Driving while distracted

Well, it wasn't texting while driving.  And I wasn't trying to change a CD or tune in a radio station.  And I wasn't eating a double beef Whopper.  But last night, when driving to the Doolittle's for supper ( a place we have lived in for weeks at a time!), I all of a sudden said to Betsy, "Uh-oh, this isn't familiar, we missed the turn!"  It was getting dark, and it was snowing pretty hard, but the distraction was that we had seen a beautiful white snow shoe hare right beside the road, and were still stunned and talking about it as we drove past the Doolittle's drive. Now let me tell you, these snow shoe hares are no little bunny rabbits.  Not that I would think this way, but I bet you could feed a crowd at Thanksgiving dinner on one of these critters!
Anyway, we did get turned around- a little tricky on narrow gravel road with fairly big snow drifts across it, and did get to the Doolittles for dinner.  Son Andrew, and his wife Laura, and their several month old baby Daisy were also there. Delicious dinner, excellent wine (Andrew had a new in on the wine lists, as event manager at the nearby Chico Hot Springs resort), and great company.  Jay and June showed us the extraordinary (museum quality) arrow heads they had found while they were flyfishing, eroded out of the wash of the Yellowstone River.
By 10, it was time to head back the 25 miles to the Tom Miner Basin.  It had snowed the whole time, and was coming down heavily.  As the road is a two lane, with a 70 miles speed limit, and is constantly being crossed by wildlife, it made for a moderately tense and slow drive. We made it though, and the car was great at pulling us up the Tom Miner Road.   We don't see snow plows out here.  It snows; you drive. If you can't drive in snow, stay home.
We were up early to head up to the other ranch to bottle feed the 9 goats.  We were a little more experienced and a little more successful today.  Loki is coming to love the goats- she is right in with us, helping to distract the ones we are not feeding at the moment. I think she could figure out how to be a ranch dog!  Still a ways to go though.
After feeding the goats, we drove up to the top of the basin.  4-5 inches of fresh powder, mid teens temperatures,  no one else in sight- we just had to try a cross country ski.  We found one set of tracks- a worker for a dog sled company was up as far as you could go by vehicle, readying to track several miles of road beyond that for the dog sled in a snowmobile.  So we could get the car up there, and we had a track- but not another soul, and glorious skiing.  Loki kept up, and stayed right close by. Just as well, as the dog sled fellow mentioned a cow moose seen by the river up this trail, who does not like dogs!

One happy skiier:

By one PM, we were pooped.  This afternoon, we think Hilary and Andrew ( Anderson son and wife who were at the ranch with us when we were in the schoolhouse) will be arriving for the weekend.  Their son Andrew will be 6 now, and they have a new daughter we haven't seen, El.  Their wedding was the one we so hoped to attend this past summer, but couldn't due to the broken leg and the move.