Spring carrots

A few days ago (between our rain showers) I finally dug up the rest of my garden carrots. A little late. I should have done this at the beginning of March and not near the end.

The tops of many of the carrots were soft and mushy. Still quite a number of the carrots came out good. The longer the carrot (the farthest from the top wet topsoil) the better the carrot was. I only lost a little more than 1/3 of my carrots. This year it was the top 1/3 of the carrots instead of the year where the pocket gopher got into my garden and I lost the bottom 1/3 of many of my carrots. I am glad I planted lots and lots of carrots last year!

The carrots are good. They have color and moisture unlike the still-good but slowly-drying carrots I have stored in my crawl space from when I dug them last November/December.

Next winter I plan to leave many carrots in the ground again but this time I will protect them better. I will put some straw over them then put plastic or tarps to protect them from getting wet. It appears getting wet was the major reason they started spoiling this year.

Pocket gophers

I've started this year's campaign to rid my property of those #$&% pocket gophers!

I left my traps out in the field over winter - partly because then I would know where I had left off and partly because it snowed before I could gather them up. Over the weekend I finally got around to checking the traps. I had 4 very dead pocket gophers in my 6 traps. I added these gophers to my count from last year to make a total of 209 pocket gophers in 2006.

There are fresh mounds of dirt so I reset my traps; and I have caught 6 pocket gophers so far this year. I'm off to a good start.

I have noticed that there are no fresh dirt mounds in the part of the hayfield I cleared of gophers last year. Good!! But as this is the breeding season I imagine the gophers aren't in a traveling mood. If I can clear the final third of the hayfield I should be in good shape to keep the gophers under control - especially if I can get them before they give birth to more pocket gophers. I have noticed fresh dirt mounds here and there in the south pasture - so there will be plenty of trapping to do this year once I clear the hayfield.

In case you are interested in tracking my progress this year I have added a running count of trapped pocket gophers to my blog's sidebar. I also listed the totals I had trapped in previous years.

• 2006 - 6
• 2005 - 209
• 2004 - 114
• 2003 - 29

Other wildife... the robins are out and around gathering material to make their nests. I haven't seen where they are making their nests, but they have learned not to make a nest in the tool shed anymore.

The pheasants are back! This year I have 4 of them running around my yard. This past weekend they were racing one another around the house and front yard.

I know where at least one deer likes to jump the barb wire fence along the road. I found a large pile of white course hair under the fence in one spot where the wire is bent down a little ways.

And I've seen a few birds (hawks and eagles?) floating on high above the ranch. Even without the summer thermals the birds seem to find air currents where they don't have to flap their wings.

And over the weekend the most gorgeous mountain views! The snowcapped mountains look great this time of year but Saturday evening the sun came out from behind the clouds near sunset and brightly lit the snowy tops of the mountains. Beautiful!!! I stood outside and watched until the sun set and the tallest of the mountains went from bright white to grey-white. Saturday - between rain showers - the lower half of the mountains had a long grey cloud running up against and along them. The top half of the mountains were viewable and the very tops brushed into the bottoms of more clouds. Grey, blue, white - a simple color(less) scheme but most impressive viewing.

Spring burning

Yup, it's that time of year again. Time for my "Spring Burning"! (Any excuse to not do my house spring cleaning!)

The grass is only starting to green in some warm areas so I'm getting an earlier start this year. Last year I generated a lot of smoke from burning the green grass mixed in with the dead grass. Also, last year that green grass slowed some fires down as I had to tend the fires to keep them going. Well, I guess that's better that than having an out of control fire. As with every year at this time a few of those runaway fires make the evening news.

Initially I thought my fire wouldn't really burn as the ground is still wet. But the dead grass is tinder dry, and with a little breeze, the fire moves right along. Thursday was our warmest day this year with a high temperature of 57 F. The light breeze from here then there then over there made where to burn tricky at times as I always think of the wind direction when anticipating if the fire gets out of control. Having a fire burn towards a building or the neighbors is not a good thing.

Ordinarily it would take me a number of days to cover all what I had burned Thursday. I got lots done: the areas in the corral where the cattle didn't eat all the grass, the fruit tree / garden area, a small part of the NE pasture by the trees, the entire ditch along the property (that usually takes me two times - once for the northern and once for the southern ditch), 1/2 of the front yard (the half that did not burn last year), and along the hayfield fence: the north, east, and south borders. Or I should most of the south fence line. The SW corner has tall pine trees south of the fence and in the shade not all of the snow has melted on my property. No big deal. I can burn it later, or skip it as I burnt that section last year. I even burnt around my mailbox in the ditch across the road. Not an easy thing to do as that ditch has lots of old dead grass along with many snowberry bushes mixed in. On top of that the pasture next to that ditch hasn't been mowed in a number of years and has lots of tall dead grass. Not an area one wants to have a fire escape. But I was very careful and had no problems.

I also didn't set any trees on fire - unlike last year where a pine tree trunk in the fruit tree / garden area caught fire.

In the northern part of the ditch I found a dead squirrel. Good. I hope it was the one I seen prancing around my yard last week. I heaped a bunch of pine needles and cones on the squirrel and burnt away.

