At Home on the Range

We headed out of Red Rock RV Park this morning with Ennis, Montana, as our destination.





As we passed through the sage brush covered valley, we encountered several small herds of antelope.  (click pics to enlarge)



Antelope are pretty skittish, so I’m pleased that I got these shots.
After about an hour’s drive we approached Ennis, Montana.








Our mission there was to go to Resveldt’s Meat Market for authentic German sausage.  Sorry to say, it turned out that the butcher shop was closed on Mondays.  :(  So, after visiting a few of the shops on Main Street, we turned around and headed back to camp. 

As we were driving to Ennis, I had noticed a sign for a National Fish Hatchery along the way.  I suggested we stop there on the way back, and since I was driving, no one objected.  :)  It turned out to be a 7 mile drive up and down a gravel range road to get there.





This is where the 11,000,000 trout come from in Ennis!  This National Fish Hatchery works with six strains of rainbow trout.


This is the bluff where early Plains Indians herded buffalo over the cliff.  That was probably before the advent of horses.


Pam and Stan had never been to a fish hatchery before, so they found it very interesting.  I enjoyed it since I had volunteered at Bandon Fish Hatchery in Oregon.
We took one of the back roads home that was a little more scenic in this very scenic area.
Henry’s Lake is located just one mile north of our campground.

Emma and I sat outside in the afternoon while I tried to make some more adjustments on the new camera.  I finally got the manual focus set to match my eyes.  I like to use manual focus when I’m using the telephoto lens.  If I use automatic, the camera often focuses on something other than what I’m interested in.  Then I had to practice a little.
 

Luckily, a few birds were around.  :)  That’s a singing male white-crowned sparrow on the left, and a male black-headed grosbeak on the right.










As I sat at the picnic table, a pair of Cassin’s finches approached very close.  They wanted to use Emma’s water dish for a drink of water.

The weather we had today was the best we’ve had since we left Minnesota.  I hope it continues tomorrow.  Maybe summer is finally on the way in this neck of the woods.

I’d like to thank everyone for the suggestions for my dried out, cracking fingers.  Today I’m trying the cortisone treatment.  I sure hope it works.  :)

Thanks for stopping by….talk to you later,  Judy

A catch up day

Since the weather forecast for today called for rain, we decided not to do any sight seeing.  Of course, since that was the plan, there were bright blue skies when we woke up.  :)  We have been going pretty strong for ten days so we went along with our plans.  Seems like everybody else in the campground felt the same way.  There was really a jam up at the camp Laundromat.  It was cool, but sunny until about 2:00 in the afternoon, when the rain began to move in again.  That ruined our plans to cook out over a fire, but we ate together anyway.

It felt good not to have to go anywhere today.  I was about to try to get pictures of some of the birds at my feeders when the rain began.
I brought Emma inside, and had to resort to taking the shots through the front window.  They’re not my best, but they’ll have to do for today.  This is a male black-headed grosbeak.  A couple of pairs of these colorful birds have begun stopping by for a snack at the Hard Red-Rock Bird Cafe.  :)
 


I also identified a pair of new birds for me.  I have never seen the Cassin’s finch before.  They’re similar looking to purple finches and house finches, but there are striking differences.



That’s about all that happened on this rest day.  Tomorrow we’re headed back to Yellowstone.

Thanks for stopping by….talk to you later,  Judy