399

If you are in the Tetons this year, it's imperative to try to see the star of the National Park, which is a grizzly bear named 399. She's the star because at 27 years of age, she gave birth to quadruplets this year. This is important for 2 reasons...at 27 years old, she's considered an "old" bear, and it's incredibly rare for a grizzly bear to have 4 cubs. Folks are going to the park looking for this special bear. Today I went into the park to see her and I did. I don't have a fancy camera, but I took her picture nonetheless.

My picture

A stolen picture. Aren't the little ones cute?

My Hedgehog Family

My friend Debbie sent me a pattern for crocheted hedgehogs. Since then, I've created a whole family of the little critters. Here are a few of them.

Scarlett O'Hedgehog

Bionic Sonic

Tutti-Frutti

Martha Jeanne Hedgehog

Violet Beauregarde

Holly Hedgehog

Harvey Hedgehog

These little guys are too much fun to make. If you would like one, let me know. 

Plant Snap

I have a new "toy" -- an app called Plant Snap. Take a picture of a flower, send it to the app and if your internet connection is good, it will identify your plant just like that.Yesterday, on our walk, we some pretty blue bells we had never seen before. I took their picture and a few seconds later the flowers were identified as "Wasatch beardtongue"...never heard of them before.

(No matter what I do, I cannot turn the picture around--blogger is acting weird again)

The app is fun and informative. I took a picture of a Sierra Columbine and after the description of the plant, it gave a warning...don't let your pet eat the flower as it's extremely poisonous...in addition, it said, don't pick the flower as the sap from the stem can cause a rash. These are good things to know. 

 If you like to know the names of flowers and plants, it comes with a seven day free trial, then it costs $30/year. For me it's definitely worth it.

Snow in mid-June

It's past the middle of June and it's still snowing at 9000 feet. It was snowing in Yellowstone this morning.

The Bridger-Tetons received a fresh dusting of snow. We've spent many years in this valley and the latest we've had a "spring" snow is the 15th of June. 2020 is different in so many ways, and a late snowfall is just one of them.

Along with snow in the mountains, the valley floor was cold too (41 degrees). We only walked .8 of a mile this morning as it was not fun to be outside; and when a cool rain started to fall and we headed back to the warm shelter of the kitchen where there was fresh steaming coffee.

The flowers are blooming earlier than I'm used too. The Columbine are coloring the world in bright pink and magenta 

...while the daisies seem to be enjoying the rain. Rocky Mountain summers are never plain vanilla.

Mistress 1959

Mistress 1959 is a Ford Fairlane 500 convertible. She's red and full of chrome and one of the uglier car designs in the 1950s. Given that, I think she's great!

She was made near the end of the huge tail light era, so her fins are tamer than a Plymouth or Cadillac of the same age. The huge bright red tail lights really get your attention when the brakes are applied. There is nothing petite or understated about this car. Yet, she's a blast from the past that makes your heart go pitty pat. She big, she's noisy, she's RED and CHROME. Her upholstery is red and white and chrome too. She even has the deluxe radio package with FM which was kind of rare back in the day.

I did not name her Mistress 1959, the owner did. Stretch out the picture and you'll see the license surround has her name. Sixty-one years ago, this was a fantastic car. When I saw her yesterday, folks were staring at her in the parking lot and making comments like "remember her" or "gosh, I always wanted a big convertible like that" or "gees, she's a pretty little thing," They just don't make a car like this any more. She solid as they come, with fender skirts, and fins and the ability to take you to another place in time and space. What a car!

Tree Swallow

I'm not great at identifying smaller perching birds. I tend to mix up swifts and swallows in particular. After looking at my Peterson's Bird Guide app, I might have a better handle on the two types of birds. A swallow has a tail with an inverted "v" in the middle, and a swift does not have a big tail at all. In addition, there are not many swifts found in Wyoming. (That's probably the best piece of information that I found.) On my walk the other morning, we saw a Tree Swallow, all 5 inches of deep shiny blue and black, sitting atop a nesting box.

Maybe I'll remember this bird is a swallow the next time I see him.

After the snow, our mountains are white again. This is a watercolor I made of Cariboo Mountain.

 Now if it will only get warm?

Western Tanager

Yesterday I saw a beautiful western tanager. Let me try to describe this little songbird that is part of the Cardinal family. It's about 7 inches tall. It's head is fluorescent orange fading to a bright yellow breast. The bird has black wings with flashes of yellow and white. Put all of this together and it's stunning. I wish I could post my picture, but alas, Blogger won't let me do that any more. Instead, I've posted a picture from "Coniferous Forest"

Spring Time in the Rockies

We left the coast where summer was in full play, but in the Rocky Mountains, it's still spring. The lilac trees are in bloom.  Other trees are still in blossom. The mountains are snow capped.  And then, because it's spring, we are getting snow and temps in the 30s and 40s. We come here to escape the heat, but not quite this much.

Dear Readers,
The rules have been changed, and I find that it will be most difficult to add pictures to my picture blog. I'm sure there's a way to figure a way thru this dilemma, but until I do, I will be writing but not posting pictures. For a picture blog, this is most unfortunate. Thank you

Not My Best Idea

We entered the high country with a bang. I was helping the other DrC park the RV when I twisted my ankle and fell down. When I got up and surveyed the damage I had 2 skinned knees, a flayed elbow, an achy ribcage, a swollen ankle and a big toe that was misaligned. I got cleaned up and did not do much else that night other than clean my wounds and ice the ankle.

The next day company arrived and we entertained. Injured or not, guests are fun and we had fun. By Tuesday, we were back to ourselves and I started to ache all over. My big toe was now purple and my ribs still hurt. A trip to the x-ray machine was needed. The result was interesting...bruised ribs but broken toe. The nice doctor put me in a boot.

I've never wanted to wear one of these contraptions. The idea of the boot is to stabilize your whole foot so healing can take place. If I wear it for 23 hours a day for 6 weeks, all will be back to normal on July 16. 

The boot also rubs on my ankle and shin and calf while keeping my foot still. So while the foot is stabilized the rest of my lower leg is in pain. There's something wrong with this picture. I called the doc and discovered that all I really need to do is keep my foot elevated and "quiet" and I don't have to wear the boot at all. When my foot is not elevated, I need to wear closed toe shoes that are stiff. Bottomline, I have no idea what to do. I see a new doc this week and he says there's another shorter boot that might be the answer.

On a lighter note, there are a lot of "bone docs" in the high country. In the wintertime there are lots of ski accidents and in the summertime, there are lots of hiking accidents. Finding a bone doc is not hard to do. Watch this space to find out what happens next. It seems like much ado for a broken big toe.

High Country

We are up in the high country where the skies are bluebird blue and the aspens sing in the breeze. 

The deer are curious as to why we are here. They have had the luxury of peace and quiet for the last few months...now there is activity. Yesterday, there were six deer hanging out in the back yard, lounging in the shade (maybe enjoying being away from the crowd)

The rivers and streams are icy cold, I'm surprised they even flow. I dipped a toe in that water yesterday and expected to see icebergs (at least ice cubes) floating along. 

The valley is ringed with snowy mountains. The snow is melting so we need to look quickly as soon it will be gone. Until then, the vistas are amazing. It's good to be here.