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| Sunset in Ohio |
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| Starved Rock SP, Utica IL |
We put our moving disaster behind us and spent Memorial Day
Weekend at Watauga SP in WV. After the holiday, we got back on the road and got
our RV levelers repaired in Elkhart IN. When we got into MN, we caught up with
Diane, our friend from Habitat For Humanity.
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Rare Yellow Lady Slipper
We arrived in Helena on 6/15 and found out that we had no
water to our house. By the following day, repairs were completed, water restored
and we moved back in. (For more details see attached “Pumping Fiascoes”.)
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| Willow Falls SP, WI |
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Elk on a trail near Helena MT
Once we got settled in, Pat wanted to spruce the place up by
adding more plants in front of our house. These plants were supposed to be deer
resistant. Because dogs are banned in the community, the deer have free reign. After
Pat completed the planting, the buffet was open. Pat tried to close the
smorgasbord, but deer are like cruisers, they like that midnight buffet. Pat
tried various remedies, including fencing, but she was outnumbered about 20 to
1. She is now using Liquid Fence, a product with a god-awful stench. Now the
deer are just waiting for us to leave so the treatments will stop and the
stench wears out. We don’t expect many plants to survive until Spring.
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| Follow me to Pat's Buffet |
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Gold Creek Pond, WA
In July we attended the Symphony under the Stars, which was
held close to our house. It was the largest gathering in Helena since COVID
started. Music from the 80’s was the theme. Then we drove to Renton WA to see
our friends Tom and Cornelia. On the trip over we encountered plenty of smoke
from forest fires, especially in Idaho.
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With Cornelia at Seattle Waterfront
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Father and Son Fountain, Olympic Sculpture Park
In Washington, we took
a variety of day trips exploring the area. In addition to taking several hikes,
we walked the Seattle waterfront and had lunch on top of Crystal Mountain, with
great views of Mt Rainier. Of course, there was plenty of great home cooking to
keep us going. |
Don with Tom and Cornelia at Crystal Mt
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View from Crystal Mountain
On the trip back to MT, we stopped at Savenac Historic
Nursey to visit with our friend Robert. He manages the site and has continued
to improve the facility. A week later we drove up to Great Falls for the
Montana State Fair and got our fill of junk food. We met Art and Christine for
dinner in Butte MT. They had just flown in from VA.
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| Historic Train Station, Wallace ID |
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Mt State Fair - Shouldn't the horse be bigger than the rider?
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Someone had a lot of time to kill
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After a few weeks in Helena, we were in the RV and back on
the road. We entered Canada, with some difficulty, and spent a week in Fernie
BC. We meet with Sheryl, our friend, and realtor. We picked up our belongings left over after
the sale of our place on June 15th. We enjoyed hiking and eating at our
favorite restaurants. On the trip home, we spend some time on the east side of
Glacier NP. With real estate booming this year, we took the opportunity to sell
our Florida timeshare.
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| Day hike in SE Glacier NP |
Our last couple of weeks in Helena were spent with home
remodeling and repair. A contractor ripped out the carpet in the Living Room
and Pat’s BR and replace it with a laminate. Next week Pat will have the tub
replaced in her bathroom.
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Running Eagle Falls, GNP
We got some good news. When we bought a house in a Mobile
Home Park, we assumed it was a double-wide trailer. We found out recently that
it is in fact a Modular Home, which is better built than a trailer. So please
stop referring to us as Trailer Trash, the correct term would be Modular Home
Solid Waste.
We will leave Helena on 9/27 and head south to Bryce, Zion,
Grand Canyon and Sedona. Details in the next blog.
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