A visit to my brother's place

For the last 10 days we have been visiting my brother who lives on Vancouver Island. We only get there once a year but always enjoy the time we spend together. He has recently bought a new house which he is remodelling so we stayed in a cottage owned by some people about a mile from his place. That turned out to be a great decision because the place was fantastic. Very secluded, surrounded by trees, a beautiful garden, lots of birds, gracious hosts and a very reasonable price. I put out a hummingbird feeder and very quickly had little guys coming to drink. The cottage had a living room, kitchen, bedroom and large bathroom, a porch outside with a big grill plus a new computer with high speed internet. They had equipped the place with everything you could possibly need/want including coffee beans and a grinder. I cooked the meals and everything I needed was in the kitchen. It was amazing and we really enjoyed it.

One of my favorite things to do while in that part of the country is eat fresh salmon. We drove to the next town [about 30 miles] and bought fish that had just been caught...delicious. I also bought LOTS of just picked blueberries which were delicious, and only $1.40 a pound. I always buy fresh in the store but they don't compare to "picked the same day and bought on the farm". If it sounds like my main motivation on our trip was food, you are absolutely right. My brother is just an after thought....just kidding.

While we were there Dan had his 70th birthday. He got calls from several friends the day we left who knew that he would be away for his birthday and then on the actual day, he got lots of emails with greetings. Then we had a dinner of filet mignon, fresh vegetables, baked potatoes as well as cake and ice cream. All in all a great day.

One of my brother and my favorite things to do is go to garage sales. Dan is not crazy about this but goes along anyway and often finds goodies. But he has to go with us because last time George and I left him at home while we went to the sales he fell off a ladder and broke his wrist. He is now not allowed to stay home by himself!! When planning our trip we made sure we were there for 2 weekends and a week so that we could get to the maximum number of garage sales.

Since George has moved from the mainland to Vancouver Island, our trip to visit entails a 2 hr trip on a ferry. We have been going by one route for a couple of years and this year decided to try something different. The trip up was great and the departure site was much more convenient than in previous years. Our trip home was another matter and resulted in "the day from hell". I am an interstate driver and dislike slow traffic and stop lights when trying to get somewhere. To go home the way we came involved slow roads. I thought we should get to an interstate ASAP then our 700 mile trip home would go a little faster. The one hesitation I had was that the border crossing on the interstate would be busier than the one getting off the ferry. But I thought "how bad can it be?" I sure found out when it was WAY too late to change my mind. The lineup at the border was 1 1/2 hours long. When we got up to the check point the line branched into 3 lines. As usual, just like the grocery store, I picked the wrong lane. The guy we had pulled us over for an "agriculture inspection". I told him we just had salmon and blueberries but that was not good enough for him. We had to park the car, leave the keys, surrender our passports and go in a building that was crawling with people....both inspectors and "criminals" like us. A woman came and asked us questions then made us stay in the building while she went out to inspect. After a while she came in, entered something in the computer [we are probably now on the "do not fly list"] then came and told us we could leave. After living on the border and crossing at the same location all my life that is only the second time I have been inspected. I don't much look forward to having to do that again. Next time we will go home on the other ferry. We had gotten up at 6am to make sure we had an early start but by the time we got through customs and on my favorite interstate it was afternoon.

We made good time...for a while... then we got caught in the rush hour traffic in Seattle which is a nightmare. Almost any time you drive through that city the traffic is heavy. I told Dan that if I had to live there and drive to and from work in that traffic every day I would just quit work and go on welfare! I guess I have lived in small towns for too long.

But wait....the day from hell is not over yet. We only got as far as Ellensburg Washington and stopped at a motel. We were relaxing and watching TV when we noticed that the air conditioning was getting louder and louder. Dan tried what he could to get the noise to stop but to no avail....and of course the maintenance people had gone home for the day. In the end they moved us to another room and at 10pm we were hauling our junk down the hall....but it was quieter. Thank goodness that day was over.

We made it home the next day with no further "adventures". It was good to be here, even though the grass had grown like mad...a situation that Dan remedied this morning. The bird feeders and the water feature were also empty so the little critters were mad at me. However, all is now back to normal.

I have had trouble posting photos so will post some of our trip and the cabin where we stayed as well as a butterfly and orchid garden in a different posting.

