SETTLING IN

Waking up the very first morning around 5, Dave started a fire while I started the coffee pot. I got the brisket all chopped up for my chili and put the crock pot to good use once again. We had planned to go to church but we changed our minds feeling we would be pretty rushed throughout the day since we were hosting a small get together that evening for the Contractor and our Realtor/Property Management guy along with their spouses. I hadn't been able to find a key ingredient for the Kahlua Pecan Pie the day before so we ran back into Kalispell where we also made another stop at the hardware store.

(Starting the very first fire in the new wood stove that was installed in the dining room.)

(It's cranking out the heat!)

(A good start to the day!)

(Dave hung the new juniper wood clock in the dining room. We had sent several boxes a week before our trip to our Realtor's house and we picked them up after we flew in.)

(While I was throwing the pie together for baking, Dave was sprucing the place up before our guests came over.)

We had a lovely evening with our dinner guests, visiting and getting to know one another better. Dave had only met our Realtor once last summer when we had went to look at a house while we were on vacation and he had only spoken with our Contractor over the phone a couple of times. Our first dinner party was a success!

The next day while awaiting the delivery of the guest bedroom rugs and our new washer and dryer from Lowes, Dave ran into town to get more firewood and to look at a rustic shop to see about replacing the cheap cabinet in the upstairs bathroom.

(Delivery and installation of our new washer and dryer!)

(The new rugs for the guest bedroom are from the same collection as our area rug in the dining room.)

Once the deliveries were done we decided to take a drive over to Eureka to look for an Amish run business called Montana Woodworks. Our main log furniture "supplier" has contracts with other builders and our TV stand and guest bed came from them. Dave was still wanting to replace the bathroom cabinet with something more rustic. We made a quick drive down our road, looking for access to Spoon Lake but all we found was this little guy, probably looking for the lake as well!

The drive over to Eureka was a pretty one, with the sun roof open and the windows down but it was a bust in terms of finding the furniture place. It turns out that it was * 30 miles west in Kootenai and Dave wasn't interested in driving further! We turned around and headed back to Columbia Falls. Along the way we made the decision to go into Glacier National Park for a brief time. Dave was still amazed at how close the Park is to the house! Once there, we decided to take a nice little "evening stroll" through the Trail Of The Cedars and Avalanche Creek!

On the drive home, going through "Hungry Horse" there's a place called the Huckleberry Patch which sells every kind of Huck product under the sun!! They also make the most incredible Huckleberry milk shakes known to mankind! We picked up an entire Huckleberry Pie to have throughout the week.

Warming up chili for dinner, next to the wood stove in the family room, a little 'Lonesome Dove" on the TV and then pie for dessert! Living the good life!

CHANGES!

We waited for the day to travel to the Montana house for so long and now it has already come and gone...I was a little anxious to see Dave's reaction on seeing the house for the very first time in person. A lot of time, energy and not to mention money, have gone into transforming this place into our home! We boarded our flight early here in Dallas and flew to Denver where we had a layover. We ate enormous breakfast burritos knowing we wouldn't be eating until much later in the day!

(After breakfast, reading my Cowboys and Indians magazine in the Denver airport.)

(Somewhere over Montana air space!)

After picking up our rental car (Subaru Outback) we started on our many errands that were on my "to do" list. We completed our errands and stopped to get a pizza for us to enjoy for our dinner later on. I did all of the driving initially since I was already familiar with the area. At long last, we headed north out of Columbia Falls and began driving up the North Fork Road to our "Sweet Montana Home"! Dave sat in the passenger seat, soaking it all in. I had told him about the area, being surrounded by mountains and trees but he kept saying,

"Wow, look at all of the trees and the mountains!"

Naturally that just made me smile! We pulled into the driveway and there it stood, our long-awaited dream had finally become a reality!

OUR BEAUTIFUL MONTANA HOME!

We had ice cream in the car so we quickly took it inside and then I gave him the tour!! I was thrilled that he thought the place was great! He enjoyed going through the rooms and seeing all of the changes that had been made. I of course have a different perspective because I had been to the house when we first bought it, "as is". Dave was pretty enthusiastic about bringing down the queen-sized guest bed that was upstairs in the master bedroom and getting the newly remodeled guest bedroom all set up. While he was upstairs dismantling the bed, I threw my brisket on to cook in the crock pot and started cleaning the guest bedroom. Fortunately for us, the Contractor is really great about cleaning up after himself so it didn't take me too long!

