Goodbyes

Today the cowboys came and took the cows away. That's it until next July - wow. You'll be happy, I know, to not have anymore rants from me about cattle. Not to worry, I'll find something else!

Courtesy of Paul, here is a picture of Mark and one of his large catches yesterday. They had fabulous fishing for the last few days. Paul is on his way home - sad, our guests are done!

We saw these deer and grouse this morning on our walk all together. Didn't know they bonded...

Weather is gorgeous, although it's supposed to change soon. Snow and cold are predicted for Thurs.

Magical Gold

Wow, had to share some of the latest aspen pictures. We just came back from taking Paul to the cholesterol crazed cafe in town. Had to stop a million times to take pictures on the way back. It's so gorgeous that it takes your breath away!

Call of the wild

Weather is back up to normal - sunny and 70. Hurray! We have only one guest left, Paul (Mark's brother) with Lisa, Charles, & Chase driving back to Texas today. We had great fun and Lisa & I even spent a couple of hours meditating, sketching, (and in my case eating too) in our aspen woods. It's amazing how many animal sounds there are when you sit there quietly.

Mark & Paul are off fishing for the 3rd straight day. They've had great luck with salmon & trout, and also saw a group of big horn sheep by the river. No camera with them - too bad!

Deer are coming around the house in ever greater numbers. We wake up to deer out every window - bucks, does, fawns, all eating the rest of our little grass. Crazy...

The aspen by our house are finally turning, much later than a lot of them. As we drive around, there are some aspen losing their leaves, but still, lots of color everywhere.

Enjoying the moment

Weather still unseasonably chilly here, with lows in the mid 20's at night, and the snow has melted off the peaks. I walked with hooded jacket and gloves this morning. Not ready for this! Tomorrow the temps are supposed to go back up to normal - hope so. One good thing with the cold - the bee & fly numbers are dramatically down (at least in the house) I needed to give the fly swatter a rest.

My start of the day routine has gotten a little silly. Every morning the deer are outside my bathroom window eating the last of the grass, so I try to scrunch invisibly into the corner when blow drying my hair, so as not to disturb.I know people are saying, is she crazy, we don't want the deer in our yards, but here we do. Their territory, not ours...

Off to a new restaurant in town tonight with our family company. In jeans - which are accepted everywhere here, even in the nicest places. Gotta love it!

White stuff!

Snow & sleet have come our way. An unseasonable cold front arrived in CO yesterday dusting the peaks with snow and flinging sleet on our house most of the day, then dropping temps to 25 last night. Brrr...it's way too early everyone says. Supposed to be back up to normal temps in a couple of days (high 60's/30's low) - just a warning of what's to come...

The deer continue to come into our yard every late afternoon to eat up the last of our grass. We think they will start moving down to lower elevations soon. They can't eat if the snow is deeper than 21 inches, and yes, snow levels get much deeper than that in our area. This silly early cold front got us moving back out in the woods to cut and stack more firewood. Big winter isn't here for some time, but definitely enjoying our fireplace the last day or so!

Our last bunch of company for Sept. are arriving soon. All fanily which is fun. We've had so much fun with everyone, I could just keep on going.

Animal magic

Wildlife report: Deer were everywhere around the house last night eating Mark's grass. I think it must stand out in the midst of browning vegetation everywhere else. The fawn was so cute, but obviously a late baby with white spots still. Of course I immediately started worrying about it's winter survival. I know, I know, I'm not in control.

Fresh bear scat in the woods this morning on our walk. Hmmm, Mark thought he was probably gone due to the cattle eating everything down.

Also saw 4 elk deep in the same woods this morning, too far for a picture unfortunately. Exciting - haven't seen any since they went to higher ground two months ago.

A day in the life

Success all around for the guys fishing yesterday. Everyone caught something (we won't discuss size) and since two of the guys had never fly fished before, I think kudos to the coach (Mark) and fun was had by all. Only one mishap; a slip on a rock caused a brand new camera to land in the river. Sad...

There are still daily visits from the deer around the house. This is a doe with her twin fawns. Their new gray color does make them harder to see. Nature knows better once again.

