A Home for Doug

Meet Doug, our official greeter. He's a little hard to miss as you walk into our living room.

Doug PCS'd (got a permanent change of station) three months ago, after hanging out at Shooters Supply for many years. Doug, a cape buffalo, was one of Don's trophies from his second trip to Africa about 10 years ago. He spent this past winter in our basement at Shorthorse, wrapped up snugly in green cellophane Don procured from the Yakima U-Haul Store. He made the six-hour trip in the bed of our little blue Dodge Dakota, and didn't get unloaded for a couple days after we got here in December. One day I had to drive the truck to town, with Doug still in the back, mummified in green cellophane. I got some pretty strange looks. One brave soul stopped me and asked, "What IS that?" There probably aren't a lot of cape buffalo heads in Sanders County.

But today was the big day, when Doug was permanently mounted in our foyer. Don's kudu, gemsbok, springbok and hartebeast are already mounted on the high living room walls which are tongue-in-groove cedar.

Now all we have to do is move our three live horses from the neighbor's pasture to our own, and we'll have the whole family all together in one place.

I've Seen This Room Before!

Finally it's happening. We're moving in!

The foyer is set up the way it's supposed to be. I stepped back to admire it, and was surprised that I didn't get that "Oh, wow!" feeling. Why not? I wasn't seeing anything new! As I smugly told Don, "I've already seen this room, this way, at least a thousand times already, in my mind. It's not new."

It's been said by many an inspirational speaker and world-class athlete. What the mind can imagine, the body can achieve.

Lanny Bassham, Olympic Gold Medalist in smallbore rifle, called it "mental management." Others have called it "mental rehearsal," "mental imagery," or just "mental training."

Some might just say, "If you can dream it, you can do it."

They're right.

Maybe we'll finally find that camera bettery this week! I think I'd better mentally rehearse that.

Fraternal Decor

We've put up the NRA mirror/coat rack from last year's Friends of NRA dinner in Yakima.

We have our NRA brass bell at the front door (from Ellensburg's first Friends of NRA banquet).

Our "Friends of NRA" rug will be rolled out today in the foyer.

The Grand Lodge Clock from last year's Friends of NRA banquet in Yakima will be hung this weekend.

The lamp from the Friends of NRA banquet in Plains last year is in the guest bedroom.

A Friends of NRA school clock hangs on the wall in my study.

A Friends of NRA dart board goes outside in the spring.

A set of bronze buffalo-head bookends will be unboxed today. They're from the Ellensburg Friends of NRA banquet about three years ago.

A black bear cookie jar will sit on the kitchen counter. I won it in an "Air Soft" pistol shoot-out at the Ellensburg Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation barbecue three years ago.

A slate-top accent table from the Ellensburg RMEF barbecue last year sits on our bridge.

In Don's vault, I have my very own little Friends of NRA gun rack (and of course it's full!) from last year's Ellensburg Friends of NRA banquet.

We have three antler lamps, all "won" at animal banquets....one RMEF, one Mule Deer, and one NRA.

The guest beds are covered with Pendleton blankets from NRA banquets.

The picture hanging over our kitchen table in the kitchen is a great raffle prize from an RMEF dinner in Yakima. We have four or five other prints collected from the various banquets.

We have a fire ring from a Mule Deer Foundation dinner in Yakima..the crowded one that was held upstairs in that hotel downtown about four years ago.

And then there's the mirror, that I "share" with Marion Kooyman. It was from that same Mule Deer Foundation dinner about four years ago. She and I were in a silent auction bidding war for this cute little wall mirror with a frame that featured wildlife cutouts. But, at the last minute, she sneaked a bid in over mine and won the mirror.

Flash forward to November 2007, just a few weeks before our final departure from Yakima. I had, by chance, stopped in at Manning Dog Training (which I sold to Jane Bumgardner in January '07). Marion stopped by too, with an exquisitely wrapped package for me. The moment I tore away the corner wrapping, I knew what it was: OUR MIRROR! Marion was "surrendering" it to me, for our new Montana home! Marion assured me it had hung in their home for several years, so it came completely broken in with good karma.

