Movin On!

                                                        As I prepared to move the questions I got were " Don't you think you'll miss this place?" and " How can you leave a place where you have so many friends?" The answers were that I always knew I would leave someday. As I've written I had stayed long enough to see many things change around the valley. My kids had grown up while I was here. A career played out. Bird dog's had come and gone. Such is the cycle of life. But life is always about growth no matter what stage or season you're in if you will. It's impossible to stop it. Freeze it in time. While the beauty and possibilities of the Love Creek valley remained the same I was the one that needed to keep growing and experiencing life in new and different ways. But I had played my hand here and played it well. As for the friends they'd always be there but I had been living with 3 of the best friends I'd ever had and we had a lot of memories to make together. The Love Creek English Setter's. Mick, Beau, and Molly.

The Love Creek English Setter's.
From Right to Left.
Mick, Beau, and Molly.

 There were many great things that had happened in my life while in the Love Creek valley and it's meaning to me is deeper than many people would understand. While my journey with the Setter's had begun here it would end someplace else as we turned into the wind and headed west.

There were many great things that happened to me
while in the Love Creek valley and it's meaning to
 me is deeper than many people would understand.

                                                         The move required three trips. Two with my vehicles pulling 12 foot trailers and one with a Uhaul truck. I'd catch rides back to Wisconsin with Tom as he came out hunting and eventually got everything moved. I had tried over the year's to keep possessions to a minimum but had enough  artwork and taxidermy for two houses basically. Once the boy's were more settled we could divide some of this. I donated several things to my younger brother in exchange for helping me load up with my Mom and sister being recipients of a few things as well. My neighbor Duane was a great help and was the recipient of a couple Deer stands and the two outdoor insulated dog houses. These things were big and heavy and there was no way in hell I was moving them.
                                                           As soon as I decided to move to this little town in rural North Dakota I started looking for a house to buy. I wanted to own a place as I needed a bird hunting residence anyway so even if I didn't work here I'd have a base to hunt from. When I got to town I asked around and looked at the available housing most of which was sold at auction usually. There were three possibilities with one catching my eye.

The Ward and June Cleaver house.

                                                        It had some interesting lines to it and the interior had original woodwork and nice architectural detail as well as a nice sized backyard larger than most in this town. Since the Setter's would have to adapt to town life a large fenced in yard was essential. I made an appointment to meet the owner and walked through the place.

This place had some neat features and like I said we had enough
taxidermy for two houses!

He had bought it at auction 3 years prior and used it when his relatives were in town but otherwise it was not lived in . The previous owner's had lived there for forty years and raised 5 kids in this house which had 3 bedrooms one down and two up. One of the guys on the Economic Development Committee was married to one of the family members who had grown up there so the history was well known. I asked about the price and the guy said he was asking 18 and I said well what would would you sell it for and he said he'd take 15 as he had just paid 3 grand in special assessment for street and sewer improvement this year. That price included stove, washer and dryer,two really nice maple bed frames and a recliner in very good condition as well! It also had a single car garage. The taxes were 250 dollars a year! I was paying almost 6000 dollars a year in Wisconsin. So now I hope you can begin to see the method to the madness!

A perfect spot for Marilyn as well.
What do you think about the window? 

 We shook hands on the price at 15 grand and he said his wife who owned the local drug store would get the deed ready and I could just stop by the drug store and write her a check. Done deal. That's the way they do it out here. A hand shake and a promise.

The circular stairs and landing below the half moon window.
One of my favorite feature's of this house.

 I had to laugh as I was showing Tom the house that week. We were upstairs and on the back of one of the bedroom doors was a poster from the Leave It To Beaver series with Ward Cleaver making some comment to Beaver about his underwear being on backwards. It felt like the Beav's house and that's the feel the whole town had to me.

Bird dog's live here so I put in vinyl floors downstairs.

 Over the course of the next year I would invest another 15 grand in things like a furnace, windows, doors, flooring, fencing the yard,siding and finishing the garage and setting up an outdoor kennel. It's amazing what a little paint and updating did to this place.

Amazing what a little paint can do to a room. The woodwork
in the upstairs of the house was in pretty bad shape so I
sanded and filled the bad spots then painted. Worked out great.

The Setter's adapted fine to the neighborhood. We could be hunting birds 5 miles from town! So there was no issue at all living in town. In fact they like people anyway and would enjoy our walks around town stopping to talk to people along the way.

The garage gallery. I put in the loft for storage. Dog door's also
for the Setter's to get to the outdoor kennel. I ran the power out
myself which was a first time experience with electricity but it
went well. There's a shortage of trades people out here so I
quickly learned I would have to wait and wait and wait then get
overcharged most of the time or do it myself. I opted for doing
things myself and using youtube as my resource.

 I got around to updating the garage when the weather got better running power out there and finishing the walls. I put in dog doors so if needed the Setter's could be outside using the outdoor kennel but there with me all the time so it hasn't been needed.

The wall of Fame. I used a little double stick tape along
the bottom of the frames to hold them in place on the wall.

 I also use the garage as a gallery for photographs for lack of wall space living in a smaller place which works fine as I basically use it for bird cleaning during the season so the photo's are all hunting or fishing related.

I put a 4 foot border around the house with Hosta's and lily's.
The fenced in backyard works great for the Setter's as well.

 The landscaping had all been pulled out year's ago so I moved a collection of Hosta's I had moved to my Mom's place when the time came and then planted day lillies around the sunny sides of the house. My regret is that I didn't take my day lily collection from Love Creek but it would have been so much work I decided to let them go.

I really enjoy the day lilies and hope they do well in this
climate. I planted about 40 new types. You can see the fenced
in yard for the Setter's and the house came with central air as well!

 This is a town where everyone really is particular about their yards so I had to dress up the house a little bit if I was going to belong to the club so to speak! So while I don't plan to really do anything else major we're making this home for a while. It worked for the family that lived here raising 5 kids for 40 year's and it's working just fine for the Setter's and I as well! We're now living in "Bird Country!" I'll never forget the days we spent in the Love Creek valley but the year's we spent there got us here. A place where the Setter's can work birds all day long and I can live and play out my "Dream".