Actually, You Weren't Invited!

We spend time every summer in Montana’s Flathead Valley; the same lake the same cabin. We love the warm weather – warmer than what we get north of the border. And don’t even think about bringing an umbrella. You won’t need one. Rain happens in the spring - only.  We like that it is close enough to drive, no flights to arrange and no connections to miss. We love fresh cherries at roadside stands. We love picking huckleberries right off the bush. We love the lakes, beautiful Glacier Park. We love it all – well - most of it.

What we don’t love is that we often end up sharing our holiday with uninvited guests.

One summer it was an annoying woodpecker. No one saw him but we heard him every day, early in the morning, and that is when we realized he was pecking away at our roof and not a tree.

One year we could not decide whether we had bed bugs or tiny invisible poisonous spiders. Everyone developed red spots on their chests and stomachs - everyone itched. Especially the people that slept in the bunkroom. People became cranky and began to think of solutions.

"Throw away all the bedding and the pillows!

Burn the mattresses! Rip out all the carpeting !"

We did throw out the pillows and then I put my foot down!

“I am not throwing away one more thing until we find evidence.” 

But that was just the thing. There is no evidence for tiny, invisible, poisonous spiders – they are too tiny and too invisible. And we never found any bed bugs either - just red spots and lots of itching. 

Then one day we met some folks at the grocery store. They were itching and scratching just like us - with the same red spots. Turns out  . . . . . they had swimmer’s itch!  And that is how we learned that our problem had nothing to do with invisible spiders, bed bugs, or the bunkroom. It had to do with duck poop in warm water.

This year we had some other visitors. In fact, the whole state of Montana got to spend time with these guys. Can you figure out  who?

Because of poor cell phone reception you have to take calls outside - but if you are outside the wasps will eat you! (Orin has 15 wasp bites to prove it.) The only option is wasp/hornet spray or a phonebooth!