My apologies to all hoping for pretty mountain photos today - maybe tomorrow! And for those who felt lost with yesterday’s post…”WHAT??? you mean you have not been following the minute details of my life for the past several weeks??? - it is NOT all about me???” Oh, well…Click here to read the prior post wherein Plan B is described… Then, click on the flower in the pot (upper left corner) to come “home”.

Yesterday was a whirlwind of activity here at la casa…

Dave and his grandson Zack - Bill supervised… - opened the trench. There were a few rocks…they are not called the Rocky Mountains for nothing.

The line was laid in the trench and then the backfilling started. The trench crossed the phone line 3 times and the main power to the house once. Kudos to Zack and Dave for their delicate work around those spots and everything still works! (The “Call before you Dig” people had been here and marked everything accurately.)

My vision of this process was that it would end up with a neat little foot or foot-and-a-half of dirt where the trench had been dug. I bought two bags of a mix of grass seed and starter fertilizer in a kind of foam stuff that is supposed to get grass going in 7-10 days. My plan was to put this down on the strip of dirt left by the trenching and have green stuff back (vs dirt/mud) in no time.

So…another plan is required. I was told that I need to leave the whole thing alone for awhile…let it rain, snow, etc. on the ground and see how the rocks and dirt settle in. Then maybe some compacting and topsoil. So be it.

Bob took things pretty much in stride until the other fun of the day occurred. The new mattress set we ordered was delivered…3 times. We ordered a California King and they don’t sell many so there was confusion over the boxes and the frame but 3 trips and we had it all set. And OMG - vast improvement and I feel like a new person this morning! I went too cheap on the queen set I bought when I bought this house - it was soft and saggy and too small for Bill, Bob (the cat for any new readers!) and I…and yes, Bob has wormed his way onto the bed at night, but mostly sticking to the foot between various feet. Daytime naps he takes on his own spot.

That was our day. Today, who knows?

That photo has nothing to do with this post. I took it yesterday when Karl and I walked at the state park. It is a Pointed Mariposa - I’m fairly sure - I had been calling them “butter and eggs” which is another flower altogether… I love the shape of these flowers - they are everywhere, but this one and the new little bud by the log - just pretty!

Ok, the trenching thing…

Way in the back of the photo is the power pedastal…the trench will run from there, around the house to the garage and the gray snakey thing is the PVC tubing which has the big wire inside.

Bill fed the wire and laid it out yesterday and we jointly glued the PVC together all ready for the trencher guy to come and dig the trench. We (Bill) will drop the line in, the trencher guy backfills and “Bob’s your Uncle”, the line is in the ground. The rest we (mostly Bill) will do.

The trenching thing - it is the “plan” for the day. I haven’t heard otherwise so feel relatively safe speaking of it - I don’t know why as contractor people are somewhat notorious for changing plans. But this guy - I liked him and he doesn’t actually HAVE to do this…he likes digging and is working with his college age grandson and I have high hopes that he will do as he said barring some holdup from other work, mechanical failures or ???

Successful biscuits - they rose, they baked to a golden brown, they pull apart and are light and flaky inside… (the thing I did different was going a bit heavy on the buttermilk and the shortening - per commenter Jim…) But the thing is, I really don’t care for biscuits all that much. I’ve been a bit fixated on them since I had such difficulty in Florida making even a decent biscuit. See Southern Biscuits failure.

I mixed this batch up on Saturday morning just because I KNEW what I did wrong the night I wasn’t feeling well and I could tell even from the consistency of the dough that they would be good. And then I realized I didn’t even want them - not even hot out of the oven slathered in butter. The night before we had the leftover creamed chicken on thick slices of homemade 100% whole wheat bread ( Suzanne McMinn’s Whole Grain Grandmother Bread ) and I enjoyed that much better than the biscuit scenario. I’ve mostly converted to whole grain stuff… My apologies to all those who think there is nothing better than a good biscuit - I’m over it and this is the last post about biscuits!

After making peace with the biscuit thing, Karl and I headed to town for early morning grocery shopping. But first we stopped in Somers and walked the historic railway path. It was beautiful, quiet and just a slight breeze off the lake and over the fields to where we walk.

The plan for yesterday, which actually happened as planned!! - was to drive around the lake - Flathead Lake. It is slightly over 100 miles around and is a favorite local motorcycle ride as well as drive. We did it in the Winnebago…full kitchen, our own bathroom, room for Karl and best of all that big windshield to see the view. Winnebago instead of the bus as the much smaller motorhome would fit in the state park day lots and my “plan” was to park in one for lunch and take a walk by the lake.

I bought the Winnebago 3 years ago in July and had never had any type of motorhome or rv prior. It was the largest thing I’d ever driven, parked or backed up. I did some practice driving early mornings to Walmart and used the big empty parking lot as my training ground. The drive along the west shore of the lake as a day trip was my first “outing” and introduced me to the view - being up high and the large windshield means even the driver can see some of the sights. I remember laughing with pleasure at how much fun it was - a nice reaction as I was coming off a bit of “what did I do???” after buying the darn thing.

Yesterday’s trip around the lake and particularly the lunch stop at the park where I got my rv feet wet was a fun re-living of those first little trips. And it WAS nice to fix lunch and eat it comfortably … I was never all that fond of the picnic thing, but sitting in the comfort of the motorhome, pointed towards the lake - that I can enjoy. It was warm at nearly 80 and the walk with Karl was pretty short before he got too hot - but enough to walk in the lake, get a drink and sniff along the shore. We continued on and around the lake in the Winnebago. I drove so Bill could really look around - so he was the photographer for this post.

The moon is just past full. I walked out with Karl this morning about 4:30 a.m. Coyotes were singing of a successful hunt in the eerie, high pitched, keening song that tells of their success and another’s demise - the circle of life in the wild. Usually this would send Karl into a sympathetic or empathetic ?? - howling song of his own, but he stood still and just listened. We started our walk down the driveway and the still nearly full moon was visible in a hazy circle through the trees.

As the sky lightened a bit, the coyotes grew quiet and the morning birds of summer started singing.

The sun rise behind the mountain was a firey hot pink by 5:20 and the first rays turned the wispy clouds overhead a lovely magenta.

The first full day of summer begins here in Northwest Montana.