Simple Pleasure

SNOW ON GROUND ?

Snow Off Deck ?

try some fall apart ribs

WALLPAPER: REWARD FOR SNOW REMOVAL

-------

.. Although we use the barbee-q year round; our neighborhood deck cleaning party is a harbinger of days to come. It's what we do. Shovel and sweep the decks down to the planks. Then we celebrate with a traditional, (for the neighborhood,) meal
.. The reward is baby back ribs, baked white beans with pulled pork, grill-roasted Mexican bi-color corn, and cornbread, (We have neighbors with roots in South Carolina.)
.. There's nothing fancy at our house. We finish the celebration with chunks of Cran-Apple-Raisin pie that's been oven baked in cast iron. We do this at each opportunity that presents itself during our on again, off again, Spring weather.
.. It's snowing again right now and we'll have to sweep the deck this afternoon. Bring it on!

-------

WALLPAPER: CRAN-APPLE-RAISIN PIE

Weather Eye

MADISON LOOKING GOOD

That's For Now

just lovin' the warm

-------

.. The depth of snow is encouraging. The current few days of warmth is pleasant. The snow will melt. The water will rise. We will fret and the fish will swim. All is well with the world.

Hydrologic Outlook

...WARMER TEMPERATURES EARLY THIS WEEK TO BE FOLLOWED BY THE POTENTIAL FOR WIDESPREAD PRECIPITATION AND RAIN ON SNOWPACK BY MID WEEK... WARMER TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED EARLY THIS WEEK BEFORE A PERIOD OF COOLER AND WETTER CONDITIONS BY THE MIDDLE TO LATER PART OF THE WEEK. AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES THROUGH TUESDAY WILL CLIMB INTO THE 60S AT LOWER ELEVATIONS AND INTO THE 40S AND 50S IN THE MOUNTAINS. OVERNIGHT LOWS AT MID-ELEVATIONS WILL REMAIN ABOVE FREEZING EACH NIGHT. THIS WILL CAUSE AN INCREASE IN MOUNTAIN SNOWMELT WITH RISING WATER LEVELS ANTICIPATED ON CREEKS...SMALL STREAMS AND RIVERS. A PERIOD OF WETTER CONDITIONS IS EXPECTED BY MID TO LATE WEEK. AT THE ONSET OF PRECIPITATION ON TUESDAY AFTERNOON...SNOW LEVELS BETWEEN 7500 AND 8500 FEET INDICATE THAT RAIN MAY FALL ON TOP OF MOUNTAIN SNOWPACK AND INCREASE THE RATE OF SNOWMELT. WITH COOLER AIR MOVING IN WEDNESDAY...PRECIPITATION WILL CHANGE TO ALL SNOW AND REMAIN SNOW THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK. THE SITUATION WILL CONTINUE TO BE MONITORED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. RESIDENTS ALONG RIVERS...STREAMS...AND CREEKS SHOULD PREPARE FOR RISING WATER LEVELS...AND BE PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION IF WATERWAYS EXCEED BANKFULL.

LINK
-------

WALLPAPER:  CHERRY TART

Signs Of Spring

Some Sun

WHAT'S SHAKIN' ?

Park Opens On Time

temblors arrive with visitors

-------

.. Several of our many micro earthquakes arrived today throughout the park along with the visitors, on this brightly overcast and blustery opening day of YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK.
.. Film at eleven.

-------

Bluster Arrives

WEEK ONE LOOMS

Enter Spring And Sproing

typical weather to greet visitors

-------

.. Come Friday a few of our neighbors and some other folks from around our neighborhood will enter Yellowstone National Park to inaugurate this years "Warm Season."

