Pat & Sharon O'Toole

Gelvieh cows
Home Ranch

Signs of spring are all around us. We have about two feet of really mushy snow, a foot of mud, and growing bare spots. It still spits snow almost every day, but not very seriously. Here in the mountains, the first harbingers of spring are not daffodils and robins. I read that the season's first bear had been spotted in the nearby (55 miles) town of Steamboat Springs. Meghan reported seeing a sandhill crane. We do have a few calves and lots of lambs on the ground. We are calving out the first calf heifers. We have a shed, if not a dry lot. Maeve, almost 19 months, is old enough to appreciate the pleasures of mud.

Meghan and Maeve checking the heifers

Maeve, checking the puppies

The puppies snug in the barn

Pepe and Maeve on Plata
photos by Sharon O'Toole

Posted by Sharon O'Toole at 3:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Squaw Mountain

The sun swings
Towards us
Ending winter’s long hold,
Long dark, long cold.

Mud lies deep
Mucking forth
Its promise of spring,
Days of length and light.

Snow spits
But without threat
Spatters that wet, chill,
Settle into brown splatches

Over the horizon,
There lies green
And warmth
And late low sundowns.

Flattop Mountain

Sheep Mountain

Looking north
Home Ranch
photos by Sharon O'Toole

Posted by Sharon O'Toole at 4:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)