A Visitor

Monday we puttered, the Cowboy more than me with his irrigating chores! Monday evening we dined at Lonn’s with the rest of the gang and on the way home the Cowboy spotted this lady on the hillside–

Tuesday the wheels were rolling again, heading to Bozeman late afternoon. Mom came to visit via American Airlines–she is becoming quite the traveler! Her flight was late getting us home around 11pm making for a short night! The Cowboy and I both have a hard time sleeping after dawn and during Montana summer–that dawn comes early, early!

You’ve all read about the heat wave we are experiencing in Montana–Monday was hot but Tuesday was even hotter–98 degrees at our house, 101 degrees in Big Timber. And with this heat and no rain we knew it would not be long before we began to see this–

This is Red Lodge, Montana, about a two hour drive from our home, a classic small town, gateway to the Beartooth Highway. The fire is 26,000 acres in size and growing tremendously on Tuesday with the heat and high winds. There is another fire in the Pryor Mountains, home to the Wild Horse Range we visit almost every year. And yet another fire near Townsend, Montana. Fire season has begun about two months too early! It may be a long, long summer in Montana.

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On Facebook today a friend, Vicky, had posted a “weather chart” of her own creation and we found it very interesting. She began keeping the weather log in 1998 and while it has several “readings” the one most intriguing to us was the highest temperature on June 15 for each year since 1998. Until yesterday, when the temperature reached 101 degrees in Big Timber, Montana, the highest temperature Vicky had recorded for those 24 years on June 15 was 78 degrees!!! Vicky also recorded the moisture received for May and June in each of those years as well as other months. We refer to the year 2006 as the “year of the fires” when two huge forest fires roared all around us–we were evacuated twice. In May of 2006 Vicky recorded only 1.67 inches of rain. In May of this year, she recorded 2.01 inches in the town of Big Timber. That doesn’t bode well for our fire season.

The Cowboy has been working way too hard irrigating hayfields. At least the high temperature today was only 81! Mom requested a rhubarb crisp and one is made–just waiting for it to cool before we indulge. 

I made a quick Costco run yesterday before heading to the airport–have you ever heard of a Hami melon? We have eaten about three of them and find the melons delicious–oblong and taste like a cross between a cantaloupe and a honey dew melon.

Thanks for reading along with us!