April 19, 2017 A Long Hike

My sixth basket.

Dinga with the deer leg
she found on our hike.

Our neighbors' outdoor
kitchen on its back.

Monday 4/17. I finished my sixth basket yesterday.  I have been trying different styles with each one.  This one didn't turn out quite like I wanted it to, but it's okay in general.

This morning Dinga started barking furiously, which is not so unusual, but she stayed by the house.  Jesse went out to the driveway with his tail and hackles up barking, but he, too, did not go any further.  It may have been a cat, but odds are it was a bear.

It was a beautiful day so we decided to hike down the road to see what condition it was in.  I went a little less than a mile and JB went about half that.  I think we will be able to get out on Friday as planned.  The dogs were thrilled to go on such a hike and Dinga found a deer leg bone.  We also checked our neighbors' place who have the yurt.  Unfortunately their outside kitchen was laying on its back!  When we got back home, I rested for a bit then took a tarp and bungie cords down to cover it so rain wouldn't get in.  I think the heavy snow sliding off the roof pulled it backwards.

On our hike I saw some of the large elk tracks and some scat I had never seen.  Back at the house, JB got out the book on tracks and scat, and we identified it as bobcat.

Clouds began moving in around noon, and we had a short rain shower around 4:00 pm.  But all in all it was a great day with a high of 56.

Tuesday 4/18. It was 36 and partly cloudy this morning.  Nothing will get you up faster in the middle of the night than hearing your dog barfing.  Obviously Dinga does not have the strong intestinal constitution that Jesse does. . .

Just before 8:00 am we saw a blue grouse in the yard strutting his stuff for a female.  He is beautiful.  I didn't get a photo, but I do have one and will look for it.

Big black clouds moved in, and around 11:30 the wind blew in a short, fierce rain/hail squall that left the ground white.  For the rest of the day we still had some clouds, but the sun shone most of the time.

We both read books, and I worked on my blogs.  We were going to take the tracks off MAX, but with rain in the forecast for today we decided to wait until tomorrow.

We can't get JB's Jeep into the shop until May 3, but JB is going to go down anyway.  He will do some shopping, pick up packages at Larry and Elsie's shop and get our mail.

Wednesday 4/19. It is 36 and overcast this morning.  Will see if we can get the tracks off MAX today.

Thought for the day: You are only what you are when no one is looking.