Dozing polar bear, Indianapolis Zoo

Monday, October 01, 2007

On tap for the next two weeks: bathroom remodeling and game cams



Because nothing says Montana like a pink crapper.

Last time I was at our place in Montana, I was pacing up and down the driveway on my cell phone talking to my brother, when our conversation was interrupted by this sound on the trail that branches off the drive. It sounded like a very-large-something blowing or huffing in an agitated manner.

"What was that?" my brother asked. I started walking back to the house, unwilling to find out. I never did learn what it was. Mr. T insisted it was nothing but a deer, but The Professor (whose 130 acres surround our relatively tiny six on all sides) concluded that it was one of the bears that hang out on the mountain. I searched on the internet for both sounds, and none of them fit the bill.

This trail has seen some action over the years. When my father-in-law owned the place, he stumbled across a lavishly dismembered deer carcass fifty or so yards beyond the drive. This summer we found a single, unmistakably fresh deer leg. Then there's the bear poo.

This is enough to convince me that this is a thriving game trail. We clearly needed a game cam. Fortunately, the thoughtful Mr. T got me this one for my birthday, and my wait is almost over. Mr. T is going back to China in the middle of October, and I'll be spending my time out there instead of here. As a bonus, my in-laws are coming to spend the week taking care of the Kid. So the week is mine, friends. I considered going to China with Mr. T, but I've been there already. Frankly, I'd rather spend an autumn week in northwest Montana than South China, and save the money I'd spend on plane tickets and carbon credits.

And this way I can finish the green bathroom remodel. This summer we applied zero-VOC paint, installed cork flooring with low-VOC adhesive, and got the Paperstone countertop cut and in place. (Paperstone is spendy, but beautiful. We were lucky enough to find a small scrap of it at our local Environmental Building Supply.) A light and some fixtures are all that remain. This interesting place is in Idaho, on our way to the house, and I've been eyeing a few things there. But really, I've had a bad case of decision paralysis on the issue, and I'm going to try to get it wrapped up on this trip.

I'm just glad the pink is gone.

5 comments:

kris said...

Oh, I like the pink crapper! Sounds like you're making good progress on your re-do.

Can't wait to see the game cam - I'm trying to decide how I'd feel about living that close to bear. Guess part of the prob is that I've never done it.

Anonymous said...

I love the stone hardware and drawer pulls. Very cool!

Trailhead said...

Oops, did I link to that page? I meant to link to the main page, but must have linked to the page I was looking at with the pulls. They are cool, no?

Kris: I'm still trying to figure out how I'd feel about it, too. I'd rather be living there full-time, but it does seem like the Professor and Dr. G (our neighbors) are always talking about how they saw this bear or that while jogging or whatever. Yeeps.

A Lewis said...

Sandpoint! One of my favorite spots on earth. Especially in October. The wind outta really be whistling across that lake. And the critter cam sounds really cool.....can you tie it to your site so that we can see it too?

Trailhead said...

Yay Sand Point!

I keep forgetting you're from Idaho.

I don't think the cam goes in real time, but you can bet I'll post the results. Wow, an actual web cam. Now there's an idea.