Photos from the Refuge

These are some of the photos we took yesterday at the Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge about 8 miles from here.

Savannah sparrow

Great horned owl chick

A second Great horned owl chick. We saw both parents and 2 chicks

Great blue heron and 2 chicks

Two Great blue heron chicks

Wood duck and chick. Saw two other females with 5 babies each.

The next step in the solution to my back problems is now complete. Last Monday I had the nerves burned at 4 vertebrae on the right side of my back. Some parts of my back pain are better, but as with all invasive procedures, there is a certain amount of soreness that will go away with time. At this point all I can say is thank goodness for ice packs! The second step, which is the burning of 4 nerves on the left side of my back can not be done for at least 2 weeks. I am planning on getting it done at the end of July. While nothing is perfect and I will always have to be careful of my back [as all of us should] this is definitely an improvement that I am very happy with. Now if I could just go back to being 35 again!!!

My neighbor, her sister-in-law, son and I had a garage sale last weekend. I had only had one before when I lived in Cherokee and swore I would never do it again. However, since there were 4 of us it was not as bad as doing it alone. As always, the worst was sorting stuff out and then pricing it. The sale its self was kind of fun. They have a huge garage for their tractor and motorhome that is enclosed so after kicking out the vehicles things could be set up well ahead of time instead of last minute. The weather was perfect and we got rid of a lot of junk but of course there was still some left over. Then, the day after the sale was over, I found some more stuff that I should have put in the sale but that is the way it goes. I didn't make as much as I could have as I found some things that Linda, Mike and Lisa were selling that I just had to have, so mostly money and stuff just exchanged between us. We even sold some lettuce and salad greens from our community garden that is growing really well.

Dan and I each have the same Canon camera with telephoto lens that we use to take bird pictures on the trips we take. Both cameras have been acting up and after doing everything that we knew to do [change batteries and memory cards, and cleaning the contacts] things were still not working. The next step was to send them back to Canon. After a sizeable chunk of change and numerous calls and emails, we have the cameras back. Today we are planning on going to the refuge near home to try out their "fixes". Fingers crossed that everything works OK.

Last night we had a storm......Oklahoma style!!! About 11pm the wind started, the rain poured down [which is really impressive on a metal roof] and the power went out. We decided we had everything secured so went to bed. This morning we woke to find that the cottonwood tree in our back yard had several broken limbs. This time they hit the ground and went into the creek instead of through the roof of the shop like last time. However, two of our neighbors did not fare as well. One lost 28 shingles off his roof as well as 5 trees while the other lost a beautiful big spruce tree from the front of his house that took years to grow. This morning everyone is out cleaning up the mess. We thought we had gotten away from dramatic storms when we moved up here. Our neighbor, who was born and raised in Montana, said this is the worst storm he has seen in his 61 years.

Pulling limbs out of the creek.





Our neighbor's beautiful spruce tree.















At the back of our house we have a bunch of poppies that were just beautiful. Yesterday I was going to take a picture of them but didn't get around to it. After last night they got beaten around but they are still pretty. Moral of that story is, don't wait to take the picture!!

After my back injections I have made 2 visits to the physical therapist. Their main concern is the moderate tingling down my leg [because it can do permanent nerve damage] instead of the severe pain in my back [which is inconvenient but not as serious]. I told them I could live with the tingling but lets get rid of the pain. They evaluated my problems and then suggested activities that would help with the tingling [forget the pain]. One of them is that I need to sleep and walk differently to decrease pressure on the problem areas of my back. The walking part felt better but the sleep modification is about to kill me. Last night I went back to my old way [sleeping flat with no pillow] and today has felt better. Then, after all that, they say physio may not help me. My neighbor had his back nerves burned yesterday and today he feels absolutely great. I can't wait until the end of the month when I get my nerves burned.

After our "getting stuck in the snow"
experience when our birding friends were
here, we found some other birds, some of which were cooperative for a photo. This is a spotted towhee.

We also came around a curve in the road and found a group of Rocky Mountain
Sheep. These were young males who were practicing for when they get to be big boys.

