High Plains Craziness!

That's for sure. We're just a day away from the "storm of the decade" and about 90% of that snow is now gone to the aquifer.

One thing I love about this country: If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes 'cuz something else will be right along!

(That's the temp here at 4PM MDT.)

The Killer Storm

That's what it was elsewhere, but where I am it more or less fizzled out. Most of it veered off north or south. I've got six or so inches on the flat and higher drifts, but nothing at all like some folks got.

It stirred the birds up, though. They were all over the place looking for shelter and food. Even had a crow visit this morning and I almost never see crows here. When I do see them they are off in the distance and never come into the place.

Some folks dislike starlings. I know they are foreign interlopers and all that (the European starling and the English sparrow are the only birds that are not 'protected' by USFW Service regulations), but having once had one as a pet I can't feel much animosity towards them. They are smart, clean, and very good talkers, too. Same for crows. I once helped rehab one with a broken tail and I don't think I could shoot a crow now. Plenty smart critters.

I guess I need to get some seed for the feathered bipeds and get a few feeders up for the winter. At least I don't have any squirrels to steal it.

Finally

My cottonwoods are finally giving up their leaves. Not much color to them this year, due I think to that sudden blizzard and cold snap that caught them flat-footed and still fully green. We're supposed to have a cold rain later in the week and that will finish them off I imagine.

Once the trees are bare I know that winter had finally arrived, whatever the calendar may say.

Spam redux

I've written here before about the gourmet restaurant that was serving Spam, of all things, to its up-scale clientele, and apparently getting rave reviews. I swore way back in the poverty days of grad school that I would never put that stuff in my mouth again, but the article piqued my curiosity.

I tried some and found it quite palatable if it were cut thin and grilled crisp. Makes a good substitute for breakfast bacon and can even be used in a pasta carbonara. It also keeps really well in its spiffy little cans and that's a real plus for me considering my lifestyle.

The other day I discovered a further improvement. Before slicing it into thin pieces for the griddle, I stood a "loaf" of it on end and cut it straight down the middle. Then I slice it into individual pieces about 3mm thick. You should get sixteen or seventeen slices out of each half that way. Four of five of these half-size slices are sufficient for a tasty breakfast, shown above with a salsa omelet and some of the last of my peppers.

OK, I guess I broke my oath.

Speak of the devil

Just a few minutes ago I noticed that little buck standing on a knoll overlooking the place, but not coming closer. I went out with a camera to see if he would come in a bit more. As I went through the door onto the porch I saw a 5x5 right next to one of my pistol butts. About 20 yards. When he saw me he went around behind the old barn. I sneaked around the other way and caught him flat footed looking in the wrong direction for me. I coughed and he squared up to give me the evil eye. After a few seconds I moved and he pronked off west to the old thicket there. Meanwhile the little guy had high-tailed it off south.

Sure seems like it's that time of year again.

Twenty minutes later he was back at the target butt, this time with a slightly smaller friend, maybe a 4x4. I'll try to get pics of him when I have some light.

The outcast

This young gentleman was making his careful way across the prairie just in front of my mailbox late yesterday afternoon. I suspect he has already been given the bum's rush by the Big Boys and was doing his best not to run into one of them as he moved into the thick stuff just west of me. He wasn't too concerned about me or the dog. The rut is coming up and he has no doubt been given the official word that he will be an unwelcome presence once that gets under way. I'll probably be seeing more of him as the weeks roll on.

Road hogs

If you calculated the relatively uninhabited land on both sides of the road all the way down to my post office it would amount to more than a million acres. And where do they like to hang out?

And while I'm on the subject...

Here's my other Ambassador of Progress & Plenty. My mailman, or 'postie' as they would call him in Ireland. I get mail MWF when the weather and road conditions allow. He arrives almost like clockwork and always has a cheerful word and the latest gossip. He's also offered to bring me supplies if I need them. Although appreciated, I haven't taken him up on his offer. Might be better to save that one for a time of genuine need.

Last time we gabbed I twitted him about the condition of his truck, with about an inch thickness of prairie mud from stem to stern due to the snow-melt we had a week or so ago. I said it gave a bad impression of the federal gummint. He replied that considering the state of gummint the cosmetics of his truck was the least of the problem!

I've never asked him the length of his route, but I figure there are about a dozen ranches on it. If he came directly to me and then went directly back to the post office it would be an eighty-mile roundtrip. But he makes a big circle, and I estimate his total mileage at something like 250 per delivery day. I'll have to remember to ask him about that next time we chat.

Believe me, I do not take him for granted.

Civilization's outreach

Civilization's mighty outstretched hand, rolling in over the auto-gate. UPS and FedEx put me, quite literally, in touch with the world. With the internet and a credit card I have the world at my fingers.

Of the two services I much prefer UPS. FedEx often calls from town wanting to know if they can leave a package for me at the barber shop. Wimps. UPS, on the other hand, seldom misses a projected delivery date and then only when the weather or the road conditions don't allow them to make it up here.

I'm lucky to have a good UPS driver who never whines about the trip. But he does know all the ranchers' vehicles and watches for them when he comes through town. Twice I have had him bring me a package to the barber shop while I was there, and once to the café where I sometimes have a store-boughten lunch. Sometimes even on the road he'll flash his lights and we'll both stop and make the transfer. If he doesn't have any other deliveries up my way it saves him about 70 miles. I'm all for that, as I don't want to see any "hardship address" fees appearing on my S&H itemization.

That cast of light

Yesterday, having seen two of them pretty near the house, I was out on "coyote interdiction patrol" when there was an instance of "that cast of light" that I like so much. It can happen at any time of year: a mostly overcast day gives way to bright, near-dusk sunshine. It's especially dramatic when there is a dark sky in the background, as there frequently is in those circumstances. I can't resist it.

I fear we won't have a colorful fall this year. That early snow and the accompanying low temps caused the leaves, still green for the most part, to wilt. They have now passed into a mostly olive drab phase and that's probably the best we are going to get. Too bad, as I was looking forward to some autumn colors. Maybe next year.

Bird corn

I didn't get much out of my corn this year. It came along really slowly and by the time I got back from Ireland it was past its prime.

I noticed that the birds were clinging to the stalks and eating the kernels they could get at, but were not having much luck with it. I stripped the ears off the stalks, shucked them, and fastened the ears along my garden fence. The blackbirds in particular seemed to really like that arrangement.

Fall reprieve

And a pretty big one, too. Last week at this time we had a foot of snow on the ground and temps of 10°. Today it was 84° and bright and sunny.

So far a very strange autumn, with most of the leaves still on the trees as well.

This being the high plains, the question of the day is: What will tomorrow bring?