Five Signs Spring has Arrived

1. It snowed April 30th. (And yes, it WILL snow again, but the snow is not sticking.)
2. Future elk mommies are wandering around, getting bigger and looking uncomfortable.
3. Nothing is growing, but there is the very slightest hint of green in the yard.
4. The robins have come. (I've wondered what they eat this time of year, since there are no bugs and most of the ground is wormless and frozen.)

5. I have a bluebird pecking at my kitchen windows.

This happens every year. The mountain bluebirds arrive (that's the male on the left, and the female on the right.) and get busy building their nests. Apparently, the terrain around my kitchen windows is prime for bluebird nest-building.

The female bluebird is quite territorial when it comes to her nest. No other bluebirds dare to come close; she'll attack them with gusto.

That's where my evil windows come in. Said female sees her reflection in the windows, thinks it's another invading bluebird, and attacks. Peck, peck-peck, peck. This will go on for hours. She must be quite proud of herself for her braveness and diligence. Think of it as Bluebird Fight Club, only one-way.

The male bluebird could care less. He just sits on the fence rail, patiently waiting for his mate to finish off the competitor, looking a bit confused.

And so it goes. Peck, peck-peck, peck. Another idiosyncrasy that alarmed and bugged me at first, and now I sigh and ignore.

Peck, peck-peck, peck. 

Scrumblies and Glidgets

Gerta, my house, has dandruff.

That's the only conclusion I can come to after wiping down the kitchen countertops and finding the usual assortment of crumblies, microscopic dustballs, idgies, and yes- 'floating' Pepper dog hairs. (I think Pepper is in cahoots with Gerta.)

As I washed off the uck-ies once again (as in every time I wash dishes), I sighed to myself as I hit all the high spots and didn't look too closely in the corners. I have slid down the cleaning ladder when it comes to my old days of personal sparkling and pristine. 

But I have to say..... I simply don't remember past homes being this much of a pain in the behind. Hence back to my new theory of Gerta having some type of household dandruff.  When I think of it this way, all the dust, fuzzies, fine woodburner ash, and countertop yuckies start to make sense. It just keeps drifting down and floating around. And around, and around.

While in some ways thinking of living in a dandruff environment is a bit hideous, it's also a bit comforting that it's out of my control.

I think Gerta is wearing me down.

Disrupting the State of the World as We Know It

Each weekday morning, everyone on the ranch meets at 8:00 AM at the work barn to shoot-the-shit and talk about the chores needed for the day. This morning, Dan went alone as I lounged in my jammies and watched the fire in the woodburner as the living room temperature creeped upwards.

“Where’s Sondra ?!?” the startled man-manager asked Dan and Dan said “she said she had the next two days off,” and wife-manager said “yeh, I told her we didn’t have anything to do since the guest cabin is occupied,” and Dan said “I know, I nearly was late because I usually get dressed when she showers, and she didn’t, and I almost ran out of time.”

Now the feng shui (a system of spirit influences for good and evil believed by the Chinese to attend the natural features of landscape) and mountain mojo (essentially the same thing) of our lives has been interrupted. All because of some quality jammie-time. Wolves will slip on the ice, trucks won’t start in the cold, elk will be off their game wandering through fields, and the ranch horses will laugh at the wandering elk ALL BECAUSE of a spontaneous decision to watch the flames dance on the burning logs. Because of a change in the rhythm. A change in the daily-doings of humble me.

Oh! Sweet world! What have I done to thee?

(Right about now Extended Family members are muttering to themselves: “GRAMMAR ERRORS- run-on sentences, and incomplete sentences, and ‘she wrote: sh**?!!?’”, “I don’t get it,” “i think she’s bored,” “she is sounding a little unstable,” and other concerning comments. 

Accept it, folks. This is how I roll now.)

(It’s a ramble, after all. There’ll be more to come. I’m releasing my pent-up scintillating psyche.)

I’ll pay penance for my erudite miss-step and appease the Internet gods by writing Product Descriptions for Overstock.com (using TOTALLY proper grammar AND a Style Guide), and I’ll bless the many wild animals, and I’ll offer a set of jumper cables for any cold, cranky truck, and I'll tell the horses to behave themselves, AND I'll laugh at the wolves and tell them to go away.

And I’ll go to the morning meeting tomorrow. 

Our feng shui will be reinstated.

REAL issues and concerns while the world obsesses about a silly fiscal cliff and the horror of two generals wrapped up in potential, yet-legal feminine foibles.

?!?Really?!?

