Klinger Musings: July 13 - July 26, 2020 Updating The Blog

July 13 through July 26, 2020

Most of our days are pretty routine. We get up and have breakfast, get dressed and walk the dogs. Then we do our chores here at the Echo Lake Fishing Access Site. On Monday and Thursday we also do the fishing access site in Bigfork. We sit outside and do some people watching in the mornings and some afternoons. We also rest a little most afternoons. This sometimes includes a nap, but not always.

So I am going to try to hit the highlights in order to catch up the blog.

Steve continues to do some weed eating as necessary. I have worked on catching up the blog.

On Wednesday the 15th, we drove up to Noisy Creek and took the dogs for a walk.

Later we went to town for Pizza. On Thursday, the boss came by and brought two more loaner lifejackets and the volunteer notebook. This notebook outlines the rules for the access site and our duties. It also has emergency numbers and a little other information. He said he won’t be available this week-end, he is going camping into the Bob Marshall Wilderness, by boat and a hike.

Friday wasn’t too busy - it was overcast and humid in the morning. We decided to run to Kalispell to Walmart - what a mess! The Walmart at Kalispell is always busy and the shelves aren’t well-stocked. Also many people weren’t wearing masks. That will change soon though because the governor of Montana has issued a mask order (recommendation?)! The tag line is “Mask Up Montana!” I also got busy and colored my hair. Later we drove to Bigfork and went south on MT Highway 35 to the Woods Bay Fishing Access site. We took the dogs along and they really enjoyed the ride and walk!

On Saturday, we did all the routine things plus picked up trash on the road up to the stop sign. I also helped Steve wash on the front of the RV. He bought some cleaning stuff at NAPA to try to get the bugs off the RV. It worked pretty good.

As Sunday rolled around, we were up a little late and the bathroom required some extra work. The game warden for our area, Justin was here. He had a guy with him, who was a Captain (Lee). I don’t know how their chain of command works, but anyway that is how he introduced him. There were lots of people here. After our supper, some girl came to the RV and wanted to know what we could do about someone here being mean to their dog. I told her I could call the game warden and let him know. I did call Justin, but he said it was really an animal welfare call. So Steve & I just stood outside and watched the antics. The guy who was being a jerk to his dog had a buddy who was being an idiot. They had been drinking a little too much I think. The idiot guy took a running dive off the dock and cleared a boat. He was going to do it again, but then backed down because the boat looked a little too big. We didn’t really see the other guy being bad to his dog - so we finally just went inside and hoped they left!

Monday (20th) was a busy day! We did all our chores and also went to town and did the laundry. While the clothes dried, Steve washed the pickup. Tonight the people who had started a campfire a while back showed up. I recognize them, because they have an older camper on a pickup. So I kept my eye on them.

The game warden was here fishing and he talked to us on his way out- we discussed the guy jumping off the dock and this group in the camper. He said he would check and see if they were still here the next morning. Tuesday was my WW zoom meeting and Steve was up a little early for weed eating. It was 85 degrees today and so after supper we drove up to the Krause Interpretive trail and Strawberry Lake Trailhead. It was 9-10 degrees cooler there. Such a pleasant little drive and walk.

When I woke up on Wednesday, I told Steve I wanted to call in sick! LOL I just had the do nothings! Anyway, I got around and we did all the usual things. As we were finishing up in the parking lot, a group of Hutterite folks showed up with boats and picnic baskets and coolers. I was surprised to see them, they are similar to the Amish. The ladies all had on ankle length dresses with full aprons, but one of them did wade in the lake. The men went fishing. Later as we walked up the loop with the dogs, some young guys in a pickup, pulling a boat stopped below us and got out to relieve themselves in broad daylight! I got a full display! We headed to town to get burgers - we wanted Burgertown burgers, but had to settle for Dairy Queen food because Burgertown was too BUSY! There are too many tourists here! LOL! After we got back to the RV and ate our burgers we had one more little thing. That weird camper was here again and one of the adult guys was on the dock with a casting net. I think that is against the law - but I wasn’t sure - so I said nothing to them. Luckily they left before too long.

On Thursday, we returned to the Walmart at Kalispell, because I needed to pick up my medications. I also thought maybe Thursday would be less busy. I don’t think it was less busy, but there were more items stocked. We ate a salad at Wendy’s before returning to the RV. We saw a deer on our way there and also later we saw a mama deer and her baby in the loop when we walked the dogs. On our way to Kalispell we also saw two eagles in a the dead tree where they hang out.

Reddy Freddy was here today to pump the latrine. We were glad to see him, because that outdoor toilet was full, almost critical. Friday when we sat down to eat lunch, Chuck, the game warden who doesn’t get out of his truck showed up. So I went out and shot the breeze with him for about 15 - 20 minutes. Steve worked on his project a bit. He is trying to keep the ground around the RV site from washing away more. So he is devising a plan to build it up and fix a retaining wall from logs. Stay tuned. When it is finished I will take a picture. Then we sat outside after supper and enjoyed a fire. The wind had blown most of the day and it got cloudy in the afternoon, so lots of people had left. We really enjoyed our evening with the fire and music. Endless summer. We also saw a neat boat that had green and purple lights on it. There was a lovely crescent moon that reflected on the lake - but I can’t get a good picture with my phone.