Posts from the ‘Photos’ category

Catching up the week

Wednesday, November 16…it looked like this and as I walked the loop, I thought to myself: “This is the absolute perfect amount of snow for the week before Thanksgiving…just enough to have that holiday feeling and not so much as to make it hard to get around”.

Later that afternoon, an email from a friend alerted me to a storm forecast for the weekend. It wasn’t so much for a lot of snow as it was for very cold temperatures and strong wind with blowing snow.

Huh… I decided in about 5 minutes of dithering to winterize the motorhome. It burns through a $60 tank of propane in 4-5 days when it starts staying below 20. While I grumbled a bit, it does not take long and it removed the tasks of monitoring (worrying) and runs for propane refills. I will de-winterize the first night out or maybe even the night before I leave weather permitting.

And although I had to unload all the freezable stuff, I use those recyclable psuedo fabric grocery bags that I have a plethora of, making it easy to unload and reload. Stowing things away, I can do first night out. With the short days and long nights and me not being a night driver, I will have plenty of evening downtime and will take at least 4 1/2 days for the 1260 mile trip to my folks.

In the process of unloading and checking all compartments, I found a quantity of stuff that doesn’t need to be aboard at all – obsolete electronics, Bob supplies (he’s staying home with his new gal-pal, Hailley)…. SO, a little de-cluttering done as well :)!

That done, it was back to work as there is a Tuesday project deadline.

So…Thursday afternoon it looked like this…

And then it changed to freezing rain…pretty, but I was glad that I didn’t have to go anywhere which is one of the reasons I can enjoy Winter so very much.

The forecast nailed it – not a lot of new snow but it got very cold and very windy and very wintry and I was very glad I was not trying to babysit the motorhome through a frigid cold spell. I promised her that I would fire things up shortly and we would be off for adventure soon.

Bear is absolutely loving the cold. His short stint of laying in the yard has regressed to being constantly in motion. There are perimeters to patrol, squirrels to chase, deer to sniff out…maybe the elk herd have passed through in the night or the local raccoon. Bear is on top of it all.

That was our week…that and getting the house and Bob ready to leave in Hailley’s care. A full week, a bit more jam-packed than is my wont, but all is in good shape. Currently the weather looks good for either a Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning departure – Adventure calls!

All the colors of the rainbow

Yesterday (Thursday) morning…looking down the driveway…beautiful, colorful sky.

I turned around to see the gold larch against a sky turning blue.

It made me think: rainbow! The colors of a rainbow all around me.

From the frost on the ground, to the green and gold of the pines…to the blue and white of the snow covered mountains.

As I wrote last night, the day was quintessential Fall: crisp, cool, clear air, the low light from the southern moving sun that casts a gold light over everything. Everything about the day bespoke Fall.

Last night was the full moon. The moon was to rise just after sunset. Bear and I went out to the loop overlook to wait…to wait for the full moon rise.

There was quite a show of color…

…all the colors of the rainbow spread across the valley between the foothill we live on and the steps of the Swan Range.

Venus showed first, giving a clue to where the moon would rise.

Dusk fell. It got darker.

The moon lit a small cloud just over the mountain top.

It was getting too dark to be where we were. Bear was such company. He usually wants to be on the property more than where I was waiting, but he stayed and watched with me. It made me cry as it brought up a memory of Karl waiting with me in the snow the first Winter in this place. But it also made me smile and laugh in joy with how far Bear and I have come and what a good life I’ve had with my good dogs.

All the colors of the rainbow… shared…in the love and company of my good dog.

Prelude to Winter

Today was actually a quintessential late Fall day with gorgeous light and color from sunrise to sunset…and I have the photos to prove it! … tomorrow or over the weekend…but for tonight…this shot from the parking lot at the grocery story south of Kalispell. The sun, the clouds – they spoke of Winter…Winter which is a more than a month away by the calendar but any day now in northwest Montana.

Catching the light on the road home

Bear and I went to Bigfork at lunch time to walk at the park, drop off garbage at the dump and see what it looked like out and about. I was surprised to see so much more snow on the mountains and knew that if it stayed clear, the setting sun would throw wonderful light on the road home. Sunset is shortly after 5 so when I hit a good stopping point at 4:15, we jumped in the Jeep and drove down the road home to catch the light.

Saturday Evening

Saturday evening, just before 8:00 p.m.

Bear and I were outside for a last patrol before bedtime. The sky was clear and the waxing crescent of moonshine was low in the sky on its way to moonset. It was so clear and bright that I toyed with the thought of taking the Jeep to the spot on the road home in an hour or so to see what things might look like – a crescent moon setting.

But, I was ready to call it a day so contented myself with photos from the yard.

Bear by the light of the crescent moon…actually his lighted collar :)!

***Bear has adjusted to wearing the collar and appears to have no problem navigating the woods in the dark of morning and evening. I did have to get him his own as Karl’s was too big and no good way to adjust it small enough. BUT, the old company was gone and this collar is from Firefly K9 Products – it is made much better. This weekend we tried on our hunter orange wear…had to order Bear his own orange as well.