Jeeping, rain, and dinner with good friends

And its the last few days of July-again the question, how did this happen? I adore the summer/fall here so much and deeply regret each passing day. But, making the most of it! We do not have company for awhile and plan to get in some jeeping trips, hikes and things.

Short jeeping trek up Carbon Creek towards Red Mt. to see the sights and have a picnic lunch. Haven't been since last year and was surprised to see other people, one group fishing, one group cutting down dead trees for firewood, and a lone bicyclist. Quite gorgeous,wild and isolated.

A meeting with a boy on my morning walk

Coyotes howling in the dark, cows mooing in the night - why?, and deer meandering through Star Mt. No car, train, or plane sounds to disturb the peace. Nice.

Had good friends Gail and Steve over for dinner - its been a year and we did a repeat with, drumroll please, Shrimp Paesano. Lovely excuse to make it.

Local news:
 Crested Butte doctor, Dr. Gloria Beim has been appointed chief medical officer for the U.S.Winter Olympics team.for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia.She's been involved with previous Olympics and world games but this is the highest level yet. Hurray for little Crested Butte.
Multiple mountain lion sightings at the golf club in Gunnison. Lots of deer there - easy pickings?

Books read: Astrid and Veronika by Linda Olsson, not very inspiring, maybe translation, as she is Norwegian, An Invisible Thread by Laura Schroff, great true story of a Manhattan woman who befriends an 11 year old panhandler in the streets, and Sullivan's Island by Dorothea Benton Frank, pleasant, low country (South Carolina) summer read.

Lots of lovely rain yesterday and today.  A day for inside projects or just lazing around.

Whirlwind visit comes to an end

Everyone is gone, boohoo, but it was a great time. Mark is off as well, to meetings in Dallas. Whoo, time for me to catch up on laundry, bills, etc.

32oz bottles - filling all four once a day!

Also keeping to insane hummingbird feedings schedule. They're baaack...Thank goodness we got the extra big boy feeders.

We all went in different directions the last few days of the visit. Exercising, fishing, hiking, shopping, eating, and searching for the internet connections in town. Blah - we still have our slow, slow "situation" with the internet at the house.

unknown berries were everywhere - bear too?

Star Mt. hike happened with a portion of the group. Fun always to explore.

where oh where are you petroglyphs?

A group of us tried to search for the elusive petroglyphs, to no avail. These are the 800 year rock carvings that one of the professors at Western confirmed exist and are not an urban legend. I'm going to contact him and get just a little more input on location I think. Thanks for looking with me everyone.

Interesting internet session at the cute coffee/book store in CB. Free entertainment outside (bang, bang on kitchen bowls and intense strumming) - always the unexpected around here.

And let us not forget the small, very small golf contest on the driveway. No one won - hopefully no deer were injured in this experiment...

Fields of flowers, magnificent views, and bouncing with family

And mountain enjoyment continues... Took the whole gang up to Red Mountain. James got to break in his truck with 4 wheel driving and all went well. We saw elk, opened lots of cattle gates, saw cows and more cows, (Hey Nancy, the deceased cow was mostly gone when we got back- nature doing its thing), and some fishing was attempted in Red Mountain Lake. Scared elk out and this had clearly been their bedding down place the night before - lots of indents in the grass. No luck fishing but there was a strange sighting - salamanders. They were thick in that lake. That's a new one...

our traffic jam on the way (a neighbor actually)

James getting ready

The Rock and the truck (it needs a name!)

elk babies and mamas a runnin' away from us

monument plant - they bloom every 2 to 5 years and can get to 7 ft tall

Sherry and I explored the swampy woods -close eye out for bear!

There have been afternoon showers most days since Paul, Sherry & the kids got here. Very welcome with so little rain for weeks. And the hummingbirds have decided, as of yesterday, that our feeders are back in favor. Masses of hummers are slurping up the sugar water - looks like we could be back in the craziness. And with all the fields of flowers up by Red Mountain, not a single hummingbird was seen. What's that about?

Salsify - cousin to dandelion with huge seed balls

I'll be back with another report in a few days. The fun continues until Tuesday, then everyone leaves, including Mark - for a two day business trip.

Jeeping and fun with company

Lots of fun going on here. An early guest arrived ahead of Paul and Sherry & family - Nancy. So great she could swing over from Santa Fe.





























We remedied the Nancy never having been in our jeep for an adventure by going up close to Red Mountain to find the mystery Red Mountain Lake that we couldn't find last year. Many cattle gates and much cattle later, success! Drop dead gorgeous up there.







And took Nancy to the new and improved Secret Stash after visiting the farmers market. Yummy food, busy but not crazy. Lots of people everywhere- a good summer for CB!




















Paul, Sherry, and the kids have arrived. Yippee! Everyone in different directions today and I am trying to solve our Internet problems. Serious stuff - snail's pace and nothing loading- blah.
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