I have seen seven Garter snakes on recent walks and I retrieved the first tick of the season off my body last night. The bears don’t have much to eat yet. You can see the grass in the photograph I took of the scat I saw on a walk a couple days ago. Yesterday on …
The snow is slowly melting. I took this photograph today. Our road has the deepest muddy ruts we have ever seen in our many years living on this hill in Northwest Montana. My trusty little Subaru gets through them but in a few places it is a bit of a battle. This photograph was taken …
(Columbia Spotted Frog in a puddle on the irrigation ditch road) http://fieldguide.mt.gov/displaySpecies.aspx?family=Ranidae 6/1/18 We had over an inch of rain in the last twenty-four hours – with more falling as I write. (https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/montana/weather-radar-24hr The steady sounds of the water falling from the sky reminded me of living in Southeast Alaska when I was young. In …
Last night it rained hard. This morning the sun warmth feels moist. The new wildflowers on my walks include Shooting Stars, Arnica, Arrowleaf Balsamroot, and Clematis. The green is surging. In sunnier places the Serviceberry blossoms are out and in the cooler places they are getting ready to unfold. A couple nights ago I saw …
5/1/18 Rain laden clouds on May Day. Last week the leaves were held closely, their potential palpable in the air, now they are emerging. The return to green has been a slow process with new snow visible in the higher mountains. I am thinking of the ancient celebrations of the return of spring (flowers, fire). …
4/22/18 On Earth Day I am celebrating water. The snow in the mountains is starting to melt. This has been a good year for moisture accumulation in the snow pack. It looks like the snow water equivalent in the area where I live in Montana is at about 165% of normal. • https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/ftpref/data/water/wcs/gis/maps/mt_swepctnormal_update.pdf • https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/mt/snow/products/NRCSEPRD1314833/ …
4/4/18 Snow, melt, snow… and so it goes. A couple days ago, the snow had melted and I was walking in the woods. I came to a place where Rocky Mountain Maple leaves were draped on the forest floor―surrendered to the earth. Their color was gone. I could feel the weighted call of “return” return” …
3/26/17 I was still skiing in early March. The ice in the irrigation ditch was starting to melt―carving undulating, shimmering, edges along the water. I believe there are some kind of cat tracks along the bank in this image (above). I was on the other side of the ditch, so I couldn’t look at them …
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