UPDATE 30 JUNE 2013

Been a little busy around here lately.  Been doing quite a bit of riding and then my old school had it's annual "All Class Reunion".  Since I am a member of the Alumni committee, I always get involved in that.  We had our dinner last night and it was great.  Got to see some people I had not seen since they left high school or I left.  We are not seeing very many elk around anymore.  Probably a number of reasons for that: it is finally getting hot so they are probably heading up to higher altitude, lots of bugs down here right now, and they are done calving.  Probably other reasons that I do not know. 

Went to Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge by Stevensville the other morning really early.  That place has lots of birds, and I was surprised how big the babies are getting.  It is a great place to visit if you are ever in the area and enjoy birds. 

Zeph out getting a stick that Connie threw into the Big Ditch canal.

Two baby night hawks in their ground nest close to a rock.  We see these birds nesting just right out in the open a lot.

A little fog around Lee Metcalf NWR early in the morning.

Lots of ponds for waterfowl.

Thought this Eastern Kingbird had a great parking spot.

A Hooded Merganser with her babies.

A family of Buffleheads I think.  The male is really easy to identify, but I have trouble with the female.

Doug and Connie on one of our rides.

SOME MORE ELK PICTURES

Was headed down to change my irrigation water about noon today and ran into a herd of elk between our house and the meadow.  There must have been 60 - 70 mature elk and quite a few calves.  Pretty sure it is the same herd that was on the movie from the other day at the mineral lick.  Been seeing a few smaller bunches when irrigating lately.

This cow was actually in our neighbors but jumped back into our place to stay with the rest of the herd.

These cows and one bull are looking at me wondering why I am interrupting their lunch.

A lot of the cows were just bedded down in the trees watching me change my dams.

Here are some cows in what we call our "horseshoe" eating a little green grass.

The poppies in the circle.  They are just about done blooming.  

The sky after a rainy night.

IN MONTANA, BOYS START CATCHING BIG FISH EARLY

My nephew Butch's boy Wayne who is seven years old is on record as catching a BIG fish with his little Spiderman rod a few weeks ago.  I did not hear the story until Connie and I were having lunch with my sister and her husband Doug.  Butch is Sharon's youngest son and Wayne is her grandson.  They were fishing out of Missoula on Beavertail Pond.  Wayne was fishing with a jig and Butch told him to just raise and lower it. Sure enough a big fish decided to hit.  Below is a picture that tells the story! 

That is Nichole Wayne's mother and his father Butch holding the fish.  Picture taken by Sharon.

ELK AND DEER AT THE MINERAL LICK

I set my trail camera up at some mineral licks just to the east of our place.  Below is a little video of what showed up.

UPDATE 24 JUNE 2013

Our nephew Doug has been coming over and riding one of their horses trying to build up the rear end so she can jump better in the eventing competitions.  Nice horse and really surprised me how easy going she was out in the trees and sagebrush.  A lot of arena horses are pretty nervous about that type of riding.

Our friend Pam headed back to Utah yesterday.  We had a great visit with her and wish she could have stayed longer.  Lots of hikes we would have liked to take her on.

Pam by one of the mineral licks just to the east of us.

Pam and I under the "tent tree".

Pam on Baylee.

Doug on his grey horse Arya with Connie and Pam getting ready to ride.

Riding out in the sagebrush.

HIKE TO COMO FALLS

Our friend Pam from southern Utah was here and we decided to hike up to the falls at Como Lake even if it was trying to rain off and on.  The lake is full and going over the spillway so hope we have lots of water for irrigating this summer.

Pam, Zeph, and Connie having a little lunch up by the falls.

The rain was snow a few hundred feet in elevation from the trail.

Lots of shades of green on our walk up to the falls.

Taking a little break at lake's edge.

The wild rose was really in bloom.

Rushing waters.

The ground squirrels  were getting fat on the spring greenery. 

KAYAKING WEST FORK LAKE AND UPDATE 17 JUNE 2013

We saw in the paper that West Fork Lake (Painted Rocks Reservoir) was flowing over the spillway so we knew it would be full.  We like to kayak there when the lake is high to get up to the head of a few creeks and headed up there for a little paddle around.  Started at the state campground at the southwest corner of the lake and paddled over to Blue Joint Creek.  Really nice day except for when we headed back, the wind came up so had to paddle into the wind for awhile.  Also, some pictures below were taken around our place and while riding.

A green fly headed to dinner on a poppy.

These poppies came from Connie's childhood home.

Getting ready to launch.

Headed up a creek, but we do have paddles and a good navigator - our dog!

A blue heron taking off.

Lots of butterflies.

Zeph has a long tongue. 

A couple of mergansers taking off.

A fawn watches us paddle by.

Connie and Zeph watching a deer.

Where Blue Joint Creek comes into the lake.

I think this is a moth instead of a butterfly.

Connie about to give Zeph and Gary and Margee's dogs a treat on our walk.

An elk watching us ride by.

Connie and the two big geldings of ours:  Jack and Stryder.

A cow and her calf watching us.