Starting in Missoula

It is possible to be homesick for a place you've never been. This I discovered, when I climbed out of my car in Missoula and realized I was home for the first time in my life. What a great place to live! Of course, I still think I could make a suit against the chamber of commerce for their misleading statements, regarding the climate here. The summer I arrive, temperatures set historical highs, and it's the worst fire season in years. It is a scene from purgatory, with ashen skies and blood-red vistas. I can stand it.

The hardest part of winter, in Hellgate Canyon, was the lack of sun from November through February. Mount Sentinel kept the energizing rays from reaching Creekside, where I live. Remind me to be somewhere else for those months next winter.


I love diversity in everything, including seasons. I've lived places that didn't have seasons and places which had the usual four, but Missoula has one I have never experienced before. I call it sprinter. I've seen winter fight spring's coming, before, but I've never seen anything like this. Its exciting and energizing. I have no complaints.

This is going to be an awesome summer in the zoo city. Mark my words. Few have seen anything like this before. Warning, however, the so-called "recession" is already spiraling into a full-blown depression, which is going to make the last one look like a church pot-luck. Growing, sharing and storing food will become prized skills again.