The Husband Goes to Spotted Bear

I promised to share some of the pictures from the husband’s trip to Spotted Bear on Saturday. First, though, I should show you where the Spotted Bear ranger station is in relation to where we live:

That red dot in the middle is the approximate location of our house. The ranger station is southeast of us, up in the Flathead National Forest (read: middle of the wilderness). If the husband could have flown there, it would have been a much shorter trip. However, he had to drive north to Hungry Horse, near the south edge of Glacier Park, then drive south past the Hungry Horse dam and reservoir to get to the ranger station. It is a trip of several hours on mostly washboard roads. I think the scenery makes the trip worth it, though:

I completely understand what draws people to these mountains. If only some of them wouldn’t come here thinking this is like Disneyland. People die out there.

I digress.

The husband had to go to the ranger station to cut a hole in some concrete. He pours concrete, yes, but he also has a fairly lucrative side business cutting holes in existing foundations. For that, he has large concrete saws with hideously expensive diamond blades.

His work truck parked at the site:

Getting ready to cut the hole:

Cut lines made:

And the chunk of concrete pushed out:

He tells me that the hole is to enable them to clean out debris that lodges in that area. It’s a triangular-shaped area with two gates that come down and allow the overflow from the spillway to go through.

That job took the better part of the day. He left home around 6 a.m. and got back about 2 p.m.

************************************************************

In other news, DD#2’s car is fixed and put back together. I am going to drive it around town this week just in case some other part decides to fail.

I’ve got all the Kerbarika and Jacob’s Cattle beans shelled and put into jars with desiccants. I have a bit more to do on the Vermont Cranberry beans and then I have to start on the Great Northern and Verde Valle beans. They were very productive plants. I spent about an hour in the greenhouse yesterday afternoon shelling beans. It’s a calm and meditative activity. The greenhouse was warm, but not overly so, and there was a nice breeze coming in (I had the doors open). We’re getting a hard, steady rain this morning. I’m glad I got the beans inside.

My friend Cathy came to church yesterday and brought me about 25 pounds of dried beans. Her husband knew someone who was cleaning out an estate and these beans were part of the deceased’s preparations for Y2K. The family didn’t know what else to do with the supplies so they were giving them away. Cathy took some and gave me some. She made a soup with some of them over the weekend and they cooked up fine. (Dried beans last a long time, but sometimes they get so dried out that they never get tender, even with cooking.) We’ll be all set for beans for soup this winter.

And all I am going to say about my football team is that they have a lot of work to do before their Monday Night Football appearance next week.