Summer has been glorious in Montana. We have not spent a whole summer here since we moved here, so we have enjoyed spending our days filled with many visitors and lots of fun outdoor activities.

We had Rich’s sister, Tammie, here from Florida for a few days. Then we had my brother and his family here from Houston for a week. We did a quick turn around and had some Air Force friends of Rich’s and their four kids here from Nebraska for several days. A few days after they left, we had two former coworkers of Joe’s from the Olathe Fire Department in Kansas and their wives here for a few days. That was very special for us. It was great to be able to talk about Joe freely and openly with people who knew and loved him. We then had two couples from our Air Force days from 20+ years ago who came to visit – we had a great time and it was like we were able to just pick up where we left off over 20 years ago without having to chase after little kids. We did some kayaking and hiking and touring of the Hungry Horse Dam. Then Tim came to visit. It was great to show him around the area during the warm summer months. He is usually here during skiing season, so it was great to show him around Glacier National Park and take him kayaking through the valley. He and Lily don’t often get to see other for more than a couple of days around Christmas at most, so they got to spend 5 days together, which was awesome. They are both now back in their respective states. School has started up for Lily for her junior year at Kansas City Art Institute, and Tim’s school year with the athletes has gotten underway at Campbell University. We also had the pleasure of having Michelle’s brother and sister-in-law over for dinner while they were visiting Glacier National Park. It was great to spend some time with them. They were very special to our Joe, and he was so happy to call them family. I think we single handedly got multiple people hooked on huckleberry ice cream or shakes.

We have enjoyed spending time at home this summer. Lots of time on the water…in the park…on the front porch and in the backyard. There are two flocks of about 2-3 dozen wild turkeys that meander through our yard and several deer families who stop to wait out the heat of the day in the shade of our trees. There were only 2 fawns this year and they are twins. I jokingly call them Thing 1 and Thing 2. They are almost inseparable and seem to get into mischief together. There have been three young bucks roaming the neighborhood together the last few weeks so there may be more fawns next year. Thing 1 and Thing 2 are just about to lose their spots. They are adorable but their mom just looks tired of chasing them around in the heat. LOL.

On top of this, we have been very busy at the fire department. Our call load has increased quite a bit this year for unknown reasons. There have been a lot of motor vehicle accidents this tourist season. Hopefully we’ll have a bit of a respite this fall before the snow flies and we have accidents for totally different reasons. We have 3 firefighters going to EMT school this fall and I am hoping in January, they will be licensed in the state and available to take some of the call load.

As for my health, I started taking a longer acting form of medication I have been taking in shot for about 4.5 years. I have never had an issue. I got injections every 4 weeks. Now it was lengthened to every 12 weeks. This was a huge boon for me. I would only have to be seen 4 times a year! The freedom! I got the shot for the first time on July 31st and in 48 hours had a rash on my forearms. 48 hours after that, hives on my legs. No itching, no pain…no other symptoms. Hoping that we can keep doing this. If this is the only reaction…I can handle it no problem. My throat starts closing up, that is another matter. So we shall see.

Now that I have caught you up with our summer…here’s some photos to go along with it. I almost forgot! We found a sunflower field! A few photos of sunflowers in the Flathead Valley as well.

I flew home on a Monday to already have my brother and his family at our house in Montana for over 24 hours. It has been a long time since I have lived with a 2 1/2 year old! I was oddly familiar with the almost 15 year old though! They were here for a week and hopefully enjoyed some of our Montana stomping grounds. We are about as far from Houston as can be. My brother said to me, “I take it you do enjoy living here….” Yes, I do! Craig had his birthday while he was here so we celebrated with him. He has been a volunteer firefighter for 30 years, so I made the cake to match that. We spent some time in Glacier National Park….they went white water rafting, and ziplining at the place Lily works. Craig said Lily is like a spider monkey on the zip line course. They left this past weekend to head home to Houston. The next visitors are a family of 6 arriving Saturday! We have a different family each week during the month of July staying with us. Here are those photos of time with Craig and his family….