I've begun looking for editing/copywriting work online (on a project basis) to take advantage of my experience with such projects, and keep boredom at bay since things have slowed down at the ranch.  There are several websites out in the Internet world that offer such things, and I've already connected with one job that will be on an ad hoc basis.

While there are valid jobs with honest pay, there are also a LOT of projects that get me to giggling.  The ones that offer belittling earnings, ask for ridiculous over-experience, have no back history of of being a legitimate person who actually pays, and think it's normal to ask for the sun, moon and stars. 

I felt compelled to share a couple with you.

The following self-described job posting appeared October 20, just over 2 weeks from the US elections.  The paid rate is $5-$12 an hour:

I am writing a fictional book that I feel will help with this year's election. I am trying to get it finished by this weekend so i can place it on the web or any other form of publication that will be easy for people to see and read right away. I am in need of someone to spell check, proofread and edit this book. It is about 200 pages double spaces. It also has a few small things that need to be researched on google and put in. It needs to be put into order by date. I have the chapters divided but they arent necessarily in the correct order. Im looking for either a graduate student, a professor or someone who is qualified to edit books; a comprehensive editor. I am in a rush to get this book out by Monday, October 22, 2012, so i need someone who is able to spend from now until then correcting all the errors in this book and is absolutely sure that they will be able to have it finished by then. 

This next one has an hourly rate of less than $10 an hour.  Remember that the minimum wage will soon be $7.80 an hour, and note the level of experience needed for the tasks listed:

Virtual Assistant, Personal Assistant, Executive Assistant

Web Design, Email groups, blog content, announcements, event planning, research, document creation, proofreading and editing, publish comment for online discussions, updating blogs, update data base, customer service, invoicing and receiving payments, voice-mail transcription, scheduling interviews and meetings, following up on appointments ,errands, and tasks, create legal documents, market research, business plans, create course outlines, lesson plans.

This one can't pay right away...

I wrote a 44 page, 28,581 word true story. I left home at 9 until the age of 17. It's a story of my adventures as a run-a-way boy. I'm retired on disability with a limited income. Would like a fixed price for the project if possible. I would like to have it published on Amazon Kindle. I may not be able to afford you until Dec.  

Ahhh, humanity...... :)

Wedding Daze? Days? Daize?

My first baby girl is getting married.  And my second baby girl will have her baby girl with her at the wedding! I’m getting excited, and looking forward to a wonderful few days spent with family and friends.

Life is pretty good.  I’ll soon be able to call two fabulous men son-in-laws, both couples have happy established lives, and my granddaughter is just adorable.  I saw little Juno in person when she was 3 months old, and now at a mature 1 year of age, I’m sure she’ll charm us with her almost-walking skills and flirting manner.

There’s nothing like a wedding to get the happy-vibe going.  A celebration of life, lots of smiles, good food, good drink, and a little dancing in between.  This wedding will be flavored with Montana mountains, western BBQ, hairy highland cows in the background, a lovely old dancehall featured in a Robert Redford movie, and bluegrass music before and after the ceremony.

Memories of my babies have been flitting through my head in the last few days. My oldest with her smile and huge blue eyes that saw and understood most everything, my youngest completely contained in a water bucket in her swimsuit, her knees against her chest with a big grin.  The years flew by much faster than I expected, and they grew into lovely women.  My biggest wish was that they would find their path in life and live it with gusto.  I’m happy to say both have been very successful.

On to good, happy times…..

What Would YOU Do?

It's quarter to eight at night, 83 degrees IN the house (with house fans blowing), 81 degrees outside, and you:

1. Start a load of laundry (you just finished 2 loads, but there's always more....)

2. Cook a gourmet meal using the ingredients from the pantry (since the nearest store is 16+ miles away...)

3. Make a rum and diet Coke (hot tip: diet Coke tastes much better, whether you do diet or not), eat some cheese with Pecan Nut and Rice Crackers (it's heavenly, and they must have been designed to go with cheese), and cook hot dogs on the grill.

4. Dust the furniture, which is now white on top, not gray.  (It's been 5 days, after all.)

I went with #3.  Who wouldn't?  I've been using a spray water bottle to mist my body to help the cooling process, and decided a cold drink was my friend.  I wish I liked beer; this is a perfect beer day.

Even we're in the mountains, we've had more 'use the fan' days than the 2 previous summers combined.  And no air conditioning.  That means sleeping in underwear (T-shirts are too hot), and waking up cold in the morning when the temp drops 40-50 degrees.

Surviving the Summer of 2012....

A Moment of Reflection....

Haven’t posted in months.  

Why?  I don’t think I’ve had anything new or interesting to say.

