My pipe and slippers, if you please

From the Front Porch has been the “Bob and Karl show” as of late. Between vet appointments and pet care and the clearing of snow and a full work load…well, I got to Friday afternoon and said to Karl that we’d better run to the store and have a walk along the way as we had not been off the property since Monday for the vet!!!

So, off we went to town with a stop in Somers for our walk and we just enjoyed. I looked, Karl sniffed and we meandered down the trail a bit and back – then to the grocery and home again, home again.

Our respective suppers have been had. A fire is crackling in the woodstove. Some of us are taking postprandial naps…

It was a good week.

Catching some rays

A banner day for early March in Montana…

It was sunny…AND warm!

The dog bed was available so Bob nabbed it.

Karl had dibs on a mostly shady spot.

The breeze…perfect!

**Karl is uncharacteristically leashed as he has a badly strained shoulder. He had a shot of cortisone on Monday and we’re takin’ it easy which includes no bounding through the snow after deer…

It’s not as cold as it looks

Last week we had several days of temperatures that stayed in the single digits and a few nights just below zero. Not as cold as the arctic cold we sometimes get in November, December and January, but still cold and unusual to have the very cold in late February.

Sunday, when I took these photos from Wayfarer’s Park, it was in the upper 20’s with the occasional sun break.

This is the most ice I’ve ever seen on the Bigfork/Somer’s Bay area of Flathead Lake. I grew up near Lake Erie and skated/ice boated on Maumee bay. The pattern of ice on a lake, how it works with water movement is fascinating. The strength of the ice and its potential for distruction are evident along the shoreline. There was a lot of groaning and booming from the bay and looking at the ice from the shore level, you could see movement from the water underneath.

I wouldn’t want to go for a swim, but it was not as cold as it looks!