First days back

Back in Montana to...

• the horses are doing fine.  I picked the rest of the apples and gave the horses the 'reject apples', that is the small apples or the apples the bugs were working on. Of course after I give them apples when they are in the corral the two fillies usually follow me when I later walk out to the pasture.

• I made an apple pie yesterday and pumpkin bread this morning.

• the beaver dam.  When I first got home the water in the far neighbor's field was barely there.  That changed over the next days and the 'lake' is large again.   Today I noticed the beavers are not satisfied with their downstream dam and water level and have again taken to starting another dam on the near neighbor's land to raise the water level even more near their home in the trees.  Someone told me these are bank beavers as they have no lodge.

• one dead pocket gopher in one of three traps I left in the pasture when I went to ND.  I've yet to go out and search for dirt mounds and set more traps to catch more pocket gophers.

• The weather mostly has been decent.  Monday it rained and was cool, else the temperatures have been seasonal and the sky sunny.

• Over the weekend I climbed two mountains.  On Saturday I climbed Calf Robe Mountain and on Sunday I climbed to the top of Inspiration Point.  No lookout on Calf Robe, and on Inspiration Point I found a few cables and anchors and a couple burnt boards from a long-a-go lookout.By the end of hiking on Sunday I was tired.  In 10 miles it was over 2000 ft up, 910 ft down, and an elevation from 6500+ ft to over 7600+ ft.  This was the hardest 10 miles I have hiked.  I am not sure why it was so hard, but maybe one reason was the terrain was similar to a W with little level terrain.

I am trying to find my rhythm and routine again.  I need to get going on projects as I have plenty to do and it is October already.  Winter and snow will be here before we know it.