Wildlife...

Yesterday morning we caught this wild beauty on camera... My camera isn't the best one, but at least you can see what it is! One amazing thing out here at the ranch is all the wildlife...you never know what might show up... I give you the Bald Eagle.

White beauty...

I took some pictures when me and Jamie had our walk. It was beautiful this morning...

 

 

And some in black and white...

Our day...

This is our day in pictures! Once again it started with a snowy morning then it warmed up so we got introduced to the "Montana Mud"... All in all I can summarize this day as messy.

One good thing is that Jamie never got worse..now she just coughs and has a runny nose. Another good thing is that we didnt have to wear so warm clothes and no gloves...there's hope for spring! And..I am also making plans for this weekends adventure which hopefully includes snow, sun and good food....

  

  

Old buildings...

Took some pictures at the ranch... Here are some favourites. I'm really an amateur when it comes to taking pictures and edit them..but I try and I practise to get better.

 

Hot springs...

(Påminnelse..använd översättningsknappen längst upp/ner om du föredrar att läsa på svenska..)

Yesterday was a nice sunny morning so I quickly decided to bring the girls to White Sulphur Springs and the hot springs there. We are waiting a heavy winterstorm in the whole region with moist air from the westcoast and artic freezing cold winds from north...(snow and colder now...) This weekend's probably going to be an inside one, so I thought we better go for an adventure before..In the beginning of next week we'll see temperatures way above freezing again!

Anyway, our destination for today was suppose to be an hour or so drive..but unknown roads aside/over Little Belt mountains and road construction made the trip a lot longer...Well, it was a quite scenic road and Jamie slept almost the entire drive. The small town of White Sulphur Springs is nestled in between mountain ranges and I wish I could say it was a pittoresque and charming small village, but I can't. This town has probably been a nice and vivid place 2-3 decades ago, but now, unfortunately like many small towns around, it's in need of restoration. Many buildings and houses are in bad shape and empty stores/restaurants are standing empty... sad but true.

We had lunch at the local Doris cafe, nothing special, but the girls got new energy before it was time to swim. A typical "Montana thing" is to serve homemade and warm cinnamon rools  (just like the swedish ones) but topped with either cream cheese or carmel topping. Very tasty! 

The hot springs pools are located in the middle of the town, by White Sulpur hot springs motel. Very friendly staff and recently they built a new part of the motel where you can get a room for 125 $. The rest of the facility neeeded some TLC, but the pool area was nice. They get all water straight from the hot springs, but it's a little regulated so it doesnt get too hot. We had the opportunity to pick between 105° F or 98° F, which is bodytemp. We tried both but felt it was too hot in the warmest one so we played in the other. Since it's hot it was definately enough with 1.5 h for all of us. We took short brakes and drank alot of water too. The hot water really gets you dehydrated so its important to drink alot! We had a fun time and the girls liked it! This place is really busy in weekends but we were almost alone the whole time.

Summary; I would recommend these hot springs in the winter if you combine it with skiing at Showdown (only 35 min away), or just happens to drive by and make a stop. I definately feel that it's best to go here in the colder months of the year, even though it is a nice scenic drive to get there both from east (Harlowtown) west (Helena) and north (Great Falls).

Snow...

No school...too much snow on the road..Jareds work truck got stuck in the snow... Good we bought groceries and some new toys yesterday!

Filip & Fredrik...har bara en sak att säga..Ni valde fel ranch!! Va fan Arizona..Så klart ni skulle valt Montana!! Ni har fortfarande några veckor på er...

 

  

Tomorrow's adventure...

Hopefully we get to go here tomorrow ( if not more wind and snow rolls in ...) The kids are off school so me and Jody are planning to go do something kid-friendly! White Sulphur Hot Springs is only an hour drive or so from here, doesn't that seems like something fun and warm to do in the snow? Well I'll tell you tomorrow what these natural hot springs and this Montana small town have to offer!

Trying to make it cosy...

Sorry I haven't updated for a few days! Will write more tonight...

This afternoon is alot warmer no longer subzero! But we have snowstorm outside so I try to make it a little more cosy inside...

Found a new candle from Wood Wick (Trilogy- Fireside,Redwood, Sandalwood Clove). It smells like a mix between a fire and a hot man... ♡♡♡...

Finally warm toes...

Now they are mine... It took a while to find any winter boots in Billings...Crazy, but after running to several stores that were totally out of warmer boots, Scheels just got 4 new from Sorel . And lucky me they were exactly what I looked for and in my size!

I'm already in love...

Sorel's Tofino CVS in Black.

Crazy morning...

Cold, cold...-35°C (-30F) record low in several places... Our waterpipes froze outside the house so I have had 4 handy men that worked on that in the freezing coldness. At least the sun was shining.. Anyway the problem got solved pretty quick with a little help of open flames...under the house...

 

Me and the girls had a relaxing day,mostly inside but we did play in the snow for quite a while in the afternoon. It was beautiful, no wind and sunshine.. I must buy a pair of real winter boots for me! My toes are so froooze! I found a couple from Sorel, but haven't decided which ones yet. I'll show them later... Typically me..forget to buy real winter clothes (now we are talking extremes..) for the mama, only got good for the girls!

Something new...

Last 24 h brought me some "first timers"... Yesterday evening I got to try Elk for the first time...I didn't plan to but made burgers of elk instead of the locally produced beef I thought I used... I just got a little surprised when our burgers tasted wild instead of beef... Anyway it tasted really good when I knew why they had that hint of wild. It wasn't a distinct taste, really mild! I guess the bigger animal the less taste of wild you get and Elks are very big. We don't have them in Sweden but sizewise I assume they are in between a large deer and a moose or much more closer to the moose... Beautiful to look at and in the fall we did see them almost daily! Like Jason the boss said, I didnt tried the ranch beef but got the ranch breed Elk and that's more rare...
Like I wrote on facebook here's a link if you think it's a little confusing to name the wild species...

Another thing this morning was that the car didn't start...too cold... I guess that's what happens when the temperature goes below -30°C ( -22F)... It's the coldest I've ever experienced. I remember many years ago being in Bydalen, in  northern Sweden, and skiing when it got down to.-27° C and one christmas night on the way home from Grandma Kerstin and Grandpa Hasse when it hit -28°C...
Anyway Jared started the car so I could go pick up Natalie from her school. She got to start preschool again monday and now she goes three days a week 8-12 for no cost except lunch 40 cent/day ( ca 2, 50 kr). I think it's really good for her to go see the other kids and they seem to be in a good, playful and educational school. It is much more of a school then a daycare. She has a real classroom, different subjects and learning goals of the week... but they still have a playful approach to the learning situations!

Today was absolutely beautiful outside and the views stunning. It's surprisingly how much power the sun actually has...even if it stayed so cold all day the sunshine felt good. We stayed mostly inside but went and saw some newborn baby calves! The most exciting time at the ranch has just started and I will tell you all about it later. I think around 10 are born so around 590 more to go or so...