Maria’s view of Log Cabin Living

We have a house guest for the rest of the Winter, it seems.  One day about 2 weeks ago, we were airing out 2 feather pillows by putting them on the rocking chair on the front porch.  It was a cold day…very cold…and a windy day, to make it worse.

Late in the afternoon, my hubby said, “come here, I think there’s some kind of wild cat on the porch!”  I went to take a look, and sure enough, it was a cat…not a wild cat, but a beautiful, big orange tabby cat (I stifled the impulse to laugh out loud at the wild cat comment).  The cat had discovered the pillows and was on top of them, trying to hunker down to escape the cold wind.

Keep in mind that my hubby, at least up to that moment, was a so-called cat hater (it’s my opinion that anyone who says they hate cats has never had a cat!).

We added a comforter to the rocking chair to help keep him extra warm, and he stayed there for the next 3 nights.  We had no cat food and weren’t going to town for several days, so I fed him a can of solid white Albacore tuna once a day. 

It killed me to leave him outside, but I never mentioned bringing the kitty inside, knowing hubby “hated cats.” 

On the third day, hubby said he would be mad at me if I left the cat out there for one more night (who woulda’ ever thought!?!), so I picked the kitty up and brought him inside. 

This kitty is not particularly fond of dogs, but the dogs (2 Jack Russell mix) are used to cats (since I’d had a cat who passed away years ago from complications from diabetes), so the adjustment was not too bad…except for a few cat swipes taken at the dogs now and then.

The next day, a neighbor stopped by and recognized kitty and told us the story of him.  It seems that a neighbor about 1/4 mile away is the owner, but they’ve left Montana to “Winter” in Mexico, and they left the cat outside…though he does have a heated dog house.  The neighbor said she has been putting food out for him.  We told her that kitty (named “Pepper,” as we found out) is welcome at our house. 

Now, 2 weeks later, Pepper (he doesn’t answer to that, so we call him “Cowboy”) has a heated pet bed, which he lies on in front of our big window in the living room.  We’ve gotten him food, toys, and a litter box.

So overnight, hubby was converted from a cat hater to a cat person!  I knew he’d like cats if he ever had one!

We don’t know what will happen when his owners return in March or April.  We assume he will go back to his real life.  But I hope that he’ll come and visit us again.  It’s nice to have a kitty in the house again..

 And boy, is it snowing today!  The deer come by every day, rain or shine (or snow!).

An Arctic front rolled in this morning.  As we drove to town, we could literally see it rolling over the mountain top and down into the valley.  Amazing!   By the time we headed for home, everything was covered in several inches of fresh white snow, and the temperature had dropped from 39 to 1 degrees!  Seeing the snow-covered livestock along the way, I can’t help but wonder how they survive these temperatures…but they do.   They huddle together in groups, to keep somewhat warm.

As trucks passed us going swiftly in the opposite direction, they raised a thick, blinding wall of blowing snow behind them.  We could not see anything except a wall of white for several seconds, then it cleared..

We had been sure that, by the time we got to our dirt road, it wouldn’t be snowing anymore…so often, areas around us get snow or rain, and we get nothing.  What a surprise we got as we passed the church up the road and could see that it was snowing all the way!  (Yayyy!!)

Now we have a roaring fire in the fireplace and can watch the beautiful snow fall from our warm retreat..

At that latitude and longitude lies the town of Absarokee (pronounced Ab zor’ kee), which is “town” to us.  It’s a 25 mile drive to get there, so we only go to town about once a week.  There’s an IGA grocery store, the 5-Spot Bar and the Chrome Bar, the Stillwater Trading Co., a handful of other businesses, and 3 churches…oh yes, and one flashing yellow light.  The population is probably less than 1,500, and what a beautiful little town it is!  Everyone speaks to us when we pass them on the street…so different from other places that I’ve been.

  At 17 miles from home lies the tiny town of Fishtail, with a small general store, a post office, a 1-room library, The Cowboy restaurant/bar, a rock shop where you can buy coffee and a muffin (and some cool rocks), and a souvenir shop, but no traffic lights.

  Then, at 7 miles from home, is the Stillwater Saloon in Dean, Montana, a haven for thirsty platinum miners after a long day (or night) of work.

The population of deer to people is 6 to 1 around here, so some days, we don’t pass anyone on the way to town.  No traffic!  It’s great!  The main driving hazard is watching for deer crossing the road.   That is more difficult than it sounds, because the scenery is fantastic!

One day, on the way to town, we ran across real live cowboys herding their cattle on horseback, and we managed to take a few shots of them.  We never leave the house without the camera, since there are post card views in every direction, and we never know what we might come across!

Here are our 2 girls, Lucy and Daisy, happily digging for moles.  Being terriers, it’s bred into them to go after small critters like that, and I think I can almost see them smiling!  I have winter coats for them, but kids will be kids….they’d rather not wear them.  They are so happy to have over 5 acres to roam, since at my house in Florida, their yard was much, much smaller.

This shot was taken from our neighbor’s front yard.  She has the coolest old wagon in her yard and a wonderful veggie garden over to one side.  Our house looks far from here, but it’s really only a quarter-mile away.  The Spring is beautiful, but honestly, I prefer Winter, with the barren trees and majestic views of snow-draped mountains.

  Today, I will spend a few hours working on our greeting cards on our website and doing some web site editing.   We will ship a pretty large order to a store in Southern California tomorrow morning…I have it all packed and ready to go.  I’m happy to say that we get a lot of compliments on our cards.  My husband is the photographer, but once in a while, I get lucky and take a good shot.  He’s been a fan of Montana since he went to college here years ago, and this cabin was his dream.  What a place to take landscape and wildlife pictures!  Every day, we see something interesting, and if we don’t…we take a drive and go look for something.  The web site has has been fun for me to work on.  It’s the first time I’ve done one, and I am happy with the results so far.   So I sit here and wonder…..how many people buy their greeting cards online?

This is the river as it passed our house last Spring, after the snow melted in the nearby mountains.  We have the little stone wall there to make a little pool area.  I got a river tube, but I didn’t (yet) have the courage to float the river…but I will.  The sign, naming our little inlet, was put there by us, somewhat in jest.   I feel that it can serve as something of a landmark to the floaters going by.  We sit by the inlet late in the afternoons, sipping something cold and enjoying the beautiful view.  Wouldn’t you just love to jump on an inner tube or raft and go for it?

He was a little bit shy, the day he stopped by for a snack in our yard, but we were quick with the camera and caught him as he headed to the river.   He took a minute to pose for the camera, then he was gone.  The bucks seem to come infrequently, but the “girls” are here every day to grace me with their presence.  How did I get so lucky?

 Last Spring and Summer, we had dozens of different beautiful birds hanging around the yard, thanks to the wild bird feed that I distributed every day.  One was an especially pretty blue bird…similar to a blue jay, but different.  We still aren’t sure about what type he is.   Now that it’s freezing cold, I still put out the food (mostly sunflower seeds), but the birds are limited to black-capped chickadees and a small brown bird that arrives and leaves in a tightly-knit flock of about 5 dozen.  The brown bird flock lands high in a tree, then they nose-dive straight down towards the wooden shed roof…fluttering their wings just in time to make a soft landing.  It’s impossible to tell who is the leader…who directs them to take off all at the same time and land all at the same time.  I’m mesmerized by their aerial ballet..

It’s clouded over now, and we’re expecting more snow at any time.  The wind must be gusting to 60 mph to make the trees wave back and forth as they do.  The fireplace has been going all day, keeping the cabin toasty warm…I love the smell of it.  I wonder how the weather is in other parts of the country now..