Archive for ‘March, 2018’

March goes out like a lion

But wait! March is supposed to come IN like a lion and go out like a lamb!!

We had a blustery front complete with Winter Weather advisory until 11:00 a.m. this morning. No new snow at my house, just a few light flurries this morning.

The high today was a brisk 34F.

But, it has been above freezing until yesterday…

Out the front door …

…from the front porch…

… the snow is melting. I have ground to walk from house to garage – YEA! Juggling groceries over ice has never been a favorite occupation.

And these girls have been regulars for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

They love the mossy bits on the downed branches.

Auggie is enjoying have less snow and more ground.

And inside, we are getting ready for Mr. Emmett with a redo of the kitchen corner that will allow Auggie, Emmett and me to be together!

While I was at it, a new slipcover for the shredded chair in my office.

Goodbye March and Welcome April!

Almost Spring

On March 20 at 2:15 ish p.m. Spring officially arrives in Northwest Montana.

Meanwhile…

And then…

Auggie and I have “adjusted” to the loss of Bear. Bear’s presence as well as Zack, Gus, Bob and Karl’s have been heavily felt … in a good and comforting way!

And in a little more than 3 weeks time, a new boy will be joining us. An English Shepherd, to be called Emmett.

I fly to Oregon on 4/8 and back with Emmett on 4/9. The family Summers will go forward with Auggie and Emmett while never, ever forgetting Zack, Gus, Bob, Karl and Bear.

One of the 7 male pups born on 2/12/2018:

This pup, or one like him, will be our Emmett.

Almost Spring!

From Wayfarer’s State Park on a sunny Winter’s Day

Wayfarer’s State Park is located on the northeast shore of Flathead Lake, just south of Bigfork and Bigfork Bay. It is about 7 miles south of where I live.

On the capture above (Google Map Satellite), the entrance is from Hwy 35 just south of where Hwy 209 meets Hwy 35. A lower picnic area is the JH Horn Memorial Park. You can park there and walk a loop trail to the lake, up to an overlook and back through woods and meadow to JH Horn. There are also several short loop walks in the woods around the picnic areas at JH Horn.

Wayfarer’s has a campground with beautiful campsites from tent sites up to large motorhome sites and many have views of the lake. There are picnic areas along a rocky beach that looks to the bay and a boat launch at the lake end of the beach. South of the boat launch is a cliff area with benches to sit and enjoy the view or you can walk over the cliffs and find wildflowers growing in the cracks of the cliff rock plus more trails that join up to the campsites.

It is a beautiful park and although it can be very busy 4th of July through mid-August and summer weekends, other times I’ve been and feel like I’m the only person there. Karl and I went there often and outside of summer, I was able to allow him off leash on the trail and beach. It was a bit much for Bear and we went only a few times for walks, but we often drove in and down to the beach and back to see and smell (Bear)!

I went today for the first time in over a year. I wanted to see what the trails looked like for snowshoeing and it was such a gorgeous day, I also just wanted to walk along the lake a bit and enjoy the scenery, the sunshine, blue sky and fresh air.

The photos below are taken near the spot marked Wayfarers Campground. It is faint, but there is a line like the road lines extending into the lake. That is a large dock and I walked to the end to take the photos: the first 2 are looking the direction the arrow points – toward Bigfork Bay. The second 2 are looking south toward Polson, Montana.