After a day’s absence, the turkeys returned (I actually missed them) and the flock grew to 24. There are 3 Toms and 21 hens, as best I can tell. They seem to be getting used to our presence. This morning, one Tom approached me in his full display.
Two bull elk returned. One had dropped his antlers. They were hanging out next to the barn and walked off after I spotted them.
The variety of bird song increases daily as more return for Spring in Estes Park.
When we are not busy working on the cabins and main house, I have been creating lots of projects. More to follow. A girl has got to have fun!
I am reading a wonderful book about a pair of sisters, The Dickersons, who lived on the Mummy Range in the early 1900’s, called “Apples of the Mummy’s Eyes”. They viewed the profile of the “mummy” from the off the grid cabin they lived in for 80+ years! From the age of 5-6, they worked with teams of horses to pull stumps and did all sorts of hard labor. Helen was a real homebody, like me, and made pine needle baskets, candies, woven blankets, which she sold at a store on the edge of their property.
Here at McGraw Ranch, we have two guardians, Pulpit Rock and Indian Head. In fact at some point, the ranch was called the Indian Head Ranch.
It just seems like a strong profile to me but nonetheless, he is our protector. The first thing we see every morning.
We took advantage of several beautiful, warm days this week and hiked in the backyard. Tim went to Balanced Rock. I opted to skip the elevation gain and looked at pine cones instead. We have beautiful Ponderosa Pines all around us and their pinecones reminded me of a rose.
The next walk we took was along the Northern Boundary trail into the Comanche Peak Wilderness, where we caught a glimpse into the next valley. It’s easy to imagine what it must have been like to ride horses into this territory when this was a dude ranch.
We didn’t realize we could see Longs Peak, the highest point in Rocky Mountain National Park at 14,256 feet, for a good part of the walk but it was clear to us on the way back.
There was a sundog on the way down. A sundog occurs on either side of the sun when it is low on the horizon and is called a sundog because it sits beside the sun like a loyal dog. My best capture of this was in Maine when we wintered at Schoodic Point in Acadia National Park.
But now the weather is turning colder once again, single digits for the next couple of days. Space heaters are back in use and water is left dripping from all the faucets.
We stopped by the Stanley Hotel, the setting for Stephen King’s “The Shining”, while in town yesterday. They have special rates, more not less, for rooms with paranormal activity. Stephen King shot his own miniseries here but the hotel promotes the Jack Nicholson version.
What’s not clear is that it sits right at the edge of Estes Park and is not at all remote.
Although we are only 15 minutes from town, our setting is remote. Just the way we like it.
Or perhaps it was Kansas. Somewhere along our drive west, I lost one of my favorite handknit hats, Katie’s Kep.
I’m over it but I needed another hat. Luckily I had some yarn leftover from the hap shawl I just finished knitting. It’s Shetland wool from Jamieson & Smith, and is very soft and warm.
We also need cloth napkins. I scored some crochet cotton at the local thrift store and warped my rigid heddle loom.
Not my first color choice but it was all they had and cost a mere $4.
Here’s my cabin workshop, complete with an antique quilt. Big plans!
We’ve designated one of the dining tables our game table. It holds my dad’s old travel cribbage board, cards, chess, and today’s addition: an empty egg crate and dried chick peas for mancala, a new favorite of mine. I may have bought the chick peas just for this purpose.
And in the evening, we’ll have oreos. I woke up with a craving and since we didn’t plan to go out today I made a batch. Yummy,
Looks like we will have to shovel even if it’s not snowing. We only got about 4-6″ snow but then the wind blew for a couple of days and created drifts where we didn’t want them.
I may have found a new favorite pastime. I have to knock icicles off the buildings. It is very gratifying – immediately rewarding, with an accompanying tinkling sound.
Snow blows upSunroom
The sunroom is cozy even when it is below 0 degrees f. Passive solar plays a big role in keeping the buildings warm.
View from down the valley to the barn
Such a beautiful, dramatic setting.
The barn
We took a short walk the other day, I’m still acclimating to 8000 ft altitude, and came across places where the elk laid down.
We joined the local pool and our first swim was punctuated by many rests to catch our breath. Otherwise, I feel fine. When we went backcountry skiing in the 10th Mountain Huts outside of Leadville, CO, which is at 10,000 ft, I never acclimated and had the worst headache, despite meds, for the entire time.
High altitude baking intimidates me. My first attempt can’t count because I forgot to add the egg until a crumbcake was already baking. It turned out surprisingly well.
Last night I made a cobbler and pizza. Both were delicious.
Every year as Christmas approaches I start making projects, lots of them. I think I knit 40 hats, scarves, cowls and sweaters. Most have been distributed.
This is my current tour de force. A drop shoulder fair isle sweater I designed and knit on a machine. It’s being stretched on my new woolly board from the Wool Brokers in Scotland.
