THE LATEST...

Just a little update to show what's been happening the past week at Bear Dance; we're nearly finished with all the tedious work (all the intricate sidewalks and patios), and about ready to begin with the parts that really fly (pouring concrete in the broom-finish areas). Once that happens, the pace will really pick up. Until then, here are a few photos to show what we've been up to (remember, click on the photo itself to see a larger view)....

Taken from just in front of the Yellowstone courtyard, this shows the completed sidewalk extending from last year's finishing point (at the sawhorse and orange bucket) through the driveway, into the center island, up over the rise, between the Parisian street lamp and the dancing bears, and on towards the tunnel. Once complete, you'll feel like you're taking a little journey through a European mountain village.

This photo, taken last week, shows the sidewalk leading up to the Missouri front door. The London Cobblestone walk will take you between the large chief-cliff boulders, up a few easy steps, and into the covered area by the front door. Once there, you will either be greeted by the homeowners, or if you're staying with them as a guest, you'll walk behind the massive stone column into your own private cobblestone patio (seen two photos down).

Jabar Griffin from Concreations spreads the concrete for the north guest courtyard of the Madison residence. Also finished with the London Cobblestone, it is this location that was referred to in an earlier post as the perfect place to survive World War III. (On the other hand, if your plans align more closely with a cup of coffee and a good book than with preparing for global armageddon, this will feel more to you like a cozy, protected stone grotto.)

Jabar applies the finishing touches to the London Cobblestone in the Missouri guest courtyard. If you look closely, you'll see he is perched on a thick rubber mat. This mat, as well as the ones behind and next to him, are the tools used to create the stamped finish in the still-soft concrete.

Steve Reding and his crew from Natural Designs Landscaping are seen here working on the southeast corner of the property. In the right side of the photo is the east wall of the Manor House (specifically in this case the Missouri residence), and on the left is the driveway of the neighboring Bigfork Harbor Condos. At one time an overgrown, untended border between these two properties, this area is the 'frontdrop' for the entryway to Bear Dance. After much planning and discussion, it was overwhelmingly agreed upon to landscape this location as a single entity, even though the property line splits it in half. The iron security fence is located on top of the stone wall and utilizes the natural security the wall provides. By keeping the fence off the property line, we not only keep Bear Dance from feeling too much like a 'gated community' (while still maintaining security); we're also able to give a much more natural greenscape in front of the impressive structures when you enter Bear Dance.

NEW LINK

We've posted a new link in the "Local Links" category -- it shows the water level of the Swan River in Ferndale, just east of Bigfork. This time of year, it's an interesting one to check out, as the rains keep falling, the snow keeps melting out of the mountains, and both of them add to the river levels.

The Swan River near Bigfork, close to where the monitoring station is located (click on photo for larger view)

It's especially interesting to look at, because the Swan River, from that location, feeds directly into the Wild Mile. For those of you who don't know, the Wild Mile is a one-mile-stretch (plus-or-minus) of the Swan River before it empties into Bigfork Bay (where Bear Dance is neatly located).

Now for much of its journey, the Swan River is a gently-flowing river. The "Upper Swan", or southern portion (yes, I know, that sounds backwards, but just go with it), begins in the southern end of the Swan Valley near Seeley Lake. The relatively narrow Swan Valley sits between the steepest portions of the Swan Mountains and the Mission Mountains. These two mountain ranges accumulate large amounts of snow and rain throughout the year, filling up their high alpine lakes and sending the overflow downhill. All those tributaries feed into the Upper Swan River, from both sides, over a 50-mile stretch.


Just south of Bigfork, the Swan Valley begins to narrow, as the north end of the Mission Mountains reaches over towards the Swan Mountains. This narrow bottleneck forms perhaps one of the most under-appreciated lakes in the world (second only to Flathead Lake -- yes, we claim two of the best lakes in the world) -- Swan Lake. Each side is flanked by steep mountain walls, and those mountain walls get closer and closer as the lake is fed by the Upper Swan from the south. Finally the mountains allow the lake to spill slowly out the north end, and the Lower Swan begins its journey out of Swan Lake, heading towards Flathead Lake.


