Riding the Range With Val

Fargo left this morning to attend Judy's week-long Summersing camp. http://www.judyfjell.com She has been sharing the studio space with me for a couple of days while visiting Cassandra.

Val called to see if I wanted to ride the 4-wheeler with her to bring salt/mineral licks to the cows out in the far pastures. The ranch was especially beautiful because there has been enough rain to keep the hills green longer. We saw about a dozen pronghorn on the way out but no bear sightings. Last year we spotted two bears when we were out there. Val has pictures of a big bear in her front yard messing with Jacqui's doghouse. She recently saw a moose and her calf, but no luck today. I have yet to see my first moose.


Val was up at dawn moving the cattle to another pasture and we noticed that a lot of the calves were still separated from their mothers, who were enjoying the shade and water down by the creek.


The calves started bawing loudly and soon the mothers arrived from over the hill and the babes had a slurpy lunch reunion with their moms.

Another Feast With Friends

Saturday evening 10 of us gathered for a fabulous potluck dinner and more laughter and conversation. Food buying tip: Dee Dee grilled marinated turkey breasts from Costco - delicious! Dee Dee and Ursula have a lovely and unique B&B on the Yellowstone River, http://www.yellowstoneriverinn.com where they rent two charming cabins and a sheepherders wagon. Ursula is also a landscape contractor and creates metal sculpture, so the grounds and cabins are artistically beautiful. And the rolling lawns made for a challenging game of Bocce Ball before dinner.

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Cassandra, Fargo, Ursula, and Holly play Bocce
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Dee Dee is an actor/director and is involved in theater productions in the area. Many of her performances have a political or social message that provides a more progressive point of view to help balance the conservative tone that predominates.

My life is rich with friends and there is a concentration of them in Montana - really heartful, bright, interesting women. I am becoming more and more attracted to settling in Montana. Not yet though... still too much traveling to experience.

Camping in the Crazies

On Tuesday I drove out to Half Moon campground to meet friends for a few days of hanging out. It's only 25 miles from Big Timber but the drive takes an hour because of the bumpy dirt road. When I arrived, I discovered that I had a flat tire. Rosemary and Holly offered to help me, but it was my first flat tire for this big van and I wanted to change it by myself to get the practice. R & H graciously stood by for my hour of sweating and cussing, offering suggestions and swatting the pesky deer flies that wanted to eat me.


Seven of us shared a delicious meal and a campfire that night and enjoyed talking and laughing together. Unfortunately, Cassandra had too much on her calendar and had to leave after dinner. Ann is a friend I met at a Sportsmobile function in California (She has a rig like mine). She recently sold her house and started traveling fulltime in her SMB with her sweet yellow lab, Jacob. She was in Yellowstone NP when I arrived in Montana, so I asked her to come up and hang with us. Ivanie arrived with her sister, Allison (visiting from Seattle).

What a great group of strong, interesting, independent women! Funny story: Just before Ivanie left her house, an old friend telephoned (a male). When she told him she was meeting other women for camping, he asked "Oh, is it with the ladies from the town sewing circle?"

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha...

Anyway... the weather was sunny and warm and many of us enjoyed hiking. I felt kind of pooped afterwards and decided I'm probably not used to the altitude yet. Holly and Rosemary went fly fishing and shared their catch with us at dinner that evening. Whenever they catch a fish over a foot long they name it, so the first one was named in honor of Ivanie.

Slipping Into the Flow...

Within two hours of arriving in Big Timber, I was in the car with Cassandra and Judy heading out Swamp Creek Road to enjoy the gorgeous scenery on the approach to the Crazy Mountains. The raw beauty of that area is really indescribable. So much of it is 'untouched' that we could imagine what the first pioneers must have felt when they first entered that magnificent terrain. Unfortunately, the harsh climate was unsuitable for farming and we saw the ruins of a homestead that must have been abandoned after years of trying to eke out a bare existence.

On the way out we drove through open range and had to slow to a crawl to pass cows and their young calves hanging out in the road or romping around playing chase with each other. We saw at least a dozen handsome bucks with their antlers still in velvet and several pronghorn grazing the hills. As dusk progressed, the nighthawks came out to feast on flying insects, their wings making a soft, vibrating 'voom' sound as they dove through the air.

I spent all of Monday cleaning the dust and cobwebs out of the studio as nobody has lived in it since I was here last November. The cozy screened-in back porch offers a serene view of the Yellowstone River with the Crazies in the background. I enjoy watching the Blue Herons, Canadas, and White Pelicans flying over the river, and the birds in the nearby trees always provide a serenade of song or chatter.

Cassandra's former 'Studio' and my home-base until the end of August