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

Tough Enough?

I’m not kidding you, what I’m about to tell you is the truth, and nothing but the truth:

The Montanan’s are freakin’ pissed as hell that they live in a dark, cold and wet place.  I keep trying to be optimistic.  I decided I needed to be as cheerful and enthusiastic as I could be, while still appearing to be sane.  

When I’ve encountered sales people at the register, I’ll ask them about the area and how long they’ve lived there.  WITHOUT FAIL (again, not f-ing with you at all) they ALL have some sort of angry, hostile response about the weather.

Just last night as I purchased rain boots for the kids, I asked the sales lady if it was true that the wet season is in June.  She had been very cheery and happy up to this point.  When I asked my question she lowered her chin, looked at me over the top of her glasses and in a deeper voice said “Honey, forgive my language but, it is ____ing wet all  _ _ _ damn year long around here.” 

 She didn’t stop there.  UNPROVOKED she continued on about how she had lived in Montana for 11 years.  She even lived up in the mountains around Yellowstone.  She had endured many a cold, dark Montana winter, but she was NEVER, EVER going to spend another winter in this part of Montana.  EVER.  She had just purchased a place in Florida and was making her “escape, because I just can’t take it, I just can’t do it anymore, I really can’t take it again.  I really need to get out, it is awful.”

You guys.  This weather issue has been my primary concern from the beginning, but I keep thinking that I’ll adapt like all the locals and it will be fiiinnnne. Jussst fiiiinnne.  But every single local is angry.  They are really really grumpy.  

Today it was sunny allllll dayyyyy loooonnng.  It was fantastic.  I love the sun.  So we went to a playground I found in town (30 minutes into a small town) and had a picnic.  As we were leaving a family was arriving and I passed the grandmother and commented on what a beautiful day it was.  Her response was this (again, totally serious!!) “It’s about friggin’ time!!  I’ve been waiting for this!!!”

Okaaaay?

I’m sure this is a fluke.  I bet most people here like it, or else they wouldn’t stay.  Right?  And this was an exceptional year for weather.  Right?

Well anyway.  One thing is for certain.  The men are MEN (insert Tim the Toolman grunting) up here.  They drive big ass gas guzzlers, and think us car folks are pansies.  You don’t hunt???  Anything???  You one of those tree hugger, granola Californians???  They hoist huge 55 pound bags of dog food onto each shoulder and stand in line to pay.  They don’t need that pansy ass shopping cart.  You kidding?  That’s what God made a shoulder for.  To carry the dog food.  

The Costco doesn’t stock the standard summer stuff.  They stock Montana stuff.  They have just about every type of back country water filter made.  They have hot wires and metal ice chests.  They have Satellite phones and smokers for the big game species.   They stock HUGE boxes of yeast for the women folk to bake up bread.  I’ve only read about boxes of active yeast that were this big.  

And you know what?  I was peer pressured by an old woman in Costco into buying one of those huge boxes of yeast.  I wanted to look like a local and so when she started talking in the language of a survivalist mountain woman I pretended to know what she was saying.   Something about shelf life, and rise times and winter baking.  I really don’t know.  I threw it in the cart and agreed that this was the best yeast I’d ever used and am so happy that they have more for me to buy.

Yesterday the maintenance dude told us very casually that we’d likely see wolves, bear, deer, cougar and the occasional moose cruise through the neighborhood.  No worries though, they really don’t want much to do with people, he says.  What about squealing, running, tripping, clumsy, tender children?  “Ummmmm, yeah you should probably keep an eye on them, but your dog will chase most things off.”

I really like it here.  It is fantastic.  I hope I blend in and meet some happier people though.

The second day - Nick wrote on our door.  I was unable to drive on the narrow road AND grab the marker from him, so I was forced to watch.

Icee's on the third day made things much more tolerable.  Everyone's mood improved and we were able to drive another hour without too much complaining.