This stretch of the river is even slower and more meandering; a bird's eye view would look a bit like a wet spaghetti noodle that had been dropped from above. The Lower Swan (or northern end -- yep, backwards again) is where the link to the left is measured, and once it gets within a mile of Bigfork, the slow meandering ends. The river meets a spillway, which diverts water into a narrow, man-made canal.


This canal feeds water to the Bigfork Hydroelectric Plant, which has been making electricity for more than 100 years. In fact, this plant was originally built to supply electricity for Kalispell, and the town of Bigfork still has its main street -- Electric Avenue -- named for the electricity it proudly provided so far ahead of its time for such a small town.


Where were we? Oh yes, the Wild Mile! For most of the year, the Lower Swan River only provides enough water to feed the hydroelectric plant, with a small amount leftover to bypass the canal in the original streambed. But for a few months in the springtime, the rains begin to pick up. And all that snow, melting out of the Swan and Mission Mountains, falling out of the alpine lakes, rushing into the Upper Swan, swelling the banks of Swan Lake, spilling into the Lower Swan, past the Swan River measuring station...all that water hits the spillway at a volume several times greater than what is needed by the hydroelectric plant. The massive excess of water becomes a rushing torrent over the spillway, down the final mile towards the bay. The elevation in this stretch drops just over 120 feet, but it isn't a consistent fall. The river bed falls in lurches and leaps, over massive boulders and through deep holes. The results are some of the most challenging Class V rapids in the world, and Bigfork plays host to an internationally-attended competition: The Whitewater Festival.


Usually held on Memorial Day weekend, the Whitewater Festival is the official wake-up of Bigfork out of its winter slumber. Kayakers from all over the world converge to compete in a series of events on the water, then to participate in a series of social events each evening in the village. What makes Whitewater Festival so unique is its accessibility. It is rare for spectators of world-class kayaking to have such easy access, such a short distance from restaurants, shops and hotels. The competitors love Whitewater Festival, but a strong case could be made that the spectators are just as in love with Whitewater Festival.


And that's why it's so interesting to watch the river levels on the Swan.

LET THERE BE CONCRETE!!

Got a little bit of rain last night, but it wasn't enough to postpone our first big pour of this season! First step is to pour some of our decorative stamped concrete, then we can come in and pour the grey broom finish once that's complete. See photos below, and simply click on each one to see it larger (same goes for previous posts, by the way):

Concreations pulled their truck into the tunnel, with the pump behind it on a trailer. The concrete truck then backs up to the pump (clearing the overhead barrel vault by a scant 8 inches, and the trench in the middle by a scant zero inches!!), and the concrete is pumped to the proper location through the heavy 6" hose (see below).

It takes one or two guys just to help hold the concrete line (kind of like a fireman crew), as they begin to pour our stamed sidewalk. As you can see, the sidewalk continues where we left off last summer, straight through the driveway and into the center island (see previous posts below for overhead photos). The surface of the sidewalk is the London Cobblestone stamp (see below), and it will be flush with the driveway on either side.

Once the concrete is firm enough to hold some weight, but still soft enough to make impressions, the crew begins with the stamp. First they apply a powdery "release". This is both a colorant and a non-stick powder for the heavy rubber stamp -- kind of like flour when working with bread dough. Once a few days have passed, the crew will then apply a sealer, and the sidewalk will be safe for walking.

We hope to begin pouring a few of our covered, unheated patios tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be a bit rainy, so we've saved these because they're under a porch or a roofline. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to make progress with the rain.

Marching on!!

A Sea of Red

A little closer to our goal, here's another angle of the radiant tubing in our driveway after yesterday's progress. The crew from Touris Plumbing has simply been fantastic -- setting a pace that has easily kept up with our schedule, and making the crew from Concreations quite happy.

(click on photo to enlarge)

Now that the tubes are in place, they'll build the manifolds (the junction for all those tubes, seen protruding out of the driveway in the bottom-right), test to make sure they hold pressure (to ensure there is no damage to the lines), and Concreations will begin pouring concrete! We'll post photos at that point.

So THIS is what happens when the weather is nice!