That mirror now graces the wall of our guest bedroom, where I'm hoping Marion and Jack...and all the rest of our friends....will see it.

Most of the stuff you buy at animal banquets could be purchased for a lot less if you went shopping on the internet. But my very wise husband reminded me a few years back that it's not just an item you're buying. It's memories of good friends and good times At those banquets (which comprised our total social life for 23 years). Those are priceless...like the mirror from Marion.

We were so saddened to hear we'd lost a couple good "animal banquet" friends last month: Maggie Justice and Gerry Perryman. Their spirits, and those of all our other close Yakima friends, will live on in our new house...in mirrors, clocks, rugs, lamps and fire rings.

Life Within Bumping Distance

For those of you who are still just dreaming about retirement and wondering if it could possibly be as good as your fantasies, I hope you find this inspirational: it is that good. Even in this trailer, where we literally can't move without bumping into each other or the dogs, this has been the best "vacation" of our lives. Allow me to elaborate:

Sleep: We go to bed when we're tired, and get up when we feel like it. If the dogs get us up in the middle of the night, no biggy...we can always take a nap the next day if we're sleepy.

Naps: Haven't needed one since we moved. It's too much fun being awake. Don nods off about once a day after lunch...and feels no guilt about it.

Eating habits: We eat three meals together every day. We're eating dinner nowdays at 6:30 instead of 10:30. Much better for our digestive systems!

Newspaper: We read a delightfully upbeat daily paper from Missoula. Don reads it cover to cover, leisurely. And then takes a short nap.

Shaving: Don does it when he has to go to town.

Clothes: Wear something moderately clean that covers the body and keeps you warm.

Snow: Don doesn't even mind it anymore. And I love it.

Worries & stress: Huh?

Waking up: A happy and optimistic feeling every morning.

Calendars: Don't matter.

Oatmeal: We've had it every other day. Had it six times a year previous to moving here.

Peanut butter: I never knew my husband liked it till we moved here.

Big day in town: Going to the library to rent old videos, then off to Minnie's Cafe for a $2 bowl of soup.

Big Sunday afternoon: Going to massage class together at the local grade school.

Big night: When we both take our three-minute showers...

Internet: Don has learned to enjoy surfing until he can't think of anything else to look at.

Solitaire: We've enjoyed lots of it, and Don's learned how to shuffle cards like a pro.

Outside World: Hard to even imagine down here in our pocket of Paradise.

This "winter vacation," where we entertained ourselves with solitaire, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, old movies, and internet shopping is coming to an end. As we begin moving into our new home, our daily minutes are now spent unpacking, cleaning, and organizing. We won't be bumping into each other as frequently in that big house. Frankly, I'm going to kind of miss that!

This was a good day.....about 10 men scurrying around our house, including Don who was on hand to answer questions and help where he could. He was so busy that he never even ate breakfast or lunch. (I had to force-feed him a banana at 2pm.)

The tile guy has just about completed the master bath shower, so he can soon start on the rest of the floors.

The electricians installed and hooked up virtually all the remaining lights today. WOW! We can give you a light show when you arrive, if we can figure out what switches control which lights!

The cabinet guy brought the rest of the kitchen stuff, plus a custom made bookcase.

What remains:

• putting finish on the stair treads, the saloon floor, and a couple miscellaneous doors...and sealing the rock around the fireplaces.
• installing the potbelly stove in the kitchen and the gas stove in master bedroom
• installing toilets, dog tub, sinks, shower doors
• installing the major appliances
• finishing the remaining floors (tile, carpet and vinyl)
• installing countertops in the sink and master bath

It sounds like a lot, but if they work like they did today, it could be accomplished in a matter of days. We'll be moving some preliminary furniture in this week.

