When we went to bed last night, half the interstate was closed, the other highways out of town had "no unnecessary travel" advisories.

So, is checking strutting grounds "necessary"?

I opted to assume "no", and that means the heeler sisters and I got to sleep in.

As it was, the pilot called around seven-thirty. Could I fly at 8:00, instead of 10:00?

Well, yeah.

So we did. And this time, we found ten of ten collars. Even though the tenth, the one we couldn't find last time, the cow who crossed the Divide last year, did her best to hide again.

And I got to hear about the pilot's flight yesterday to one of the Plains states. Where he flew for six and a half hours and saw the ground for maybe five minutes.

As we circled high above the Continental Divide, listening for the faint beep-beep-beep of number 582, peeking over into the Atlantic side, he pointed.

"There. That's what it looked like yesterday. Every where except home."

Fortunately, we soon got high enough to hear 582's signal. And found her on the sunny side of the Divide.

Eighteen miles to the sunny side, in fact.