Can ya hear me now?

I finally got some hearing aids on a 45 trial basis after a couple of hearing tests, and agonizing over the miriad of selections and the enormous cost of these things. I was initially amazed at the sounds that I have been slowly getting muted out of my life. I have more of a high frequency loss overall and especially in my left ear.
So I got this set from Lloyd Corporation in Rockfor Il called the iHear Mini Canal for $559 for the pair for only 1/3rd down on a 45 day trial. This was the least expensive way to get into a hearing aid set that would allow me time to try this technology out. True, these may not be the final product for me and my hearing loss. There is a lot better technology out there but the costs go up exponentially it seems. I've worn these now for a few days and fiddled with the adjustments on them nuerous times. There are only two adjustments on these analog devices, volume and high frequency.
Because of the various atmospheres I live in and not a sedintary 'at home' lifestyle, these may not be sophiscated enough for my needs.
I have also discovered there is another set called NaturEar Digital hearing aids that may be worth trying out.

Later...

Puttering

Today was a good day to get into the garage and get our stuff more organized so we could utilize the space in there more efficiently, and get all our vehicles inside.

After about 3 hours, I was able to get some more shelves up on the North wall, move my 4 foot bench over near the Southwest wall, rearrange several belongings AND get both cars and the Harley inside, AND have a little space left over.

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First Run of the Year

Missoula to Seeley Lake.

Wow, what a nice day. We went from the 40's to the low 80's almost overnight. Up here in higher altitudes, the mornings are crisp on the spring but then the day ages nicely into 70's and 80's temperatures.
Geri and I got out the freshly washed and inspected Harley around 9AM and we were off. We decided to get out of town early and grab some breakfast on the way. We rode through the early morning coolness, out past East Missoula and then off the freeway at Milltown then headed Northeast through Bonner on hi way 200. We wound through the Blackfoot River valley then pulled into McNamara's Landing for breakfast. The bridge that crosses the Blackfoot river here is called McNamara Bridge and there are ruminants of the old bridge piers still visible on each bank.

After breakfast I traipsed down to the river to take a few photographs while Geri used the 'facilities' before traveling on. I got some nice images with my new camera, and noticed someone in a far clearing practicing fly casting. I was wishing I had my gear with me, but then, this was a 'riding day'...

I climbed the bank back up to the restaurant and we got ready to leave.

We traveled on up 200 to an outfit called Paws Up. This is an elite resort for the rich folks and they cater to a lot of out of towners for luxury adventure vacations. I have a BIG problem with the name of the place, because, as most hunters know, 'paws up' refers to a dead animal that is on its back with its paws up... Really 'graves my goat'!

We headed north up 83 and found Salmon Lake still pretty much frozen over. The air was still cool around here but we stopped for a few more photos. We rode into Seeley lake and I drove us down to the little creek that Geri's Grandparents, Allen & Mildred Chaffin lived next too. They are both gone now, but we still visit their old home. We lingered there a little while, taking some shots of the old home and creek nearby.

We went on into town looking for a place to get a little desert. Not much open in Seeley Lake on an early spring Sunday afternoon, but we did find a nice little espresso shop to get a beverage and a cookie. She shop also sold a lot of hand made log furniture, jewelry and the like. Geri took a photo of me in my riding garb out in front of the place. We were considering riding on up to Kallispel from here, but that would have got us back to Missoula pretty late in the day and we were on a more or less 'lingering' ride for our first outing of the year.

We headed back south on 83, and just out of town spotted a couple deer on a golf course. This was a good excuse to take some photots, and besides, I wanted to get some shots of the snow covered peaks on the Eastern edge of Seely Lake. At the 83/200 Clearwater junction, I decided to head East further up 200 to see what was up there. We spotted some deer in a meadow down by Monture creek, so stopped to shoot a few photos. We turned around and headed West on 200 again to get us towards home. We saw a lot of other bikers out today as well. As we traveled along the Blackfoot river, we saw many floaters and fisher folks, so stopped to shoot a few of them trying their luck.

Hope you enjpy the photos.

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