When I was burning at the southern end of the ditch a teenage boy in a car stopped to tell me that the fire was burning in my field. I asked him if it was on this or the other side of my driveway and he said the other side. I had made sure no fire was burning north of the driveway before I left that area. I was just at the point where I was going to burn along the southern fence line. I knocked the fire down so I could go back to check where the kids said the fire was burning. No fire was burning north of the driveway. I think the kid meant at the north end of the hayfield where the fire left the ditch and moved into the hayfield itself. I wanted that to burn. *sigh* By "driveway" he must of thought the approach across ditch to the hayfield.

As I walked back to the southern fence line I noticed two old fence posts smoldering and smoking heavily. *sigh* I went and got my pail of water and poured it on the fence posts. The posts were no longer in the ground as they had rotted away some time ago. Even with nearby newer posts anchoring thebarb wire fence to the ground, I still was able to lift the smoldering posts high enough to get their bottoms in the pail of water. That definitely put the fire out smoldering under and inside the posts. Then I went and burnt along the southern fence line.

Friday was cool and damp so I didn't burn. Last night it rained and is raining again now. So no more burning till next week.

I probably only have a few more days of burning along the weste fence line, and in a few areas of tall grass, before I turn my attention to burning a few more tree stumps this year. I am way ahead of schedule as I usually am at this point mid-April to the end of April. Maybe I'll be able to get an earlier start on digging my garden this year!

Health, metal, pruning, birds, seeds, and cattle

Spring has sprung. The weather is so nice (high temps in the upper 40s F) that I spend part of my time outside. So much for finishing my house's spring cleaning.

My finger, which had the nail through it, is doing amazingly well. It is healing nicely with no pain nor mess. It is healing better than when I get cuts on my hands. I think I will end up with a small round scar where the nail entered the finger. But it shouldn't be that noticable.

I spoke with my health care PPO, Interwest Health. Interwest Health said that while the Minot doctor who did my cataract surgery is a provider for Interwest Health, they are not with Interwest Health and Assurant. Huh? Interwest Health's web site says the doctor is with Interwest Health. They said a different insurance company is associated with my doctor and Interwest Health in North Dakota. Assurant and Interwest Health cover Montana. *sigh* Yes, Interwest Health agrees this is confusing. I spoke with the boss at Interwest Health and he agreed they would talk with Assurant Health about my situation. I am on my way to the post office to mail copies of my medical bills, etc. to Interwest Health. Cross your fingers!

I also found that I have no Interwest Health in-network vision care provider in the Flathead valley. Not sure where I will get the eyeglasses I need after my cataract surgery. Missoula is 120 miles away. *sigh*

The young neighbor couple to my south had quite a number of large metal/aluminum sheets they no longer wanted. Yesterday I loaded them into my pickup and brought them home. I don't have a need for them now, but I have storage room to keep them until I do find a need for them.

I cleaned the ditch along my property of cans and garbage people tossed over the winter. The next day more beer cans appeared.

It is too late to prune my fruit trees. With the snow and cold last December I wasn't able to do the next phase of my multi-year project to prune my apple trees. I checked the trees last week and found the buds are no longer hard. It may still be ok to prune, but after the year I pruned in the late spring and then got no apples that year, I don't want to chance it this year.

I put bird food out for the birds in the bush by my front window. It took a few days but the birds now have found the food. I enjoy sitting by the window, and during the TV's commercials, watching the colorful birds eat. One bird is black and white with a red rectangle at the back and top of its head.

Over winter when I was away no mice made it inside my house. I guess I my insulation and sealing project last fall made a difference. I did notice a squirrel bounding across my yard last week. I hope the squirrel is passing through and not staying around.

I bought the garden seeds I need for planting this year. It is far too early to plant outside but I have found the stores are on a "southern U.S." planting schedule. By the time one plants in Montana the big box stores are shipping their garden seeds back to their warehouse. I had to go to Shopko to find beet seeds. Beets are not that popular and most places don't carry their seeds.

I started some seeds in planters in the house. It is about 6-8 weeks before it is safe to plant outside, so time for some of the seeds to be started. I usually use dirt to start seeds but my mother gave me a bag of potting soil for Christmas.(Another thing I had to lug back on the train! ) She wants my starter seeds to do better - I think she is tired of my complaining each year on how they start so slowly and poorly. I used the whole bag on the plants I am starting early. I planted tomatos, cantalope (ever hopeful), pumpkin, bell pepper, broccoli and cabbage. I need to start more plants and will use dirt to start those seeds. That will be a good test in the difference potting soil makes over plain old dirt.

I spoke with Dan about pasturing cattle again this year. He plans on doing so. He mentioned it is getting harder to find calves to buy as people are getting out of raising cattle. For example his neighbor, Ed, had enough and sold his cattle, equipment, and land this winter. I knew he was frustrated last summer with equipment breakdowns as he wasn't able to cut my hay last summer. Guess he didn't get over it. With a regular job Ed didn't need the headache of a farm also.

I have lots of projects to do this spring and summer. First off I have to work on the corral fence. Work! Work! Work! Still I do take time each day to appreciate the snow covered mountains.

Talking with a pretty girl

Yesterday I talked with a pretty girl. Even though she actually is a woman, "Pretty Woman" congures up the movie. So I use 'pretty girl' as I don't like the movie, and because the woman I spoke with was not a hooker. And since she was well younger than me I feel I can use the phrase girl.

