Rain shows, hair dying and hiking

Tonight we had our first rain show - sort of. Rain shows are when the stage is too slick to dance on safely so most parts of the songs where there is a instrumental solo and they dance are gone. One glaring exception is the fiddle solo in Mountain music right at the beginning of the show where I run down to the cookie. So today they all step touched and stared at me while I played 24 bars of fiddle solo from the band shack since I wasn't sure if it was raining enough to get my fiddle damp or not. It was pretty awkward.
It was only sort of a rain show because before we got to any of the songs that are changed they changed it back to a normal show. So we finished the first act and then another front came in and the second act was cancelled.
I was super grumpy and opted not to go down to the Rough Rider with the cast. Instead Carolyn and Hannah (costume intern) and I hung out in my room and dyed Hannah's hair. It was one of those magical nights where somehow everything we said was funny, and even sometimes clever. While I dyed Hannah's hair Carolyn just sat on my bed watching my random list of music videos on Youtube and yelling about how much she loved all the 80's hair and country music.
This morning Hannah and I hiked out to look at the petrified Forrest in the park. I took a million pictures, but not on my phone. My phone battery is swollen and about to burst into flames so I am phoneless at this time. Honestly this is a great place to have this happen, if I need someone I just wander over to their room. Anyway, I took pictures on a disposable. So when I get them I will post them. It's just like the old days!

Rain out

We had a rain out yesterday. We really needed it too. I think everyone needed a break from the sameness that we all live in. We went out to play pool for a while in Medora then headed back to Belfield about midnight. I was walking into my room when patti (who had not been out with us) came scampering at a very fast pace across the lawn in her jammies with a mostly empty bottle of wine yelling "Josephine!!!! Josephine!!!" And I say scampering because no one in their right mind would call it running. "Will you go to the Rough Rider with us?"
"Uh, sure Patti."
"Okay! Don't take off your dress!!!! I'm putting mine back on!!"
So about ten of us walked to the Rough Rider, which is one of the two bars in Belfield. And believe me, it is ROUGH. We went on a Saturday and witnessed a girl pee her pants and keep dancing, a girl get a concussion and a guy get thrown out of the bar by his hair, literally leaving some of his hair in the owner's hand. I'm a tough girl and I wouldn't go there alone. Not with all the oil workers that are here with nothing to do. But with the band or cast with me it is just an experience.
The days are melding into one large lump of summer. The only reason I know what day it is is because of our Chuck Wagon patio sets. I remembered that we had one today when I was in the shower. Luckily I still had time to catch a ride, but it was scary. But even once I realized I had a set today I still didn't know if it was Wednesday or Thursday. My thoughts on that mostly consisted of  "I get to have a pasta bar tomorrow for dinner if tomorrow is Friday, but if tomorrow is Thursday I won't. Hey, that guy in the audience has a great smile!" Obviously I'm a deep thinker on stage. Actually I often think about food or clothing during the horribly boring kid's song we do 15 minutes before the show. Or sometimes I just look for nice looking guys in the audience. Yeah, apparently I really am that shallow.
A couple days ago I went to Montana at midnight. Tyrel is assistant house manager and a cool guy. We were hanging out a a bonfire that Emily (one of the show's hosts) generously hosted at her place and when we headed out at 12:30 I said I was going to go check out the bar since that's where the boys had gone. He pointed out that in Medora they close at 1am. Then he said "We could go to Wibaux, Bars close at two there."
"I'm game"
"...I was kidding."
"Oh... well I guess you just learned I'm always down to go on random trips."
"Ah hell, let's just go."
So we did. Even though all we did was stop in for a drink and write our names on dollar and stick it to the wall it was totally worth the 30 minute drive. I guess I just really like the idea of running over to Montana for a drink. Also I like having a friend who will randomly drive to Montana with me in the middle of the night.

Parades Pranks and Chili

 July 4th we were in the parade. Then fondue then the show. After the show Sheila the "first lady of medora" who is the widow of the man who made it into the tourist town that it is, hands out ice cream and we watched fireworks from her front lawn.

left to right: Carolyn, Kayla, Lauren, Patti, Dana. I'm me and Dan is the boy.

 It's a terrible picture but I wanted to show my eyelashes. I was DEAD SET on wearing my red white and blue eyelashes all day.

Carolyn and I

There has been a rash of pranks recently. A while ago Kayla's furniture got rearranged while she was out at a party. Then a couple days ago Marc got taped into his room. He couldn't open his screen door.... excuse me for a second BAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Everyone suspected me and Kayla the most. I'm actually proud that people think I am that creative. Sadly I'm definitely not that subtle. Those two pranks haven't been claimed and if I did something like that I would have been parked in a lawn chair waiting to laugh at him trying to get out. All of this is possible because people leave their doors wide open because they lock automatically. Typical hang-out protocol is; take off make-up, grab your drink, grab your keys, leave your door open.