My middle child always does it big. “Go big or go home” seems to be his life motto. For the most part, this is a fabulous way to go through life. However, when he moves….he MOVES. He moved from Lincoln, NE to Fort Collins, CO….then to Morgantown, WV…..then to Palo Alto, CA….then 7 hours south to San Diego…..now he is moving to a job in Buies Creek, NC. Yes, from San Diego, CA to about an hour south of Raleigh, NC. That is a long drive! I flew into San Diego on a Monday night late and then helped Tim load up a 5×8 ft U-Haul trailer with a couch, desk, chair, TV, and TV stand, clothes and a TON of professional books…throw in a few kitchen items and we were ready to take off around 3 p.m. that afternoon. Here is Tim leaving the house in San Diego….he didn’t know a majority of his roommates, he had no control over the A/C, which was normally not on. He was happy to have this state in his rear-view mirror!

So we started driving and immediately hit traffic. It is California, after all. When we stopped that first night, we were in Arizona…..Driving the next day in Arizona, we managed to find a 90 minute traffic jam in the middle of the desert. Sigh. It was hot….and painful.

The next day we drove through New Mexico….

We went through New Mexico and into Texas, which gave me a small heart attack because we ended up going through a border patrol area (we had been hugging the Mexican border for awhile and I thought we took a wrong turn.) I didn’t have a passport with me, so I was a bit nervous….but we flew right through and made it to a Texas iconic locale….Buccees.

We stayed the night in mid Texas and then the next day went through Lousiana….

Made it to Mississippi and stayed the night in Jackson. Tim was actually born in Columbus, MS and hadn’t been back since he was about 6 months old.

The next day we were on to Alabama….(which also had a Buccees)

Georgia…..

South Carolina…..

And then to North Carolina. We had really been pushing it with long days, and the time changes were not in our favor. We lost 3 hours driving across the country and two of them were in the same day. We stopped in Fayetteville, NC for our final night on the road….only about an hour from where Tim would be moving in the next day.

On Saturday morning, June 28th, we made it to the Retreat in Fuquay-Varina, NC. I know, crazy name for a city, right? It used to be two towns and in 1963, they combined to become one bigger town with a hyphenated name. There are actually still two downtowns and the place is amazing. It couldn’t be any different than California! Here are some photos from around town and Tim’s new place. He is actually living on his own for the first time ever. (I think he was pretty stoked about that.) The club house has a pool and a game room, and a really awesome gym. The folks there were really nice and even left a gift for Tim in the apartment. They knew he would be working at Campbell University and left him a koozy along with a welcome letter and knife set. The apartments around him are filled by little old ladies, and we never heard a peep from any of his neighbors. He did have several frogs hopping around outside his door when we left for dinner late one night. He has a small pond next to his building.

We got all of Tim’s stuff moved in by noon. We took the U-Haul and went and picked up a bed frame and mattress, and then to get a dresser. The dresser was identical to the one he left in CA. We did a BIG Walmart (1/2 mile away) run for all sorts of things for his kitchen and bathroom. He got some barstools for his island and a couple of tall shelving units for his books and some cubes for his notebooks in his room. He decided to separate his work and sleep area and put his desk outside his bedroom, which I thought was a great choice. Tim mentioned he had always had issues with internet connectivity at UCSD and at home in San Diego. He was pleasantly surprised at the high-speed internet in this little town in NC! He is living halfway between his work and Raleigh. His work – head sports performance coach for the men’s basketball team at a D1 private university called Campbell University in Buies Creek, NC, is 25 minutes south of Fuquay-Varina, and Raleigh is 25 minutes north. Perfect spot! I fell in love with Fuquay-Varina. They have a lot of taverns with good food nearby and all the other shops he might want.