After dodging our way through the fleeting good-weather-moments over the past six weeks, we now see what we can accomplish with a solid week of good weather. We began the week just barely getting started with our concrete company (Concreations) and a tremendously challenging driveway project ahead of us. We finished the week with all our forms in place, most of the rebar set, most of the insulating blanket, and a large chunk of the radiant tubing installed. It's been a fantastic week -- here are a few pictures....


Once the forms were in place, we had to go back and touch-up our grades and compacting -- everything had simply been estimates up to that point.

After the final grading was finished, we brought in a truck to place materials via conveyor for the landscapers (Natural Designs Landscaping). This pre-placement will save money in labor costs when the driveways are finished and the final landscaping begins.

We were also able to finish our "Glacier Park Walls" for the west upper driveway. Since the driving surface is elevated, we needed some sort of safety rail suitable to protect vehicles.

We were able to install this cistern as a catch basin and "clean-out" for our stormwater runoff system. The watershed from upper driveways and roof surfaces will enter a recessed drain in the concrete, then flow into this cistern. If there is overflow, it will enter two pipes (one is shown), then feed into our retention ponds, where it will then perk into the ground. If there is yet more overflow, it will enter more underground pipes and feed into the huge french drain under our center landscaping island. No chance the stormwater will make it straight to Bigfork Bay with the plan we have in place!

Here's a glimpse of our progress at week's end. The red lines are tubes for the radiant heat system, and the light blue you see underneath is the insulating blanket. This will help retain the heat in the concrete slab to make the system more efficient, keeping the earth from sucking the heat down into it.

As of today's posting, the crew from Touris Plumbing had laid the same amount of tubing again, and the plan now is to begin pouring concrete on Wednesday! Once that begins, the pace really picks up.

Of course, weather permitting.......

APRIL REPORT -- WILL THE REAL SPRING WEATHER PLEASE STAND UP?

This was the first of two drawn-out winter storms in April, shown from inside Ron’s skid-steer

Many have used some version of the saying, “If you don’t like the weather in Montana, wait five minutes…” That might be a slight exaggeration, but it could absolutely be said that any calendar-month in Montana can present weather conditions from every season. Especially in the springtime.

The month of April was no different, and boy has it made things interesting. We started the month with winter still trying to hang on – windy and rainy. Then the sun came out, started drying things up, and the trees started budding. Just as we started whistling about blue birds on our shoulders, we got two days of snow, with some blizzard conditions thrown in for good measure. Then, as if to reward us for tolerating an April blizzard, the next week treated us with 80 degrees and sunshine.

Want to guess what happened the following week?

Snow, rain, snow, rain, rain. And wind.

The settled snowpack in the local mountains actually increased by thirty inches during the month of April! One 24-hour-period saw 19 inches of snowfall, and a more recent 24-hour-period saw 37 inches!

As a side note: Why does this blog and monthly update always seem to talk so much about the weather? Three reasons: (1) The guy who writes it is a weather geek and loves to talk about it; (2) Northwest Montana is, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest places on earth to appreciate diverse weather patterns, with the scenery and landscape providing a fascinating canvas for God’s continuing artwork; and (3) the construction industry is so often affected by weather anyway, so it makes sense to weave the topic into a periodic update on progress.

Mike and Pete, from Touris Plumbing, installing underground supply lines for the radiant heat in the driveways and sidewalks

This is certainly true of the most recent work at Bear Dance, as the focus has been entirely on exterior work. After a winter of sitting on the back-burner, we started the activity back up at the beginning of April, and we’re cooking on all burners in an effort to have this place sparkling beautifully for the summer sales season.

Last summer’s workload focused on completing the waterfront buildings and their surrounding landscapes – in effect, finishing the northern third of the property. We achieved those goals prior to the onset of winter, then waited to see how the market would appear in 2010.

As the winter drew to its end, we wanted to position ourselves for a successful presentation to the real estate market for the peak season. All the indicators, statistics and intangibles are pointing to a much more active sales season this year (the first four months have already far exceeded the pace of last year’s sales, and the overall mood has improved significantly), so we set about determining what would make Bear Dance more marketable and attractive than it already is. The most obvious answer to all involved was to finish the exterior of the remaining two-thirds of the property. Only the interiors of the five-plex would remain unfinished.

