Home on the Ranch

Our granddaughter, Grace, was with us for five days over Thanksgiving. She was on break from Furman University and was in the process of working on a project for one of her classes. The project involved filming and producing a mini documentary. Grace picked the topic of Clint and me settling in Montana so many years ago. In addition to spending four days filming and editing, Grace was constantly going through her checklist of various filming and interviewing techniques that needed to be covered in the documentary. The video is short, but I think everyone can agree that Grace captured our Montana story. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxgE4XGT9ug

A snowy day in Yellowstone National Park

We spent a day on January 10, 2018 in Yellowstone National Park, we went on a snow coach tour on a very snowy day. It was a wonderful experience which started when we saw an elk with a huge rack. 

Then the snow got intense and as we drove down the road (this was a snow coach, you couldn't go there in your car since most of the roads in Yellowstone were closed for the winter) we spotted this bison strolling down the road.

 We ultimately found our way to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone where the water was still running in spite of the cold weather. 

 As we parked the snow coach near the site of the Norris Basin geyser, we spotted this raven in a tree. 

 Then the raven dove to a nearby parked snow mobile and opened what was packed on the back and started eating what was in it,

How's that for some interesting sites in Yellowstone on a snowy day?

Insight on 4 days in Utah at National and State Parks

We recently spent 4 days in Utah visiting the National and State parks. After visiting Yellowstone and other parks near our ranch in Montana, I was truly amazed at the 
terrain and how it varied from park to park in Utah. I will add some of my photographs today and in the future to share our experience with you.

                               You have to ask the question, who painted these rocks

                Who do you suppose was around a million years ago to design this formation

                     Can you image what it was like to carve these formations. They are huge.

              I've been in a lot of parks but never have I seen so many rocks in such a formation.

Our favorite overnight excursion

It had been a while since we had visited Chico Hot Springs and Yellowstone National Park. We have had several personal issues that prevented us from making this journey in the past several months,
but on Sunday and Monday, we made the trip.

Everything was as we have experienced it in the past. We've made this trip at least 5 or 6 times each year since 1993. The hot tub was still hot, dinner at Chico was as good as ever, and the journey through Yellowstone was beautiful and exciting.

Clint took his camera to capture some wildlife. Although it was a very nice day, the wildlife did not pose for Clint very often. It started with an antelope just north of Gardiner. Then an elk near Mammoth Hot Springs, and finally a coyote in Lamar. There were plenty of bison, one bear that we saw in the distance and the scenery was beautiful.

We have already made reservations to return in December and January. Now, to share the antelope, elk and coyote with you.

Wildlife on the Circle B Bar T

We get asked, "is there wildlife on your ranch"? Our answer is this is not like Yellowstone National Park, but we do have birds that have nests and hatch babies, and in the spring and early summer we do see deer and their fawns. This year we have seen a number of female deer and were sure there were some fawns however until that last day or two we have not seen them. Today, Marty said, their was a deer with a fawn in the pasture next to our outdoor arena. I grabbed by camera and guess what I found. A deer with fawns, not one but two, or as they say, she had twins. I had to follow her for a while until I got a couple photos.

This is the mother with the twins:

and this is a close up of one of the twins:

Winter has arrived ahead of schedule in Montana

As we arose today, we experienced Winter 4 days ahead of schedule. How did we know? The temperature was minus 23 degrees and there was a least 10" of snow.

This photo tells the story. We will not have to dream of a white Christmas, we already have it.

Brookfield Farms 60 years later.

My son, Jeff took this photo of Clint's homestead, Brookfield Farms, Ashville, Ohio this month while in Ohio to get his son, Peter indoctrinated into the Ohio State University where he will be attending college starting in January. What's amazing, this farm was sold 60 years ago and our home still looks as good as it did then. Can you imagine, returning to your current residence 60 years from now , and seeing a facility that looks as good if not better than it does now.

Welcome to Fishtail

Welcome to Fishtail, Mt. Tonight we are getting a sampling of winter. We got about 3 inches of snow last night, it warmed up to 44 degrees today before the winter sample come tonight. Expected low of 15 degrees. Have a nice fire in our fireplace and hope to keep the inside of the house warm. Fall weather may return in a couple days.