Nick loved to have air blow on his private area at the hotel rooms.  He LOVES those window air conditioning units.  THIS is why you shouldn't stay in a hotel room after we have been there.

McDonalds had some interactive musical instruments which were a life saver.  I hate to say this, but THANK GOD for McDonalds and their heaven sent play areas.  I sit and drink a much needed Coke, while the kids run off some energy.

As the humidity increased (Provo, UT) so did the size of Nick's hair.

AJ decided to get all macho in anticipation of becoming a Montana man, and ripped the crotch and butt out of his pants. 

The cats were horrible each morning to chase out from under the hotel room beds.  We would end up moving furniture and spraying water.  It was a real ordeal.

Here at last!  The boys are in the back "yard" of the house we are staying in.  They are pretending to be loggers and are piling up logs.  ha!

The humidity is increasing the size of my hair too.  Every day it gets bigger and frizzier.

McDonald Creek.

I swear I took this picture.  I was standing on a dock and was all alone.  It was really awesome.

 I took the boys out onto an over look that is suspended over some pretty fierce rapids/falls.  I tested all the railings before I let the kids get near them.  Once again, we were all alone to enjoy the beauty.  I think the rain chased everyone away.  Us hardcore Montanan's though, we don't even notice the rain.

public

Hey, I made the blog public again because several people keep having trouble. I hope to have internet access tomorrow. I've decided to try to tether my phone to the computer. This way I don't have to commit to a 2 year contract with a air card or hot spot or notebook.

rain forest?

I just found out that I'm living in a rain forest. Noooo, not the tropical kind with toucans and monkeys. The inland, North American kind. We get a ton of precipitation here, as I discovered today when I began to grow webbed feet. You see, I don't blow dry my hair, and haven't had to in NM because my hair always dried within an hour. But here my hair stayed wet all day.

Still no internet. May have to fork over $ for an air card or something.

Oh. Back to the weather. I actually saw many people in Costco today walking around in designer rubber boots. And t-shirts. I was in a jacket. I need to go get some girly rubber boots.

Random observations:

Montanans DO NOT LIKE people with New Mexico plates. At all. Need to get to the DMV pronto.

Montanans are very grumpy people (by their own admission) after a long winter.

Montanans like a wide variety of Montana license plates. I've seen at least 6, maybe 8 different kinds.

You are required to own a mud covered, pick-up here.

The roads suck.

The scenery is amazing.

The rivers are huge.

My dog is loosing sleep obsessing over the many squirrels out the window.

My hair is unspeakably curly and frizzy. It has a life of its own, and don't possess the knowledge to tame it.

Gas is cheaper here.

There is not any sales tax!

The sun is up when I go to bed and it is up when I wake up in the morning. Little strange living at this latitude.

The kids get up @ 5:30 with the sun. Not good at all.

It takes an hour to get to walmart, target, costco, a real hospital and a decent grocery store.

The people here seem tough. They seem prepared to survive anything. Most of the women I've seen (tourists aren't here yet so, the local gals) are rugged - in a good way.

There aren't any playgrounds that I've found - so the boys are doing what I did as a kid and are playing in nature. I'm so glad we are here for that reason alone.

Lucas misses cactus and his preschool teacher. He's also tired of rain.

I had to pay $25 to get into the park today. Kinda annoyed about that.

The drivers here don't tailgate, they signal when they turn, they let people merge and they switch lanes when there is a disabled car on the shoulder of the road.

People commonly say ma'am and sir.

I think I will really like it here once I get my bearings and become acclimated to the weather.

Welcome to Butte!

I'm on my trusty cell phone again so you will have to copy and paste this link.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Pit

This (go look at the link) is the very first thing I noticed when we rolled into Butte yesterday. Ahhh, gotta love a nicely sized superfund sited right smack in the middle of town.

Other than the enormous open pit, the place is lovely. On part of our drive we went for 3.5 hrs yesterday and encountered one gas station. The spaces up here feel vast. They can't possibly NAME all of the mountain peaks do they? There are just so many of them.