We are desperate to know who taped him in, just because I want to shake their hand. It's like I'm living in the juvenile prank version of clue. Everyone suspects everyone else.
It was Zach! In the parking lot! With the packing tape! 


 Last night was Chili night. By which I mean I made a giant pot of chili and people ate it. ALL of it. It was fabulous. I had a kind of stressful day yesterday and coming right home to open a bottle of wine and start chopping veggies while a bunch of people sat around joked was exactly what the doctor ordered. As sort of egotistical as it sounds I think I kind of needed the ego boost of everyone liking my chili. I had one of those days where I got yelled at, then someone else "apologized" for being terse with me but it was one of those apologies that is just designed to make you feel bad. So comfortable and homey was what I needed. I will definitely be making more chili. Especially since I fed lke 10 people and spent about $12. And I did it all without my underwear on. I have to say, possibly my favorite thing about living here is how I get to constantly wear my pajamas.

July 3rd

Our biggest fan. Another little girl was dancing and kept yelling my name. When I told her I liked her dancing she said "Yeah, me too."

As you can tell from the expression on my face I was not loving this noonday patio show next to the chuck wagon. I was sleepy and trying to chug coffee and got chastised by Matt the sound guy for trying to take it up on stage because he said I was going to spill it. Sadly he was totally right. The stage is rickety and I jump around so it was probably going to fall for that reason. Also I spill every drink within 5 feet of me nowadays. I don't recall always being like this... But don't think I didn't try to pout my way out of putting my coffee on a table.
We are playing four patio sets a week, seven fondue sets a week and obviously seven of the musicals a week. At the beginning of the summer the actors were getting jobs and I started to feel like maybe I should get one. Now I am REALLY glad I didn't because we are BUSY. I play from 5:20-9:30 with some days and 4-9:30 some days. But I am making bank. I got my first check for the non-musical work (troupe America pays us for the musical, the Theodor Roosevelt Medora Foundation pays us for the patio and fondue gigs, so different checks) and it was over $400. Our next one should be even more because we are picking up more and more patio gigs. I already have a hefty cache of savings as well as treating myself to things like new running shoes, a running hat, a new shoulder rest for my fiddle, a cup of fancy coffee and most importantly NEW UNDERWEAR.

 In other news I managed to leave my shoulder rest in Belfield for the show the other night so I had to improvise something so I didn't keep dropping my fiddle. I wandered around from tech person to tech person asking for foam or a tiny pillow. No one had any good ideas. Finally Dana walked up with a swimming noodle in her hand and said "How big?" I think what happened is that everyone was thinking very literally and Dana just went "Hmmm, foam? Noodle!"

So this was our creation. Half a noodle shaved down on it's curved side rubberbanded in place on top of my cord and next to my wireless .... what's the opposite of a receiver? Sender? output? I'm sure there's a better name. Next to my wireless whatever baggie.

Speaking of which, today I developed a terrible pain in my shoulder. I get those sometimes so at first I didn't think much of it. Fiddle players have shoulder pain. It's a fact of life. But then it spread down my back and it started to hurt to breath. Before the show Dan worked on my shoulders for a while and let me tell you, if I didn't have zero interest in him romantically and he didn't have a girl he wants to marry I would marry the man for his shoulder rubbing skills. Apparently he spent six months getting physical therapy for a neck something-or-other and he payed attention to what they did. Basically he sat down behind me and squeezed my should and went "oh HONEY, there isn't a knot because it's all so tense!" It was so funny, after only 5 minutes of him working on my shoulder I didn't feel like crying anymore. Partially because he took the edge of the pain but also, I think, because he made me feel like I wasn't being a baby about it. My shoulder really is that bad. So two things are happening. I'm switching from putting my wireless..... whatever on my fiddle to putting it on my belt because I think the weight may be contributing to my tension and then I am using the gift certificate for a 90 minute massage all the girls got and I am going in and telling them to spend 60 of those minutes on the left side of my back.

 Meet Dana, our chief electrician who is about three feet tall, loves balloons and blew everyone's mind on the bar patio by whipping our a large pocket knife and starting to curl all the ribbons on the bottom of those balloons. She is currently making pretzels in the lounge apparently. I'm pretty excited.
Today I bought groceries for chili, so I think we will be having a chili feed of some sort in a couple days. I bought enough so about 10 people could eat themselves sick. So I'm guessing the six people in the band will eat half of it and the 12 actors (who actually think about things like calories) will eat half of it.

