We have about five inches of snow on the ground from the past couple of days of snowfall, and Dan plowed the driveway while the snow was still light and fluffy. Good thing he did that early in the day as it went over freezing by early afternoon. Just mild weather in the forecast for this next week too. Strange winter.
We drove to ‘town’ today to fill a couple of gas cans for the generator. The clouds have prevented us from gaining much, if any, solar gain for our batteries.
![bighorn](http://redmeadow.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/bighorn.jpg)
Bighorn sheep on the hillside above the road. They crossed the road in front of us last time we went to buy gas for the generator. So this time I took the camera.
They stay in different groups. The males all stick together, and the females and this years’ babies are all in a different group. They were re-introduced in the mountains around us, which means they unloaded a stock trailer with sheep who scampered up the mountains, and have been doing fine. This occurred many years ago. Anyway, it’s always fun to see them on the road or on the hillside next to the road.
We also saw quite a few Dippers standing on the ice on the river, next to open water, bobbing and dipping their tails, and then jumping into the ice cold water, only to pop out again a few seconds later, tiny balls of water rolling off their tightly packed feathers, like they were made of teflon. One of our favorite birds.
We saw one eagle flying, and a couple of hawks sitting on trees to round out the wildlife watching that accompanied our chore of buying gasoline.
More wildlife….
![cookiemonster2](http://redmeadow.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/cookiemonster2.jpg)
Decision made, chocolate chippers is it. I had to set the camera down quickly and rescue the plate of cookies.
She thought this whole experience was just too fun for words.