Bozeman, Montana

a nice bike rack with a Penny Farthing center

Sara was working this week in Bozeman so I drove down Wednesday to be with her. We went to an amazing Martin Sexton concert last night and I spent this morning looking at all the great houses and hanging out with the dogs.

a little change

One man, two wheels and a handlebar mustache is now....

"bird and feather"

christaleff.blogspot.com is still the same old blog, only I don't have a handlebar mustache anymore and it was time for a change.

October Collage

Seeing as my posting of late has been less than adequate and hoping that there are still people out there randomly checking this site I am putting together a comprehensive post.
here it is:

Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness
We decided on doing one more backpack this season with a one-night trip into the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness. Sara, Jackson, June, and I left Helena at 5:00 on Friday night, driving to the trailhead where we were to camp for the night.
We went to Phillipsburg for dinner and headed along the Pintler Scenic Loop South toward the Continental Divide. We saw a red fox and a huge moose, we listened to music and it seemed like a sweet all around time. Just as we neared the trailhead, Sara got a call from our friends, Ali and Alan. Being the children of the night that they are, they were wondering what we were doing at 11:00 on a Friday night. We told them, "Well we are going backpacking, you see." They were excited and said "Maybe we'll come!" (now mind you we are 2 1/2 hours away from Helena on some backroads with a moose and a fox) So naturally Sara said, "We are going to Phyllis Lake in the Pintlers and you should come!" They got excited and thought they might for the next two seconds before we lost service completely.
We set up our tent and talked about whether or not they would really come and if it was even possible to prepare and get maps so quickly. Deciding that there were just crazy enough to try it, we thought to sleep in and if they were there when we awoke, great. If not, we'd go it alone.
We woke up about 9:00, took our time with breakfast and packing up and hit the trail at 10:00 with no sign of the friends.

Jackson was using his backpack for the very first time and just feeling great carrying both his and June's food and water. We made it to Phyllis Lake and Sara (who had brought her phone still not giving up hope) got quite a few text messages. They spanned most of the night and it seemed that Alan, Ali, and our other friend Brooke had arrived about 3:30 in the morning, but at the wrong camp site unbenounced to them. They had been searching all morning for us.
So we were at Phyllis Lake, it was starting to get cold and we were realizing we could have made a mistake because we weren't really stopping at Phyllis Lake. We planned to cross the divide to another lake a few miles away. We decided it was best to go back the same way we had come and either meet the friends or head to a hotsprings for a soak. Two thirds of the way back down the trail, there they were. The sun came out, we took off our raincoats and covers and everything felt like it was meant to be. All together we headed back up the trail.


Sara on the trail with the dogs.

Lower Phyllis Lake

Overlooking the Continental Divide

Here we are all together. It's not a great picture I will be the first to admit, but it is the only one of the group. Here we are pretty happy even though it is raining because it hadn't started to pour...then hail...then snow all night long.
So altogether Sara and I and the dogs pulled about a 12 mile day and ended up freezing but it was tons of fun. We headed directly to a pub the next day.


Green Building Tour
Sara, Anna, and I joined a group of bikers for the Helena Green Building Tour in support of National Solar Tour Day.


Here we are taking off from the Myrna Loy Center on our way to the first house.


Our first stop was Beth and Melissa's house. This is one of my favorite houses in Helena and is also owned by my boss and her partner. They did an amazing job adding a corrugated metal master bedroom to the existing brick structure and making the warm and stunning. I pretty offer to buy Beth's house everyday.

Beth and Melissa's tree in full autumn colors.

The next house was off the grid in the middle of town. They installed a solar tracker that you can see in the top right corner of the picture. The house itself is fairly unchanged but they track their energy usuage very closely. You can also see the clouds coming in and we just finished with the last house when the showers came.

It was a great day and the best part was the way that each house had been approached differently and each person's idea of becoming more green fit with their lifestyle.
October 6th was National Solar Tour Day and I highly recommend going on the tour of your town next year.

Kitchen Counter Top
One of my fall projects was making a counter top to go above our small fridge. I used maple veneered mdf and finished itto a glassy shine. I also used the same material for cabinet doors in our bathroom and it really is dynamic with the light face and dark edges.


Bread
I have been making loads of bread this fall.
I just finished a halepeno cheddar sourdough loaf and a sourdough daily bread.


The Nightmare Affair
Last Saturday was ExplorationWorks first annual costume ball. Lori and I spent tons of time decorating and setting up. The Clumbsy Lovers played great music and everybody danced the night away.

I just thought this was a crazy cool picture.

We were badminton pros. (thanks for the idea Zygi and Julie)

So we still have to get to the real halloween and then Sara and I are heading to Washington and Oregon for a few days with our friend Alyx. We are taking her on her college tour and visiting Danny and Lindsay in Eugene.

Hope everyone is well and thanks for checking.