Mosaic Monday #23: Anticipation

When we moved into our new house on April 14, 2018, I began taking notes about wildlife we saw around the acreage, including information such as date and location.  And, of course, digital photography is a superb record-keeper since it embeds the date the photo is taken.  My blog is another source of historic information about the last 12 months.

So, as the anniversary of our move-in date approached, the idea of a retrospective on flora and fauna deeply excited me, and mainly as a reminder about what we can expect as spring continues to unfold.  I plan to maintain my journal, and in the years ahead I can envision a running dialogue such as "the bluebirds are late this year" or "flowers will be delayed because this winter slammed us with 5 more feet of snow than normal".  Won't that be interesting?

For now, let's focus on what we can anticipate in the next 90 days.  Maybe in a future post I can tell you if it happened or not!!!

APRIL

As the saying goes, April showers bring May flowers, so this month delivers more in the way of fauna than flora.  Last year, April meant turkeys passing through our yard, but we have yet to spot any this year.  The chipmunks, on the other hand, emerged from hibernation at the end of March and have been scampering around ever since.

Birds that have been absent for the winter have begun to appear.  Both the Mountain Bluebird and Sandhill Crane have arrived at Hodge Lake, earlier than last year.  I find it particularly interesting that I observe a mating pair of bluebirds in almost the same location as last year.  I read some material that suggests these birds bond more to a nest site than to each other.

Sandhill Crane

Last year at this time, the bluebirds and swallows were considering our bird houses.  This year, as I mentioned in my last post, we have already noticed the bluebirds examining the nesting quarters, but the swallows are still in absentia.

April also witnessed the return of the Red-Winged Blackbirds at our bird feeders.  This year, the first one showed up on March 14, and now my feeders are mobbed by males and females alike on a daily basis.  The sunflower seeds have also attracted an occasional house finch, a new visitor.  On Friday, I almost fell over myself when a Red-Naped Sapsucker perched for just a few moments on our porch railing.  (I knew it was a woodpecker, but I had never seen it before and had to look it up in my Montana field guide.  SOOOO exciting!!!)

Other new sightings have included two otters.  On April 7, in the early evening, Spousal Unit spotted something dark on the remaining ice of the lake, and he examined it through the binoculars while I deployed the spotting scope.  Over the next few minutes, we watched one and then two otters slide in and out of the water onto the ice.  At one point, they shared a fish that one of them had pulled out onto the ice.  How cool is that?

On April 10, Spousal Unit (yes, he has sharp eyes) detected movement on the far side of the lake, and we soon determined that it was four wolves.  We must have observed their activity for 20 minutes; they ran up and down along the edge of the lake, and at times acted almost like puppies in the way that they gamboled together.  Of course, I have reported wolves before, but this is the first occasion that we have seen them in real time.

That same evening, I noticed something white moving around in the tall grass near the lake.  On closer examination, it turned out to be a bald eagle eating something on the ground.  Being this close to Hodge Lake is certainly a boon for wildlife!

MAY

May 2018 was a thrilling month since we witnessed the moose down at the lake, and the beaver pair moved into the neighborhood, building a dam and lodge lickety-split.  After those initial sightings of the moose, it disappeared for parts unknown.  We continued to see beaver activity in terms of changes to the dam, tree cutting and the occasional tail slap, but over the winter they have been entrenched in the lodge.  Hopefully they will be more visible once the ice clears out.

The flowers surged last year during this month, and here are some of the beauties we can anticipate emerging first.

Lower left: Glacier Lily; Center: Blue Violet; Lower right: Aspen

Upper right: Kinnikinnick

Upper left: Serviceberry; Upper Center: Heartleaf Arnica; Upper right: Wild Strawberry

Lower left: Oregon grape; Lower Center: Not sure; Lower right: Lodgepole pine

On May 28, my trail cam documented the Columbian Ground Squirrels, but I am fairly certain they were scrambling about earlier.  Just as I was wondering when they would leave hibernation, I spotted one yesterday on the slope just below the kitchen window.  He was frantically eating the short grass; we shouldn't be surprised since he has been underground since mid-August!

