Late last week the TV weather guessers were predicting a super hot weekend running into Monday with most of the nation sweltering. For all I know, maybe they were right.
About most of the country, that is. Here in the northern Rockies yesterday - Saturday - was actually too cool for a short sleeve shirt to be comfy. I don’t think we reached 70℉, we ate supper indoors instead of on the screened porch.
This morning is overcast, though what happens later is anybody’s guess. Our predicted high today is 55℉ and there is a freeze warning for tonight (29℉ predicted).
I believe I’ve mentioned we have a short growing season here. “Growing season” is the number of days between the last freezing night in Spring (quite possibly tonight) and the first freezing night of Autumn. Locals have tried to home garden tomatoes and corn, but most years those are forlorn hopes and few make a second attempt.
At this altitude we grow mostly irrigated fodder - hay and alfalfa. These are fed to cattle which are raised for meat, cow/calf operations predominate.
Dairying once was common but the work is just too unrelenting. When we first arrived here 30 years ago there was a thriving cheese factory but it and the dairies that supported it are long gone.
The area is making a gradual transition from alpine agriculture to two-season tourist area like Vail or Sun Valley. There are lakes, ski resorts and National Parks within an hour’s drive, plus lots of hunting, fishing, snowmobiling and off-roading in the two local National Forests. Just this year a KOA joined several local RV parks already here.
