And I am one with nature

August, really? How did this happen? I fully intend to savor every minute of the magnificence of these mountains. It's where we all need to be folks, in and with nature in all its glorious diversity. Some believe it will save us all.  I kinda like that...

Blue Mesa, quite a sight on our way to the Montrose airport to drop Mark off. For those who don't know, it's the largest body of water in the state of Colorado - 20 miles long and 96 miles of shoreline. Quite the place for landlocked Colorado and it's very full this year, happily due to massive May rains.

Blowball from the edible weed Salsify

Lots of summer left with the late wildflowers are presenting in mass and area activities happening. One is an artwalk in Crested Butte happening this Saturday. The gallery representing Lisa will be involved, and Lisa and Charles are zipping over for the festivities. I get to be involved vicariously, trailing the artiste as it were.

I've been asked, how I'm doing and what am I doing during these Mark absences. This one will be the longest (3 weeks) so we'll see how I fair. In the meantime, I'm painting(watercolor), reading, writing, walking, a bit of genealogical research, and feeding the fish (yes, those fish, the giant ones down at the pond, along with some yard maintenance. Spot treating invasive weeds for instance - see below.

the pretty but evil thistle

Haying is in full force and actually started a few weeks ago. It's always a sign fall will be here before you know it. The land use is full circle here.

This is our resident rabbit, which I thought was a snowshoe, but apparently is a white tailed jack rabbit. They are close cousins but this one is huge and the biggest of the types - 5 lbs. Wish I had a photo of a regular size rabbit (a lb at best) to put next to it. And a postscript, I saw two this morning, maybe some little ones down the road.

Our rancher paid us a visit to check on his cattle. I believe he'll find them happy and sassy, and enormous. Star Mt. grass is legendary for keeping fat cattle. They're here until mid Sept.

Late breaking news - Mr. Moose is back! I know, I know, that's a steer in the photo. No moose photo for me sadly. A neighbor alerted me he was on the loose on Star Mt. and I jumped in the jeep with camera to find him. No luck, just the neighbor's photo as evidence. Still, it gives me hope, I'll keep looking...