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January through March,
2010
01 January 2010
Sunset, Looking Southwest
Last quarter,
we had a picture of
sunset looking southeast.
Under similar conditions,
the view to the southwest is equally impressive.
In this case,
summits of Montana's
Tobacco Root Mountains
cast elongated upside-down shadows on the cloud layer as the sun peeked
below the clouds a minute before setting.
Click on the picture for a 3 megapixel
(80KB)
version.
In early January,
the elk visited our property for a short time.
They usually get easier forage here but this year they are having to paw
their way down to the grass.
They must be getting enough to eat;
these elk cows appear to be healthy,
well fed and pregnant.
Local TV news reported the herd had been hanging out on Jackson Creek
Road
(about 8 miles from us)
and people claimed wolves were preying on them there.
That is unlikely,
but if true it might explain why the elk moved.
In keeping with
English Tradition,
Pauline makes English pancakes
(like crêpes)
for Shrove Tuesday.
We started inviting friends over,
and each year the event has grown.
This year we had 37 guests.
We expect each guest to flip a pancake,
but we don't hold races.
Early in the party,
members of the volunteer fire department had to leave to
search for two skiers
who got lost skiing out of bounds at Bridger Bowl.
We hosted the MSU
Wildlife Management Techniques
course for a second time.
Students placed five
motion-sensitive cameras
around the property to see what animals wander by.
One camera placement was near the skeleton of a deer kill
left by a mountain lion
last November.
A month later,
students practiced use of
telemetry
equipment and collected data from the cameras.
Click here
to see a gallery of selected pictures.
They have left the cameras to see if they get pictures of bears when
temperatures warm up.
While placing cameras the students spotted two moose.
Two weeks later we saw the two juveniles we pictured
last Memorial Day
and suspect they are the ones the students saw.
The pair have grown quite a bit since Spring and will probably be ready
for mating Fall of 2010.
A day after our sighting,
guests Dale and Kathy
spotted the smaller of the two
and we used snow shoes to track him
(or her)
through the property.
By early March snow pack in the mountains was below average,
but there had been snow on the ground at BCL since
November 12.
This was the first time we have seen snow cover last so long.
Global warming deniers should not get their hopes up —
temperatures over this period were 2°F
higher than average.
The weather was consistent with an
El Niño
year.
The lingering snow was possibly due to the low variance in temperatures:
we did not have many unusually warm,
dry spells as in past years
(for example,
last year).
There were some good ski days,
but none of the cold smoke powder we expect.
If the El Niño pattern continues,
we will see a wet,
cool Summer.
Dan and Jennie's Christmas present to us was a
dog sled adventure.
We scheduled a weekday in early March to avoid crowds.
As the only persons on the tour,
we both got plenty of sled driving time.
The dogs were very friendly and they obviously love their jobs;
while setting up the sleds,
they were barking and jumping at the prospect of a run and they got
impatient to go again any time we stopped.
The dogs don't care if anyone is driving the sled,
so one must take care to follow the two rules of dog sledding:
(1) hang on and
(2) don't let go.
We will definitely recommend this tour to our Winter visitors.
At the beginning of March,
weather switched suddenly from Winter to Spring.
We had many warm, sunny days;
snowfalls were light and melted quickly.
Elk returned in small numbers and the Whitetails that hang out at the
bottom of the drive came up to the house to graze.
It was so warm and windy we did not try to burn our last slash pile.
Then,
the last two days of March brought plenty of new snow.
At least we'll have good skiing to wrap up the season.
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