Fluffy Clouds and a Yellow Finch
TGIF.
Have a great weekend my friends! Go out and make great memories. xoxo
a Trail of Indian Paintbrush
After the branding, the drive through the hills was a lovely one. The sun was out and the wind had settled down.
Indian Paintbrush, the Wyoming state flower, lined our path.
We saw so many patches of the wild state flower among the mustard weed, wild iris, and sagebrush. It was a lovely sight and a pleasant aroma.
A Fragrant Reminder
Two storms came through yesterday afternoon and dumped a bunch of the wet stuff on the thirsty ground. The sagebrush is very fragrant after showers like this, it’s so soothing. Reminds me of just one of the reasons I fell in love with Wyoming.
Green and Tall
We are warming up and the grass is green and tall. After scouting out shooting locations at our future residence, I took a walk through the cows. Some were relaxing under the shade of a young cottonwood, others were grazing the tasty new blades, and the calves were out cold for their afternoon naps.
Amid the tall grass stood beautiful purple irises.
I love springtime. It means it’s the start of good things to come. I can feel it.
Now this is more like it.
Ahhhh.
The hills are alive with the color green. As it should be for this time of year. It has cooled off with a little rain here and there and leaves are finally appearing. Such a happy sight. The chickens are happy too, especially because bugs are starting to crawl and hop.
After a Snowy Drink
So thankful to see some color on my drive to town. The golden willows and green grass are quite happy with the snowy drinks they have received over the past couple of months. The big blue sky is a sight for sore eyes. Now for blossoms and blooms…how I hope to see them soon!
Hello May!
How confused I am to see you in such a state.
I guess we could say “what a lovely winter we are having this spring”.
Bring Me a Whiskey, Would Ya?
Howdy! During the last month or so I’ve learned that life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass…it’s learning to dance in the rain. Or snow in our case. We have survived incredible blizzards and stormy conditions over the last few weeks.
I don’t believe I’ve seen this much snow in the 3 years that I’ve lived here. And certainly not in the month of APRIL. It was such a whiteout that I couldn’t see where I was going and could barely keep the wheels turning on the four wheeler.
Let me introduce you to Polaris tracks aka, life-saver. Our gracious neighbors let us use this so that we could get things done around here.
What does one have to do in such ferocious conditions you may ask? Well, feed cows for one thing, but I’d like to update you on the changes to the Uprooted Magnolia and the Cowboy. First, you must endure these images like we have endured living through this. Keep in mind, in most places it was knee-deep and in some spots, it was up to my waist. I’m average height.
We were snowed in. But the determined and very responsible cowboy HAD to leave the ranch in order to get his cows and calves fed on the meadows at the bluffs.
As we busted through drifts, snow piled up on the hood and we could barely see our exit.
Then we just couldn’t see anything at all.
So we (Patrick) stopped to clean the snow build-up off the hood and convince ourselves (me) to go further. But what did I do? While Patrick observed the road conditions, I took pictures of the snowed in ranch.
Once we got 6 miles out of the ranch the roads were good and we made it to the bluffs to feed the hungry cows. They were glad to see us. As you can see, they weren’t getting any grub underneath all that snow.
Sunsets over a snow blanketed pasture are always a calming sight.
One of the snowy evenings I saw the turkeys roosting in the trees behind our house.
So now the snow has melted, the skies are clear and the sun has set on our days at Dakota Ranch.
The ranch has been sold to a new owner and Patrick and I are moving on. But moving our home in this springtime blizzard was extremely challenging. Challenging in so many ways.
For the next couple of months we will stay in the hills of Southeast Wyoming and are excited about where life will take us. Some wonderful friends have opened their home to us while they live 80 miles away for the summer. My days are filled with caring for chickens, ducks, goats, a fuzzy pooch, and of course Matilda. My calendar is once again filling up with photo shoots and we are getting settled in to our routine for this spring and summer. We will continue working hard for our new home. This has been a huge year for change, and it’s only April. What else will we conquer? Stay tuned. I’m sure there will be a lot of new adventures.
*Hugs* ~ Leah
Springtime Whiteout
I couldn’t see the road this morning when I headed out to do chores. I made my own in a few spots.
This lovely lady was scrounging for breakfast.
It isn’t very cold. The water in the irrigation ditch isn’t frozen but the buildup of snow is almost up to my knees and it’s still coming down as I type this to you this morning.
White caps on the river rocks.
So is this what the month of April is going to bring from now on?
Beds of Hay
We drove off the ranch yesterday to head to the bluffs to check on Patrick’s cows. We branded them this weekend and took them to new pasture and then bam, a blizzard hits when we least expect it. And that’s just tough on the sweet baby calves.
Snow was still falling by evening and blowing across the road.
When we got there, they seemed very spry and excited to see us.
We got out and looked everybody over. They were a little frosty but everyone looked good and healthy.
