I used to park our family car right up close to the house, winter or summer. When it snowed, we'd shovel our way to the gate, often taking 45 minutes at it. Then a couple years ago, it occurred to me that if I parked next to the gate, shoveling took 10 to 15 minutes. Yeah, the driveway isn't so pretty and clear but it works.
 

It took almost 40 years for this Aha. Blame it on my growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area.
 

Speaking of the driveway, it used to be narrow and sat slightly higher than the lawn it borders. So during inevitable winter thaw/freeze cycles, we would sometimes be holding on to the car door to keep from sliding downhill. Totally ineffective. We fell a lot. Five years ago, determined to solve this problem, I bought a couple big rubber mats. They helped immensely. Even better? When I realized the driveway could be made wider. It was a minimal investment (it's gravel) and -- no more falling. Not once. 
 

I started watching my across-the-street neighbor and realized I could sweep light snow. Much easier than shoveling. If I do that a few times during the day when it’s snowing, it keeps everything SO much simpler to manage. Probably useless in the type of storm that drops five feet of snow in 24 hours like my sister experienced earlier this year in California’s Sierra Nevada, but quite effective with a Bozeman light and powdery 3 inches.
 

We all put up with stuff because we think there's no remedy, or, we just stop thinking. That's why I love making put-up-with lists. When you list stuff, large and small, you just start questioning and wondering, solving or accepting. As you shift smaller put-up-withs, larger ones don't carry as much weight. Well, some larger ones. Some things ARE just weighty. We're ALL carrying plenty of those right now. They drain energy, taking a toll on health, mentally and physically. Why add to the load?
 

Do you have to do anything about the things on your list? Not really. It’s not a to-do list. Just becoming aware of, and articulating, these bring them to the forefront of your mind, and spirit.
 

Create a theme for a list: what are 25 put-up-withs around finances? Around the amount of clothes in your closet? A friend had two hampers full of matched pairs of socks. She went to work on those then found herself in her closet, sorting out things she didn’t wear. Some of those still had price tags on them. She gifted them to friends, delighted by their delight. I love to donate to a thrift-store that supports the work of an important local non-profit.
 

I’ve been at this long enough I don’t create a list but keep a running tally in my mind. Generally, circumstance prioritize what rises to the surface, or I find I’m just ready to address something, and then I dig in and even if it takes a few months for a solution to pop, I stay with it. 
 

My most recent winter-relief innovation? I don’t like to scrape ice off the car windshield in the morning. Forty-years of Montana freezes and I still pretend it won’t be there. For decades, I threw a blanket over the windshield. A couple years ago I found a nice windshield cover. But it’s too complicated to put on and doesn’t fully cover the windshield. I stopped using it. This winter I bought a nice sized tarp. It covers the windshield and then some. I tuck it in under the top of each passenger door so it doesn’t blow off. It’s amazing. Almost as good as a carport. Or that’s what a friend said. I’ve never had a car port so I wouldn’t know.
 

Honestly, I still have a problem of getting myself to actually cover the car with the tarp at night. Because really, my most consistent challenge, winter, spring, summer and fall? Me. 

Jenna Caplette migrated from California to Montana in the early 1970s, first living on the Crow Indian reservation. A Healing Arts Practitioner, she owns Bozeman BodyTalk & Integrative Healthcare. For relaxation, she reads novels and walks the trails around Bozeman with her four legged companion. Oh, and sometimes she manages to sit down and write.

Rewind over the last 15 years... every time the "W" word is mentioned...

"W" word?  Wolf- Gasp! Scream! Shrieks of anger! Heavy sighs!   Any time this hot word is mentioned or overheard, an hour long outdoorsman rant about Montana elk populations ensues, followed by my eye rolling and sighing.  Followed by continued ranting and more persuasive techniques such as foot stomping, fist chest beating, and declarations of the seriousness of our elk herd depredation and wolf problems. If I continue to not join in the ranting he will resort to trusty old YouTube videos of wolves tearing up baby elk.  Doesn't he know I am just using the age old trick in a life or death situation?  You know, where you play dead so the wild animal doesn't eat you?  So I quietly sit and nod at the angry camo man until my eyes cross and my ears bleed. If you nod yes enough times he will eventually calm himself. 

Trust me; this is worse than Voldemort-"He Who Shall Not Be Named".  This goes in the book of never, ever; ever bring up politics, religion, and wolvvvvvvvessssss (this is said in a whisper) in polite conversation.  For that matter, do not bring it up in anyyyyy conversation polite or not because I can guarantee the outdoorsmen, ranchers, and just about anyone around here will get just plain ugly at the mention of the "W" word.
 

Back to the present...
 

I'm always trying to get the outdoorsman to check out of a work a little early to take me to some chick flick, go to Costco with me, get a pedicure, or some other thing that he deems "un-manly." He never can seem to get his schedule figured out where he is able to come with me. Strange, right?  I figure I do a lotttttt of things that are not really in my comfort zone so
He should have to get a pedicure at least once a year to get those caveman feet under control. Anyways! 
 