East side of the center driveway section, rolled and compacted, and handling the precipitation nicely

So we came up with a list of tasks, a budget, and a plan. As stated in a previous blog posting, finishing the driveways is our biggest goal, but there were tremendous logistical considerations. We had three weeks’ worth of staging, infrastructure and rough-work before we could begin on the driveways, thus limiting our access to several areas. And in spite of the unpredictable weather, we were able to make fantastic progress. All the rough-in work for our courtyard entries was completed (faster than scheduled, actually), and the masonry work (brick and stone) was applied as a finishing touch. The crew from Natural Designs Landscaping took care of all the heavy clean-up and grounds-prep to get ready for landscaping, and the project immediately lost its construction-site look. We also got a lot of our preliminary work finished with Touris Plumbing to be prepared for the driveway heat.

By the time we were ready for the driveway work, our first stretch of beautiful springtime weather was upon us, and we hit the ground running. We spent a few days doing the rough work, moving dirt from one area to another, in order to get our slopes just right. We couldn’t simply make things smooth and call it good; we were under strict guidelines from Montana DEQ to ensure all our rainwater runoff was being contained and filtered through the ground, rather than shedding straight down to Bigfork Bay. Last summer’s work was going to be a critical tie-in with what we had to accomplish this year.

On the left, the stone wall connects the supporting columns and encloses the Madison’s north guest courtyard. One contractor, standing nearby, pointed at the courtyard and said, “If World War Three happens, that’s where I want to be.”

We were slowed by the first stretch of snow showers and rain, saturating the ground and making it impossible to work on the driveways. We couldn’t pack new material on top of wet material, or we’d have problems later on, so we had to simply wait for it to dry out. Thankfully, that’s when the 70’s and 80’s came in with sunshine. After a few days, we were able to begin again, finishing the fine-tuning, spreading the fine gravel, and compacting it with the big roller (pictured above).

As someone once said, it’s better to be lucky than good, and in our case, our timing was just perfect. The day before the second batch of winter (springtime?) weather hit, we finished the compacting. The next day, all that snow and rain simply sat on top, then rolled downhill to our water-gathering areas. Now, at the time of this writing, the driveway areas are still firm and smooth, and all the water-gathering areas mandated by DEQ have worked exactly as advertised. Many construction projects around our area are shut down due to flooding, over-saturated ground, or damage from the excess moisture we’ve received. Bear Dance has drained and dried like a championship golf course.

The southeast corner of Bear Dance – the first you see when driving up – has been cleaned up and prepped for landscaping. The posts on the rock wall will have a wrought iron fence like the south side, and the landscaping will blend smoothly with the neighboring grade. This will keep Bear Dance from having a ‘gated community’ feel, while still retaining security and that Old World feel.

We’ll still need cooperation from the weather to achieve our scheduling goals, but if the saying about April Showers and May Flowers holds true, the month of May will see a tremendous amount of progress on the driveways, and we’ll be in great shape come June. So pray for sun (the sun is peeking through!), and it’ll be a great next month!

WHOA SNOW

More details to come regarding the progress at Bear Dance, but this is simply too interesting to pass up. Our "Just For Fun" column on the left has been keeping up with the snow levels in Jewel Basin throughout the winter, which, according to experts, has us well below our snowpack totals for the Flathead Basin. This usually leads to much hand-wringing and consternation about whether we're in a drought, or if it'll be a bad fire year, or if this is all a result of mankind's relentless assault on the environment leading to global warming, melting polar ice caps, rising sea levels and the death of baby seals.

Then along comes one of our patented winter storms. At the end of April.

For those living in most parts of the Flathead Valley, they're grimly met by wind, rain, temps around 40 degrees (that's 4.44444 degrees Celsius for our Canadian readers), and an occasional snow shower.

But for geeks like me, it's an opportunity to see what the wonderful World Wide Web can share. When I wake up on an April 29th morning and see snow, the first thing I do (right after praying my wife doesn't bail on Montana) is check to see how much snow fell in Jewel Basin. And this morning I was delighted (yes, delighted) to see that the past 24 hours have produced THIRTY-SEVEN INCHES of NEW SNOW.

