This goat will have all this grass eaten soon, I assume.  When we drove up, he was quick to give us a look. I’m not sure if he is a she.  The absence of horns makes me think it’s a girl. As snowy white as his wild ‘cousins’ in Glacier.

Interesting pattern cut as the wheat falls in neat rows.  A couple of days later it was neatly baled.

A typical scene in northwest Montana. Actually, it is pretty typical of any part of Montana that has wide, flat valleys.

Finally I remembered to ask the question.  ‘What is this stuff?’ I asked someone in the know.  ‘Why, that is canola’, they responded, ‘You know, the cooking oil.’  I had imagined a number of things including mustard. But, no, it is canola. It turns green fields into a rich yellow/gold carpet for awhile. I thought they would be harvesting the flowers. No, the flowers faded away & the green stalks were still growing taller as our time in Kalispell grows short. Beautiful in bloom.

All baled & ready for market or perhaps to feed to their own livestock.

This wheat field near Whitefish is ready for harvest. With the breeze rippling through the tall wheat, the clouds overhead promising some needed moisture and the mountains watching over it all, the agriculture cycle continues regardless of the bad winter.

Late afternoon we’re returning to Kalispell from Glacier. We’re on Hwy. 206, which goes through farm country, between Kalispell & Hwy 2 to Glacier. We watched as these clouds filled the sky. Then.....

We got hit by maniacal winds throwing soft, big hail at us, slapping at us sideways. Ability to see down the road went from OK to almost zero after this picture was taken. You can see on the left side of the pic that the sky is clear. You can also see on the road ahead of us that white area under the cars.  That is hail falling just there & on either side of the road.  This was amazing. It lasted maybe 5 minutes. Gary was stoic through it all.  I was terrified.

Another cell of hail just ahead of us. The noise of it was deafening. I just knew the truck would be damaged.  (It wasn’t)

We’re now driving through what you saw in the picture above.

Back at the campground, there are no hail cells. What rain there was has passed by and we just enjoy watching another busy Montana sky.

The office of the campground.  It is a very old business.  The original owner has turned the operations over to his daughter & her family. Talked to a woman in her 50’s who told me her mother had camped here years ago before she became a mom.

Powerful pickups are the mainstay of the trailer crowd.  These heavy duty babies are dragging 5th wheels, traditional travel trailers, baby 5th wheels, tent trailers and one tiny trailer enterprisingly named ‘Burrito’. Without these workhorses, there would be a lot of folks camping in a different way. Ford, Dodge & Chevy must make a fortune from the sales of these.

Spaceship anyone?

The cottonwood trees are shedding. Looks like it snowed.  The tiniest breeze brings this clingy ‘cotton’ to stick on our screens, tangle in our hair & stick on our clothes and to tuck itself onto the screens of our roof air vents.  Yuck. Of course, the sap is worse & we’ve had a battle with that this year!  Then there are the mosquitoes.  OK, enough of that.  At least it is cool.

Late evening, family, friends, warm campfire & the river rollin’ by.  Who could ask for anything more?

We’ve seen police cars, pizza delivery cars, insurance damage assessment cars, antique cars and a taxi in campgrounds, but never a furniture delivery truck . Well, there it is, winding its way through the sections of campground looking for.....us!

Our new, comfy chair!  We had an oversized rocker-recliner that came with the motorhome when we bought it.  It was uncomfortable & took up too much room. This chair takes up much less room & matches the interior that we had done last year. It is a dream. It cuddles your back & reclines & makes me sigh with happiness that it’s my turn to sit in it.  And Bitney Furniture in Kalispell took it all in stride when we asked for delivery to a campground.  They blinked maybe twice & said, ‘OK’.

Almost a daily sight from our front window.  Late afternoon the sun gets below the level of the clouds and, as it shines on the trees, it makes the trees appear as if it is fall.

Occasionally we get a terrific sunset.  We have to peek through the trees to see it.

If we’re out walking at sunset, we don’t have to peek through the trees.  Looking carefully at this you can see a ‘halo’ over the monster who seems to have a very fiery snout. Can you see his eye?

Commonly seen around the campground last year, the Northern Flicker has been hard to spot this year.  Maybe the weather caused them to settle elsewhere for 2011.  They dig their food out of the ground by pounding their beaks into the soil. Rat-a-tat, just like a jackhammer.. Darndest thing to watch.  Just like a woodpecker (a relative) bangs its beak into a tree trunk.  Pretty birds.

I dunno what the story is about me & animals. I try to take a pictures of a herd of something, horses, elk, & they always have their backs to my camera.  Now, I’m trying to get a shot of this juvenile bald eagle as he’s taking off from the top of a tree far from where I’m standing at our campsite & he turns his back.  Ah, well.  Here he is in all his young splendor.  It will be another season before he gets the beautiful feathers of his elders.

A drift boat with guide & clients is circling the pile of flotsam looking for a fishing opportunity. Not this day or anytime soon. The water is too fast & the fish are too deep. The guy with the wave is really hanging onto his fishing line as they make their way through unsettled waters.

These folks from Alberta were in town for some antique car meet.  They had an ever-changing group visiting with their vintage cars so it was pretty much like a car show in the campground for about a week.

This beautiful osprey was looking for dinner for quite awhile.  The wind would blow, the tree would bend & he’d have to wave his wings to maintain his balance.  At least, he didn’t turn his back on me.  Lovely bird.

Meeting of the Big Dogs. They have planted their 12 feet & aren’t budging. The picture is a bit blurry, but they were moving so fast, it was the best I could do.

Counseling ensued & attitudes were adjusted quickly. New friendships formed.

As we’re having more sunny, warm days, more boats are being seen on the river. Mostly recreational floating. These two were traveling together & were having a great time.

Not all RVs need a muscle truck to haul them around. This convertible was muscle enough to pull this trailer from Delaware. Don’t know the final destination for the 2 guys, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves.  Once detached from the car, one of them could pick up the trailer tongue & turn the trailer until they had it just the way they wanted it.