Spring Time in the Mountains

What is spring like at 4,000 feet? It's where we go from 54 degrees with no snow remaining on the ground to a full blown winter snowstorm. We have 12 inches and counting today as of 5pm. Some towns near us have 18 inches or even 25 from this one storm! What a nice start to my week off for Spring Break. I've been shoveling the driveway all day.

Here's a picture I took before it started getting dark. I had to dig a hole in the backyard so that you could see the ruler. Here we only had 11 inches, but we've had more since then. In the morning we'll assess the total "damage.
Here's a picture of our resident pheasant. Every year we have a pair that nest near the creek behind our house. We hear the familiar warning cry quite frequently because there are also cats that roam around. Not too long ago we suspected it was mating season as we saw this guy struting around. He then hopped up onto this 8-foot fence and sat for awhile. How funny. You can see how fat he is and it's only March.
Both my dad and brother are avid pheasant hunters, taking annual trips to South Dakota to hunt the birds. No need for us to do that. We can watch all of the pheasant action from the comfort of our home.