Tales
from
the
new
West
Spring
2010
There's
also
a
photo
of
an
eagle
flying
along
the
road
to
my
house.
The
eagles
are
out
feeding
on
road
kill.
There
are
a
large
number
of
rabbits
that
have
been
hit,
as
well
as
two
antelope
in
one
day.
The
one
antelope
was
a
fawn
from
last
spring.
Five
or
six
eagles
picked
the
carcass
nearly
clean
in
three
hours.
The
carcass
was
"fresh"
when
I
went
to
town
and
nearly
eaten
when
I
returned.
Eagles
feed
heavily
now
because
they
have
offspring
this
time
of
the
year.
Lastly,
these
are
horned
larks
feeding
on
seeds
after
a
snowstorm.
Usually,
around
a
dozen
birds
rummage
around
the
weeds
in
the
snow
looking
for
food.
I
don't
mow
my
yard
after
August
so
these
birds
and
others
will
have
plenty
of
winter
fair.
I
am
starting
garden
plants
now
in
my
indoor
greenhouse.
I
have
found
that
6
to
8
weeks
may
not
be
enough
lead
time
for
indoor
starting,
especially
if
the
weather
turns
"dreary"
as
some
are
predicting.
So
I'm
starting
earlier.
Also,
I
threw
fertilizer
on
the
garden
to
get
a
head
start
there,
also.
This
was
the
weather
on
March
4th.
Today,
its
warm
(41
degrees,
and
again,
no
wind).
The
snow
melts
very
quickly
and
leaves
us
with
mud.
This
morning
there
was
dense
fog.
That
is
not
common
for
our
area.
Wind
usually
dries
out
the
area
and
the
humidity
is
too
low
for
fog.
That's
all
for
this
month!
Icicles
on
the
well
cover!
All
the
icicles
were
very
short
in
this
storm.
Hard
to
believe
it's
2010
already.
Weather
here
has
been
remarkably
quiet.
I
really
was
hoping
for
the
six
feet
of
snow
that
Pennsylvania
got,
along
with
numerous
other
states.
Wyoming
just
came
out
of
a
drought.
If
the
snow
doesn't
pick
up
here,
it's
likely
we
will
go
back
into
the
drought.
March
and
April
tend
to
be
our
heavy
snow
months
so
there
is
still
time
to
get
the
needed
snow.
Mid-February
tends
to
be
a
cold
time.
The
temperature
drops
below
zero
at
night,
but
only
on
a
once
or
twice
a
week
basis.
It
was
below
zero
right
before
Valentine's
day.
It's
not
uncommon
to
have
power
outages
during
this
time.
March
1:
February
did
get
a
normal
amount
of
snowfall,
just
in
small
doses.
Not
all
of
it
has
melted
at
this
point,
though
the
weather
is
in
the
40's.
It
still
gets
cold
at
night.
The
most
disconcerting
thing
is
the
lack
of
wind.
Normally,
winter
means
25
mph
winds
for
weeks
on
end.
This
year,
the
wind
has
been
quite
absent.
Today
there
is
almost
no
wind.
I
actually
have
several
windows
open
and
a
fan
running.
It
gets
up
to
76
degrees
in
my
house
when
the
sun
is
out
and
the
wind
is
calm.
It's
great
for
the
propane
bill--no
heat
needed
during
the
daytime!
I
actually
enjoy
the
fresh
air,
too.
I'm
putting
in
pictures
of
some
wildlife
in
the
area.
The
deer
have
not
been
around
as
often
as
in
the
past,
possibly
due
to
the
milder
winter
and
possibly
because
there
are
more
places
for
them
to
forage,
haystacks
mostly.
There
are
three
large
bucks
that
hide
in
the
sagebrush
every
so
often.
The
owl
has
been
around
also.
I
can
see
him
from
my
bedroom
window.
It
may
be
that
he's
looking
for
the
numerous
skunks
in
the
area.
I
saw
on
a
nature
program
that
great
horned
owls
eat
skunks.
We
have
had
two
skunks
get
in
our
trap
this
spring
and
many
nights
there
has
been
the
unmistakable
odor
of
skunk.
This
is
the
time
of
the
year
they
seem
to
start
getting
active.
If
they
would
stay
out
from
under
the
house
and
away
from
the
garden,
they
would
be
okay.
We
have
no
food
around
the
house
or
garden
for
them,
except
maybe
the
compost
pile,
but
it's
fenced.
I
keep
filling
in
holes
around
the
skirting
to
keep
them
out,
but
skunks
are
persistent
diggers.
I
also
took
a
picture
of
antelope
running
in
snow
around
the
end
of
December.
I
have
not
often
seen
antelope
running
in
deep
snow,
at
least
not
recently.
The
pronghorns
tend
to
not
run
in
snow
if
they
can
avoid
it
because
it
takes
too
much
energy.
In
years
with
deep
snow,
food
is
hard
to
find
and
the
death
rate
for
pronghorns
goes
way
up.
Plus,
pronghorns
don't
jump
fences
as
well
as
deer
do,
so
they
often
die
along
fence
lines.
This
year
the
snow
has
been
spotty,
so
there
is
plenty
of
forage. Most
deaths
appear
to
be
due
to
road
kill.