Today is the final drive north. High winds are forecasted so hopefully the RV doesn't need to be pulled off the road. I hope for some form of Wi-Fi, but something tells me that ain't gonna happen.
It is sooo pretty though. I can't wait to see the park!

Cupcake Got A Chill

My dear husband got cold last night as we camped out on our living room floor. We had a thin blanket over us but had forgotten to adjust the thermostat so that the heat would actually come on when it got below a comfy 70 degrees. In the middle of the night I wake up shivering, and look over at AJ and find that he is completely buried under a feather bed he'd dragged from the RV. I attempted to retrieve more of the thin blanket so I could double up on that and get warm, but he had most of the thin blanket under the feather bed with him.

I couldn't even see or locate his head.

Nick and I ended up sharing a thin sleeping bag while princess stayed nice and warm. He didn't even THINK to throw a corner of the HUGE comforter over his lovely wife (who gave birth to his 9 and 8 pound sons!) and adorable children.

This won't work out in glacier country. Hee hee.

I'm not going to let him live this one down. He is going to be teased about this for a while. Ha!

screen size

I'm a really dedicated damn blogger!!! This post is brought to you courtesy of my phone with a rather small 1.5X2 inch screen and a teeny tiny widdle keypad. It is not a good sign that my hand is already having trouble with cramping.

You guessed it, the internet is off a full day ahead of my requested date of May 12 (I checked the date to be sure). Fucking utility companies.

The movers and our prized material possessions are gone. We are camping on our living room floor tonight. Had we known we'd be a full day (and a half!!!) Ahead of schedule we would have made plans to close today and get funding tomorrow. But we close tomorrow and have agreed to do the final walk through with the buyers in the afternoon - and we drive out of town on thursday morning.

The cats are pissed as hell at the new living conditions, the dog who is a nervous soul anyway is now very nervous and throwing up at meals. The kids are being little troopers but the days have been long and action packed and mid afternoon the whining and tears start. As long as I keep in my mind that they are just as turned around as I am, it seems to help.

On Thursday the road trip to the polar north begins. The meltoff has begun in earnest today with a warm front that is suppose to hang around. Exciting times!

I'm going to try to upload a picture from my phone - and there is a good chance it won't work so I hope I can do it!!

Five minutes later:
Okaaaay. I suck at that. Once I get to Wi-Fi I get some pics up.

No Happy Face Yet

Today was FAR easier than yesterday.  The packers did their thing, and were so fast that we may be a full day ahead of schedule.  They may have us loaded and outta here tomorrow.  I am not excited about this.  I am not happy about the surprise.  I want things to run on schedule, and not off schedule.  I need things to be predictable right now.  Really, I need to chill the hell out.

We did a mock load of all our gear into the cars today and can't seem to get the cat cages to fit.  It looks like we may have to make room and eat a well marbled cat. . . . good thing we've fattened two of them up.  Their pelts would keep my head warm this coming winter, while I freeze my New Mexican ass off on a glacier.

AJ had to take the doors off of the refrigerator to make it fit out the front door tomorrow.  He was following the directions and prying the plastic parts off to expose hinges and screws and wires. . .  I watched the plastic flex as he popped things apart and I about started screaming.  My beloved, extravagant bitch of a refrigerator looked like she might break and I was about to come UNDONE if I had to buy a new one or try to track down obscure parts on the Samsung website. I honestly thought that I might stab his plastic-bending fingers with a hex-wrench. . . but then realized that we would have to leave the fridge with the house if I did that.  Thankfully the removal process went alright.  Tomorrow we may reattach them once we get it out the door.  It was a hell of a process though - I'd rather not reattach anything until we get it into our house up in the frozen tundra.

