Time is whizzing by. Hope everyone had a marvelous fourth of July. We celebrated by going to the annual hot air balloon rally at daybreak. It's quite the sight.
Seen some amazing things over the past couple weeks, some I caught via camera but some I could only stare at. The first bear sighting was one. A good sized black bear ran full speed outside the line of our fence into the woods. I ran for the camera but too late. I think with the things I've been missing I need to tape it to my body or some such.
Right this moment, I have a buck tucked under our deck and a new friend -marmot who loves basking belly flop style overlooking the deck. Not sure what to do about that one. He seems harmless enough but may do damage to the yard.
Long distance lens to catch this mommy and baby on our neighboring ranch. Been seeing quite a few elk here and there just not at Star Mt. I was told there were 40 to 50 elk up on our community hunting property last week. It's not hunting season yet and I'm quite sure they know they're safe.
Looks peaceful right? My early morning walk. It's as its always been, except for all the new home construction. 4,as of right now, and possibly 2 more in the next year, which is huge for our little community. People want to have their own piece of the specialness that is Star Mt. I'm not seeing as many animals now, but I think that's just part of it. Some disturbance before things settle down again. I need to adjust and have a little more patience with the process.
Challenges for people building here are a bit different than city living. First, there's the water issue. We are all on wells, and each lot, while very large (35 acres), may or may not have viable water. We are massively high up in the mountains so all is dependent on underground water sources which are hit and miss. Massive rock makes for the need to drill very deep wells. We went down 400 ft. and our immediate neighbors had to go down 900 ft and that was the 3rd try due to mine shafts. And mine shafts are the next issue. Our whole community is set on an old mining town with remnants of mining cabins, equipment, laced with old mining shafts hidden just below the surface. Drilling may hit right into one and due to the instability, a well can't be put there. We were lucky. We weren't even aware of the dangers and missed the problem altogether. Crossing fingers for all our new neighbors.
The hummingbird photo in no way shows the mania that is going on from daybreak until dusk. We have 4 big boy feeders up that hold a quart of sugar water in each, and I'm refilling them every day. Dusk brings more than there are holes, I count an average of 30 birds fighting to get the sugar water. Since I'm leaving tomorrow for a few days I'm filling all and hauling up a broken handled one as a backup, but I'm sure they will all be empty when I get back. These hummingbirds travel from Mexico every year to get up here and nest as well. Speaking of nesting, I saw an amazing sight a few days ago when sitting on the front porch. A hummingbird swooped down close to me to peck at a spider web until it had a mouthful and flew away. They use spider webs to build and anchor their nests. Who knew... Darn, no camera.
Flowers are still blooming although winding now. It's early but the low snowpack from winter is more than likely responsible, plus lack of rain early. We've had rain almost every day the past week which is much appreciated but we have a long way to go to make up for the past.
Hit a small cattle drive on the way to Montrose. I was dropping Mark off at the airport there. A little surprising on a high speed road. We expect it here in our totally ranching community, but not the bigger city. We knew there were cattle about before we saw them - the manure in the road. We've developed quite a detective skill.
Off tomorrow for the baby shower in Maryland. Heather only has 7 weeks to go! It's all very exciting. I'll be back with photos....
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