Kalispell's current City Manager took a position in another state. An attorney from Helena was set to be the interim but ran into some state pension problems. So, while the search continues for a new manager, the current city attorney may be filling in for a time. The new fire chief has been approved by the city council. Dave Dedman is a Kalispell native and has been filling in for the vacated post and is now the new fire chief.

Record high temps on Wednesday at 50 degrees was really strange. It felt like spring most of the week. Snow in the forecast though for the next few days and boy are we ready for it! The ski slopes are emptied from the surge of holiday tourists. Should be good skiing next week.

The National Association of  Realtor's economist, put out a positive market report for the first time in 3 years. He says there are signs that there is the beginnings of  a healthy uptick in the market. Not since the first time home buyer's credit has there been this change so it is thought that we are slowly climbing out. All real estate is local however, but national trends trickle into our valley eventually. Good news for my sellers-in addition to decreased inventory and fewer bank owned coming on the market. The good news for the buyers is that still record low mortgage rates are available.

My personal happy news this week was welcoming my first grandchild! Son and daughter-in-law gave birth to a boy in Washington State. So blessed and excited.

Weather: for some reason this is the first thing that comes to mind this week. After many sunny and warm (for winter) days, it is snowing this morning. Still warm and may end up raining in the valley but the ski hills should benefit. It has been a slow start to skiing this year. Big Mtn received 7" the other night which led to avalanche control measures. This weekend should see the start to more stable snow fall and better conditions. Blacktail faces north and has had a better base thus far. Big winds and rain off and on the last couple of days in the valley. The ground has been thawing. Hope the trees and horses don't start thinking it is spring!

Whitefish Mountain Resort has some New Year's Eve options. Snow boarding on the rails under lights at 5pm followed by the torchlight parade. Music at the base lodge free of charge from 5-8:30pm.

First Night Flathead in Kalispell is an annual event. Buy a button and roam around town to various venues to enjoy a wide variety of music from local musicians.

Fresh Life Church had 3 amazing Christmas Eve services on Saturday. We attended the one at 2pm in Kalispell. There are 2 former movie theaters where worship takes place and they were at capacity with overflow in an additional building. This is a very high tech church so the other venues had hd equipped screens showing the live music and preaching from the Liberty theater. There was a 4pm in Whitefish at the cinema there. Amazing music and preaching!

Hockey is showing up around the valley. On any frozen body of water, at the Woodland Park rink in Kalispell and the Stumptown Ice Den in Whitefish. 

My winter activities are curtailed due to knee replacement surgery a few weeks ago, but you can still find me in the cheering section for snow!

Flathead Valley activities are ramping up quickly leading to Christmas:

Tonight, December 2 - Kalispell ArtWalk from 5-9pm

Shepherd's Hand Clinic in Whitefish has a benefit tonight at Christ Lutheran Church. Free to attend but donations accepted. This clinic has been in place for many years helping those without insurance. One of my personal favorite physicians, Jay Erickson, and his wife started this program and have donated untold hours to helping those in need of medical care in our valley. Shepherdshand.com. The benefit starts at 7pm.

I am once again singing the praises of our excellent medical care in the valley. Dr. Olszewski, noted knee surgeon, did a total knee replacement on my right leg last week. 2 nights were spent at Health Center NW in Kalispell. The wonderful staff at Flathead Orthopedics and our local hospital made the surgery go very smoothly. My follow up physical therapist is Kat Ingalk of Mindful Motion in Kalispell. I saw her last night for the first time and love her! She is caring, energetic and creative. Kat works out of Straight Blast Gym. She will be giving me homework and working on getting the motion back into that new knee joint.

Last night we ate at Hops Bar and Grill in Kalispell for the first time since they opened. Had a burger and their homemade chips. Best chips ever! The place was packed which is pretty impressive for a Thursday night in December.

Whitefish Mtn Resort has delayed opening. Ski season was set to start December 3 but there just is not enough snow. We have had lots of sun and dry weather with no snow left in the valley floor.

Saturday morning drive into Whitefish to get a fleece jacket for the little house dog. He didn't look kindly at the cold weather when he needed to head outside to do his duty. Tailwaggers had just the thing, a locally made fleece coat for him. Then a walk over to Nelson Hardware to pickup a couple of items and have a nice visit with Rick Nelson the owner. Then onto the turkey buying at Super One. Last stop: Montana Coffee Traders on Hwy 93 in Whitefish for the best Americano in the valley. Super women work there, always friendly and remember me.