.. They will be greeted with our standard Spring mix: a bit of rain, some light snow, multi-directional winds, gray and heavy clouds, and infrequent bits of sunlight stabbing through the broken clouds.
.. Some services will be available. Most will not. All of the west side roads will be mostly free of snow. Some byways and pull outs will still be knee deep with decaying snow and fallen trees.
.. The dead and dying critters that litter the valley floors will have ravens, eagles, wolves, bobcats, and bears feeding on them.
.. A few fishers, (ourselves included,) will be peering into the depths of the high water in the rivers and creeks. There will not be much to be learned but we do it anyway. We do it to anticipate the fishing yet to come. We do it to remember fishing long past. We do it because we are sucked into running water. And we do it because it's there.

.. At some point during the next 10 or 12 days the clouds will lift. At some point sun will paint the snow dappled landscape with warm bright light. The winds may slow and the snow will begin to melt in earnest.
.. Lucky tour groups and the neighbors will rush the gate and lug piles of photographic gear to capture some "Spring Photos." Some of our neighbors will drag the kids out of school and have a picnic in the snow or on a vacant bench. We hope to catch that first bright and sunny day.
.. Spring runs a close second to Fall as the finest time to visit Yellowstone National Park. The crowds have not yet arrived. Critters of all sorts are still in the valleys where the roads and rivers are - AND - the snow is thinning. Young of the year frolic in the snow and mud. The fresh feeling of a new season is upon the land and in the air.
.. Come Friday a birth happens. We will be there.

-------

Q.E.D.

ὅπερ ἔδει δεῖξαι

 P.S. The Madison River at West Yellowstone, Montana is approaching record runoff levels.

Previews of Upcoming Attractions

So, What's Next

Roller Coaster Weather

fictions and fantasies abound

TIME TO GEAR UP

-------

.. The neighbors are having visions ranging from wildly optimistic to depressed gloom. What will our runoff event bring to us? This week of 50's and near tropical nights brings about remembrances of days past. No fishing until July? Quick and dirty - then mid-May ecstasy. What is in the crystal ball?
.. After a few years of worrying about our snowpack the worries are now turning to speculation about river discharge as our weather flings surprise after surprise at us. Predictions are almost always incorrect. Yet, we try and we listen, and we speculate.

THE FLY OF THE HOUR

.. Lowland fishers are already enjoying spectacular catching and enjoying the occasional surface bugs with warm breezy days and salubrious nights as Spring slashes rapidly through the valleys.
.. The neighbors are quickly deserting our recently cleared streets for local and distant catching opportunities. At the moment; as we speak and breath, pre-runoff fishing is about as good as it gets - and that's no poop.
.. The "WHAT IF" factor figures heavily in neighborhood behavior at this time of year. What if we get another three feet of snow? What if it stays warm for three weeks straight? What if the Spring rains are warm and persistent? What if it turns cold and the rains are delayed? Make hay while . . .
.. Another excellent analysis of the "WHAT IF" factor is presented over at the Parks' Fly Shop website. CLICK RIGHT HERE for possible scenarios and keep a weather eye on the waters.

-------

AT LEAST THE STREETS ARE SNOW FREE

Neighborhood Drama

IF AT FIRST . . .

..

Lowland Expedition

BRIEF VISITATION

Altered Agenda

ain't got no button box

RELICS FROM A BYGONE ERA

-------

.. A funny thing happened on the way to Missoula, Montana. We paused for some sightseeing and spent a couple of days on a pretty little river.
.. It sometimes runs along the side of Interstate 15 and is most inviting to fishers of the fly. It's original name was the Wisdom River: good enough for us.
.. We'd been thinking and driving and driving and thinking. We don't have a plastic button box with hundreds of super synthetic latest fashion flies in all sizes and colors.
.. We don't have a fly reel decorated with a dead head. We don't wear a ball cap advertising a mega corporation. We don't put that cap on our head so that the bill shades one ear or our neck.