5 Years Later

If you go to our post of 5 years ago, you will see what was said to be the 4th worst snow in history. It was cold also. Just a week ago, the weatherman was predicting snow and cold weather which was a significant change to the mild fall weather we had been experiencing. Time has past - - - we did get some cold weather, we woke up to sub zero temperatures several mornings, today it was -1. We were supposed to get close to a foot of snow - - the deepest I have been able to find it was 5 inches. The Beartooth Mountains are not covered with snow as they were in the photo I posted in 2010.

Today, we are expecting temperatures in the 30's. The sun has been shining and will continue to warm us up. The cold weather has stimulated some wildlife activity on the ranch. A coyote was here a couple days ago and was seen sparing with the neighbors sheep dog down by the Grove Creek. This is one of the deer that appeared in the field south of our house.

You can see there wasn't a lot of snow, but it was cold.

Pryor Wild Horse Range

In the past 4 years we discovered the Pryor Wild Horse Range and visited it on several occasions. The part that we visited was at a lower level, approximately 4000 feet elevation. We were aware of a larger section of the range but had been advised of the travel restrictions in reaching that portion which is over 8000 feet in elevation.

We discovered a photographer who had started taking people on trips to the upper part of the range and arranged to have her take us there in August of 2015. WHAT A TRIP.  The trip was conducted by Sandy Palen, one of nine she led in 2015. Our veterinarian friend from Philadelphia, Beth Urbaniak joined Marty and I on the 3 day, 2 night trip.

The total Wild Horse Range encompasses 38,000 acres and currently has 180 wild horses. This posting will share some of our experiences as well as some of the wild horses we saw and the terrain where we found them. I must say, the trip up to the mountain herd in Sandy’s truck was an experience of it’s own. The 10 mile journey from an elevation of 4000 feet to the top of the range, 8000 feet took around 2 hours and was one of the roughest rides Clint has ever experienced. It was beautiful and seeing the horses in this environment was outstanding.

This is a band of three of the wild horses, at the top of the mountain. Not only were the horses a vision of their own, but the landscape was just as great.

 

Obviously, the terrain at the top of the mountain, provided the nourishment for the horses, but their water came from lakes. Here you can see several of them accumulated around a lake enjoying the water.

  

Were there any foals? Yes, there were. This is one of the mares that we discovered with her young foal. In total, there were somewhere in the vicinity of 15 foals born in 2015.  We discovered several others as we traveled throughout the range.

There were stallions intermingled with the each band of horses. This is one that had just drifted away from the band he was with near the watering hole.

In total, Clint had over 300 photographs that he took during the 3 days. Marty and Beth sorted through them and now have an album of 75 of their favorites. These are just a few. In addition, as we returned to Lovell, Wyoming Marty and Beth each purchased a filed guide containing a photograph of each of the horses that also includes their name and band information.

A great trip. This blog includes 4 other trips at the lower level on 9/18/12, 5/29/13, 7/26/13, and 11/21/14 which you are welcome to visit to share our other trips.

Another year of hay at the Circle B Bar T

Hay is a necessary feed component however the amount that we reap each year is a function of the rainfall, the fertilizer, and the weather. 2015 was an interesting year. As we entered the spring we were not sure how much hay we would get. Two years ago we had to purchase hay, last year our fields yielded all the hay we needed, plus the neighbors had 25 head of cattle and calves on on ranch for 4 months, and they also took 100 round bales. 

So, what was 2015 like. We had a wet spring, plenty of sunshine, and it's now the end of July and we are just starting to get the hay off the fields. When can we bale the hay and get it in the barn. We were ready in late June, but it was the end of July before we thought we could get it in the barn without it getting wet from the rain. We kept trying to get help to line up help to get the bales in the barn. But each delay, started the process all over. Guess what happened. 

In the picture below, you see our favorite field for hay. This year the yield was 930 bales. Until we show you some more of the process, will you understand what really happened.

The guy collecting the hay is our son-in-law, Bob Houser from Columbus, Ohio. He was here for 10 days to enjoy Montana with his wife and 3 children. He knew in the past that our summer visitors had helped bale the hay, but that was not part of the plan for this year.

Our neighbor who has always baled our hay, decided to make the size of the bales in the range of 50 pounds. This meant that we didn't need muscle men or women to help get the hay on the trailer and into the hay barn. This meant that we could recruit other family members to help.

 How about Bob's daughter, Grace shown here taking a bale to the trailer.

 and there was Bob's wife, Jennifer shown here lugging a bale to the trailer, Grace was getting another bale near the front of the truck, and son John was taking water to the helpers. Marty Baxter, not shown in these pictures was also a helping hand in picking up and stacking the hay.

