While we are waiting for me to get pictures posted of the ranges and compass points from the house any interested can view the neighborhood by visiting the site

http://community.webshots.com/album/558837593SPewps

The pictures are from several our son has taken while out visiting...

I'll get the others up within a couple weeks.  and yes there is a new building up since one of shots was taken.   Most of the sites are within an hour of the house except the hot springs are two hours to the south.  The wife and I go down there every two weeks for an overnighter through the winter.

I'm bringing my swimming trunks :-)

We can definitely set up some wicked ranges :-)

Actually thinking about it last night - what really stands out is the almost total absence of trees.

Any particular reason ?

Our daughter and son had the same impression when they saw where we located after retiring... we are at about 4000' above sea level and in a river valley kinda right in the middle of about four major mountain ranges which reach above 8000' , are covered with trees and very lush year round.  Right where we are located it is desert by definition (rainfall per annum) but most of the valley is irrigated from the water flows running out of the mountains.  After living thirty years in Seattle I could hardly wait to 1)get Dried Out, 2) see the sun regularly in the winter  and 3)escape several forms of polution... light - I love astronomy - could never see the stars in Seattle - out here it's hard to pick out the constellations because of the brillance of the stars around them,   air - there is no smog here only a little smoke haze when folks are burning ditches, etc. in the spring,   political... personal freedoms are still available and ranked highly in Wyoming,   urban sprawl - even that is noticeable here since we came four years ago  and   taxes... like Alaska a lot of the cost of government here is bourne by the mineral industry (oil mostly) so a larger percentage of my retirement income is spent on me and mine than any other state except Alaska.    We are able to roam freely over more public land via ATV's than almost any other place in the world.  My problem was I grew up in Montana and all my entertainment as a kid came from getting out and enjoying the good earth and it's beauties (always had a sling in my pocket and half the time a .22 rifle in my hand - well summers anyway).  People in the big city go somewhere, usually sit and are entertained... we go out somewhere on the land and entertain ourselves.  Of course modern tech toys have added a lot (ATV's, boats, snowmobiles, etc.) to one's ability to enjoy it.  People in Califonia drive miles to enjoy their ATV's and dune buggies... I drive off my south property line into many square miles of unique mother nature.

On a particularly hot summer day last year when our daughter's family was here we grabbed some food and headed for the Big Horns (about an hour away).  It was pushing 100 degrees F. in the valley... it was in the mid seventies at 8300 feet where we stopped to build a fire, roast hot dogs and smores and it got down right cold after sundown (into the forties)... when we got back the valley didn't get down to sixty until  after midnight.  Our daughter said she now knows why we located where we did.

I guess you can tell I like it better here than any other place I can imagine... and slinging both from the rocks available and the space to throw are just outside my door.  We bought tha land so I could shoot cannons into the bluff at the back of the property...  gotta get them up and running some day....

Come and enjoy... if you come early we can get out and do some ATV-ing... a very lot of very interesting geology/geography around here...  but please don't ever plan on moving here!!!!!