(Dave is putting the bed together in the newly remodeled guest bedroom.)

We brought down the remaining furniture and set up the bedroom! Just for fun, here are some before and after pictures of the guest bedroom makeover:

(The bedroom had white walls and ugly carpeting, not to mention a dingy ceiling and it was missing trim, molding and a door!)

(What a transformation! Hardwood flooring, trim and molding, a new ceiling fan and fresh paint!)

(The chest of drawers that my best friend Brenda and I brought back from Idaho in April. The elk picture is one of Dave's that he tool up in Jasper, Alberta on our 2010 Autumn trip)

(No door, how strange!)

(The queen sized guest bed is all set up, one of the nightstands from Idaho holds the one of new lamps that Dave found at the Grand Canyon in May when he did his "Rim to Rim" hike with his brothers. We also have a beautiful bedroom door! The prints over the headboard are over 100 years old which I had found on e bay. We had them matted and framed and I love how they turned out!)

(The previous owners had sealed up an archway but the outline was still visible.)

(The wall was smoothed out and the light switch plate was taken out. We found a beautiful 3D carved bear picture in St. Regis, Montana which hangs on the reworked wall.)

(Little details: I moved the blanket ladder that holds our Glacier National Park Pendleton blankets from the family room into the guest bedroom. The room is decorated with Glacier National Park touches and bears.)

We were still pretty wound up but finally sat down around 9:30 to eat our pizza. Our adventure had just begun!

NEARLY HERE

I am in my final countdown for our trip to the Montana house. To say that I want Dave to immediately love the house and all of its changes, would be an understatement. We have poured a lot of time, energy and not to mention money, into transforming this house into our HOME and I want Dave to be pleased...Last night we received the invoice from our Contractor for the latest project, our second wood burning stove. He told me earlier that he would NOT send me any pictures because he wants us to be surprised, he also told me how pleased he was with the way it turned out. Knowing that he is a perfectionist, I am certain that we are going to be thrilled!

In the office area I hung some family pictures back in April to give the place a more personal touch. I have a couple more packed in my suitcase that I'll be hanging here. Next year we will start on the upstairs but will wait to put in the stair railing until we make our move in 3 years, figuring it will make moving furniture upstairs easier.

This summer has definitely had its challenges. In April 2011, right before my Mom passed away from Colon Cancer, Dave was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. He had surgery to remove the Prostate since the cancer was aggressive and outside of the Prostate. The Surgeon felt very confident that things looked good but he did inform us that there was always the risk of it returning since it was outside the Prostate. In January we were disappointed to learn that it had returned. Although the PSA tests aren't 100% accurate, he had repeated tests and each one was elevated. This indicated that there was something going on. Through more tests and scans we learned that it wasn't anywhere else (bones, blood, organs, etc) which we were thankful for. The Radiologist explained to us that you could have over 10,000 cancer cells in an area just the size of the very tip of your pinky finger and since this cancer wasn't being picked up on the MRI's, it indicated that it was very minute and slow growing. Dave made the decision to have radiation and target the general area. The first phase was having a hormone therapy shot to suppress the manufacturing of Testosterone and then a couple of months later he began radiation for eight weeks. Last Thursday was his last radiation treatment and now we wait. We won't know anything until after the first of the year once the effects of the shot have completely worn off and his body begins producing Testosterone once again. Living with cancer has taught us to enjoy the day...just today because we don't know what the future holds. This trip to the house will be especially poignant after having the reality of cancer treatment in our lives. Time for the both of us to begin making memories at our retirement home!!

Five more days and we will be off into the wild blue yonder and heading up to Montana! This week will be filled with packing, list making and so on. We've double checked on deliveries scheduled to arrive, sent three large boxes via UPS to the house and have gathered together whatever paperwork we need. We've arranged a Dinner party and have a tentative date set for visiting some friends in Idaho. All we need to do, is finish our packing and drive to the airport. I am hoping this week goes by pretty fast!!

UPPER TWO MEDICINE LAKE

Dave and I REALLY like hiking! We have hiked a lot of day miles on our feet over the years and Dave has done many backpacking trips, his longest was about sixty miles over six days. I, on the other hand had never spent one night in the backcountry. I had been curious to experience it but I also figured I would probably slow Dave down. Needless to say, I was pleased when HE suggested that we try it in 2010! He planned it out very well, estimating distances he figured I could handle, two days, one night and him carrying the bulk of the weight. I would take my day pack and he would take his huge backpack so he could carry the tent and the bulkier items. He sent in his backcountry permit request for Upper Two Medicine Lake in Glacier National Park and we we were thrilled when we received confirmation that we had secured a campsite!

