The Birds, The Wolf & The Bearded Man in the Rubicon Jeep

It has been quite the eventful week here at camp. In mostly…. The most wonderful of ways.

We started out with some camper difficulties. As mentioned earlier, the fridge wasn’t working so we had some coolers buried in the snow outside to store fridge goods. We never claimed to be experts in the camping world. In fact, when this project first came about both of us would agree, this thing was an alien to us! But we pulled out the old manual and tried to trouble shoot this beast. Took about a hour before I was on the horn with any and every camper place in the state explaining over and over again the series of things that have been going on with the camper.  Some I sensed may have had some good points, others seemed stuck in which method we should use to charge our battery pack (lol which wasn’t really a question or concern but whatevs)

Anyway, after a week of tweaking to no prevail the furnace began  to act up. When the lights go out at night and until morning we run on battery power only. During the night I was noticing increasingly how the fan seemed to be on constantly & it was freezing inside. So I would get up, reset the furnace until the heat started blowing in. After  a few nights of dead batteries at 3am, being up 10 times an hour and temperatures constantly plummeting by the minute I realized we had an issue that would quickly need to be dealt with.

So we (especially me who was holding down the fort during this time) were a little bit worried about the situation. I sat down one afternoon trying to figure out what would cause this. Being in the middle of January we probably wouldn’t want to fuss around with this for too long. Then something awesome happened! After a lengthy conversation with a camper place out of Missoula and just as I was convinced we would be alone on fixing this skirted sanctuary the heavens opened and I heard some incredible words. “You know…there is a place that travels to fix campers”

Sold! The next day a bearded man in a sweet Rubicon jeep hauled down from Missoula to service our home on wheels. He was great. Within 2 hours the furnace & fridge were back in gear. A few inexpensive parts had gone out & a loose wire.  So for those of you perma-boondockers who do not have the option of taking their take their rebellious rigs in – There ARE camper repair men! Ah! Life is good. I’m not nearly as nervous about this thing breaking down as I was before these little gems of men popped their little heads up in our world this last week!

So perhaps a little long winded but well worth the appreciation of the situation.

A few weeks ago my sweetheart let me supervise as he hung a bunch of suet balls which we had purchased in hopes of drawing in birds. On our walks we can’t help but notice how many different beautiful species we have around here. Even last summer, the sounds of the birds were unbelievable out here in this valley.  It was like a spa cd playing in your ear, so nice.  So anyway, I decided to try to get them used to being around, so these suet balls are dangling in the trees surrounding the camper. After a couple weeks with no sign Brandon began to wonder if we had done enough. I said we did, that they would come, but deep down I just kind of hoped!

A few days ago as I was having a coffee at the kitchen table (which is a slide out so it’s  surrounded by windows) I began to hear the most incredible bird sounds. I looked out the window and watched dozens of new friends totally freak out over the seeds hanging in the trees. I was all smiles sitting here with the dogs and couldn’t wait to introduce Brandon to our new friends. Basin was pretty excited too and Kaycee just wanted to have a thanksgiving I think. The little guys scrambled here and there in a symphony of chaos.  Brandon now calls me the bird lady which I think he, for some reason, finds incredibly amusing.

Had another new wildlife encounter this week that was rather beautiful (some would disagree). On a warm brisk morning after I turned the dogs out for a while I was inside the camper  & exercising  - sweating profusely. So I had opened the door. The cool temperatures blowing in felt great. I noticed Basin was acting weird, like he acts when he sees a predator. He sat there in full alert squeaking his nervous but  “can’t stay quiet”  mini-Basin alarms. So I walk out to him and look up the valley. I didn’t see a thing but when I crouched down to Basins level and looked I watched a red coat walking through a cluster of trees which are about 100’ from the camper. At first I thought it was a fox but as it calmly walked up the far part of the driveway I was able to see its tremendous size and BEAUTIFUL red coat. It looked like a red Alaskan Malamute. It was calm, I was calm, Kaycee was oblivious and focused on finding food, Basin was a nervous wreck. Anyway, it sat for a moment so I tried to move a little closer (but still did not stray far from the front door) as it it calmly trotted away.



