This time of year

Across most of Montana, one can expect winter weather in early to mid-November, prompting us to consider the eleventh month of the year as a winter month.  This scene is often typical, found along Cash Nichols Road in the Bitterroot Valley.  As elsewhere, hoarfrost may only bless us in the early hours of the day and be "gone by noon."

One of everyone's favorite . . .

in the fall, the Grouse Whortleberry, brightens the hillsides with dazzling, almost unbelievable color as the seasons change around here in the Bitterroots or Sapphire Mountains, western Montana.

Shot through the front window

This time of year, one can get lucky and spot a fawn or even twins out and about. Early one morning, this pair amused themselves and onlookers by racing around the yard, chasing each other with abandon.

The Boys of Summers Run

It’s “Live!” says Amazon.com. 

The Boys of Summers Run, the third novel in this series about farm boys and Little League Baseball is now published and available for purchase. Currently, it’s $2.99 and formatted for all your different Kindle e-book readers. Set in rural P. A., this work is what Barnes & Noble used to list as a “Heartwarmer.”

Written from the country and back roads of rural America, it honors old-fashioned values and manners yet presents timeless and pertinent insights for today’s families, especially those concerned with raising well-grounded boys into leaders and true gentlemen. 

(Yes, there are some chapters set in Montana, depicting how not to do such.) 

Here’s the link: The Boys of Summers Run

Spring in The Big Sky

Leafin' Out in the Mission Valley

Breakfast

See more landscape and livestock photography by Jim Cotton at Jim Cotton's Photography

Cobweb Sky

One Spring evening, overlooking the Bitterroot Valley toward the Bitterroot Mountain Range and east of Corvallis, Montana.

A Significant Winter, 2014

Deck sculptures and a plump Adirondack settee illustrate western Montana's current conditions.

This winter's weather and snowfall revert back to an earlier era when the season was seldom mild. We've had a string of so-so winters, but this year's storms have been back-to-back and many are pleased. The snowpacks surrounding the mountain ranges of the Bitterroot are well above normal, some approaching 150% of normal and beyond.

In this semi-desert region, 15 inches of precipitation is welcomed. We await word on this year's winter total and hope the very low temperatures will blunt the pine bark beetle invasion that has devastated some of our forests, turning them brown. 

More of the Missions

The Mission Range comes smooth or craggy, all within just a few miles.

More Views of Montana's Mission Range from a Cessna 172