I was in the automotive section of Walmart - not a place one thinks of finding a pretty girl. She works there. I was looking for a wiring kit for my pickup when she came through the aisle with a hand held scanner to scan the items and enter their quantity out on the shelf.

I stepped back to give her room and she said I didn't have to move. With a laugh she said if she needed to get to an item she would push me aside. She also clued me in to a small booklet with more info on the wiring harnesses.

I intially wasn't paying attention to her as I was in my typical shopping mode: get in, find it, buy it, leave as quickly as possible. But since she spoke to me, and seemed approachable, I asked what she was doing with the scanner. Earlier as she moved down the aisle I had just heard its beep as it scanned and I missed her entering the quantity in the keypad. This led to a conversation where she explained this was her aisle of responsibility. The scanner made it nice so she didn't have to mentally remember how many items she needed to restock - although she said she could remember. I told her I could never remember as one distraction and I lose track of counts. She said sometimes her kids caused her to loose track. Wow - I didn't think was old enough to have kids - much less two of them. I didn't tell her that though! I wasn't sure how old she was but intially I thought around 20. By the end of our conversation maybe late 20s?

Somehow our conversation got to the weather and winter. She was originally a California girl, although she had also lived in New Mexico and Maryland) and felt Montana winters were cold. I told her it was all relative as I orginally came from North Dakota.

I don't know how it entered into the conversation but she mentioned visiting Europe. Some guy she knew was going and she decided to go with. Maybe it was connected to our talk on the weather. Europe! Well... I was curious and asked her where she visited (London, Paris, and a small town in Holland). As I have visited London and Paris I had lots of questions on what she saw there and her impressions.

Eventually I asked why she moved to Montana. A year or so she moved here as she plans to go riding in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Move to Montana to visit the "Bob"? One can visit Montana and visit the "Bob". And for horses she said. Something about liking/having/training horses. I told her that when one is young, now is the time to do stuff like this before one gets settled. She claimed she wasn't that young - and I wasn't brave enough to ask her further what her age was. She thought she should be thinking of settling down soon.

I was impressed by her uprooting her life to follow her dream on what she wanted to do. Oh.. when I was younger! Moving and living somewhere new is a young person's activity even though most young people don't do that. She got me thinking - albeit temporarily - of traveling somewhere just to do it. I say temporarily as I have traveled lots, so it doesn't have the same allure now to look at a map, or read of a place, and decide I have to visit it.

When talking about winter she mentioned she still has snow at her place - which was near Marion, MT. Another Walmart employee came by with a tube of Quicksteel and told her she should use it to fix her water pipes. Apparently a pipe to her horse's water tank froze and broke this past winter and she hasn't fixed it yet. "On her to-do list - which is getting longer and longer!" I explained how I used Quicksteel and found it more for temporary fixes on water pipes as a pipe's expansion and contraction over time will loosen the seal.

She had to get back to work. I had a great time talking with her and was happy she took the time to spend a few extra minutes talking. Especially as she was so beautiful. Beautiful and not stuck up. It was a beautiful day outside with the clear sunny skies and the snowcapped mountains. Our conversation and her beauty put me into a great mood. I think I had a smile on my face the rest of the day. It doesn't take much to make a man happy - a pretty girl and a smile and taking a few minutes to talk.

Nail through finger

Ouch! I had a little accident late Friday afternoon. I have a pile of odds & ends of wood that I am removing nails from. While separating two long 2x4s that were nailed together my finger got caught between them. I had started the separation using a crowbar but it was slow work. To make it go quicker I used my hands to pry the boards apart.

The boards are long and they snapped back trapping the fingers of my right hand between them. I tried slipping my fingers out but they wouldn't move - even though the boards were not tightly shut. I separated the boards slightly but my hand still wouldn't move. Then I saw a nail poking through my index finger. Oh!! The nail went through my finger near the first knuckle and to one side of the finger. A half inch and it would have missed my finger. I wonder if the bone deflected the nail as the exit point was almost on the side of my finger.

The nail was about 3 inches long and accounting for the 2 inch board, about an inch was through my finger. I had to separate the boards even further to allow my finger to slide up and over the nail. Success.

The nail, while not fat, was a decent thickness, as befits a 3 inch long nail. Judging on how much I bleed from paper cuts my first thought was how the blood could gush from the hole once I removed the nail. But it wasn't too bloody. Yes, some blood eventually came but I bleed more from paper cuts.

I washed the finger, put rubbing alcohol on it, then benzadine (some sort of brown staining disinfectant). Now to watch for infection. The good news is the nail is shiney and new with no rust on it. Yes, I have had a tetnus shot within the past 10 years. *whew!* And since the nail went all the way through, nothing should be left inside the wound.

Surprisingly I felt no pain. Even with my high pain threshold I thought I still would have felt some pain. No pain when the nail was in my finger; and later after the shock wore off, all I felt was a minor throbbing for a while. Today my finger feels stiff. I have a small red circle where the nail entered and a very small cut where it exited my finger.

If I get a scar from this at least this time I know how. I still am puzzled how I got the long thin scar on the back of my left hand this past December/January. It looks like a scratch but why it healed into a scar is a mystery.

Health Insurance - Bah!

Now that my cataract surgery is over, I am dealing with my health insurance company. I have health insurance through Assurant Health. The way they have their plans is to have PPOs for in-network and out-of-network health providers. My PPO is through Interwest Health.