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A lot of people out west are fairly outraged by the wolf population. They kill their livestock; take out the elk, etc. Personally, I think hunters over hunt the elk population more than the wolves feed on it and that humans are the ones to blame. But that’s another day. It was my first encounter with a wolf and was simply amazing. Nature is beginning to accept us out here. Momma and baby moose poked around the front yard and sniffed the dogs dishes as well this week. The wild in the area are accepting us as non-threats and we are beginning to really reap the peace and solace that comes from truly getting away from the fog, drama and regular hustle and bustle of average everyday life.

We have enjoyed making time to do one of our favorite things: snowboarding! For the past couple of weeks we have really been focusing on taking time for “us” instead of focusing on lesser priorities all of the time. It has been wonderful and there have been many smiles! Last winter we did quite a bit of traveling for snowboarding but with the camper we are more home bound than normal. However, we have a great ski mountain within 10 minutes where we have had great times getting back into shape for the season and semi-bracing ourselves for the awesome time on the slopes in Colorado coming up. 

Had over a foot of new powder this week so we were up there a couple days ago. Brandon was weaving through the trees as I stayed on the side of the run. I looked over to see him flying mach 2 into a tree. After he fell from hitting the tree he looks up with this enormous smile (like he does when something happens to him that would usually put an average person in the hospital). So I stop and am speechless, this was a big tree & it made a lot of noise! I know to ignore Brandons cheesy smile while I inspect him for injuries and/or concussions. He seemed fine and denied all together that this collision caused any pain in any way. Luckily for him the tree was dead and mostly rotted. When he moved away the sucker fell over. Moral of the story: If you have to hit a tree make it a dead one. If you’ve got that daredevil, thrill seeker loved one diving through the trees on the side of a double black diamond on the slopes, make him wear a helmet! (Which fortunately he agrees to do now)



And folks. That just might be the longest post yet. So if you are still reading – thanks for sticking with me. Sometimes I wish I could record moments out here and send them to all of you. This one of the next best things I suppose.

I hope everyone has a great week & is doing well.

Sincerely, from a camper in the mountains of Montana,

The Bird Lady & Brandon



This is me trying to climb on 4' of powder to that tree per his request. It was tough! LOL



On the side of a steep mountain on my bum



Brandon  having a red bull growing his wings in the lodge



Corn Beef Hash, Large Snow Flakes, Good Coffee - life is GOOD!

I hope this finds you all well and enjoying 2011 so far!

Once again, I have slacked over the past couple weeks on keeping up on our blog. Nothing too major to report and to be honest we have been spending so much of our time just running around keeping up on the camper and making sure everything stays going smoothly. In fact, it has seemed like we are insanely hectic now that I think about. For the first time in our relationship we have had to force find time for our weekly date which after a few months we realized we had been missing! So this week we started up again on remembering that taking care of “us” is as much of a priority as staying alive in the camper. Of course, staying alive is nice too so as things have transpired out here we are beginning to come up with a system that gives us more spare time.

Cold temperatures are always a little more of a challenge. Inside stays cozy enough if you wear enough layers.  We do go through an extra lot of propane (around what I had budgeted for our coldest month) so it’s nothing too shocking. If the temperatures are above zero we always are below budget. We have had quite a few cold snaps over the past couple of months and usually the bath tub faucet doesn’t work for a day. Again, nothing major. Just little things that make you go “hmm”.

For any camper/rv  savvy people out there we do have a refrigerator issue this week. I’ve googled it and apparently it is very common – there were many posts but so many contrasting opinions and we still haven’t quite figured it out even after hours in the manual and tweaking it. The fridge has gone on strike! However, when it is on A/C (when the generator is running) it works fine. The propane is the issue – the pilot does light. It is a combo of a blue/orange flame but it only stays lit for about 10 seconds then it shuts off. We conclude that this must obviously be the problem but again this is foreign material to us! So if ANY of you have any ideas or advice it would be much appreciated! Until it is repaired we have some holes dug in the snow outside where coolers are set it. It works very well (thanks to my sweetie for making sure I had a place to store cold food). We don’t have any animal problems with them. The bears are hibernating, if it was warm out they would be having a smorgasbord!

