Spring Might be Here

Sunshine! It makes me happy! Both Shyla and I love soaking up the morning rays.

After weeks of not being able to ride to Hug Hill, it's possible again. There's still some slippery and melting snow on part of the climb but I gladly walked my bike through that stuff to make it to this special vista.

As I looked around on Hug Hill, I saw new signs of spring. I spotted some beautiful asters that like to grow in rocky areas.

And, I saw some Spring Beauties, tiny gems, in a sunny part of a meadow.

I felt so happy to see signs that spring and even summer will be here someday soon!

Then, I visited a trail camera that sees just a few flurries of activity each year. It's a trail camera site that tests my patience, as I find memory cards full of squirrel photos most of the time. This time, I hit the JACKPOT!

First, I discovered that it was a place where the mountain lion, who killed a deer behind our house on the night of 4/24, visited in between bouts of feeding on the carcass. Here she was, lying in the sunshine. She appeared to be posing for my trail camera. She's such a beauty. I wish she didn't have ear tags and a collar on her.

After a brief rest, she sat up and seemed to listen and sniff in the direction of a human trail. It's likely that someone was on it at that time of day.

Then, she departed toward our house. However, it took her more than 2 hours to get there (3/4 of a mile away). I'm guessing that she did a little unsuccessful hunting before returning to the meager meat left on the kill near our house.

There were more surprises from the trail camera where this lion had laid in the sun. A couple of weeks earlier, an entire family of mountain lions visited that big old Ponderosa Pine tree. I can't wait to tell you more about it. It's rare to get so much trail camera good luck in such a short period of time!