East of Belt, Mt

Winter's here, there's no doubt of it.  The temperature was zeero when we went on a photo shoot, in the mountains east of Belt,  Mt.



Snow was blowing on the tops of the hills and clouds were hanging low.



We had landowner's permission to roam round this old Finnish homestead.  Along with the house and barns, an old saunna shed was on the property.



The old weathered boards presented intricate patterns and wonderful colors.



Another view of the house.  Imagine living here when you took the wagon to town to get supplies.



The chimney construction was very interesting.  The bottom of this chimney on the first floor, sat on one by four boards, on the floor.  It wasn't braced from underneath, it just sat on a small cupboard of one by fours.

In the second story, the chimney was built on this slant.



This is part of what's left of the old saunna building.



This is the old barrel that held the water that was thrown onto the hot rocks to create steam.



Another view of the house.



Winter sun shining through the tree branches.



The old saunna from the outside.



Some friends we encountered on the photo shoot.



Beggars....



Christmas card scenery.



The next homestead on our path.



The old well house.



I liked the way the snow made this pattern as it slid off the roof.  It wasn't melting the day we were there!



I loved this old stove, to bad it sits outside, decaying more each year.



Another Christmas card photo!



Our next interesting encounter was with this rabbit.  It was turning color, becoming winter time white.  Pretty soon, he'll be harder to see against the snow.



More interesting creatures!  They were on top of a haystack.



Some of my favorite photos from this trip were of this porcupine.  He was in a tree.  I slid down the bank off the road, walked across a field, slid off a high creek bank, jumped the creek and ran round and round the tree trying to get photos of his face.  He only wanted to show me his back with his wicked quills.



I wasn't about to get close to this...



This little grouse was cute, sitting on the fence.



This was my last photo of the day.  we were almost home, and the sun was putting on a welcome home show for us.  Freezing temperatures or not, we had a great day.  I hope you enjoyed it too!
donna

More equine art and Montana photos on my websites.  Thank you for stopping by.