(Two Medicine Lake and Rising Wolf Mountain.)

(At the campground at Two Medicine Lake, Dave organizes his backpack for our backcountry campout.)

(The next morning, after a good breakfast in East Glacier we headed out!)

(The trail runs parallel with Two Medicine Lake before joining the Upper Two Medicine Trail.)

(7620-foot Pumpelly Pillar, a glacially carved, cone-shaped rock is named after Raphael Pumpelly, leader of the Northern Transcontinental Railway Survey party that crossed Pitamakan Pass in 1883.)

(Dave on the trail. The hike is considered moderate with an elevation gain of three hundred and fifty feet.)

(Break time, Dave estimated he was carrying a solid sixty-five pounds between camera gear and the heavier items!)

After three miles in, there is a side trail; roughly one-tenth of a mile in are the Twin Falls. A nice place to stop and take a break!)

We were all alone as Dave was photographing up on the hillside. I was doing my usual thing, on the lookout for bears when I spotted a Black Bear on the hillside above Dave. He couldn't hear me yelling "B-E-A-R!" over the sound of the waterfall so I did the Indian sign language for BEAR. He said at first he thought that I was kidding him but soon realized I wasn't. He slipped his can of bear spray out of its holster and looked around. The bear wanted no part of humans and quickly moved on. After Dave finished photographing the Twin Falls, a family with children came up and we gave them the heads up that a bear was in the area. We loaded our packs onto our shoulders and resumed our hike.

(Almost to our campsite, 8502-foot Lone Walker Mountain, to the right, is in sight!)

(Upper Two Medicine Lake, Lone Walker Mountain.)

(Our campsite was the nicest of the four available. We didn't have a beach to sit upon, it was mostly downed trees.)

Hanging our bear bag with our food and toiletries. I thought camping was time-consuming but camping in the backcountry is even more so! Water has to be purified, cooking and eating is done in a separate area and you have to plan ahead for things like brushing your teeth, etc so you don't have to take the bear bag up and down repeatedly.

After we had eaten a late lunch of Chicken Alfredo and our chores were done, we decided to explore the area. We had to cross over a log jam to get to an area where we could just sit and soak in the sights. We stayed for a couple of hours then made our way back to the food preparation area to eat some sausages we had brought with us and to sip some hot chocolate.

(Dave and Beargrass.)

We did our clean up and hoisted the bag back onto the pole then went back to our spot on the lake where we had sat earlier. Finally around 8:30 we went back to our campsite and crawled into our two man tent. I had forgotten to bring Yahtzee with us so we chatted about the events of the day until 9:30 and then called it a night in spite of how light it still was outside. It took a little while but the events of the day, the miles walked and the fresh air lulled me to sleep.

We awoke around six AM to brilliant blue skies unlike the clouds of the previous day. Since we were surrounded by game trails and had seen moose prints, Dave hoped to photograph a moose or some other animals in the area. I lingered in the tent a while longer and then began to stuff my sleeping bag and deflate my air mattress. Dave returned after having seen absolutely nothing and we made our way back to our spot from the day before and watched the sun light up the mountains. As the sun's rays warmed the water, we saw the ripples move towards us, breaking up the perfectly still reflection of Lone Walker Mountain. Knowing we had a leisurely morning to break camp and make our way back to the campground, we enjoyed the views a while longer before breaking down camp.

We went to the food prep area and as we waited for the water to boil, Dave went to the lake's edge to snap a couple more photos. While he was away, I tried to absorb the scenery around me finding it was just too magnificent to put into words. As I felt myself tearing up, a Bald Eagle flew over the lake. As I watched him soar high in the sky and swoop down over the lake I was overwhelmed by the wondrous sight I had just witnessed, what a way to start our day!!

We had our breakfast of Southwest Chili, cleaned up after ourselves and loaded up our packs for the five plus mile return trip. We admired the wildflowers along the trail and stopped once again at the Twin Falls where Dave purified some drinking water for us.

We made it back to the Two Medicine Campground around one-thirty...

My very first back country overnight experience was not only a success, it ended up being my highlight of our vacation, whetting my appetite for more. I couldn't wait to explore more of the backcountry in nearby Glacier National Park!