I made this pullover from a simple pattern written up in the 1980’s. The body is cashmere, sleeves are alpaca silk and sock yarn. My granddaughter thought it was soft enough to keep.
Star Wars was my theme this year.
When I wasn’t knitting, I baked, lots of different cookies. These buche noel cookies were a hit with me!
These stained glass window cookies were fun to make. The centers were a surprise though. They looked like chewy candy but were actually melted lifesavers and hard. I won’t be making these again.
Decorations were kept to a minimum. I pulled out two candle chimes and a star.
We kept the lights on an evergreen from last year, plugged it in and voila!
Then we hit the road, to Christmas celebration in Kittery, Maine, and skiing at Killington, Vermont in spring conditions.
Complete with a rainbow.
The Champlain Bridge, on our way home, was picture perfect.
A few more days at home and then we are headed back out. We will be caretakers at Mcgraw Ranch in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. Can you say ROAD TRIP?!
All beautiful. Seguin always delivers. A little rain, fog, the foghorn, great trails, monarch migration, some visitors but then a week without another person (except Tim of course), nightly cricket invasions, clouds, sunsets, waves, the view of Mt. Washington, ships, near and far, lighthouses along the shore, rocks, spider webs, good food, at least one mink this year, bald eagles, the prism rainbow, but no rainbows this trip, the weather was too nice. Feeling on top of the world.
It’s been windy here on this offshore island. Seas are big, waves are crashing in the cove and we had a super, high tide, with the full moon and a north wind.
Bottom line, no visitors for a few days and lots of debris and seaweed in the cove.
We had to haul the dinghy up to higher ground. Our next few dinghy trips should be interesting. Not today though. Small craft warning persists.
Land snails seem happy enough, until I hear one accidentally crunch underfoot.
Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse was dark for a month after a lightning storm zapped its LED bulb. I met the Coast Guard electrician who told me the bulb was sent to Australia for repair! Yet on my one of my final days as a keeper, four men in blue coveralls arrived in an unmarked truck. Much less dramatic than other locations where they arrived by helicopter.
Bulb repair
And just like that, we had a light again.
It was comforting to see it from my bedroom window once again.
I was very busy my last week, seeing the sites and packing up the house. Tim and I had visited all but one of the bridges on Acadia’s carriage roads. I made a final trip and saw the last of the lot, the Cliffside Bridge.
As its name implies, it is built into the side of a cliff. I couldn’t be sure it even crossed a stream.
Cobblestone bridge is the first carriage road bridge built and the only one made with cobblestones, not granite. It sits just outside the Park and is my personal favorite. I liked it so much, I crossed it on three occasions.
The second time was with Tim when we came upon this whimsical tree carving.
Complete with stick figures and a porcupine or beaver.
Then I cleaned house, packed up the dishes and linens for the NPS and gathered my pantry, projects and clothes and headed home.
I loved living on the sea’s edge with waves crashing beneath my windows but, ” There’s no place like home “. (Have I mentioned I played the good witch, Glenda, in fourth grade).
The bees around the lighthouse are busy pollinating the marigolds, beach roses and ragwort. My neighbor spotted a few bees at my hive. I suspect they are merely robbers but time will tell.
We took the Maine DOT ferry to Swans Island last week with bikes and had a grand time despite all the hills. One stop was the Burnt Coat Harbor Lighthouse. It shows what a community working together can accomplish. From about 2007 to now, they restored it to its current, pristine state. Well worth the stop.
After another hike, we drove Acadia’s Park Loop Road. We saw first hand some of the parking issues elsewhere in the park. There was a mile long line of cars parked alongside the popular Sand Beach.
We found some quiet spots anyway – not at Sand Beach
As summer rolls by, many beautiful boats pass the lighthouse.
They make us wonder, for a moment, if we would like another boat, besides Sparky.
Just for a moment.
The hammock offers a peaceful retreat from the crowds. There is usually a breeze and it rocks me right to sleep.
While the sunset is beautiful, we discovered you can’t actually see the sun sink below the horizon from the rocks, in summer. It’s a winter spectacle when it sets further south.
There were two, mildly rotten, weed filled, half barrels at the lighthouse when we moved in. I freshened them up and filled them with veggies and flowers and they are flourishing.
Most photographed flowers at Bass Harbor Head LighthouseSalad futures and herb garden
With all the fog and rain, I have only had to water them twice in 6 weeks!
A ferry and bike ride let me get a new perspective of the area.
Great Cranberry Isle sailboat display
I succumbed to the most popular photo of the lighthouse, besides selfies, taken from the rocks.
You can see why it’s popular and the light isn’t even on yet.
The house takes on a different view at night
This week, I found the perfect setup for my hammock; hidden from the masses but with a beautiful view.
Island and North Country Life 