Peace on Earth, Happy Holidays

2012 was another exciting year for Marty, Clint, and the Circle B Bar T gang. If you haven't been to Montana to share these experiences with us, viewing the postings on this blog will give you an ideal of what keeps us entertained. Viewing this posting will provide you with some of our activities in 2012. If you have the time, you can visit as much as 3 years of these postings.

Horses are a big part of our activity. You will learn that we had a colt born in April. He has kept us busy. Samiam's grandfather, "Grover", BBT Thee Crusader, is not only proud of his grandson, but of his own accomplishments. One of the events that he has been active in involves dressage, cross country, and stadium jumping at local horse shows. This is a photograph taken of Grover and Marty at a cross country event in Wyoming this fall. This was just one of 13 different obstacles that he and Marty jumped over that day.

We have lots of visitors, especially in the warmer months, with whom we share our ranch, animals, and favorite things to do. You'll see on the following postings that Susan and her family were here for Christmas. We took them to Yellowstone National Park and we stayed at Chico Hot Springs. Another of the many visitors was Tim & Maggi Teegardin as they traveled the US in their new 35 foot RV. Marty's cousin Pati who Marty had not seen for years stopped by, and many, many, more. Another visit was friends from Yardley, Pa. These are old friends from years ago, Dixie Cowen, her daughter Sabrina, Sabrina's  husband and 3 children. They had just finished riding some of our horses. They wanted to visit the west and spent 3 days with us in the process.

Besides horse shows, we visit our favorite parts of Montana where Clint takes photo's of wild life and the beautiful scenery. We do leave Montana to visit friends, relatives and other favorite spots. How about a week in upper Michigan with the Baxters, brother Tom and cousins Ellen, Ann, and Linn. Leenau was where they spent their summers when they were children.  This is Ann, Ellen, and Marty posing near one of their favorite spots.

Another trip was to Westport, CT to see Susan and her family. We were able to get on one of the last flights out of Hartford before the storm "Sandy" arrived. The next 2 postings are of our trip to Yosemite and the Pryor Mountain Range, home of wild horses.

HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR,

MARTY, CLINT AND THE  CIRCLE B BAR T GANG

Christmas in Montana

Our daughter, Susan, and the McCarthy family have been visiting Montana in the summer for a long time. One of their dreams has been to spend Christmas with us. This was the year. They arrived on the 22nd. On the 23rd we visited one of our neighbors and selected a tree to appear in our home, once decorated, it would host the Christmas presents. The tree was cut down and decorated. On the 24th we got ready for the big event. The 25th was not only Christmas but was granddaughter Crissys birthday. What a day. After the Christmas presents were opened, we decided to take a drive. We headed toward the Beartooth Mountains and the Woodbine Trailhead. As we neared our destination, we came across a herd of Bighorn sheep.
As you can tell from the picture, it was the season to be with your loved one and perhaps in a loving way. We will have to return in the spring to see. We arrived at Woodbine. The water was mostly frozen and many of the rocks and ledges that are covered with water in the spring and summer, were bare. Crissy ventured out on a large rock, just below the trail. You can see the frozen stream in the background.

We traveled on down the trailhead. Susan, husband John, daughter Crissy, and son Patrick posed for a winter picture in Montana. This photograph will bring back many memories, some of which you will see on a future blog as we travel to Yellowstone National Park. Yes, on this day, it was colder than in Westport, CT. Before they returned we did get warmer weather and most of our snow either melted or was blown away. If you have been to Montana, you get very accustomed to seeing deer in the pastures. One of the other wildlife sightings is of the "golden eagle". That was true on the 25th as well as this one was perched above the Stillwater River looking for a fish for dinner.

What do you do in Yellowstone in the winter? What wildlife can you see there? We will have an update on that part of the Holiday Season, soon. We had a great time over the span of 8 days that Susan and the family were here and look forward to their next visit.

Yes, when we got back to the ranch, we celebrated Crissy's 15th birthday.