Back at Star Mt and loving it

Oh it is good to be back. Snow mostly gone except on the peaks. We saw an elk on the way to the house which rapidly grew to a herd of 40 or more a couple hills over. They're back too. Binoculars  are already getting a workout.

photo courtesy of Mark

The area is getting rain which is good for water levels and with the house at almost 8900ft, turns into a rain/snow mix - nothing is sticking though. The grasses are turning green, my daffodils are blooming, and we wait for the trees and shrubs to leaf out along with the fabulous early wildflowers.

We have put out hummingbird feeders as of today. It took all of 90 seconds for the first one to show. However, that's all that's shown so far. That little one is way ahead of the giant pack swarming the hundreds of miles up here. I'm not sure we can handle the crowd that was around last summer. 5 lbs a sugar a day -waayyy too many.

the cashmere goat farm

Still lots of small calves around, and I'm on baby watch for the goats and horses. The  ranchers are opening their headgates and flooding their fields, an annual task that was delayed this year due to, oh yes again, concern over water. The water comes from our rivers and there are complicated water rights involved, to messy a conversation for this blog. Things are okay right now, but stay tuned as the summer gets into full swing.

Carbon Peak early fog and dusting of snow

My walk in the woods is magical as usual even without the trees leafed out. The last of the snow is there and it's quiet. Did see a pile of white feathers strewn across the road, hmm, something had a nice dinner I think. We have seen coyotes wandering around.

Couple books read: The language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh and Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel. Loved,loved Hilary Mantel's latest, but no surprise, this is a sequel to Wolf Hall, a fantastic book on Thomas Cromwell. Language of Flowers was good, but subject matter in certain parts was hard for me to handle.
Much spring cleaning more out than in is on the agenda in the next week, and new gravel for our lower driveway.The winter took its toll...