Today was yesterday. At least the morning was.

Had to rerun the Ferris strutting ground route, since the birds were smarter than me yesterday, staying in their beds instead of going out into the cold and wind.

As youngest son said last night, as he was driving us home, the grouse were all probably hiding in the sage, pointing at me, and laughing as they saw me sitting out there freezing my fingers off trying to count empty leks.

So anyway, this morning was again cold. 23^o. Totally overcast, bitter north winds. A total repeat, (but without the snow) complete with the mists rolling over the Ferrises again.

Only today the mists were winning. The whole west end of the mountains were shrouded in puffy white. Every canyon on the east half had been conquered. Only Ferris Peak itself stood out, free of the mist, but with a fresh dusting of snow.

The ashes of a cold morning mist.

Grouse were unusually cooperative this morning. Most out strutting, few slinking around in the bushes. I guess when you don't get to party on Friday, you try harder on Saturday. Still only had 233 cocks on the five leks, compared to 310 at this time last year.

It was only an hour and a half after sunrise when we got done with the route, with still no sunlight (hence, no hungry eagles), so decided to head towards the lek on the other side of the ghost town. Today took the narrow two-track that winds through the dunes, passing some meadows and a fallen cabin hidden in a basin, rather than the county road.

No grouse in the dunes. Barely any moisture, either. Normally the meadows are treacherous this early in the spring, but they're bone dry already this year.

Hit skiffs of snow just before reaching Ferris. And were busting through new drifts 20cm deep by the time we got to the lek. (Okay, most of the drifts only partially covered the road, so we didn't have to bust through them. But you know I did.)

Thirteen cocks still hanging around, only occasionally getting brave enough to stand out in the wind and strut.

Sat there for quite a while, trying to decide if I wanted to head further into the dunes and blizzard to check the Junk Hill lek site.

No.

Unusually large number of wardens on the radio this morning, most checking and passing along highway and weather reports. The snow is north and east, and headed our way. Don't want to be stranded back in those dunes if a real spring blizzard hits.

So I watched the mists trying to wrap around through the canyons on the east side of the Ferrises. And wished I had a camera.

And I thought of our epitaph. The words the wife and I want on our stone:

Paraphrased, but some of you may know where they come from.

Took the county road back to the highway, which passes through the Mahoney Dome oil field. With its rich, sulphurous smells. Saw a service truck outside one of the sheds. One of the daily maintenance visits.

And caught the maintenance guy outside the front of the shed.

Peeing.

He certainly didn't expect to see anybody else out here in the boondocks on a Saturday morning. Certainly not one as cold and miserable as this.

Hope he didn't hurt himself zipping up.

Snow got home the same time I did. Nothing heavy, but the forecast calls for more. With wind. So the planned trip to the city to the west is off. Wife is not complaining, as she then gets to do the one thing she had on her agenda for the weekend.

Sleep in.