I know a lot of people are depressed about the weather right now, and sure, I'd rather be standing in the sunshine overseeing the landscaping progress at Bear Dance, looking forward to a golf outing on the weekend; but I somehow receive comfort in knowing how little we humans really know about what's happening with our weather.

Somewhere, someone is singing, "April Showers Bring May Flowers..."

HERE WE GO!!

We've had a busy two weeks here at Bear Dance, as we're getting everything ready to complete the concrete driveways and landscaping all the way to the road. There is so much that needs to be accomplished prior to actually starting on the driveways, and we've been going like crazy to get it done.

Once we were cleared to begin working, we sat down to address an enormous logistical scenario. Our biggest priority is to finish the driveway surfaces, but we didn't want to leave anything unfinished that would require construction traffic on a finished driveway. We literally had to work our way from north-to-south, as if we were painting a floor and needing to finish at the doorway. The biggest tasks were courtyards and landscape prep, and that's what we've been working on in these past two weeks.

Below are a few pictures of the progress so far, and in the days to come, we'll continue to post new pictures as developments occur. It's exciting to see Bear Dance alive with this activity, and the buzz around town is already picking up. Keep checking back for more pictures as the spring and summer move along!

First step completed on Madison's entry. These stone piers will get an ArcusStone cap, with Corinthian-style ArcusStone columns on top, supporting the ArcusStone beams above.

Pouring the concrete wall for Gallatin's entryway, which will then be faced with brick and have a poured concrete cap, just like the rooftop patio above.

Chief cliff set up for Missouri's entryway. We brought this entry further away from the building to allow visitors to get a more comprehensive view of Missouri's north facade.



Working on the masonry wall under Madison's north deck. This wall will enclose the patio for the two guest rooms on the lower level, and will help to connect the massive stone columns on either side.

SPRING MUST BE CLOSE

It's definitely still February, we definitely can expect more snow showers before it's all over, and we definitely won't be hitting 70-degree temperatures anytime real soon (although that last one probably wouldn't be all that strange to see) ... but we're starting to see a few hints that spring and summer are close upon us. The sunsets begin to get a little more colorful (as shown above, looking across Flathead Lake last week) as Old Man Winter starts losing his grip. The snow showers are beginning to be mixed with rain showers, and our white blanket slowly starts to thin.

There's also a change in activity levels. Bigfork has a new event -- the First Annual Bigfork Brewfest -- coming up this weekend (check out their link on Facebook), likely as an effort to nudge people out of their winter hibernation. Eleven local breweries will be providing beverage samples, and local dining establishments (no slouches in their own right) will have food to soak up the liquid grains. Live music and a dog-keg-pull-race will keep everyone entertained, and all proceeds go to local charities.

After that, it's St Patrick's Day, the Rotary Chili Feed, the Kids' Easter Egg Hunt, Taste of Bigfork, Cherry Blossom Festival, Summer Playhouse Kickoff, Relay for Life, Whitewater Festival.....and that's all before June even starts!

Let the fun season begin....

On the way to work the other day, I noticed a glow in my rearview mirror as I headed towards Bigfork. The sun was beginning to rise, and the combination of clouds, mountains and snowscape provided an opportunity too good to pass up. I got out my compact tripod, set it up on the roof of my truck, and took nearly 100 pictures over a 30-minute-span as the day broke.

Almost as enjoyable as watching the sunrise was the reaction of the local residents along this quiet stretch of road. A summertime tourist taking pictures of a sunset is a common sight; but a guy standing in the back of a pickup wearing a Carhartt jacket, braving temperatures in the low-20's to take tourist-y pictures in the middle of winter .... it's enough to make people do a double-take. I was looked at a little funny by a farmer driving a road grader, pushing the snow-berms back. A mom taking her kids to school looked at me like I was nuts. A few people actually drove by and didn't even notice. On the other hand, three people I knew slowed down and marveled at the sight with me (two of them said, "You should've seen it yesterday morning!"); and two other people invited me to help myself onto their property for a tad better angle of the valley.

I picked four of the better ones, and they follow in sequential order as the sunrise progressed...

As the sun nears the horizon, one might think the back side of the mountains are on fire. Here, Sixmile Peak is barely visible as a silhouette because of the brightness of the sun:

The pastel colors associated with the sunrise cast a soft glow on Swan Peak:

And the lucky folks living on this farm wake up to this every day...

