The dream sequence.

Buckle in. I think this is going to be a long one.

I don't dream very much. I sleep. When I dream two things happen. It's in color and I can hardly remember them.  It's always been that way. I don't have bad dreams very often. Not even as a kid. When you have the imagination of a fourteen year old boy, your dreams are always fun.

If I ever find him

So evidently, my email address was hacked and a bunch of spam was sent through my address. I've taken the advice of Yahoo! on what to do and hope this doesn't happen anymore.

I would like to find this person. I won't describe what I want to do to him ( I believe it is a him, women aren't evil when it comes to things like this, they are only evil when they want to rip your heart out through your lungcage and put it in a blender on puree, but hey, who am I to judge. Maybe I should have called more. Whatever. ) anyway, what I would do involves slitting a very tender portion of his anatomy. I'll leave you with that. My description for what I would do after that, isn't pleasant. 

Yes, it's kind of late

Played pool league tonight and finally got off the snide.  Had been shooting great all year but the last two weeks had gone 0-6. Went 2 for 3 tonight.

Had a guy pull right out in front of me in the way to town tonight.  Didn't have to lock up the brakes but it was close. It got me to thinking.

I was a young kid, only twelve and working at the ranch. It was my fifth time horseback.  I was riding Bookeeper, a pale buckskin.  All the times I had been riding before that was just checking on cows.  This day we were gathering the Dyer Coulee pasture (from the poem). I didn't know what I was doing. Just trailing some cows and calves into a bunch so Ranch Dad could work them.  This calf broke back and Bookeeper was on him trying to turn him to the herd. The calf dove and Bookeeper made a hard turn to put him back. When Bookeeper turned, so did my saddle.

I wasn't quite upside down but his hooves were inches from my face. Honestly. I blew the stirrups and let go of the saddle horn and just tried to get out of the way. I landed in sagebrush and dirt. No cactus. I wasn't scared (I was more scared shooting a tough eight ball tonight, which I made BOOYAH) and didn't know any better. When brother Leo cinched up my saddle, you could hear the air leave Bookeeper's lungs. It was tight. After that, Leo taught me how to cinch my own saddle. He had always done it before then. I was a small kid, but he showed me a trick to get it tight. Not to tight. But tight enough I never had that happen. I ended up being an OK cowboy.

Here's my point. I've been in three car crashes. None of which were my fault but all were violent.  No one was hurt in any of them which I'm grateful for in all respects. The thing is this, my Guardian Angel works overtime. He is a first ballot Hall-of-Famer. He's kept me out of the ditch as recently as last weekend when EJ and I were on some icy slopes looking at some property. I stopped on a very gently incline. We were looking at the map as to where we wanted to go and I looked up and we were sliding. I hit the brake and it wasn't working. I had just put my truck into four-wheel drive and something made me take my foot of the brake and punch it. The truck wheeled away from the ditch and we were safe. All the me G.A!! When I go, whoever gets him should be as thankful as I am.

I have a great life.

You're State Champs are.............

The Malta Mustangs!!! 67-62.  A great title game.  I honestly feel bad that Manhattan lost because they are a great team.  What sucks for them is that their three losses this season are in the last three tournaments, all in title games.  Gotta hurt. They say that defense wins championships and tonight was the proof.  Malta was down five at half and put the full court press on in the second half.  Manhattan had trouble breaking it all night and couldn't find their half court offense.  Malta created some great turnovers and played their half court offense almost perfect.  If these teams met nine more times I think it would be 5 and 5. 

Next week the girls basketball team goes for the third title in six years.  I know that you are all on the edge of your seat to find out how they do.

Love my Malta teams.

In the Chipper!!

The Mustangs came back from a ten point deficit in the fourth quarter last night and controlled the semi-final game tonight to meet the top ranked Manhattan Tigers in tomorrow's state class B championship.  I don't know if the game is going to be carried live on ESPN but you can always stream it live on KMMR, the voice of the Mustangs.

I'll be honest.  Malta will have a hard time tomorrow.  Manhattan is a great team.  Lots of talent and very well coached.  Their coach, Mike Woodman, led Malta to a state championship in 1985.  He knows basketball. Still, I'll be there out of my seat on every great play and yelling on every bad call. I just won't yell "BULLSHIT!!" like I did tonight once. Not that the call wasn't complete bullshit, I just won't do it. That's my vow to you.

And now, some videos.

HAHAHAHAH, just kidding.

The Montana Class B State Finals

Yes, my beloved Mustangs won the Northern Divisional tournament and qualified for state. Oh, here's the good part. It's right here in Bozeman. The 3M Company (Mighty Malta Mustangs, three m's, get it?) open with Whitehall tomorrow at 2 PM.  It's a good team. Not overly tall but very athletic.  They beat Fairfield for the divisional title. Fairfield and Malta have a huge rivalry but I'll touch on that more next week when the state class B girls tournament is in full tilt.

Whitehall is streaky. They match up well with Mustangs size wise. Malta plays tremendous man-to-man defense with a lot of pressure. They held Fairfield's stud to 1-14 from the floor last week. Malta is well coached by Dave C.  from Saco (down the road about 30 miles and drank a lot of beer with him in the softball days) and Tom who attended MHS with me. Good guy but didn't graduated in 1981 (and 83er, his cross to bear, or is it bare? Damn it. The English language can be so confusing. Why did, or I should say "how", did I minor in it?) but Tom is a good man. His younger brother Jim is a great friend and loves to spend money with me. Which brings me to my next story.

Jim lives in Big Timber. It's 55 miles east of Bozeman. The Mustangs practiced there tonight. Jim texted his boys in BT the following "Hey, make sure there is a nice safety ladder available at the Herder Gym. The Mustangs will probably cut the nets down after practice."  Just classic.  I called Jim when I got the text. "Jim, you made me laugh my ass off!"  Jim says "Chipper, the people in Big Timber hate Malta because Randy (another Malta boy) and I always are telling them how great it is."

Let's hope that Malta can hoist another state championship banner this weekend and follow it up again with a girl's title in Hamilton. And yes, I'll be there for that as well.

Sorry to bore you. I just love Malta.

Just a word

Life in the Gallatin Valley is good.  It's been an easy winter. No snow to speak of at all. As a matter of fact, in my 24 years of living in Bozeman this has been the most gentle winter I can remember.  I'm not bitching a lick.

Making my way through the Titan process and doing well.  Of all the companies that my ex-boss could have sold out to, I do think he picked a good one.

Ralph is still having a time of coming to terms with me not just punishing him at the alumni tournament 25+ years ago. He really didn't cry when we got our tattoos. It was more of a soft whimper. His pain threshhold is very minimal. Except when he slugs a wall and breaks his hand. Which he has done to death. Hand pain - good.

Life is life. It deals the cards. Play them well. Bluffing is for sissies who can't or don't know what to do.

I'll be here all week.