Scrub Oak

Pike's Peak, Elk Calves, and Reevaluation.

 

(from pikespeakgallery.com)

On my way to work this morning I discovered three elk calves who were trying to jump the fence.  They were adorable and so distressed that I stopped the jeep and got out with the intention of...what? helping them jump the fence?  (This isn't my photo but it was in the general area of the proposed rescue operations.)  The view in the morning is softer and the Peak is purpler, uh...more purple.  We have had rains and it is a lovely soft green now with sunflowers growing where ever they please.  Anyway, back to the elk calves.  I pulled over and my husband pulled over and then a coworker and neighbor pulled over just to watch them cavort and bawl for their mamas.  (I know, I know!  aagh!  Why don't we ride together?  We're all going in the same direction so what's the deal?  Well, the deal is that all of our jobs require our own transportation.  I'm on call today and am "required" to have my own vehicle, Des has to go to Pueblo to check on our clients at the state hospital and is on call tonight so will need her own transportation, and my husband has to have a way to escape the prison at least once a day. The absurdity of this came so very clear this morning and I am going to rectify it.) Anyway, back to those elk calves.  

  

(image from my-photo-blog.com)

So, we watched them and searched for their mamas and wondered it they were triplets as they were so identical in size and color.  They ran away from the fence when they sensed we were paying too much attention to them.  It was a nice start to the day and I thought about the event several times.  Each time brought a smile to my face.  They were gone this evening so I'm sure they found the Way.   

Direction of the Wind

It's going to be helluva Saturday night snow storm according to the news.  I'm always excited about extreme weather and am thinking to volunteer my joy to the National Weather Service as a weather spotter.  The NWS has a kit they send out to prospective spotters and I'd have done it except that the required classes all seem to be during my regular work schedule.  Maybe I should take a week off and do the classes anyway.  Because I really like weather.  You learn about clouds and how to recognize baby tornadoes.  The kit came with a "hail size" detector card and suggests that all you really need is time to observe, a yardstick, and a rain gauge.  That's it - I'm going to be an official weather spotter this year. 

This morning was spent taking down Christmas. 

 

 

I've made small piles of ornaments that the girls have received over the years.  Now that they have their own homes they should have these.  But they won't be getting my favorite ornaments which happen to be the ones that they made for gifts all so many years ago.  Who would have guessed these would be so dear?

 

I can't quite figure out if I should continue this blog in the New Year.  - Or if I do, what it will look like.  Maybe it has just been all the busyness at work and the Holidays but the blogging thing has been harder for me to sit down to over the past month.  I want something fabulous and it's hard to settle for just myself sometimes.  What I do love about blogging is that way of looking at the world with the intent to comment on what I see, think, feel.  It's a great way to practice mindfulness.  I've enjoyed using the camera to capture just this or that to isolate something, expand it, keep a part of a memory, and share that memory.  I love my virtual friends - what a blessing to me you have all been! 

So...I must think about all of this and what direction seems real to me.  Happy New Year to us all! 

Sunrise, sunset, snow, and bear tracks

Hiya:)   Work is making me a little crazy lately.  My last client of the day - a little 16 year old girl - delightedly told me she just found out she is pregnant.   I am sad for her which doesn't match her goals for herself at all.  I'm at odds with her news -  but that has been how I've been experiencing life all this week, anyway.  The transfer of client charts into the new software is tedious - and there are so many of them to do.  I spent every spare hour of this past week entering treatment plans. My neck and head aches with computer work - but, the weird thing is looking at all those client miseries in one lump period of time.  It's gotten to me a bit, I think, and I need to spend this weekend just getting control of that little bit of life that is mine. 

So, I'm getting a weird sort of pleasure out of the creation of this pair of fingerless mitts. Can you see the problem?

 

Yes, I spent hours knitting up two left mitts.  Jeesch.  Total mindlessness.  My solution was to get more yarn (this is Lamb's Pride Superwash in Plum Crazy) and knit two right mitts rather than unravel.  I'll have an extra pair to give to someone. 

The winter solstice is nigh.  I think sunset is already a few seconds later, but sunrise is a few seconds later too and I'm not sure about the science of that.  Something about the eliptical traverse of the sun.   It's a bit cold today and nice to get out and feel what sunshine is there.  The pooches and I went up the road to get a view of Mason Gulch.  It is the site of a really terrifying wild fire we had several years ago.  I can't wait to see how the green will come back this spring.

 

And I found bear tracks in the snow!  We had a couple of warmer days this last week so I'd guess they're venturing out from their hibernation when they can.  I would, if I were a bear.

 

Identifying tracks in the snow is fun.  Here is a site I use frequently that has some nice photos of all kinds of animal tracks and also clips of animal sounds. 

I've just made a pot of fresh, hot coffee and I have a green pepper, onion, sun-dried tomato frittata waiting for me.  Have a great Solstice weekend, all. 

