There are wild animals in the woods. My husband did see a hand written note at the mailbox saying a large mountain lion was seen in the area. He said he did see something large, like a dog, fly across our driveway that same week during the day.
"Not sure it was a dog," he said.
Glad, I didn't see it. Of course, when an animal lunges toward you, the best time to move is when it's in mid air. Hopefully, I am standing on the edge of a cliff.
Unfortunately, that's only in cartoons. I'm raw meat.
Last week, a woman looking much younger than her 70 plus years, introduced herself to us after yoga class when we were still on the 2nd floor, standing in the adjacent room, waiting for a salon appointment. Her name is Ann.
Kristine and I walked out to the street, around the corner to the health food store to buy local grown organic vegetables. While we were heading back to our car, we heard someone coming up from behind us. It was Ann. She was carrying her dry cleaning. She forgot to tell us that it's her daughter-in-law, who teaches our yoga class.
Standing on the busy sidewalk, we only had a few minutes to tell each other our life story, which we did. Her husband is 3rd generation in Whitefish …
Can this place get any friendlier? Whitefish is a small community; therefore, we barely moved out of our tracks to accomplish all that we needed to do that day while meeting the locals.
We were told by the locals that we should meet our neighbors.
Kristine and I walked down the road from our home with a sack of Kristine's zucchini bread and caramel candy with"getting-to-know-you" cards , as an introduction to the neighbors.
Our nearest neighbor, down the hill and across the road had already introduced herself some days ago when she heard Kristine sneeze from our deck. Kristine heard her yell back, "Bless you."
Kelly and her husband just moved here this year.
She had been in the National Guard and had 2 tours under her belt, in Afghanistan and Iraq, as a "medic" and "mechanic." The military must have cataloged her under the "M's."
Don't let anyone tell you the military can't mold you into what they "need" because Kelly's degree is in Botany.
She said, "I am into canning now." She gave us 2 large jars of canned cherries to sample. We noticed that they had already accumulated several boats and vehicles, including 2 Harley. Planted a large garden; built a chicken coop and had 2 large friendly dogs. Her husband was on a business trip that day, but Kelly seemed more than capable of taking care of everything; in spite of the fact, that she is 4-5 months pregnant with their first child. In fact, I think I saw her tilling the garden earlier.
There's a small quaint, picturesque cabin on part of, what was, Kelly's property, that belongs to newly weds. We could hear the jazz band playing at their wedding a few weeks earlier. We sat on our balcony with a glass of wine enjoying the music. Of course, if we had introduced ourselves earlier, we would have been at the wedding.
Our other closest neighbor is a retired Airline pilot, Pete, and his wife, Terry. Their traditional log cabin has some of the trimmings of an American Indian home with a miniature totem pole. Our deer also grazes on his immaculate, mowed, lawn and yard.
We have been in Whitefish, Montana for 4 weeks, getting accustom to the weather. The weather seemed God sent. He knew we needed rain, so He sent it at night while we slept and in the morning the sun came out and everything was clean and cooled off.
This was in the first weeks. Now, it is pouring rain and cooler during the day. We were told it will rain most the year.
Although, it had been in the low 90's with thunder storms, some humidity, it was nothing like the California weather last week when it hit 104 degrees; along with the Santa Ana Winds that blew our patio furniture and umbrella across the yard and filled the pool with dirt and leaves.
My husband made a trip back to California for business and stopped in to see our home which is in escrow for another week.
It didn't take long before he felt the California house looked older to him. He is glad we sold it after seeing what the heat and Santa Ann winds did to the potted flowers, yard and pool. It sucked the life out of them.
Yes, I know Montana will be cold in winter, as "everyone" in California, including strangers, kept telling me; but I always felt cold in California too, during the winter months. It is all relative.
At least I know it will be cold in Montana. In fact, I have a large box of coats in the attic because I ran out of places to hang all our coats.
You would think it was winter in Montana now; looking at our Mud room rack and hall closets. We have coats galore. Just bring your own boots.
Which brings to mind a local antique dealer who tried to sell me a dirty old bear coat that even a bear would be ashamed of wearing.
He said it would be a conversational starter. I told him I would be afraid to take it off his wall for fear it would wake the sleeping rats, nestled in it.
Yes, small communities have their issues too. I want to honk my horn at drivers who pull out in front of me on the main highway between Whitefish and Kalispell, a 15 mile, 60-65 mph road "without" merging lanes.
They tend to wait until I am close enough to gauge my speed which for them just happens to be when my tailwind blows up the dust, in front of them;
although, they can see me coming a mile away in the wide open spaces of farmland which are surrounded by the Glaciers and Rockies.
Seeing the little white "crosses", some with flowers, planted along the side of the road makes me anticipate the "worst," so I slow down.
The environment, especially around our home, is very laid back and peaceful; although we are always busy doing something. Kim is sawing down dead trees and hauling them away while picking out weeds. He is building a woodshed for the firewood, and eventually, will build up to a natural wood burning sauna located near the house. Kristine is quilting and baking, almost nonstop.
We knew when we stepped off the plane in 2007 that Montana was the place to be because the open landscape and clean air made us feel alive. I remembered that feeling, the first time we visited Oceanside, CA in 1977; the ocean air was breezy and fresh. Now there is too much traffic, over population and pollution.
We enjoy Montana; like we enjoyed California in 1977. Hopefully, we will be here for awhile before the rest of the Californians come.
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| Montana: Inge's backyard last Fall |
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