Sunday and Sunny (What Flathead Lake Is)

Today we attended church in Polson, during Priesthood Meeting President Jensen and others asked the same quesiton they always do, "When are you moving up here?"  I told them our place was for sale and they were shocked.  President Jensen said he never thought that would happen.  This afternoon as we were sitting outside Mac Swan came over and talked to us and the 2nd showing of the place the people thought it was to small for them and if they built a house they would have 1.3 - 1.5 million in it and he said that get's into a real competitive field.  I don't know if he was hinting at the fact maybe we should lower the price more - I really don't like that idea - there would be no room for negotiation and we are not giving the place away - that was only the 2nd walk through anyway and we will see what happens.  Mark came up to be with his family it was good to have him up here he doesn't get a chance very often.  Jared and his family are supposed to be coming tomorrow and I think we will go home after the fireworks tomorrow evening.  We are taking Issac, Mark, Hailey and Luke to Chico Hot Springs in the Paradise valley and then down through Yellowstone Wed and Thursday.  Tenell is still on schedule and doing well so who knows how soon Saundra will be heading for Portland and I will follow later to pick her up.

More Mountain Adventure:

Day 25 Tuesday May 17^th

Today was a good day.  I walked the lower end of Royal Basin, no antlers, but I had to  walk it just to make sure.  Interesting country, lots of mines, most caved in, even found a claim notice, I took it out of the rusty can and it was all crumbly,  I could read the name John Miller, couldn’t read the date, I read 300’ something and that was it.  I carefully replaced it, may be the man is no longer around, the mine hadn’t been worked for a long time and it was partially caved in, a great place for bears to hibernate.  Lots of ticks on this walk over 20 on my shirts alone, not counting what I had taken off along the way, even one on my hat.    I should be collecting them all for VaRonica and I’s Rocky Mountain Tick Foundation.  None of these would have made real good mounts however, they were all pretty small.  When they get big is when they are full of someone’s blood, speaking of which the skeeters are huge and very slow you can whap them pretty easy if you watch.   More ticks, more other bugs, more flowers, I think the Flint Creek Range thinks it is finally a little spring.  Suppose to be rain in the next several days we shall see, hope if it does things dry put before I pack up.  Rolled a nice representative rock up to the back of the trailer (actually drug it on the scoop shovel, need to bring home for the yard as a representative of where I have lived this past month.  A mouse kept bugging me last night I had to keep telling him to quit horsing around so I could sleep, he was in my news papers, and by my shoes, 6 feet or so from my head, he finally took me serious and was quieter.  Lots of grouse today, the Franklin or Ruff strut around with their tail feathers spread out, but the darn blues take off and scare the piddle out of ya, they sound like a 747 taking off and you generally never see them till they are in flight.  Found some more diamond willow, need to take my chainsaw and get more and the piece of juniper that is laying above the road where I walked yesterday.    If not this time I can always come back.  I think tomorrow I will rewalk a park I walked a couple of weeks ago, I know there was nothing in the park itself, but I am real curious about some of the edges and across a canyon, it is not open, but the elk have to have moved in and out of there, it is where the PAH’s found some  this years antlers when I first got here.  I am definitely running out of any openings to walk as I have walked a lot of places, now it is almost all in the trees and brush and there are a lot fewer antlers there, but sometimes there are so a walking I will go.  Writing on this first so I still have to write on my book before bed, didn’t do much with it yesterday my battery was just about done in.  So ta ta for now.

Day 26 Wednesday May18th

Same schedule as most days only today I walked in the same location I did a couple weeks ago, last time I walked there, there was quite a biut of snow, none now.  I didn’t walk right out to the open side hill but rather climbed a steep ridge to the south of it, then I crossed over at the head of where two good sized canyons come together and walked between the open side hill and the main canyon, I cove4d a lot of ground and saw a lot of beautiful country and found 0 antlers, so again I say they main purpose is my walk and not the antlers – they are just icing when I find them.  I walked over 3 hours and it was a good strenuous walk, it was good until on the way down my feet hurt and my right knee, I shoulde take something before these walks, maybe it would help.  I came back to camp and go the chain saw and went to a place where I had found a nice juniper tree that had been dead a long time and was laying up across some other downfalls so it wasn’t rotten, I got two good pieces from it about 7 feet total and then found another smaller juniper that was also very dry and got 2 more pieces totaling about 7 feet.   I had been eyeing some diamond willow in the bottom of Wyman Creek and I got a few pieces of it as well.  Then I got a bucket of water from Boulder Creek to wash up with and then rode up past Princeton to the old Brooklyn Mine, tried to get up Royal Gold Creek, to muych snow, came back found some rusted metal pieces about 18” by 4” a whole bunch of them would make excellent roofing for bird houses (I didn’t have anything to carry them in so I left them, I need to go back and get them sometime)  hen I tried to go up Little Gold Crek and got quite a ways up it and beyond where I should have, I got stuck in deep snow, high centered and the wheels just spun.  Wouldn’t you know it I had taken the shovel off of the rack in back where I had carried it since I got here,  I kicked the snow out from the front of the 4 wheeler and hooked the winch to a tree across the road and whoopee with a little pull and the machine in 4 wheel drive I got it sideways in the road and then worked it around,  good thing to it was pretty late and I was about 5 miles above Princeton, where a couple people live year round and the rest come in the summer.  Got back to camp, ate, read now to Mosiah 3.  Now typing in a warm (actually hot tent, I built the fire up to high – it’s feast or famine.  It snowed a little today, rained a little, but overall not a bad day.  Going to go write on my book.   It is 8:49 pm.