The lupins are blooming…
The sun is shining and there is fresh snow on the mountains!
Bear and Auggie keep an eye on things in the woods … Auggie’s eyes are on a squirrel and he abandoned the walk to stay at his observation post.
The lilacs are blooming also – so fragrant and pretty!
Auggie returned shortly, thankfully without a squirrel, but with wet and dirty feet.
A good morning!
I live near the north shore of Flathead Lake. Polson, Montana sits on the south shore of Flathead Lake. I had an appointment in Polson today. After, Bear and I went to a park by the lake. Despite the snow, the sun was shining and it felt warm – warm unlike Winter.
I love Winter, but the warm sun felt so good. It felt like a mini-vacation and I did not want to leave. I let Bear sniff and explore while I enjoyed the warm sun.
From the south shore.
The weather has been gray and dreary and a very un-January-like above freezing kind of mish-mash. Because of the snow depth, there is still snow-slush to snowshoe on. Auggie is able to walk on top of the mess. Bear is dealing with a mix of breaking through slush and the firmness of my snowshoe paths.
Blech.
It is what it is and the forecast is for 20’s overnight and upper 30’s-40’s F daytime, i.e. continued slushiness.
The good news … actually, the GREAT news!! is that the only thing we have to complain about is the weather – small potatoes!!!
And today, mid-afternoon…Bear and I made a quick run to Bigfork for a few items that the House Summers required. And we were rewarded with clear roads as well as some unexpectedly beautiful vistas, particularly across Flathead Lake.
The best views were in spots of travel with no safe place to stop and take a photo. We ended up in the parking lot of the Flathead Lake Brewery, formerly a bowling alley. The brewery-pub is very nice and has a primo spot overlooking the lake. I’ve enjoyed a glass with a friend on the deck … last summer. Today, it was a park and shoot affair.
It was beautiful.
And in the midst of gray and dreary, there was stunning light.
We got snow – about 4 inches, but a beautiful start. Auggie and Bear are having big fun running and playing in the snow. I have high hopes for snowshoeing next week.
Snow!
Bear and I were outside this evening, making the rounds on our last daylight outing when I noticed an intense red glow to the West… a blazing sunset just visible through the trees.
I dashed inside, grabbed camera and keys, whistled Bear to load up and down the road we went to see what we could see.
It was worth the trip.
Glorious!
And to the East a bit of cloud and mountain top alpenglow: sunset on the road home.
This week was a repeat of last week…took time midweek to head to town and stock up on supplies so we could hunker down over a forecast hot 4th of July weekend:
Full frig and freezer!
Version 2 of the long, long cat … a cat inside to escape the outside heat!
Good news, bad news: The good news is that all fireworks have been banned this year. The bad news is that the fireworks have been banned because of the severe fire danger from heat and lack of rain. I don’t believe I’m saying this, but I’d rather it was green and moist and I was complaining about fireworks for a week. The fire danger is off the charts. I have the motorhome fueled, filled with water and stocked with food and clothes. We can roll quickly if necessary. Hopefully, it will not be necessary.
Meanwhile, my across the road neighbors, home to the chickens that supply me with THE MOST GORGEOUS EGGS – the neighbors went camping. They had hoped to do a 2 day trip but because of the 4th and fire danger, decided on an overnight. They asked if I could collect eggs, feed the horse and pony, the chickens and the barn cats and water the garden…in addition to eggs, I also get extras from the garden. So, I said: “YES”!
So, for 24 hours, I was Ms. Farm and Ranch Person. This is SO out of character for me. I do not like to be out in the hot and dusty and stinky, etc. BUT, the chickens are not only beautiful and supply the most wonderful eggs but they are a kick to be around. The horse (Bernita) and pony (Lexi) and cats (Oscar and Gerti) are so much fun also…
Lexi and Bernita. Lexi aka “Miss Piggy” LOVES her food. Bernita has restraint. They now love me because in addition to forking (pitch fork!!!) over their hay, I took carrots – YUM!
The cats. So funny – these cats are like Auggie: Norwegian Forest Cats!
Oscar, the gray. Oscar kind of has Mr. Bob’s build… wide body!
Gerti, a calico is a bit slimmer but still fluffier than Auggie and shorter tail.
They are both sociable and followed me around as I did the chore routine.
Some of the “girls”. These are last year’s chicks. For whatever reason, this year’s prefer to stay in the coop per Mel. But they are all together in the coop overnight so it is not a “get along” thing ??? Chickens are funny, I think. I can’t remember the breed names, but I think these are an incredibly beautiful group of hens and it was fun to feed and talk with them.
The “inside girls” … this year’s chicks in the coop. So, the other funny thing is that inside the coop there are nesting boxes for each chicken. BUT, the eggs are almost always in the left side boxes…rarely in the right side per Mel and Jesse.
On my watch, Friday night there were 6 eggs on the left side: 3 in 1 box and 2 in another. Saturday morning there was 1 egg on the right side but above the boxes! Saturday, 11:00 a.m. ish there were 2 eggs in 1 box on the left side.
Hmm.
But, there are 15 chickens so I told them a few of them were slackers!!
They said: “bawwk, bawwk, BAWWKKKK!!!”
The garden – lush and beautiful. Jesse set things up so I only had to turn on 2 faucets and all of the garden got a good drink.
After Saturday morning chores, I headed home and gathered my boys for a walk in the woods while it was still cool…
Mornings – still the best!
The long, long cat and the hot, hot dog.
This week.