Craziness and Canoing

Things have been crazy around the trailer and the American Prairie Refuge this week. We've got some people camping in our front yard here. They are from the Montana Conservation Corps and they are taking down some of the internal fences that are still in the Bison Range. Wednesday night, we went over to the Yurt Camp (a camp with these circular permanent tents for the donors to APR and WWF) where they were just finishing up a safari. The safaris are like mini camps for the high dollar donors and potential donors. The WWF and APR staff drive the guests all around the Refuge to see the bison and different wildlife and they wine and dine them with delicious food and drinks. They asked us to come over for the last dinner so people could meet Jeff and ask any questions they had. We didn't get tons of questions, but we had a good time (and good food).

The next day, Jeff's advisor, Dr. Paul Krauseman, came out from Missoula to see the study site and to see what Jeff and Mike had been doing. Jeff, Kyran (the project director), and Dr. Krauseman, drove ALL over the huge property on Thursday looking for bison, checking the fence that Jeff had built and seeing the land. It was kind of neat to see the whole thing, but I was REALLY sick of being in the truck on bumpy little two-track roads.

Yesterday, Jeff worked some in the morning and early afternoon, but came home early so we could actually see each other for a while. It's nice right now being the only people that are in the trailer. Mike is in Helena getting married until next Sunday, so Jeff and I got to cuddle on the couch and spend some time alone. Although, the trailer is not conducive to spending time together. We probably killed 10+ moths, some flies, and found a dead mouse during our lovely alone time together. I will be very VERY glad when we are not living here anymore. We did go canoing on Forchette Bay yesterday evening . Forchette Bay is a little piece of Fort Peck Lake that comes in about 20 miles from the trailer. The Missouri River actually makes Fort Peck Lake, and as you drive down to in, the landscape changes dramatically. It goes from flat sagebrush prairie to very hilly country with different vegetation. In some places there are big cliffs that go down to the lake. It's called "the Breaks". Here are some pictures from out canoing trip yesterday.

This is the view of the cliffs across the bay from the top of the road

These are the cliffs from the water...very far away.

We saw the biggest spider either of us had ever seen, but I wouldn't stay near it long enough to take a picture. We also saw huge things in the water. We're not sure if they were giant fish...there's walleye and some other big fish in the lake, or if it was a mammal of some sort.

This is what the landscape looks like most of the time. Off in the distance, you can faintly see the Little Rocky Mountain Range.

Jeff is doing well. His helper isn't here this week or next week. That slows things down and I know Jeff doesn't like that. I can't go out and put up fence all day...I can't even lift a fence post. He's been working on a lot of computer stuff and getting locations for bison and moving some wood to places he needs it to be, but I think he wishes he could keep going on the exclosures he needs to get put up.

I'm feeling fine. I felt the baby move this week and I'm positive it's the baby. I've never felt anything like it before and it is VERY reassuring. My tummy is also starting to look more like a pregnant tummy too. We're hoping to hear back about insurance and assistance stuff soon so I can go to the Dr. for a check up and hopefully find out what the gender is soon! We've got names picked out for both a boy and a girl, so we are just chomping at the bit to know what it is!