May 29 brought a coyote loping through our leach field around 9.30 pm.  At the time, it was a novelty that had me jumping up and down.  Twelve months on, I have become accustomed to a sighting (at a distance) while I am running, and I have certainly captured plenty of them on my trail cam.  Don't get me wrong, I am still mesmerized, but they are not as rare as I first imagined.

At the end of the month, we planted our flower pots.  While this does not relate directly to my chronicles of native flora and fauna, I can use the reference as a safety net - generally, I don't have to worry about these plants suffering a snow storm or ravaging frost if I wait for the final days of May to set them out.

JUNE

 Middle left: Narrowleaf Collomia

Middle right: Rose

Lower left: Starry Wild Lily of the Valley

Reproduction systems kick into high gear in this month.  Fawns begin to appear, and as many as six elk with a baby in tow wandered the edges of Hodge Lake.  A painted turtle crawled up the logging road and seemed to be digging a hole for eggs.  This occurred twice that I witnessed.  Each time, I placed rocks on either side of the area to enable monitoring (incubation is 72 days).  Nothing came of it as far as I could tell.

Not to be outdone, the swallows were nesting in both bird boxes.  (But by mid-June, the gnawing squirrels had kicked them to the curb.)  I also glimpsed the occasional Western Tanager high in the pine treetops, and male and female crossbills chose our rock steps below the kitchen as a favorite hang-out.  I still have not determined what drew them to that spot - something in the soil?  Microscopic bugs that I could not see?

Of course, not all wildlife is welcome.  This month also brought the carpenter ant infestation, which we were able to fend off quickly.  That was a relief, and now I am constantly vigilant for bugs attempting to make a warm nest out of our house.

Abundant wildflowers danced in the meadows and nodded under the shrubs.

Upper left: Cinquefoil; Upper Middle: Blue Violet;

Upper Right: Butter and Eggs

Lower left: reflection in lake; Lower right: Shooting Star

Left: Yarrow; Upper middle: Pink Wintergreen; Upper right: Blue-eyed Grass

Lower middle: Self-heal; Lower right: Bog Orchid

I would be hard-pressed to choose the highlights from June, but the black bear on the logging road (captured by trail cam) and the badgers I observed would land at the top of the list.

JULY

Early July brought much of the same with an occasional surprise, such as the afternoon I glimpsed a small black bear on our driveway as I returned home from a run.  Or the weasel that caught my eye from the window of our master bathroom.

As I sit here now, looking at barren tree branches and muddy ground, my mind struggles to grasp the life that is waiting just below every surface.  I am dreaming about the wild grass and wildflowers that we sowed in the fall, immediately before the snow took over.  Will it sprout?  What kind of wildflowers will we see?  Can we defend the new growth from the deer and the bunnies?  Of course I am also keen to observe our formal landscaping.  Does it come back?  How much self-seeding occurred?  Will our apple trees bloom and cross-pollinate?  And then we have the pines and aspens we transplanted at the end of the summer.  Did they survive the process?  When can we expect the aspens to leaf out?  So much anticipation.  All I have to do is wait.

Mosaic Monday

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To Infinity and Beyond (or, there is life after moving day)

Reading in the great room

The nights here are quiet, with a velvet black sky littered with sparkling stars.  Fresh, crisp air enters your lungs with each deep breath you unconsciously draw, the body's natural reaction to the serenity and awe of standing underneath the mighty constellations.  An occasional sighing sound reaches your ears as the breeze rustles the pine boughs.  Another deep breath brings the scent of earth and living things.  No longer just the figment of my dreams, this is my new reality - as of April 14, our new log house is HOME!

Josie helps with packing

MOVING DAY: If you've ever moved yourself, you know the drill.  You pack.  You stage.  You pick up the U-Haul truck.  You ask strong friends to help.  You load the truck.  You drive the truck.  You unload the truck.  You return the U-Haul.  You return home.  You assemble your bed.  You collapse into it with exhaustion.