Vacation is about over. Back to mirrors (ugh!), a varied and clean wardrobe, long showers, makeup and bras for me (!) , major big-time housecleaning, doing laundry every couple days instead of once a week at the local laundromat, and entertaining. We are plain folk about to move into a grand house. I hope we can live up to it!

By the way, it's been snowing big, wet, beautiful flakes for 24 hours and WE DON'T REALLY CARE!!!!

Another Three Weeks......?

Floor tile is going in. Doors are all hung, trimmed and finished. Electricians will put in lights this week. Most interior painting is done, and the closets and pantries are outfitted with shelves and/or rods. There is an incredible amount of detailed work being done by fine local craftsmen who work more patiently than I wait.

Meanwhile, Don helps the builders where he can, and works on his vault cabinetry in the basement. I cross-country ski till my knees give out, then go to the trailer to "blog," mostly at http://janthedogtalker.blogspot.com/. Every other day we take our three-minute showers, and on Fridays I go to the laundromat.

Lizzie doesn't chase deer or turkeys anymore since we outfitted her with an electronic collar. The old boys, Kosmo and Atlas (sometimes known as Moron and Putz) are well.

Don will make another trip to Yakima as soon as we move into the house (another three weeks????) He has a few more things to clean out of Shooters Supply. The building, of course, is for sale.

Roughing It

Seems EVERYONE here has done what we're doing in some shape or form. Somebody lived in a tent for a year. Someone else lived in a garage for three months. Someone else lived in their unfinished home's basement for two years till the home above was completed. And lots of folks here have "camped" in trailers, as we are, over the winter, while waiting to move into a new house.

It's been a month now, and we still have at least three weeks to go. No problem. Life is good. We've been preparing for this for a long, long time. The lack of space in this 5th-wheel is definitely a challenge, primarily for our nearly 12-year-old Swiss Mountain Dog, Atlas, who is struggling with dementia and arthritis and would really like more room to turn around and get comfortable. He won't be with us much longer, but for now is basically enjoying a pretty good quality of life.

My body aches too, I think from the strain of crawling around this human-size kennel with three large dogs and a husband, tromping around in big snow boots (there's 10 inches on the ground), and snowshoeing. I could use a good therapeutic 15-minute shower, but three minutes is about as luxurious as it gets in the trailer. But we're managing.

The house is nearing completion. The cabinets arrived last week. Painting is almost done. Then come the floor coverings and lights. And bathroom fixtures. That's about it. Things happen fast now, in big chunks (except when these darn four-day weekends get in the way!)

Don's been working in his 12x16 vault, putting tongue-in-groove pine on the walls. That will be his playroom. Mine will be the basement, outfitted with all the exercise equipment.

Our house is turning out to be exquisite, at least to us. It's a work of heart. Well designed for functionality, but appealing to anyone who cherishes the great outdoors. We want to share this place, inside and out, with all our friends, so start contacting us with your travel dates! We should be "open for business" in short order!

Bliss

Are we going to awaken from this dream? Our lives have changed 180 degrees in the past few weeks, and we can't believe it's for good and for real, finally.

It's not the new, nearly completed house that looms just 50 yards from the trailer window where I now sit.

It's that Don now sleeps 8 to 10 hours a night and wakes up rested. And that he hasn't worn a watch in days.

It's that we don't have to think about packing up and "going home" in a few days. We're already home.

These past three weeks in the trailer (a glorified dog crate with three large dogs plus us) have been wonderful. Probably the happiest of our 23-year marriage.

I cross-country skied here today. Been waiting four years for that dream to come true. The XC skiing here is world-class, right on our own 40 acres. Mostly level, with trails, roads, and open fields. A "silence that bludgeons you dumb," as Robert Service would say. And snow you can eat.

Last night we lit our first fire in the kiva fireplace, just to try it out.

Painters are hard at it this week, now that all the tongue-in-groove is up. Flooring should be arriving next week.

I'm going to miss this trailer.

