OUR HAPPY 47th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

WOW...how fast 47 years have flown by! Many of you who read this blog shared our special day 47 years ago and many have shared our anniversary celebrations somewhere through the years...THANKS! Our greatest joys and accomplishments are Randy and Rusty as well as the love and support of family/friends -- THANKS to all of you--WE LOVE YOU.

SUMMER WEATHER IN THE BLACK HILLS, SD

FINALLY, we "think" that summer has arrived in South Dakota's Black Hills! This last week the weather has been very summer like...even HOT a couple of days! Hot days bring more folks to the lake so we have been busier also! I was up at 5 AM this morning and I believe it might be back down in the 40's this morning, but today is supposed to be beautiful and in the 80's! We have not come across any new wild life to share lately...we rode to Custer State Park one morning last week but did not see anything new. We were almost all the way through the park before we came upon the herds of buffalo. All is going well and we will try to add more photos soon!

A DAY WITHOUT RAIN!!!

Sunday we had a day without RAIN! Saturday, however, was a whole different story...it had been forecast to be nice with a "chance" of scattered showers! The wind blew HARD and the rain came shortly after lunch and continued off and on all afternoon. The wind blew so hard that it jammed the main dock up against the shore and buckled the connecting walkway. Dave came over and had to revamp the walkway and stairs...there was no real damage done! Today (Monday) I will work from 10 AM to 3 PM at the South Store and Denny will hold down the fort here! No new photos today...we got some on Friday of more Big Horn Sheep -- this time ewes and lambs -- will add later!

CURIOUS FAWN

Our cameras have to be ready at all times as we never know what we will see on our rides. We caught this curious little fawn while we were traveling back from town. We first caught site of the doe and fawn side by side, but the doe quickly disappeared into the bushes...the fawn was curious about us but he also soon jumped and ran to his mamma...we could see through the bushes where he was jumping and kicking in a playful manner.

MORE RAIN & HAIL!

Yesterday started out beautiful and the boaters and fishermen flocked to the lake! But by early afternoon the clouds had started building and shortly after that we heard rain on the roof again! The rain turned into HAIL about the size of marbles! No damage done except that it brought everyone off the lake in a hurry and it was pretty quiet after that! Phoebe tries to hide even with rain on the roof and she was really scared with the large hail pounding on the roof. There is no place she can crawl under (like the bed) so I covered her with her towel and that seemed to make her feel safe.

Here are a few more photos that Denny took recently. This Blue Heron seems to be a resident as he visits our docks frequently. The Blue Gill fish are abundant under the docks.


We came upon this YOUNG BUCK in the woods on one of our backroad rides:


This group of horseback riders visited our boat launch to water their horses and take a break a couple of days ago. They rode from Nemo, a small horse oriented community about 8 or 9 miles from here by road...but they were able to come across lots via old trails and it was a little over 5 miles for them! Coincidentally, we had just drove to Nemo that morning and had breakfast at the NEMO GUEST RANCH BRANDING IRON RESTAURANT. The guest ranch consists of a general store, restaurant and several cabins as well as accommodations for horses. There is also a trail ride business there, about a half dozen homes, a community church and a two story building that looks like it used to be a school house but now might be town offices. These particular horseback riders shared with us that they have been coming to NEMO, SD for several years now on family vacations...they trailer their horses with them and go on trail rides out of NEMO! These two or three families consisted of adults as well as children and had traveled here from Minnesota. We really enjoyed talking with them, especially since we had just been to NEMO that morning and could picture exactly where they rode from.

BIG HORN RAMS, TURKEY, DEER...WOW!

Just outside of Rapid City yesterday we hit the jackpot...a BIG HORN RAM! After a little searching we found a herd of 7 BIG HORN RAMS grazing on the hillside! We were in a deep canyon and they were on the far side!



The canyon road was a dead end road and as we turned around we spotted this group of WILD TURKEYS!



After coming out of that canyon we explored another and came across this DEER "FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS"! I love the next photo of a doe "ON ALERT" as we approached! The deer are still in the process of shedding their winter coats!





