Longest Day

Yesterday was the longest day of the year.  Here in Trout Creek that means the birds were announcing the coming day by 4:30 am, morning light was beginning to make details visible by 5 or 5:30 and by a bit before 8 am the sun was over the nearby trees and lighting up the bedroom curtains.  By 10:30 it was sunset and by 11 or so it was finally dark.  We're less than 150 driving miles from Canada. 

On the 4th of July (and days leading up to it) we have to wait until pretty late to be able to set off the colorful fireworks.  We shoot off the bottle rockets and other things that mainly fly in the air, make noise or both early in the evening while waiting for it to be dark enough for the "pretty stuff" like mortar shells, fountains, Catherine wheels, Roman candles and such.

Now that the weather's turned from rain every day to sunny, we'll be watering a lot so we are comfortable shooting off our cache of fireworks without setting the forest on fire.

It's different here

It has been really different trying to get used to the idea of planning my internet time.  On the other hand, it's very pleasant sitting under the roofed picnic area, looking across the shaded grass to the Thompson Falls dam and little island populated by Canada geese and a swan.  It's hard to ignore a large white bird twice the size of the geese.

 

 

And talk about a bumper crop of Canada geese - we saw these adults shepherding a gaggle of goslings across a back street to the water

Each trip to town we carry the computer so we can check out email, pay bills, do a little research, and so on.  So far, we get back to the "rancho" only to realize there was one more thing (at least) that we meant to do online.  It hasn't yet been anything major or serious, but it is a bit frustrating.

It's been hot here - in the mid 90s with medium to high humidity, so it feels hotter than it is.  And being from Grand Lake, it feels worse because we're not used to the 90s and 100s (we'll see some of that later this summer).  But, it really cools down at night.  We got from air conditioning & fans during the day to blankets and sometimes heat in the early morning hours before the sun starts warming things up again.

And the days are really long.  While it isn't really daylight at 5 in the morning, it is light enough outside to distinguish details, and when we go to bed at 10 or 10:30 it's still fairly light out.  It sort of reminds me of the trip to Anchorage several years ago.

We've got a little bit of gardening started, some lettuce, green onions, radishes, zucchini and tomatoes, and I've put some herbs in a window box on the porch rail. 

To give you an idea of the country around here, these photos were taken between Thompson Falls and the "rancho"

 

 

 

 

So, that's it for now.

 

Stay tuned!

Trout Creek, Montana

This is beautiful downtown Trout Creek.  It really is a “don’t blink” town.  Per the 2000 census, population 261, it covers 1.9 square miles.  The PO building is less than half the size of the one on Grand Lake.  Trout Creek is larger than Rand, CO, and maybe even a bit larger than Parshall.  It has 2 motels, 2 bar/restaurants, 2 convenience stores with gas.  Just on the western edge of town is a boat ramp and swim beach.  Because of Noxon dam, a few miles west, the Clark Fork River is wide and slow enough to be considered a lake.  Because it’s a narrow, steep valley, the lake is deep but not all that wide (for a western lake).  There are a lot of homes scattered in the woods around Trout Creek and as you travel between Trout Creek and Thompson Falls there are other, smaller, communities, ranches, and homes.  You never know if a dirt track leads to a ranch, a small home or a group of homes.

In 1981 the state legislature designated Trout Creek “Huckleberry Capital of Montana”.  They celebrate this the second weekend in August with the Huckleberry Festival.  I’ll plan to attend the parade and festival and send photos.  Last time we attended was in 1991.  Reaction to our Golden Retriever ranged from a Down syndrome child hugging and petting her while she sat absolutely still, to “get away from my baby” when we sat within 20 feet or so of a booth to eat our ice cream.  (The woman inside had her baby in a stroller, in the booth with her.)

First Week

We’ve been away from Grand Lake for a week, now.  We’ve travelled 1157 miles in convoy, bought a shopping cart full of fireworks, helped with a move, opened the house for the summer, set up our RV for long term use, started the process of getting our mail forwarded to Trout Creek, got (Tom’s mom) Lois’ mail coming back to Trout Creek, and have a few more changes to take care of for her.

