Are We There Yet?

Ike and Bear LOVE to go for a ride. They just know we are leaving in the car when they see Steve and I loading up the fishing poles, extra layers of coats, the cooler, buckets, my camera bag...

And they stare at the door...

Or the window...

We say, "Jump on in."

Ike isn't completely convinced he's going until we close the hatch.

On a recent trip up the mountain, we stopped at Arrowhead Lodge and had some lunch.

After lunch, we opened the hatch so the dogs could stretch their legs and do their business.

But Bear is always hesitant to get out of the car.

If she could talk, I would guess when she whines she is saying, "But we're not there yet."

So we coax and we call and we whistle until she finally gets her nerve up...

...which is short-lived and she makes an abrupt U-turn back to the car.

"We aren't there yet!"

How does she know where there is?

That's a question to ponder...

"See my face? I am NOT a happy camper."

Ike isn't the least bit traumatized. He does his business then sniffs out other critters and dogs that have been in the area.

He checks out the motel.

Then we say "Kennel up, Ike," and he joins Nervous Ninny in the backseat and on our way we go.

"Are we there yet?"

But today has been anything but stressful for Bear.

Yeah, its been that kind of a Sunday.

Have a stress free week, Everyone!

The Beaver Dam

I know I've blogged about beavers before, but not Wyoming beavers. (Is there a difference?)

Recently on an afternoon hike to the creek, we found an area where the beavers have been BUSY.

Busy Beavers!

A wise trapper friend of ours told us this: 

BIG trees, little beavers

little trees, BIG beavers.

And he is right! We saw one of the beavers swim away and he was quite large. Of course, I was too surprised and excited to take a picture.

There is now a pond above the dam when usually this is a fast flowing creek. We'll see how strong this dam actually is as the mountain snow is rapidly melting.

The beaver's main thoroughfare.

And the dogs smelled the construction workers.

But after a few minutes in the brush, they hurried out and shook themselves off.

I was grateful because I get a little concerned about skunks.

Here is the other side of the dam.

We followed a highly traveled critter trail back to the cabin!

We've had three days of warm temps. Yesterday hit 77 degrees. But today we are back down to 50 degrees. It sounds like the wind blowing outside the windows when actually it is the creek rushing with the melting mountain snow. Steve doesn't think that dam will be able to withstand the force of the water. We'll try to get back there soon and see how things are going.

I think there are going to be some unhappy beavers.

The Elk and Other Wildlife

We gaze at these mountains and hills everyday. When I get up in the morning, the first thing I do is grab the binoculars and scan for wildlife. (okay, okay...if you read this blog regularly, you are saying, "Nope, she grabs her coffee first.") 

Then I grab the binoculars.

Can you see the elk? It isn't easy if you don't look at this view everyday. But when you have every rock memorized, it gets a little easier. Look to the upper hill on the left.

The elk just miraculously appeared on a Tuesday. They came down every morning, disappeared for most of the day, then reappeared in the evening. It is really something to see.

But then this past Sunday we had a mini snowstorm. And on Wednesday, we had yet another one. But today it reached 70 degrees and is blowing like you wouldn't believe. As warm as it is, even the dogs wanted to come inside and lay on their blanket.

Ike and Bear give a shout-out to the Miller Family -- "Hey! Miss you guys!"

Or is it a bark-out?

But we haven't seen the elk since before the mini snowstorms. This upcoming week is suppose to stay warm so hopefully they will come back and eat the green that is more vivid everyday.

And as we watch the elk, we look to our left and we are being watched by the mule deer.

And to our right, we watch whitetail deer.

I just can't zoom in any better than this with my camera. Sorry. I better save my pennies for a more zoomier lens. :)

Have a safe and blessed Easter weekend, Everyone! He is Risen!