 LORD I need to snap out of this funk I'm in.  I'm soooo grumpy.  I need to get excited about this adventure, because I did after all agree to go on the damn adventure in the first place.  I need to look forward to frostbite and bear spray.  It should excite me to have to elbow my way through crowds of ridiculously confused tourists in the grocery store every spring and summer.  ;-)

And isn't it fantastic that the rivers are scheduled to be very close to flood stage the week we roll into town?  I think it is AWESOME that the towns are all ready with their Army Corps sandbags and 96 hour survival kits.  We will float into town with our New Mexican flip flops on our feet, green chile burritos and newly tanned skin, curious about the water lapping at the bottom of the bridges.  Then we will die with a whimper in the mountains while we wait to be air lifted to safety after the bridges wash out, because we didn't attend the local town meeting that told us to put heavy weaponry into our 96 hour survival kits to keep the lurking mountain meth heads from looting our home in the chaos of a 100 year flood. 

I'm totally kidding.  But now you know for sure just how crazy lack of sleep has made me.

Crazy Madness

First of all:  Happy Mothers Day!!!!!

Now.  On to me.  Haha!  It is sheer madness in the Johnson household.  The packers arrive tomorrow, and I still haven't set aside all the things we need to take with us. Then day slipped by wayyy faster than I would have liked.

I'm so tired that when I went to Target to pick up a few misc items we need, I arrived at the store and stood there in the entryway trying to remember what store I was at and why I was there.  I realized that I was at a different store than I intended to shop at.  Pretty nutty. I felt like I should be in a care home.

I still don't know how we are going to get all the pets up there.  Two of our cats hate each others guts.  Hissing, spitting, clawing hatred.  So they have to be separated.  Plus the kids and all the kid related entertainment and kid friendly, car friendly foods. 

I forgot to put deodorant on today.  I saw several people today that I hugged and said goodbye to - and I must have smelled extra nice.  What a way for me to say goodbye.  Here, have some B.O. as a goodbye present from Kristin.  You. Are. Welcome.

I don't know what we are going to do our last night here.  Should we camp in our driveway in the RV?  And I'm WAY too brain dead to plan on what foods we will eat. 

This move is so much more difficult than the last move.  I'm not sure why.  I thought that with the kids being older, that it would be easier.  For what ever reason it feels much harder.  Partly, I think, because I'm making a great effort to be organized this time and partly because the kids keep getting under foot and trying to participate.  It is really hard to get stuff done when the kids are unpacking the clothes you just packed because they want to wear that shirt they saw you just pack.  Also, I have many more social obligations than I did last time and that is taking quite a bit of time.  Don't get me wrong, I want to have these social obligations, because I'm very attached to my friends here and will miss them terribly.

The post office won't hold our mail and then forward it to us once we get an address.  I don't have an address yet and am not sure how to get my mail.  It is very frustrating.  They can't hold it because the new folks will be here immediately and will want delivery.  So. . . . I don't know.  I can't even worry about it.

I don't remember when our internet connection will be turned off.  And we won't have internet once we get up there.  It could be up to two months before we get a home and get the internet back, so I may have to find some free Wi-Fi at a coffee shop or something when we get up there.  SO I'll try to keep you updated. 

Alright.  It is 10:40 and I need to go accomplish something else before bed.

No Time

We visited a friend today and had a blast.  It was soooo good to go see her and to get out of town.  This move is all consuming.  It has been a bit unhealthy for me actually.  This is all I think about.  So it was so good to go see Joanne one last time before the big move.

I will spare you the details of a drama involving the title company.  Here is the summary:  They notified us today that we need to get the HOA to send them a statement saying we are current with our monthly dues (P.S.  I hate HOA's.).  The HOA said that the title company needs to request the document.  It went back and forth between an uncooperative and belligerent HOA and a completely bewildered and incompetent Title company.  Finally our Realtor was able to save the day.  I am really tempted to write a nasty letter to the head of the Title company.  I am furious.  I am amazed at all the hoops we just had to jump through. 

Then we had a big water gun fight in the court with a bunch of the neighbor kids.  It was a lot of fun.  I will post pictures when I'm not so tired. 