WISDOM SPRING

.. We certainly don't have a fish pole with strands of unpronounceable fibers and girdled with twinkly spots of the latest resin. Our sticks are of bamboo and fiberglass. They have trained our muscles and reflexes. They fit. We're too old to change now.
.. We generally only drink beer with meals and would rather sip a fine malt with friends in quiet conversation.
.. We have an array of digital cameras but shoot more film for production work and publication. Our raiment is dated, tailored, mostly of wool and keeps us warm and doesn't change with passing fancy and the latest marketing campaign.
.. Our fedora is waxed and old. It's held up for several decades and still sheds water and shades us from the sunlight. We don't have to look forward to having bits of our ears whittled away because the bill on our cap was shading our neck.
.. We wear a tweed coat and carry some hand crafted fly boxes. Many of our reels were hand fitted and tuned sixty years or more ago. They still work fine and the fish don't seem to mind.
.. The torch has long since passed from us to the new breed of gonzo fishers. Beer for beer's sake. Drown fish in the air for an ego satisfying portrait. Go Pro to elevate personal accomplishments. Travel to exotic venues for "ad - venture."
.. Driving along the Montana byways is good for the soul. We no more needed to see the Orvis dog and pony show than we needed another hemorrhoid. They have decided that traditional dinosaurs like ourselves, (who wear tweed and sip Scotch Whiskey,) are a market that is unworthy of their marketing efforts. It's absolutely true. The market has shifted to the new royalty of fly fishing. That royalty has new ideas. It has new goals. It has caprice and whimsey. It has new money.
.. We enjoy a bit of solitude. We don't text our latest conquest to the world. We don't even cram our blog with advertisements to the detriment of information. We have the ability to change our itinerary and fish a spell on one of Montana's unsung jewels. Wisdom comes in many forms - even if the skwala didn't show and even if we don't have a button box. We caught a few fish too.
.. CLICK HERE FOR REPORT.

-------

WALLPAPER:  PULLED PORK, COLESLAW, BEANS, CORNBREAD, CAROLINA SAUCES

Snow Packed

FISHERS SEEN REJOICING

Anticipation At Max Levels

and the hydrologic outlook ???

REMEMBER WHEN ?

-------

.. Given the sliding average system of measuring "normal" snow depth and snow water content, we are hearing enthusiastic conversations about the upcoming fair weather fishing and catching opportunities.
.. It's snowing right now. And, this is on top of the 18" of wet snow that we've gathered up in the last 36 hours. The high country has even greater accumulations for the last week or so.
.. However, an event looms on the near horizon that just may dampen the exuberance of the casual fisher and recent arrivals to our neighborhood. The National Weather Service has gifted us with an interesting alert.

.. CLICK HERE to read it while it's still available. A large part of Montana is included in this alert. Some parts of adjoining states are also included. These things are not released lightly. There is a wide area notified in the alert and folks ignore these things at their peril.

MONEY QUOTE

AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES WILL CLIMB INTO THE 60S AT LOWER ELEVATIONS AND
INTO THE 40S AND 50S IN THE MOUNTAINS. THIS WILL ALLOW SNOWMELT TO
INCREASE IN THE MOUNTAINS WITH RISING WATER LEVELS ANTICIPATED ON CREEKS...SMALL 
STREAMS AND RIVERS. OVERNIGHT LOWS OVER THE PLAINS AND AT MID 
LEVELS IN THE MOUNTAINS COULD REMAIN ABOVE FREEZING EACH NIGHT 
 
...THEREBY PREVENTING ANY SLOWDOWN IN THE RATE OF SNOWMELT. 
THE SITUATION WILL CONTINUE TO BE MONITORED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER 
SERVICE. IN ADDITION...RESIDENTS ALONG RIVERS...STREAMS...AND CREEKS 
SHOULD PREPARE FOR RISING WATER LEVELS NEXT WEEK...AND BE PREPARED 
TO TAKE ACTION IF WATERWAYS EXCEED BANKFULL.

-------

WALLPAPER, (Loaf #12):   SOURDOUGH BOULE