The winter routine.

January 20, 2015…22* and overcast

Jake is gone for the day making a grocery run into West Yellowstone so the dog and I have the place to ourselves.  It always feels strange and lonely when he goes out and I wonder when I will ever not worry about him making it back safely to Elk Lake.  Luckily we haven’t had any major snowstorms and the wind has been almost non-existent so his ride should be without any troubles…knock on wood.

 

The past few weeks have settled into a routine of sorts, as work has a tendency to do.  My first task of the day (after a requisite cup of coffee!) is to sweep and mop the dining room floor.  So much snow gets tracked in that it’s impossible to clean it after the lunch groups leaves so I just mop up the big puddles and let it go.  And I certainly don’t blame people for keeping their boots on because if they didn’t, they would be walking around in wet socks!

Then it’s on to prep.  It’s a very different thing to do prep during the winter months than it is in the summer.  In the summer we have a pretty good idea of how many people we’ll be cooking for so you know how much salad to tear up, how many tomatoes to slice, how much broccoli to cut up.  Not so in the winter.  One day we could have two guests, the next twenty-one.  So I have learned to prep on the fly during lunch service.  Why?  Well because the vegetables last longer when they aren’t processed and we need everything to last as long as possible.  A tomato is precious commodity when you have to take it on a rough snowmobile ride and have it arrive unbruised. So we’re figuring it out and Jake and I have a pretty good rhythm of working with each other.

On the "to do" list. Paint and organize the pantry!

Since veggies are not a priority to get done right away, I focus on what I consider the “fun” things…breads, pies, homemade soup, spaghetti sauce, pulled pork…anything that lets me be creative and makes the Lodge smell good.  Jake and I are trying out offering “Specials” this winter and so far they have been well received.  Currently we’re offering a bacon jam and bleu cheese burger…some people look at me like I have two heads when I tell them about it and others (the obvious foodies) just nod and usually order it.  Jake is in the first group.

I will admit to a mishap on my end, though.  I pulled a beautiful peach pie out of the oven, set it on the flat top of Bertha (the old iron stove), and the next thing I heard was the glass pie plate splintering into a thousand shards.  Lesson learned.  You can’t put a hot pie plate on cold iron.  Luckily I had more pie crust dough and more peaches so I just rolled up my sleeves and got at it.

When guests arrive, it’s go-go-go grilling burgers, dropping fries, trying not to burn the buns, and before you know it we’re wiping down the tables and flopping onto the couches in the living room.  Usually we try to grab a bite to eat and I would say 90% of the time we just get settled in and we hear the whine of snowmobiles pulling up.  That part of our schedule needs a little work!

 

But it’s not all about work during the winter season.  We still have ample time to enjoy Nature’s artwork and ooh and aah at the moose that seem to love our willows.  I still cannot believe that I live in a place where moose are our next door neighbors; a group showed up yesterday and said they saw 20…yes 20!...on their ride in.  Amazing.  Here’s a little of what we see:

 

 

 

In closing, I give a nod to Green Bay fans.  Your team played a heck of a good game last Sunday and I’m still incredulous the Seahawks won.  Now we look forward to the Superbowl and taking on the Pats.  I’m serving soup if anyone wants to join us while we watch the game.

 

PS.  Lerrina is still writing a blog so please keep in touch with the Collins' at: the-sustainable-lifestyle.blogspot.com

Happy New Year...Elk Lake Resort is open!

January 5, 2015…35* and overcast

The weather feels balmy today after the sub-zero temperatures we’ve been enduring for the past month or so.  It’s strange to step outside and hear the drip, drip, drip of snow melting off the roof.  We’re used to sticking our noses out the door and feeling them “crackle” from the immediate cold slap in the face.  Enjoy it while we can, indeed, for there is a lot of winter ahead of us!

Let’s do a little recap of the past few weeks.  Jake and I enjoyed a very low key and mellow Christmas here at the Lodge.  We slept late, watched too much TV, ate greasy food that typically you’d find in a gas station, and talked on the phone with loved ones.  There was nary a gift under the tree, but Jake and I shared what we feel are our blessings with each other and even though they didn’t come with bows, they were the best gifts ever.  Health, happiness, togetherness, many good friends, loving family, survival of our first summer as business owners, a good dog, plenty of propane to keep warm, and an exciting future ahead of us.  May we never take any of it for granted.

 

The Friday after Christmas saw Jake on our snowmobile heading to town for the first time since we parked the truck out at Henry’s Lake right before Thanksgiving.  Of course there was trepidation.  What will the drifts be like?  Can you get over the Pass? Will the truck start?  Well, Jake made it to the truck just fine.  He said he had to “bury the machine” (which I think is guy speak for really giving it the gas) while going up the Continental Divide but the rest of the ride was easy-peasy, if a little cold.

Photo taken earlier in December.