Now I live in Montana but found out about my cataracts when visiting my mother in N. Dakota. As my cataracts were fast growing, and because I would have family to help me after the surgery I had the surgery in N. Dakota. I also checked with the clinic before the operation to see if they dealt with Assurant Health and Interwest Health. Yes.

Now when I get my bills Assurant tells me that I had my surgery out-of-network and therefore they will only pay 80%. The last bill also listed an amount they would not pay. Just an amount - not what or why. I called Assurant this morning to find out what they won't pay for and why. The woman told the amount was more than Assurant feels is reasonable. Therefore I am responsible for that amount. What?! The woman kept just repeating they wouldn't pay and it is my responsibility when I explained my situation. She also told me to talk with Interwest Health if I disagreed. It was like talking to a robot.

I checked the Interwest health's web site. They handle Montana, North and South Dakota residents and health providers. I looked up health providers in their network and the North Dakota clinic is part of their network. Okay... now tell me again why I am being told they are out-of-network?

I looked up optomotrists, ophthalmologists, and eye vision centers in Kalispell. None listed as part of their network. I noticed that the list of cities I can choose from include cities in Idaho, and the cities of Spokane and as far away as Seattle in Washington. So, again, why is Minot considered out-of-network?

I guess I'll be on the phone to Interwest Health later this afternoon.

Bah!

Red headed women

What's with me and my interest in red headed women lately? It wasn't always like this. When I was younger I gravitated to blondes or brunettes. I never have had a red headed girlfriend. But now red haired women catch my eye.

I always liked Susan Sarandon. Yes, she has red hair but I never really noticed that feature about her. I mainly remember Ms. Sarandon from her roles in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", "Atlantic City" and "White Palace", among her many memorable movies. I also like Julianne Moore. But again it was not because of her red hair; I liked many of the movie roles she has played.


And there is the actress Alysson Hannigan from the "American Pie" movies. I initally noticed her more for her "American Pie" movie character. Who wouldn't? Would she be appealing without her red hair? I think so. But her red hair really adds to her look.

Women with red hair are so noticeable to me now. When I really started to notice red haired women was after seeing the following photo of Tori Amos.

I have listened to Tori's music since the early 90s and knew her mainly by her music. But that changed when I recently read an article about her in a 1998 issue of Rolling Stone magazine.

One photo in the article was a closeup of her face that highlighted her pale skin and red hair. Captivating. I put that magazine page on my dining room wall. Looking online for a copy of that photo I found other interesting photos of her.


Lastly was the TV show, "Dancing with the Stars". Anna, one of the professional dancers, has red hair. She is originally from Russia, so I can say "Russian red hair". Other celebrities on the show were better dancers than her celebrity partner, Jerry Rice, but I kept hoping he wouldn't be eliminated each week so I could see Anna and him dance again.

Anna has a definite Russian personality that came through in her comments, and that made her interesting to watch. Anna seemed to be fun, fiesty, and not shy in speaking her opinions. I imagine it would be her way or the highway?


Still, that doesn't answer why I am now intrigued by red headed women? *shrug* Maybe I have grown up a little?

Is Bruce Springsteen right?
"Man, you ain't lived
Till you've had your tires rotated
By a redheaded woman."

Insulating mom's attic

I got it done! I added insulation to my mom's attic before I returned to Montana. Monday before I left the weather was finally nice enough to allow my brother and I to do the work. Whew! Just in time as that was the final day I could have done the work.

We started at mid-morning - early for me! We drove to Menards to buy the cellulose insulation and get their insulation blower. I bought 30 bags - enough to insulate the lower attic. The bags of insulation were shrink wrapped together. The workers cut the plastic shrink wrap at the "30 bags" mark and pushed the whole bunch into my brother's pickup. That worked great as I am not sure 30 bags and the blower would all fit if each bag had to be loaded individually. With the shrink wrap the bags that were higher than the sides of the pickup stayed in the pickup.

My brother fed the bags of cellulose insulation into the blower. Fortunately the blower came with a long cord so I could also control in the attic when the blower operated. I found that blowing cellulose is very dusty (see photo below) and when blowing the insulation against the eves I had to stop to let the air clear to see that I wasn't overfilling the area. The good news is that, unlike fiberglass, cellulose insulation does not itch. One just gets very, very dusty. While cellulose is made from recycled newspapers, it didn't look or feel like it. It felt soft.

3 hours later I finished filling the lower attic with insulation. It was now 3 pm and I felt I had time to add insulation to the upper attic. Back to Menards my brother and I went. Because of the wet spot I had found during my insulation preparation, I decided to leave that area and a path to that area free of added insulation. I calculated I needed another 32 bags of insulation to fill the upper attic as it was slightly larger than the lower attic. I decided to buy 30 bags.

Again the Menard's worker cut the plastic shrink wrap at the 30 bag mark and together we pushed the bundle into the pickup. Without the blower behind the bags I worried a bag may fall out the back. At the first intersection I jumped out of the pickup and moved four bags from the back of the bundle into the pickup's bed. Wouldn't you know it a line of cars quickly came up from behind so I had to act quickly.

