Life on the High Plains

On a recent trip to Arizona our son-in-law took us out for a "nature hike".  He knows how to make his mother-in-law happy.   This was our trail for the morning.   I love the desert, maybe not as much as I love my Colorado mountains, but I still love it.  The vegetation is amazing.  We got the full desert experience including a rattlesnake who rattled at us before slithering away.   In mid-March it was already getting to the mid-90s in the afternoons.  Luckily, we got up early for our exploration.   Joshua Trees are one of my favorite desert plants.   It was a beautiful hike!  Next time I can do without the rattlesnake though.   Happy Skywatch Friday!

A couple weeks ago the vet came out for our horse's annual check up, vaccinations, and teeth floating.   Teeth floating is never fun.  The horse has to be tranquilized while the vet files down the sharp points on their teeth.  Horses have a stay mechanism in their knees that usually keep them from falling down, but this time Doc fell down during the recovery phase.  Luckily, he was in the stall by himself so neither he or any people were injured.    Jasper's teeth were just fine, but Doc wasn't so lucky.   Doc has a condition called Equine Odontoclastic Tooth Resorption and Hypercementosis or EOTRH.  Basically this is a build up of calcified tissue around the roots of the teeth.  Several of Doc's teeth are already dead.   Next week he has to be transported to the vet clinic to have his incisors removed.  From everything I've read he will still have quality of life afterwards and will learn how to eat witho...

Well, my favorite meteorologist was correct with his storm prediction.  I woke up on Friday morning to a full blown blizzard.  Irv had left very early in the morning for work so it was my duty to get out to the barn to feed the horses. I knew it was going to be a challenge when just opening the door to get outside was a real chore.  So I decided to drive the 100 yards to the barn.  I got disoriented on my way out there, but finally found a fence line that I could follow back to the barn. The way back to the house was easier because I was able to follow our recently installed street light. The winds were 75+ miles per hour, the snow was flying sideways, and I learned a lesson about always taking my cell phone out with me in these conditions even if I'm only going 100 yards.  I felt like Laura Ingalls Wilder out on the prairie.  :) I knew there was absolutely no way I could make it into work in those conditions, and fortunately the highway...

Last week we were in sunny Arizona baking in the 95 degree sunny days.  We come back to Colorado to almost perfect spring weather--unusual this early in the year. However, there's a blizzard warning for tomorrow.  So we got the bikes out for one last spin before the storm hits. We took a break to stop and visit with the neighbors.   We live on the high plains of eastern Colorado.  As you can see it's really dry so some precipitation is welcome--snow is preferred, but we'll take rain too.   Kinda funny when you wear a winter coat and gloves while bike riding.   We pedaled on out to the barn to feed the critters after our ride.  The tree I planted for the horses a couple years ago is starting to bud out.   The lilac bushes by the house are sure spring has arrived.  Boy, are they in for a rude awakening tomorrow!  Hopefully they'll be able to rebound.   It's hard predicting the weather on the fro...

Apparently my cat really missed me while I was in Arizona over the weekend. Last night I needed to work on my current painting project and she found a new place to perch. I'd make her get off, but she'd jump right back up there.  It's kind of sweet, but at the same time she's not exactly a light-weight kitty plus we haven't had her claws trimmed recently so it's a little painful too. All I know is that it's nice to be loved by furry critters.  I think she likes my work too.

One of the best benefits of living on the high plains of Colorado are the early morning sunrises.   When I go out to feed my boys at 6:00 I am quite often treated to this beautiful scene. When a day starts out like this, you know it's going to be a glorious day. Happy Skywatch Friday!

We had a fire out here on the eastern plains of Colorado last week.  I kept getting reports on the fire's location on my cell phone while I was at work.  Then a warning popped up that let me know it was time to hit the road and go home to prepare to evacuate the critters. When we initially got home it was still a decent distance away. Within 30 minutes it had come up over the ridge and flames were visible. The winds were gusting 45 to 50 mph.  It was a fast moving fire that burned 5,000 acres in only four hours.  Then the most amazing thing happened--the winds died down and the firefighters got in under control by 8:15 that night.  Thank you, Lord! Have you ever had to stand in your house and wonder what you should take out with you?  There were only two things I could think of...1) my critters and 2) my passport so I could still go to Europe next month.  Irv and I agreed that we need to get things organized so we can just grab a box...

A KEEP OUT sign on a trail rarely means much to me. After all, if I hadn't gone a closed trail a couple years I wouldn't have had my bear encounter. Then yesterday I read one chapter of this book.  Believe me, I will never wonder off a trail or a boardwalk in Yellowstone.  Those thermal pools are deadly not only to men, women and children, but also to dogs.  Now on to Chapter 2.

We have something new around our place.  For Christmas Irv got supplies to put together his own micro caches to hide for other people to find.  He also got some travel bugs that we're going to transport to Europe next month. A few weeks ago he created "Polcat's Crooked Smile".  He registered it with geocache.com and then put my camera with the telephoto lens out by the living room window so he could get shots of the first people to find it which he was sure would be any minute. One day turned into two, two turned into three, three turned into a week, then two weeks.  Nobody showed up to find his cache.  He was getting pretty discouraged and then one day somebody found it when he wasn't looking. Can you see it?  (I didn't want to be too obvious so I took a shot while checking the mail.) Somebody who works at Shreiver AFB came over to find it and that guy was excited to be the "first to find".  I guess that's some kind of coveted prize ...