New commercial listing on the Swan Valley Highway. Former deli/gas station with a 4 bedroom house, recently remodeled. See it on kalispellcary.com.

Off to protect the honey bee hives from the cold nights.

November! Snow is on Big Mtn, some valley snow possible the end of the week. Unlike the NE part of the country, we had no snow in October in the Flathead Valley.

Kalispell restaurant update:

1) Applebees in front of Costco will be opening soon to add to the choices at the north end of Kalispell

2) Doug and Vonnie Day are changing their restaurant format over to more casual pub type of eatery on Main Street called Hops Restaurant and Grill. Always on the lookout for a great burger, I'll let you know how it is.,

3) We have had both lunch and breakfast at the Split Rock downtown. Both excellent, good value and great service.

Whitefish City Hall re-location and possibly a new building are still being hotly debated, especially leading up to council member elections.

A group in Wisconsin has complained to the Forest Service that a statue of Christ on Big Mtn since 1953 should not have the permit renewed for it to be on the ski hill. This statue is a World War II memorial and the out cry from our valley has been loud and strong. We'll see if the Forest Service respects the history and local opinions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiwgBxlpC9o

This is mostly about Whitefish. Don't leave out Kalispell, Bigfork, Columbia Falls and Somers/Lakeside. The Flathead Valley has much to do and see!

Saturday and Sunday the 8-9th, the Kalispell Ski Club does their ski swap at the Flathead County Fairgrounds. Time to buy and sell used and new ski equipment and pick up that ski pass for Blacktail and Big Mountain.

There is a new Applebees restaurant at Hutton Ranch in front of Costco nearing opening day. This part of Kalispell is fast becoming the place to go to eat and shop. The new Hutton Ranch connector road has gone out for bids to provide another access from Reserve Drive.

Kalispell Regional Hospital is progressing with another large addition. Being a regional medical center  this facility sees strong, steady growth. New physicians are coming into the valley to meet the medical needs of residents and tourists.

In reading my CRS (certified residential specialist) magazine this morning, there was an article about housing prices hitting bottom in the next few months. Of course this is nationwide information. The Flathead slowed down later than a lot of markets and traditionally starts picking back up later. The 69 panelists in this article estimate that there may be 2% annual appreciation in the next 5 years. This is described as stability in the market rather than a rebound meaning no actual change in home values. I advise my sellers that if they want to sell now, sell. Waiting for 5 years is not going to net them a greater price.

The Summit - owned by Kalispell Regional Medical Center - offers some great education to the public. I renewed my CPR/AED certification there the other night. Check out their web site for upcoming classes, something to meet any need in the medical or fitness area.

The Bistro restaurant in Whitefish has purchased a former restaurant building in Kalispell and is currently remodeling to open there this fall. Another great place for lunch and dinner. I had a fantastic lunch with a friend at the Split Rock Cafe in the KM Building in Kalispell this week. Great value and love the old building atmosphere.

Must be the fall weather, lots of information to pass on this week!

High school sports are in full fall season force. Flathead High and Glacier High are doing very well in both football and girl's volleyball. 

Time to get the final harvest from the garden, still no hard frost which is unusual for the end of September.

City of Kalispell is working on a plan for an improvement district along the west side railroad tracks. Some talk of incorporating the fairgrounds into the scheme as well.

Glacier Symphony is promoting their new season, great musicians in this valley!!

http://www.king5.com/video?id=129543618&sec=640349

Monday horse loving friends came over to challenge their horsemanship in our arena. Had various tasks to complete and we found out which horse could do them and which horses needed a little more work. 2 of the men had a great time riding my 6 year old gelding Bentley, he gaited up a storm and they loved his go.

One of the best things about my job is working with great sellers and buyers. A highlight this week was the following testimonial that arrived in the mail:

"Cary's level of experience, knowledge of the Flathead market and straight forward approach make her a valuable partner in a real estate transaction:

She helped us price our property competitively in a difficult market. We had showings nearly weekly - when other people we knew weren't getting any nibbles. Cary was persistent in her commitment to track down follow-up comments in a timely manner after each showing. She is professional, detail oriented, organized and reliable. She provides excellent customer service to her clients. Cary's "tenacity" paid off for us..after only two months on the market, she acted as a dual agent in the sale of our property for a FULL PRICE, CASH offer to an out of state buyer that saw our property on www.kalispellcary.com! If we were staying in the Flathead she would have clients for life."