Hey, where did we pack the camera??

No new photos yet....our camera is inaccessibly buried in one of about 80 dog food boxes in our basement, in the garage, or in the barn. We should find it by spring, when the pictures will be lots prettier (and greener) than they'd be right now.

The Mannings have landed

The Mannings have now been full-time Montana residents for more than a week!

Anyone who's ever made a big move knows pretty much what we've gone through. It wasn't fun. Our final “big haul” was Dec. 1, in bad winter weather. We arrived at Shorthorse that night, in the snow, cold, and darkness. How nice it would have been to come home to a warm, cozy new house, but instead we came home to a 5th-wheel that has been our vacation cabin for the past four years and will be our full-time home until the big house is completed. How long will that be? Well....let's just say we won't be having that big Christmas party this year.

The house IS coming along...and getting more gorgeous every day. Outside work is basically done, so all the activity is inside now. The kitchen walls and ceiling are completed with tongue-in-groove pine. The bar room is ready for the adobe finish on the walls and kiva. All the other drywall is up and ready for paint. The cedar is up on the ceilings, as well as on the walls of the library and master bedroom. The breezeway and Don's shop are all lined in pine. Flooring is on its way, and cabinets are ready for installation.

And yet, it seems so far from completion.

So we've settled into the tin tepee with humble resolve. We will remember these days forever, and with fondness, even if it is incredibly crowded and somewhat stinky with three large dogs and two large people. Since most of our clothes are packed away in boxes we can't reach, and there's limited space to store clothes in the 5th-wheel, we're recycling two or three “outfits” apiece, and everything gets worn for several days before we make a trip to the laundromat eight miles away.

That's even harder on Don than me. He's used to wearing clean clothes every day, and now he's getting up to four days out of a pair of jeans!

We do have hot water—not lots of it, but enough to take a quick shower every couple days. Every once in a while I glance at myself in the mirror and am surprised by two things: one, that I look so old and tough, and two, that I don't care! Priorities are much different here than in Yakima, and people judge each other here by how they act, and not how they look. There's lots of poverty here in Sanders County, and virtually no pretense.

Our three horses are now at home here, thanks to the incredible generosity of Will and Teresa Bron of Granger, who offered to haul our herd for us. The Brons own a dairy. I'd met both of them through dog-training and had become fast friends with Teresa several years ago. They're horse people too, with seven Friesians. Teresa does dressage, and both she and Will also drive horses in competitions and parades.

Knowing how I was stressing about hauling our three horses over here in potentially bad weather, they made their gracious offer and we accepted. They lifted a tremendous burden from our shoulders! Not only would I have EXPERIENCED horse people hauling my three in a very nice trailer, but it would free up our own stock trailer for other household stuff and would mean one less hauling trip for Don.

Will and Teresa made the seven-hour trek last Monday, Dec. 3. They had good driving all the way and arrived in daylight. All three horses made the trip just fine...Brimir, the Icelandic (and namesake for Shorthorse); Bernie, my Tennessee Walker gelding; and Babe, the 32-year-old Appaloosa mare and matriarch of the herd. The horses are currently pastured half a mile away (until our corral is completed), and it's with great pleasure that I drive up the hill to feed them twice a day. They have a beautiful pasture with a breathtaking view of snowy mountains right across the river...although I doubt they appreciate the vista!

Three Weeks to Go

Don closed Shooters Supply on Nov. 3, but still has a lot of packing and cleanup to do there. We will be out of Yakima by Nov. 30. It's hard to imagine how we'll do it, but of course it'll get done. People do it all the time.

Between Shooters Supply and our house, we have at least four more loads to haul to Shorthorse. The last load will be our three horses.

Don's made the last couple trips while I've stayed home to pack up stuff and take care of dogs & horses. He got back last night with photos of the exterior (almost all the siding is up) and interior (almost all the drywall is hung). He says it feels like a real house now.

