Hurray new company!

Our newest group has arrived safe and sound. Paul & Sherry plus kids and Nancy plus kids, made a caravan trip up here. 13 hr drive - whew. They arrived in a mini heat wave of sorts for this area. At our house we reached 84 - a record (never gone above 80 before) Yes, I know those of you suffering in crazy temps will not have sympathy - got it....
Saw a fawn in the woods yesterday, I know it's hard to tell the scale, but notice the white spots. Mom was surely close at hand. And the deer have been visiting the saltlick and wandering around the house. Not seen Flap recently though (so named because of a loose piece of ear flapping around - an encounter with barb wire?).
The hummingbirds went insane yesterday, consuming enough sugar water to make a small pond. I guess they're our pets and we must do what we can. Buying a lot of sugar that's for sure.

Giant summer everything

Taking a breath between company. We took my parents back to CO Springs yesterday after a terrific few days. Similar to others who've come, Mom had a growing list of things and places that we didn't get to. Time sure flies by here!
Some things I forgot in my last post: a strange sight - a cat chasing a fox. Had to do a double take on that one. Clearly a neighbor's cat - hope it ended up okay...
We had a great dinner with my parents at the longtime French restaurant Le Bosquet. It's been around for 33 years - amazing. I love that things don't change that much here...
The hanging baskets in town are as usual gorgeous, and my latest attempt to grow my own is failing abysmally. And the photo of bikes are "townies", definitely not to be confused with mountain bikes, people who live in CB bike everywhere on them.
Hurray, Ben fixed the gates(both ended up loose) so the cows will have to put up with staying outside. This group is actually a little more sedate than last year's. Mostly steers (look it up if you don't know :) ) and a few moms with calves. Could it be that we will not have the bulls visiting this summer? Oh, gee, I'll really be sorry about that...
And lastly, on the way home on Ohio Creek last night, we had a female elk run out in front of us and, amazingly, a bull elk following right behind. Yup, a male, wow, we don't see them at all, it's the wrong time of year, so who knows why.

Oh wonderful times with family

Okay, I've been requested to get on with it and post something. Sorry, sorry, been very busy with my parent's visit. God love them, we've driven them all over kingdom come, given them no choice in what we were doing, and troopers that they are (after all they're in their 80's), have seemed to like it all. Mom's one request was to fish again - isn't that great!
We walked in our woods and Mom was great at identifying flowers. Wow, you'd think since it's in my face, I would know more of them. Homework!
We went to Taylor Res to fish for Mom, got blown away, and ended up at Spring Creek Res. Much better and so pretty, although noone caught anything.
Saw a big horn sheep on the Taylor on the way home. Mark, of course, saw it first - way up high on the steep canyon rocks. A young one, without the big horns - hope you can see it in the photo.
Cows have been most annoying, we have one gate that is loose and they hover around to see if they can push their way in. Ben (our fence guy) will be here to save the day tomorrow.

Small incidents

What I thought was going to be a quiet day of catchup on projects around the house (Anne & family have gone - boo hoo) didn't turn out as I'd planned.
While finishing my cup of coffee looking out at the magnificent mountains after Mark left for a round of golf, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. A chipmunk, in the house, by the coat tree in the foyer. A chipmunk. I leaped up, shouting aahh, and the poor little thing ran into our bedroom. I grabbed a broom (for what reason not sure) and ran in after it. It made it to the back of the bathroom, so I shut the bedroom door - opened the outside door to the deck and marched in the bathroom to rout it out. It squeaked and ran away from me under the bed. Now what. I decided to leave the bedroom and go fill up one of the hummingbird feeders, and ruminate on what next. By the time I 'd walked out the back to get the feeder, voila, the chipmunk had run out from the bed and raced out the deck door. I waved goodby -drama complete.
Went next to grab the wheelbarrow to do some weeding of the giant weeds(oops, Mark calls them wheat grass) that somehow were in the native grass seed mix he spread last year.
Do not do what I did, wear shoes with no support at all and climb up & down a hill shuttling the full wheelbarrow back & forth. I walked back in the house and realized I'd done something not good to my left foot. As I write this, I am in a chair with ice and tape on my foot. Bruising, swelling, can't put my full weight on my foot. STUPID.
Saw Nellie the elk with two friends & baby yesterday in the woods. They are the last remaining elk here at Star Mt. as far as we can tell. Will they stay here now that the cows are in - may be too much activity. I can't get a photo of the baby either, as hard as I try - too shy and running away from me. The mom really doesn't need to protect that baby as far as I can see, it's as big as a full grown deer now!
Overdue on reporting the additions to the book list. #35 the Piano Teacher by Janice Lee - really good, not what I thought it would be at all (Hong Kong during World War II), and #36 Murder in the Place of Anubis by Lynda Robinson - if you like murder mysteries & history - very entertaining, taking place in ancient Egypt - author has a Ph.D in anthropology).