By Process of Elimination......

As I look at the headlines from around the country this morning, I feel sorry for everyone else but us. All these poor folks in areas of the country that aren't accustomed to cold weather, and they're getting the worst winter in decades. If it isn't the cold, it's the wind. If it isn't the wind, it's the snow. Sometimes it's all three. Even Florida farmers are dealing with freezing temperatures. Hope no one wanted affordable orange juice prices this summer.

And yet, there's this little place in the northwest part of Montana, in the northwest part of the country -- Bigfork -- that's just been hit by a winter storm. But it's nothing like the eastern two-thirds of the country. Just a six-inch or so layer. Enough to make things look pretty, but not painful. And just about perfectly, the snow has been more than generous in our higher elevations. I know I've mentioned this once already, but our local ski hill (Big Mountain) reported this morning having the deepest snow in the whole country!

Sure, you could go brave the crowds in Utah or Colorado. Then you'd be able to tell your friends you went to some posh Rocky Mountain resort, and they'd all act like they're jealous. It'd cost you a third of your kid's college education, and the crowds would resemble Christmas Eve in a mall, but you could brag about where you went. OR, you could come to Bigfork, ski at Big Mountain, not have a single lift line to deal with (I'm not kidding), have the best snow in the country, pay way less money...and be able to brag to your friends about having found one of the best kept secrets this country has to offer.

Till then, we'll be here enjoying it.

A "Routine" Sight

Just another day on Bigfork Bay.....

We looked out to the partially-frozen waters this morning to see a group of five bald eagles fighting over a piece of fish on the ice. We managed to capture a few pictures of the ones that came close -- the one that's speckled is actually an immature bald eagle (he hasn't grown into the white head and tail yet).

Is this just an incredibly rare occurrence? Actually, no. Last year, we witnessed a group of eagles fighting over a dead deer on the north end of Flathead Lake. At certain times, we saw as many as THIRTEEN bald eagles fighting over this carcass. But here on Bigfork Bay, the eagles are literally a daily part of the sights.

Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

From all of us at Bear Dance

Did anyone need an extra excuse to visit Bigfork? We have one for you right here: As of today, there are only six ski resorts in the entire country with more snow than Big Mountain. They're skiing on a 60" base, and we haven't even hit our stride yet for winter snowfall! Typically, the months of January and February receive more snow than December, so if that's any indication, we're on our way to a record-breaking snowfall year!

Whether you're an avid skier, snowboarder, snowmobiler, snowshoer, or you just like to see winter wonderland scenes, Bigfork and the Flathead Valley are a fantastic winter destination. The little village has slowed down from its frenetic summer pace, and the shops, art studios and restaurants are a quiet and peaceful -- a perfect setting for that relaxing vacation.

If your life and schedule don't currently allow a trip or a relocation to Bigfork, please accept our sincerest wishes for a Merry Christmas. And until the opportunity arises for you to come see us, please continue to check in here on our blog -- we hope to have something new at least on a weekly basis. Let it snow!!!

CURRENT CONDITIONS: SNOW

Could someone please explain the source of weather information when trying to determine the local conditions in Bigfork? Because when you check the current conditions on weather.com, you might think it's a cold, dreary, winter day. But if you had the ability to simply look outside, you'd see how we're smack in the middle of the buildup to a beautifully White Christmas! Watching the snow fall is one of the most enjoyable activities I can think of, and when you combine it with a scene like this one, why resist the urge to share?

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog!

If you're here, you're either just a lucky wanderer of the web, or you've come here by invitation.

If you're a lucky wanderer, then we're glad you're here!

If you were invited, then we're glad you're here! In addition to our excitement about you joining us, you were invited based on some interest you've expressed in either Bear Dance or Bigfork. We're starting this blog because, as we mentioned above, we love Bigfork. We love living here. We think we're in the greatest place this side of heaven. We think our little project (Bear Dance) is perfectly located in this wonderful little town. And we want to share that excitement. We want to share the daily occurrences with others.

Maybe you love Bigfork as well. If you don't, we have a feeling you will soon. Keep checking back with us, and enjoy!