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Bitterroot Bugle archives

mushroom giants

Amazing nature delivered these big boys to my yard this week. This impressive pair quite literally just popped up in the last couple of days. In the adult education class I took on mushroom cultivation, I learned that the above-ground part we see, and think of as being the mushroom is actually the reproductive part of a very much larger organism living underneath it. As I began this post I realized there was no perspective, so I added a tennis ball and re-took the photo of the pair. I have never seen any remotely close to this large, in fact none even as big as the ball in all these years. I am taking chances by sharing this. Some […]

bear sense we should learn from

From Hiking and Fishing .com “A bear’s sense of smell about 2,100-3,000 times better than a human’s. Bear Vs Wolf’s Sense of Smell A wolf’s sense of smell is about 100 times better than a human’s sense of smell, making them better than most dogs, but nowhere near as sensitive as a bear’s sense of smell.” What does this enable them to do, besides finding fish in a rushing river or berries two ridges away? As this video of a man trying to tempt his bear buddy with a Big Mac might teach us, there is no food in there. If you tried to buy the ingredients in a grocery store, AND if read the list itemized on the side […]

Exploring The Bitterroot: Skalkaho Falls

It is officially Bitterroot motorcycle riding season. Tourist bikes have been exploring up and down The Bitterroot River on Highway 93 for most of a month now. A skosh tardy in getting my bikes where I wanted them for this season, I started a little behind the early bikers, but not too much. Right at the top of my 2023 bike ride bucket list was a reconnoiter of Highway 38 between Grantsdale and Phillipsburg, Montana. It is right in my neighborhood, lightly traveled and reputed to be quite scenic. I was also warned repeatedly by people who have been there, done that, to explore it on my more maneuverable, agile Dr Zee (350 pounds) rather than jumping right in […]

today is the summer solstice

Today is the summer solstice. Celebrate it. Go dance in the sunshine… Or walk… Or play… We are in it, but few know, having been disconnected from nature and the real world. For most of human existence, people knew seasonal cycles from direct experience. They paid attention because summer, winter, spring and fall mattered. Today experts tell them what they need to know, there’s an app for that covers much of their research, and food comes from grocery stores completely disconnected in their minds from farmers, agriculture, seasons and shipping technologies. In our location, today is the longest day of the year. Tonight is the shortest night of the year. The sun will not set over The North Pole […]

Northern Light sighting possible this weekend

  Photo by: Shutterstock   By: Scripps News Posted at 12:11 PM, Mar 23, 2023   and last updated 1:06 PM, Mar 23, 2023 An aurora Borealis is possible this weekend after the Space Weather Prediction Center issued a geomagnetic storm watch for the upcoming weekend.  The watch is in effect from Thursday through Saturday but is expected to peak on Friday. At its peak, it is expected to be a G2 solar storm on Friday. At that level, the northern lights could be seen as far south as New York and Idaho.    The solar storm is expected to be at a G1 level on Thursday and Saturday, meaning the aurora could be seen as far south as northern Michigan and Maine.  A […]

chilly today

Among the dumb jokes that stuck with me from early adolescence was: Mexican weather report: Chili today, Hot tamale Unfortunately my neck of the woods is not expected to rise above FREEZING until February. On the estate, our little valley grabs the cold and hangs on to it with unappreciated tenacity. You can see my morning low to the left. Yep … minus 24 … or so. Thanks to a nice collection of firewood I have built up, I can keep the palace around a plus 75… roughly a one hundred degree difference … that I really appreciate after plowing or blowing snow in the yard for an hour or two. The photo to the right is from yesterday’s two-hour […]

cold snap

Now THAT’s COLD. At Sunrise (8:17), I threw on a wool coat, insulated gloves and boots for a one-minute outdoor job of opening the chicken door so my flock could get out to their heated water reservoir and food supply. Whoops. My young back-saving helper yesterday did not close the double gate into / out of the chicken yard after blowing a foot of snow off their scratching yard. So I did that while I was out there – to keep them in and predators out. By the time I was back inside, my legs were cold through their double layers, my back was cold through its triple layers and my cheeks were genuinely frosty in the non-bearded areas. (Interesting […]

plan to celebrate Winter Solstice tomorrow

Connect with the natural world for a day. This year our calendar day of December 21st will be the shortest. From this day forward the days will grow longer and longer until the turnaround at the summer solstice. Montana sunrise will be 8:11 am; sunset 4:44 pm; length of day 8 hours 33 minutes; night 15 hours 27 minutes The sun’s steady disappearance from our world will make a turnaround. This is worth celebrating, marking in some way big or small. I plan to work in my greenhouse, perhaps put some seeds into pots and onto a germinating heat mat (that we have yet to dig out of whatever clever storage site we found for it). Maybe you can […]

time off for winter preps

I have visions of snowflakes dancing in my head. I also have quite a few things I want to do differently in my yard before that happens in any significant quantity. As long as Ma Nature keeps holding off the arrival of my winter white stuff management, I will keep on polishing the estate winter preps. I will be snowed in and posting here more regularly soon enough. TTFN

Real autumn from the Northeast

As nature rushes through the two weeks of autumn in The Bitterroot, riders from Upstate New York and thereabouts are posting at motorcycle forums some of the beautiful foliage their neck of the woods displays. Sonoma County, California, where my parents raised their kids and I mine has a very long and colorful autumn, not to mention the year-round growing and motorcycle riding season. I miss that part, but easy living and mild weather seems to attract lazy thinking. I am happier where I am. Nevertheless, the photos are beautiful… and particularly attractive to motorcycle riders. […]

mini autumn in The Bitterroot

While we do not have the gorgeous autumns as those who live in hardwood forests do, it is still worth noting the passing from summer to winter. In this part of Montana, autumn is very, very short. I quip that it is about two weeks from the start of the leaves changing colors to the leafless branches of winter. In the past I have noticed picturesque coloring, thought “I ought to take a picture of that”, and finally remembered to have my camera along after the show was over. I am promising myself I won’t count on weeks of this show. Grab the photos NOW. Here are my neighborhood shots from today. […]

touring the neighborhood

I did not have much of a choice. I was left home alone. I had to practice more with my new-to-me motorcycle. The weather was gorgeous. My neighborhood is perfect. (People come here from all over the world to drink from the fountain of natural beauty in Montana’s Bitterroot) I know of several lightly-traveled, low-speed roads that are just right for a bike that likes to cruise in the 40-50 mile-per-hour range and a returning motorcycle pilot that is right there in his comfort zone. I have to reconnect those biker synapses muscle memories in my crusty old brain. The top right photo looks at the Bitterroot Mountain Range from its foothills. Next on the right is The Bitterroot […]

new Big Dog in the hood

Our big excitement for the day, and the week was a moose sighting right in our own front yard. We have not seen one in years, let alone one in our area. Magnificent animal.

Geoengineers kept me busy

2022 certainly started off with a storm… or a few in rapid succession. Sunday, January 2nd I was able to clear the spaces I like accessible by using the little snowplow on my Polaris Sportsman. I got a rerun of that on Tuesday, but Wednesday! Ohmygosh! It started falling steadily on Wednesday and did not let up until Thursday evening. We got a very un-Darby-like 16″ in one storm. It takes a whole lot more plow than I have to push that much out of the way. I had to fire up my Ariens 24″ snow blower. It was even a bit much for it… and me. While seemingly similar to walk-behind self-propelled lawn mowers, they require significant wrestling […]