Based on this years experience, it will only be another year or so before we can have the entire Houser family in Montana to help with hay. Violet and John enjoyed another part of the ranch as they rode the horses on a daily basis along with sister Grace.

Thanks to the Housers for their help. Our horses will enjoy their contribution for the next 12 months as they chow down on the hay.

Hay making at the Circle B Bar T

Rainfall, fertilizer, and good weather determines the amount of hay we get off the fields at the Circle B Bar T. 2015 was a great year. The field along the Grove Creek Road typically yields around 700 bales of hay. This year we reaped 930 bales however the challenge was when will the weather be best for baling and who can we get to help. We started the debate as to when and who in late June but didn't put the last bale in the barn until July 25th.

February 2015, Another trip in Yellowstone National Park

The winter "get away" season has started at Chico Hot Springs and the second day of each trip is a day in Yellowstone. We woke up with a couple inches of new snow on the ground and were concerned about the travel in Yellowstone. No problem . . . . .

We had just left Gardiner on our way to Mammoth Hot Springs and then on to Lamar Valley and Cooke City when Marty said, did you see the Buffalo on that small island in the river. I said, no,
so she insisted that I turn around which I did. This is what we saw.

People who we have shown this photograph to have marveled at the image, one said, this looks more like a painting than a photograph. Imagine the buffalo crossing the cold water in the stream to reach this small island to graze. The snow from the night before is visible on the ground and in the vegetation.

We continued on the 50 mile trip to Cooke City, although we saw quite a few elk and lots of buffalo along the way, I didn't stop to take another picture until I saw this small gang coming toward us. I got out of the car and started taking photo's. Marty said, get behind the door of the car, that first guy looks dangerous. I said, he just wants to shake my hand.

We let them pass and on to Lamar Valley, hoping to see some wolves. As we got into the area below where we know they have dens, we spotted people with camera's and binoculars. The wolves must be coming down the mountain and perhaps crossing the road. Wrong, it wasn't wolves, in fact we didn't see any wolves at all on the trip. What we saw were a lot of bighorn sheep on the side of a steep hill. Out of the car with my camera, took a lot of photos, this was our favorite.

We made it to Cooke City. I was difficult to see anything but snow. There has been a lot of snow this winter and none of it has melted at an altitude of 7480 feet. There is a population of under 200 yet the city was filled with visiting snow mobiles. We turned around and headed back. As we approached the area where we had seen the bighorns, earlier,  there was huge crowd of photographers looking in the opposite direction of where the bighorn were. What were they looking at.

Yes, it was a large moose. I needed my best zoom lens to get this photo as it was quite a distance from the road, the snow was deep and it would have been dangerous to approach this guy.

Onward, and as we got back in the mountainous area we spotted this guy with a nice rack behind a tree. He had a buddy farther up the mountain also behind a tree.

This was a great several hours in the park. In addition to these images, the park was a beautiful winter scene. We'll be back in the middle of March for another "get away".

A visit to the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range

The weather in Montana has been very mild this fall and as a result there has been an absence of wild life. As we discussed where we should go to visit, the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range got our votes.  The range is closer than Yellowstone and a day trip is easily done. The risk is that the wild horses may or may not have journeyed to the main road, however the site is in the Big Horn mountains which is very scenic.

We had just entered the wild horse range, when we spotted a couple of the wild ones within the range of our binoculars and the 400mm lens on my camera. A beautiful site.

We drove all the way through the range and although we saw plenty of horse manure on the road, we didn't see another horse, so we turned around hoping we might see something on our return. We had the dogs with us, so we knew we needed to stop somewhere so they could go to the bathroom. As we rounded a curve, I spotted a horse standing on the side of a hill (in other parts of the country you would call it a mountain). Out with the zoom lens, stopped the car and this is what we saw.

We were there for at least 15 minutes and during that time the horse was eating on the top of the hill and occasionally would stop and pose for use. This is Marty's favorite image of the day, she said it reminded her of an Arabian.

Marty had suggested that we climb the hill to see if there were more horses on the other side. It was a bit chilly and the hill was very steep, and I voted against the hike. Then, guess what appeared, another horse arrived on the scene.

