The View From My Tractor Window

I was moving 10 tons of big round hay bales this afternoon with the tractor and kept looking at the stunning view off in the distance.  So just before moving the final bale, I stopped at the house and picked up the camera to take this shot. 

The bale in front weighs about 1,200 pounds, and we lift it with a 'round bale spear' that hooks onto the front loader -- those arms on either side of the tractor hood.  Although we feed the horses small square bales these days (they're 75 lbs), the round bales are left over from a previous season and were stored in a neighbor's hay barn.  (See how fresh and green this one still is?)  So our neighbor hauled the remaining bales over today.  We'll feed the round bales to our two Belgian draft horses and the handful of other sighted horses over the next few months.

The peaks in the distance are in the Scapegoat Wilderness, part of the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex.  The county gravel road at our south gate, Dry Gulch Road, eventually dead-ends at the trailhead into the Scapegoat.  The North Fork of the Blackfoot River flows out of these mountains and runs along the base of the ridge on the left.  Our valley is flat (it's called Kleinschmidt Flat, after the earliest settlers in the 1880's) because, long ago, a glacier once came out of the North Fork canyon and flattened everything in its path.

If it looks cold out there, it was ... about 10 above zero in the sun.  As I write this, at 7:30 p.m., it's 13 below zero and headed lower!

(Click on photo for larger image.)

Comments

[Leilani]

What a breathtaking winter shot!
I'm amazed how blue the sky is; so much bluer than others States.

You have great neighbors! I would imagine helping each other out, espeically during winter preparation, is pretty common. You become stronger, kinder and wiser.

[Nina]

The view is stunning...a gorgeous place for a ranch! It also sounds like you have wonderful neighbours...overall a bit of heaven here on earth!

[ginger & Tobias (the greythound)]

Brrrr!!! Thanks for the photos of the Bob Marshall as I've been in that area & it's so beautiful. Interestingly enough, I live in the Klein area & wonder if there is any connection, as this area was settled by Germans long ago. (wondering if Kleinschmidt has been shortned to Klein).
In my past, I've had to haul round bales like that, just as you're doing, except to cattle. As well, try to chop water in the ice of the pond but that was in '77, a few years ago.
Warm hugs,
ginger & Tobias

[Roz]

Wow! That's a beautiful winter wonderland but a v-e-r-y cold one.