The drywallers should finish this week, and a team of Mennonite carpenters will be in to put the tongue-in-groove cedar and pine on the rest of the interior walls.

World's Best Appliance Salesman

His name is Dick Dean, and he works at Lowes in Yakima.

I hadn't intended to buy all our new appliances at Lowes. I actually gave the locally-owned guys a chance about a year ago, but was treated shabbily in their store...so I went exploring at Lowes. You know how many different front-loading washers and dryers there are out there these days? You know the ONE PHYSICAL FEATURE that makes my Bosch pair better than any of the others that Lowe's sells? Dick Dean does! He showed me. This feature isn't even listed in the Bosch literature. Dick knows from personal experience (he and his wife own this same pair) and from lots of time on the sales floor.

Do you REALLY understand how convection ovens work? Dick can explain it with clarity and patience, using very relatable analogies. Lowes typically has four or five different brands of any appliance type. Tell Dick what you want and don't want, and he'll recommend the best for you...and it won't necessarily be the most expensive. His depth of knowledge is phenomenal, as is his credibility.

There may be drawbacks to buying appliances from a box store. But this guy's knowledge and helpfulness outweighed them. If you need any new appliances, seek out Dick Dean at Lowes in Yakima. He knows his stuff!

Tin Tepee Time

Okay, here's the cold, hard truth: our house will not be done this month. Not even close. It MAY be done by the end of November...or at least, done enough for us to move in. Then again, maybe not.

We close on the sale of our Yakima house next week and have one more month to live in it. One way or another, we'll be living full-time in Montana by Thanksgiving. That means we'll be cozying up in the Tin Tepee, our 28-foot 5th-wheel, for at least a few weeks as the snow swirls around us.

That's Don and me, plus two big, hairy, elderly dogs and one medium young dog. Five "people" in this little trailer. We've done it in the past, and it's been fun...at least for a few days at a time when it was our "vacation home." Now it's going to be "home." That may require a slightly different mindset.

Life is simple when you don't have space to complicate it. Our wardrobe is limited. Our food is crockpot-cooked. Cleaning is an easy ritual. Entertainment is a Sirius satellite radio.

This transitional home will be another new adventure for us. I think of the pioneers who left everything familiar and struck out into the new territory in covered wagons. That experience was a real equalizer, just as ours will be. Wealthy or poor, those folks all had to get to their dream destinations the same way: in bumpy wagons a fraction the size of our 5th-wheel. But the destination was almost always worth the journey!

Job Openings in God's Country

WANTED: Carpenters, excavaters, law enforcement officers, and veterinarians. Come live and work in the sportsman's paradise of northwestern Montana. Benefits: great hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation on your days off. Salary: low and lower, depending on experience.



If I were a young, adventurous, single man, and somewhat skilled in any of the above professions, I would race to this area to get some of the enjoyment "before all the doctors and lawyers ruin it," as Woodrow Call would have said. But the problem is this: Sanders County is an economically depressed area, and wages are low here, even though the cost of living is the same as in Yakima. Thus, they have a hard time attracting qualified go-getters for some of the jobs I've mentioned above.

Anyone who can drive a nail straight and show up on time each morning can get a job tomorrow. If you're interested in law enforcement, we desperately need some good sheriff candidates for the next term. And if you'd like to buy a well established veterinary practice, Dr. Bob Gregg in Plains would really like to sell it to you and retire. To live here, you have to be committed to small-town life and all that goes with it. It also helps if you love to hunt, fish and play golf.

We saw a "Help Wanted" ad in the Sanders County Ledger a few months back. "Sporting goods store seeks sales person with knowledge of guns and outdoor sports. Salary $6-9/hr DOE."

Dealing with Delays

It's the best season. Cold, starry nights. Morning fog that lifts by 10 a.m. Sunshine that illuminates the quakies and cottonwoods as temperatures "soar" to 65 degrees. Deep blue skies.

In about a month we'll be here for good...and the 5th-wheel will be home for a few weeks till the house is liveable.