I am sitting near the window at the dining room table as I write this. There is a snow so thick and heavy falling outside that it literally is forming a blanket around me in this camper. It reminds me of my younger years, back on the farm. Sitting in the kitchen looking out towards the horses as this heavy, thick snow coated the earth.  Or maybe it’s the smell of the corn beef hash. One of dads specialties. Something I’ve acquired a taste for over the years and recently on our many camping escapades it is something we've grown very fond of.  Either way, it is a beautiful morning.

As far as what we’ve been up to besides just “living”  as mentioned earlier,  date days/nights  are once again a priority and boy have we enjoyed this so far!! Even if its just a hike through the woods or a drive/photo tour in the jeep. This week we kind of splurged and went to our favorite restaurant which is located right in town called, “The Silver Mill”. Lets just say we ate so much that we couldn’t shove an ounce of food down our throats for two days! I think our waitresses eyes bulged out of her head everytime she came to remove a new stack of empty plates! AND dessert to die for – this candy’ish coated whipped frozen raspberry trifle thing. We never did figure out what it was but it was the first time Brandon has EVER devoured my dessert then when he ordered his own the favor was returned, it was SO good!!  And we had such a wonderful time, sooo many laughs that our stomachs hurt for hours.  I’ve never experienced a relationship that literally gets better and better as time goes on. Not just a little better but every day we grow closer and stronger in leaps and bounds. We are so blessed. We both agree that whatever this is that we’ve found in one another is beyond anything we’ve ever imaged even being possible.

We had so much fun that we couldn’t stop there so the next day we headed up to Discovery ski mountain to strap our snowboards on for the first time this year (finally!!!)! Another spectacular day and now that our snowboard fever has kicked in we are especially excited about our upcoming snowboard trip in a few weeks to Colorado. This will be the first time we actually winterize the camper before we go so any input on that is also appreciated!

 This trip is also my 30^th birthday present,  planned by Mr. Romantic himself and I am just so excited to see his face as we ride a lift to 12,500 feet above sea level just to ride our boards back down. Montana has some GREAT snowboarding but I am still convinced that Colorado is the best if you want to experience above timberline and great powder. We will also be staying a night at the notorious Stanley Hotel (where The Shining) was filmed and Brandon insists we stay in their most haunted room -  I think its 412? I am willing to place money on us not sleeping a wink, but it should be quite the experience!

We are also planning another event. One we are more excited about then anyother. Last week Brandon eagerly hiked me up the hill to a boulder where we had spent many summer afternoons and near where we found out the property was ours. I looked around thinking about trees that needed to be cleaned up and where the house was going to be when I realized my sweetest of sweets was on one knee in 3 feet of snow, ring in hand, and with wide eyes he asked me to be his wife. I do not know how to explain what we have or how special & unique it is. In fact, I never knew something like this could exist. It is beyond love, beyond compatibility. It is the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced or even witnessed. A love full of nothing but complete and utter adoration, loyalty, respect, and so much more even.

We are excited to announce that we will officially be husband and wife! Plans are still up in the air but we are really stuck on the idea of having a very informal ceremony on the island of Kauai, Hawaii and possibly this June. We are so very excited about what the future holds for us as we reflect back upon the past couple of years as being the best of our lives. Everyone is invited of course and if you can’t make it, we understand  but if you can it would mean the world to us!

So that is about it! I have a lot to do today. Trying to get my new web page up and going, working on home building plans & loans, and this afternoon a little Kauai leg work! Also, our little big dog has officially been diagnosed with an auto immune disease. The vet thinks he will gradually get to be in very rough shape over the next 5 years. We refuse to believe this is the fate of our loved furry man so we are going to try to get a university of veterinary medicine to look at him. Perhaps it’s snow nose or something else. Or perhaps there is something they can do to help him. At any rate, the power of positive thinking has proved to be one of the most valuable assets we can have.

                                            Until next time, take care & happy camping!