Brad Sondahl's blog

Brad's Blog

Click here to zoom down to today's entry (after clicking, you can bookmark this page and it should always take you to the current date).

March 1
I just checked the 7 day forecast and while we're not expecting much snow in the week ahead (after record snowfalls for February) we are predicted to have lows below zero which it mostly hasn't done so far. I was looking forward to milder conditions suitable for pruning our fruit trees this month...
Sales in February at the pottery were slow from some reason:

It's a good thing we could get away to church on Sundays:

March 6
Last weekend I helped with sound and made videos of the Showcase as is my habit. The first group, at this link, had a very creative version of the old gospel song, Working on a Building...

We roamed the steep cliffs along the Mill Pond and saw some awesome huge natural icicles. (Even the icicles from last month were on road cut-throughs that create an unnatural environment).

These are about 10 feet tall--there's an overhang that one can stand behind like a frozen waterfall...

This is the view from behind, with Butters to illustrate the relative size...

Icicles coming off mossy slopes have a yellowish cast to them...

March 9

A few nights ago I took this photo of the Baptist Church parking lot next to the pottery... I like the way their LED streetlights illuminate the falling snow. I used my phone camera, and I think it also used flash, resulting in the bold gray streaks nearby...

Last night this was the view at sunset on the lake with the cumulus clouds bunched up on the far ridge... 10 deer had just crossed the lake, but they would have been mostly invisible with my phone camera...

Today I began pruning since the temperature reached 35--not important for the fruit trees but important for my hands... With two feet of snow on the ground I set down two 3X4 feet pieces of plywood and stepped on one and moved the other to work around the tree. There are a few tall branches I couldn't reach without a ladder, and a few branches still stuck in the snow, but it's a good headstart...

March 11
More icicle cliff photos:

The rainbow colors were quite visible and I was happy to catch some in this photo...

This one is probably 30-40 feet tall.

March 14
Last evening while waiting for a pork loin to get done, we walked down to the Mill Pond and saw a couple deer emerge from below the icicles. Then we saw a white swan or goose at the tiny water opening at the bridge. This morning we walked down again, this time with my good camera and long lense in case it was still there...

It was...

When we went down on the ice to head for the ice cave it flew, but only circled around and landed back on the ice...
This was a rare opportunity to get close to a single swan. They migrate through here regularly, and hang out in large numbers on Kalispell Lake, but it's private and best viewed with binoculars...
The weather is headed toward seasonal 50's next week, so we're visiting the icicles while they last:

March 16
The swan is still inexplicably staying around. With the bright sun today I was able to get a slightly better photo...

books read

Space Team by Barry J Hutchison Humorous Sci Fi which would appeal to fans of Guardians of the Galaxy (and I'm one)

Whiskey When We're Dry by John Larison. Reminded me of Steinbeck if he wrote on the Wild West...

The Stick Game by Peter Bowen. A tough read, focusing on mining pollution issues on reservations in Montana as a backdrop for the usually more light hearted storytelling...

Sondahl blog index

January
2019

February
2019