Life on the High Plains

Last week we decided to stay in Colorado and do a some local camping. The first stop was Cheyenne Mountain State Park about 20 miles from home.  We had a beautiful site with a great view of Cheyenne Mountain (home of Norad). We enjoyed some beautiful evening walks and were treated to a rainbow one night. A rain storm in the distance. I love how the top of the clouds are illuminated. On the third day we relocated to Eleven Mile State Park in the high country.  No trees nearby, but plenty of wildflowers.  I think this is Castilleja Integra or paintbrush. Mountain Lupine, maybe?  My iPhone says it's Penstemon. Whatever they all are, I love them! Sunset the first evening.  Spectacular! Storm clouds brewing over the mountains. Sunset on our last night! After three days of dry camping it was time to head home! Happy Skywatch Friday!

We recently took our kayaks up to Eleven Mile State Park in Colorado.  The skies provided some great sky shots perfect for Skywatch Friday.  (Don't worry, the kayaks didn't go in the water until the storm passed.) After a couple hours we were able to go on our voyage. Happy Skywatch Friday!  

Finally!  After five years of working on Irv I finally convinced him that we needed a couple kayaks.  (Okay, we don't really need Kayaks, but they're fun and I wanted them.)  I had found some eight footers on sale at our local sporting goods store so off we went to get them.  Much to our surprise they also had a great sale on life vests and paddles also! The next morning Irv had an appointment so we planned to drive up into the mountains to Eleven Mile State Park after his appointment for our kayak's maiden voyage.  Due to our late arrival, there was a storm brewing to the west.  The ranger who inspected our kayaks said to be careful and wait for the storm to pass an d then he gave us whistles to go with our life jackets (we hadn't thought of that). . So we sat on the tailgate and had a picnic.  Lots of people were in the parking lot waiting for the storm to pass.  When the rain started we took a driving tour of the campground.  We'll be camp...

 A dream came true last week.  After 50 years of being a fan I finally got to see Stevie Nicks in concert at the Ball Arena in Denver.   What a fantastic night it was! The concert was originally scheduled for Thursday night so Mary and I were just going to drive up after Mary's work day was done and then directly home afterwards.  A couple days before the concert I received an email saying it was rescheduled for Saturday night. Woohoo!  We decided to make a full night of it...dinner, drinks, and hotel room.  We went to the Rio which is a short walk from the arena and has excellent Mexican food and even better margaritas (they won't sell you more than three of them, one is always enough for me). I always go for the classic.  Mary likes the mango. I love their cheese and onion enchiladas! Mary refused to walk back so I let her order a Lyft for the .5 mile distance to the arena. We found our seats and waited for the fun to begin. The opening act was ...

 We recently went up to North Cheyenne Canon in Colorado to do a little hiking. There's a beautiful trail up there called Seven Bridges and yes, it really does cross seven bridges. Helen Hunt Falls. This is a popular hiking and mountain bike destination in Colorado Springs so you have to arrive early to find a parking spot.  We had no trouble finding a spot, but by the time we left the lot was full and cars were circling waiting for folks to leave. From the parking lot it's about a 3/4 mile walk on a dirt to get to the trailhead.  Then the trail turns off to the right and follows the North Cheyenne Creek for several miles.  The waterflow is especially fast this time of year because of the mountain snow melt. We stopped at the first bridge for a selfie. We had both dogs with us and this one, Aspen, loves to jump in the water. My hubbie has been recovering from a bad muscle injury and he thought he was ready for this hike, but he started feeling a little twinge so we d...

I've been told that I am not doing a great job of blogging lately.  Sad, but true.  I lead a very boring life so there isn't much to blog about.  I'll try to hit some of the highlights of May. On the morning of May 13th I went out to the barn at about 6:00 to feed the horses their breakfast.  This guy, Doc, was stomping around his stall and was very agitated.  I thought he was just being picky about his food, but then I decided to take a closer look.  He never turns down a meal.  Whoa...what's going on with the right side of his snout? As a horse owner who lives on the high desert of Colorado I had a sneaking suspicion that we were dealing with a rattlesnake bite.  We called the vet and woke her up.  Initially she said she would come out to our place, but then called back and asked if we could just bring him into the clinic.  I agreed that was a good decision because I knew Doc was going to need lots of IV fluids and medicine to make it ...