Tis the Season

It is mating season for the bison and they are in rare form. We haven't seen any "activity" in person, but the bulls are looking good. It is almost as if they have been groomed - their fur is perfect and they are so dark and soft looking. They are making all sorts of crazy noise - almost like roaring - and prancing around like the kings of the range that they are. They have routines, it seems, and they like to come to the iron gate behind our campsite just across the creek in the mornings. It is really fun being able to see them from the "6 star". The kids run over to the fence and try to get them to come....only Arnold is brave enough. I cannot get enough of them. They are such beautiful animals - I could watch them all day.

Avalanche Lake

Yesterday, we went after church, with some friends from church - The Millers, Tad, and the 2 Siblerud girls - to hike to Avalanche Lake in Glacier National Park. It is an easy, but lovely, little hike and great for the kids. The day was perfect and the trail was busy - no concern that we might run into bears; there was WWAYYYY too much activity for that on the trail. Well, and the amount of noise that we all made would have sent any bear within the next 20 miles skidaddling. We didn't need any more bear adventures this week...I"ll post about that soon (aren't you just dying to know?). We packed our coolers and had lunch in the park after the hike. What a day, what a beautiful place. I still cannot believe that we live here!

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!

Our Summer Home

I have been meaning to post about our summer home on the ranch, but just haven't gotten to it. We had planned on having a wall tent up most of the summer, but when we found out we had to move, everything sort of went haywire. Brad has worked on part of the foundation and will continue and it will be great for next year. We were on the west side of the ranch, the part we call the Curry side (the Curry family owned that part of the ranch many years ago and it was their old home sight), next to the creek, in a tent most of the summer. Brad and Doug dug out the fresh water spring and we built a sort of out-house and we had a perfect spot. We rough it a little when we are there, but it doesn't ever seem to matter, because we so love being there. Here are some photos, just so you can enjoy it with us.

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!!

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!

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!!

A Boy and His Horse

Okay, so the horses don't belong to him - what I mean is the boy and horses, any horses. He has been looking forward to this summer because Karen Nelson has agreed to teach all of the kids to ride. Josiah L-O-V-E-S horses. He has read every horse book that he has been able to request through the state of MT library system - most non-fiction - on training horses, riding horses, horse breeds, the whole gammit. He is now, officially, in horse heaven.

There are 6 horses at the ranch. Dreamer and Tina are old faithfuls - anyone can ride them. Zippy is well named - he is spirited. Mocha is a sweet horse but has not been ridden much - not what you would put a kid on without help. Becky is just being broken this summer. Karen Nelson has ridden her a few times, but she is not ready for anyone else. Lily is the newbie - three years old and big. Karen is working with her this summer. So there is a lot of horse activity going on at the ranch.

Last week, everyone went riding with Mrs. Nelson and had a great time. When they were done, she told Josiah that he could go ride bareback by himself if he wanted to. So, he took off on Mocha (he likes Mocha) for a ride while we were all hanging around outside. She was being stubborn and would not go anywhere he wanted her to go - she wanted to go back to the hitching post with all her buddies. He stuck to it and made her get moving. It took a long time, but he finally he got her across to the other end of the archery field where she couldn't see the other horses. For another hour, that horse fought him off and on, but he didn't give up. She threw him off twice and bucked once (he was able to stay on that time, he says due to some instruction Karen had given him that day). It was great that he was alone, because he had no choice but to get back on and ride. If he had been with other people, it would have been easy for him to give up or be afraid. When he got back he was so excited - he had a great time. When you get thrown off a horse - TWICE - and can talk about how great it was, you know that you have a thing for horses. Yesterday Karen gave him the green light - he can go to the field, choose a trusty steed and ride whenever he wants. Now he is living the dream.