to plan on mowing days before the rehearsal dinner so there are no unsightly clumps of grass...which leads you to believe you need to mow in a different pattern. (With a small yard, that's going to be a tough task.) You have to plan on a potential raking...and time to take the grass to the dump. It required me to get up early and watch all the automatic sprinklers and figure our why there are dry spots. Which means I'm doing some pruning tonight. And the whole time, you're worried about getting any cuts, blisters, sunburns, etc. AND THIS IS JUST MOWING THE LAWN!! I anticipate all of you reading this will think, "Tom, it's not that big of a deal. Just mow it and call it good." Sorry, can't. Already I'm worried about the garage. Should I clean it? Grrr.

Hair is another story altogether! I've been in the process for months...finding a decent barber who can "learn" what I like and record it. (Which I managed to do...a guy we shoot withs wife is an awesome barber.) Okay, so that done...how to keep up on the beard? I look like Bart Simpson if I shave completely, so that's not going to happen. I finally figured out which guide to use on my trimmer to maintain a length we like. Alright, so now for the first time in my life, I'm on a daily shaving schedule. Already I'm worried about razor burn...which I have right now. I need to make some time to try and lay in the sun to get at least a little color under my chin. I figured keeping it shaved for a couple weeks would do that...but no. I've got a "touch-up" haircut planned for this afternoon...and I'm worried about something bizarre happening.

Going back to a subject...the thought of getting hurt is constantly on my mind. My knee has been "crinkly" and so I want to start taking fish oil. But I'm waiting until after the wedding in case, for some unknown reason, I have a reaction to FISH OIL. I'm VERY concerned about cutting my hands...which you all know I'm good at...consequently, cutting any vegetables is out of the picture. No taters for me this week! I'm extremely careful about wearing sandals, as a twisted ankle isn't my idea of a good time...but again, I'm good at those too. Boots it is...not a big change from normal...but still on my mind. I almost hit my head on an edge of the shower this morning drying my feet, so now I have to pay very close attention to anything that can bonk me on the head. I constantly have achy muscles as I never truly relax, even sleeping! I've been going to bed uber-early (last night I went and read at 7:30) but I still wake up exhausted. I spend all night DREAMING about everything under the sun, and this has been going on for weeks. I've had to "clear" an attic, I've been shot in the head, I've yelled at people, ran from people, gotten lost, gotten in trouble, etc...and the whole time I actually realize that I'm asleep! And even knowing that, I can't turn it off. I've done a lot of planning for the wedding and I've been in the wedding a number of times. I've had discussions with Sarah and then been confused as to why she can't remember them...well, it's because we've been having them in my dreams! Ugh.

Any kind of rafting or boating trip is out of the question, which leads me to an interesting story that tiers directly off of the above paragraph. So, Saturday morning as Sarah and I are finishing up some arts and crafts, I got a phone call from Rod. Turns out they were out on his boat fishing...and catching some dandy smallmouth. He offered to pick me up somewhere and I quickly realized that's what I was going to do. But first I had to battle all the people that were crowding downtown for "Art on the Green" a three-day nightmare for those of us living downtown. (I was dropping our finally-finished vows off with our minister.) Well, I got to his shop to find him in a panic, turns out his dock on Hayden lake had lost a cable and was floating into the neighbors dock! Obviously, I called Rod and told him I couldn't make it...maybe Sunday...grabbed Butch and a bunch of rope, and headed up there. It turned out well as I had a nice new LONG rope that we used to tied it off to a tree...disaster averted. I waited around Sunday trying to get in touch with Rod, but neither him nor his son called me back so I bagged it. Talking to him this morning made me very thankful I didn't make it on the boat with him! His drain plug was old and worked it's way out of the drain hole. It filled the boat fast causing the bow to head to the sky like the titanic! When the motor FINALLY caught, he was able to power it to the dock...almost underwater by the time he got it there...and this is driving it nearly vertical! He managed to wrestle it onto the trailer and let it drain for...wait for it...30 minutes (it's a big boat)! The rest of his day was spent dealing with all of that.

I'm glad I wasn't there.

So. That's my life as of now. I can't concentrate on anything because I'm thinking about everything all at once. Both Sarah and I are very excited for Saturday...the day AFTER the wedding!