Halfway through town, as we stopped at a red light, another pickup pulled up beside us in the left turn lane and the woman passenger told us we had lost a bag two intersections back. What?! We turned around and drove back but could not find the bag. It was only minutes later but someone already picked it up. The police station was nearby so we stopped and I let the police's lost and found department know we had lost a bag of insulation. No... make that two bags as I recounted and found we had lost two of them. *argh!!*

Back at home more problems: I couldn't find the flashlight I had been using to provide extra light when blowing against the eves. Eventually I found it buried in the lower attic's insulation near the opening to the attic. I only found it by touch as the insulation felt warm near where the operating flashlight was located. The flashlight was on but I couldn't see any light from it buried in the insulation. Then I couldn't find my dust mask. What is going on here?! I only had one mask so I had to look high and low before I finally found it.

Time was wasting and I was an hour behind where I expected to be. Even though I had a trouble light to see I appreciated the extra light that came in from the attic's vents and gables. The upper attic is the 'smaller in height' attic so moving around was slower. Then the blower blew a fuse. *argh!* Near the end I lost the flashlight again. I know, I know, how could I lose the flashlight? I don't know, but I did. This time it took longer to locate as I had a larger area to search before finding it.

In the end I found that with two more bags of insulation I would have completely finished insulating the upper attic. The wet spot on the roof was now dry so with the two extra (lost) bags I would have blown them in to finish insulating the attic. *sigh* I guess the path to the wet spot was meant to be clear so my brother can check it later this summer to see if the roof leaks when it rains.

It was now 8 pm and I wanted to return the blower before Menards closed at 9 pm. I brushed off some of the insulation that had clung to me and went to Menards looking similar to the photo below. After I got home I finally was able to take a hot shower to clean up. It felt great.

The next day I was very stiff and sore from all the work, the crawling around and sometimes laying on studs. It was painful to move. It took me more than two days to recover. But it was worth it to insulate mom's house.

Click on the photos if you want a larger view.

The blower and some of the insulation in bags. Also what the cellulose insulation looks like before it goes through the blower. A rotating bar at the bottom of the blower breaks up the chunks, and after traveling through 100 ft of hose the insulation comes out in fine particles.


The lower attic with a foot of cellulose insulation. I guess I didn't get it completely level at the one foot height. And did I mention that blowing cellulose is very dusty?

First days back home

I am adjusting to being back in Montana. It's not really too hard - all I have to do is look at the snow covered mountains shining blue and white in the sunlight. Beautiful!!!

Ok... the first day was a little hard as the sky was overcast and a strong wind was blowing with the temperature at the freezing mark. Not exactly the home coming I would have liked. But yesterday and today have been sunny and the wind relatively light. That's more like it!

Initially the only snow other than on the mountains (and boy does it look cold to see snow covered mountains on a cloudy day!), was snow in the shadows of buildings, etc. Other than the green of pine trees everything is a dull brown. The night before last it snowed and that 'prettied' it up. The snow was light and most of that has now melted away.

Even after almost 3 months away from here everything - so far - appears to be as I left it. Even items I forgot to put away in buildings were sitting here and there. Oops.. how did I forget to put that away?! Some willow branches were on the ground outside the house and had to be picked up, but not as many as prior winters as I have trimmed that willow tree back quite a bit.

I found my furnace changed how it operated. I set the thermostat at 53 F and the furnace would run from 52 to 57 to give me a 55 F average. When I returned I found the furnace now runs from 47 to 53. Not sure why it changed. Fortunately even with the cooler temperature in the house my water pipes did not freeze. One of my plants did die, and another lost half of its leaves. Jan did stop by to water my plants so their condition must be due to the cooler house temperature.

My garden's carrots and beets that I had stored in my house's crawl space came through the winter quite well. I already made a batch of carrot bread. Now to dig up the remaining carrots from my garden.

By cleaning the ashes from my wood stove pipe prior to leaving, and vacuuming, this helped remove the house's wood smoke smell as the house didn't smell too strong of wood smoke when I returned. I already have grown accustomed to the smell again as I no longer smell it. The same happens with the smell of fresh cut logs at the lumber mills. Normally I don't smell them, but have noticed their smell the past few days. I like their smell.

My house is dustier than normal. (That bad!) Even when I am not around the dust seems to settle and grow! I spent this morning cleaning some windows and furniture. I need to do 'spring cleaning' soon on the rest of the house before I get distracted with other things.

Train trip back to MT

I am back home among my Tall Pines.

Pre-trip

It was hectic. Yes, I did get insulation added to my mother's attic. This was done 2 days before I returned to Montana. I'll try to write about that another day. Suffice it to say, I was very stiff and sore my last day in N. Dakota, and even during my trip. I feel better now, thank you.

In addition to packing and last minute stuff that I never got around doing during my long time in NoDak, I also baked 4 batches of pumpkin bread to leave with my mother and brother.

When I picked up my train tickets earlier the agent asked if I was part of the group traveling from Minot to Whitefish. No. Apparently 22 people where traveling that day. *sigh* Guess the train will be crowded.

I decided to check my luggage the night before, after the east bound train had departed. That was good and bad. Good in that I avoided the line of people checking their luggage in the morning, and did not have to be at the train station early. Bad in that I had to finish packing by 10 pm and get my luggage to the train station. And bad in that the agent at the station - since no one else was at the station - had time to weigh my suitcases.

