Thursday, August 28, 2008
Tis the Season
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Avalanche Lake
Monday, August 25, 2008
What Not to do with a Bear
This summer, there have been a few signs that there is a small black bear in the area. Then last week early Friday morning, Steve Mader saw him heading toward what we call the Curry side of the ranch (also our summer campsite on the ranch). Later that morning, three of the kids saw him in the archery field while horseback riding. So, that afternoon, what did they do? Yep, 4 of them took off with their BEE BEE guns to find the BEAR. Now, I don't know about you, but when I know/think that a bear in anywhere near, I go the other way. I guess that's where me and 4 little, 9-12 year old boys differ (I hope that there are other ways as well!). Nash saw it first, but everyone else just thought it was a rock (they say that they were not looking at the actual bear at first, but something else that they thought Nash was pointing to). Eventually, after shooting that direction with their sling shots and bee bee guns, the rest of them realized that this was, in fact, a bear - a sleeping bear who would not be sleeping for long. Josiah started backing up and decided that they all ought to leave Mr. Bear alone (well, DUH!). Nash had been pumping up Josiah's pellet gun all the way over there and didn't want to waste the shot. You know, who wants to waste a perfectly good pellet gun shot?? Apparently, Nash is a good shot, and according to them, this is how it all went:
bee bee gun firing ........ ping ........... "RROOOOAAAAARRR" - bear is awake now!......4 wailing boys with swiftly running feet ....... galloping bear heading their way. Isaiah said that he kept looking back and saw the bear coming after them. They got to the gate and shut it (iron gate, about 3 feet high - not really a bear deterrent!) and ran as fast as their feet could go to the house - screaming the whole way. We were in the kitchen when they came busting through the door all talking at once about "it" chasing them. They were all freaking out (as they very well should have been). We figured that if that bear wanted to get them, it easily could have done so and, therefore, it was either scared of those 4 bellowing, hysterical, man-children or it wanted to give them a good scare. It did that for sure. We all had a good laugh about it later because as Ma Wilder always said "All's Well that Ends Well", but thankfully, they never want to see a bear again. So the moral of the story is......NEVER shoot a bear with a bee bee gun!! Is that new news to any of you? Maybe you ought to pass it along to your boys!
bee bee gun firing ........ ping ........... "RROOOOAAAAARRR" - bear is awake now!......4 wailing boys with swiftly running feet ....... galloping bear heading their way. Isaiah said that he kept looking back and saw the bear coming after them. They got to the gate and shut it (iron gate, about 3 feet high - not really a bear deterrent!) and ran as fast as their feet could go to the house - screaming the whole way. We were in the kitchen when they came busting through the door all talking at once about "it" chasing them. They were all freaking out (as they very well should have been). We figured that if that bear wanted to get them, it easily could have done so and, therefore, it was either scared of those 4 bellowing, hysterical, man-children or it wanted to give them a good scare. It did that for sure. We all had a good laugh about it later because as Ma Wilder always said "All's Well that Ends Well", but thankfully, they never want to see a bear again. So the moral of the story is......NEVER shoot a bear with a bee bee gun!! Is that new news to any of you? Maybe you ought to pass it along to your boys!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Our Summer Home
Camp Dunham
We have a nice view - actually, I think this is the prettiest place on the ranch. The shack in the background is uninhabitable and will be torn down eventually.
The spring
It runs down to Cut Bank Creek right at that fence line is a few feet down.
"The 6-Star"
Just so you don't freak out and feel sorry for us roughing it - our fridge/freezer is out in the middle of the field hooked up to the electrical box! I meant to take a photo of it before Brad covered it as we were leaving. We have power to the tent too.....coffee grinder, espresso maker, Vita-Mix.....you know, really roughing it!!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Lake Flathead
Our friends from church, The Thompsons, have a beautiful lake home on Flathead Lake and we had the pleasure of spending the hot afternoon there. The Millers and Siblerud girls came too - the Millers got us the invite! They have a great paddle boat, a large dock and they just put in a diving board. The Thompsons even showed up so that Ray could take us all out on the lake in his big, hotrod boat. It was great fun. He showed us all his childhood favorite areas on the lake. It was a happy day!
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Bye Bye Dunwoody Lane
We left our house on Dunwoody Lane for good on the 15th. Although we were very ready and happy to leave, there are a number of things that I will miss.......
--being on 2 acres surrounded by great views and horses (13 on our street and 3 at our back fence)
--Jellison Road (Lane, Avenue, whatever) where we used to walk. It is my favorite place in the valley so far.
--being on our own private well....freezing cold water right out of the tap
--living in Columbia Falls. We love the little town and hope to end up back in Columbia Falls in the future.
--the Border Collie, Cowboy, that lived across the street, but decided that he was ours.
--our very large bathtub.
We are moving to Kalispell and will be IN TOWN in a neighborhood. That will be a stretch for us, however, but for a short time, it will be a good fit and we are excited for a number of reasons:
--the house is much larger with tons of storage space and we are getting out ALL of our things that have remained packed for the last year!!
--I have a disposal!!!!!!! Never thought much about that huh? Don't take them for granted! If you are out in the country, you don't have one because it is too hard on a septic. I am truly thankful!
--We are close to COSTCO! Oh joy!
--Brad says that living in town will get him motivated to get out of town (and buy!!)
--we are just 6 houses down from the Millers - our pastor and his family (our very good friends).....that makes living in town all worth it. We are looking forward to a really fun year!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)