Here are some photos of the university….Campbell University Fighting Camels. Colors: orange and black. The campus itself isn’t very big but there are a lot of big brick buildings and magnolia trees around the campus. Tim was treated to two special suprises: 95% of all his training facilities are in the same building! That is HUGE! With UCSD and Stanford, and even UNL and UWV, he had to travel often between buildings, racing to get there before the athletes did. This was a very nice change of pace. Also, he gets a parking pass…for free! He was shelling out upwards to $1500 a year to park at work in California. (another great rearview mirror thing, in my humble opinion). We went to visit and get a tour of the athletic facilities from the Assistant Athletic Director. He was super nice and so happy to have Tim on board. Tim introduced himself to the director of basketball and as soon as he said his name, the head men’s basketball coach came bounding out of his office to meet Tim in person. The whole interview process lasted for almost 4 weeks, so it has been an arduous process for everyone involved. The entire coaching staff is new, with the head coach being a former assistant coach to the reigning NCAA champions out of Florida. I got all the good vibes. He ended up doing HR meetings and observing the players practicing and lifting for the first few days. Over the holiday weekend, he contacted all the players via facetime to introduce himself and learn more about them and their goals on and off the courts. He started in earnest this past Monday and is loving it so far. He called tonight to say the whole team and coaching staff went out bowling tonight. He said he hadn’t bowled in about 15 years and was proud he didn’t need bumpers to break 100. Sounds like he is settling in and I am happy for him. Go humps!

We went into the park several times before the tourists invaded our area. Once tourist season begins, even the locals can’t go into the park without a timed entry permit. You are able to go into the park after 3 pm (but EVERYONE heads in around that time) or prior to 6 am. I was wanting to see the fields of wildflowers a friend who is a park ranger told us about. Here are some of the photos from late spring/early summer in Glacier National Park. The white flowers are bear grass.

This has been a Montana bucket list visit for me since I knew we were moving here. After we were done in Libby at the Montana Volunteer Firefighter’s Convention, we took a side trip on the way home to visit Kootenai Falls and the swinging bridge. It was really wonderful. The Libby Dam had been holding the water high due to sturgeon spawning in the area, which is precious to the Kootenai Tribe. The water was higher and raging over the falls. We had a lot of fun hiking around the area and crossing the bridge a few times. It didn’t bother me but there were some people who refused to even try it and stayed on the sidelines with their feet on terra firma.

Rich and I got the chance to accompany our assistant fire chief to the Montana Volunteer Firefighters Convention in Libby, MT in June. Libby was pretty convenient for us because it is a little less than 2 hours drive for us (and it is a beautiful drive). Libby is up in the very Northwest corner of the state, a stone’s throw from both Idaho and Canada. Libby is a firefighter’s town. There are spots all over town that honor their firefighters and their department. I was really impressed. It is not a big town – less than 5,000 people – and yet the entire town came together to host this event. We arrived on Thursday afternoon and did a quick tour of the Libby Dam. That was pretty interesting. There was a kickoff BBQ on Thursday night and we were in classes either in a classroom or out on the cars or trains for hands on training all day Friday and Saturday. Friday night was another BBQ in a different location where we were down by the Kootenai River where there were scenes from the mountains, to the river, to the fields for corn hole games. (Rich and Ricky did quite well.) We met some really great firefighters from all over the state, although most of them were from our side of the state. Montana is a huge state and it takes a full day to drive across it. We had over 130 firefighters there and they were all good people. I will never forget talking with these two guys who were talking about a fire on the highway they fought near them. A refrigerated truck caught fire….it was filled with mozzarella cheese! He said it was an odd and very messy call. Can you imagine walking through melted cheese in your bunker gear? At least it smelled good….at first. We ended out convention with a big banquet on Saturday night and it was really nice. There was a keynote speaker that had flown in by the name of Jason Redman, who had been a Navy Seal and basically been blown to bits on an overseas tour and what it took for him to recover from all of that. It was very inspirational. They also had a bell ceremony to honor the fallen VFF in MT over the last year. There was a bagpiper…which was pretty hard for me because of the memories of Joe’s celebration of life. All in all, we had a great time and met some really awesome people. I am so glad we got the opportunity to attend.

