Tiny Dancers

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Gotta check these out:

Eagle Nest 1

Eagle Nest 2

Nest one has eggs about to hatch, daddy watching over them.

Nest two has three babies, parents coming and going with food.

Very cool.


**update--Nest 1's eggs should hatch today :)

Hide and Seek

I think Spring is playing hide & seek.
A few days of 70's beautiful, and a few days of cold and snow. Today is one of those colder days.
The hummingbirds showed up yesterday. Just a few so far, but before you know it there will 30-40 out there. I love this time, can't wait to start photographing them.

I'm not sure how my bear season is going to go with Drifter around. I'm thinking the combo won't work well. Drifter may have to stay inside some days so I can get some photos. Which means, Drifter, no skunk play at night.
She still has part of her 'prize' and insists on carrying it around. Luckily there's not much of it left and hopefully will be gone soon.

We have a pair of geese in the pond, although I mostly only see one. I'm 'hoping' it's the male and maybe the female is nearby with eggs. How awesome that would be to have baby geese in the pond this year :)

Besides the snow on the ground yesterday, everything is finally turning green and things are sprouting up the garden.
I went out for my eagle drive yesterday, but none to be seen. The ospreys are out and about and many in nests, that might be my photography subject for awhile. At least they sit still longer. Maybe I'll even be lucky and catch a heron or two :)

Get Closer

Right Here, Right Now

Cat + Sunshine = Total Slacker

Awesome weather last few days. Sunshine, blue skies and 70 degrees. The pond is thawed, the ducks and geese are here, and the swallows are building nests. I love when this starts.
I've cleaned up the gardens, and although not much planting can be done yet, there's a few little things popping up here and there.
All that's left are the bear, fawns and hummingbirds. My favorite parts :)

As I had mentioned before, we had a dead deer on the property. It was pretty far away across the pond, so it's just basically bird food. Or it was...
Drifter decided to drag it to my front door and keep a couple legs for herself. Yep, lovely.

Lucky me, I had to drag the carcass away from the house. (I may never eat ribs again). Anyway, Drifter keeps bringing it back, so I guess G is going to have to haul it away permanently.
The legs are another story. She carries them around and won't let anyone have them. I had to draw the line when she wanted to come in the house with it.

Oh the joy of Spring :)

They're Busy

This is Cool

Spring Arrivals

He Loves This Show...

It's Almost Here....

I had started a post yesterday on how the Spring melt was finally here. Most of the snow is off the ground (mostly) and I can see little sprouts of green here and there. And then, last night, it snowed. We had a couple new inches this morning.
But..the sun came out some this morning and took care of it, although I wouldn't be surprised if we get more today.

This is the time to prepare the garden some. I have onions sprouting already and the strawberries are appearing. Time to do some raking and cleaning up. Not quite time for tilling as everything is so wet, but soon enough. I'm determined to have a better garden this year. The tomatoes are already started and I plan on adding some more raised beds.

I planted two full beds of poppies last Fall, I really hope these come through. They are in the fenced garden to prevent deer from making them a meal. I have learned that it doesn't always matter if a plant says "deer-proof". It's not a guarantee.

I found a dead deer on the property this morning :(. Looks like he's been dead for quite awhile, maybe even before the snow. He's missing a back leg which makes me think mountain lion. I know mountain lions are here, but it's still creepy to know they're that close. The ravens are all over the place now. I wonder if I'd be lucky enough to have an eagle show up. We'll see :)

The deer are back after a long Winter...it's so cool to see them again. This place just didn't seem right without them. Soon enough we'll see bear and fawns. Hopefully not at the same time.

I wish I had more excitement to blog about.. just not quite yet.

Moonlight Gaze

. . . the moon gazed on my midnight labours, while, with unrelaxed and breathless eagerness, I pursued nature to her hiding-places.
~Mary Shelley
~~Frankenstein













~click it to big it~

My Little Rocky

Moments

Time stands still best in moments that look suspiciously like ordinary life.




















~Story People

The Driveway

Just Maybe...

I'm not holding my breath, but it looks as if Spring might actually be here. We still have plenty of snow on the ground, but I also see some little sprigs of green grass in some places and the swallows arrived today.
It's 60 degrees today and blue skies,it feels great. It's so weird to see sunshine all through the house.
Of course it also shows the dirt and dust. Nice.

I'll clean tomorrow.

Someone's Knockin'

Original title..I know.

Waiting...

Not a whole lot new around here lately. We're still getting snow, although I am starting to see some ground finally. I would call it grass but it's not close to resembling grass just yet. I've seen a few Spring birds, so I know it's out there somewhere.
I haven't even touched my camera much, which is just sad. This is just that time of year that it's just blah I guess. Winter blah's?