But looking over the pasture, there wasn’t much grass peeking through and nowhere for them to lay down to be protected from the cold ground. That’s where we come in. Patrick attached 2 chains to the pickup and the hooks on the other end locked into the hay bale so I could pull it off the stack.
We dragged it over to the cows and Patrick got out to cut the strings.
The girls were a little impatient! I backed the truck up unrolling the bale while Patrick helped to pitch off the hay to them. When the bale got smaller, I stopped the pickup and jumped out to help. We pushed the bale and rolled it into the trees so they had something warm to lay on and be protected from the wind.
By the time we were leaving, the calves made their bed on the fresh hay while their mothers were chowing down.
Warm and toasty. Well, not really. But at least they are covered in leather!
We checked on them at about 5 this morning and they still had a lot of hay left and the entire herd was bedded down on the hay. They looked good, just a little cold. We’ll roll out another bale this evening for them to help them get through this crazy weather. At least the sun has finally come out. That should warm them up a bit.
Just another day in paradise y’all!
Snowblind
Well, the weatherman was right and we are buried in it. It hasn’t let up ALL day. Snow still coming down and blowing all around. I’m used to snowfall in April, but not a blizzard. We’ve been waiting for this all winter!
Every Kind of Weather
Tis the season where Wyoming cannot decide what she wants to do. Yesterday she rained with a little snow mixed in. She blew, she stood still, she grew warm and then she howled for most of the night.
Now the weatherman says she will dump about 10 inches of snow on us tonight through tomorrow. But I’ll believe it when I see it. All winter we’ve been teased by the weatherman that we would get some great moisture from storms and all she does is sprinkle on us… and sometimes not even that. At least my camera and I get to capture the confusion in her skies and bring them right to you.
Hindered by Spring
I am so excited that the winter ground is transitioning from this…
…to this.
Winter has been interrupted by the green grass springing up everywhere. This makes me giddy and I’m looking forward to change. Change is good.
Frosty and Stormy Blue
The title may sound like names of pets but really I’m describing the month of March in Wyoming.
This might be the most unpredictable month for weather in Wyoming.
Wednesday was the first official day of spring and we started out with a sparkly layer of frost on the deck.
The sky dramatically changed midday and stayed deep blue until sunset.
We never got any moisture from all of those storm clouds. So very disappointing.
But the river is always a beautiful view any time of the year. Drought or no drought.
Snowglow
The weatherman threatened a massive blizzard this past weekend and nothing happened. Zilch. Nada. But two nights ago it finally snowed and we had about an inch on the ground yesterday morning. It melted by mid-morning down low but yesterday evening, Squaw Mountain still beamed with a bright snow glow.
from pink sunsets to gray snowstorms
We had a heckuva snowfall Saturday night. We’re hoping that the wind lays down so we can absorb the moisture. Looks to me like the horses are plotting against working for a living and are going to break into the hay stack.
Sharing
This was a big hit on my facebook page last night and I thought I shouldn’t leave you out of the loop. After all, Mamma taught me to always share.
It was overcast most of yesterday, you know, one of those sleepy kind of days. I forced myself to go out for a hike and then the sun came out late afternoon. After a while of photographing dry and dormant flowering weeds left over from the summer, I came in to start dinner. I looked out of the window and everything looked pink. The grass, the fence, the trees. Pink. So I ran out of the front door and found myself literally chasing light. Once I was in the back of the house, there it was. Hovering over Squaw Mountain was a gorgeous masterpiece painted only by the heavens above.
Hello February
February has entered with a bang!
I won’t bore you with the details of the numerous lemons life has served us that we are struggling to make lemonade with, but I will show you the progression of stormy skies that welcomed this second month of 2013. It was a wild party in the sky most of the day with only gray and overcast during the morning . The real show began after noon.
12:47pm
On my way to care for a neighbors farmily, I noticed the gray skies hovering over the Cooney Hills and blue skies with snow over Squaw (not pictured).
1:47pm
Back at home the sky went from gray to blueish purple with high winds and wet snow squalls for a couple of hours.
4:01pm
We went to town to take care of some ranch business and looked back toward the hills. That’s Squaw Mountain back covered with snow from the afternoon squalls. That cloud separation in the middle is pretty wild eh?
5:01pm
Coming back home, the sun was starting to set behind the hills.
5:04pm
The space there between the hilltops and the upper clouds is dead air, calm and cool. Wind is sweeping off the hills and whipping into the lower clouds just above the road.
5:07pm
5:11pm
5:18pm
Once back home, the sun went down behind the mountains. The clouds cleared out overnight and Saturday was cool and clear.
Phew! What a way to start off the month.
Snow Clouds at Sunset
Snow storms were happening all around us yesterday evening and these wild clouds helped to create light that changed colors within minutes.
I knew that just around this hill I would see what these clouds were all about.
The light changed from yellow to pink and purple just as I approached the windmill. I like how that strip of cloud through the center acts kind of like a reflection of itself. We didn’t get any of the snow but we sure do have the cold temps.
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