Wreaths and Moons

Jerry and I traveled to Denver today to see our daughter and son-in-law graduate from University of Colorado.   I'm proud of them, of course.  They have a two year old and a baby on the way, both work full time - and they've done this, too!  When I looked at all those happy, contented faces of the graduates - and all the parents and friends who have one way or another supported those young people - well, I just got a bit teary eyed.  Our young people have a whole new world to transform, nurture, and grow old in.   Possibly a New Order as well where careful and loving stewardship of this earth and each other becomes a priority for every living being.  I believe they can do it. 

I've got some gifts to wrap and I still haven't fully trimmed the tree.  It's different when there aren't any young children around to motivate me anymore.  I did manage to get a wreath made from the extra boughs rather than buy one this year.  

Wreath making is a bit harder than it looks I've discovered.  My branches were maybe too large to work with and as a result tended to go every which way as I fastened them to the wire base.   After fighting with them for awhile I googled "wreath making".  Some directions say to cut little boughs 6 inches long and wrap small bunches of these with wire before attaching them to the base.  I found that I could tame it down a bit with a ribbon wrap which isn't the sleek, wreathy perfection that I had envisioned, alas!  But, it'll do just fine.

 

 

The moon was at perigee last night - the closest it has been to the Earth in 15 years.  It just hung there in a magical sort of way, didn't it?  Here's a photo from the London Guardian which informs that the moon looked 15% larger and 30% brighter than other full moons will this year.

 

Enjoy your weekend.

Christmas Tree hike

(Scrub oak leaves and pinecones on the North Hardscrabble)

Man, I have not done much blogging lately.  Haven't felt like it.  It's been crazy at work - we're transferring ourselves to a new electronic health record which is nuts to contemplate at this time of year, I think, what with the increased need to see clients during the holidays.  Nuts are not, we're doing it.  And we're surviving, which is very cool.  The short days are really getting to me - and that's not ever been a problem before for me.  I guess it reminds me of my mortality.   My solution is to pull out the old Nordic Trac and sign up for twice weekly yoga classes again.  It's a good solution and I'm happy again.  

We went Christmas tree hunting this morning. The Forest Service wants folks to clear trees in some National Forest areas near our home.   We always hike and see a tree 'way up there.  Then, when we get up close we decide against that particular tree for some reason - and find another 'way further up there...and it goes on and on.  We came across an old cabin - and outhouse - after we'd walked about 1/2 a mile up a trail.  I wonder who lived here?

 

The forest was quiet except for us clomping around and kind of warm this morning.  I love the marching soldier look of aspens in winter.

    

There were piles of bear scat all along this trail.  I think they've gone to hibernate but maybe not 'cause it's so warm?

 

A beautiful stag crossed our path at one point. I even waved hi! at him and he didn't seem to mind at all.  He stood and posed for several minutes before wandering up higher.  I think he's looking at his doe who was several hundred yards away.   

  

And, finally, the Tree comes home with us.  We love her.

 

    The rest of the day needs to be devoted to tree trimming and wreath making.  So, I'd better get to it.  Hope you all are "getting to it" the way you know best!

Autumn Sun and Planets

 

It seems almost easy with skies like this to reach into the stratosphere with my bare hands.  Venus and Jupiter are aligning in the southwest just after sunset and are beautiful together.  The late autumn sun shines at an angle and makes everything golden.

 

And I have the entire week off!  Here it is - Sunday evening - and I don't have to get up and go to work all week.  I'm loving it. 

I have some plans, but not many.  Wonderful. 

Dark Mountain Skies and Turkeys

 

Here is a sillouette of the Wet Mountains at about 5:20 p.m. on my way home from work tonight.  Kind of pretty in a dark sort of way, wouldn't you say?    Why is it that we seem to have more energy when the days are longer?  My natural inclination this time of year is to get my jammies on at about 8 o'clock and get into bed to read for awhile before turning the light off, but that just seems like a waste of time to me.  So I make a cup of coffee when I get home and cruise for awhile.   Ahh, caffeine.   

Mom and I have been on the phone talking about who's coming for Thanksgiving next week and how to share the cooking.   I have the whole week off (!!!) and intend to really enjoy the process and the wonderful company of my daughters this year.  

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I finally got a picture the other day of some wild turkeys out on the Beulah road.  Usually by the time I get my camera out they've chortled their way into the brush. 

 

I revel in the knowledge that come February it will still be light at the end of a work day.  So let's just tuck in and stay warm till then, shall we? 

