Life on the High Plains

Many people like to celebrate on New Year's Eve by going to a party with dancing and lots of drinking.  We like to celebrate with a hike followed by a magnificent dinner. This year we booked a room at the Glen Eyrie castle for the night because it's located adjacent to the Garden of the Gods and it has tons of trails that are only open to it's guests, not the public. We had big plans for arriving early to explore as many of the trails as possible.  Little did we know that Colorado Springs would be in the midst of a cold spell when we made the reservation. When we arrived it was a balmy 11 degrees with light snow.  We checked into our room then bundled up for the first trail to an overlook. Now, I'm a pretty tough cookie and can handle the cold temps.  The problem was the steady wind from the north.  After a ways it became clear the conditions were just too cold and we weren't quite prepared.  Although the majority of me was warm enoug...

I've been home from Yellowstone for almost three months and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss it. Did you know that Lodgepole Pines make up about 80% of the trees in Yellowstone?  You'll also find spruce, fir, and other various pine trees in Yellowstone, but the Lodgepole is dominant. I took the above picture on a hike to Cascade Lake in June.  They grow up to 75 feet tall.  When the wind blows you can hear them creaking as they sway back and forth.  They have cones that remain high in the crowns of the trees until a fire sweeps through.  Then the cones open and disburse their seeds so the forest can regrow.  The devastation of the 1988 fires in Yellowstone that burned 1.2 million acres is still evident, but the forest is coming back stronger than ever in most areas thanks to the Lodgepole pines.  They love the carbon rich soil that is left behind after a fire and seedlings will start popping up very quickly. They ar...

I really don't know how I ever had time to work full-time and take care of a house and kids.  I also don't understand people who say they don't know what they'll do with their time after retirement.  Irv probably wishes I'd go back to work so that I'd stop thinking of projects.  So here's a synopsis of what we've been up to the last few weeks. Updating our guestroom was overdue.  We still had the green walls that were popular several years ago plus the furniture needed an update too. We started by painting the room.  Irv is the best painter ever.  He hardly makes a mess at all whereas when I paint I am covered from head to toe in paint.  We chose a neutral gray. Luckily, Irv is agile and he can climb up to those high places. Here he is acting like Michelangelo.  I have to give a shout out to Walmart paint.  I'd recently read a review of their paint and decided to try it.  We had bought enough to do two coats s...

Yesterday was a beautiful day in Southern Colorado so we headed over for a hike in the Garden of the Gods.  This is one of my favorite close by hikes and this time I tried to take photos of some rock formations that I normally don't shoot. Unfortunately I don't know the names of these formations, all I know is that they are beautiful!  Garden of the Gods got its name from two surveyors who came across the formations in 1859.  One of them suggested it would be a great place for a beer garden.  The other thought it was a fit place for Gods to assemble and he called it the Garden of the Gods.  I think this is a much better name than Beer Garden although it would be fun to have a beer garden in the midst of these spectacular formations. Above is the Kissing Camels using my telephoto lens.  Can you see it? Here it is from way down below. We got to see this beauty along the way. He held still only long enough for me to snap t...

Thanksgiving is finished.  I'm all ready for the craft fair this weekend.  Christmas is right around the corner and the weather is about to get colder. This morning it was a perfect 48 degrees and sunny, Irv had worked the night before and was sleeping so I decided to load up and drive across town to the Garden of the Gods. This is one of my favorite hikes.  I left Yellowstone on September 26th and I haven't been on a trail since so a hike was long overdue.  Yes, it was a little snowy in spots that the sun doesn't hit, but I have good traction with my hiking boots. I'm trying to learn the names of all the rock formations.  Above is the Tower of Babel. Once again, I'm thankful to the trail crew for maintaining the trails and preventing erosion. I don't know the name of this formation yet. People probably thought I was crazy, but I was prepared with bear spray.  Our weather hasn't been that cold yet so I can't assume th...