Take the test.  Although I must say I wouldn’t want to stumble across either.

Black Bear or Grizzly?

The plants that I started in seed pods are taking off like crazy.  My son had fun playing in the dirt when he helped me transplant the seed pods into bigger containers. 

The larger plants you see below are pumpkins.  Dear son checks these every day and wonders where the pumpkins are.  It’s a lot of fun, and I can’t wait for him to see the big yellow blooms in the summer and the small green pumpkins in mid summer and the orangey big ones in the fall.  We hope, anyway.  One good freeze in June could wreck these grand plans!  So my plan B is to head to the grocery store in October, buy a spattering of pumpkins there, and toss them around the dirt.  Look, son!  Pumpkins!

But one weapon we have against early summer freezes is…the greenhouse!  Yes, it is here, and it is (miraculously) assembled now. 

We threw a small party and provided beverages and elk steak in exchange for a nice team lift.

So there you have it.  Greenhouse.  Some of the plants blooming out on the land don’t need the extra heat though…they’re doing just fine by the sun.

The local news is handing out flood warnings for low-lying areas.  The weather is going from freezing-at-night and highs in the 40s to 85 this weekend!  It should be interesting, skipping spring altogether and heading right into summer.  The worry is that all the snow in the mountains that’s been holding on will melt rapidly, filling rivers over the brink.

The greenhouse has arrived!  It’s being assembled now.  The FedEx guy was really irritated because he couldn’t find the land.  Since he didn’t get cell reception, he had to find a rural house with someone home so he could go inside and borrow the phone.  He was pretty cranky when I asked him if he was lost.

“No I’m not lost,” he snapped.  “I just can’t find the address.”

Oh I see.  Well the good news is that the greenhouse is here and I should have photos of growing things shortly.  We’re spending the weekend out there and I’m really looking forward to it. 

We drove down to Yellowstone for Mother’s Day weekend.  Let me tell you, spring is the time to go to Yellowstone.  It was very different from the July crowds…the hordes of vehicles that line the roads on hot days, the mad, snapping cameras pointed at every leaf and chipmunk.  Of course, we did hit a different sort of traffic jam:

The downside…it was quite cold and windy, and not all of the roads are open yet.  There was an amazing amount of snow for mid-May.

We entered via the West Yellowstone entrance.  Once in the park, we almost immediately spotted a grizzly bear on the other side of the river. 

Elk and bison were out and about in herds.  Birds of all kinds made an appearance. 

We drove to Old Faithful.  It’s a large park and there were so many animals running around, we were sure to keep our speed in check.  This resulted in a very long day.  My son is at that age where every two minutes he has to check in. 

“Are we at Oat Fateful yet?”

We thought this was hilarious.  So we would say, “What was that?”

“Oat Fateful.  Are we at Oat Fateful yet?

“Where are we going?”

“OAT FATEFUL!”

“What was that place again?”

“OAAAAAAAT FAAAAAAAAAAATEFUUUUUUUULL!”

We left the park through the Mammoth area.  It was a great way to spend Mother’s Day weekend.   

This past weekend, my dad and I planted the huckleberry plants I ordered.  Here’s to hoping they grow.  Perhaps we really didn’t need to buy eighteen of them, but we’ll see how they do.

First we prepped a large chunk of one of the gardens.  Huckleberry bushes can get quite large under the right conditions, and they can live a long time.  Giving up part of this garden for these bushes is a huge commitment!  No turning back:

Next we mixed in a large amount of peat into the native soil already there.  We did this by digging a very deep hole, adding the peat, stirring it like dirt stew.  We then removed the plant from its gallon container and broke up the root ball (gently!)  The plants were ordered from a farm in Washington state…their soil was very dark and had many earthworms in it.  We plopped the worms, still attached to the bushes, into their new home and tucked the dirt all around them.  We added more peat to the mix.

Next we added some Azalea fertilizer around each plant.  Huckleberries, like azaleas, like acidic soil.  This is very important!  You can also make soil acidic by adding sulfur or coffee grounds.  We aren’t going to get the soil tested like all the gardening sites recommend (even though we should, probably) because who wants to pay for that?  If the huckleberries are a total failure, then I guess I will regret saying that. 

As soon as that dirt was packed in, the wild honeybees started to arrive as if we had called them on the phone.  They seemed thrilled to find flowers.  We’re a bit concerned that the plants arrived with blossoms on them…it may have been time in Washington but it’s probably not time here.  We’re not hoping for berries until next year anyway, but still.  At least the bees and butterflies will enjoy the blossoms this year! 

After the eighteen huckleberry plants were happily planted, it was time to relax and watch the river go by.

I kind of like this picture of a train carrying logs.  We passed it on a recent drive west of Bozeman.  The Bridger Mountains are in the background.  My son was mystified where so many trees could have come from.

Most of the cars looked like the one on the right…chock full o’ logs.  Some with the branches still on them!  You’d think with the housing bust everywhere else in the country, they wouldn’t need so many logs at the moment.  But I suppose they were for many things.  Toothpicks, for example.  I don’t know about you, but I love a good toothpick.