Would there be more as we returned toward the entrance. We would wait and see. Soon after we departed these 2 horses, we rounded another curve in the road, and right in front of us were 3 bighorn rams, the first one was across the road by himself. He was majestically standing there watching his buddies and perhaps determining where he would go next.

His buddies seemed to be discussing their friend across the road and based on this image, they could have been whispering to each other something they didn't want their friend to hear.

It was time to stop and let the dogs get some exercise. There is wonderful place overlooking the Big Horn Canyon about a mile from the main road. We stopped, put the leashes on the dogs and went for a walk. Marty suggested I take a picture of them as we returned to the car. This has to be one of the best photographs we have ever had of these two. Obviously, they were happy that we decided to let them make the trip with us.

That's Baxter on the left and Emma on the right. They were under control most of the trip, however, they did acknowledge the Big Horn rams and rocked the car with their barking as we passed them. I didn't take any photographs of the canyons, but here is one that I took with Marty's friend Mary Cummins when she visited us in September. The dogs did get to look through the fence and see the canyon. I will mention, that Mary did not get to see any of the wild horses, therefore, we took a lot of photos of the landscape on that trip.

Hopefully we'll get to Yellowstone before the end of the year.

Beauty at the Singing Dog Ranch

Montana has had a wet spring and as a result, not only are the pastures and fields green, but there is an abundance of blooming vegetation. Our neighbor Diane Signoracci called and asked if I had time to come to the Singing Dog Ranch to take some pictures of the beauty. Her interest was focused on a cactus plant along the road to their home. But I did more.

I found the cactus plant she had told me about . . . . . .

I got to her house and showed her the photographs that I had taken and she really liked this one. Then she told me that she had been walking through one of the pastures that I passed as I drove to her house and had seen a lot of beauty. So when I returned home, I stopped and hiked through the pasture that she mentioned. I was attracted to a very interesting plant. Not only was it a pretty yellow, but it was also positioned next to a rock( as you know, Montana is in the rocky mountains) -  how appropriate.

Then there was this one . . . . had I asked someone to paint a picture of a yellow cactus flower, I could not have received one any better than this.

there was this one also

I couldn't leave without taking some photo's of this plant. There were plenty to choose from, but I chose this one.

a rancher would not be proud of this, yes, it was a thistle. But it was large and beautiful. Diane did have some beauty on the Singing Dog Ranch and I wanted to share it with you.

Yellowstone is getting crowded.

. . . .  . and it has been a great year for bears. Either we have not been in the park during bear season or 2014 is a great year for observing them. June 19th was another great visit with a couple of very interesting photographs. What do we mean by crowded. June's daily attendance will be at least 20 times larger that Aprils. The average daily attendance will be over 20,000 and when you drive through the park it's difficult to find a place to view the wildlife and the roads are very crowded.

Yesterday was a good example. As you can see from our prior postings there have been a lot of folks waiting for bears to appear or get closer to the park highway so they can get a better view of them.
We were traveling toward the Tower Falls from Lake Yellowstone when we found ourselves in a swarm of cars, at least 35 or maybe as many as 50. We were stuck and soon realized what had created all of the attention. It was a grizzly. I couldn't get out of the car because I was on the road. The bear was getting closer, I rolled down the window and started taking photographs. In less that 2 minutes the bear was very close to our car and I had taken 29 photographs. When I got home, this soon became my favorite. It is without a doubt the best photograph I have ever taken of a grizzly.

Do you agree?

This was great, but we missed another grizzly, similar to this one about 2 hours before. Why didn't we get a photograph. We were too far away in the traffic and the bear was going in the opposite direction.

Prior to the bear experience, Marty spotted what she believed to be a mother moose and perhaps a calf. We stopped, I got out of the car and ultimately decided I would hike into a better position to get a photograph and determine if there were calves. In the backdrop was the Lamar River and as you can see they were on the other side of this brush, but I did get this picture of the mother.

She was a big gal and yes, she had not one but twins. I wandered around and waited and finally, one of the babies appeared for me. The other one must have been shy as I never did get a good view of it. If you look carefully, you can see part of it's side to the left of this one.

I did see see a black bear but the image is not like the above grizzly. Of course there were lots of bison, an occasional pronghorn, some deer and some elk. I was another great day in Yellowstone.

We had to return home via Livingston as the Beartooth pass was closed due to snow. As a result I drove over 500 miles in the 38 hours of our travel. We did get to stay in Chico Hot Springs.