LONGER DAYS AND A LITTLE POWDER SKIING

We are sure noticing that it gets daylight earlier now.  I can even start my walk at 0700 and I don't require a headlamp which is nice.  We noticed the longer daylight in the afternoons last month, but are really glad it is getting lighter in the mornings.  Had to put my sunglasses on while driving up to the ski hill yesterday.  And speaking of skiing, we had a good time over on chair 4 yesterday as they did not open that chair on Saturday as the winds were too high.  So that meant there was some untracked powder to ski and also some wind blown areas that were a little tricky.  But we had a great time and not to many people there as there was on Thursday.

The sun is even shining down in the valley when I am headed home from my walk now.

Connie just about to enjoy a little powder.

Connie has sure improved her powder skiing with her new skis.

Me making a few powder turns.  At the first over to the left, a snowboarder can be seen poaching our powder.

GOOD POWDER DAY ON THE SLOPES

The Lost Trail website said 36+ inches of snow for our Thursday powder day.  Don't know if it was that much, but it was certainly a pretty darn good day.  Although we had a lot of folks coming from as far away as Sandpoint, Idaho and Big Sky, Montana to help us track it up.  And those are just the people I rode up with on the first chairs of the day.  Lots of lines for our little resort.  I was on the 6th chair so got to get a couple of runs in some untracked powder.  Met Ike, Brenda, and Connie at 1015 at the top of chair 2 and made a few runs.  They were late opening chair 4 so we grabbed a quick early lunch then headed over to that side of the mountain.  And while standing in line talked to and old Vietnam buddy who was down here skiing from Missoula that I had not seen in a couple of years.  Made a few runs with him and got caught up on what has been going on with him and his family.  He is a good skier and we made some fast runs out in Sacjac.  It was a great ski day.

While walking this morning, I came upon the rafter of turkeys who were right in with the horses.  By the time I got my camera out I had missed the best picture of some toms standing around Baylee.  A couple of years ago the horses were really afraid of the turkeys as they had not seen them.  Now they pay no attention to each other.

The powder got tracked up pretty fast.

Dale and I flew rescue helicopters in Vietnam together.  In fact, he showed me the ropes of combat flying and some evasive flying maneuvers that would come in handy later in my tour.

Brenda, Connie, and Dale.

The turkeys and the horses.

When I got back from my walk the turkeys were in the yard so the old blind cowdog and I had to chase them out of there.  He really thinks he is doing something!

Some of the toms strutting around when Gary and I drove back from feeding.

A PRETTY GOOD SKI DAY

I had written this post last weekend but never got it posted so here it is now.  We will be going skiing tomorrow as there is at least 22 inches of new snow at the resort.  I will try and take a picture or two of powder skiing.

It had been two weeks since Connie and I skied our little resort because of no new snow.  We just needed to go up there and make some turns.  Get us off the place and make sure our skis still worked.  They advertised 2 inches of new snow so we met Brenda up there to make a few turns.  Our friend from Salmon, Jerry who is one of the "old guys" that we speak of all the time was there also without any of the "old guys" to ski with so he went with us.  We had a great time and made some pretty fast runs.  Hardly anyone on the hill so you could really let your skis rip.  I took my carving skis versus the powder ones and had a good time skiing them.  I think that is just the second time I have skied them in two years.  We do have some hope of new snow this weekend and might just go back up on Sunday.

Elk grazing in the hay field while we were feeding in the meadow.

 Connie, Jerry, and Brenda.

SPRING MUST BE HERE!!!

We are in a drought as far as snow goes - I think I have mentioned that in a post or two.  And it was really spring time temperatures today with lots of sunshine.  But my biggest reason to think that spring is here is I watched a pair of red crossbills working on making a nest today.  I was cutting down trees for next years wood, and when I shut off the chainsaw and started loading the blocks of wood, I spotted the pair picking up grass and even what looked like a feather then carry them up to a large branch on a pine tree.  They worked at this about as long as I worked on loading the blocks of wood.  When I went back after lunch to pile up the brush, I took my camera and binoculars to make sure they were in fact crossbills and watch them work.  They are definitely making a nest.  But this is the first part of February, don't they know it could get cold an snowy next week?  Of course they have not laid any eggs yet, but it still seems kind of early to be making a nest. Maybe practice will make perfect.  And the wild turkeys are in full mating mode as a pair was also near where I was loading blocks doing all kinds of ritual dancing around.  The big rafter of turkeys we had just last week is starting to break up into smaller groups.    And there seems to be quite a bit of fighting among the males and females.

Click to enlarge to see the crossbill on the female which has yellow versus red on the male.

Here she is gathering grasses to take to the nest.

Here is the male on the right and the female is on the left of the nest that is under construction.

 I came up on this deer when I got back to the house.  She looks like she is saying "where did you come from?"

UPDATE 5 FEBRUARY 2012

 Did a little skiing on Thursday and the out of bounds was pretty wind blown.  They had some pretty strong winds the first part of the week and exposed areas were blown clear of new snow with some of the old snow also blown away.  There was some good powder in the trees, but not the 9 inches they said they had received since last Sunday.  We are again in a drought as far as snow goes around here and none forecast.  Connie and I are rather bummed right now.  Sounds like Colorado got some snow though.

Things are going pretty well other than that though.  Gary and Margee got back from Arizona last night.  Thought they were going to stay a little longer this year, but I guess they got homesick! 

We had to be pretty careful on top as there is a lot of hazards blown clean of snow now.

Connie starting down some of the wind blown powder.

Sula basin in the background of the out of bounds area.

We have squirrels living in our hay stack and they have really stored up the pine cones in there.

First sun hitting the peaks on the west side the other morning.

WAITING FOR SNOW

We seem to be another snow drought around here.  There have been some snow showers go through the mountains, but not really significant snow.  We are planning on going skiing tomorrow and there is some snow falling up there now - just hope it continues through the night.  But the forecast is even worse.  After tonight there does not seem to be any snow in the forecast for the next week.  Here I thought we were going to have another La Nina winter with lots and lots of snow, at least that is what the weather folks were saying.  But I should have known as they have trouble getting the forecast right for the next 24 hours let alone the next 24 days or weeks!

My cold is just about over.  Connie so far has escaped the crud.  Not much other news.  A picture and a video below.

Lichens on a rock.

On our way back from feeding the horses down in the meadow this morning, these birds wanted something to eat also I guess.