It's still spring

Susan and John McCarthy, Westport, CT sent the picture of the day. I had to post it because it was so fitting. Believe it or not, although it has been like summer for the last 3 weeks, today was spring. Temperatures in the 50's and 60's, mist started around noon and it's more like rain now, predicting snow tonite. Woke up to see our horses all excited about something, it was the neighbor's horses who were not in their pasture because someone left the gate open, traveling up our road and visiting the other neighbors horses.

I took a load of manure to the pasture where I spread it and chased the neighbor's 3 horses toward their pasture, they entered our field where I spread the manure. By the time I was thru spreading the stinky stuff, the neighbor's wife had arrived to help move the horses. I took the spreader off the Gator so that I could help, only to realize the bolt that I had found on the road last week was used to hold the bed of the spreader to the axel. I was in trouble. Horses were back where they came from, and 2 trips later to Absarokee and the lumber company, I had the nuts and bolts I needed to fix the spreader.

The rain started, one of our horses jumped a fence to be with it's buddies and I didn't get much done. Tomorrow the 3000 sheep will be moved down the road to another pasture and another neighbor plans to leave 200 head of cattle on the South Grove Creek Road over nite on their way to their summer pasture.

We got water

This will be a spring to remember, at least from the standpoint of precipitation. The Montana Bureau of Mines has been monitoring our well for the last 7 years. When the well was dug in 1993 it was 105 feet deep, from the surface of the ground to the water was 43 feet and it pumped at a rate of 25 gallon per minute. The monitoring was a reaction to the concern for the drought caused by the lack of precipitation and the potential impact it could have on agriculture.

Currently, the water is at the highest level it has been in 7 years and very close to when the well was dug 16 years ago. In addition to the Grove Creek, which has always had some water flowing through it, we now have the Davidson Creek which starts north and west of our ranch, and crosses under the road that leads to the entrance to our home. The Davidson Creek has been flowing for over a month, the Grove Creek is flowing at a rate we haven't seen in years, and our spring tank, used to water the livestock in the northern pastures has been full since last fall.

We are currently in a winter storm watch, with 100% chance of snow and rain for the next 3 days, which means more water. The snow pack in the mountains was running 6% above normal about a week ago.

We should have great hay crops this summer but in the meantime we have mud like we haven't seen either. The drought which allowed the fires to be a major threat for the last few years should be under control, and the green picture that you have seen on our website may be a reality again. For those of you who have never seen the Davidson Creek, this is what it looks like as you drive up the hill to our driveway.