View allAll Photos Tagged spring
Thank you all for your comments and faves!
Blog: www.miksmedia.photography/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/miksmedia
Twitter: www.twitter.com/miksmedia
Finally some things to shoot! Things are starting to move along. It has been a very long winter for us all living in Alberta, but the sun is shining, it is nice and warm, life is good! Enjoy!
I’m on the lookout daily because I really feel with today’s fast pace”Spring Sneaks Up” on us while we’re doing other things.
Spring time does not have a fixed date anymore. We can have warm days (enough to go with flip flops and shorts) in February and on, but then WE can have a few days of winter, then spring, back to winter and nature really doesn't know what to do anymore.
Primavera non ha più in data fissa. Possiamo avere giorni caldi (tanto che alcune persone portano gli infradito e pantaloncini corti) per dopo rimettersi maglie,maglioni,e stivali per freddo e neve. anche la natura non sa più come affrontare questi sbalzi... voluto dall'uomo.
Salix discolor (pussy willow). Like daffodils and tulips,pussy willows are one of those species that bloom in early spring.The flowers are soft silky silvery catskins borne in early spring before the new leaves appear, with the male and female catskins on different plants; the male catskins (which is probably what these are) mature yellow at pollen release -Wikipedia
Phantom Spring Ranch got its name when my parent's first saw it. They visited the property in the summer having read about the numerous springs in the real estate posting.
Upon arrival, there was no sign of springs on the ranch except for the Little Prickly Pear creek which is seen in this photo.
Turns out the primary spring runs into the creek at the base of this small hill. You can see it in the hint of open water in the otherwise frozen creek. It's the outlet of the spring and is just warm enough to remain ice free throughout the year.
At other times of the year, a few other springs run in the gulches of the dry hills north of the ranch house.
The creek, numerous beaver ponds, marsh areas, and flat meadows are the reasons my parents bought the place.
The creek is mentioned in one of the stories in the book 'A River Runs Through It' by Norman Maclean. The story notes the Sieben ranch which neighbors this one - at 80,000 acres it's a significantly larger stretch of land than Phantom Springs.
Although only 30-45 minutes outside Helena, the capital of Montana (population 26,000), the valley and surrounding hills remain ranch land.
The creek and surrounding marshes are host to brown and rainbow trout, river otters, beavers, and nesting pairs of bald eagles and Sandhill Cranes. An occasional swan has flown through on migration.
The rest of the property is dry ranch land. It's host to many deer, elk, coyote, and more rattlesnakes than I care to have seen in my lifetime. My parents have also seen black bear, mountain lions, and one of the wolves from the original Yellowstone re-introduction pack. The wolf was identified after being tranquilized by rangers chasing it by helicopter.
It's a special place we love visiting throughout the year.
Rapeseed flowers and a apple tree at an old fortress in the Netherlands. A lovely place for an early morning stroll.