Not From Around Here

First off - it snowed again yesterday.  Second - dodging the pot holes might be an Olympic sport up here.  Third - narrow mountain roads that most states would set at a 55 mph speed limit, Montanans set at 70mph.  When you combine falling snow, 70 mph traffic and HUGE pot holes the size of truck tires it is very exciting.  I learned quickly why they don't tailgate up here, it is so that you have enough time to see and react to upcoming pot holes -and so that you don't get the road spray on your windshield.  One dude was following me closely and was unable to avoid the potholes that I was avoiding.  It was funny because you'd think he'd have backed off after the first few potholes he hit HARD, but he didn't.  So I made it a game to avoid the huge potholes at the last minute so that he couldn't follow my lead.  HA! I know.  I'm awful.  But it was his choice to follow so closely at 70 mph. . . . .

I went shopping at the small local market up here in “the canyon”.  The parking lot is the street.  I’m not joking.  As we emerged from the teeny tiny (super cute and staffed with nice people) market pushing our shopping cart down the street, Lucas hollers out to me over the rattle of the cart “Mom they really need to pave this road.”  Yeah.  They really do need to pave that road.  It would make shopping much easier.  That is how little these towns are.  It is expected that you will return the cart when you are done so that they don’t have to retrieve the cart from down the street.  500 people is a good sized community here in the canyon.  The canyon people are tough as nails.  Really. Tough. As. Nails. 

I was talking with a local and he said that the natives like the imports (people from out of the area) as long as they don’t try to change things.  They don’t appreciate all the imports demanding things in their home like updated sewage systems and plumbed in gas lines. They are perfectly happy with the septic systems and electric base board heat.  In fact electric base board heat is considered updated in many areas.  Most people here still heat with wood stoves.  I thought all of this was interesting.  I’ve never lived in an area where the primary heat source is a wood stove.  I’ve always assumed people would prefer central heat, but that is not the case up here.  In fact wood collection in these parts is in full swing for next winter.  Old pickup trucks are filled to the brim making laps into the mountains collecting LOTS of dead wood.  It seems like they are doing what the wildlife does – hurry up and restock supplies during the brief warm period so you can survive the next winter.   I am so fascinated by this.  

The kids were playing in the mud out in front of the house.  It has been raining so much that the mud is everywhere.  I noticed that the kids had dug down several inches, and the dog was eating something that looked like a clot of dirt.  Lucas pulls his hands out of the mud and tells me that his hands stink bad.  I had him come over; I smelled his hands and knew that something very wrong was on his hands.  It smelled like human waste. 

I!  Freaking!  KNOW!!  The dog was yanked into the house, the kids were stripped down and put into a bath where I scrubbed the heck out of them.  I drained the bath water again, and refilled it so I could rewash the kids with clean water – just to be sure. 

WHAT THE HELL IS IN MY FRONT YARD????? 

Is this a leach field (I don’t even know how those work) – or whatever kind of freaky redneck human waste disposal method they use up here in the woods?  Seriously.  WHAT did Lucas have his hands in, and why is it there? 

So.  I am going to be one of the “imports” that demands an updated waste disposal system that takes my shit away to the treatment facility and away from my yard.  Sorry.  I like the new-fangled sewage treatment methods of the 20^th century. 

Today we went to a local restaurant up here in the canyon.  The neon OPEN sign was illuminated and the other signs promised homemade huckleberry jam for sale inside.  We went in and were told that they weren’t serving food that day.  Today was not the burger day.  Tomorrow is the day.  Today they didn’t have supplies to make burgers.  They were planning a run down the canyon and into town to get supplies for the burgers tomorrow.   The place across the road had elk burgers though.  We had elk burgers.  Yummy.

Happy Birthday Nick!

 Once upon a time there was a pregnant woman who was 41 weeks and 5 days pregnant.  She was tired of her parents having to sit around waiting for her baby to come so they could watch her first born.  She was mean and unpleasant due to the heartburn, and back aches. She was uncomfortable and she was tired of people telling her that her child would come out when it was ready, because she no longer cared about the child's time table. She demanded that the midwife get that baby out of her immediately.  The midwife took pitty and induced pregnancy.  Later that day a 9 pound child came out and the nurses called him the "sumo baby" because he was so much bigger than all the other babies.  Three years later that baby is still pretty darn big for his age. He is a loving, sweet, intelligent, caring little boy.

Nick had a great third birthday! 

He received his very own tent from Grammy and Pop.  He was kind enough to share it with Maya and his big bro.

We took Nick to a bear sanctuary, where we saw this bear enjoying the sun with its legs straight up in the air.

Lucas enjoyed the bears too!  The bears were very well fed and had obviously landed in bear paradise.

Little Nick Nack was very excited to see the bears too.

I discovered that my camera had a panoramic feature.  I think if you click on the picture it will get larger?  Anyway.  I enhanced the color of the sky because it makes the clouds pop out better.  This is looking back at Apgar villiage - close to where we are living.

The birthday boy enjoyed his party favors.  Even though we weren't able to celebrate with all his friends in Rio Rancho, we still had a nice celebration.

