Reverse Vacation

Yes, I enjoyed spending a month at home in Montana. It was, after all, the second month this year that I've spent at home! Most people stay home all year working hard so that they can spend short periods of time somewhere else relaxing and enjoying their favorite pursuits on vacation. I, on the other hand have spent six of the last nine months working my tail off somewhere else so that I can spend short periods of time at home relaxing and enjoying my favorite pursuits. Twisted, eh? Now I'm back in Mukilteo and Whidbey working my tail off again.

So what did I do on my summer reverse vacation at home?

Well, first, Tom came and we did spring cleaning (ok, not one of my favorite pursuits, but absolutely necessary). Then Tom worked via internet while I hung around on the deck, enjoying the sunshine and waiting for Tom's friend Matt and his family to arrive for a visit. They were doing a huge road trip all over the US, managed to lose track of what day it was (now THAT'S a vacation!), misjudged the distances between things here in the west (they live in Maryland, and Matt is from England), and ended up showing up a week late at our house. They were worth the wait, though, because they were absolutely charming guests - brimming with enthusiasm about our house and our mountains, and pleasantly happy with each other even after all that time in the car together. They have a six-month-old baby whose main occupation is smiling and laughing, and a very mature, smart 14 year old whose main occupation is beating his parents at card games (when he is not busy making the baby smile and laugh). Here is a picture of Tom leading them on a hike on our ridge:

The flicker family nesting in the wall of the guest room was in the middle of fledging while the visitors were here. The parents would sit in a tree and call (loudly and repeatedly) to the chicks, who would call loudly back, interspersed with their "Feed Me" chirping. The chicks had gotten big enough that only one could stick its head out of the hole at a time, and they spent a fair amount of time scrabbling around in the nest (fighting and shoving I imagine, since they had gotten so big). Finally, one by one they were persuaded to fly. The last chick was, as Tom said, the runt of the clutch. Significantly smaller than the others, it took several days more to fledge than its siblings. Finally, they were all gone - the day after our visitors left. The guest room was quiet at last, and there were no guests there to enjoy it.

Tom and I decided to go for a hike up Livingston Peak. We look at it from our deck all the time, and we wanted to see what it was like up there. The trailhead was ablaze with wildflowers like this wild iris, and we had a lovely day traipsing through forests and wildflower meadows.
But as we got higher, there was more and more snow to climb over and around, until finally we just decided it was too early to go all the way to the peak. Besides, we had gotten a late start and afternoon thunderstorms were threatening. Furthermore, I was not quite in shape for peak bagging yet this summer. Still, it was a glorious day in the mountains, and we did get a close-up view of some of the rock formations we can see from home. We had lunch by a little creek swollen with snowmelt and got back to the truck just as the thunder was beginning to rumble. I am inspired to do more hiking in the Absarokas if I ever get home again.

Finally, we had a quick one day visit from Mike Fienen, who came to Montana last summer to work with Tom. This time he was driving through and wanted to show the place to his lovely wife Chandra. The two of them hiked up the hill to our cabin with backpacks and a guitar instead of having us drive them up in the car. Then Tom took them on the obligatory hike to the top of the ridge while I cooked dinner. Whew. It must be grand to be young and fit and have all that energy. Again, we thoroughly enjoyed our guests who were easy to please and enthusiastic about everything.

I left early the next morning for my 13 hour drive back to Mukilteo. Tom was left to entertain the guests. He got Mike to try using the giant two-person push-pull bucksaw that I had brought back to Montana from my parents' house. My dad had gotten it from an old friend in Michigan, but didn't know how the friend had come by it. It says WPA on the handle, so we know it dates from the 1930s. I figured I'd hang it somewhere in the cabin as decoration, but Tom insisted that it is a tool, and he wanted to try using it before I turn it into decor. So he and Mike tried cutting up a little pine tree that had blown down in the wind last year. Since this saw is probably made for Paul Bunyon-sized trees, it was awkward to use on this little pine, which kept rolling around when they tried to saw it. I'm not sure how much success they had, since I wasn't there, but I am absolutely sure they had fun trying. Personally, I'll stick with my chain saw. The photos of the big boy saw are courtesy of Chandra.

Anyway, I left and drove back to Mukilteo where I had exactly seven days to get rid of all the furniture in Mom and Dad's house, all the leftover garage sale stuff and gardening stuff in the garage, all the family papers and photos in the storeroom, all the tools and wood in Dad's shop, all the cardboard boxes that were kept just in case, and all the food in the pantry. Then there were the fourteen boxes of heirlooms to ship. Not to mention the list of repairs we had agreed with the buyer I would do. And then the whole house had to be cleaned and the garden had to have one last weeding. It took some very long, hard days and lots of stress and phone calls, but I finally managed it all. Mom and Dad's house has been turned over to its new owners, and I will spend a few more days sorting through the family stuff that I kept so that I can take anything to Montana that can't be stored here on Whidbey without being ruined by the moisture. I also want to spend some more time with Mom and Dad before I go.

Then it will be back to Montana, where I will stay. Enough of this reverse vacation stuff. It is time for full-on retirement.