For a week now the temperatures have been cold and rainy! This morning was in the 30's again but forecast to be in the high 60's and warmer for the weekend...YIPPEE! We are looking forward to being busy!

TRIP TO CUSTER STATE PARK

Yesterday morning we took a trip to Mount Rushmore...which was shrouded in FOG, SO we then drove on to ride through CUSTER STATE PARK! We were welcomed at the entrance by these BUFFALO...they are awesome no matter how many times we see them! They walked right in front of us and ambled up the road...not even going thru the fee station!!!


This is one of my favorite photos...a BEGGING BURRO...they come right up to the vehicle and stick their nose to the window because they are used to being fed by the tourists! We had a bag of tortilla chips and this BEGGING BURRO "LOVED" them and wanted more! We had enjoyed this area last June also when Irma and Clarence were with us!

We enjoyed several PRONGHORN ANTELOPE during the drive and this guy had three girl friends nearby!


This young PRAIRIE DOG seemed rather confused and did not understand all the audience while he was out near the road munching on tender green grass!



It was a nice drive around the WILDLIFE LOOP but we did not see the large herds of buffalo that we had enjoyed last June when we visited the park. We bought an annual pass, so it will probably be a frequent drive for us on our mornings off. The park is about 30 miles from Lake Pactola.

WEBCAM OF INTERSECTION JUST DOWN THE ROAD!

COLD, COLD, COLD this morning...about 30 degrees with a heavy frost over the boats and docks as I peer out the window!!!

DOUBLE CLICK ON THE TITLE OF TODAY'S POST for a WEBCAM showing a nearby Intersection of highways 385 and 44...it is only about 1 mile to the north of us. The camera takes a new photo about every 20 minutes.

It is going to be a cool week with a promise warming to 70's for next weekend...we will see!

NASTY WEATHER THIS WEEK!

Last weekend was beautiful and gave us a taste of what it would be like to have summer-like weather. Monday started out nice BUT quickly turned to wind and showers and Tuesday followed with similar. Wednesday was pleasant and we took advantage of one of our perks...having the use of a pontoon boat! We got instructions from owner Dave and away we went to explore the lake...it was fun and a beautiful morning! Denny did not catch any fish but we did enjoy the pontoon and the ability to see areas of the lake that can not be seen from land! We took turns at driving the pontoon and I attemped docking it but Denny had to take over...the wind was coming up again and it required giving it more gas than I was comfortable with doing while being so close to other boats and docks! Denny got us docked safely and we had a quick bite of lunch with owners Nancy & Dave and then back to the North Marina to open the store! The rest of the week the weather has been nasty...with our own taste of HAIL (not as big as we witnessed at Spearfish Canyon, but big enough!)...yesterday the ground was white with HAIL. We have had LOTS of rain and wind and there is more in the forecast for several more days! The temps are COLD...30/40's at night and 40/50's during the day. We are doing well and looking forward to SUMMER...everyone says "SUMMER will come"!

TURKEY at bird feeder

Below is our latest BIRD that frequents the bird feeders! Yesterday morning when I looked out the window as soon as I got up, I saw this hen turkey scratching and eating under the bird feeder. Since that siting, she has returned several times!

HAIL ON JUNE 1st!

Last weekend was beautiful and WARM so we had a busy weekend with HUNDREDS of boaters! Monday we treated ourselves and went out for breakfast and then drove north to Spearfish, SD (about 45 miles). We chose a country road that was VERY SCENIC, with our goal being Spearfish Canyon Scenic Drive. Just before entering the canyon we could see real black stormy clouds ahead. It started sprinkling and as we neared the halfway point at Spearfish Canyon Lodge (just a couple of miles from where Dances With Wolves was filmed) the sprinkles on our windshield became HAIL. By the time we reached the Lodge the hail storm had passed but the photo below depicts what we saw...piles of pea sized hail stones! It was also along the roadway and through the woods...it covered the ground about an inch thick! It only lasted for a couple of miles and then turned back to sprinkles. By the time we got to Spearfish it was sunny and warm again! We had lunch at SANFORDS, which was kind of like SANFORD & SONS place...lots of treasures and junk in an old building...good food tho!