When she picked up the first suticase - the middle one - she exclaimed it was way too heavy. Even before weighing it. She was surprised to find it only weighed 54 lbs. The weight limit is 50 lbs. I tried to get her to allow the 54 lb suitcase as it was only a few pounds overweight. Nope. She was concerned someone could hurt their back lifting it and she would be blamed for allowing it to be checked. She told me I could buy a cardboard box from her for $2, then pay another $10 to check an extra suitcase (3 bags are the limit on Amtrak).

My little suitcase weighed 38 lbs so I decided to put the extra items from the middle suitcase to the small one. Easier said than done as all of the suitcases were packed to the gills. I got the middle suitcase down to 49 lbs.

The large suitcase came in at 61 lbs. *sigh* I took out 3 bottles of my beet wine and got the weight down to 54 lbs. The agent shuffeled around and mumbled something then accepted the suitcase without making me take more items out. No idea why as the large suitcase now weighed the same as the one she rejected earlier.

The Trip

I was tired the morning of the trip. I was up till 2 am, later than normal, and got less than 5 hours of sleep. Well, I can sleep on the train.

The train was on time that morning. Not only on time but it arrived 20 minutes early at 8:20 am. That was ok as I had checked my luggage the night before.

The train station was crowded when I arrived. I got my boarding pass from the conductor then boarded a train car. Most people were directed to the second to last car so I got on the third to last car and found a seat there. Other people were traveling to Whitefish on this car so it was ok. I got a pair of seats to myself and loaded the rest of my bags - and they were plenty! It took two trips to bring them upstairs to my seat.

After getting a seat I stood outside on the platform. The trip is 13 hours - no sense sitting any longer than required. Besides it was sunny and the temperature was warm at around 32 F.

The family

In the seats behind me was a family of 3 returning to Whitefish after attending the wife's mother's funeral in Indiana. They were jabbering away but eventually settled down to normal. Good, as they would have driven me crazy if they kept up their talking the entire 13 hours. I was tired and not much in a social mood. When the dad told another person that if the train was on time we would be able to see the mountains as we passed through them, I didn't say anything. Yes we could if traveling in the summer, but not now. It gets dark around 7 pm and we wouldn't be to the east side of the mountains till then, much less traveling through them. I was surprised he made this comment as he lived in Kalispell for most of his life. Later as we passed through the mountains in the dark and on time, several people commented as they passed the family, that it sure would have been nice to see the mountains if it wasn't so dark. The father didn't say anything.

The woman with a dog

Across the asile from my seat was a 25 yr old woman traveling with her 11 yr old dauchsand. This is not a seeing eye dog! How was she able to bring a pet on board the train?!! I noticed the dog wore a vest that said "therapy dog". I asked her about this and she said one is able to bring pets other than seeing eye dogs if one has them registered as "helper" dogs. Therapy dogs can be something as simple as a dog to be with old people who are alone. Gee! I wish I knew that when I had my cat!

This woman lives in Baltimore and was traveling by train from New Orleans to Portland, Oregon to visit friends. She had just been to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. This was her first time at Mardi Gras so she couldn't really compare what it was like now compared to pre-Katrina days.

Naturally a number of people stopped to pet the dog as they passed by. But not as many as you might think. That is because this woman - more like an elfin girl - dressed and looked different than the rest of the passengers. Her black hair, not long, was tied in back. It wasn't tied in a ponytail, but tied back even though her hair looked to be mostly on the short side. Her bangs were maybe one inch long. All in all it was a different hair cut / style.

She was dressed in black head to foot. Black t-shirt, jacket, jeans, and light black boots. The only 'color' was silver on her wide belt. Her outfit was urban, and seemed to be a uniform. Later when I found out she was a musician it made sense. She plays in two bands. In one band she does vocals and plays an instrument. This band's music was hard for her to describe but it sounded jazzy and lighter. The other band she does vocals and this band's music is metal.

One of her bands decided to up and move from Baltimore to Portland. From her description it was when she was off traveling somewhere. As for the girl, after visiting her friends for 3 weeks she will return to Baltimore. She said she wants to move to Portland or Seattle and away from the East Coast so bad, but instead she took a job starting in May in Rhode Island on an organic farm. Huh? She agreed it made no sense.

She had a number of small black tattoos on her wrist, hand and neck. Too small to see what they were of, or of what design. She spoke in a girlish voice that made her seem much younger. Smoking hadn't lowered her voice even though she had a cigarette on each train stop that was also a smoke break.

On her cell phone she talked with a friend who was going to be on the TV show "Designed to Sell" ? The show has been filmed but not scheduled for TV yet. The friend was involved with the design / redesign of the house. Not sure of the details as I only overheard one side of their conversation. Don't ya just love cell phones?

Club car people

For a while I sat in the club car to watch the scenery out the large windows, especially as we passed the Sweetgrass Hills in Montana. Nearby were three 20-something people. One couple and a gay guy. She was a bartender back in Minnesota and seemed proud the lounge attendant recognised she was a bartender. The guy she was with was "full of it", and the gay guy had sex on his mind. "Key West Florida" is the new gay mecca according to him. "So many hot guys that even he could find someone." Yup, he wasn't that good looking.

Amtrak shows movies in the evening and the gay guy learned they would be showing "Elizabethtown" , then the audience could choose between "Pride and Prejudice" and "Good Night and Good Luck". The woman and the gay guy both said they hated "chick flicks" and the gay guy said if the movie was a chick flick he would just drink and not watch the movie. None of them had a clue as to what any of the three movies were about.