Nick LOVES fire, so we put many lit candles on his cake so he could blow them all out.  His face says it all.  He was thrilled.

Nick picked the color of cake, the type of icing, and the flavor of the cake.  Pineapple cake, with chocolate icing and rainbow sprinkles.  He was very specific. 

The hat was pretty popular too.

After dinner we went down to Lake McDonald and played in the rocks. 

There were clumps of moss and lichen and ferns everywhere.  I am excited to see all of the diversity.

Nick and Lucas love climbing on logs and jumping off.

Quarter circle bridge.  You can drive across this, but I was too chicken to do it.  The river is deep, and close to the bottom of the bridge, and there isn't any sort of side rail.  It kind of freaked me out a bit.  But it was very pretty to look at, from the dry, safe ground.

Then we walked out on it.  I almost had an anxiety attack with the kids backed up to the edge like this for the picture.  One false move and the fall into the water.  And my kids, like most their age, just sink.  Scary.  But again, it was super pretty.

I don't think you can see it, unless you can zoom in on this picture, but this field is full of mules and horses that are working animals during the summer.  It is paradise, and they are all very happy animals.

I can't believe my little man is THREE years old.  He is such a cuddly lovey kid.  He still has baby cheeks and extra soft baby skin.  He has decided to potty train himself, so all week we have been wearing underwear during the day.  He gets upset when we stick a diaper on him at night, so we soften the blow by putting underwear over the diaper so that he still feels like a big boy.  He is having fairly frequent accidents, but that is because he won't go pee in the potty unless it is his idea.  But that is Nick.  He is very opinionated, and self assured.  These traits will serve him well if he can channel them in a productive way as an adult. 

He received a scooter for his birthday and practiced riding it today.  But he kept getting side tracked when he's see slugs or worms in the road, and decided that he needed to save all the animals.  So he picked up a stick and spent a long time moving all the worms and slugs out of the road.  I accidentally stepped on a worm (they are everywhere after all the rain) and he burst into tears and screamed and cried.  He is very attached to animals, although we are still working on empathy.  It will come later when he is older. 

My Weather

YO!!  I just learned how to screen capture!!  I think that is the term anyway.  Screen capture?  Anyway super cool.  Have a good day.  We are going to go try to find a store.  THEN we are going to try to find Nick a birthday present. 

Ha!  Kidding about finding a store.

Pictures - Finally

"Chickadees and warblers are driving me nuts."

The boys LOVE the basement and play up and down the stairs all the time. It looks really safe for children too, doesn't it?

Our temporary house.

The carb fest continues.

And the dishes all need to be washed by hand.  I HATE not having a dishwasher.  I'm spoiled, I'm not even remotely ashamed of it.  I want my appliances DAMN IT!!

The smallest troublemaker has found a warm spot in the house and taken up residence.  The heater for the bathroom is vented in below the sink - and heats the sink.

See?  Here are the holes that the hot air comes out of.  BUT the cat discovered that the sink is nice and toasty.

All the rain, makes all the mud.  We have discovered that mud feels good between the toes and fingers.

When he took his boot off and stepped in the mud, he delightedly squealed so loudly that it echoed around the neighborhood.

 Livin' life to the fullest.

Still Here, Still . . . .

I swear I haven't forgotten about my blog.  My time is being consumed with vacuuming up dried mud, pine needles and kitty litter.  When I'm not doing that, I'm baking my ass off trying to use all the yeast.  So far, I've used at least a full 2 TBS out of the entire 3lb box.  WHooo HOO - progress.  The weather (wet, cold, dark) is making all the carb consumption easy.  I think I've put on 5 lbs.  Not good.

I would take the bear bait for a long walk in the woods, but I keep finding fresh kitty cat scat with deer hair liberally mixed in there. . . . everywhere.  It is everywhere.  Right here in the housing area.  So.  Our walks are shorter. Because I know if we saw a kitty cat, the cat nip would bust off running and screaming in terror and I'd be powerless to save them. . . . except I could try to run behind them slower and with a limp.

We have also been eyeing the massive river that is 200 yards away.  It is getting bigger and more ferocious looking.  No worries.  We are a solid 20 feet above flood level.  Seriously, no worries.  We are very safe here.  But it is fun to watch it get higher and into the trees.  It is a fast river too, so those trees can only withstand that for so long before they will topple - I would guess anyway.

Today I'm adventuring into town to hunt down some fruit and DVD's.  I also would love to get myself some sort of waterproof (not winter though) footwear.  I have water sandals, but in 38 degree days, I was hoping for some sort of non-insulated boots.  In ladies size 12 please.  Gooooood luck with that. 

We ate out for the first time last night.  Food: eeeehhhh, ok.  Service: Excellent.  The people here are really top notch. 

Next Thursday is a going away partaaay where many of the spouses and kids will attend.  I'm nervous.  I want to meet new people, but it is sooo hard walking into a room full of strangers who all know each other.  But it will be fun and I'm excited to get to know everyone.

The house hunt is going slowly.  I have called on a few homes, but the competition is fierce.  We are going to rent, not buy, and it is difficult at best.  One lady said I was around the 50-something person to call on her property.  Yeah.  Fierce. 

