Author: Liz

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Snow Day 2

The evening of June 10…night before last – after the snow event…nearly mid-June, nearly the summer solstice – within 11 days of the longest day of the year – sunset is shortly after 9:30 p.m. The photo below was taken shortly after 9:00 p.m.

Maybe hard to believe, but the temperatures did not go below freezing. Yesterday morning at 5:00 a.m. it was nearly 33 and stayed there until late afternoon when it was almost 40. The snow is still around but melting and slushy and just a damp mess – not a snow that is fun to play in. Still, a dog needs to be walked and so we went…

Sad Lupins… (that’s NOT a lupin below…I realized Thursday afternoon when I walked that I was calling these wrong – they are actually a noxious weed and I’m not sure of the name. Those are lupins in the grass under the tree….)

Above – in the grass – is how they should look now.

the walk path – see the stump to the right?

see how much snow is on the stump???

Towards the end of the walk – the top of the mountains are fogged in, but still – the most of them we have seen in two days.

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June Snow

First, the lake – Flathead Lake…the view as I approach Bigfork Village and the north end of the lake – about 5 miles from my home – I love coming around the curve and over the hill and having this view of the lake appear. It is always different – different colors of the water, the clouds, the trees, the mountains…yesterday noon, with the clear air, rain and snow approaching, the sun on the water showed all the colors of the shallows, the sand bars and the deep…

On the road home, but towards the valley floor and the Bitteroot Range on the other side of the valley.

The road home towards my house – snowing up top – June 6.

Arriving home, I called to Karl for a quick walk before getting back to work – and to see what the new snow on the mountains looked like

We heard the rumble of thunder and the sky to the west (above) was dark. Karl laid back his ears and headed for home at a trot.

June storm and June snow in the mountains.

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King of the hill

There was a large garden with raised beds and a mini-orchard of 9 fruit trees enclosed by a 6 foot high deer fence…was… It was more work than was fun for me and the garden now lives at my neighbors. There are several posts about it under the category “Yard and Garden”…

The gist is my neighbors and I swapped – they dismantled the fencing and graded the leftover with their backhoe in return for the fencing and planter material. Before starting the grading, there was already a small pile of topsoil left by the previous owners. After the grading, the topsoil pile was a bit bigger.

I don’t know what to do with the topsoil – there is not enough to spread over some parts of the yard that need it. I decided that at the first opportunity I’ll just push it flat and spread it out right where it is. There is a bit of a track behind the pile from some of the logging work and it can fill that area.

Karl might take care of it for me..

Karl went at it so vigorously that it kind of looked like he was having fun. And not just once. He has rearranged his little cave – hidey hole – cool spot several times – always the dirt flying as he works on it with seeming enthusiasm.

But he does use it…

And it is a good spot from which to keep an eye on things…

Mr. Karl – King of the hill!

Bob likes his bit of dirt also – a good dirt bath is heaven on a sunny day!

Bob is “King of the hill” in his own way.

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Cinderellie, Cinderellie

The Calypso orchid or Fairyslipper (Calypso bulbosa)….

A very small foot to fit in this “slipper” – these are less than an inch. They are easy to miss in the woods as they are often bent downward so that only the purple “underside” is visible and looking very much like the back of a wood violet. They are my favorite thing to find. Montucky at Montana Outdoors has much better capture of these beauties: Calypso

A correction on yesterday’s post…those are Gardenia – which I’m very happy about. I love gardenia – my father gave my mother and I gardenia corsages for Easter. The scent of the gardenia in the refrigerator…waiting for Sunday – to put on my very special Easter dress – a vivid and beautiful memory. The scent always transports me.

Almost home….looking back

Where Karl and the last trees are – before things open up – is the eastern edge of my property. I’m taking these photos about a third of the way from that edge – towards where my house sits.

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The woodsy part of the walk

The spectacular mountain views posted a few days ago are from the eastern edge of my property as well as a loop Karl and I walk at the start of our twice or sometimes 3 times daily walk from home. That mountain view loop is on an adjacent “sub-division” – 5 and 10 acre parcels that have been sold but nothing built – and I hope they stay that way for awhile!

We complete that loop and then come back across the southeastern edge of my property and begin another loop that circumnavigates the edge of the 40 acre parcel of state land that is adjacent to my southern border. The state parcel is landlocked which means that access is across all the properties adjacent – all 6 of us. I have seen one “neighbor” on this land once. It is a beautiful piece of land – mostly flat but two of its borders have magnificent valley and mountain views. Karl and I usually walk the logging tracks that run inside the border by a bit. We have peek-a-boo views of the mountains beyond but it is mostly a woodsy area.

When I first moved here and walked out on that parcel, I scared myself silly – got disoriented as to which direction was “home”. For a while I activated the navigation system on my cell phone so I could see my position in relation to my house. Gradually, though, I came to know the various “stands of trees” – they are all familiar to me now and I know where I am. There is a group of 5 ponderosa pine – 4 form a diamond and the 5th is the center cross point. I wish I could capture that in a photo but there is no way save from above. There are several pretty copses of small trees and evergreens. Other places there are just trees that I recognize. There are several downed trees from windstorms that occured since I’ve lived here. There is the place that last year I found wild orchids – I’m keeping watch as now I know how to use the camera functions to get those miniscule blossoms in focus.

For now, though….this Glacier Lily….and a bit of the walk and places that Karl and I know:

Above, one of the logging paths that make it easy for me.

The end of the loop – the return to home.