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.