I also wanted to make mention of Carolyn for being such a great friend. She had been a great help to me in the last week because she is the kind of friend who both encourages you to tell her every single detail about a boy if your interested in one, but will also bar hop with you until you find him. We at one point actually craned our necks to look in the window of a bar didn't find him and headed to the next place. It was both really creepy and oddly just fun. It was kind of like a quest we were on together that bonded us. In other news I was laying on her bed waiting for her to pee last night at 2am and I heard a CLANG CLANG CLANG!!!!! "GAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" She dropped her keys in the toilet before she flushed. It was a sad day for Carolyn. And also proof that my bio weirdness has not left me because I yelled "It's okay! Pee is sterile when it comes out of your body!"

 Matt (who volunteers at the stables as well as being our sound guy) has started taking us on trail rides where it is just people from the musical and he takes a little bit off trail. This last time he let us gallop for a while. It was AWESOME!!!!! I really really really really really really liked it. My horse was happier, and I was happier. We went up on the bluff above Medora and it is amazing. I'm petty sore from my first experience going over a walk on a horse possibly ever (?) but I figure the best way to cure that is to go again.
Nick did the world a favor by taking video right when we all started to gallop. He is not the most assertive person ever so his horses never give a crap about what he wants them to do. By the end his legs were sticking out the sides and he was leaning back over the horse holding on for dear life. It was pure comedy gold. The video can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=3206518417344&set=vb.1697691591&type=2&theater Listen closely and in the background you can hear Patti and a screeching with laughter.

And finally another picture from a run. It just doesn't get old.

Horsies!

A couple days ago I went riding again with Nick, Ed and Zach. I'm trying to take advantage of the horsies here. I get to go for free as much as I want. Shooter and I got along pretty well. I think I figured out how to make my mind known to him unlike when I was riding Boon last time and he just followed the horse in front of us. Boon also had his ears back the whole time which I assume is the horse version of a sour expression. I assume that (just like with every animal) Shooter was more comfortable because I was more comfortable and in control. I'm riding again today with the costume intern Hannah. Speaking of Hannah, the costume room and band dressing room are next door to each other and there is a foot between the walls and the ceiling. Hannah and I yell things to each other and generally act like children. Last night I caught her singing tunelessly "I'm stitching, stitching. Oh I'm stitching..." She was, in fact, stitching. It was pretty adorable.

Last night in the show we had a screw-up that ended fine, but caused severe terror on my part. Near the beginning of the show I walk down to what they call the "cookie" and I have heard called the tongue in other theaters. It's the little half circle of stage sticking out towards the audience in the middle. I walk down there and play a big solo then wave and run back to the band shack. Marc set me up for the solo a measure early and since usually I am the one that does things like that I just went with him. Then half the band was playing a measure behind the other half and I was 40 feet away from my band and four away from the audience. For a minute I had to just stop playing a look back to try to figure out where we were. Marc does a great impression of me turning to give him a look of slack jawed terror then just going back to playing. It all came out okay though.

Another one of the car show

Just another jog

The hair Affair

I ran three miles through downtown Belfield today. Since there isn't much of Belfield I then continued out of town to the pond and back again. The wind is killing my speed here. I am running so hard and sooooooo slow. I get back from three miles that took me 41 minutes and I sink onto my bed and gulp water like there's no tomorrow.
I look at my phone and it tells me I burned 400 kcal and I want to scream "What about the blinding sun, high humidity and the head wind for half of it!"

Blurry but that's us at the pitch fork steak fondu. We are getting a lot of gigs aside from the musical. It will be good for my bank account! Also it's fun.

Hurrumph!

Coal Diggers with Chad not Zach

Yesterday was our first show with Zach and he did great. Honestly, if we hadn't told the singers it was a different guy they probably wouldn't have noticed if they didn't look at him. We were all very impressed.

I jogged almost 2.8 miles yesterday. It's not so hard to get yourself on the road when it looks like this:

Half way up the hill in a head wind

I woke up at 4am this morning from a full-on nightmare that I was trapped in a pitch-black room with a bunch of wild animals that wanted to eat me. I had to lay there for a while with my eyes open because I was still so freaked out. I haven't done that in a long time.
Then as soon as I woke up later in the morning I had to run to Dickinson (25 minute drive) to get some different fake eyelashes and a spare shoulder rest which they did not have. I arrived back in Belfield with enough time to sit here but not enough time to run or do my laundry. I guess every day can't come out perfect huh?