Devil Bug Patrol

   

In the above photo we have the Western Conifer Seed Bug and it is a true bug says the literature (as opposed to a fake one?).  These little guys are about 3/4 of an inch long, fly very clumsily, and emit an odor when riled that to us smells like unripened bananas.  They are the nemesis of idylic autumn home life in the Rocky Mountains.  My girls call them "Devil Bugs" and until today I'd never researched their real names.  I've been sucking them up with a vacuum hose for the last month or so.  Some get flushed down the toilet - you have to flush them completely because they can swim to the side of the toilet and crawl right back out.  I'd leave them be but they are quite obnoxious once they've sought the safety of warmth in my home.  You can be sound asleep, smell that smell in your dreams, and wake hastily just knowing that one got under the covers with you.  I don't know how they get in the house.  I was quite worried that perhaps our home was built on a colony of them, but, talking to neighbors I've found that everyone has them this time of year.  They don't bite and they are caught very easily.  They do tend to fly crazily into your meal or drink, or bonk you on the head when you're concentrating on sewing or doing the bills.  We really dislike them.  Not even Miss May, the family cat, will mess with them much.   

I went home early from work yesterday and haven't been very active at all this morning.  In fact, I stayed in my robe until just a little bit ago.  My head aches and my body aches and there is some throat soreness.  It was the Devil Bug situation that got me up and dressed, armed with vacuum hose in hand.  There were several devil bugs on each window and as the sun warmed up the air in the living room they had started to move about more.  And now I feel a little better comforted in the thought that their numbers are minimized at least for today.  Sometimes grabbing just the mere Illusion of Control is quite healing.   

Old Ewes and the Newlin Creek Trail

A very nice weekend is coming to a close.  Yesterday Jerry and I drove out to eastern Colorado to drop a neighbor's old ewe off at the Fowler livestock sale barn (that was rather sad for our neighbor who loves her sheep, but the ewe tends to have triplets and only has half an udder so she felt it was time to cull). 

Jerry was looking for some young steers to feed for next year but there weren't any that he liked.  I get a kick out of "auctioneer speech" and this auctioneer is quite a character.  He and his assistants on the floor talk quite openly about who's who on the Fowler police beat.  "Yeah, I heard Esther got another DUI last night.  And Bobby Ray is in jail again too, did ya know?" 

We stopped in Pueblo for a very late lunch at Gus' Tavern which apparently is in the Guinness Book of World Records for the dubious honor of most beers sold per square foot.  It's an old Italian tavern close to the CF&I steel mill.  I haven't been to Gus' Tavern for probably 25 years but I remembered the wonderful dutch lunches for which it is renown and had to see if they were as good as they used to be.  Oh, they were!  Fresh, hot Italian bread, capacolla, ham, salami, provolone cheese, pickled cherry peppers, sliced tomatoes and onions.  We ate it all and washed it down with cold beer in frosty mugs bought by Leonard Vigil (aka "Skintight") who worked with Jerry at the State Hospital ages ago.  I don't know who these folks are but they had a nice "dutch lunch", too. 

 

And today we left the house early to hike the Newlin Creek trail.  It's a favorite hike that is close by and so beautiful.  We hiked up to the steam engine left there in 1887 by the Herrick family who had it in mind to log the canyon.  The story is that Mr. Herrick made a chattel mortgage on the equipment, the mules, and the wagon but died shortly after moving his wife and two children to the site.  They left the area and are lost to historical account.

                                                           

There's a gargoyle-ish figure head on the engine itself that catches the eye.

 

The wheel belt is a massive piece of metal.  I can't imagine how it was carried three miles up this canyon.

 

Here's the stone fireplace - all that's left of the Herrick cabin.

  

The trail follows Newlin Creek which has to be crossed 17 times.  Autumn is the best time to hike here because the creek is at its lowest.  

  

There are huge rock cliffs, house-sized boulders, and bear caves.

     

Bobo, the trusty trail chihuahua, bravely accompanies us on these hikes into the wilderness.  (We call him a "whimper-huahua" in the car because he hates to be alone in the back seat.) I'm going to get him his own little backpack to carry a water bowl and treats. 

 

And there - the end of a near perfect weekend.  I didn't do much housework this weekend so will try to catch up over the work week. 

 

 

 

                           

 

Work, babies, and sunrises

A super beautiful sunrise greeted us as we got ready for work on this grand Friday morning.  I love Fridays.  The whole world seems just there for the experiencing of it on a Friday.  Part of it is that we can wear jeans to work most Fridays.  And that always seems so easy to me.  The other part is that of the weekend to come. 

It's been a good week.  We are about to institute a new elecronic health record at the Center and that has just been crazy.  Mental health clinicians are not known for computer prowess in general.  And older mental health clinicians (like me) can't even double click the mouse fast enough any more in order to "select" an item without some computer accomodation help.  That said, I'm one of the trainers for this new program and so don't want to show myself up.  A coworker handed out these sunflowers early in the week to instill hope among the weary.  It just made my week and I've decided to keep a fresh flower in my office when I can. 

 

Last night I started this Zimmerman "Feburary baby sweater" for my new just announced not yet here baby granddaughter.  I'll work on it at after lunch here at the office and it's really just a practice sweater.  My daughter, Jessica, is having problems with the way Elizabeth Zimmerman writes her patterns so I thought I could enlighten her:) and translate the instructions a bit. 

 

Happy Weekend to us all!