It was the return trip that turned into a bit of a nightmare.  There is an area through what we call “The Flats” known as Hell Roaring Creek.  It was there Jake got sucked down into the 3’ of snow in the ditch, perhaps because some other snowmobilers had been playing and messed up the snow, or because Jake was going too fast, or a combination of both.  No matter what the reason, He. Got. Stuck.  After a quick call to me to let me know his predicament, he got busy with the shovel.  He shoveled for a long sweaty hour before he was able to get our beast of a machine back on the road.  By his admission, it’s a good thing there wasn’t a daycare center or playground nearby because the words flying out of his mouth were just about hot enough to melt the snow.

I sighed a huge sigh of relief when I heard the snowmobile approaching in the distance.  I peered out the window and to my amazement spied a young bull moose loping along inside the jack fence that surrounds the Resort.  He was none too happy there was a noisy machine pushing him along, and when he got boxed into the corner of the fencing, he simply sprung up and over.  I was amazed.  I had no idea an animal that huge could jump so high!  Ever the one to make lemonade out of lemons, Jake commented later that had he not gotten stuck, we would never have had that moose experience.  That was moose number two for me here at Elk Lake.  The first was a big ‘ole bull just hanging out in the trees next to the Ranch House.

It was in the next day or two that the phone started ringing off the hook with people wondering when we were going to reopen for lunch. Jake and I had been scratching our heads about that very question since we knew the Collins’ used to open about a week into January, but we had been given feedback from some locals that we should open earlier.  The clamoring public made the decision for us.  We firmly decided New Year’s Day would be the perfect day to reopen.  It makes sense, then, that we served 18 lunches on December 31^st.  Flexibility is the name of the game and we were happy to have the business and company.

 

It was so bright outside!

After three days of snowmobilers coming out for a burger and a beer, Jake and I made the startling discovery that we had not stocked up with enough supplies!  A bottle of Jack Daniels disappears amazingly fast when you have a bunch of thirsty snowmobilers, and I (in my ignorance) hadn’t even considered how much cocoa we would go through.  Ah, the learning curve continues.  So Jake made an impromptu trip back into West Yellowstone to get us closer to being ready for all our winter guests.  (For those of you who haven’t been to Elk Lake, there really is nothing such as an impromptu trip” to town, even in the summer.  Every trip is based on necessity and is a commitment, especially in the winter when there are 25 miles of snowmobiling on either end of the trip.)

Fingers crossed, we are now better prepared!

~ Laurel

A holiday treat from Elk Lake Resort

December 19, 2014…overcast with little snowflakes dancing in the air; 30 degrees.

Happy Holidays from Elk Lake!

Things have settled into a dull roar since Jake and I took over Elk Lake Resort last June so it is high time I write a blog post.

It’s only fitting that my first post as Lady of the Lake is a holiday recipe.  This recipe come to me from my mom and evokes memories of snowy Iowan winters when school had been cancelled.  My mom was a teacher so a snow day was just as special to her as it was to us kids, and it always got turned into a holiday of sorts.

Caramel Corn!  This is not like Cracker Jacks or any other industrial made candy-coated popcorn…this is the real deal.  Caramel that is buttery and crunchy, coating clusters of popcorn and peanuts.  Just the right balance of sweet and salt and addicting enough to make your teeth ache in protest from eating too much.

Don’t try using fake butter in this recipe…you will be disappointed.  The first time I made this recipe and sent some to my mom in her Christmas box she asked, “What recipe did you use??  It was so good!”  She was amazed that the only difference between her caramel corn and mine was the swapping out of margarine (see original recipe) for real butter.

Hint: make sure your bowl is big enough for all the popcorn.  It’s a bit frustrating to stir in the caramel and end up with your counter and floor covered with popcorn.  And by the way…I always double this recipe!

Mom’s Caramel Corn

Boil for 5 minutes:

1 c. brown sugar

1 stick butter

¼ c. light corn syrup

 

Remove the boiling mixture from the heat and mix in (in order):

½ t. salt

¼ t. baking soda

1 t. vanilla extract

(This mixture will get very foamy…that’s because of the baking soda…and is a necessary chemical reaction to make the caramel topping just right.)

 

Pour 1/3 over 4 quarts of popped corn (and peanuts if you'd like) and gently mix.  Do this two more times until the caramel is completely coating the popcorn.  Try to be gentle so that you don’t break up the popcorn too much.

Bake at 250 degrees for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes to dry the caramel.  Sampling during each stirring is recommended. (!)

Caramel corn is not just for the holidays.  If you’d like to try some of this yummy treat when you come out for a visit, let me know and I’ll whip up a batch.  But you’ll have to share.

Lady of the Lake (aka Laurel)

Sharptailed Grouse

I commonly run across Ruffed and/or Blue Grouse on my summer hikes around Elk Lake. Occasionally I'll even stumble across one in the winter. While interesting birds, these sub-types seem the epitomy of their species - a bit dumb, a but clumsy, a bit 'obvious'.