Frost on the deck this morning. First time since we got here in early June. The start of chilly nights, but the days are still pleasant.

Busy, busy in town this weekend. It's homecoming for the college, salmon fishermen are everywhere, and bow season for the hunters is going strong. We went to dinner with our guests in Crested Butte instead. A little less crazy and great food.

Smallish happenings on the mountain

The dresses have arrived and of course, were flung on the road beside the gate. And yes, one of them will work for the wedding. Hurray! I've about had it with this crazy delivery thing though, in particular UPS, since they don't even call ahead. I'm trying to decide whether to make a formal complaint through the main office or talk to the local UPS guys in town. The last straw was the flinging of a set of golf clubs that one of our guests sent on ahead of their arrival. Wish me luck!

Cow alert - Mark and his guys were leaving for the golf course yesterday and as they approached the front community gate, they realized that one of the bulls was outside the gate on the main road. They drove through the gate and herded him back in. Full service landowners are we... The cows seem happy with the tired bulls off wandering around by themselves. Hmmm, Cowboy Bill, perhaps it's time to pick them up.

We saw frost on the side of the road down the hill while we were walking this morning. Edging ever closer to the big chill! We had a roaring fire in the fireplace here last night. Great stuff. Took down the flower hanging baskets, sorry Heather, but they were looking very bedraggled. Crested Butte's street flowers still look good, but their hanging baskets are looking a little past prime as well.

Treats for the soul

You're probably going to get tired of my aspen pictures. I'm in awe over the emerging color everywhere. Magnificent nature! Well, not entirely - part of my new daily routine around the house is to check for dead flies on the windowsills and kill any new live ones. Can't wait for this part to end... We have a house full of company as well - have to keep the outside creatures out!

I think our newest guests are having a little culture shock arriving in our special area. This is a Mark's guys group who've come to play golf & fish. One of them needed to buy a digital camera and wanted to know if he could run into a Best Buy store in town. HA HA, fat chance there... He visited our local WalMart (that's all we've got in the way of a "national store") and bought one this morning. Actually they have a pretty decent selection & prices. Did I mention my camera died a few weeks ago and I had to visit the WalMart also? Not even 48hrs went by before I replaced it - can't do without one!

Thought I'd share this picture that was in one of the historic buildings at the Pioneer Museum with the labor saving devices of the time. Life "back then" was HARD. If I think I'm stressed, I'm going to read this list a few times - ought to cure whatever seems to be worrisome.

Golds and Yellows

We just had a wonderful visit with our good friends Wade & Pam. We were so busy with fun activities that I haven't posted anything for a few days. Oooh, fall is here! Interestingly, our own aspen at the house have only just begun to turn. We aren't sure what causes the order of yellow turn: temp, altitude, or whim?

Of course did the Crested Butte walk and shop thing, including a quick stop at our now favorite coffee bean place (they roast their own) with funky license plates as their outside decor.Pam & I took a picnic up to Gothic and Emerald Lake another day. Gorgeous color everywhere. I know you've all been happy I stopped talking about the cows, but just have to mention that they (ranchers) let cattle roam above Gothic and around Emerald Lake. Never saw that before. I can't seem to get away from the "pies"...

Also took Pam to the Pioneer Museum in Gunnison. 20 buildings of past western history from one room school houses to stagecoachs to trains and everything in between- very overwhelming. We saw it all and then promptly were on history overload.

And where were the guys? FISHING, of course. Successful too, caught both salmon & trout. You can't keep the salmon now as they have not spawned yet, but yes on the trout and we had a great trout dinner last night. (Mark cooked them of course!)

More company on the way. Yippee!

Simple pleasures

Again we saw the space station! Mark had seen the time published (8:03pm) and darned if it wasn't almost exactly that. I don't think about the fact that we have people from different countries flying around in that thing. And they are getting along - guess they don't have much choice...

Small mystery here, the ground squirrels have disappeared. Now those are the chipmunk look-a -likes, just much bigger. The real chipmunks are here still in force, hundreds of them, so where did the ground squirrels go?

