July,
2004
Pauline Arrives!
Pauline arrived with what furnishings we wanted from
our Mountain View Home,
minus a few things she kept for the
apartment she has there.
We also had visitors.
In what has become tradition,
the elk were present up to the
day before and again starting the day after we had company!
Really,
folks,
there are elk.
We have the pictures and video
to prove it.
Reading for this month was
The Final Frontiersman,
a rather disappointing account of a man who chose the
"subsistence" life of the Alaska interior.
Gary and Arthur had arrived in mid-June,
hoping to
see much progress on the Main House.
However,
rain
had delayed things and continued to delay work well into
July.
At the end of June,
Ken Fong (Gary's boss from Bell Labs
20 years ago) stopped by with his family and
we took a tour of the property in the rain.
Here we are near the top of the West Ridge.
Kendal,
her boyfriend Kris and Pauline's son Paul
started out accompanying Pauline,
planning to take
turns driving a minivan and a UHaul truck from Mountain View.
When the truck broke down,
they left Pauline with friends in
Sacramento and continued on to Bozeman.
After a series of adventures lasting a week,
Pauline and
her son Paul arrived in UHaul trucks.
The original truck
broke down twice.
Paul flew back to Sacramento to help
the first time the truck was fixed,
but it broke down
again near Lovelock,
Nevada.
We had hired men to load the
original truck in Mountain View,
but now Pauline and Paul
wound up unloading the truck into two smaller trucks by
themselves in 100°
heat.
Fortunately,
things went
smoothly after that and they arrived on Friday evening,
with a thunderstorm brewing in the distance.
Kendal and Kris headed back to California the next morning.
After unloading the trucks into the Carriage House
garage,
returning the trucks and extracting some damages
from UHaul,
we took a day off to play tourist.
Paul had
never been to Yellowstone and Arthur remembered little of
his visit as a toddler.
Pauline had been once on our
original trip to Montana,
but Gary is an old hand (having
visited 8 times previously since the late 1950's).
Here,
Arthur,
Pauline and Gary pose at the West Thumb Geyser
Basin.
Unfortunately,
this photo does not do justice to the lower falls in the Grand Canyon of
the Yellowstone.
Many people neglect this sight in favor of the thermal features,
but the canyon is well worth seeing.
The view from Artist's Point is an easy stroll and quite breathtaking.
This view from the bottom of Uncle Tom's Trail is worth the 800 or so
stairs and 500' vertical descent with exposures that will turn back any
with a fear of heights.
Of course,
when one is at 8,000' elevation,
the trip back up is also breathtaking.
Finish order for the upward leg:
Gary,
Arthur,
Paul;
as a surfer and scuba divemaster,
Paul was undoubtedly in the better physical condition,
but the breathing discipline for below sea level is very different than
for high mountains.
We celebrated July 4 with a barbecue,
but it was so chilly we ate indoors.
Soon after sundown,
it started to rain,
putting a literal damper on the rocket's red glare.
Gary,
Pauline,
Paul and Arthur drove two vehicles to
Boise to attend a wedding.
Then Pauline and Paul went
on to California as Gary and Arthur returned to Bozeman.
Pauline will make several visits to Bozeman before relocating
for good at the end of October.
Since then,
the weather has been more cooperative and
the foundation was poured on July 12.
We expect framing
to be underway within two weeks.
Arthur has started
putting in some full work days helping with the construction.
Neko loves her huge yard;
we let her run free,
but she sticks close to home.
She spends a lot
of time sitting in the sun smelling whatever the
wind blows her way.
Any time one of us goes for
a walk,
she has to try to lead the way;
this means
she often tires herself out running back and forth
trying to stay in front as we change direction.
We've been finding noxious weeds around the property
and resorted to spraying them in disturbed areas.
We released a
plague of insects
on the weeds in areas away from building sites.
It turns out one of the best sources for these bugs is
right here in Bozeman.
Be sure to check the
Main House Progress
page to see how it develops.