Anyway.  I really am taking pictures, but posting them is time consuming.  I'll try to get some on here tonight.

Happy Memorial Day weekend !!!!!   I'm so happy it is the weekend, and a long one too!

Still Alive

We are still here.  Still looking for houses.  Still doing well. 

I haven't had a chance to take more pictures, but I should go take a picture of the SMALL river by our house.  It is huge by my standards. 

I'll try to post pics later.

Mystery Solved

So.  You know how the Montanan’s were treating me differently than the other drivers (I assume due to my license plate)?  Well here’s a story about me judging others.

AJ and I were driving though the woods on a dirt road.  We came around a wide corner and up ahead saw a truck pulled over to the right and there was a dude up on the shoulder of the road (we couldn’t see much of him).  

Me: “What are they doing?”

AJ: “I don’t know, but that guy just took his shirt off.”

Me: *squinting to see as we approach* “I wonder why on earth he’d do that.”

We approached closer and suddenly we both found our answer as to why the man would suddenly take his shirt off in the woods on a 40 degree morning.

AJ and Me together: “OHhhhhhh, they are from California.  Ok.”

It was all so clear to us.  We both are from California and we both have worked at multiple, heavily used recreation areas in California, and NOTHING surprises us about Californians in the woods on vacation.  NOTHING.  Not that it is a bad thing.  It was just funny that we found our answer on the license plate.

Meetin' the Coworkers

You guys.  AJ is having me meet some of the people he will be working closely with at work. 

I've got to tell ya.  I don't know that this is such a good idea.  I get nervous.  And then I start to chatter.  And then I start blurting out shit that really makes no freakin sense at all.  And then people look at me.  And I get even more nervous and try to cover up the diarrhea of the mouth with more chatter. . . . and it is awful. 

I am NOT graceful in social situations. 

Just the other day I laughed about how there were potholes the size of small cars on one of the streets (in a teeny tiny town) and that I'm surprised that people aren't loosing pets. I thought I was HYSTERICAL.  Turns out the guy was from that small town and was smiling, but not laughing with me.  Ooops.  I really just need to shut the hell up.

Grrrr.  I hope there isn't going to be wine there, because that will make it a whole lot worse for AJ.  But better for me, ya know?

(He is laughing at me and telling me I'm crazy, and that he isn't worried at all about introducing me to people)

He's a liar.  I can feel it.  :-)

Explorations

I wish I could capture on camera how incredible this waterfall is.  It is about 2000 feet to the top of that mountain from where I stood and it looks like the waterfall starts at the top by the snow and falls all the way down.  It will stop flowing soon when the snow melts off.

Our temporary quarters (where we are living) is in the middle of the picture by the brown/green dot.  It is 15 miles away, straight down the glacial lake from where I took this picture.  I was on a one lane bridge driving into a darrrrrk forest.  See pics below.

I lightened the top photo up a little, but OH MY GOSH this is a rain forest for sure.  There are ferns and fungi and moss hanging in eery dangle-y ways from the trees.  It is a little creepy if you aren't accustomed to the forest.  I will get there. . . but I'm still adapting.

Awww.  My little bear bait.  Aren't they the cutest tenderloins ever???

AJ and Nick checkin' out the river.  It is sooo clear and beautiful. 

I'm totally bummed out that Brad Pitt wasn't upstream with his fly rod.  DAMN. (totally referencing A River Runs Through It, in case you didn't catch it)

Oh never mind.  I found something better than that to photograph.  Awwwwww.  Aren't I just wayy too cheesy?

We took a drive on the west side of the park today.  We drove for over an hour and only saw the teeny-ist fraction of the park.  We also took a hike near our house yesterday.  We walked about two miles with the kids and had a blast.  Along the way we found the site of a recent deer kill - likely by a cougar from the look of it.  I don't even think the folks here bat an eye at that stuff.  It must be so common. 

I really like it here.  Just in the one week we have been here the place is noticeably busier than last Sunday.  There are SO MANY more tourist license plates driving around.  And the campground has campers - last Monday no one was there.  We are trying to get out and do some of the popular things before they are uncomfortably crowded.  Unfortunately the Going to the Sun road is still not open, but with the HUGE amounts of snowfall they received last winter they will be lucky to get it open next month I'm guessing.

AJ is settling in, and is spinning in circles trying to learn everyone's name and get all the essential information committed to memory before the busy season hits - in about a week.  haha.  It is a lot to take in, and the hundreds of seasonal staff are starting to arrive.  Over 400 seasonals are set to arrive, is what I've been told.  Everyone here has been very nice and very kind.  I am looking forward to getting to know more people. 

On The Home Front

The best bread I've ever made.  I found a way to use all that yeast, although it only used one heaping teaspoon.  SOOOO good.  http://artisanbreadbaking.com/bread/french_baguettes

 

 

Awww, brothers.  I don't think the wrestling will ever stop.  At least no one was crying this time.

My view from the living room

Haylee snuggles.  She doesn't seem to like the cooler weather and is now leaching heat off of every warm body she can

The  boys played with the zoom function on my camera