Max is loving having the yard.  He can walk around, sniff, explore and come to the door when he wants in.  We’re just far enough off the road we can let him out the gate to get into the car, without putting on his leash.  And Missy tries to get him to play with her every now and then.  Missy is Lois’ 7-year-old Boston.

Our communications are a bit limited.  Our cell phones get enough signal to receive & send text messages, and some simple email messages will come in on my smartphone (but not Tom’s dumbphone).  But, we can’t receive or make calls from here.  We can go to lunch in Thompson Falls (about 15 miles east of here) and spread out on a table with our laptops and our jetpack.  Or, we can park in a roadside parking area about 5 miles east of here.

Yes, there are places that are significantly more “remote” than Grand Lake.  Trout Creek, downtown Trout Creek, consists of a few businesses and a number of households and not much else.  There are 2 motels, 2 stores that fall between a convenience store and small town mom-n-pop grocery store.  Both have gas, ice, beer – all the essentials for fishermen, boaters and vacationers.  Trout Creek is the Huckleberry capital of Montana, with a Huckleberry Festival in August.

It’s very green here right now.  May is a wet month.  At least this one is.  So far, I don’t remember the last time we had a no-rain day.  We had that wet transition from April to May in Grand Lake, followed by more rain and snow, then rain at least part of each day on the trip here, and each day we’ve been here so far.  Last night started the wettest 24 hours so far.  It started raining around 6 or 7, took a break between 3 & 4 am, and a couple of brief breaks during this afternoon.  It may have tapered off for a while, but it's still cloudy & humid.  Tom was able to get a lot of grass mowed before the rain got serious. 

While he was mowing, he saw a baby swallow in the grass in time to miss it.   He had me come out so I could get a picture.  The poor little bird not only left the nest too soon, but one foot had gotten tangled in a piece of insulation fluff (or something that looked like green fuzzy insulation).  I was able to get it off the little guy’s foot.  I made sure to put it back where it started so the parents would keep protecting and feeding it.

Settling in here at the “Mason rancho” has gotten off to a good start.  We’re figuring out where things are, getting transitions arranged back to here from Helena, and our transition to here (like getting a PO box), and figuring out tastes and preferences so we move along smoothly.

As we drive by the lake in Thompson Falls, there are some kind of yellow iris along the edge.  They remind me of Japanese iris because the droopy parts are big and there are virtually no “stand-up” parts.  The parts are there, but the iris has a flat topped look.

Over the next weeks we’ll do more settling in, and see if we can do a bit of exploring, too.

P.S.

Right after dinner we had a bit of excitement.  Tom saw a large yellow dog just outside the fence.  Then a minute later he saw it inside the yard.  While he kept Max in at the sliding door, I went out another door to see if I could get the dog out of the yard.  That’s when I saw the 2 little boys, maybe 5-7 years old, with yet another dog, at the gate opening & closing it slightly.  I told them they needed to get their dog out of the yard.  Then they started to come in with the second dog.  I told them they had to keep the dogs out of the yard.  They backed off.  They asked “Is Barb back?”, pointing to Lois’ car.  “No, she’s not” I told them.  I went back toward the corner of the yard where the yellow dog was crouching on a stump (cornered by a Boston).  It ran for the other end of the yard and I told the kids to let it out.  It had a 3-4 inch wide swath of hair standing up down its back.  One of the boys volunteered “he likes to get in the garbage”.  Tom had come out.  When he asked the boys “How’d he get in the yard?” one of the boys was heading back to the fence and home, the other one couldn’t decide if he should grab his crotch, his butt, speak or not, and finally just ran away.  We decided we should lock all the cars & the RV.  Max decided he should be on guard and for the last 45 minutes he’s been scanning the yard – side to side and back again.  He’s on high alert.  I’m sure he’d be ready to defend “his” yard, but he’d go down so quick.  Some days he falls down when he shakes his head.  No matter how much he wants it, we can’t let him get in a fight.