I know I keep saying this, but I've got to start getting up earlier.

The grouse have been cooperating so far this spring, staying on the leks (Oh, Melissa, that's pronounced "leks", rhymes with "necks".) well into the morning, but that ain't gonna last.

Today, the sisters and I were on the road almost 20 minutes before sunrise. Depending upon where you measure sunrise. Kinda fun to set your GPS to display sunrise for your coordinates as you drive, and then watch the predicted time of rise slowly creep up, a second at a time, as you speed west. We can actually gain a few minutes of dawn racing against the sun if we're going west (and almost always are).

But the sun always wins.

Twenty minutes before sunrise was probably our earliest departure yet this season. But when your first lek is an hour away, that isn't early enough. Still, it helps that the sky was almost totally overcast.

Snowing in places, in fact. Made the drive home a little exciting.

Only one roll-over in 57 miles, and only the one ambulance running.

Did pass a semi with this printed on a hand-made bumper sticker:

"Poultry in Motion."

Since I didn't see any air holes, I'll assume his was a reefer.

And today's Grouse Pic is another pic of grouse. If I was picking a caption for this one, it would be:

"Annual Performance Review"