Rocks and Cranes and Bears Oh My!

"A rolling stone gathers no moss, but it gains a certain polish." -Oliver Herford
The beautiful weather allowed us to get some rows dug. And to wrassle some rocks.

Bigun.
Lots of big birds around. Geese, heron, and eagles are passin' over. Bunch of cranes been hanging around the neighborhood for the last couple of weeks just walkin' 'round the fields and soaring and making a whole lot of noise.
The bears are out and about as well. One passed through the garden the other night.
Just a little guy.

Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" -Robin Williams

"Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush. " -Doug Larson
The snows a meltin' quick 'round here. This first picture was taken on the 16th.
This one is on the 18th.
And today the 19th. This is the first daylight this field has seen since November.
Spent the day putting together the hoop house. This was acquired a couple years back when a local nursery went out of business and was just sitting in a shed in a pile. It took a couple days of puzzlin' and ponderin' to figure it out.
Admiring our handy work.
The garlic rows out back came out of the snow today. Spring is here.

Brooding

"The difference between involvement and commitment is like ham and eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed." - Martina Navratilova

Built a brooder box on Tuesday. The total size is 4' x 8' so it should hold all the chicks we get.

The first of our chicks arrived on wed. Five Ameraucana pullets.
Awwwwwww. Quite entertaining!

Season Finale

"Earth teach me to forget myself as melted snow forgets its life. Earth teach me resignation as the leaves which die in the fall. Earth teach me courage as the tree which stands all alone. Earth teach me regeneration as the seed which rises in the spring." -William Alexander
Storm's finally past. The best days of season this week. Four feet of powpowgnargnar.
Now I remember why I live in Steamboat! It's dumping! Last ride on Pony for the season.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! What a day! What a couple of weeks.
On Thursday the skies cleared and it was bluebird. We ended our season in style.
Got pretty warm but stayed soft up top. The Goods.
The "extreme terrain" of the East Face. We hiked up to the summit and then out to Pony for a couple laps. If you look closely you can see Jenny in the left center of this panorama.

Finally got to 100 inches at the microwaves. Great way to end the season! Looking back it wasn't as bad as it seemed at the time. The snow wasn't great, but we did have some great snow! Ya gotta have some below average years to make the above average years that much better.It's hard to believe with all that snow outside that it's time to start gardening.
Pumpkins are off to the races. Just amazing how fast they grow!

POW!!!

Well the skies have opened up and given us our biggest single day snow total of the season just four days before closing! While I'm pretty exited about getting up there this afternoon and schromping the gnar, it doesn't change the fact that the mountain will be closed with the best conditions of the year. Just when I was beginning to wrap my head around the fact that the season was over, and look forward to the spring and everything I could do when all the snow was gone...POW!!!

Earn your turns!

The Season Episode 10 from Fitz Cahall and Bryan Smith on Vimeo.