Huff & puff, try to keep up with us

Wow, we ran fast and didn't waste one minute of precious time while Anne, Jean, & the girls were here. We all had a great time! They left this morning after we took a hike up to the caves to clean them up. Those of you who know about the caves probably remember that someone at some point had a little party in one of the caves and left bottles & cans strewn around. I mentioned this and troupers that they are, Anne & company marched up with bags in hand to remove the offending stuff. Mark checked the bottling date (2001) - so more recent then I suspected. Shame on you whoever you are!
They went white water rafting Tuesday, which, unfortunately, was less then it should have been. Low water on the Taylor, lots of bouncing around, enough that Justine bashed both her nose and then her lip before it was over. Hmmm, perhaps the Gunnison would have been a calmer ride...
We split up yesterday, Jean & Clare to do a half day of horseback riding up Oh Be Joyful, and Mark, Anne, Justine, and myself to go jeeping through Gothic up to Emerald Lake. It was absolutely gorgeous for both groups. Justine has named the jeep "Rock" as we decided it deserved a tough name after we were driving through snowbanks and bouncing through creeks.On our way back to town saw a Gothic scientist group stopping for lunch after (I presume) heavy work of - butterfly catching? Awfully big nets they had...
We also stopped in Crested Butte for lunch & a little shopping. See Mark's participation in the shopping (pic)...
Had Shrimp Paesano last night as Anne, never having had it, put in a request. All of you who know about it - yes, it was fabulous and people were licking their plates...a once a year special treat otherwise we would weigh 300 lbs!
And lastly, can't forget to mention the COWS are back. We returned from dinner to quickly shut all our gates (everyone helped) and one of the first places the cows wanted to plop was exactly where the coyote den is. The girls were worried, but we have seen a cub or two out after the cows move off. It will be interesting to see if the mother stays or moves them. Drama at Star Mountain!

Guests & lots of fun!

Went to the crazy Crested Butte 4th of July parade. They know how to parteee... I put up a few pictures - the green crowd are the scientists that make their costumes out of local plants - a long tradition here.
The Star Mt. B & B is going strong! Changing of guests again, this time my sister Anne, her husband Jean, & their girls, Clare & Justine. We have already hiked in our woods, driven around the area, hiked to the beaver ponds on Ohio Pass this morning, and they are off white water rafting now. Crested Butte tonight and then another full day tomorrow. They do not let time pass them by! The deer, elk, & baby coyotes have been mighty cooperative and shown themselves all over the place. Anne says she thinks this place is really a Jurassic Park (remember the movie!). She is requesting we turn off the coyote howling & yipping in the middle of the night please...
Had to visit the magic spring again to fill up water bottles. Yes,Lisa!

Animal report and Happy 4th!

We had changing of the guard, so to speak, with the departure of Lisa & Charles (sniff, sniff) and arrival of Uncle Ralph for a few days. Mark & Ralph went fishing yesterday up to the high part of Spring Creek with great success. The people had not found it and lots of fish were caught. They're trying it again today - we'll see - there are massive amounts of people everywhere for the holiday weekend.
Been so busy with fun people things, I have neglected the animal report. We saw two elk on our morning walk a couple mornings ago. Maybe Nellie is still here - with a friend?
Seeing lots of doe + baby fawns, and we thought the group of bucks that hung around all last summer must have had something bad happen over the winter since there were no sightings, but hurray Mark saw a whole group a few days ago. And, we found a coyote den at the bottom of the our hill by the mine shaft. Now we understand the howling & yipping multi times a night. It's mommy bringing food to the babies. Sooo cute, I know, I know, wild animals.
And back to the hummingbirds. After having constant mania at the feeders, there's been a dramatic slowdown in the amount of birds around. Not sure what's going on, our friend Gail says they always have a slowdown in the middle of the summer and they think the hummingbirds are nesting & having babies. Maybe, don't know that we'll have the answer, all I know is that the mean orange Rufus hummingbirds have arrived, who guard the feeders with passion. All ye creatures live large!
Hope everyone has a great 4th!