Time to go stand on the bridge and look for trout in the river. It snowed on Easter, looked like this:

Pretty soon the river will be high with runoff from the snow, and I won't be able to see the fish.

The Bear

Last night it was snowing and I noticed the motion sensor yard light was on. I thought it had been triggered by the fox so I was going to open the back door to see if he was out back, but then I noticed there was a bear out there.

It is probably a young brown bear, about a year old, and it is thin after the winter's nap. My looking out the windows scared it off, so it went around to the front of the house and stood on its hind feet waving the front paws in the air as if trying to catch snow flakes.

This morning the overnight snow had covered all the tracks, and if I hadn't seen the bear, I'd never known it had come around.

Here is an old picture of one of our bears.

Spring Is Soup Weather - Beef Barley Soup

We're having early spring weather, cold and gloomy. Yesterday it was around 40 degrees, but very windy, so the windchill took it down to bitter cold. I was going to stand on the bridge and look at the fish, but it was too cold to linger. At least it was sunny,  giving the illusion of warmth.

Today I made Beef Barley Soup. Don't be scared by the anchovy - it disappears into the soup and enhances the beefy flavor. If you don't have it, Worcestershire sauce would be a good substitute.

This made 4 good-sized servings.

Crockpot Beef Barley Soup
1/2 onion, chopped fine
1/8 cup carrots, chopped fine
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
3 or 4 mushrooms, diced
Chuck roast, cut into 3/4 inch dice
Salt and pepper
1 heaping teaspoon tomato paste
1 anchovy fillet from a can or some anchovy paste from a tube or 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup medium barley
1/2 - 3/4 cup red wine
4 to 6 cups beef broth

Saute the onion and carrots in the oil until softened. Add the garlic and mushrooms and heat briefly. Put all ingredients into the crock pot, cover, and cook 6 or so hours until the barley is tender. Check occasionally and add more broth or water as needed. Taste before serving to see if it needs more salt.

Fishing Photos

One of the fishing guides who brings clients here posts photos of his clients with the fish they've caught. It's the first time I've seen 'my' fish out of the water.

 This old guy looks like he's photo-shopped in front of a picture of my river, but I remember meeting him. Poor fish, but don't worry, he's back in the river having a good time.

Foxy Photos

 Winter coat:

 Burying food in the yard.

The Fox

See that fox in my avatar? He showed up here early last June. I saw him crossing the yard when I got home from the post office, and he just came around to the back of the house and settled down for about an hour.

Then, for the rest of the summer he came back almost every day looking for dog biscuits and leftovers like pasta. We watched him lose his winter coat, and he didn't look like the same fox for awhile.

July 30 he's lost his old winter coat.

 October - his new winter coat has grown back in.

June

August:

Waiting for Hummingbirds

I need to dig out last year's calendar to see if I wrote something on the day the first hummingbird showed up here at the cabin. I think it must have been in late April. They must be coming to eat bugs, because they are too early for flowers, and sometimes we have snow storms after they get here, but they manage to survive and prosper.

Eventually, towards the end of May the flock of them will arrive and by the fourth of July we might have as many as 60 at the feeders.

This is an oriole that was here a couple of times last summer.

Send Me Some Snow or Rain

Although the western slope of Colorado got a lot of snow this year, our eastern slope forests have not been so lucky. March and April are supposed to be our snowiest months, and it's just not happening. The fire danger is extremely high, and it's not a good way to enter the hot, dry summer months.

This is the river running at 'native level' which according to the Bureau of Reclamation is about 6 inches deep. The fishermen like it because it doesn't sweep them off their feet, and I like it because I can see the fish.

The magnification of the water makes them look the size of salmon.

Anyhow, package up all your extra rain clouds and humidity and ship them over here.

Thanks.