Relishing Montana splendor on this holiday weekend

Glass-half-full tale unfolds as California kids adjust to Big Sky travails, delights

 The fields are green, the horses are happy in the Stillwater Valley, Montana, as our travelers return to problems and joys.

Minutes after arriving at High Chaparral, the couple found one of bird houses
full of baby birds, about to fledge.  The next morning, they were gone!

STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS
 PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER

  

A WEEK OF WOES we have had, with a transition from California to Montana, but a glass-half-full story we happily share.
(We'll be writing about the unusual northern California wildlife preservation enterprise next Wednesday, and will give full forum to B Bryan Preserve and its worthy work.)
Today, though, a silver lining story.

The garage and work shop are a shambles, but order is returning.

FLAT TIRES, a dead refrigerator, a jumbled garage, and a continuing disaster of winter damage, could derail lesser mortals.
Cookie and Keller proudly report, they found the "good stuff" and are savoring.
Montana has never looked greener.
Tiny birdies -- wrens I think -- were chirping in their bird house as we moved our stuff in.
We looked in while the mother was away, and took some photos.
The next morning, they had fledged.
THIS WAS AN omen, we chose to believe.
So despite the flat tires, dead refrigerator, perennials that didn't make it through a minus-

Friends help the complicated re-entry -- here John and Laurie Beers, left,
Cookie in center, and Lana and Charles Sangmeister, with Keller above left.

40 winter, we give thanks.
The garage is our workshop and Keller has restored it masterfully.  We're using it to sort flood damaged goods and make repairs to a wrecked guest room while awaiting an insurance decision. We have wonderful friends, who mowed the lawn and send supportive thoughts.
We're looking to the future, with high hopes, as Bing Crosby promised in his hit song long ago.

COMING UP:  B Bryan Preserve in northern California's Mendocino County is doing remarkable work to preserve the endangered species of Africa.  Come with us to meet several kinds of zebras, along with giraffes and other exotic critters.  Remember to explore,learn and live.  We're about travel with adventure and a sense of fun. "Carpe diem" is our motto.
Check us out Wednesdays and weekends, at:
www.whereiscookie.com