A FEW MORE PICTURES IN THE "CATCH-UP" CATAGORY

We have been enjoying some great fall weather here in Montana for the last week.  Warm temperatures and lots of blue skies.  But that is about to change as another storm front is going to hit in a few days. Below are some pictures from our last little snow storm.  Will try and post some of the next storm soon.

 

 

Still a few fall colors on some trees.

Mr frog looks a little cold!!

Zeph and Connie on our morning walk.

Patio furniture with the nights snow on them.

That pretty moon.

CATCH UP!

 CATCH UP!

And boy do I mean catch up.  I have not posted for months so will try and catch up on some things.  The biggest thing was this summer (August 15th to be exact) I ended up in the emergency room with complete kidney failure.  And after that I spent some time in the hospital before I was allowed to come home.  It sure knocked me for a loop and I am still experiencing the effects of it.  And probably will for the rest of my life.  I am carrying on though and able to function pretty good.  And of course Connie has been my nurse and savior!  It has effected my memory so I have to write a lot of things down or put them on the calendar or make lots of lists or make sure Connie knows so she can remind me.  But we will make it through this.  

I still have taken a few pictures and will put some on this post and ones to follow.  

This is a picture of my arm below the elbow after they had trouble getting IVs going when I first got to the emergency room. 

Connie washing up Blu before a competition.

The view from Blue Joint Lookout where we took a jeep drive just before I got sick.

Another view looking to the west.

Blue Joint arm of West Fork Lake when the water is gone in the fall.

An arm of West Fork Lake with water still in this arm.

Click to enlarge.  This is a sign at the Blodgett Creek overlook trail head.  Pretty funny.  We took our friend Pam (from Utah) up to get a view from the overlook.

The colors a changing.

Connie and Pam (and Zeph) with Bodgett Canyon in the background.

The north rim of Blodgett Canyon is pretty rocky.

Looking northeast from the overlook into the Bitterroot Valley.  The smoke is from the fires in Washington and Oregon.

Pam climbing around where ladies her age probably should not be!!!

The trail to the overlook is a little over 3 miles but it sure showed how out of shape and weak I was.  So I have a lot of work to do before ski season. 

OUR SUNDAY DRIVE UP WARM SPRINGS CREEK IN THE EAST FORK OF THE BITTERROOT

For our Sunday drive this week we drove up Warm Springs Creek then headed west at the Crazy Creek Campground.  Don't think I have ever been on those roads before.  We usually go east up by Sheeps Head Creek area.  Not very many wildflowers anymore as they have pretty well ended their run.  We did see a lot of Fire weed up where recent fires have burned and there is still a lot of paint brush around. 

But we sure did see a lot burned forest as a number of years of forest fires in the area has really taken it's toll.  It just amazes me how much forest has burned in the last 20 years.  The fires at the start of this century were some of the worst.  And we saw no wildlife! 

Lots of Fireweed growing in the old burns.  Haven't seen this much fire weed since we left Alaska.

 

Standing dead trees, burned logs, and lots of fireweed.

Elderberry bush.  I honestly did not know this bush or I may have never seen it before.

Lots of rust on this bush.

Looking east over to "Sheep Camp" where we have packed in quite a bit.

Looking down Warms Spring Creek to the East Fork.

Indian Paint Brush.

You can see the haze in the air as we have a number of lightning caused fires burning in the Bitterroot.

And the visibility gets worse as the day goes on.

More Indian Paintbrush.

We named this snag "crooked tree".

The road got pretty narrow in places.

Another old snag.