The Trophy Pond

Steve and I call this the trophy pond because as I mentioned before you are only allowed to take ONE fish that is 20 inches or larger per day per person. It is really named Muddy Guard and is a reservoir. After this weekend, our total fish count is now 28 fish caught and 27 put back. All those 27 fish that were put back were between 14 and 19.5 inches. Our one keeper I posted here. It was delicious! I said I would post photos of the trophy pond and last Saturday was just a perfect day weather-wise to take pics. But my phone kept beeping, reminding us of the impending snowstorm we'd be getting overnight. And we did. And it blew all day yesterday. Back to the reservoir...

One of our favorite spots to fish. There's a nice hole there.

We were fishing on the point, but we were pushed off by the geese due to the two eggs lying in their nest.

The dogs enjoy roaming the hill behind us.

Or just sitting and watching. Ike is panting because it got quite warm on Saturday. We fished in t-shirts. I truly believe it is harder for the weatherman in Wyoming to get it straight than it is for Michigan weathermen.

Enough said. But in this case we didn't mind! We had hoped they were wrong about the snowstorm, too.

But they weren't.

Just a gorgeous place.

These Pronghorn Antelope are everywhere and very skiddish. But this group actually wanted to check us out. Steve thought that maybe they thought we were the feed truck that feeds all the cows and horses in the area.

Nope. Sorry guys!

The Big One That Didn't Get Away

We've been fishing the nearby reservoir for exactly a week now. Yesterday was the first day there was no ice to be seen anywhere on the lake. We only have to travel a couple of miles to fish at this spot.

(This is not Lake De Smet which is about 25 miles away.)

The dogs can't wait to jump in the car and ride along when they see Steve loading up the fishing poles.

They don't seem too bothered, do they?

Until yesterday we had caught 19 fish. But we had to put them all back. At this pond, and this pond only in the general area, you may only keep a fish if it is 20 inches or more. All 19 fish we caught were between 16 inches and 19.5 inches. Yep, you heard me right. Steve and I each caught a 19.5 fish and HAD TO PUT IT BACK IN THE WATER. Now that is brutal.

But fish #20 was 20.5 inches long! YAY! Guess what we're having for supper?

More pictures of the reservoir to come. The above were taken with my phone so I had easy access to share. The others are on my camera and have to be downloaded. 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Oh, and by the way, yesterday it reached 70 degrees! Today 50, tomorrow 40, and then snow and cold again. Oh well. We'll take a 70 degree day when we can get it! :)

Oh, and more great news! Tuesday the elk came down from the mountain! We see them all day now! 

Photos to come!

(Can you tell by all the exclamation points I'm super excited to see the elk?)

Lake De Smet and the Monster that Lies Beneath...

Lake De Smet is one of our favorite places to fish when the ice comes off at the end of this month. But as you can see that may take awhile. This is the south end of Lake De Smet and you are looking north. The north end is open but harder to fish. We took a ride the other day to Sheridan and saw ice fisherman on this end. On our way back home, Steve wanted to stop and see how deep the fishing holes were.

Of course he had helpers.

I want that house.

It comes with a ranch...

and cows...

and horses...

and I could fish anytime I wanted.

I could learn to ice fish.

There was still 16-17 inches of ice.

To the west of Lake De Smet are the Big Horn Mountains.

To the south rolling hills.

To the east there are cows.

There are cows everywhere.

And this is Bear telling us, in so many whines, that she is ready to go.

She heard the story about Smetty, the sea creature that inhabits the deep part of the lake.

To read more about Smetty and other legends, go to this website Lake De Smet - Wonders of Wyoming.

If you're up to it, and have an extra eight minutes, and don't mind lots of growling and screaming, here is a silly link to a video on the Lake De Smet Monster. You'll want to turn your volume down in the beginning because there is a lot of growling, and then up later when the commentator begins speaking because the sound isn't the best. Oh yeah, and there is some screaming. But no gore. 

Maybe if I get a clear picture of 'ole Smetty I can buy that house, and the ranch, and the horses, and the cows...

But no boat. I'll fish from the shore.

Crossing my fingers.

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