Gorgeous fall has arrived

Fall color has arrived! Every year it's different but equally spectacular. The leaf watchers are showing up too, very easy to tell by their erratic driving, parking in the middle of the road, and lenses hanging out car windows. Caution is needed...

Lots of fall preparation for winter in the animal world. Our late white yarrow wildflowers have been very popular with the chipmunks, birds, and deer (well Flap anyway). Small mounds of dirt have been appearing everywhere overnight. Our small creatures are digging down deep for their winter tunnel homes. I think literally we have an entire city of small critters under and around our house. If they don't bother us we won't disturb them. My flower pots on the deck look better than they have in months, really because our ground squirrel friends have gone away. It's very predictable but we don't know the reason why. Chippies stay and ground squirrels go-early.

Whetstone - looks like snow but not yet- just clouds

Photos from my walk this morning. You can see we're almost but not quite there to prime color. It moves at supersonic speed from here on. We've had 3 nights in a row at freezing temps although the day highs are quite lovely at mid 60's.

Got there as it was opening - get the best stuff that way

I did make it to the CB farmer's market to stock up on heirloom tomatoes, farm eggs, and veggies. Only two more Sundays before they're done for the season. Early ski season passes are on sale, can't believe this will be a snowy wonderland before you know it.

So this was last night. It's hard to photograph rainbows, something about how light travels, but hopefully you can tell this is a double one. A tiny bit of rain and then boom magic rainbows off the deck.

Quite excited as Mark comes back Saturday as well as a visit from Paul and Sherry. Tiffany comes in on the tail end of Paul and Sherry's visit for a solo visit. Anticipating a lot of fun with all.

Crested Butte razzle dazzle

Anne and Jean popped in for a quick visit. We made the most of it and "did' quite a bit of Crested Butte.

Anne and Jean's first visit to Montanya. Yes they are now fans and yes, there are 2 Maharajah's not three. Anne decided to be a rebel and try some grapefruity rum thing. (She did concede that while hers was good ours was better-ha).

Soupcon with sun flare

Lunch at Sunflower and dinner at Soupcon. Soupcon was marvelous as always and we got to hear the bear story from a month ago.He ripped open the back door sauntered in through the tiny dining room touching nary a thing, not even disturbing the linen tablecloths, made his way into the kitchen eating everything in sight and then wandered out. Oh boy...

The standoff between Anne and one of "our"steers. She attempted to touch a steer. Nope - those big beasts are crazy skittish.

Deer are fully gray now, Flap sightings have been scarce, and our injured doe has disappeared from under the deck. I'm choosing to look at this as good and that she's healing. She certainly was limping hardly at all the last time I saw her and the huge gash looked much better.

Summer and the green are slowly disappearing. No matter how much I want to hold back the seasons, the mountains will have none of it. Marching forward towards the longest season here -winter. We won't be here for most of it but have to prepare none the less. Changing of patterns around here: the coyotes have been howling every night, some wild mountain hail storms, little muddy fox prints left on the front porch today. Taking in every bit.

Festivals, fishing, and early fall fun

And the festivals continue. This was the People's Art Fair that we popped into while waiting for Nancy and Rodney to appear.

Enjoyed lunch at Ryce, of course, and trekked back over Ohio Pass to see early fall color and a doe in the midst of the brown to gray change.

The hogtrough. Gigantic trout - catch and release only and it doesn't show but there were a mob of people there.

Fun ride up to Taylor Reservoir. Perfect weather and lunch at Nugget Cafe before it closes for the season. We weren't alone that's for sure, the upper Taylor has turned into a crazy ATV area and everybody was taking advantage of the Labor Day weekend.

While we were in the area we went to visit the scene of Ralph's infamous snowmobile accident two years ago. Doesn't look like much, right? Take miles of blinding white snow with no depth perception and going 50 miles an hour and its a recipe for disaster. Mark and Special Forces saved the day. So sad Ralph is gone but he did get another two years after the accident. Lived life in a BIG way.

We saw multi fun activities driving around. Rock climbing was one. There is a tiny person in each of these photos. Definitely not gonna happen for me but fun to watch.

We ran the geese off - close to 40 making very unhappy noises

Fishing on the common ground. Nancy caught 2, decent size but nothing like the monsters we had in the pond last year. They unfortunately died during the winter so we replenished this past spring. Growing well.

not as early sunrises mean I will take a photo or two

Great visit with Nancy and Rodney but poof off they went. Awaiting Anne and Jean's arrival. It's a revolving door around here and I love it!

Rainbows, sunsets, and a crispness in the air

Our view this morning - breathtaking

The first yellow and the aspen "eyes".

Deer are starting to turn gray and the fall color is peeping out here and there. It's coming on too fast! I've been snapping photos in every direction so here they are...

Love the Castles. They're spectacular in all conditions. The remnants of an ancient exploding volcano.

Working or recreational? Either way, that's a blue heeler dog, very popular in the ranching community. They are Australian Cattle Dogs famous for their loyalty and protectiveness of their owners, and their hard work handling herds of cattle - nipping at the heels of reluctant cattle hence the "heeler" name. Ranchers consider them one of their most valuable assets.

Maybe due to the changing of seasons, clarity in the air, whatever it is, there have been spectacular sunsets and as you see above, unbelievable rainbows.

Remember the tiny grouse babies from  earlier in the summer - growing up nicely.

We await the bursting forth of yellow, orange, and gold. Also awaiting more fun company. Two sets in a week and more to come! Mark will be back and forth from Miami one more time before we head down to Florida for the winter. The fun just keeps on going.