Fading color, early snow, and cattle

And it's gone all quiet here. After more encounters with cattle, oh yes.

Around here it's quite important to know the difference between cows, calves, steers, and bulls. Really, it's the bulls. Since so much of the land and roads are open range here, cattle roam freely until stopped by a cattle guard. As I walked down Carbon I saw quite a number of cattle wandering on the road, not a cattle drive I hasten to say, and approached cautiously. Breathed a sigh of relief when no big boys appeared. Then the grunting began.

not so pretty right?

Happily he, actually there were 2, was behind the fence, but not happy with me walking close by at all. Grunting, pawing the ground getting the cows around me a bit unsettled. Honestly I swear I don't try to disrupt, its a knack.

Ohio Pass was still crowded with end of season leaf watchers but surprise, surprise snow was also a visitor. Real winter will be here soon enough.

And back to cattle. Ours at Star Mt. are gone after gorging on our grass all summer and becoming twice as large as they started out. Burt and his cowboys came and rounded them up and whoosh back open went our gates. It's a love/hate thing...

We are now on a bit of a countdown, leaving for Florida in a little over two weeks. A lot to do outside and in to prepare. Moving wood, bringing in hammock, outdoor furniture etc. Whee.

It is very hard to watch the fall disappear and the leaves float away. The restaurants will soon close for off season so we hurried in to have a lovely dinner at Soupcon before they close. Love that restaurant! This is normal seasonal change but we fight it like crazy. Aah, a Florida break is called for.

We will listen to the coyotes and the owls in the night as the animals continue on with their lives. Mark is back from a business trip tomorrow (work - what's that?) and then his first hunting (elk) experience in decades begins. For those non-hunters, remember that elk are over populated here and must be managed. We'll see how it goes...