Life on the High Plains

It's been a few weeks since I participated in Skywatch Friday.  I'm back home from Yellowstone now and I don't have fantastic views to share as often anymore. A couple weeks ago we decided to play tourist in our own home town of Colorado Springs.  The cog railway that goes to the top of Pikes Peak had been closed for three years during renovation and had recently reopened.  We wanted to check it out. The new railway cars are beautiful and shiny.  The train starts are the base of Pikes Peak in Manitou Springs. So thankful to live in a state that requires masks for many indoor activities!  The rail cars are brand new and arrived from Switzerland earlier this year. Each way up and down the mountain takes about an hour.  We knew to prepare for completely different weather at the top of a 14,000 foot peak...it's always windy and much colder than at the start of the trip. Amazing views of the front range of the Rockies from up there.  We saw lots of big horn...

Since getting vaccinated earlier this year I think we've become a little lackadaisical about the fact that a worldwide epidemic is still going on.  This week it got a little too close to home. My daughter contracted Covid from her workplace.  Fortunately, she was one of the smart ones her got herself vaccinated way back when it first became available to healthcare workers.  Unfortunately, she works for an irresponsible employer in the medical field who doesn't believe in the vaccine or the pandemic.  At her workplace she was exposed to people who had the illness and she got a breakthrough case of Covid. Since Irv and I had been with her a few days before she tested positive we got ourselves tested right away.  I have to commend our county for providing very easily accessible testing sites.  Preregister online then drive to your preferred location. We got results within 24 hours and luckily Irv, myself and our grandson all tested negative.  Woohoo!...

It's back to the old grind now that I'm home from Yellowstone.  You know...housecleaning, cooking, yardwork, etc. One chore that needed to be done was the weeding of my raised beds in the veggie patch.  I in no way expected Irv to maintain the garden especially since I didn't plant anything before I left. I knew I didn't want to look at that mess all winter so I got the work gloves on and pulled a few cubic yards of weeds (with Irv's help).  Next year I plan to get back into gardening to produce my own veggies. Look what we found!  Even though nothing was planted this spring there were still a few onions to harvest.  Woohoo! Here's the after picture.  My asparagus plants on the left more than likely produced some asparagus this summer, but Irv didn't know what to look for.  Hopefully some rabbits or deer got to enjoy some spears.  It's taken three years for the asparagus plants to get that big. In the midst of weeding Irv taught me how to winteriz...

 It's always bittersweet when I leave Yellowstone at the end of the season.  Although I really don't like greeting 1,000+ visitors everyday at the gate, I really enjoy the team of rangers I work with.  We're a close knit group so leaving them is like leaving family. Anyway, we headed south through Yellowstone and then through the Grand Teton National Park. There's always a stop at my favorite turnout in the Tetons--Oxbow Bend.  Today it was especially nice because the trees were in full color and there wasn't any smoke in the air to impede our view.  In my opinion, the Tetons are some of the most beautiful and majestic mountains in the world.  My heart and soul belongs in this part of the country. The Snake River runs through this area.  It's also very beautiful.  What would have made it even more perfect would have been a moose in the water or grizzly #399 and her four cubs walking by.  It wasn't to happen on this morning though. It's highly...