The hum and buzz of Nature in the mountains

 Can't believe we're in the middle of June and been at Star Mt. a month already. Trying to appreciate every single day. It all goes so fast here in the mountains with a short summer and fall season. 

Our buddies the cattle. They are hanging out in the Star Mt. common ground waiting to be allowed in and visit all of us with homes. That is why we all have 3 acre fences - they're nice...at a distance.

First columbine of the season. The Colorado state flower dontcha know. One of my absolute favorites, a tad early but all the wildflowers seem to be headed that way this summer. All has to do with the winter snowfall, which was less than average.

Hanging baskets up! Now to keep the small creatures off who think it's snack food and water with a filter only. Our untreated well water does more harm than good. And no worries, we have a whole filtration system for drinking water and of course our magic spring water just down the road.

The elk are suddenly quite scarce and if seen they're solo or only a few. BABIES are happening we are sure. We have to keep eyes pealed for the next couple of weeks as after that they all group back up with babies and disappear to higher and more isolated ground.

The hummingbirds are amassing. This is one of 4 feeders on our deck. There is much boiling and mixing of sugar water - every day. We have a two day road trip next week and hoping they will not run out as crazy as that sounds. Each feeder holds a quart - that's a lot of sugar water...

While we've seen many of the creatures that are around every year some are missing so far. Flap, our kinda resident doe is yet to be seen. She would be 13 which is ancient for a wild deer.  Hoping she's still with us. And no fox either which is odd. A weasel popped out this morning with its cute Disney face and killer instinct. Watch out chippies and ground squirrels. We have a sizable marmot population this year which is not the best. They dig and rip up stuff. Just trying to live with and around all the wildlife. In the end we are the visitors here... 

The laid back mountain summer

Taylor River

 We are adjusting nicely to the slower pace and loving the burst of flowers and green everywhere. Didn't expect that Gunnison/Crested Butte would be having the same backorder/shortages that everywhere else big city seems to be having, but yup, it's here too. We have a weird assortment of things on backorder:  ATV, sunshades for the dining room, and two large spruce trees (the backorder part is the installation). We'll see which things come in first.

Mark's big adventure at Taylor Reservoir with his new fishing kayak. Very stable and lightweight. I was there to help but it wasn't needed. He caught a lot of fish keeping a few to smoke. They were yummy.

Noble Bald Eagle

Bighorn sheep

Dusky grouse with fake eye to protect his nest

 1800's one room school house

Nervous mommy to be elk on my walk

our old miner's cabin

Lupine

Larkspur 

Early sunflowers

All these photos were taken at Star Mt. We are so lucky to have these magnificent views everywhere you look. The larkspur are out in full force this year so not sure how long before our rancher put the cattle into Star Mt. The larkspur are beautiful but poisonous to cattle so they'll have to die down before the pile of steers come in. Our gates will have to stay shut until October to keep the cattle away from the house.

Wild iris are a sure sign that summer is here. Temps are warming up and no freeze warnings in the next 10 days. It is amazing but Father's Day is true last frost date here.