July came suddenly. We had a long spring in Yellowstone, with cooler temps, random June snow showers, and lots of rain. July came in its full glory, vaulting us from 70 degrees to 95 degrees overnight. Although we have gone hiking almost every weekend, going camping just hasn’t happened yet.
Fishing just hasn’t been the same for Tony since New Zealand. Not only are the rivers too high to fish right now, he is still just having withdrawals from those gin clear rivers on the other side of the world. So he had to find something else to occupy his time with this spring, which is Elk shed hunting. For those that don’t know what this is, Elk have really big antlers that fall off every spring. People then go into the National Forests and try to find these antlers and then they are able to sell them, sometimes for a very pretty penny. Tony got lucky and did find a few antlers, but really just getting into the woods and getting off trail is what he has come to love the most. He has taken us and the dogs on some fun adventures into more seldom explored areas this spring.
I had an adventure of my own this spring by getting to work in Glacier National Park. The company I work for took over some of the hotels in Glacier (including restaurants, gift shops, etc inside the hotels.) The park is 7 hours north of Yellowstone on the Montana-Canadian border. What started off as a 4 day trip, turned into 3 weeks, but with that kind of mountain scenery there were no complaints on my part. The views are breathtaking with teal glacier water, high rugged mountains, and even the occasional free ranging horse meandering on the out skirting roads of the park. I had a wonderful time getting to work there and gained some great experience. I think Tony kind of missed me and was tired of eating frozen pizza and smoothies, so it was time for me to return to Yellowstone by mid June.
I returned to a blooming garden that Tony devotes at least an hour to every day. He ensures that all the plants have enough water, sunlight, and just general company and friendship they deserve. So far our we have baby green tomatoes, baby peppers, delicious carrots, kale, lettuce, onions, a handful of snow peas every day, and lots of squash plants starting to grow. Needless to say having a house this year has been more than wonderful and we are enjoying every minute of it. We have two roommates, Becka and Krissy, who will be with us until the end of August. Tony has to put up with three girls and we all have to put up with Tony, it seems like an even keel to me!
The 4th of July was as eventful as a small Montana town can get. Although there is not an organized fireworks show, there are just lots of people who by huge quantities of fireworks and just shoot them off in front of the local BBQ restaurant. I have never lived in a town that allowed fireworks within the city limits, especially not one that posts in the local newsletter to please “only use fireworks between June 24th-July 4th between noon and 11pm.” We stayed at home and were able to have a wonderful show from the front window, overlooking several hours of fireworks in front of the moonlight mountain across the town. Roxy however didn’t appreciate the fireworks nearly as much, which resulted in lots of standing on me and breathing in my face while I was trying to sleep. Sam ran around the yard and into the fence trying to get to the fireworks.
Summer is here and it is fun living on the hill, overlooking and watching this tiny town swell with visitors in these hot months. There is ice cream, BBQ’s, hot sidewalks, young love, dogs walking, a river bustling with rafts and fisherman, flowers blooming, elk roaming, and the sweet sense that everyone is on vacation, even if you’re not.