I bought myself a greenhouse, what with this being the year of living dangerously and all.  Greenhouses are not just for old people.  Or perhaps I am becoming old people.  Either way, I am so excited about this that I may barely be able to contain myself during the 2-4 weeks that it will take to ship!  It’s a good sized 8′6″ x 20′ 9″ greenhouse.  One thing that I really missed living in Colorado was gardening.  I am NOT a gardener by nature.  I do not have houseplants, because I will kill them.  I like to grow food though, that is one thing that I can do okay.  I am hoping that this endeavor will really help me hone my skills in this department.  If not, then I will have a really big building to store snow tires and lawnmowers in.  Ha!

I couldn’t grow anything at 9200 feet in Colorado.  It was too high, too cold, too windy, and the dirt was basically decomposed granite.  I have big plans…BIG PLANS for this summer and I will document their success (or catastrophic failure) here from time to time. 

The greenhouse will mainly be a home for delicate tomatoes and some peppers.  These are hard to grow in the unpredictable weather in Montana.  I plan to try a couple of types of eggplant.  Jesse made me promise to try some cilantro.  And I’ll attempt basil and chives.  The greenhouse will be a great way to start plants early before transplanting them out into the big gardens.  The hardier stuff…potatoes, corn, carrots and onions…those go right into the garden.  It’s been known to freeze at night even in June some years, so this greenhouse will be really SUPER for the more delicate plants.  

Bozeman has a serious shortage of good daycare.  It also has almost a complete shortage of infant care.  We didn’t think to call ahead for daycare when we planned this move, so if you are moving to the Bozeman/Belgrade area, think about this!  Many of the daycares that are licensed for infants have a waiting list of several months to a couple of years.  This includes both daycare centers, in-home daycares, group daycares, and preschools that accept infants. 

Many people in Bozeman seem to use nanny services.  This is especially popular in the summer months when MSU students look for part-time work.  However, expect to pay a nanny 10-12 an hour, which is of course fair for one on one care…but lots more expensive than a typical daycare provider would charge. 

The one daycare we found with an opening for an infant was not a place where we would want our 3 month old to be.  It was a very young lady with 12 children at a time in a small, two room area.  The house was quite large, but she restricted the children to two small rooms.  There was no fence in her yard, and the neighborhood is new with plenty of construction (nails, glass, etc.) everywhere.  Her “helpers” were unsmiling and didn’t get up to introduce themselves, but instead sat there looking like they were on the tenth circle of hell (hey, I don’t want to watch 12 kids either…but I don’t work at a daycare).  I asked her what the infants did all day and her answer was “Well, we have swings and bouncy chairs.”  Great, so you’re telling me basically that you’ll never bother to hold my kid.  She wouldn’t show me where the babies slept, because apparently there were babies up there at the time.  Whatever.  Her policies were also pretty unreasonable in my experience…she was allowed to take up to 4 weeks of vacation a year, at which time she would “try her best to give the parents notice” but parents were not allowed any vacation or sick days during the year.  Also, she charged for all major holidays (even Thanksgiving and Christmas) if they fell on a weekday, even though she would not be open on those days.  All I can presume from a policy like that is that Bozeman is so hard up for daycare that it doesn’t even matter what their policies are…people will have no choice but to follow them and pay inordinate amounts of money.  Need money?  Open a daycare in Bozeman.  You’ll have a waiting list in no time.

Thankfully my husband works out of the house, so he is going to stop working for a while while our baby grows.  It’s a great option if you can get it.  If you plan to move to Bozeman and you know you will absolutely need daycare, make sure you have a solid plan in place. 

It’s been a while since I stepped in dog poo.

But from what I can gather, it’s going to be a frequent event in the city of Bozeman.  I get that people love their dogs.  I like dogs, too.  The last several cities I have lived in fined people for letting their dogs…er, make deposits without cleaning the mess.  Lots of parks that allow dogs included “doggie bags” throughout, and it was the rule that people would clean up after their pets.

We now live next to a nice park.  I like to take my son there.  It is no exaggeration to say that we really need to watch our steps as we maneuver to the playground equipment.  Apparently the trend of cleaning up after doggies has not yet caught on everywhere.  I certainly hope it does, because come summer, that will be one stinky park. 

I know I am not just imagining the anger that is pointed at me as I drive in my car.  It’s not that I am a bad driver.  It’s that I still have my Colorado license plates.

If you move to Montana, the very first thing you should do is change your license plates.  Before you find a job.  Before you find a place to live.  Before you turn the U-Haul in…go directly to the DMV and change your license plates. 

The first sign I was a perceived out-of-stater was horns blaring a little too soon when a light turned green.  Then I was merging onto I-90 from an on-ramp and the big white truck behind me zoomed around me on the left.  Though I am known to be a pretty good speeder on highways, I wasn’t going fast enough.  That is when it dawned on me that “hey, maybe it’s my Colorado plates!” 

I tried to visit the Bozeman Wal-Mart.  There was another large truck in front of me.  I watched as he zoomed around the car in front of him, with no regard to people in the parking lot or oncoming traffic.  What a jerk, I thought.  Then I noticed the car in front of him…Arizona plates. 

I also got my car dented up pretty well.  It’s clear that someone who parked next to me decided to open their door several times, ramming it into my door several times until paint was chipped off.  Thanks, asswipe.  I was born here.  Were you?  Does it matter?  The 14th amendment in the Consititution allows people to move between states.  Take it up with Congress if you don’t like it, whoever you are, you door chipper, you.

The way I figure it, the person who dented up my car just helped me to blend in a little better. 

Anyway, undeterred in my move back to Montana, I am visiting the DMV this week.