From their banter and lack of knowledge all I could think was "shallow, shallow, shallow". As I left the club car two girls (around 18?) sat at a table with their stocking feet on the table. What is with people these days?

Otherwise the passengers were behaved. One group of guys were on their way to Portland to help build a house. Their clothes were just a little different, along with their haircuts. They also spoke with a slight accent. Either they were part of a religious group, or were from Europe. The group that boarded the train at Minot were kids on spring break heading to Whitefish and Big Mountain to ski. They were quiet, unlike the large group of Native American kids on Christmas break on my last train trip where most of them were thrown off the train and arrested.

As only two cars were behind me, our car didn't get too much traffic from people going to the lounge or dining cars ahead of our car. I slept for part of the trip as I had sleep to catch up on.

Our train was ahead of schedule so a number of stops were longer than normal as the train couldn't depart ahead of time. Whenever a smoking stop was announced a number of people young and old left the train to stand outside to have their cigarette, which they immediately lit upon exiting the train. They looked pathetic standing there huddled over their cigarettes, a slave to their addiction. When they came back on board the train I could tell the smokers from the non-smokers as the smokers left a trail of cigarette smoke as they passed by. *ugh*

The scenery along the way was alternatively sunny and cloudy; the landscape dry and brown or snow covered (central Montana, and later the mountains).

Near Browning, MT they train had to slow to 10 mph as there were fierce winds outside. This is a very windy area with high winds and trains have been blown off the track in the past. Even going slower we arrived in Whitefish on time.

Lots of people got off the train at Whitefish. I think two-thirds of the people on our car departed the train. Buses for the skiers and snowboarders were there to meet them. Jan was there to meet me. I could never pick people out of a crowd, and now after my cataract surgery and in the night, I still can't. So Jan found me.

Home. A clear night sky and all the stars. The temperature was in the 30s F, and no wind. It felt warm. A faint smell of Spring was in the night air. The ground was soft as a little of the frost was out. My mailbox's door was open due to the snow from the snowpow hitting it. I straightened the mailbox so I could close its door, then went to bed.

Good to be home.

Traveling the Hi-Line

Here are a series of recent newspaper articles about traveling along Hwy 2 in Montana from the Idaho border to the North Dakota border. This is the route I take when traveling between home and where I grew up.

In September 1979 I bicycled this route. Hwy 2 is one of the main cross-country bicycling routes in the U.S. When I had reached the North Dakota line I got someone from the State Line House Casino Bar to take my photo at the 'Welcome to North Dakota' sign. It was just a bar and not a casino back then as casinos weren't legal in either state. I had a photo taken of me kissing the ground, glad to be back in NoDak. However in the photo it looks like I am throwing up in the ditch. Lots of memories.

Idaho to Columbia Falls, MT
Columbia Falls to Havre
Havre to Glasgow
Glasgow, MT to the North Dakota border

Extra stories of places along the way...

Happy's Inn, MT and the deer who drank at the bar
A reader wrote in to explain more about the deer
Abandoned air force base near Glasgow

Poseidon Adventure

Can you believe it? I have never seen "The Poseidon Adventure" until yesterday. A remake is scheduled for this year so I thought I'd take the opportunity to watch the movie on tv yesterday.

I was surprised - the movie was better than I expected. Not that it is a fantastic movie, but it certainly is enjoyable.

The cast is a group of one-dimensional characters, and some are dated to the early 70s (Ted's long hair), but ya know, they weren't the present day stereotypical characters and that made the movie a little refreshing. I imagine that if I saw the movie back in 1972 I would have been rolling my eyes the whole time. It was enjoyable to watch them as they argued and struggled to escape the sinking ship.

It was funny to have Gene Hackman as the Reverend tell the women they had to take off the skirts of their New Year's gowns as they couldn't climb out while wearing them. But then he neglected to tell Stella Stevens to take off her high heels. Poor Stella had to go through the movie in high heels. Of course I'm not complaining. As a guy I enjoyed seeing all the women's legs... okay, not Shelly Winter's legs, but then the Reverend didn't tell her to take off her skirt. You can bet that in the remake there won't be anything similar to this.

Bells Are Ringing

"Ella Peterson (Judy Holliday) is a Brooklyn telephone answering service operator who tries to improve the lives of her clients by passing along bits of information she hears from other clients. She falls in love with one of her clients, the playwright Jeffrey Moss (Dean Martin), and is determined to meet him. The trouble is, on the phone to him, she always pretends to be an old woman whom he calls 'Mom.'"

While the basic premise of the movie (one person helps other people unbeknownst to them) is timeless, the gimic, a telephone answering service operator, is ancient. 1960 may be before answering machines were in use, but seeing Judy Holliday plug and unplug cables into a switchboard to answer phone calls seems so 1930s or 1940s. I guess we won't be seeing this movie remade by Hollywood.

For all the old musicals I have watched in my life I didn't think there were many left to watch, or at least any good ones left to watch. But this one showed up on TV last night. Not a great movie, but it is charming in an old dated way when one is in the mood for a 50s/60s type of musical comedy.

More of my comments on the movie can be found here at the Internet Movie Database site.

Got insulation?

