Greetings, all, from the soon-to-be scene of it all,,,where, as the attached pics demonstrate in living color, summer has finally arrived here in Western Montana. In fact, we just had a casual E-10 neighborhood warm-up on the back deck (for the last four hours!) where the official arrival of summer proclamation was made by all locals in attendance.
Visualize this: As the sun was dropping behind the mountain opposite Headquarters, it was 70 degrees, a mayfly hatch was in full spawn, larger caddisflies were interspersed among their size 18 counterparts, and the evening breeze was as sweet as anything wonderful that you might imagine. In the course of the gala, we were able to confirm that (a) Headquarters is still an admirable party house; (b) the now well stocked wine locker [to wit: the garage] holds an ample supply of primo wines of all persuasion; (c) Kocktail Kathy, your Hostess With the Mostess, is yet that; and (d) Extravaganza 2010 is now just days in the offing.
The weather here in the last 48 hours has literally (and I think permanently) shifted from a crisp, unusually cool spring to a glorious summer. Birds of all types were in and out of our birdfeeder like flights in and out of LAX, hummingbirds were like fighter pilots dancing in and out of their resident feeder, and the greenness of all of the springing forth new growth (as shown in that of [my favorite] the larch pine in the last of the attached photos) is refreshingly stunning.
Yesterday, in the early morn, I drove over the Continental Divide to Helena to attend our quarterly Montana Wildlife Federation board meeting, and the drive over was simply breathtaking. Playing on my cd player was our Montana Matters heart wrenching series of Montanaesque songs accompanied, intermittently dispersed through the morning ground fog, by visages of snowcapped mountains being greeted by the bright morning sun. The rivers were full (now each falling in volume, sated by their now-waning spring runoff); the air was as pristine as anything that you could imagine and spiced with the smells of new-found annual rebirth; new-born calves were suckling with their mothers' careful oversight; ospreys had returned to their seasonal homes, with newbies literally under their wing; and all that Montana has to offer was laid out like the most glorious seasonal meal that you could ever hope to have presented before you.
Yes, folks, this is it--the week we have all been waiting for...the now days-away (as in six [count 'em!]) commencement of our eighth annual foray into the wonders and glories of all that Western Montana has to offer. This afternoon's passage was proof-certain that Montana, indeed, is God's own backyard as she has reserved only the best of her offerings to be laid before only those deserving to receive her bounty and, yes, that, properly, includes each one of you.
Fellow E-10ers: Dispel any questions that you might have earlier had about river conditions, weather conditions, and/or fishing conditions; for I can now tell you first-hand that we are "spot on" for each of those for E-10 which on the one hand is happily welcome news but, on the other, now takes away each and every one of any excuses that you might have otherwise divined as to why you didn't make the Twenty Inch Club board, why you failed to capture a yellow hat (awarded to the biggest trout landed each day) and/or why you left for home from God's own backyard unadorned with a spiffy new monogrammed yellow shirt (with just one awarded for the biggest trout landed in each Group)!!
To the Ignoble Ones: You are officially in the batter's box for E-10, so get serious now about that now-last-minute packing, about those Hawaiian shirts and about those gag gifts (some of which are already beginning to show up here at Headquarters courtesy of UPS and FedEx)--your clearance for landing here in Extravaganzaland is now but (long awaited for) days ahead.
More to follow in this quick-to-pass week ahead...
Bueno, bueno, bueno!!
Rock Creek Ron
-----<'///><
No comments:
Post a Comment