Well, our story had a couple of wrinkles along the way.  First, we could not fit everything in the truck(in fact, we still have a few items to pick up from the Whitefish townhouse).  So we nixed our plan to pick up our (new to us) antique desk along the way.  Second, the truck could not make it through the snow on the driveway at the new house.  Yes, folks, this was April 14 and the truck was stuck.  We tried traction sand and boards under the tires, and succeeded only in digging bigger holes.

But this is Montana, and frontier spirit and neighborliness are alive and well here in the Treasure State.  Our borrowed brawn for the day, a neighbor's teenage son, wasted no time in calling his dad, who soon arrived in his Tundra with four of his other kids in the truck bed.  Lickety split, that Tundra pulled the U-Haul back down the driveway, so it could get a running start.  And this time, it cooperated and pulled right up to the house.  (In the meantime, the house enjoyed the pitter-patter of children's feet as the explored the nooks and crannies with me.  The upstairs loft bedroom, with its low roof and 'hidey holes', was an instant hit.)

Of course, this is a couple days later, when the bed is assembled.

"Hidey hole" is behind the bed, below the log beam.

We were ecstatic to find a desk with

accents that match the terracotta

wall color

And this week, another neighbor graciously answered the call to assist Spousal Unit with the desk.  A 50-year-old roll top owned by a doctor until his retirement, the desk could be separated into two pieces, which enabled the boys to manhandle it into our neighbor's Silverado, and later, into our loft.  Although we had measured carefully prior to purchasing the antique, I still heaved a sigh of relief when it slotted perfectly into place!

And the household goods in Whitefish?  Fortunately, volunteer activities require our presence there at least twice a week, and our visits have made a serious dent in what remains.  So, bottom line: we made it through relatively unscathed.  Of course, on moving day, cooking is out of the question; the Kila Pub whips up tasty pizza pies, and we enjoyed a refreshing beverage while waiting for take-out.

It may be a bit unconventional, but we chomped our way through a 16-inch sausage, green pepper and olive pizza while swilling champagne.  It was a heavenly reward after a long, tiring, emotional day.

Upper right: Josie enjoys champagne for her work on the move

Bottom: view from the great room

SINCE MOVING DAY (COULD THIS BE OUR "NEW NORMAL"?):  Of course, moving does not end when the champagne bottle is empty.  In fact, maybe that's just the beginning.  So let me tell you about our adventures in the last (has it only been) six days.  Hanging mirrors in the master bathroom.

Viewing wildlife. Whether on our own property, or on our way to and from town, wildlife abounds.  Eagles (often several together), mountain bluebirds, ground squirrels, the ubiquitous deer, turkeys.  But the best so far are the sandhill cranes on the small lake at the foot of our property.  The picture quality is not the best in this video, but it shows a flying pair of cranes joining another pair already at the lake.  You can hear them calling each other and see the head and neck movement.  Regularly throughout the day, the calls echo around our valley.  Eerie and magical.

Inaugural dinner party. Six neighbors celebrated our new home with margaritas, fajitas and chocolate cake.  Housewarming gifts included a hand-made bird box (house), which was erected yesterday with another bird box and bat box given to Spousal Unit by the kids at Christmas.  We hope all three will soon be occupied.

This lovely basket, a neighbor's gift chock full of wine and party napkins, became a centerpiece on our dining room table yesterday when I added a vase arranged with natural materials from our acreage.

Breakfast on the deck.  It may be April and the U-Haul may get stuck, but the sun on this south-facing aspect puts Grand Cayman to shame.  Need I say more?

Sunsets.  And another dreamy day draws down, pulling the curtain of night into place.  Soon these same trees will silhouette against the sky like so many bristly pipe cleaners, directing my eyes once again to the heavens as the wind sighs in the trees, telling me I am HOME.

P.S. Due to the move, I have not been able to visit many blogs and make comments.  My apologies to you all.  The next week looks to be the same due to our upcoming trip to Ohio for our daughter's college graduation.  Thanks for your understanding, and I look forward to catching up on my return!

Linking to

All Seasons

I Like Thursdays

Mosaic Monday

Nature Notes

Saturday's Critters

Skywatch Friday