Second visit to the quaint hair salon in town. I knew what I was getting into this time - no worries. They now have a second pedicure chair! I do have to admit, I haven't had a pedicure all summer, so this news didn't mean too much to me. And if you want to know why - I've been wearing closed toe shoes all summer. Sandals don't work that well in the woods, etc.

We have lots of company coming for the rest of Sept. starting today. Always lots of fun to have people here. I get to share all the places & things that are so great!

Magic in the woods & in the sky

Now the deer are turning a gray color away from their summer brown. It's for winter - never knew they did that. Continuing signs of the change of seasons. No sign of the bear - hurray, although I know he's started the giant daily eating and wandering to bulk up. I stay watchful....

We saw the space station in the sky last night. Mark had looked up the time it would be coming by. Looked like a fast moving satellite. Can't imagine living and working in space! Our view of the night sky is unbelievable with only wide open spaces and no lights to interfere.

More boxes will be flung outside our community gate soon. This is a good place to buy casual clothes, ski stuff, but not to buy dresses, and I have need of one for a wedding we are going to back east. Ordered three - surely one will work...

Lastly, I've been properly chastised by my sister-in-law over my comments on medical marijuana possibly coming to our local town. (see last post). If it's truly only for gravely ill patients, I'm all for it - it was treated in a very lighthearted, off-handed way in the newspaper, giving me a much different impression on who it was for...

Grass and chainsaw sympathy

I am sorry to announce that the odd chainsaw repair man has passed away. The chainsaw episode was in a previous post. We don't know what he died from, but he was only 62. As a longtime member of the Elks there was a big funeral procession in town that started while we were there. Life is interesting sometimes.

So on to happier things. Still enjoying the wildlife here, but no sight of an elk back in the area yet. I have to make due with others, such as the jackrabbit. He (or she) had been gone for a few days, and the coyotes have been active & loud recently. Began to worry a bit, but he's back eating the last remains of our asters.

Clearly I'm not as informed of the doings in Colorado as I should be. Big article in the local paper about the possibility of having one of the legal marijuana storefronts here. Hmmm...was not even aware that Colorado had legalized it. (for medical use) Sounding just a little too much like California to me. This website is being advertised http://www.finallylegalpot.com/ They make house calls - has everyone gone crazy??

Animals alive and others, not so much

We had lots of fun with my brother and sister-in-law visiting. Some fishing, some shopping, and yummy food out. It's so fun to share this fabulous area! Deer, coyotes, and, of course, cows made an appearance. What would we do without all this wildlife? We visited both Crested Butte and Gunnison ending with the crazy antler & stuffed animal store. It claims to be one of the biggest in the U.S. Don't know about that, but there's enough wild & strange in there to give you nightmares... My brother & sister-in-law thought it was a hoot.

We are still filling the hummingbird feeders, but there are only a few coming around. I think the feeders are coming down after this weekend. I've spent all summer trying to hold back time - not working!

The aspen have started to turn, so anticipate lots of yellow coming up. I'll post pictures of course. Waiting for elk to reappear too, but I can definitely live without the giant pile of flies & bees that are swarming everywhere for the last week. I guess it's their last gasp. I must kill or pickup a dozen inside everyday. Yuck.

Movies and such

It's been a few days since I've added so here's the catch-up version. Went to see Julie & Julia. Our one movie theater hadn't added it, but then surprise it was on for 4 days. We live in a special little world here.... Anyway, the movie was FANTASTIC! The theater was full, people laughed through it, and applauded at the end. If anyone loves French food, cooking at all, Julia Child (one of the original food chef icons) and Amy Adams, this movie is for you. Afterwards we went to a local sushi place in town. Crested Butte - fabulous and quaint!

Does anyone know if it's normal for deer to have twin fawns? Yesterday we were on our morning walk and saw not one, but 3 sets of does with their twin fawns. Amazing! Today I was on the walk alone (Mark had early golf) saw a couple of does, but when I got back to the house, I scared some deer away. Mark had been watching them eat our baby grass and photographing them. Credit goes to him for this one...

We've had haze from the fires in LA. It's small compared to Denver, so no big deal, but I feel very sorry for the LA people. No place is safe, I guess.

Couldn't resist taking the cow picture this morning. They are sad, sad they can't get in our fence. HA, HA I say...