The Road Home

Friday morning

Ending the week as we started with an early morning walk by Echo Lake.

I have been pounding the keyboard all week. The nights and following mornings have been deliciously cool and crisp with days of warm sunshine. Today, the end of the work week, is a bit more relaxed and I will finish early afternoon and run some errands. I have it on good authority (Russ, my UPS man!) that the chip sealing on the highway is complete. The weekend is supposed to be warmer, maybe even hot by MT standards, so I will do all of my out and abouting today leaving the weekend free for lazing about mostly…the darn floors and such are dusty again and I cleaned them not two or three weeks ago…

A happy and joyful Friday to all!

Just past full

Photo taken 7/10/2009 4:48 a.m.

**added 10 a.m. MDT
While I like my shot and love being out capturing the moon, PLEASE take time to see
Leesa’s July Moonrise and then look at a few of her recent posts ( Leesa’s Home Page) to see some spectacular wildlife shots. Gorgeous!

Echo Lake on a summer morning

My driveway has a curve to the west as it meets the road. West on my road leads to Montana highway 35 from which I go most everywhere. This week MT Hwy 35 is being chip sealed 4 miles in both directions from my road. I plan on avoiding it until they are through.

But, my road is also a road to Echo Lake, a medium-small lake that lies in the foothills just a few miles away.

This morning, I turned East on my road.

Looking between the bug splats on my windshield, you can almost make out that the road changes from asphalt to gravel. I am thankful to live on the asphalt part!

Along the road is mostly thick forest but there are beautiful meadows in some spots.

That is Blackies Bay to the south along the road. There are a number of small lakes/large ponds in this area.

The lake was quiet when we arrived. Karl puttered along this access and then we walked a road that borders the end of the lake and a marshy area.*

As we returned, an early morning water-skier approached. I was ready to take a photo of the geese taking off as the ski boat turned…

…but they were unfazed by the boat and it made the turn without getting too near them.

On the drive home, with the sun behind me, it was easier to see into the woods and get a glimpse of some of the cabins and homes. Every once in awhile I would see one that seemed so appealing to me.

And then I turned into my own drive and caught the first glimpse of my home…

…and it looked so very nice to me. It looked wonderfully nice to me and I had this overwhelming feeling of gratitude that I have this place to live, in this beautiful woods…

…a good dog to walk with and a good cat to come home to.

* Below are links to posts with Echo Lake photos from Fall 2008

Echo Lake Fall

Echo Lake 2

…it started out with a bang

July 4th, 2009…not fireworks, just excitement…

Sometime just before 7:00 a.m. on the 4th, Karl started barking, Bob came roaring inside…

I tore outside, stopping only long enough to grab my can of pepper spray.

Karl was doing his “woo-woo-woo” something up a tree kind of noise. As I rounded the motorhome I saw Karl and the coyote. The coyote looked so small that my initial thought was “young” coyote.

They were squared off.

As I came into view, the coyote looked at me, turned and took off to the East – our loop walk. Karl moved a bit toward, keeping up the “woo-woo-woo” and then, somewhat spastically, nose to the ground, alternatively barking, sniffing – following the scent around the area, but not giving chase.

I let Karl do as he needed. He was all over the scent, stopping occasionally to look East and bark.