By the way, the bowling pin on the side of the old fire truck….I was on a quest to find out what it was used for. I had a lot of people guess, but finally found out the truth behind the bowling pin from one of the Libby firefighters. They would pull it off the stand that went through it and before the time of using hose spanner wrenches, would use it to smack against the hose fittings to either tighten or loosen the hose connections. Huh. Go figure.

There was a vendor there with a wall hanging I wanted to take a photo of. I told him how it was so much like my Joe’s army infantry sign, along with his firefighter side, and then his birthday being the 13th of Nov….it just spoke to me. He gave it to me! Rich came home and used it as a centerpiece for a firefighter shadow box for Joe.

Here are a few photos from fires around this time that Rich and I were tasked to. We have been keeping busy this summer, that’s for sure.

We have some awesome neighbors who we get together with once a week or so to do something fun. This time we went kayaking on the Whitefish River. It was a lot of fun on a warm sunny day to just kayak along the river for the morning. We got to see some draft horses playing in the water, a few deer and ducks for good measure!

I have been living in Montana long enough to realize that the humidity wipes me out. I am not fond of it. I have tolerated it growing up in North Carolina, Virginia, and Louisiana. Nebraska also was pretty hot and humid – the self-proclaimed state of extremes in the weather: hot and humid in the summer to rival the deep South and frigid and cold in the winter to rival Minnesota and even Alaska. Yep, I have fond my sweet spot in Montana. It does get warm, but it is drier and there is a breeze. That equals a climate I can tolerate. Does it get cold? Yes, but not too cold. Lots of snow. Love it. That is all to say that my trip to the Mayo Clinic (where I dodged tornadoes the whole time) and then flying to Kansas City to see my girls (where is was HOT), I was missing my Montana climate. I had quite a long delay in Minneapolis due to the bad weather….I think I spent 7 hours in the airport. Luckily the airport is like a small city…bigger than the one I live outside of, actually. Anyhow, I didn’t get into KC until 1 a.m. Lily picked me up (what a trooper) and took me back to her place. It was 2 a.m. by the time we got there and Lily had a trip planned with her two best buds to Philly the next morning. They were up and out of there by 10 a.m. I spent the day organizing and cleaning their part of the duplex. Lily rented her room out for the summer. I also got to see close family friends from Norway/Nebraska, who have since moved down to Lee’s Summit. That was a lovely visit. Their son, Zac, was my Joe’s best friend, and he is also a firefighter/paramedic and I love listening to him talk shop. Now it all makes sense. He likes to listen to me talk about what we do in our very rural area to fight fires. The next morning I spent a couple of hours with Michelle, our daughter-in-law. She has moved to a new place closer to her workplace and it was nice to see how she is settling in and making it her own sanctuary. It was of course good to see Moose and Jenna. Moose had some pretty severe health issues in March and April, but he seemed really good. She then took me to the airport and I was on my way home. I always enjoy spending time with Michelle. I miss her terribly.

Joe’s fire helmet is on his urn. Michelle asked me if I was offended by that. She said the helmet was so big and didn’t fit on her mantel. I laughed and said that Joe wouldn’t have it any other way.

I have been pretty busy, and I realized today that I never updated everyone on what is going on with my health. I had scans in early May and sent them off to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. For the last 5 years, I have been overseen by the Sarcoma Specialty Center there. I am seen by the head of sarcoma specialty clinic and he is fabulous. Up until this point I had been there in person twice and the rest of the time was seen via telehealth over zoom. Unfortunately, starting in January of 2025, the medical system in the U.S. shifted back to pre-pandemic rules. No one on the sarcoma team has a license to treat in Montana, so I would have to come there to be seen in person. So I flew from Montana to Minneapolis and drove to Rochester to be seen for 30 minutes. Several good things came out of this appointment. First, I am still stable. Second, I got to see my favorite doctor on the planet in person. Third, he felt SO BAD that I had to fly to see him when I have been stable for so long that he decided I didn’t need to seek out an appointment with him every 6 months. I will continue the treatment regimen I have been on for the last several years, and get CT scans done every 6 months. I will not be talking to the Mayo Clinic until there is an issue. A new growth, I start to not tolerate the treatment, or growth of my existing tumors by >20%. So I am putting my faith in the hands of my local doctors for now. I will also be switching this next appointment (July 31st) to a Lupron shot that lasts for 3 months rather than 28 days. This will coincide with my IV treatment of Zometa, which is every 3 months. Yes, ladies and gents, this means I only go into the oncology department every 3 months….4 times a year. This is HUGE for me. The only benefit of going to Rochester was the ability to see my favorite doc, but also an adult lifelong friend from my time living in NE Minnesota in the mid ’90s.