My life seems pretty normal- at least to me.  I live way up high in the mountains of Montana, in a valley called the Cinnabar basin, and watch elk and now horses out my back window. 

I have frequent discussions with my house regarding what is the acceptable level of cleanliness that does not cause me distress.  

I’ve realized I talk to myself waay too much (conversations with the house not included), and trying to keep silent when alone is a challenge. (Thank goodness for our dogs; at least they offer a legitimate reason for vocalizing!).   

We had snow in June, and 2 weeks later temps in the 90’s.  

My big daily fashion decision is which pair of jeans and T-shirt I should wear.

 

Not exactly normal for most folks, I agree.  

Friends and family call and ask me what is new; my response is usually “Not much.”  I’m mostly content living my day-to-day, watching the many moods of the mountains.

Once upon a time, I was determined to make Big changes in the/my world.  Whatever I was going to do, I felt compelled to do it in a big way.  I had to be the best damn student/daughter/wife/designer/ creative director/mother/writer/ realtor in the land.   

Obviously, these were not realistic goals.  While pretty good at a number of them, there were just not enough hours in my day to Change the World. 

I’ve made my peace that the world will do just fine, thank-you-very-much, with my input or without it.  Looking back, I keep thinking ‘whew! how exhausting.’  All that energy put into attempted extra-achieving. 

Perhaps if I’d let my Inner bitch come out and play more often, I woulda had more energy at the end of the day.  You have to admit there is something freeing about flipping forward your first thoughts and actions without worrying how others will feel.  Getting older does give me a more relaxed perspective…

May your days of reflection bring a calmness to your soul…. And if that doesn’t work, bring out that Inner bitch!

Oh, What A Time We Had

Today's a quiet day with snow on the ground and temperatures around 10 degrees.  Yesterday we took Erika, Ben and Juno to the airport to return home to Scotland.  I didn't feel sad; we had so much fun and enjoyment over the past 3 weeks I was happy and grateful for the time we had together.  Being a grandparent is a blast!

In a couple of weeks we'll have Rachel and Paul coming to visit for Christmas and New Year's.  It doesn't get much better than this.

Here's a few fun photos for everyone to enjoy.....

Compare THIS to Life in the Suburbs...

Consider this my weekly whine.... (actually, I don't whine that much, but I'm due)

Wake up this morning to coyotes yipping in the distance.  (In the east, it's ki-yo-tees; out west, it's ki-yotes.  Still getting used to that.)

Get my shower ready and hear a steady 'clunk-clunk' on the back deck.  Look out the window and see Chilli and Pepper chewing on an entire leg bone of some critter.

Get dressed, then freak out when Chilli comes in the living room with a gooey hoof- seems that the leg bone belonged to a deer.  Throw the hoof away in disgust.

Go on a killing spree and knock off about 14 flies buzzing around the house (apparently this happens every year about this time).

Attend the morning work meeting; seems the guys are going to 'blow out' the water lines for irrigation.  I'm not needed, so I go back home.

Feeling unmotivated, look around the house and ponder things to do.  Stare at the end table that is covered in dust, which I dusted 1 1/2 days ago.  I know I mentioned before that dust was not my enemy, but it sure isn't my friend, either....

Decide to do the many mundane things I so love to do, like laundry, sweeping (even though I swept last night before the dogs came prancing in with hundreds of burs stuck to them and everything they then touched), cleaning the kitchen, blah, blah...

Look out the kitchen window and see my 2 dogs prancing across the front yard, each holding an end of a nasty, smelly deer hide (that apparently was in the same vicinity as the earlier deer leg).

Freak out again and run after them to get the disease-ridden thing away from them and put it in a trash bag.

Then drive up to the work barn to put the trash and the putrid deer skin indoors in the garbage where other wild animals can't reach it.  (Sighted 2 wolves on our side of the basin on Monday, and the neighbor on the other side of the valley shoo'ed away a grizzly and 2 cubs trying to get into his garage).  Idly consider the fact that whatever eats a deer would probably see both of my dogs as appetizers.

Get back home and look at the clock- it's only 10:30.

Sigh.....

The Chilli-Pepper Bone Dance

I've mentioned before that our two dogs have become the best of friends.  They spend most of the day playing, and a new favorite game is the 'bone dance.'

Both dogs grab one end of a bone, and play a tug of war/dance together.  It's all play; no growling or aggravation allowed.


Here's a few photos of the two in play:

You get one end; I'll get the other

No, we're not kissing cousins!

Whose turn is it to lead?

Say what???

Didn't they do this in Lady and The Tramp?