Cindy & Jim Yarbrough 8.28.11

Every deal is challenging in this market in different ways, but this kind of letter makes the struggle and hard work worth it! So far this year buyers from: NV, TX, NC and next week GA.

Yesterday we drove up to Glacier National Park and hiked some of the Highline Trail that starts at Logan Pass. A busy trail it is. It is very narrow with a hose to hang onto if you have little tolerance for heights. Not a difficult trail - at least the part we did. We followed the Going to the Sun road the whole time so clocked it in the car on the way down the pass afterwards. Did about 5.5 miles round trip. Timing was great, just started to rain when we got back to the visitor center and were sitting outside eating our lunch.

Stopped at Perfect Cuts butcher shop in Columbia Falls for steaks for dinner. Their selection is immense from buffalo in many forms to pork to beef.

Kalispell Farmer's market today was the 9am destination to get the best fresh stuff there is to be had this time of year. I was happy that I didn't totally miss out on cherries. There is a late Flathead Lake cherry that was just picked this week so got some of those.

Next, to the historical bike trail. We rode the section from town, along Ashley Creek, to south of town. About 10 miles. I have suggested to my husband that we have done enough work with our legs for 2 days!

My garden: raspberries are finished, lots of lettuce, tomatoes are turning red, pumpkins are turning orange, green beans are ready, carrots still coming. Every night a home grown salad for dinner!

Photos below are from out hike yesterday.

Waterfall with snow above on the trail

Note ant like fellow hikers top left

Looking down at Going to the Sun Road, note hose behind me if a person is afraid of the drop

Drove up to Whitefish Mtn yesterday afternoon. Used our season ski passes to jump on Chair 2 for a ride up the mountain. Hiked around a bit looking for huckleberries with no success. Below are some photos of the awesome view. Normally it is Chair 1 that is operating in the summer but not this year so the views are a little closer from these slopes. Watched the Alpine slide riders and the zip line participants. So nice there is so much going on in the summer these days on the mountain. Restaurants are open, hotels are busy. Had a very special dinner at Cafe Kandahar. In all our travels, Chef Andy still out does anywhere in the world we have eaten. Then on to a play in Whitefish at the Alpine Theater Project.

http://saddleupproductions.com/terf2011/theevent2011.htm

Took a long weekend last week and traveled south of Great Falls on Hwy 89 to see some scenery and camp in an area we had never seen. Very scenic and quiet. Packing all the fun into summer we can!

Ah summertime in the Flathead Valley! Daily temps have been in the 80's. A nice summer thunder storm roared through last night and then the sun came back out. Haying has begun in the valley with an abundant crop due to the early season rains.

Going to the Sun road in Glacier National Park opens next Wed. A record late opening due to the record snow pack. I plan on taking a drive up to see all the snow that is still covering many of the trails.

Kalispell concerts at Depot Park have been going strong. Tuesday's concert saw the grass covered with chairs and people dancing. Eating at the various restaurants outside on their patios. Love it. Haskill Basin restaurant in Whitefish is a great spot. We had dinner there awhile back. A pub atmosphere on the way to Whitefish Mountain resort. They were packed that Sat. night. We always liked the location when it was a previous restaurant and happy it is open again with the owners of Tupelo Grill downtown Whitefish putting their cajun spin on the menu.

Farmers Markets are in full swing in Whitefish, Kalispell, and Columbia Falls. A great place to shop and visit with friends.

Big Mountain (Whitefish Mountain Resort), opened last weekend for the summer. Chair 1 has been temporarily shut down due to ground slumping and a tower leaning. Hope they can get that fixed quickly. It is the chair to the top and heavily used by mountain bikers and hikers. Maybe a result of our record snow pack and ground water?

Jewel Basin - popular hiking area north of Bigfork - a friend posted photos showing the snow is still up to the roof on the out house. A mere 5 mile hike to get to the trailhead. Could be a late start for this close in amazing hiking area.

The state legislature passed a new law allowing for preliminary approved subdivisions to get an additional extension due to the economy. Seeing in the Daily Interlake frequently that the Kalispell City Council has one subdivision or the other on their agenda to extend the process for another year. Plats can only be extended if their approval was expiring after the law came into being, so some did not make that deadline.