Cotton Candy Sunrise

As I sat at the bus stop Wednesday morning, a gorgeous cotton candy sunrise was forming over the Pryor mountains. The colors were stunning. Muted pastel oranges and pinks. Josiah and I joked about weather or not the bus will come soon enough for me to rush home and grab my camera before the colors faded away. The bright sunlight broke over the horizon just as the bus rounded the corner. Missed it again ~ That’s ok, I figure if I hurry I can still make it out to the lek grounds in time to see if the sage grouse are drumming yet. But as I pull back into the driveway and reach for my coffee cup in the console, I realize that my fuel gauge is dangerously close to E. Uhg! What was I thinking? No trip to the sage this morning. Later that afternoon, I ran into town as school got out to get fuel, picked Josiah up from school and made a swing by the lek grounds on the way home to see if there were any tracks or sign. Nothing~ the wind had scoured the ground and left nothing but small drifts.. but still beautiful in its own way.

Thursday morning~ do over.. I took Josiah to the bus WITH a full tank of fuel and even managed to remembered to grab my camera ~( and my a stainless steal cup of coffee to go)

The sunrise wasn’t nearly as captivating, but I enjoyed watching the sunlight glow through the tail of a bald eagle as it soared over head.

In the early morning light I spotted a set of “cat tracks ” and decided to get out of the wind and visit the draw where Hawk and I had treed the Mountain Lion a couple winters ago~ curious to see if it was still frequenting the area.

(cat tracks of the house cat species ~ responsible for countless numbers of wild bird deaths. Ferrel and stray cats are considered a predator in the state of Wyoming)

I sent a quick email to Hawk to let him know where I was going as I wasn’t sure I would have service for much longer. In the short drive there I saw Mule deer. (and secretly willed these antlers to fall off as he jumped the fence.. but no such luck)

As well as turkey, more bald eagles, rough legged and red tail hawks, ducks, and geese, I was also finally able to glimpse the sage grouse I had hoped to search for yesterday.

This in its self would have been a complete and happy day for me~ But the discoveries and adventure were actually just beginning. But right now I am going to stop here and continue this story tomorrow as today is March 2nd and I haven’t taken the time to post the March Desktop Calendar.

If you would like a high resolution copy of the March desktop calendar to use on your computer (unwatermarked) then please click the link on the right hand side bar to place your order. ~

TO BE CONTINUED~

February Desktop Calendar

The Free February 2011 “Desktop” calendar is a bit late, but I did get it done~

I am not sure yet how I am going to go about the Portfolio page, so I don’t have a way for you to download it from this site, but what I can do is email the full size image to you.

If you would like a copy, please send me your email address at afocusinthewild@gmail.com and I will send it out (approx 1 mb file) That’s all there is to it!

Enjoy~

Stacey