E-13: Springtime In The Rockies!!

Greetings, Fellow E-13ers from Extravaganza Headquarters!

 

The attached photos give you a pretty good idea of the springtime extremes that exist here at the epicenter of all Extravaganzas:  Driving snow in near-zero conditions followed by quick melt-offs in mid-40 degree weather followed by nights dipping into the wee teens accompanied by rolling snow flurries and their bone-chilling winds.  For you rookies out there, the first snow shot is taken from my office steps looking up and at our main house.  We keep our buildings heated all winter long so, while it may be a bit chilly outside, the insides welcome us with open arms to spend the on-average 10 days a month that your Hostess With The Mostess and I spend here (she being resident here all summer long with (y)our E-13 trusty mascots aged Cocker Spaniel “Sir” and his much younger and bouncier now four year old Black Lab “Ma’am”).  The third photo gives you a perspective of the layout here, with me currently typing this note from my MT office which is located on the ground level of the building on the right hand side.  Check out the cool nature-made hanging icicles which the frigid temperatures creates out of our chains-in-lieu of otherwise needle-congested downspouts and give greeting to our patio eagle who oversees our lawn casting on the day(s) of your arrival(s)!!

 

Now I was all set to send you our very first fish photos of the year—the product of a most chilly first two days of fishing with our Double Up Outfitter John “The Great but Propaneless” Gould, but, as luck would have it, my failure to check out our otherwise virtually bullet proof cameras left me this morn with purple blurs of otherwise pristine rainbow and cutthroat trout that we caught (and released) on the Bitterroot over the past two days.  Your Hostess and I fished together on Saturday in the midst of intermittent snow flurries and a biting cold that chilled both of us to the bone and, then, the next day daughter Trina “Boots” Clausen and I did the same float under blue skies and landed gorgeous (you would have loved the pictures!) rainbows on bamboo driven dry flies during this annual early skwala fly hatch—a stone fly hatch that is limited to just certain rivers and to fisherfolk who have no sense at all to get inside out of the cold!  The largest of our bounty was a gorgeous 19” rainbow that your Hostess landed (again, you would have loved the picture of both fish!) and, by far, even better than the gorgeous views of the snow-clad Bitterroot Mountains was the warmth-driven crackling sound of the fire in the fireplace each night après fishing.

 

With now two boats launched this 2013 season, I am leaving the picture taking to Group One’s Brian “Moraine” Shepard and son Josef “Fear The Beard” Shepard who are currently resident in our co-owned Blackfoot house and, right now, are on the Bitterroot’s water with Propaneless for their first of five (count ‘em!) days of skwala hatch fishing—an annual right of passage for Moraine & Co.!  …and you shoulda seen those great shots I took for you, gang!!

 

Best to all from the frigid scene of it all (as in it was 16 degrees outside yesterday when Boots and I headed out to go fishing!),

 

Rock Creek Ron

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