Double H Hats Darby, MT

March 15th I found my self down in Darby hanging out with my friend and hatter, Jimmy Harrison of Double H Custom Hats.  Two broadcasting students from the University of Montana were working on a project which will later air on PBS.  Their segment will cover the hat making process with Jimmy and I’m in the final ”fitting” stage! But I was able to hang out at the shop all day and watch Jimmy craft hats, and really start to understand all of the work that’s put into making a hat.

   

Helmville Parade

On Friday, March 14th I had the opportunity to attend the Helmville St. Patrick’s Parade.  I’ve never been to Helmville before, so I allowed myself plenty of time to drive there.  I ended up being about an hour early, as I found out that it really isn’t that far from Missoula.

As parade time rolled around i found myself jumping into the back of Colton Couhghlin’s convertible Mustang!  With Colton in the driver’s seat, his friend Kevin Lockwood riding shotgun, and me in the backseat sporting my red fox and arctic fox vest we were sure to be the best of the parade!

Check out my sweet sunglasses!

And my sweet ride…

After the parade, which doubles back down the main street, we headed to one of the near by ranches for dinner.  And boy o boy do they know how to cook on the ranch, and feed the whole crew!  I missed the dance that followed as I had to get home and catch up on some sleep before heading to Darby to Double H Hats the next day.

Montana Trappers Booth…and Kalispell Adventures!

Friday  evening, Jennifer received a call from me, not in regards to us being at the Montana Trapper’s Association booth the next morning in Kalispell, instead I was calling to ask her if she skied.  She seemed a little bit curious as to why I would call and ask such a question like that out of the blue, but it started to make sense with the question that followed.  “Do you have plans for Sunday by chance,” I questioned her with my fingers crossed she didn’t.  She said,”no,” quickly to be followed by, “why?”  My remark was, “well you do now!” 

Jennifer and I jumped into the new (to me) Avalanche for its first “queen” trip to Kalispell.  We headed out early Saturday morning and made it to the Majestic Valley Arena for the Great Rockies Trade Show just in time for the start at 9am.  Earlier during the drive Jennifer showed, and told me about  a funny run-in she and her thumb had with a car door the previous day.  We joked about the incident and her slightly purpling finger, but she’s a trooper and toughed out the day with her throbbing finger.  We helped kids make ink animal tracks and talked to people about trapping in Montana and shared our growing knowledge of furs and trapping.  And of course, signed autographs. 

But by the time 3o’clock rolled around Jennifer’s slightly purple thumb had turned almost all blue and black, and she could barely feel the end of it?  Can you say doctor?  And that’s where we were headed.  After a couple of drives between the Columbia Falls Clinic and the Whitefish ER we got her all fixed up and feeling good as new.

The next morning we woke up and were headed for a day on the hill at Whitefish Resort to go ski!  And we were looking good!  We must also say a huge THANK YOU to the Wirtala Family for hosting Jennifer and me.  We are always well fed and have wonderful beds along with good conversation when we visit Larry, Erica, Delaney, and Travis!