October 11, 2017
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| Montana wildfires were the worst in many years burning almost a half million acres. |
Our new home is coming together now. The smoke from all the wildfires this summer settled in our pretty little valley but it didn't deter our builder and his crew. When we last posted, the detached garage/rv shelter/bunkhouse slab was being prepared for the slab and walls.
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| This is the floor area of the garage before they poured. That's the bunkhouse (apartment) in the back. It will be self sufficient for our family and guests to stay in when they visit. |
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| Putting the final touches on the slab after pouring. |
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| Our front porch before they poured and installed the posts and beams. |
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| The view of the Swan and Mission mountain ranges we will have from the back patio. |
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| View of the house from the back. Some of the windows are still covered with plywood but there will be glass windows and doors where you see the openings above the patio. |
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| Inside looking toward the front door and master bedroom. |
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| The great room looking toward the front porch after enclosing it. The wall behind Cathryn will be 12 feet tall and the peak in the center 18 feet. |
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That is the first wall of the detached garage. The door will be a small roll up that will enter the garden/tool area of the garage.
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| They are getting the shingles on the roof and wrapping up the exterior all around now. Soon we will see windows and doors installed. |
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| This is how things looked the last time we were at the site. |
That is about all we can tell and show you about the house construction at this time but we will continue to document as it progresses. Our builder is doing a wonderful job and we are very impressed with the quality of work he and his crew are doing. It certainly is exciting to drive out to our little piece of heaven every couple of days and see the progress being made.
Other things happening with us......
Our garden was very nice to us this year other than the apple tree which only gave us a couple of apples after producing about a hundred last year! Our new peach tree gave us three and our new plum gave us about seven. Not bad but we now have to start all over at our new place. We are planning a nice orchard and garden.
In addition to our local hawk (we named him Boots) and owl we shared with you previously, we recently had a visit from two beautiful bald eagles and a bunch of wild turkeys like this guy.
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| These beautiful birds are looking over the Flathead River which runs close to our new home. |
We recently took a roadtrip to the National Bison Range, located about 75 miles south of Kalispell. Established in 1908 to provide sanctuary for the American bison, it is the oldest Wildlife Refuge in the United States and consists of 18,500 acres. It is home to about 350 - 500 American bison and shared with elk, white-tail and mule deer, pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, black bear and over 200 species of birds.
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| These are elk antlers. Elk shed their antlers during March and April every year. |
We will do another posting next month. Until then....happy trails to you and yours. We hope you are enjoying this very beautiful time of the year as much as we are. Happy Pumpkin Time!
John, Cathryn and Annie.