White Shit In May

I woke up to clouds and forecasts of snow.  I was taken off guard.  I had expected the usual sun and near hurricane force winds that we get in the spring.  Not today.  We had snow and near hurricane force winds instead.  Yesterday we had taken our little RV out of storage and begun cleaning it up and prepping it for the trip north.  We discovered that there had been a leak in the roof (along a seam) over the winter and AJ ended up ripping all the caulking off of the roof and cleaning all the seams.

Today we were going to re-caulk and seal the whole trailer and finish cleaning.  My Dad had some special RV caulk that is wayyyyy cooler than most of your household caulks.  It can be applied in extreme temps and under just about any condition - including wind, rain, snow, -40 degrees up to 140 degrees.  It is a good thing.  AJ sealed the RV just before the snow started.  Thankfully we don't have to worry about it curing. 

Lucas was excited about all the snow.

I was not excited about the snow.  I sat on our couch pouting and huddled under a warm blanket.  I quietly wondered if I would survive Montana.  I really have concerns.  I'm debating leaving the RV somewhere near Las Vegas NV so that I have a retreat in the thick of next winter.  Death Valley is one of my top 5 favorite parks (so far) and that sounds like a great place to go when I need to get out next winter.

Olivia loved the snow too.  I don't know why, she has lost her winter coat and was probably freezing.

The actual snow dog (Bud - a Saint Bernard) was unimpressed and slept through the whole experience.  You'd think he of all "people" (I anthropomorphize anything with a pulse) would have been stoked to go out into the snow.

Lucas came in and thawed out under my blanket that I reluctantly shared with his frozen body.  I'm selfish like that.  He is getting so big.  I can't believe how time has flown by.  I think having kids makes time seem to move faster, their growth is a constant reminder of time passing.

Nick came streaking out of the shower and decided to flash the whole family.  Typical Nick :-)

I think it is a genetic male trait: wanting to show everyone the "junk". 

Nick is refusing to get his hair cut.  He wants long hair.  I'm sure the rural Montanans will really LOVE my long haired free spirit kid who whips out his wee wee, wiggles his hips and screeches all at the same time.

In order to get the above photo, this is what came before . . . .

I finally used a flash, blinded the crap out of him, washed him out in the flash, then edited the shit out of the picture in photoshop.  All just so you could see the afro.  I actually like the afro.  He's going to have the best curls in a few months if he continues to refuse haircuts!!  That is high quality parenting. . . . let the 2 year old decide!  I guess I only want to fight the big battles.  Haircuts aren't even on my radar when I have an over exposed wee wee to worry about.

Naps

"We" are having problems deciding if we need naps or not.  Most days naps are needed but not taken until around 5pm when it is simply impossible to keep the ol eyelids open anymore.  Which leads to a far later bed time than Mom and Dad would like.  If Mom and Dad force the eyes to stay open, then Mom and Dad suffer for three incredibly long hours of hell.  This in between stage is hard on everyone.  Most days we embrace the late nap as a welcome relief.

Here is what the 5 o'clock nap looks like.

As a result of a later bed time, Nick goes to bed after Lucas.  And lately he has been refusing to sleep in his bed. . . . he wants a sleeping bag - which we are willing to provide.  You see, at 9:30 at night we DON'T CARE HOW he gets to sleep OR WHERE he goes to sleep, we only care that he is asleep.

This is how we found the boys the other night:

Lucas was half off the bed and Nick was migrating under a bed.  We fixed everyone, straightened bodies, pillows, stuffed animals and blankets - then we went to bed ourselves.

Not long after we snapped these pictures we woke up to muffled screaming.  Terrified, awful screaming.  Nick had once again migrated under a bed, this time completely under a bed and was holding onto a bed frame.  AJ had to rip him out from under the bed and then we held and reassured him that he was alright and not trapped anymore.  Poor dude.  We convinced him that it was safer to sleep in his big boy bed for the rest of the night.