September…

time for cider and doughnuts, harvest (we hope) and fly fishing! Mom’s niece Melissa, who is pregnant is taking care of the cider and doughnuts for the moment (wink), harvest is churning along as we patiently wait for ripening of our grapes and Dad is on his yearly fly fishing expedition with his friend Will from school days at U of M and a couple of Will’s buddies from Ann Arbor. This time they are in Yellowstone. Mom got this email this morning:

“We got into the park yesterday afternoon and fished the Lamar, but got skunked.   Going to do a hike up the Lamar today a few miles off the road to hopefully get away from the crowds.  Still a fair number of people here, altho’ it is the weekend.  Weather is beautiful–high 70’s–and lots of hoppers when you walk through the meadows.   It’s the bug of choice per the fly shop people, but I guess the trout in the Lamar didn’t get the memo.

We hiked about a mile to the Lamar across a rolling meadow from the road.  Coming back there was a herd of 10 antelope that kept slightly ahead of us but didn’t completely spook.  Paul was a ways behind Will and I, and could see up a bluff that we were coming up and spotted a wolf!  Very disappointed that I didn’t get to see it. Shortly after that,  while we were getting out of our waders, a ranger showed up with a tracking antenna and told us it was a young male that had a collar on.  He could track it in the hills across the road but we couldn’t spot it.   Saw lots of buffalo and elk on the drive back at dusk.  This place is friggin beautiful!

Give the little missus a good belly rub for me and I send you a telepathic kiss!   T“

_____

Yesterday she received this email from Graciebutt’s Dad. Joe and Beth are staying at a place on the Big Hole in Montana.

“A big hole has sucked the water out of the Big Hole! This is lowest I have ever seen it. The big run off from the giant snow melt washed away at least five feet of bank behind the private home on the back 40. Wading was much easier. There are actually more holes to fish this year. I hooked three on a #12 attractor pattern. The bug of choice remains the parachute Adams. I hooked several small fish on it. Beth caught two. We did not even put on a nymph today. Geoge says a size #14 Bead Head Prince is the way to go.

 

We did land a big brown today. A buck hit the attractor at the end of the riffle. My guess is he went 18 inches. If someone will bring a tape we can measure Beth’s net.  The fish had to bend to get it in. 

The weather is….in a word….beautiful. Near 78 degrees. 

No moose sightings as of 3:30 MDT. We did see a Bald Eagle fly up the channel late yesterday evening. More deer than you would care to count. No antelope on the property yet but we saw a ton on the way up from Dillon yesterday. 

Well, time to check out the upper 40.” 

Sounds like they are all having a really good time. As for me, I got breakfast but no belly rub yet. Now we have to go check the emitters in the vineyard. Each block is getting a 10 hour deep watering. Sometimes the emitters get clogged with iron and other mysterious goo. This is the job Mom loves the most. She gets all wet and crabby. Oh well…maybe I will get a big belly rub later.

So as we head off into the vineyard I will keep one image in my mind. Graciebutt, Annie, and me in Montana! Love, Honey