Merry Christmas
New Year from
the Ballenskys
|
|
2007 started by following the yearly pattern of tax season for Darlene and calving for Mike. However in May and early June it deviated by actually raining. The final rainstorm dumped copious amounts of rain to the south of us and tore out over 16 water gaps in the fences as it tried to reach the Yellowstone River. That set the pattern of repairing fence in any extra time for the rest of the year and to be continued into 2008. There has been no significant rain since. The highlights of the past year seem centered around the kids. Mike and Darlene made the now 5th annual horse pack trip into the Bob Marshall Wilderness in July to once again meet up with Jason and his caving partners. For the second year in a row, the riders were prevented from making the summit with the cavers because of fallen timber on the trail. Being better prepared than the previous year, almost 30 trees were cut through when it was discovered there were another 80 to clear with everyone exhausted by then. One of the cavers from Jason's "Tourist Group" wrote an article about the cave which was published in Montana papers. Here is the link to the Billings Gazette. The picture below is the horseback riders and pack horses coming out. |
The big headline news for 2007 was the engagement of our youngest son Damian to his girlfriend Amber. The wedding is set for June 28, 2008, and luckily Amber and her family have it almost all planned. We have been encouraging an elopement, but I'm sure we'll all manage to have a great time. |
|