MORE APRIL PICTURES

I try and remember to take a camera when I am out irrigating or just taking the dog for a walk.  Below are a few pictures from the last week.

A few pictures of the moss that hangs out on our rocks.

One of the largest ant hills I have seen.

I think they are just glad spring is here and are out enjoying the warmer temps.

Gives you an idea how big this hill is.

Our apple tree has lots of blossoms on it this year.  Might have an apple pie this fall!

Spring in the valley.

UPDATE 28 APRIL 2016

Just a few pictures of what has been happening around here.  Finally got all the ditches cleaned and am now irrigating.  And we are seeing more elk.  Yesterday morning I think there was more elk manure in our meadow than there was horse manure.  Spring flowers are still popping and the grass is green in the trees.  It all looks pretty good.

Elk down in the meadow watching me irrigate.

They have not completely shed off yet - looking a little rough!

Here is my shovel that I am irrigating with and they are just up in the trees watching.

Our green forest.

And some flowers to go along with it.

Dell is a character.  She is always getting into things like this feed pan.

Irrigation dams.

And caterpillars that are going to turn into something else soon.

UPDATE: 18 APRIL 2016

Just a few pictures that I have been taking in the last week or so.  We had a little winter return for a day or so but it is now back to spring. 

Lots of bees around the flowering bushes.

We had a few cold days with snow and Dell insisted on sleeping the day away in her favorite spot close to the fire.

Snow on flowers.

Carl and Deb were over from Helena and accompanied us on our morning walk the other day.  Looking over the valley from Scott's Point.

Tent tree.

These two are real buddies.  I was cleaning off Zeph's feet and Dell jumped up to give him support I guess.

SPRING IS ARRIVING IN MONTANA

We seeing a lot of signs that spring is here.  Or at least just around the corner.  Flowers are starting to blossom and the grass is growing.  We are pretty busy doing spring things like cleaning ditches, raking pine needles up, etc.

These are some of the first flowers we see in the spring.

Not sure of the real name, but we call them little stars.

Lots of snow in the high country this year which is good for our irrigation.

The valley is starting to green up.

The bushes and trees are also starting to bloom.

Connie brushing the meadow.

The sarvice berry bushes are in full bloom.

And of course the arrowleaf balsam root is one of the main early flowers on our place.

INTERESTING CLOUD FORMATION

Connie and I saw an interesting cloud formation on our walk this morning.  I just happened to have a camera with me and took a couple of pictures.  We are just about unpacked, cleaned up, and getting back into the routine of life here in Montana.  Still lots of spring things to do though.

The cloud starts across the valley.

This is looking west up by Carl's cabin.

And this group of pictures was taken at sagebrush flat and it doesn't take us long to walk up there so the cloud was moving pretty fast.

The little mountain above is "C" butte. 

The yellow bells are out in abundance.

These are "Bitterroots" which is the state flower and we have a lot of them growing in our horse path in front of the house.  They just get thicker every year.