In like a lamb - so will it be out like a lion?

March greeted us with warm weather, in fact we were above zero around that time for about a two week period, so we wonder if March will leave us with the mountain snow we have been so patiently been waiting for. We have had a very mild winter with little snowfall, which, if we were on the "outside" would be considered a bonus. We came to live in the mountains, however, with visions of snowstorms that would dump a few feet overnight - which normally happens up here, but not this year... It has been snowing all day though - the longest time it has snowed since the end of November, when we received the majority of our snowfall.

Today we are trying our hand at yogurt making - Heather with a yogurt starter we received from a friend, and I am trying it from scratch, using acidophilus capsules instead. We will compare the two when they are all done. They weren't thickening much off the bat so they may have to sit overnight before we can cool them and add any sweetening and flavors. It was very easy to do so if it works, this may become something I would do regularly. All it cost was just over a cup of powdered milk and a couple capsules of acidophilus. We also received some sourdough starter from one of the ladies in the valley last week so tonight I will get the bread started and be able to bake it tomorrow. That should go nice with some soup for lunch!

Tim went up today to remove the wolf traps from around the moose the wolves killed. There are a few reasons he did this. One, a trap was set off just a few days after putting them there, possibly by a wolf because they had been back and if a wolf set it off that would be enough incentive for them to abandon the kill entirely. Two, when he went to check it the other day there was a golden eagle feeding on it (and many ravens!) and he did not want to accidentally catch an eagle in one of the traps. Third - the boys were cautioned - and thankfully - that a grizzly could claim the kill at this time of year as they are coming out of their dens. A friend from the valley told us that she has seen grizzlies in the river flats below their house in March. That could be a dangerous situation and one I am sure the guys would want to avoid at all costs.

We had a fun mail day last week - since the end of the line for us was when our trail met the road which this time of year is ice and exposed gravel - not passable with snowmobiles. Everyone from up the valley met us for a weenie roast at our little "halfway camp" on the side of the road. It was great fun and nice to get to visit with everyone. For anyone not from the area to come upon that and see so many people gathered on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere would have been a bit of a shock!