HEAD COLD AND A COLD WALK

I have come down with a pretty good head cold.  Stared getting the sore throat the other day and now it has progressed to a full blown head cold.  Couldn't stop coughing last last night so ended up trying to sleep in the recliner chair down stairs so at least Connie could sleep.  The cold medicines didn't seem to help.  But it will pass.  Lots of people have had it around here.  Thought I was feeling much better yesterday afternoon so went for a 6 mile hike up behind our place.  There was a little bit of wind blowing and it sure made it cold walking in the exposed areas.  Connie is doing well and has told me she does not want me to give her my cold.  Not much else is going on around here. 

Lots of snow covered mountains around here.

Looking west from Scott's overlook.

The three sisters above como lake.

And catmay sure gets into some crazy sleeping positions.

SKIING A LITTLE POWDER ON A SNOWY DAY

Connie and I managed to hit a great day at Lost Trail.  Some fresh powder and snow falling most of the day.  We got there early and I stood in line with Mike who also likes to be on the first chairs up the hill.  We get a  few runs before the crowd hits the slopes.   Met Connie at the top of chair 2 at 1015 and made a quick run down Moose Creek in some great powder.  Then headed over to chair four and made some great powder runs out in Sacjac.  The snow quit and the wind really started to blow.  We actually had to head back over to the lodge area because they were closing chair 4.  But it was about half past lunch time so we quit for the day.  Great day!

Fresh powder down Moose Creek.

A little powder in out of bounds Sacjac.

SKIING AND AN UPDATE

We have had a major storm pass through our area dumping over 50 inches of snow in the mountains.  Of course there are avalanche warnings out and backcountry skiing is a little dicey right now.  But we have skied a few times at our little resort.  Last Thursday we had some pretty unique conditions.  We had a layer of dry light snow, about 10 - 15 inches, that was covered up by 10 inches of really wet heavy snow (sierra cement is what most people called it) which made skiing it pretty difficult.  Lot of people let their tips of their skis go under the top layer only to find themselves bogged down or more likely doing a cartwheel as it threw them forward.  We made a few runs, but half the state seemed to show up and the lift lines were really long because they were having trouble getting chair 4 going.  We left just after lunch and came home.  I had forgotten to put the charged battery in our camera so have no pictures of that day.  But today's snow and weather was a different story.  Not very much new snow, but there were hardly any skiers up there.  We skied the out of bounds on chair 4 all day.  A little tired tonight so will sleep good.

Down here in the valley, we started out with some snow and then it turned to rain.  Lots of rain.  And then lots of ice.  What a mess.  Now it is pretty well all melted and mud has taken it's place.  I wish it all had been snow. 

The snow falling at our place.  We got twice this amount and then it started to rain.

 Catmay loves playing with her blue mouse. 

Waiting in line for the lift to open today.

Snow covered trees.

Sula area in the background.  Connie just about ready to start skiing in the out of bounds area.

This snowmobile might be there next spring!!!

Update 18 January 2012

We have been pretty busy around here the last week.  Trying to get some wood split up, painting the upstairs bathroom, and many other little projects.  Gary and Margee headed to Arizona the other day and made it down there fine.  The weather has sure changed also.  We now have winter.  Lots of winter weather advisories and watches.  The little ski resort got 10 inches of snow last night and it has continued to snow all day and forecast to snow all night and tomorrow.  Skiing will be good tomorrow.  Can't wait.

We also had to put the horses in last night as they woke us up about 0230 as they came running into the corrals.  But we could hear a horse nickering down towards the meadow.  So we got up and headed down there.  Found them all, but some were a little spooked.  The horse Joe was lame yesterday when we fed so we decided to bring them up and put them all in the corrals for the rest of the night.  This morning we let all the horses out except Rippy and Joe.  Gave Joe some bute so hope that will help his lameness.  Think he might have just got kicked.  Will keep him up until he gets better.

Had a bunch of turkeys show up around the yard today.  They put on quite a show.  When feeding the other day we came upon a coyote that had killed a turkey and was enjoying a little dinner.  He took off when he saw us approach though.  Got a picture, but he was already headed out pretty fast.

The coyote leaving his dinner in a hurry. (click to enlarge.)

This is what he was eating on.  It was completely gone the next morning.

Working on spitting wood for next winter.  

Painting the bathroom.

A few of the toms hanging out by our sliding glass door.

The hens scratching through the pine needles for nuts.

A little video of the toms by the sliding door and some hens running around.

FALLING A LEANING TREE AND DOING SOME SKIING

We had a tree that was going to fall over and it looked like it would fall either on one of our stock waterers or on our metal panel fence.  So Gary came up and we attached some ropes to the tractor and fell it where it would not harm anything.  We have had some pretty strong winds this winter so was pretty glad getting it down on the ground where it did not damage anything.

Went skiing Sunday with Ike, Brenda, and their son Rustin who is home on leave from the Army.  He is also a telemark skier like his dad.  And he is getting pretty darn good.  We made a few fast runs down the groomer runs before they got crowded.  No new snow so that is all we could do. 

They had to get the life flight helicopter out of Missoula for a bad injury at the resort.  That is the first time I have seen the helicopter land there.  Seen lots of ambulances from Hamilton, but not life flight.

After skiing we went down to Hamilton to the new brewery and had a beer and pizza.  These little breweries are really doing well in this area.  Small business at it's best.

Cutting down the tree.

Down just where we wanted it.

Connie and Rustin.

Life flight sequence.

The new little brewery on Hwy 93 in Hamilton.

UPDATE 5 JANUARY 2012

We are still waiting for La Nina to show up and shower us with her abundant snow.  So far this winter has turned out to be a little slack in that department.  We hope that changes.  If it doesn't, the blame will go directly to Connie and Brenda as they purchased new powder skis in anticipation of a another great powder year.  And it has been record breaking warm here in Montana.  It was 53 degrees this morning at 0300 according to my brother who was up at that time of day.  When I got up, it was 48 degrees which is way above normal for this time of year.  And it is melting up at the ski resort also.  Not good.

Been busy cutting down some bug killed trees for next year's firewood.  I have more trees dying from the bark beetle this year than in years past.  I found some of the larvae in one pretty good sized tree I cut down.  Some pictures of them below. 

These are the larvae between the bark and the wood on this one block.  It was the block cut just above the ground so that might be why there were so many on it.  A couple others where the bark came off only had 2 or 3.

A close ups of the eating apparatus of this larvae. (our new camera has a pretty good macro lens)

This is one laying among all the digested bark - lets see, what would that be called!

Some pictures of lichens/moss on the rocks.

Sunset over the Bitterroots from the fire pit - you don't see any snow clouds.

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND THE BITTERROOTS ARE OUT.

Happy New Year to all.  I hope this year puts many smiles on your faces.

We had our "snowless" sledding party on New Years.  Two out of the last three years there has been no snow for our sledding party.  But we had a good time anyway as the kids always like to roast wieners over the fire.  Not as many people showed up this year as there is a flu bug going around and a couple of families were down with it.  Weather has been very warm for this time of year with some rain in the valley and snow in the mountains.  Avalanche danger is high in the mountains. 

On my walk this afternoon I spied a couple of Bitterroots just starting to break ground.  This is the earliest I have ever seen them out.  Last year it was the 16th of January.

A few pictures from the last few days - click on any picture to enlarge.

Carl even had a hot dog.

I think some of the wieners were smoked from the looks of this fire.

We had the large bunch of turkeys in the yard today.  These are a few of the Toms.

Such a handsome fellow.

The State flower the Bitterroot just coming through the ground.

Ice over some moss on the rocks.