Montana Misc. in July

Summer is swiftly passing us by, and we have to celebrate many things:

Family who came to visit:

A double rainbow we enjoyed

Ranch horses courtesy of niece Megan

Eek! Bear claws on a tree.....

Nephews Eric and Ryan with Pepper, and the giant get-well Bear I got Dan

A great visit with my mom and dad late May, Jennifer and Megan in June, and the Godziellas in July (angel helpers when Dan was hurt), the guardian angels who looked over Dan and kept him alive, generous managers and ranch owners who stood by Dan during his recuperation, a first grand-daughter coming soon from our daughter Erika, a new home and future wedding plans from our daughter Rachel, a beautiful place to live and work, the blessing of a pain shot for me in by lower left back (hallelujah!), a new companion dog and playmate for Pepper we named Chilli.....

In spite of the trials, our blessings are many.  Yee haw kippee kiy yiy yay!  (that's Montana talk for "it's all good....")

Braggin' Rights #2

Ok, in an earlier post I let loose on how wonderful our talented daughters are, and how I was so proud of them.

This time the kudos and hurrahs have to go to gentle husband Dan and his woodworking talent.

Dan has long dreamed of (and completed) various wood projects, and he's in his element now on the Ranch with many practical things to build (cabinet doors, wood storage shelves, etc. etc.)  He has the time to create and build, and he's putting his many woodworking tools gathered over the years to good use.

Kudos to him for arriving at a point in Life where there is more 'doing' and less 'dreaming'!  

Before Montana, Dan was traveling so much with work that he had little time to create.

From our past lifetimes, here's our solid cherry bed headboard that Dan built and we moved with to Montana:

Here's the deck he single-handedly built on our home in Ohio:

You get the feel.... good man, good building skills.  And now the time to let his creative juices flow!

While hiking around on the hills, fields, and mountains on the Ranch, Dan came across a derelict antique wood stove left behind many years ago. 

(This is actually a pretty common phenomenon in Montana- the hills are valleys are littered with carcases of old trucks, cars, tractors, farm implements, homesteads, and so on.  Since it's high, dry country, the remains don't fall apart easily.)  Dan salvaged the oven door and a couple of the hot plates on top and developed an idea.

The one bedroom guest house on the Ranch needed a new bed nightstand.  It's a log cabin with western decor, and Dan decided to create a wooden ranch stove look-alike as a nightstand.

He used reclaimed wood from the Ranch, did some building, carving, and construction (along with Don, Dan's co-worker), and this is the end result:

The coffee pot has now been converted to a lamp!  Here are more detailed photos:

What a neat, original idea!   I love that man....... :)

You Can Have THIS, or You Can Have THAT

 

The popular commercial featuring hamsters driving a ‘cool’ car to rap music brings to mind the difference in our lives Out West versus our past lives in the the Columbus, Ohio area.  There’re a lot of differences- neither one good nor bad, but very different.  Figuring the current THIS is Montana and THAT was 25 years living in Columbus, here’s a comparison:

THIS:  People never lock their doors, and many even leave their keys in the car at home.

THAT: Our homes had security systems and were always locked; one would never leave their car unlocked, much less leave the keys there.

----

THIS: There’s lots of snow.

THAT: Little snow, lots of ice and drizzle.

----

THIS: Few neighbors and wide open spaces.

THAT: No matter how hard you try to get away, you’ll still hear the hum of cars on a road or highway.

---- 

THIS: ‘Fast food’ is a 15 mile drive to get a burger in a bar.

THAT:  Fast food has many options, including Chipotle (sigh…)

  

---- 

THIS:  Fancy food is either: a 15 mile drive to get a burger in a bar, or a 65 mile drive to a restaurant (sigh…)

THAT: Your choice of restaurants, style of cuisine, etc. etc.

----

THIS: Fly fishing can lead to some hum-dingers of trout….

THAT: Fly fishing in the O’Shaunessy reservoir might lead to a couple of carp.

---- 

THIS: Wolves can kill and eat an elk 300 yards from your home.

THAT: Your neighbor’s teens could have a wild party 300 yards from your home.

---- 

THIS: A traffic jam in Gardiner happens because of deer, elk and bison wandering the streets.

THAT: A Traffic jam in Columbus is caused by cars, not animals....

---- 

THIS: Drive to work is ½ mile; drive views include snow and lots of elk…

THAT: Drive to work was all over town; drive views included homes, asphalt and traffic lights.

---- 

THIS: Fashion and fun is designer cowgirl boots and a rodeo.

THAT: Fashion and fun was a buckeye necklace and an OSU football game.

