Now that we are home we are settling into life in the slow lane. We are doing the stuff that comes with everyday living, and the catching up that comes with being gone for so long. The Black-capped chickadees appreciate the goodies that have been missing from the feeders over the winter.

Got the taxes done in plenty of time. The new place we tried up here, Taxes Too, made the experience virtually pain free. Plus, they gave a discount to military, police and fire department people which was extremely nice of them.

After putting up with back problems for a few years, I have decided to try to seek some relief. I have been the pain killer/physical therapy route but things just get a little worse all the time. My doctor has referred me to a pain management clinic where they do injections into the problem area. I have never had this done but understand that some people have great success with this procedure, and others not so much. I hope I will be one that will be helped. I am getting tired of not being able to do much.

Now that my new bike is up and running I have been riding a little farther every day and really enjoying it. This activity does not seem to bother my back for which I am thankful. I liked my old bike, but I think I like this one even better. So far Dan has not ridden with me, but will soon. There is a bike path that parallels a highway about a mile from our house that connects 2 cities that are 50 miles apart. A lot of it is complete, but the part in the middle [nearest our house] is still under construction. At the moment I drive about 5 miles to the start of the completed path, then can ride as far as 30 miles to Missoula. Needless to say, I am not up to 30 miles yet. However, I am riding half an hour non stop, and that is good enough for me for a while. Am looking forward to the completion of the section near home but that won't be until much later.

Spring up here is obviously slower in coming than it is in other parts of the country that we have lived, but it is definitely beautiful and appreciated. We are really enjoying the change of season. We have been outside cleaning up the yard [my activities are much more limited than Dan's] and watching the new growth emerge. Dan is doing the prep required for lawnmower season as the grass is growing fast.....can the dandelions be far behind!!!

Since the growing season is short up here, I want to push the season a little and have been coming up with different ideas.....most of which require a lot of work on Dan's part [not great for him]. Last year I had 3 flower pots that I planted with leaf lettuce that were in the house near a sliding glass door. It was hard for me to move them outside when the weather warmed up. This year, while at Costco, I saw small garden cart that would be perfect for transporting as necessary. I filled it with potting soil so I would not have any weeds from outside, and planted my lettuce. Hopefully in a short time we will be eating home grown lettuce. We had a small garden plot at the RV park in Texas and while a lot of it got frozen by an unexpected freeze, the cool weather crops did very well.


We still have lots of creature activity in the yard and in the area. We put out the water feature for the birds with a little heater in it in case there is an overnight freeze. Last weekend, while driving to town [we are 7 miles out in the country] there was a herd of about 25 elk in a field by the road. Our resident wood ducks are back to our pond and we can hear and see the pileated woodpeckers in our yard and around the area. While wood ducks, pileated, osprey and eagles are not unusual birds, we have never had them in our yard before. Unfortunately we have lots of deer which make gardening a challenge. Neighbor Linda even had her yucca plant eaten right down to the ground. Gardens have to be fenced and protected.

Better get outside and enjoy this beautiful day.

Soon to be mobile....again

Easter weekend was most enjoyable. I went to church on Good Friday and Easter morning. I always enjoy being there, and appreciate the message our pastor delivers. She is the main reason I attend that church.

On Sunday we went to dinner at our neighbors Linda and Mike and had fun watching their 5 grandchildren look for Easter eggs. Dinner was delicious and we enjoyed the great company.

We were so lucky when we moved to this house, to find that we had terrific neighbors. There are only 3 houses on our dead end road and all the residents are very congenial. We all plan to stay in our houses and not move away so we are very thankful to have such congenial people. When you think of what the possibilities could have been.......

The parts came today for my new bike....namely the tires. The standard ones they put on have kevlar lining which will help protect against punctures. However, there are so many hazards on the roads [glass, nails, thorns etc] and the tires are a hassle to change, that we decided that we wanted the "almost puncture proof" tires. Dan is currently in the garage changing the standard issue for the "plus" tires. I have not ridden my new bike for more than a mile as I wanted to be able to trade out the tires and return the standard issue unused. I should be whizzing down the road any time soon.

This morning we took the green car to get the oil and transmission fluid changed. After dropping it off, and on our way home we stopped at our local wildlife refuge to see what was there. Lots of ducks in various stages of migration, including 2 beautiful male cinnamon teal. Saw lots of nest building activity as well as 2 different Canada geese sitting on nests on the osprey nest platforms. I asked at the office if the geese would be hatched by the time the osprey came back. They said no, the osprey would just run off the geese when they wanted the platform. Maybe a bit harsh, but that is nature. Upon arriving home, we saw 2 eagles perching in trees by our house [there were 5 soaring over our house last week], a pileated woodpecker working on our backyard tree and 2 downy woodpeckers getting ready to build a nest in the front. Flickers will drum on trees, or whatever else they can find, to attract a mate. One of the local flickers has decided that he wants to be really impressive and is using our metal roof as a "drumming post". The first time I heard it I thought that rocks were falling from the sky. It sounded like an impact wrench gone wild. Now I know it is just one of our feathered friends.

The lube place just called so we will go pick up the car. That's all for now.

Home Again

We arrived home safely and in one piece. It sure was nice to be here, and to get out of the car. However, I am leaving out an important part of our last couple of weeks. When we went up to Winnebago for repairs, we though we could be up and back in a week. It turned out to be 2 weeks due to the fact that we kept adding things to our list of repairs [but everything is now working and it is great]. Our intent was to head back to Oklahoma, put the motorhome in storage then head to Arizona for some birding before heading back to Montana. Due to the extended time at Winnebago, and the longer than anticipated time it took us to get the motorhome ready to store, as well as the snow storm on the first day of spring in Oklahoma, the time we could have spent in Arizona was was dwindling. In the end, we decided that instead of rushing around Arizona we would skip it this year and make plans to do it next year. We arrived home and started all the catch-up required after a long trip. My biggest concern was the fact that I had done nothing about our taxes. I had used the same accountant in Oklahoma for over 35 years but decided it was time to switch to someone up here. I didn't want to wait until the very last minute so got on it as soon as we got home. Turns out these people have many more people in their office and will be quicker. However, glad to have that behind me.

As I mentioned previously, we bought a new trike at a shop in Utah. It arrived today and I couldn't wait to ride it. Unfortunately, the guy at the shop had made some errors in writing down the specifications so have been on the phone to get that corrected. The shop is sending what I want, and Dan will change out the parts, which will be a real hassle for him. However, in the end this will be a great trike. We are looking forward to both of us being able to ride together. I took my first ride amid snow flurries, then 15 minutes later, the sun was out. That is spring-time in Montana for you!