Springtime in the Rockies

It turned out I only needed to walk in for 3 1/2 days. I used a garden cart to haul my stuff back and forth through the mud and snow. By Thursday evening the snow had melted back enough to allow me to drive all the way to the house and the road was mostly dry. I'm declaring mud season officially over.

Each morning here I go for a walk up to the top of the ridge at the back of our property. Right now with the cool air and sunshine it is a very pleasant walk through moss-bedecked woods. The first part is a short, steep climb to the ridge line. Here is my favorite gnarly old snag in the forest on the way up the ridge On the ridge line there is a stone cairn that marks one of our property corners. From there it is an easy slope up to the very top of the ridge where one can see at least five different mountain ranges as well as the plains of Eastern Montana stretching away to the distance (I'll have to have pictures from up there another time)

My morning ramble gives me a chance to check out the animal tracks, soak up the symphony of birdsong and, yes, indulge in my favorite pastime, spotting and identifying wildflowers.
Wildflower report:
The glacier lilies (Erythronium grandiflorum) and spring beauties (Claytonia lanceolata)continue to bloom everywhere. But now there's more:

Arrowleaf balsamroot ( Balsamorhiza sagittata)

Bluebell (Mertensia oblongifolia)

Larkspur (Delphinium nelsoni)

Shooting Star (Dodecatheon pauciflorum)

Nutall's rockcress (Arabis nutallii)


The native grass seed I threw out on the disturbed soil where the septic system and water lines went in has begun to sprout. I'm relieved to see it because each morning the ground is covered with birds skarfing up the seeds like it is a giant all-you-can-eat bird feeder. Then, at dusk, a resident gang of three deer come by and nibble on the new shoots. Between the birds and the deer I was afraid no grass would survive. But there is starting to be a good fringe of green filling in. I'm really hoping for a nice meadow here by the house instead of the buckbrush bramble that covers so much of our property. Once the grass gets established, I'm told the wildflowers that used to be there will come back.

All this sounds idyllic and peaceful doesn't it? Ah, but there is so much work to be done this summer, I can't afford to just relax and revel in the beauty of spring time. I have begun the arduous task of digging under the house to bring the water lines and waste pipe from under the porch all the way under the house so they can be used for the kitchen sink and for the INDOOR BATHROOM that is my highest priority. Digging out a trench under the house will probably be the hardest part of the project. It is unpleasant work crawling around under all the insulation in the crawl space where the pack rats love to hang out. There is not room to stand up or swing a pick or use a shovel and it is, you will remember from last summer's blog, solid rock under there. So far I've found that a combination of a heavy-duty garden trowel, a pick with an square end for hitting with a hammer, a cold chisel, a framing hammer, and a 3 lb sledge works best. I'll be glad when this task is behind me.

And my activities in town started right up as soon as I got back. Health care reform rallies and forums, fundraisers for the food pantry, cooking at the soup kitchen, a wonderful book signing and reception for a grand old lady of political activism - the 101 year old Elsie Fox. That, and meetings, meetings, meetings.

So springtime in the Rockies is beautiful, challenging, interesting, but not really relaxing.