STILL SMOKY, ELK ARE BACK, AND A FEW PICTURES

Boy the fires in the northwest are really making it smoky here in the Bitterroot Valley - not that we don't have our own fires, but the whole north west is really smoky.  Our visibility ranges from bad to fair.  And to go outside and smell all the smoke makes one a little concerned.  We even have ash on our patio table every morning.  And most of the fires are at least one hundred miles from here.  And talk about putting carbon dioxide in the air - wow just what is burning in the state of Washington makes all the concern about wood burning stoves in all the west just a little crazy.

A few sunrise and sunset pictures in a little smoke.

Dell and a squirrel playing chicken.

The squirrel won the first round - but the second round was a little different.

Connie doing some jumping in her arena.

Zeph says he is not impressed with this arena stuff and just wants to go for rides out in the woods!!

A nice morning without much smoke and we took advantage of it and had a nice walk.

The next day the smoke was back and so were the elk who had been absent for a few weeks.

Click to enlarge and the cow elk in the foreground is being nursed by her calf.

The sun peaking through the clouds and smoke.

Click to enlarge and you can pick up on 6 point bull in the middle.  I watched a couple of rag horns also in this bunch.  One of them had velvet still on his antlers.

A whitetail watching me and Zeph walk by as they are just laying down and watching us go by.  And this is not the first time we have passed these bucks in this particular spot.