Lately there has been a decent sized herd of elk hanging around our house.  Which is awesome but we also have had to have the outdoorsman towed out of the ditch twice due to reckless binocular driving. (See below) They really should have a ticket for this sort of thing, right?  Usually we just have bears and mountain lions hanging around but....This week on Tuesday, I get a frantic phone call from the outdoorsman.  Apparently his buddy just heard on the news and IMMEDIATELY called to let him know that there is a pack of wolves running around, gasp, IN the outdoorsman's neighborhood.  Holy bag of antlers! What do we dooooooooo now??? The outdoorsman is literally shrieking into the phone about how he just can't believe that there are wolvessssssss hanging out on HIS turf. This is simply unacceptable. I repeat, in case you didn't quite get it, UNacceptable!   He informs me that he MUST take care of this.  Was there ever any question? My ears hurt from the rapid fire one-sided politician's speech I just endured. Even I know the outdoorsman cannot resist this juicy temptation.  I hang up the phone... an evening alone…can anyone say sushi and pedicure evening?  Thank you wolves!

I get home and the outdoorsman is waiting, ready to pounce, as soon as I walk in the door. No, he didn't notice my cute new toe polish and think I looked good; he was ready to tell me about the enemy in the back yard.  Of course! He tells me he went scouting after work and that he found the wolves.   He tells me he has never been so exhilarated and freaked out at the same time.  And that the hair on the back of his neck stood up when the pack of 8 were spotted one drainage down from our house. He is pacing, plotting and severely agitated.  The outdoorsman is in heaven.  I don’t think that he slept a wink that night.  He was as giddy as a school girl with new shoes

Miraculously he is off of work two whole hours early the next day.  How did that ever happen?  He says that strangely enough his last 2 appointments of the day cancelled.  I do not believe that for a second!  On my way home I encounter him and his buddy en route to their “spot”.  Camo men unite!! They are blasting music, frothing at the mouth, and kind of looking like a pack of wolves themselves.  The outdoorsman revs his truck up and launches the outdoorsman mobile up on a snow bank.  This must make him feel tough or something?   The camo men unload and they are ready to roll.  Their camo bandanas are tied to their heads, their rifles are slung over their shoulders, and they are off as they imagine they are camo super heroes off to avenge fallen elk.   I roll my eyes and continue home.The outdoorsman arrives home a few hours later, empty handed, but happy as a pig in poop. Weirdo!

A few days later, on our way out of town for the weekend, I notice the back seat has his pack, a gilly suit, a predator call,and his rifle from dream-guides. I laugh and ask what that's all about.  The outdoorsman smirks in some secret pleasure, "You just never know babe, you just never know."     Dear God, does this mean at any given moment the outdoorsmen will suspect a wolf in the general vicinity, turn on the howling box, suit up in some fringy camo suit get-up, slap two black paint lines across his cheeks and started army crawling across the parking lot of the restaurant we are in? Yes, that's exactly what that means!  I will not claim him but will order dessert, order another glass of wine, and wait.  He will come back eventually, he always does when he gets hungry. So if you hear of a wild man howling like a wolf running through the streets on the prowl, don't be concerned, it is just an excited outdoorsman.  Now that the wolves are in town, anything could happen.

Binocular driving: The action of attempting to drive while looking through binoculars at critters, steering with your knee, animal calling and ignoring passenger screams.

Kristen Berube lives a crazy, laugh-filled life with her outdoorsman husband Remi and their three camo-clad children in Missoula, Montana. A graduate of Montana State University and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, she loves being a mom and enjoys hiking, fishing, and camping. “Confessions of a Camo Queen: Living with an Outdoorsman” is her first book. 

It is available for purchase at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1560376287/ref=tsm_1_fb_lk

In Montana, where I live, we have more hoofed ungulates than we have people. Deer, pronghorn and elk roam freely among the 94 million acres that make up the Treasure State.  Frequently we see them in our back yards, or on hikes, where we have run into other free-ranging critters like bear and the very furtive mountain lion.  With one million people in the fourth largest state by ground area, Montana has room to roam and room to exhale.

We moved here from Chicago in 1998, and while I do love my old hometown for a visit (can't beat the culture and restaurants!), I am always glad to return to our recently expanded airport in Bozeman (8 gates!) and walk to my car, just steps away. The two cities are a study in contrasts in many ways, but the driving force for our relocation was most definitely the press of humanity.

Life is simply easier when there is ample space for work and everyday tasks; and the big plus of millions of acres of prairie, forest and mountains free for hiking, viewing and driving make this state a most special exception among the lower 48.  Most noticeable for me is the lack of any serious traffic.  When we travel from point A to point B, we measure it in a time which is 100% reliable...one could never say that about most cities and suburbs across the country.

Montana is likely to grow, and our hometown Bozeman is in the midst of a major building boom right now.  It's amazing how quickly the landscape around town is changing since our move here.  I suspect it is only the winter weather, which often lingers until June,  that keeps a massive relocation swarm at bay. 

In my lifetime I will probably notice manageable in-migration, though I do wonder if constant, relentless population growth will, in the end, win out; and Montana will look--and feel-- like anywhere else.

Please remember. It's cold and snowy here. No rush to move.

Bill Muhlenfeld is owner and publisher of Distinctly Montana magazine and other publications. He lives in Bozeman with his partner, Anthea, and always finds time to enjoy the great outdoors, when he is not writing about it....