The great awakening

I'm so excited spring is about here I almost can't stand it. There's magic afoot with tiny changes happening every day. We walked our woods to check things out, elk tracks but no sighting, no sign of deer yet, the first wildflowers appearing, and a very empty red tail hawk nest. They've nested there every year, way before we ever appeared on the scene. Too early?

Went into CB for a lovely Mother's Day breakfast at Mcgill's. The restaurant was busy, but the streets were deserted. You'll never see Crested Butte quieter than this. Off-season will be over in two weeks - let the fun begin.

Cannot say enough about my new camera. Super sharp photos, exceptional stabilization, touch screen, and a bunch of special features I haven't learned how to use yet. With the 20x zoom I am getting shots I could only dream about with the old one. And this one fits in my pocket - the phone cameras are really good now, but not even in the same ballpark as this. Yes, there is still a reason to have a "real" camera. if you're wondering, it's a Panasonic Lumix (ZS19).

Bears will be up soon from their long winter's nap, so I've started carrying my whistle (thanks again Donna!) on my walk, but no spray. These bears are scaredy creatures for the most part. We have a healthy amount of hummingbirds now (meaning a dozen or so and refilling two feeders once a day) but no sighting of Mark's favorites - chipmunks- yet. The elk are still with us, should be for a couple more weeks, then disappearing only to mysteriously reappear sometime in June to calve in the woods, ours and others in Star Mt.

Yes, there will be laughter as I announce I've signed up for yet another online MOOC class. I believe this is a low key, non tear your hair out in stress class that starts in June. Archaeology ( its dirty little secrets). Apparently I just can't get enough...

Lots of spring cleaning,washing windows(although it seems we are going to hire someone to clean the extremely high ones - we have finally given up on those),washing the mud out of the garage from the winter, and getting the outdoor furniture up in its rightful place on the deck. A great place to view the magnificent sunsets.

Hints of spring finally arriving

Ha ha on us for thinking the snow was done. Immediately following the taking down of shovels, snow blower, and moving the grill to its proper place - snow showed back up. Couple inches, then another 3 which meant piles came off the roof right onto the grill. Back out came the shovels. Most of it melted while we took a road trip to Montrose (the big city - 17,000 pop) to have an issue fixed on the jeep (second recall we've had- is it my imagination that there seems to be a recall every five minutes on something?) and taking advantage of the national retail stores there - Target, Home Depot, Sports Authority. Yes indeed, we're back in the land of wild and no retail chains.

We go by Blue Mesa Reservoir on the way to Montrose, and the water level is way down, but its still a huge body of water. Fishermen out on boats already and it was early when we went by.

looked sort of Irelandish, don't you think?

The green up has started and the snow melt will soon, much more snow on the peaks this year versus last. We'll be able to take some jeeps trips soon, although lots of the roads remain closed due to snow and protection of the sage grouse nesting time. Sage grouse you ask? Yup, the Gunnison sage grouse to be exact, a protected species, and still the fight rages on to have it on the endangered list.

More books read - Letters from a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart. True, compelling stories told in letters by a woman homesteading in Wyoming in the late 1800's. Loved it and it's free to download, by the way . Another Lindsey Davis - Venus in Copper, one of the early ones, in this mystery series about ancient Rome. They are all good...

I have a new camera, which is amazing, considering the one I had is 8 years old. This of course, is smaller than my old, with double the size zoom, and lots of new bells and whistles for very little money - same brand as before, Panasonic. My old one had a little accident on our road trip, so on to the new.

Back at Star Mt and loving it

Oh it is good to be back. Snow mostly gone except on the peaks. We saw an elk on the way to the house which rapidly grew to a herd of 40 or more a couple hills over. They're back too. Binoculars  are already getting a workout.

photo courtesy of Mark

The area is getting rain which is good for water levels and with the house at almost 8900ft, turns into a rain/snow mix - nothing is sticking though. The grasses are turning green, my daffodils are blooming, and we wait for the trees and shrubs to leaf out along with the fabulous early wildflowers.