All In A Day's Work

One thing I like about living/working/being on a ranch is the never-ending variety of things to do.  Each day offers a new twist.
Today, my job was driving with Mrs. RM (Ranch Manager) to Livingston to pick up a number of things the ranch needed.  It's a good hour's drive each way through the Paradise Valley to reach town.

This is a photo of downtown Livingston.  It's the closest real city- there's even a movie theater (1 movie showing at a time). Actually, there are a number of bars, and restaurants, and even art galleries.  As the 'last hurrah' before heading south to Yellowstone Park, summer tourists keep the place busy.

First off, we stopped off to get sharpened chain-saw blades. I'm guessing there were at least 20 of them, and back at the work barn there had to be more than 40 more hanging on the wall.

The ranch uses a lot of chain saw blades.
Dan gets credit for dulling a good number of them. He's cut down oodles of run-away bushes and shrubs in the 3 months he's been here.....

Next, we picked up 'mineral' for the horses.  For you non-horsey people, that's a tub of tastey salt/mineral/sweetness that give needed nutrients to horses to keep them healthy. (I honestly include myself in the non-horsey set; I just learned this tidbit today.)  We're not talking tiny quantities, either.  We got two 250 lb. tubs and one 125 pound tub, which will last the horses about 6 weeks.

Mmmmm...... yummy.

Then we stopped at the John Deere supply store and picked up a new windshield.  The current one got busted while moving deadfall woods and logs.
It happens.

While we were that far north, we took a short drive north to pick up boxed and packaged elk meat.  Mrs. RM shot a hefty male elk a week or two before.

Big critter, isn't he?  And yes, that's Mrs. RM, thank you very much.  Montana women don't mess around.

After several more mundane errands, it was back to the ranch.

Sigh.....

Westward Ho….

I sent out an email right before I left and misspelled the title- the caption I sent was ‘Wetward Ho’. And it was prophetic…. When we left Friday night, it was pouring down rain with high winds and lightening. We drove north 2 hours to Mackinac City and stopped for the night.

The next morning it was still gray and drizzling when we over the Mackinac bridge. Over the next 2 days we drove through the Upper Peninsula, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana.

On the way, I realized a few things….

Not many people travel across the country on the northern route

There are way more acres of sunflowers in this country than anyone would ever realize

Big rolled bundles of wheat, straw and hay look like roly-poly sheep in the distance

North Dakota is a very harsh place when it’s 98 degrees and the hot winds hit you in the face

Mountains sneak up on you gradually and then pow!- they are all around you


I think we looked a bit like the Beverly Hillbillies as we passed the various states….

We’re now unpacking at our new home, and in closing I thought I’d share this last photo- this is called the Devil’s Slide, and is about 10 miles from our home. This is in the Yellowstone valley north of the town of Gardiner. Once upon a time, this nearly vertical stripe of land was horizontal…. pretty impressive, huh?

Old Goodbye's and New Hello's

Welcome to a new page in our lives!  As they say, "Life is a Journey," and ours has been interesting, to say the least.

When we left central Ohio a year and a half ago and moved from 'large city' life to northwest upper Michigan life, we thought we had finally gotten it all figured out.  We loved the hills, the trees, our home, the softer pace of life, and the lakes.

But..... another famous saying is "Life is what happens when you're busy making plans."  And Life decided to whip us around to another direction, and gave us the time (whether we wanted it or not) to make new choices.  Time to move on.

So.... Up North Newbie has now transformed into a new blog, Montana Mountainview.  Dan and I are in the midst of a move to Gardiner, Montana for a Caretaker Couple job 7,000 feet up in the mountains for a private ranch.  It's close to Yellowstone, and the surroundings are beautiful.  We'll be living on the ranch and maintaining the property, inside and out.  You simply go 7.5 miles off the main road on a gravel/dirt road into the mountains, and you're there. :)

Some parts of Montana I wouldn't like to live in.  A lot of the land is 'high desert' country, and pretty barren.  It's lucky we'll be living in a pretty part- meadows, rolling fields, lots of trees, and mountaintop peaks above us.  We'll be sharing our lives with the local animals (horses, elk, black and grizzly bear, coyote, wolves, and other critters), enjoying LOTS of snow in the winter, and watching the fast and furious summer spill out on the land while it can.

I plan to keep in touch with family and friends on this blog, and share the adventures of our lives out West.  Stop by once in a while, and sip a cup of coffee or tea while you catch up.  It should be an adventure...... Yee haw!     Sondra

P.S.- to the right and below are photos of the surrounding country we'll be living in.  Enjoy!