2019 currently Fall in Island Park

 Taking another break from catching up with the past in order to stay caught up with the present...

It’s Fall in Island Park and with that comes mixed weather and beautiful colors!

We have heard a bull elk bugling for weeks now in the trees across from the property and when we went for a walk in those woods, we came across a couple of small pines that had been shredded (bull elk rut activity) and lots of tracks. We also saw about five cow elk crossing the road ahead of us one day as we headed down to Elk Creek gas station.

Coyotes have been very vocal at night, almost nightly. And we have a resident badger that keeps digging holes into our banks around the cabin. Haven’t run into her/him yet thank goodness!

Mushrooms are coming up all over and the elk and deer like them a lot. Some they eat and some they avoid.

The Fall foliage color is already gone but it was so beautiful. We planted several stands of quakes around the property and a few of them actually turned this beautiful gold color seen on the bigger clump pictured here.

We are looking forward to the day when we have big stands of gold quakies on our land!

 The woodshed roof is finally finished...took a lot of days of work and some tense moments of terror but it’s ready for winter and not a moment too soon as you can see from the next couple of pictures.

The weather is very unsettled and we have had a few snow days where it’s pretty cold and miserable outside. There are hardly any other people up here now and the local restaurants are closing up for the winter. There are still a few that we go to when we are tired from working and I don’t want to cook.

The mountains are misty most mornings and then on clear days, the sky brightens up and the air is crisp.

The other day we were very happy to see that an owl is using our property for it’s hunting grounds. It really helps keep the ground squirrels and the bats from taking over.

We have seen piles of little bones around, what’s left of the owl’s digestion. Owls make a huge mess! But it’s a small price to pay for the extermination service.

I like how this little guy is staring at me through the window. He looks a  lot like Mafia!