SPRING FEVER!!!

[ranchwife]

well, other than the odd-ball weather, things around here are starting to green up and i am getting a dandy case of spring fever!! went outside today and watched my 9 year old enjoy his first day of babe ruth baseball practice....still need to wear a jacket and a hat, but the feeling of spring is in the air....probably just in time for another famous montana snowstorm...only to turn to 70 degrees the next day hubby has been on the tractor all day and probably will be most of the night...complaining about how he is a month behind in his "farming"...heck, we still have a few cows to calve out!!! but, the grass is growing and i am spending more and more time outside "planning" my garden the geese are coming home, the other birds are in the blue spruce that takes up the majority of our nothern yard and the horses are shedding their winter coats! Wow!!! hope the rest of you are also settling into the thoughts of a beautiful spring.....flowers, birds, gardens and the spring time sports of track and field and of baseball!!! god bless and have a good night!!

[Faster horses]

Your post reminded me of one year when we lived in Western Montana, we had a major snow storm during the County Fair, which is always held the third week of August, no less! There was so much snow, the kids built snow forts at the fairgrounds and had great snowball fights. We got a great picture for the front page of the paper.

Can't remember what year that was...

[Oldtimer]

I was on top of Lone Mountain, in ranchwifes country, in 1973 when a storm hit one night on the 4th of July-- lightning, thunder, wind, and snow-- turned out to be a regular blizzard... Wasn't sure if the world wasn't coming to an end when you see lightning light up a snowstorm....Definitely an experience for a prairie boy.....

[ranchwife]

[Soapweed]

Working for L.D. Frome, Wyoming outfitter, in the summer of 1971, we were on a twelve day pack trip through Yellowstone. There were 20 guests, 10 of us on the crew, 30 saddle horses, 30 pack animals and five spare horses. We had embarked on August 23rd at the South Entrance, then rode east by Heart Lake, Fox Park, through the Yellowstone Meadow at the foot of Hawk's Rest, and were planning to go up Woodard Canyon to Crater Lake. A few days of drizzle had changed our route, so we were going to come out at base camp at the mouth of Box Creek on Turpin Meadow by a shorter route. Our last camp on the evening of September 1st, was on Trail Creek.

It was a beautiful summer afternoon, and we had a baseball game out on a meadow. Storm clouds were brewing, and soon lightning was cracking. This was the most ferocious lightning storm I've ever been in throughout my whole life. We ran for the shelter of the "kitchen fly" and our sleeping tents as rain started to pour. It rained hard all evening, and after a soggy supper we all turned in early. Rain came down for part of the night before it turned to snow. By the next morning there was a foot of wet snow all over everything and it snowed hard all day.

Suffice it to say, it was a fairly miserable trip on to the road. First we saddled all the dude horses and sent the twenty guests on ahead, with two of the crew going along. After we packed up all the duffle, four more of the crew headed out with the gear belonging to the guests. The remaining four of us packed all the kitchen supplies and were the last to arrive at base camp. It was late afternoon by then, and though we had fairly appropriate clothing for the occasion, we were soaked and shivering as we rode down the trail. My hands and feet were sure cold, and I was one of the few that had brought along overshoes for this "summer" pack trip. The overshoes were brought along because when you are catching horses in the early morning on a mountain meadow, the dew in the tall grass will get you soaked clear to your knees.

I stayed through hunting season, which ended October 31st. The temperature got a lot colder later in the fall, but the coldest I got the whole season was on this September 2nd ride. Damp cold chills you to the bone way more than dry cold.

[ranchwife]

soapweed....i agree with you 100% about the "damp cold"...the hubby will tell you that the coldest winter he ever spent was the one when he lived in north carolina....32 degrees and he FROZE because it was damp and he was froze to the core!! he'd rather have 40 below and have it dry than 40 above and be damp!!

[Faster horses]

Good story, Soapweed.

My husband's bithday is July 4th (and that's not the half of it, mine is 9-11)anyway, I have pictures of grilling steaks on his birthday in W. Mt. We have gloves, jackets and stocking caps on as we are sitting outside around the grill.