Completely unlike their cousins - the Sharptailed Grouse. I only see Sharptailed Grouse in the winter (although according to the habitat maps they summer in our area). Furthermore, these birds are so un-grouse-like in their actions, I would not have assumed them to be in the same family. They appear smart. They are quick and graceful. And, they are extremely flighty! Thus I have not ONE decent photo after 10 years!

Thankfully others have had greater success! Thus, ALL the bird images in this post are courtesy of others. Since my posts are always directed by my photos and experience, you may be wondering, what's my point? Why a post on Sharptailed Grouse if I have no photos of the birds?

I actually have a really good answer for that question: I had a Sharptailed Grouse 'experience'! And, I have a few photos to prove it! No birds - although I saw and heard them (that is something else unique to Sharptailed Grouse - in my experience they have always been more vocal than their dimmer witted cousins).

So, the story goes like this: I was snowshoeing on a bitterly cold afternoon soon after our lastest good snowfall. This, of course, means I was working my butt off (to be honest, 'that' is a real good reason to snowshoe!). I had worked my way through an open meadow and into a stand of heavier timber when, suddenly, from all sides sprang up at least a dozen Sharptailed Grouse.

Now, stumbling across them on a snowshoe trek is not unusual. Seeing a few together is also not unusual. But these birds were not only in heavy timber (which I had never seen before), but I found what they left behind to be incredibly interesting and educational. So. . .that is what this post shares.

Once the birds had completed their hasty exit, I started looking for clues as to 'what' they had been doing. They had, as far as I could tell, all flown from ground level. This might be moderately heavy timber, but there was still a LOT of fresly fallen (i.e. deep and powdery) snow. Furthermore, it was COLD (-15 at that moment). My first thought: some special food source nearby. I certainly did NOT expect what I found for my first clue: a hole!

The holes were all over - and they weren't really holes, they were tunnels! Yet, foot tracks on top of the snow proved the birds were not 'sinking' into the snow (thus, tunneling until they could reach the top again). Furthermore, not one of the tunnels reached bare ground - so they were not tunneling for food. And, based on the tunnels' width, the birds appeared to have merely 'walked' into them (not extra wide as if they used their wings to push themselves through the snow). And, the final clue - no signs, anywhere, of these tunnels having been created by anything but the birds!

In fact, as this last photo shows, it appears the bird took flight 'at the tunnel's mouth' - in other words, it came out of the tunnel and flew. Therefore, it had been IN the tunnel when I came into the vicinity. This would explain why I was able to get so close (being in their tunnels, they couldn't hear me until I was nearby). But, it still did not explain the tunnels created by a bird!

Always curious, I couldn't leave it alone. WHAT on earth were these birds doing? WHY? Why had I never found this kind of thing before (after all, even with the birds, the tunnels would remain for awhile)? So, I did what every average American does today when looking for answers: I Googled it! And. . .I found an answer. But, first, a little about these interesting game birds.

Sharptailed Grouse are found in many North American prairies seeming to prefer savannnah type grasslands with scattered shrubs. These birds, like the Sage Grouse, are known for lekking (dancing) displays during mating season. The photo above shows a male distributing some of these dance moves.

Mature birds weigh between 1 3/4 and 2 1/2 pounds. The males have a distinctive yellow 'comb' over their eyes and a violet display patch on their neck (see above). The females are smaller with regular horizontal feather markings and no yellow comb or purple display spot.

Okay - so now I knew what they looked like (although I'd already seen them several times in flight). Now, however, my suspicions were confirmed. I had seen Sharptailed Grouse. But. . .my questions remained unanswered.

On to the next possible clue: what do they eat? Apparently they are ground feeders in the summer and tree feeders in the winter (seeds, berries, buds, insects, etc). That, too, confirmed what I had seen for, prior to this experience, I had always seen these birds in trees. But, it did not explain their presence 'here', nor the snow tunnels they had created.

It took a couple of tries before I found a website which provided answers. According to Wikipedia, Hamerstrom and Hamerstrom (1951) and Gratson (1988) discovered that "as the snow depth increases, habitat selection shifts from cropland and prairie to shelterbetls and woody vegetation." So now I knew why they were in the trees. Yet the next sentence contained my 'real' answer. "One habitat change seen. . .was grouse would select large snow banks to burrow into, to keep warm during cold nights."

It wasn't night - but it WAS cold. Thus, obviously, these birds had moved into the trees for shelter and burrowed (tunneled) into the deep fluffy snow for warmth. Hmmm! Now I felt really guilty for driving them back out into the cold. Thankfully, that day, there were lots of trees filled with fluffy piles of snow in which they could relocate!

And you thought winter at Elk Lake was boring!

Lady of the Lake