Along the same lines, Logan Health in Kalispell recently had their first cancer survivor’s day. There were cupcakes, food trucks, loads of vendors. Rich and I stopped by for an hour or so and he was amazed at the number of people I knew who were there…staff and patients. I am in a book club for cancer survivors and a lot of them were there. Also a lot of folks from our local Soul Sisters Cancer group, which I also participate in.

Rich has been out of town for 2.5 weeks. He had a business training for our travel advisory business and then spent some time with his parents and sister in Florida. He then flew to the Midwest and spent time in Kansas City with Lily and Michelle and the Oslica family and then went on a quick trip to Omaha to connect with several good friends from our time there. When he was in Kansas City, he was able to do some work at Lily’s duplex and was able to take Michelle to the UFC fights being held in Kansas City. Sounds like they had a good time.

While Rich was in Kansas City, he talked to Michelle about Joe’s firefighting equipment. The Olathe Fire Department gave her his gear….to include his bunker gear, helmet, boots, etc. There was also a bag that he had his stuff he carried at the fire department, with all sorts of random things in there….gum, tools, receipts, etc. Rich duct taped a Rubbermaid tote and brought it home. Michelle has his helmet…the flag presented by the fire department, and his shadowbox presented to her from the department at his celebration of life. She was willing to part with these other things, which was such a huge gift for us. So many of his gear we can use ourselves. Rich emptied Joe’s bunker gear pockets and put most of the contents right into his pockets. We currently have his bunker gear in the special washers at our fire hall as he had been in a fire right before he died and his gear also smelled of diesel. I will be wearing his structure gloves and Rich his utility gloves. He had two black nomex firefighter hoods. I will take one, Rich the other. Our heads will be covered by his gear when we are in cold or fiery situations. I took his small flashlight to carry in my EMT jacket. He had 3 challenge coins in his bag….two of them being religious that I gave to him…a St. Florian coin (the patron saint of firefighters) and the firefighter’s prayer coin I put in his stocking the first Christmas he was working as a firefighter. The other was his OFD coin. As we continued to look through his bag, we found a “Cyndi Strong” bracelet from when I was first diagnosed with cancer a little over 5 years ago. He had told me his had broken, so I gave him mine and he reinforced that one and would where it. The broken one was in his bag. Joe loved to cook for his crew. Because of where he was stationed, he often cooked for a double crew – about 9 people. It started out as punishment for being the new guy, but then they realized he enjoyed cooking and was pretty good at it, he volunteered to do it regularly. I can’t tell you how many texts I got from him asking me to take a photo of one of my recipes for him to try out on his guys. He felt like he needed to expand their palates and would make things like Okinawan chicken curry and rice. There were two receipts from Walmart in his bag from 6 weeks prior to his death where he had purchased food for meals for his guys on shift with him. Of all the things, these two pieces of paper made the waterworks flow hard for me. We found three of his accountability tags, and will each carry one with us, as it has his photo on it. I also found his small notebook from the City of Olathe, which had a message that hit home. It was such a gift to go through these things….the objects of his trade, that we are now trying to do to honor him. To have his things with us on our calls – absolutely priceless. We can’t thank the OFD and Michelle enough for letting us have these items.