The winding down of summer in the mountains

 

It's late summer here. The color everywhere is changing to a golden hue. It catches me unaware every year. Soon the aspens will turn their magical yellow, orange, and red.

The hummingbirds know it's getting late in the season too. Over the last few days at least half of our giant mob have left. They have a long trip - they come back and forth every year from Mexico.

The big activity up and down the valley has been haying. We had so much rain this summer the hay growth has been spectacular. The ranchers keep a portion for the winter and sell the rest. It mostly goes to Kentucky horse farms as it's considered premium quality from our Ohio Creek Valley.

More lovely family visiting, this time Cliff and Tish. One of the activities was mushroom hunting. We went back to the same area and thought we'd found a whole lot of edible mushrooms. Sadly not. I found the one and only edible - a single chanterelle I ate with my eggs for breakfast. This mushroom identifying thing is quite difficult even with Cliff's app and our new mushroom book. 

Double rainbow over our house in the background from our neighbors vantage point. Photo courtesy Kim Doering

The changing light and color has me snapping photos all over. And then Kim sent me this fabulous rainbow photo. She swears they see rainbows over our house all the time. Gotta be a good sign right?

Fawns and their mommies are all over Star Mt. I saw three sets just this morning on my walk. That's all for now. I'll be back after our next set of company come. It's been a wonderful summer seeing so many friends and family!

Stupendous fun had with our Charleston family

 What a fabulous whirlwind visit we had with Tiffany, Chris, Penny, and Juliet. They hadn't been at Star Mt. in the summer for a long time and they made sure to cram in every single thing possible in that short week.

Judd Falls hike

Not part of our group but soooo Crested Butte

Secret Stash of course

Montanya - finally Chris got to visit

Oh the Crested Butte fun. Shopping, farmer's market, and lots of eating.

Yup that's a steel drum. I'm learning to play and the girls picked it up instantly.

So much to do around the house inside and out. Walk in the woods with Granddaddy, s'mores, driveway games, and music practice.

Emerald Lake picnic and reenactment of  Chris's proposal 15 years ago!

The girls were intrigued by the caves you can see out our living room window. A fun hike ensued.

Mushroom hunting. It's that time of year here. Just a few samples of probably 30 kinds. Many are not edible and the orange ones are as you might expect very poisonous. We had fun but did not find any of what we were looking for - marvelous chanterelles. We'll try again in a couple weeks.

Fishing in the community pond. Success for Penny!

First time horseback riding at Harmel's. Great place for young first timers - they know just how to make kids feel comfortable. What a grand adventure the week was for everyone. Til next time...

Wonderful visit with our Texas family

 Great family visit with Paul, Sherry, and Katie. A good time was had by all in spite of the almost everyday late pounding rain. The rain has saved our summer and everything is blooming and very green. Everyone just planned around the late day weather change. Also there were Olympics as a distraction. Avid watching every day...

Our one and only night out on the patio. At least there was one!

The wild and funky town of Crested Butte. Cannot miss it. Of course there had to be farmer's market action, ice cream, and a bit of shopping. Sherry supports the duckie race every year but has yet to win.

There was a lot of fishing that happened with Paul and Sherry in many places but it's nice to have some fun at our community pond. Some nice size trout in there.

Mariposa Lily

Still lots of blooming and creatures around. These are baby marmots (groundhog). I think they look a little like meercats - right? There's been an explosion of marmots around all summer. And nice to see the elk out and about with their babies. They have left Star Mt. and moved down the road a bit. Marching towards late summer here and quickly.