We have put out hummingbird feeders as of today. It took all of 90 seconds for the first one to show. However, that's all that's shown so far. That little one is way ahead of the giant pack swarming the hundreds of miles up here. I'm not sure we can handle the crowd that was around last summer. 5 lbs a sugar a day -waayyy too many.

the cashmere goat farm

Still lots of small calves around, and I'm on baby watch for the goats and horses. The  ranchers are opening their headgates and flooding their fields, an annual task that was delayed this year due to, oh yes again, concern over water. The water comes from our rivers and there are complicated water rights involved, to messy a conversation for this blog. Things are okay right now, but stay tuned as the summer gets into full swing.

Carbon Peak early fog and dusting of snow

My walk in the woods is magical as usual even without the trees leafed out. The last of the snow is there and it's quiet. Did see a pile of white feathers strewn across the road, hmm, something had a nice dinner I think. We have seen coyotes wandering around.

Couple books read: The language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh and Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel. Loved,loved Hilary Mantel's latest, but no surprise, this is a sequel to Wolf Hall, a fantastic book on Thomas Cromwell. Language of Flowers was good, but subject matter in certain parts was hard for me to handle.
Much spring cleaning more out than in is on the agenda in the next week, and new gravel for our lower driveway.The winter took its toll...

Back to Star Mountain

Last post from Naples as we leave Sunday. Its been fun but time to go. Back to the land of magnificent mountains where wildlife roams around us and coyotes howl in the night.










We have seen wildlife of different sorts here, with 5 straight days of river otters playing and basking on our grass. The mystery fish stayed with us as well along with turtles and ethereal tropical birds. No alligators this trip.




Insane amount of additional restaurants were visited: Stir Crazy, Counter Burger, Angelina's, Seasons 52, Randy's, Pastrami Dan's, Sushi Thai again (for the Thai part this time), and a new one tonight ,Osteria Tulia to celebrate with friends our day apart anniversaries. Veggies and salads have been the fill in between visits with LOTS of walking.


Mark was clearly suffering having to make business calls here...




And I did have a wonderful couple hours painting with my friend Patty at her new studio. Well, new to me, hadn't been since she'd moved to this beautiful roomy place. Maybe her talent will rub off on me.
Star Mt. Can you hear, we're on the way back.


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Beach, farmers market, and fun

Mark made it back from his business trip and now it feels like countdown. We have a week left as of today, and as much as I've enjoyed this break, Star Mt is softly calling my name. Snow and mud will be gone except on the high peaks when we get back.
















We're trying to make the most of the time and zipped to the beach via the wonderful Wiggins state park that's five minutes away. I'd heard about this place as huge, beautifully maintained, and on the edge of Wiggins Pass which has boat access to the gulf and good fishing. Yup, it is all that and more.
















They're dredging the channel right now, a common occurrence here all up and down the coastline, but that didn't seem to stop the large number of fishermen lined up (saw one catch while we were there- small pompano) and boats were coming out in a constant stream. Lots of parking right off the beach, numerous picnic areas in shade with tables and grills ready to go, even a concession stand discreetly tucked away with everything you could imagine to rent including canoes and kayaks, and that gorgeous white sand beach as you can see. We'll be back...







Made it to a new farmers market that is also 5 minutes away. Love all the great produce, although this one didn't have the same cache as downtown.




Apparently inhaling books while I'm here. Crowded Grave by Martin Walker, the Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown, and I am Half-sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley. All good with two of the three ( Walker and Bradley) the latest in a series, and only one is a British theme - ha to those who think that's all I read.


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Ah, the good life in Naples

Temps dropped a few degrees along with humidity which has made it wonderfully pleasant to be outside. Thanks for answering my request.





My walks are such a great start to the day, no its not the woods walk at Star Mt, but very nice nonetheless. Early joggers, bicycle riders with their tennis bags, people strolling with their dogs trekking along with me every day.




Our lake behind our condo is a constant source of interest. The pair of mystery 4 foot long fish that we saw in Nov and Dec. are still here. Mark has searched high and low and can't figure out what species they are. Could someone have put aquarium fish in?





And two days ago we had a visit from river otters. They stayed a while splashing and playing.







Mark has been travelling here and there on business but will be back Friday to enjoy some down time too. Colorado continues to be chilly and snowy in some cases- good heavens, we're almost to May. I still believe our departure back to Star Mt. May 5th will deposit us back in time for spring to show up.




End of season here so sales are good. A little shopping for me- unusual but fun . And taking time to do a little watercolor painting too, actually meeting up with my art teacher Patty, now a friend, for some fun painting time in her studio before we head back to CO.






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