Fireplace is done, except for the mantle. Roof completion was delayed when a roofer fell off the wet metal last week. He wasn't seriously hurt, thank goodness, but those dry days are becoming few and far between now.

Gene, the stone mason, had to go home before completion of his job, due to a bad hip. He'll be back soon, we hope.

And then one of Larry's carpenters quit last Friday, so it's back to a crew of two: Larry and Eric. Any carpenters out there want a job in Montana? There are immediate openings!!

The baby bear

Before we left Shorthorse last Sunday, Gene Carner showed us what he and Alan had found next to the road on their way to our place that morning. He began pulling something out of a blood-spattered garbage bag. The stiff, stout black legs came out first. It looked like some sort of plush toy.
It was only toy size, but he was real. A baby black bear, maybe eight months old and about the size of our little pit bull Lizzie. He'd been struck by a vehicle on Highway 200 just moments before Gene and Alan happened upon him. He'd obviously been killed on impact by a blow to his head; one side of his face was pretty messed up. But that was the only visible injury.

We all marveled at the quality of his thick, shiny coat. He'd ready for winter! His big slipper-like paws were incredible. His ears were soft and pliable. As I stroked him from head to foot, I realized what an incredible, bittersweet experience this was.

Gene debated what to do with him. The kill was already several hours old, and we had no refrigeration at the job site. Gene planned to keep him cool in the basement until quiting time, and then take him back to a local taxidermist for an assessment. He offered the baby bear to us; I would have loved a full body mount. But Don thought it was probably too late.

The opportunity to immortalize this little bear is now gone, except for the writing of this story. We didn't even think to take a picture of him!

It's definitely fall. A little sooner than usual, but the cooler temps and moisture are welcome. Normally at this time, we're packing up the trailer for the season and preparing to say goodbye to Shorthorse for a few months of winter. But this year, the momentum is in the other direction. We're packing up Yakima and preparing to settle in for good at Shorthorse.

Tree haircuts

We have 40 acres of trees that need pruning...for fire protection, aesthetics, a healthier forest, and a better view from the house.

I love pruning. You take a bunch of scraggly-looking, messy, tangled dead limbs off the lower third of a tree and suddenly you have this spectacular pine towering above you. It's like taking an old cocker spaniel that's lived outside all his life and never seen a groomer. He's matted, infested, smelly and tangled. You bathe him, clip him, clean him up, and suddenly he looks like a show dog.

Pruning with the 12-foot pole saw is the fun part. Disposing of the trimmed limbs is the drag. We've accumulated lots of burn piles for this winter. We're also using the chipper Don has mounted to the tractor, although it has a hard time handling the bigger, dry pine limbs.

Pruning is a healthy addiction, and that's fine since I have enough work here to support my habit for at least 20 years.

Importing hay for the winter

Yesterday we hauled three tons of nice grass hay over from Yakima (Mike Drury in West Valley). Here's Don off-loading it under the barn lean-to. We couldn't find ANY to buy in this area of Montana because it was such a dry year. Nobody grew much, and what they grew, they've kept for their own animals. By next year we'll be better networked with local hay producers.

The hay is supposed to go in a special area of the barn (inside), but the barn is full of HOUSE stuff...so it won't get to really be a "barn" until we can move everything into the house. Lucky Don! He gets to move three tons of hay a THIRD time!!

Stone and Steel

It's starting to look more like an almost-finished project. The green steel roof is going on quickly. That should be done in another day or so. And stone mason Gene Carner and his helper Alanare zipping along on the cultured stone. You can see their nice chimney work in the roofing photo. In other photos, they're working on the face of our 50-foot porch (which is a cobblestone-brick pattern of stamped concrete on top). The other photo is of Don, upstairs, admiring what they've done on the chimney thus far. This cultured stone is fabulous. Unless you were in the business, I don't think you could tell it wasn't the "real thing." Needless to say, it's much more economical and goes up a lot faster.