Mom's attic needs more insulation. Other than over one room in the house, her attic has only a single layer of fiberglass insulation. I measured its thickness and found it to be R11, common for a house of this age. The recommended R value for a North Dakota attic ranges from R38 to R49, depending on which source you believe.

I called 3 lumber yards and Menards. They all told me most people now insulate with blown-in insulation as it is faster and cheaper than using fiberglass batts.

The next thing I learned was: cellulose insulation. Never heard of it before. In fact I had a problem initially with saying "cellulite" instead of cellulose, and cellulite is a whole other matter. This web site describes cellulose and how to install it.

Now the question was: fiberglass or cellulose. (This web site compares the pros and cons of fiberglass vs. cellulose insulation.) Cellulose is a good deal cheaper than fiberglass, but recycled newspaper as insulation? I heard too many stories about old houses with walls insulated with newspaper, and it wasn't good.

I was leaning toward using blown-in fiberglass insulation but then read that the greater the temperature difference between the heated ceiling and the house's roof, the more the fiberglass's R value is lost. That's because blown-in fiberglass allows more movement of air within its air pockets and this movement allows heat to escape.

According to the "Ask the Builder" web site:
"The R-value of blown-in fiberglass insulation can be affected by temperature differences in very cold climates. In fact, it can lose up to 50 percent of its R-value when the temperature differential between the heated space and the unheated attic is significant."

North Dakota can be cold in the winter.

The University of Massachusetts has a good article on cellulose insulation with the R values for various types of insulating materials. Cellulose has a higher R value per inch (R3.5) than blown-in fiberglass (R2.5).

Mom's attic is not that large so there isn't room to pile a high layer of blown fiberglass. 12 inches is what I want to add. Menards' cellulose has a R value of 3.7. Factoring in the estimated 20% settling that cellulose does means: 12 * 80% = 9.6 * R3.7 = 35.5 + 11 = R46. Close enough to R49 to suit me. Fiberglass does not settle: 12 * R2.5 = 30 + 11 = R41 total.

Cellulose it is.

The next step with blown insulation is to protect the soffits. This is accomplished by installing baffles against the underside of the roof running from the soffit to above the insulation to allow the outside air to move into the attic.

While it is recommended to install a baffle in every second or third stud cavity, the baffles were cheap and I installed one in every stud cavity. I never have blown in insulation so I don't know how tight it will fill openings. Some cavities could still get blocked, or partially blocked, by the insulation. Another reason to put a baffle in each cavity.

The house is a split level and therefore two roofs. One attic is accessed through the closet so I had to be a contortionist to get through the closet opening into this attic. Our warmer weather was departing and by the time I finished stapling the baffles in this attic my hands and fingers were really cold.

Then off on my Wisconsin trip with hopes of warmer weather when I returned.

Only slightly warmer weather greeted me upon my return. Still, 20s F outside the house kept the attic warm enough to work in. In such an small enclosed space I don't want it much warmer.

When I installed the baffles in the second attic I found a wet spot. Huh?! The roof was re-shingled only a few years ago. But I found a dark wet spot larger than my hand along one stud. I felt it and it was wet. I saw a very small trace of white (frost) along the stud. No pipes or openings were nearby, and this was not above the bathroom. I got a ladder and climbed up outside to check the roof. That part of the roof is still under snow and ice so I couldn't check the shingles.

I called the roofer who installed the shingles. Co-incidentally he was the person I worked for as a roofer back in the fall of 1978 - a long time ago. We spent time catching up... he has grandkids now and is thinking about retirement. My, how time has flown!

Bruce felt that the wet spot could be a frost patch that melted now that the outside temperature was in the upper 20s. But why only that one spot? And why at this location? *shrug* Only thing to do is wait till spring/summer and check the spot after a good rain to see if it gets wet again. I guess we'll wait before adding more insulation to the upper attic.

Next I needed to mark 12 inches to know how high to blow the insulation. I don't want peaks and valleys in the insulation level. How does one mark 12 inches across an open enclosed space? String.

I attached string 12 inches high from one end of the lower attic to the other. Then on the perpendicular walls until I made a grid.

For the upper attic I only "stringed" part of it. I left the other part open to allow easy access later to the wet spot.

While cellulose insulation is fireproof, no sense taking chances. I built a metal box to create an open space around the furnace's stovepipe. I then took an extra fiberglass batt and wrapped it around the metal box. That should keep the cellulose away from the stovepipe.

Ya know... I was told blowing insulation was easier and faster than laying down batts of insulation. I don't think so. First I had to crawl around the entire roof perimeter to install the baffles, then nail the string. Two, no, three times I crawled. And I had to reach the narrow ends. Not easy in attics with a low slope and narrow ends. With batts one pushes the end of the insulation batt to the edge of the roof and therefore doesn't have to get as close.

I was sore after I finished. Even moving boards around to crawl or lay on instead of the studs, sometimes I still had to lay across studs to reach the roof end.

The photo to the right was taken in the lower (taller) attic. The top attic has such a small slope I could only move on my hands and knees in the very center of the roof. Otherwise I had to crawl in that attic. Slow going!

The day after I finished the "stringing", and when I planned to blow the insulation, it snowed. *sigh* I have less than a week before I return to Montana and the weather is iffy. I don't want cold and windy weather for a work day as the blower sits outside and the hose comes in through an open door. Cross my fingers and hope for better weather really soon.