wildlife

Two hikes and an elk road block

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We were lucky to have family visiting for a few days and did some exploring with them. We walked the trail ridge at Lily Lake and saw great views of Longs Peak and the northern Front Range.

Yesterday I returned to Gem Lake, 987 ft elevation change, easily, and have acclimatized.

Front Range Clouds and Contrails

The view from the Stanley Hotel may have been even better.

We had a paper airplane contest up the hill, behind the ranch, which offered a view of this valley.

A rock wrapped in paper (?!) travelled the longest distance but a complex design had the longest float. Both winners!

Here is a coaster I wove on a rigid heddle loom. It was a slow but gratifying process because I had to select all the pattern threads by hand.

We needed an image of Shrek for a card and I got to try another watercolor.

This morning, the trees are bending in the wind with gusts to 70 mph. They continue to look beautiful after they die. Hopefully none will fall on my car.

The highlight of the visit was when the local elk herd decided to change pastures and cross the road. The kids said it was the best thing they saw, so Tim turned the car around to watch them some more.

Once you spot one, that’s all you see

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I finally saw my first elk and then that was all we saw on the drive into town to swim. It’s also the first time the clouds cleared enough to reveal the mountain range.

This one is much smaller than the two Tim saw at the ranch but he was a beauty. Then we saw a field filled with elk, lounging about.

These two had a little tussle and then hung out together and snacked.

After 12 days at 8,000 ft elevation, I didn’t feel sick after swimming. I read it would take me 22 days to get used to this altitude. I’m definitely getting there.

Finally this morning, I saw two bull elk grazing from my front porch.

And here are the adult and juvenile bobcats walking along the field off the dining room.

This mountain chickadee hopped towards me to say hello on the porch. Not as imposing as an elk, but adorable.

Here’s a view of the ranch from the road. Pulpit rock, in the background, is very impressive.

I’m having fun with new to me gadgets: a ninja blender (very powerful), an electric floor washer (not convinced yet it’s better than a mop) and this jar opener. I was dubious at first but it does the trick.

If it wasn’t labelled, I wouldn’t have noticed it.

And finally a fiber update. I started this hap shawl in October and finished it last week. I plan to give it as a baby gift but I have to confess, in the meantime, it is keeping me warm.

It’s from Heirloom Knitting’s Shetland Hap Shawls: Then & Now. I’ll wear it now and give it then. The Jamieson and Smith shetland yarn is so soft and warm.

What’s worse than a snake in the grass?

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Snakeskin in the grass

One in the basement!

I found this little guy in the basement and another under the outside stairs. A quick search led me to Snake Away to try to keep them from the house. We probably also need to seal a few cracks.

That’s Tim on the roof, for the last time, cleaning the chimney. I’m belaying him from the ground and hate the whole process. He agreed to hire someone next time. I may have to get this promise in writing.

My zinnias keep blooming. Every time I cut a flower, two more appear. They may be my only crop next year.

Here is the last bloom in my wildflower garden.

Honey is in. It was a sticky day. Best advice was to have a bowl of water and towel nearby to rinse your hands, repeatedly.

I harvested about 17 pounds. Since then, I have fed the bees about 80 pounds of sugar to keep them fed over the winter. We traded.

Will you look at that. So pretty. I need more garlic and rosemary next time but it was quite the creative focaccia.

Wild and weird

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Summer ticks away. The garden is nourishing us. Today we had pizza with home grown tomatoes, purple basil and oregano (thank you Janice).

Sunflowers were planted for dyeing but they are too pretty to behead just now.

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I’ve been experimenting with my top load updraft gasification stove for cooking dyestuff outside. With my newest rendition, I boiled water in 6 minutes and had jets of gas burning across the top but won’t be able to sustain a flame for an hour. The “top loading” is the problem. You load sticks from the top, which means you have to keep lifting the large stock pot to add more fuel. Nope.

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It did satisfy my pyro tendencies for a day however. Now I’m planning a cinder block rocket stove. There are lots of metal varieties but I don’t weld or snip metal very well.

I had to tell this American Carrion beetle, “I’m not dead yet!” It was marching across my front porch while I worked outside.

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They don’t usually have “tails”. Not sure what was coming out the back door but it was icky.

Spiders, coyotes and turkeys are up to shenanigans. The coyotes are becoming too bold; hanging around in broad daylight. Today Tim counted 33 turkeys cross the yard and I encountered this spider web down the road.

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Going Wild in Puerto Rico

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This looked like some sort of fruit pod we noticed while we were taking a leisurely walk to the lighthouse on Culberita except it was moving. On close inspection, it turned out to be a hermit crab in a bright green shell. There were hermit crabs of all sizes around us. They actually made noise, rustling on the forest floor. Tim picked up a large one and let out quite a scream when it nipped him. I think that one was the size of a lobster.

Crazy cacti

A side trip on our way back from the lighthouse revealed these cacti. They were big, beautiful and dangerous.

From our room in the rainforest, we saw this bird and a few friends cavorting outside our window. There was a lot of hubbub and one bird was stripping the strands of palm leaves for building material. Amazingly there were very few insects and we were able to sleep with the door open.

Tree lizard