...may be our last best place...
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| On the beautiful Blodgett Overlook Trail, MT |
As of this week, we have a contract on the beautifully renovated, cedar-sided '30s cottage in Hamilton, MT (below). Woo hoo!
Current owners have done a fantastic job with the sunny, cheerful Craftsman-like interior -- gorgeous wood floors, fireplace, bright kitchen open to a dining room plus cute little built-in for an office that faces a rear, garden-view picture window (MINE, MINE, ALL MINE!). I can't wait to get back into gardening but starting in front. I want to plump-up the foundation plantings, prune suckers off of that gorgeous shade tree (Boxelder, I think), maybe add a little landscaped, white picket fence, just along the front sidewalk? Alex is rolling his eyes at that last detail -- haha! But first...
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| At Lee Metcalf Wildlife Refuge |
...we must get our ducks in a row!
We've been too frugal (is that possible?) in St. Louis, with only debit cards for several years, two paid-off mortgages and two paid-off cars. Our potential lender is digging around in 10 or so other promptly-paid accounts to re-establish a credit report, can you believe? In our defense, we've skipped such things as travel-bonus credit cards simply because we've been taking pretty adventurous driving vacations in recent years (principally to a rustic family island in northern Lake Superior). Oh, there was that one frequent-flyer-paid trip to Italy and another to Seattle. But we'd really given no thought to opening new credit. Guess what? Today we've both applied for such cards, not to change the Montana mortgage situation but for future travel between that state, St. Louis and places where relatives live.
We're being assured by lender, real-estate broker and others that we're doing the right things to keep all our "ducks" in a row and not "jumping off"...
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| ...as from a log at the Montana refuge... |
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| ...and getting away! |
This is such a major life-changing event!! We are boggled. Our heads literally are exploding every time we think of some new detail, some lost opportunity. What would we take on a first trip? (Penske, the most reliable rental-truck co., doesn't have any drop-off points in MT so, after unloading, we'd have to go another 3 hours into nearby Idaho, jeez). Who will house-sit for us when/if we go?? (Suddenly, we think we may have an answer to that one -- a friend's wonderful daughter)? Ultimately, should we join
We also keep thinking about how very much we'll miss vacationing at our peaceful Isle Royale/Lake Superior, Gale family cabin:
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| sunrise from the Gale Island front dock |
We think, too, of course, about how often we'll get to see our family living in Kentucky and Indiana:
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| my Mom, Marilyn Homan | | | |
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| my son, Fred Gibson Jr. |
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| Fred's (and his wife Allison's) daughter Shelby... |
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| ...and their sons Zach, left, and Trey |
Also, my brother Ralph Homan, his wife Sandy and their grown kids are not only welcome but also strongly encouraged to visit!! About that, I have two words to say to the entire family -- guest rooms!!
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| niece Allison Homan, nephews Andrew Homan, middle, and Michael Homan |
And there are our friends in Hamilton, some new to me, some of them Alex's oldest buddies, going back as far as his summer-long vacations to Montana in the 1950s:
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| Kelsey Milner and grandchild |
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| Kelsy welcoming daughters Liz and Laura home |
The Milner family is quite a tribe when they all get together, as they did in June when their late, great matriarch and uber-environmentalist Doris Milner was honored by the U.S. Forest Service at a special mountain-top event. Later, there were big dinners on the Milner family home's back deck.
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| Doris' children are Scott, center; Jean, right; Eric, behind Jean; Kelsy's wife Mary shepherds kids; others are grandchildren and great-grandchildren |
But quieter evenings up on the family home's back deck also are not to be missed (thanks for the open invitation, Eric!). And the mountain-view dinners at Kels and Mary's are a wonderful treat.
Hope to see all y'all soon!!
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