I just finished watching Home Alone and now I want a Christmas Tree.

Oh Blah Dee

Just as I thought some of this was melting away.. and by melting, I mean MELTING. It's always a mess here during the melt. We don't have pavement on our roads, so we have bumpy, washboard-like roads with ruts that could swallow my car. We have about a 1/2 mile driveway from the house to the main road, and mailboxes, and I always worry I'll get stuck between the two. It's the worst part of the seasons to me.

Anyway.. just as I thought it was going to wash away, snow has hit hard tonight. In buckets. Luckily I don't have to be anywhere tomorrow, and my car is snuggled up in the garage.
I would think most Montanans are like me. You like Winter and snow... to a point. But there comes that time, about right now I think, where you're ready for the green grass, sunshine, fawns and hummingbirds. I doubt this snow will stick around long.. but for now it's coming down beautifully.
About end of July and beginning of August, you'll hear me complain how I'm ready for Winter again.

I was asked recently which was my favorite season. My automatic answer usually is Winter...but I actually have to stop and think about that.
I do love snow and winter and cold weather.
But I also like when Spring arrives and the flowers start blooming. I love when I can smell the flowers in the garden through my windows. I love hearing that first hummingbird, and seeing that first fawn. Spring gives me a lot of photography opportunities.
Summer.. well.. I'm not a hot weather person, so the warm weather and sunshine is nice, but once it gets into the high 80's, low 90's here, I'm turning on the AC. You might laugh at that last sentence, but high 80's here, is hot.
I grew up in Dallas/Fort Worth area, and I know hot.... and I left it back there.
Our house didn't come with AC, so pretty quickly I bought a window unit and it does run starting in July and August.
I was really surprised how hot it felt, considering where I came from, but the neat thing about here is the temps drop into the 50's at night and everything cools down perfectly.
Fall I like because the coolness arrives, the color arrives, and you can smell the bonfires and fireplaces going.
Right about Thanksgiving is when the snow arrives. Perfect.

It's nice to live somewhere with all four seasons. Especially when you used to live in a place with two seasons...SUMMER for 11 months and ICE for one.

Yep, weather is all I have to blog about.
As the title says...
Oh Blah Dee, Oh Blad Da... Life Goes On.

Here I Come...

...To save the day!














We actually have sunshine and almost 50 degrees today. It feels like summer. It's short-lived as I see rain in the forecast, but hey... windows are open and enjoying it :)

Red

I love these guys.

A Woman's Man

The turkey was in rare form this morning as he was struttin' around the yard. It was pretty cool to watch if you've never seen it.
His head changed color a few times to bright red or bright blue. He would walk with a strut and make funny noises. It was pretty cool.

Junco

Tease

The Latest Moonrise

Can't get any better than that :)

When?

So every year I have to go back in my photos and find when everything begins. When does the snow stop, when do the bear start showing up.. when does the snow melt. After receiving almost 5 more inches of snow last night, I keep thinking it should be done. It's not.
The bear usually show up end of May. I think the fawns, mid June. We can't start gardening until at least Memorial Day. I still have a lot of snow time left.

March Moon

The Big Four

I just flipped over my calendar yesterday and realized this is my blogiversary. Four years. Although I'm not sure I would call the last year or so 'blogging'. But, anyway... four years.
A lot sure has changed in four years. A lot of new people in my life since then. Some still around, some not. Some relationships worked, some didn't. All because of this blog. Wild to think about really.

I used to talk about everything but now through some lessons learned, I don't/can't talk about everything. I learned that if you really want your blog to be personal or private, that you don't use your real name and sometimes not even your state. I've been googled often and found. That's expected though I guess. Who'da thought at one time that you could be "googled".

My blog was a creative release at one time and I'm glad I started it. I think now the release moved onto photography and less blogging. I miss it sometimes, just letting it all out on this blog, but in the end sometimes it's better to just keep it personal.

It's cold here today.. 8 below when I woke up and I think it's moved up to a whopping 3 degrees. The skies are blue and the snow is just gorgeous. I saved a robin from an owl yesterday, it was quite the event. I was standing in the right place at the right time and thankfully separated them and they went their separate ways. I worried for awhile if the robin would be okay. He's been here for over a month and it was neat seeing him daily.
He showed back up after awhile and still here this morning.

Anyway.. that's that. Four years, who'da thought.

A Small Break from Snow

Welcome Spring?

I could watch them for hours....

...actually, sometimes I do.

Today