After having the steroid injection in my back in May, I got some relief but not a lot. The next step was a nerve block. Yesterday they injected 8 places in my lower back with something like novacaine to see if there was relief from the deadened nerves. The deadening only lasts 4 hours but in that time you are supposed to do the activities that hurt your back and see if there is any improvement. I was very pleased that the pain was about 80% better. The next step is to go back and burn the nerve that had been deadened. This is supposed to last for 6 months to 2 years. The doctor seems to think that my problem is arthritis which is the worst at the lower 3 vertebrae and that I don't have any narrowing or anything more serious. I do have 2 herniated discs but they are not causing as much problem as the arthritis. While arthritis will not kill you, it sure can slow you down [which annoys me] so I want to do what I can to improve the situation.


Our 5 pair of California quail are still coming around for goodies, but there are about 3 females that are not here. Presumably they are sitting on eggs. One of the males was sitting on the fence near where I think his female has her eggs so caught a quick photo of him. They sure are pretty birds.

Our neighbor was digging up some lavender from her yard that had spread beyond where she wanted it. We went over, brought it home and Dan planted it in a garden spot that should be perfect for it. It tried to grow it in Oklahoma but never had much luck. Too hot I guess.

This past week we have been birding western Montana with friends from Oklahoma. While our state usually has spectacular weather this time of year, this year was the exception. It rained nearly every day. However, being the intrepid birders that we are, we just put on our rain suits and headed off. We spent a few days in Glacier National Park. It was beautiful as always even though the birds were somewhat hard to find. There was a report of some Northern Hawk Owls about a mile up a trail that we tried to find. They did not tell us that the trail was straight up. Dan and Jimmy headed off while Nealand and I stayed in the car. Apparently the hike was quite a challenge both from the gain in altitude as well as the lack of oxygen from the higher elevation. In the end, the ranger had given us the wrong directions for Howe Lake trail and we had ended up at the wrong location. By the time we realized the error, no one wanted to attempt the correct trail.

We then returned to Missoula for the Montana Audubon "Wings across the Big Sky" festival. There were different field trips on both Saturday and Sunday that we all attended.

On Monday we headed south to the Idaho border to look for Boreal owls. Unfortunately that turned out to be a futile trip.....in more ways than one. We were following a Forest Service road that kept getting higher and higher. After about 8 miles we came across some snow across the road that was about 40 feet long. Following some discussion we decided to try to go through the snow. About 1/4 of the way through the Explorer started fish tailing and ended up with the rear end going sideways and stopping just inches from falling off the edge and down an embankment. Upon inspection we were in about 10 inches of snow with an inch of ice under that. This looked like a lose, lose situation. We had both AAA and Good Sam Roadside Assistance but they never would have found us in that wilderness. That plus the fact that there was no cell phone service. There was also no traffic on the road. We decided the only way out was under our own steam. Of course we had no shovel or any of the tools needed. With a pocket knife we cut some branches and picked up sticks to attempt traction with some rocks to keep us from going over the edge. Unfortunately I became the designated driver while the guys pushed. Talk about pressure!! The first attempt resulted in one tire spinning and additional sideways motion putting us a couple of more inches closer to the edge. When I had my dog Abby, I had a piece of carpet in the back of the car for her to sit on. We kept it in the car to keep the back clean. That proved to be the solution to the spinning tire but not before having to jack the wheel off the ground to get the carpet under the wheel [in the direction of the downhill edge]. Talk about a scary situation!! We would take a run with the carpet under the tire, make a few feet and when the carpet came flying out the back end, we slid some more. However, after multiple times of moving the carpet, pushing and moving ahead about 4 feet, we finally got to the other side and gravel road. The only problem was if we proceeded on the road it got higher with the possibility of more snow. The only option was to turn around and head back through the same snow. Oh no!! However, after smoothing out the snow then laying twigs, sticks, limbs etc on the snow pile it was crunch time. I hit it hard enough to have momentum but not too hard that I would slide. After a few minor fishtails I was through on the other side. What a relief!! Needless to say we headed back down the road and out onto pavement. The moral of this story is that when you have left two 4 wheel drive cars at home stay out of the snow banks!! [To everyone else this would seem obvious but at the time it all seemed like a good idea]. I would love to have taken photos of this whole ordeal but had to stay in the car or I too would have fallen down the embankment. The only photo I managed was through the rear view mirror.