We spent some time out with Matt yesterday mid-day, ear-tagging the many newborns, updating records, and neutering males. Matt and Betsy also worked to get the milk flowing from one of the moms:
The day before we did a walk up by the B Bar ranch. Snow is pretty much past good cross country skiing ( but of course that could change rapidly). Moose tracks along the Tom Miner Creek:
Yesterday, Ginny was getting cabin fever, and really wanted to get into Gardiner. She wanted to drive herself- for the first time since she broke her hip in the late fall. The family encouraged her. She was a little uncertain so she drove her car, and we followed along in our car. All went well, and she sure enjoyed getting to the store by herself! I was sitting on a bench outside the grocery, and saw a car I thought looked like one owned by Ilona Popper, one of the wolf watchers we came to know during our sabbatical three years ago. Someone came out of the store and around the corner out of sight, so I said "Ilona?" And it was her! But the rather amazing thing is that she no longer has a car that looks anything like the one I thought I had recognized! Anyway, nice to catch up with her. It turns out our friend Jay Doolittle took a writing workshop with her last weekend! Ilona's brother, John Popper, is a famous harmonica player for "Blues Traveler".
Also at the store was Bob Landis, the extraordinary videographer of wolves and grizzly (I mentioned we will be heading up to Jardine to see films of his on the 22nd. Betsy chatted him up, and he seemed to remember us from our sabbatical year. You have to remember, the Paradise Valley is bigger than the state of Rhode Island, so bumping into these two former acquaintances at the grocery on a random afternoon was pretty coincidental.
Snowing today. We got the goats fed this AM early, and are awaiting Matt for a list of ranch supplies to pick up in Bozeman later today.
It's an adventure every day! Love the moose tracks!
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