Sheri and Janice Came to Visit!!

Shortly after I got home from Seattle Sheri, Janice and little Ellie came to visit. They were on their way back to Arlington after visiting their parents who are serving a mission for our church in Nauvoo. They were here less than 24 hours and we LOVED every minute of their visit!!! I took them to Castle Rock Lake (more affectionately called the surge pond around here). It was fun to get the feet wet. I think Ellie particularly liked it as she was tired of that darn car seat. (And who can blame her?)
Next we went to the Rosebud Mine. After a brief safety training, Laurence took us on a tour. Ellie graciously slept through the entire thing, bless her heart. Here are Janice and Sheri inside one of the smaller buckets.

I love the sight of a silouetted dragline. I know that's corny, but it is really a sight I've come to love. This was taken from the bottom of the pit. Unfortunately we weren't able to get permission to take them onto the dragline. RATS!
Gotta love these Kress haulers. (They hold 250 tons of coal) They always make you feel so insignificant. However, Sheri and Janice have too much personality to let even a Kress make them insignificant!!

I was hoping to see some wildlife to show off, but all we saw was this guy and lots of deer. They frequently see bobcats, mountain lions, fox, coyotes and many others out there. (Laurence had a bobcat outside his office window last week.)

With plenty of bribing with Mickey D's happy meal toys, Ellie finally warmed up to me. What a cutie!!

As a GRAND FINALE, Janice did my toes!! She has no idea how badly I have wanted her to do that. I feel so girly!! AND here we are weeks later and the flowers and the jewel are still perfect!! Thanks Janice!

And thus ends our wonderful visit from Janice, Sheri and Ellie. Come again really soon!!

We Love You!!

We Call This Home

Twenty-Four years ago I moved to Colstrip. Laurence was already here. He had been hired for a job that they said would keep him here for 2 1/2 - 3 years. Needless to say, we never expected to be here 24 years later. Colstrip is a unique community. A company town. Although it was established in 1924, it was not incorporated until 1998. There are basically 2 employers; the power plant and the coal mine plus supporting services. The power plant employs about 330 people and the mine about 400.
When driving to Colstrip the stacks from the power plant are the first thing you see from several miles out. It's a view I have definately come to LOVE!

Last Friday, my friend Kit and I went on a tour of the power plant. It was a first for both of us.

The first thing we saw was this to-scale model of the plant. When the plant was built they didn't have auto-cad and this was what they used. It cost $1 million just for the model. (Definately a job for the person still addicted to their Legos!!) They even have scale sized people in it.

The plant is the second-largest coal-fired plant west of the Mississippi. And is capable of producing up to 2,094 megawatts. It is owned jointly by PPL Montana, Puget Sound Energy Inc, NorthWestern Energy, Portland General Electric, Avista Corp, and PacifiCorp. Who knows? Perhaps your power comes from my backyard.

It actually consists of 4 power plants, Units 1, 2, 3 and 4. The shorter ones are units 1 & 2, they were built in the early '70's.

Coal comes to the power plant from the Rosebud Mine. The Rosebud Mine is an open-pit mine and is where Laurence works. Coal for units 3 & 4 comes to the mine via a 4-mile long covered conveyor belt.

Coal for units 1 & 2 is trucked there.

Units 3 & 4 were built in the mid-80's. Their stacks are 692' tall. The stacks for units 1 & 2 are 507' tall.

The plants use an average of 1 train carload of coal every 5 minutes.

The coal is immediately pulverized to a very, very fine powder-- more burning surface.

Things have changed so much over the years. The controllers truly control things from huge computer banks. WOW!

This picture was take from about the 10th floor of the plant. It was such a relief to be outside. Inside was about 120°. They told us that further up it was about 150°, which was why they cancelled that part of the tour.

Two of the cooling towers. The steam goes into the turbines, turns into water as it cools. From there to the cooling towers. Guess what it does there???? You got it..... it cools.More cooling. The water goes to a series of ponds, before going back into the plant and being turned into steam once again to turn the turbines to make electricity.

Kit and I inside the plant.

I do love Colstrip. It is definately home!However, I do look forward to the next chapter of our lives that hopefully will include a WalMart closer than 125 miles, a stake center in my own town (as opposed to 125 miles), a temple down the street (ours is 130 miles), a dentist that is closer than 125 miles..... you get the picture!! But I will miss many things here as well.