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.

Have you ever counted deer with Marty & Clint?

If you have been visiting Montana, you soon discover that there are a lot of deer. Someone asks, how many are there? One answer is that for every person in Montana, there are at least 4 deer. So we're returning to the Circle B Bar T Ranch from a hike or dinner or a parade when we start a competition as to which side of the car are there the most deer. The counting starts and the winner isn't declared until we get fairly close to the driveway. The most deer every counted, both sides of the car, from Fishtail to our mail box is around 100.

I took this picture on our way home from the branding. I counted 33 deer. This does not include the males, as they are not with the ladies at this time of the year.

BE SURE TO DUBBLE CLICK ON THE PICTURE

What was happening?

Unless you spoke this past week with Marty or I, you will have to guess where we were and what we were doing. This blog does not tell the entire story, it's just the begining.















This is a hint, we weren't fighting fires even
though this is where the fire started 3 yrs ago
You say, there's no snow, it it spring, there's
cows and calves, got an idea yet.














You've seen the cowboys, is this some kind of
seminar, or maybe a rodeo.


you think you got it, a cattle roping contest.

The snow returned today. When we awoke this morning, I noticed the temperature was 37 degress, it was supposed to be 27. I said to Marty, it's 10 degrees warmer that it was supposed to be. She said, and it didn't rain. Then I looked out the window to see 3 inches of snow, you'll have to wait for the green.

You"ll have to wait to see the green

. . . the horses aren't, they know where it is. As you will see, 8 of 9 horses appear to be eating snow, but they really know where the new green grass is and how to find it. We took hay to the pasture this morning in anticipation of the horses being hungry but the horses are a lot smarter than we gave them credit. They know that under the snow is something special, just like finding the candy jar that was hidden in the cupboard.

The second photo is a close up of 2 of the older horses. Tex, the white one, favors the green grass under the snow and Khalli, is either full or tired. She is relaxing in the pasture inspite of the temperature being just 30 degrees.

So, you'll have to wait a little longer for the green.

A new bluebird

If you are familar with the pictures I've taken, you've seen a "mountain bluebird" that I photographed last year by the side of the house, another one in Yellowstone was on the blog on April 5th and I promised I would find the male and get his photograph eventually. I am conditioning myself for a 4 day field seminar in Yellowstone in May - they say we will be hiking 3 to 4 miles a day, and on my conditioning walk yesterday, I took my camera. This guy was near a "bluebird box" along the road to the Johnson Place on my outward trip and I failed again to get his picture. Then on the return, he was perched in the trees along the Grove Creek. This is my favorite of him. If you've seen last years, which do you like best. If you haven't seen last years, go to circlebbart.etsy.com, he's there and has had more visits than any other picture.

State Bird of Montana

We have seen these birds and heard them for at least a month. If I had posted their pictures with the photographs from the last 30 days, they didn't look natural as they were all hovered over, trying to stay warm in the snow, wind, and ice. I finally found one that would pose for me, the temperature was 55 degrees and the sun was shining. They are beautiful birds and there are plenty of them.

Another sign of spring

The arrival of the birds, after being gone all winter, tells us that spring is just around the corner. As you have seen by some of the pictures, there are some that wish they had not made the trip so early. We have had several of these couples over the past 10 years, this year they have decided to park at one of the neighbors. What we used to have was a pair, I found these four together at the neighbors and there were 2 other pairs as well. What are they? They are sand hill cranes, they mate for life also, and during their stay, mama sits on the eggs until they hatch, and they all leave in the fall.

The Lady posed for me

If you have been reading the blog, we spotted the male Mountain Blue Bird a few days ago as he returned for the spring and summer. I haven't seen him again when I had my camera, but yesterday, guess who was in the tree near their bird house. The lady - and I'm sure when you see the photo you'll wonder if I know what I am talking about. The female does not have the brilliant blue that the male does. The female usually has more blue but the sure sign was the white around her eye. There is a little blue around her wing, if you look closely.

I saw the male this morning, he looked just as cold as she did yesterday, it was 20 degrees and the sun had not appeared yet.

Baby it's cold outside

These red wing black birds thought it was spring, showed up on the ranch in the last couple of days, and were enjoying the spring weather. NOT TODAY . . . . . temperature 12 degrees, wind from the north, 4 inches of snow, temperature to get to mid 20's and nothing to eat. They just happened to be parked in a tree where I could take this picture as they are not the only new arrivals that wish they were somewhere else. The robins started arriving a couple days ago also.

DOUBLE CLICK ON THE PICTURE FOR A CLOSE UP OF COLD

An early sign of spring in Yellowstone

If you have been cuddled up in your warm bed, when it is 5, 10, maybe 20 degrees outside and someone asked, when do the bears come out of their winter hibernation. Your answer would probably been when the snow melts and it gets warmer outside. On March 14, 2009 it was 18 degrees when I took these pictures. I had seen this grizzly the day before, had watched him, but couldn't get close enough for a picture.
He had traveled through a heavily wooden area at a higher elevation and then went down to the Lamar River for several hours. There were some elk near the point where he was headed, and before we saw him arrive, we saw the elk, startled and scared heading in the opposite direction. He spent most of the day, resting along the bank of the river, but on occassions he would get up and stretch. On this occassion, he provided a profile of his head, thank you Mr. Bear.

Pickaway County, Ohio 60 years ago, Stillwater County, Montana today

Although I have already captured a number of springtime scenes in Montana, I had not planned on this one until I combined our granddaughter Violet and a couple of young lambs from our neighbors ranch. It reminded me of growing up on a farm in Ohio. The youth of spring: calves, lambs, pigs, chicks, and foals make it a very special time of year. As the days start to grow longer, the pastures start turning green, and the new born start frolicking in the fields, we all feel young again. ENJOY.