Happy Fourth of July From Dancing Deer

We've been at the ranch all week working on several projects long over due. It's been colder than a well digger's behind this past week but gads it is beautiful. Along with the cool has come lovely rains and the grass is greener and more lush than I have ever seen it. The wildlife against this backdrop is beyond beautiful. Yesterday I had so many bucks passing through it was just amazing. The bucks are still in velvet and they are a ways away from full racks but there are going to be some beauties.

One of the things the deer come for is the clover, deer love it.  Clover grows everywhere around here and of course I have salted the place as well. When clover blooms it makes a very pretty flower.

Then there was the robin that took up residence on top of my outside sun screens. Lucky for me it's been too cool to need them because I would certainly have been out of luck! It won't be long now as the babies are now thriving and growing like weeds. And, just in time too as I think the warm weather may be just around the corner.

The little female grouse below was just posing on this rock for me. Grouse are really funny birds. I often joke that you don't need a gun to hunt them. You could just as easily get one tossing a stone and save your ammunition. Of course, I wouldn't do either unless I was starving.

Speaking of wildlife this year a little cinnamon black bear has taken up residence in the area and comes to visit a least once a week. I have named her Cindi after my oldest and dearest friend. I don't really know if it's a female or not but "she" is quite small. I reckon she is either one or two. Anyway she came to call yesterday and got up in a plum tree and was looking awfully cute. I don't know why she was up there except just for the fun of it because there is no fruit this time of year.

One of my most favorite wild flowers is the wood lily. Normally, these beauties bloom in June but I guess that the cooler than normal weather has kept them back as they are just starting to bloom now. In this photo you can see the raindrops on the petals.

This last, I'm not sure if it's a wildflower or a weed. It's growing in my meadow and whatever it is it is very pretty.

So, that's what it was like this week at Dancing Deer.

Koty and I wish you all a great Fourth of July!

©Kinsey Barnard Photography

British Columbia

We hiked to British Columbia today. For some folks that would probably be quite a trek, for us it was only about two hours on foot. That sign there says it's the 49th parallel and the international boundary between Canada and the United States. Mom was a good girl and stayed on our side but I scampered into Canada as far as my lead would allow. No mounties came after me! The border here is a pretty impressive sight. It's just this, what looks like a fire break, cut through the forest as far as the eye can see.

On the way up we saw a beautiful back bear. His coat was like jet black velvet. There wasn't any opportunity for mom to get a shot as he took off as soon as he heard us. Bears have VERY good ears and they can run like the wind. Course, so do I. I bet I could've caught up with him if mom would've let me. But, I'm not allowed to chase. Darn!

It's really hard getting photographs of animals in the wild. Technically, the animals in the parks are in the wild but they are so accustomed to cars, people and cameras it's a lot easier. For us, in the wild, means where you walk all day and never see another human being. Here in Montana that isn't hard to do. Montana is the fourth largest state land mass wise and still has less than one million humans in the whole place. The animals in these forests are pretty leery of humans and just the crunch of human boots on the trail is enough to send anything around flying. Me I could sneak up on them, I have quiet shoes. Problem is I'm not too good with a camera.

Mom tried to get some pictures in an old mine shaft but neither one of us was very crazy about being in there in the dark and all she got was a fuzzy picture of my behind.

Until next time......

Hike in the Kootenai

Hoooray! This was my kind of day! We went for a nice long hike in the Kootenai!

It's been hotter than heck here in Montana this summer but today we had nice cloud cover and the temperature was in the sixties. I can't begin to tell you how much I like the lower temperature.

Naturally, mom carries her camera with her everywhere we go. The picture you see here is of a little black bear that crossed the trail in front of us today. I'll let you in on a little secret, my mom is a perfectionist and I had a dickens of a time getting her to let me post this picture. She doesn't like to publish anything that isn't perfection. But, I have convinced her that our friends would like to see just "pictures" of the interesting things we see in a day. So she gave in.

At our ranch here in Montana we live with the black bears, grizzlies, mountain lions, wolves, coyotes, moose, you name it. Even though I see these guys pretty regularly it never fails to excite me. I want you to see too!

If you want to see the good stuff you need to go to www.kotybear.com

One of these days mom will figure out how to tie this blog to the website and I won't have to keep typing it in.

That's all for today!