Big Horn Elk and Rainbow Trout

Yesterday morning, while Steve was loading the truck with road trip stuff and the dogs, (we took a day trip over the mountains), I quickly put together a blog post on my phone because it had been a few days. The post went well until I tried to "publish" it. All day it indicated Blogger was saving it. 

This morning Blogger said it was saving it.

I got on my laptop thinking it was probably just a phone thing and guess what? It's GONE.

Sigh. Technology.

So, let me start over.

Happy Spring, Everyone!

I hope you are having nice days life-wise and weather-wise. In the three years we've been blessed to do this trip, we have never experienced a spring quite like this.

(Excuse all the exclamation points.)

The Elk came down from the mountains!

The ice is off Muddy Guard #1, aka, The Trophy Pond, aka, The Reservoir! 

We went fishing!

We saw our first Robin this week!

Last year, all of this happened in April. Hence the excitement...

In 3 weeks we've only had one day of this.

The only "right on schedule" occurrence was the return of the bluebirds on March 9. Yay!

The ice is completely gone on this pond. We fished it all day Friday and watched the fish swim by. I caught an 18" Rainbow Trout, but it flopped back into the water before I could take a picture. I couldn't have kept it anyhow because this is the pond where a keeper has to be 20" or larger and you can only use artificial bait. We even got checked out by a very nice game warden. We welcome getting our licenses checked as they cost Steve and I each a whopping $105. Ouch.

Steve caught a fish, too, but it got away halfway out as Steve was reeling it in.

I told him that doesn't count.

He says we caught one and a half fish.

The dogs acted as if we never left Wyoming. Eventually Ike took a nap on these rocks and snored profusely.

Occasionally, a cow would moo in the field behind us, and that would get Bear's attention.

That's our truck on the right. In the distance is the drive down to the pond. There were just a handful of fishermen that day. It was very peaceful.

Except for mooing cows.

This is directly across the pond from where I was fishing.

This is to my left. Sometimes we fish on the other side of the hill in the middle.

We took a walk all the way around this pond exactly a week before the first day we fished it and this is what it looked like. What a difference a week can make!

Oh, and before I go, here are a couple of Big Horn Elk photos.

Have a wonderful first full week of Spring, Everyone!

(To my Yooper Friends...I pray that your 100% chance of precip for mid-week turns out to be light rain and not a downpour, snow, or ice. Fingers crossed. I'm thinking about ya.)

Good Morning!

Have a wonderful day, Everyone!

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Snowmobiling Up the Canyon

As you can tell, there isn't enough snow for us at the foothills of the Big Horn Mountains to snowmobile from where we are staying to that there canyon in the distance which will get us to the top of the Big Horns.

We are, oh, so close...but the snow is gone down here on the flats so we just trailered our snowmobiles to the mouth of the canyon, unloaded and took off.

The canyon is so beautiful. A river runs through the canyon but is still partially froze. It flows down the mountain and right behind the cabin we are staying in. When the ice and the mountains melt, you can hear the river flow from inside the cabin even if all the windows and doors are closed.

Lots of cliffs and moose tracks! I kept my eyes open for a moose, but no luck yet.

You can tell these high cliffs get kissed by the sun. No snow!

Once we got up the mountain, it was breathtaking.

At one point we took a break and marveled at the snowless plains to the east.

They go on forever!

Very peaceful...

So peaceful in fact, that later in the day when we took another break, this snowshoe rabbit was just feet away from me. Obviously, he/she doesn't think I can see it. I snapped picture after picture and it didn't move. I picked only two out of the twenty I shot. You're welcome.

She can't see me.

Can she see me?

What the heck is taking her so long?

Move along lady with the camera. 

Oh, I just can't sit this still any longer...

Finally the bunny resituated itself, slowly, to get a better look at me. Even when we started our snowmobiles this little critter stayed put.

Hello Big Horn Mountains!

In my last post, Go West, Old Pups, I asked the dogs if they wanted to go for a very long ride. Though Bear did have her moments, all in all, she did well.

She looks a bit exhausted, but truth be told, she LOVES it at the cabin. Both she and Ike love the dog coop, the porches, and watching the wildlife. Occasionally they think they may get themselves a bunny, but the bunnies are just too darn fast for these pooches.

Steve and I have yet to witness them sharing the dog coop. It's a first come, first serve basis.

It's hard to believe that one week ago today, it looked like this.

But rather quickly the snow melted.

With my cup of coffee in hand, I always enjoy the sunrises out here.

But now with the time change, I have to work a little harder at getting up on time.

But sunrise is one of the best times to view the wildlife from inside the cabin. I counted 15 muley deer this particular morning.

The dogs have been collecting bones again. If you're new to this blog, you can catch up to speed by reading the post, The Bone Collectors. I was up before 6 this morning because I thought I heard that noise - a dog gagging. So I ran downstairs real fast to let them out, but they were perfectly fine and looked at me like why am I up at the crack of dawn? So I made coffee and watched a spectacular morning unfold. I'll post that next. Above is a pic of me in my PJs taking morning pics. The weather has been so nice. We've grilled out the last two nights and tomorrow is suppose to reach 65 degrees! We'll take it!

And oh, I also have some snowmobile pictures to share with you soon.

Posts may be fewer because we don't have wifi here like we do at home, but I will do my best. Thanks for your patience and for visiting!

Love,

Debi

P.S. Speaking of grilling...I posted a Grilled Quesadilla recipe on my cooking blog Cabin Cleaver just in case you're craving grilled quesadillas! Yum and so easy! 

Go West, Old Pups

Me: "Hey, are you two pooches just vegging out on the cold snow?"

"If you guys aren't too busy, do you feel like going for a loooong ride in the truck? Oh, say, like 22 hours or so?"

Bear: "Are you serious? How long is 22 hours?"

Ike: "Don't toy with me, man. You know I'll go anywhere. You know me...I'm a free spirit, I follow the wind or the aroma of a nearby squirrel...wait, you ARE taking dog chow, right?"

Bear: "Will you scratch my belly first? I think my anxiety level just rose a few notches."

Ike: "Okay, you have my attention. When do we leave? I'm packed."

Bear                                                         Ike

Bear: "We promise to be good."

Ike: "Oh, please 'Winnie the Whiner', you're nothing but a sissy when we travel."

Bear: "Am not."

Ike: "Are too."

Me: "Dogs, dogs...enough."

Ike and Bear: "Can we jump into the backseat of the truck yet?"

Bear                                             Ike

Bear: "Weeeeee...pant, pant, pant, here we go!"

Ike: "Winnie, quit cher hyperventilating already!"

Bear: "Hey guys, um...just don't let me out of this truck until we get there okay? Pant, pant, pant..."

Me: "What about poddy breaks?"

Bear: "I can hold it. Pant..."

Me: "For 22 plus hours?"

Bear: "Yep. I can hold it until we get there. Pant, pant, swallow, pant, pant, pant..."

Ike: "Geesh. I'm taking a nap." (insert snoring)

Read more on Winnie the Whiner at this post "Are We There Yet?"