Snowy day walk…

 It was a snowy day and R and I decided it was just too beautiful out to stay inside, so we bundled up and headed out for a walk in the snowstorm. 

The wind wasn’t bad until we got to the top of the hill, then it hit us full force and was COLD… so we quickly turned and headed for home. 

As we got close to home we saw that the front yard had been completely taken over by deer while we were gone. We counted 14 of them, none of whom seemed very concerned about our intruding on their little get together.

We were pretty cold when we got home, but the wood stove warmed us up quickly. 

There is nothing like being cold to make a person really appreciate warmth!

Summer is winding down…

 …the robins won’t be here much longer.

We love watching them raise their babies each year, and seeing the first robin of the spring always makes for a special day. 

The birds take turns at the birdbath, with the robins always giving way to the jays (and the sparrows sneaking in when they can!). I caught one of the almost grown robin babies having his bath this evening…  they do seem to enjoy splashing around! 

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Peace Eagle…

 …aka turkey vulture we saw while hiking at Castlewood.

Once in a lifetime….

 We’ve seen a lot of wildlife in the 16+ years we’ve lived here… deer, coyotes, rabbits by the hundreds, skunks, raccoons, foxes, antelope, and we even had a mountain lion in the front yard, and a black bear just down the road… but today we saw the most amazing thing.

A bald eagle perched on our next door neighbor’s electrical pole. 

He was huge, and amazingly regal. I was in awe.

Sadly, the only picture we got is terrible. We spent most of the few minutes he was there staring…unable to believe what we were seeing…or looking through the binoculars at him. We only got this one quick photo before he flew away. 

I hope he comes back…

Caterpillar time!

 We found our first monarch caterpillar on the milkweed plants we grew from seed last spring. It was so exciting! 

We have since moved him inside into a protected habitat. I was worried the birds would eat him if I left him out in the garden area. 😱

We can’t wait for him to form his chrysalis and emerge a beautiful monarch!

Pasture walk

 First fawn of the season....

I found it curled up on the long grass between the main deer trail and the little trail that leads down from the small gully.

It didn’t move, even as I tiptoed close to see... it was either asleep or maybe “hiding”. I ran home, got my phone to take a picture and it was still there when I got back, curled up looking impossibly sweet. 

At long last...

 ...after looking for months, R finally saw a Great Horned Owl! 

And she (we) actually ended up seeing three, an adult on the nest and two fuzzy white babies who stuck their heads up while we were watching. 

(Second nest from the top, you can just see the adult’s feather tufts sticking out)

Such a special day...

Happy Anniversary...

...to us.

Today is the 10th anniversary of our move into this house. (If you haven't heard the story of our move in a blizzard, you can read about it here.)



It's been a wild 10 years starting with the fixing up of this poor neglected house we bought...










... and continuing through storms and sunshine....














.... an education every step of the way.





Here are a few more of my favorite blast-from-the-past photos of the past 10 years...

The goat days... how much hay CAN you fit into an Isuzu Trooper?






The day we realized M should probably not plan on getting a driver's license...



Got mud?




R and Grant...



The ever present deer...



... and even a rare albino one!



The day the circus came and painted our house gray and ran off with the kids...



... thanks to my brother's extreme photoshopping skills.

And, of course, the years of homeschooling...





It's been an amazing 10 years.

Here's the house before we moved in....



... and this morning... shrouded by fog from a cold front that blew in last night.



The barn back in 2006...





... and last summer.



If you like before and afters, there are a few more here...

"squirrel-proof" bird feeder

I bought a new bird feeder a few months ago. I mainly bought it because it was advertised as being "squirrel-proof"... It's made so that too much weight on the perch lowers the perch and closes off access to the bird seed. I thought the idea was ingenious (and the bird feeder cute) and since I'm tired of the squirrels eating everything in sight (including the chicken feed!) I bought it.

 I looked outside the other day and had to laugh at the resourcefulness of our squirrels...






Who knew he could stretch that far?



I have since moved the feeder another foot or so away from the trunk of the tree, and the squirrel is back to hanging out with the chickens, eating their food!

the bird whisperer

R loves animals... and almost all animals love her. She is so sweet and non-threatening, that creatures just seem to be drawn to her...

Take this fledgling, for example...



R found him mostly drowned in the water trough.... When she pulled him out of the trough he was limp and lifeless, mouth open looking for air, coughing and choking.

She wrapped him in a towel and carried him around as he started to breathe again... He was alive, but barely and shaking like crazy.

She dried him, sat in the sun with him (on a 95 degree day!) and as long as she held him he was quiet and calm (although still shaking) but each time she tried to set him down he started squawking and making a huge fuss.  Eventually he calmed down though, and before long he was strong enough to stand....



... and even flutter his wings a bit.



Finally, after more than an hour...



...he had recovered enough to fly away.

R watched him go, proud of "her" baby...



... and proud of herself for saving him.

I hope R is able to work as a helper to our large animal vet... She wants to, and they have said to contact them in the fall when more volunteer positions open up... I'm keeping my finger's crossed, it would be such a perfect fit for her.

Rain is good...

....especially when you live in a place that frequently deals with drought.

I took this picture this morning in the front pasture as I was waging war with the purple thistles (armed with my trusty six-shooter weed-eater)...




Don't look at my dirty old paint splattered barn coat, and don't get distracted by the sun just coming over the horizon (and my arm), instead check out the grass that is up to my waist!

We don't see that much in our part of Colorado...

The grass is so long you almost can't see the deer walking through the front pasture...



Here they are again, coming out into a place with shorter grass.



Needless to say, Murphy and Tucker are being spoiled by all the grass in the back pasture...

A little rain now and then is lovely.

Dear Small Songbird,

You didn't really think I wouldn't notice the nest you were building on my front door, did you?




I understand that my burlap wreath makes a handy little shelf, and is nicely sheltered by the porch roof...



... but surely you understand that I go in and out of that door many times each day, and it just wasn't the best place for your new home. It was a lovely nest, the dryer lint lining was a nice touch... and I feel badly but it had to go.




Best of luck in your new, new home... wherever it may be (I would avoid the barn for your new nest location... there are cats out there!)

Sincerely,

Your Bird Bath Filling, Bird Seed Providing, Human Friend

nest watching

Each year, finches build a nest in a little hanging lantern I have on the front porch.

(You can see a bit of the nest peaking out of the lantern on the left...)



R found five impossibly tiny eggs in the nest the other day, and I went out yesterday to take pictures of the eggs before they started to hatch..

Oops... too late.