At the Summit – there isn’t much air but what a view
It’s a long way down
Tight turns up and down
Such beauty
Tag: outdoors
I Am Such a Sissy
We just got back from a long weekend trip to Castle Rock, Colorado to see my best friend in the whole world. Castle Rock is located on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains about 2 hours or so from the foothills. It has been decades since either Mitch or I have been to Colorado. So we went sightseeing to some of the areas attractions. On a whim the four of us decided to drive up to the top of Pike’s Peak. My parents had taken me up when I was a child but I had forgotten anything about it other than going.
Pike’s Peak has an elevation of 14,110 feet above sea level, 31st highest peak out of 54 so it’s no slouch. For some reason though, I didn’t think that 14,110 feet was so high, I don’t know, maybe I was suffering altitude sickness or just that impoverished model of reality that I live in. Because for someone that is not a fan of heights I thought that driving up a winding narrow two lane road in thin air sounded like a great idea. The ride started off nicely with great vistas of the mountains in the background and dramatic cliffs climbing all the way up to heaven.
We hadn’t even gotten half way up when one side of the road was a huge drop off with no shoulder. The side of the road just ended and there was nothing but space. I was terrified to look out the window and over the drop off for fear that the mere force of my body weight angled toward the car window would cause us to veer off the side and plummet down to our deaths. Consequently I found myself leaning over toward my friend trying to will the car’s weight and balance toward the middle of the road. Yes I know a truly rational thought.
When we finally reached the top of Pike’s Peak and got out of the car the second thing that totally surprised me was how cold it was. Yes I know, we just drove vertically 14,110 feet and the air should be colder, but at the base the air temperature was 68 degrees why was it now 28 degrees and I was not dressed for 28 degrees. Plus I was shocked at how little air there was to breathe and I was sucking in as much I could get, but there wasn’t much to go around.
Once I finally decided to quit being such a baby I marveled at the height we were at. We were two thousand feet above the tree line with only tundra and rocks scattered around. The view was magnificent, which as a matter of fact, was what inspired the song, America the Beautiful. After warming up in the visitors’ center, we loaded up and headed off back down the mountain. Lucky me we are going to be hurtling out of control down the mountain at break neck speeds around fifteen miles an hour or so. Woo hoo.
An Early Morning HIke
AJ taking his time enjoying the new trail.
Charlie does not stop running.
Orso looking for something to chase.
A pretty early morning view.
I Don’t Have Time for This
I should have known something would happen this morning on our walk. I should have seen the signs. We had a full moon tonight, plus it was an orangish red color. I think that is what some call Blood on the Moon. Full moon and weird color must mean something. Mitch said that he thought it meant a storm was coming. I now think it meant weirdo coming.
Our predawn walk started off normally, dogs sniffing the air and scanning the dark looking for something to charge after to see if I will be the boat anchor dragging behind them. I’m always on guard for any possible intruder in the dark just to make sure I don’t become a casualty of the charge. As we came over the top of the hill a bluish light shining at the top of one the utility poles caught my eye. There has never been a light there before. I looked around turning a complete circle looking for the source of the light but saw nothing or no one in the shadows. The light went out then came back on causing me to look around again looking for the source. No luck.
I considered all of the possible solutions to this and came up with three possible answers. Option A – some creep hiding in the dark trying to scare me. Option B – an extraterrestrial from some other world making first contact on earth. Option C – a great big honkin’ lightening bug. As much as I believe that there is intelligent life out there in the universe, I really don’t think that ET would make first contact with a woman and three dogs in the Midwest. All I could offer him would be directions to someone who could help him. And even though I believe that we have worked extra hard at screwing up our planet, I just don’t think that I saw a great big honkin’ lightening bug. That leaves the only logical explanation for the light. Some creep hiding in the dark trying to be cute.
If he is trying to scare me, guess what? It didn’t work. But I can tell the little creep this; if he does it again and I figure out where he’s hiding, I might just let the dogs off the leash. I really don’t have time for this in the mornings.
Summer Play Pictures
Charlie’s just taking a load off and resting
Orso wants to play on the jungle gym too!
I’ve Been Acclimatized
I’ve been acclimatized! It all started last winter. We had a very mild dry winter, no complaints here. That weather pattern carried on into spring, delivering a warmer, drier than normal spring, still very few complaints. I was able to get my garden planted earlier, did a bunch of dividing and transplanting plants. I even fertilized and spread weed killer on the yard. That’s when the rain officially stopped here. Finally we have had the summer from hell, literally. This has been the driest year on record and one of the hottest in history. Absolutely miserable. We’ve had to water, water and water constantly, driving to me consider getting a second job just to pay the water bill.
Finally the sweltering heat dropped down from the hundreds to a more normal realm of the eighties and low nineties. Yesterday I walked out of work to go to lunch and was greeted with eighty six degree temperatures and thought it felt very comfortable and mild. Can you believe that, eighty six degrees and I thought it felt very comfortable and even a little cool with the wind blowing? I had to look at the thermometer just to confirm the actual temperature. This morning we took the dogs on their morning walk at 4:30 and it was sixty five degrees, where was my jacket? This does not bode well for me when we revert back to our normal freezing winter.
I may have to start wintering in Florida.
What A Day – Is This An Omen?
Do you believe in omens? Most of the time I don’t, but sometimes there are days. I believe you make your own karma. You make a conscious decision to be happy and look for the positive in your life or you choose to be miserable, it’s your choice. But there are times when I wonder if there is a greater power at work and just for some galactic grins and giggles, picks some hapless soul to screw with that day. If this is truly the case, then I must have drawn the black marble today.
For starters, it started to rain this morning, a good thing with this drought, but the weather forecasters had predicted rain this evening and I had planned a Walmart run on my way to work. Walmart is open twenty-four hours a day and going at six in the morning and missing the crowds is a bonus. No big deal, but with the thunder and lightning, AJ makes a trip to Pete and Mac’s for doggie day care, because he is terrified of thunder and lightning. His terror turns outward and he leaves a swathe of destruction in his path. Pete and Mac’s doesn’t open until 6:30, so no Walmart trip. That means weekend crowds for me. Yay.
Because of the aborted Walmart trip, I was ready to go early but couldn’t so I decided to make a side trip to the bank and deposit a check I had received. Guess what, the ATM is not covered, so my left arm and side of my head got wet pushing buttons, inserting deposit envelope and retrieving the receipt. Lovely. My next stop was Pete and Mac’s to drop off AJ. Of course, AJ wanted to stop and pee on the way in, so now I have matching wet arms and head. The day is just getting better by the minute. I got AJ dropped off and got to meet a really sweet large Bloodhound, a plus.
I hopped on the highway to go to work or at least tried to hop on the highway. Some jerk decided he needed the right lane and wouldn’t budge, even though no one was in any other lane. Where is my bazooka when I need it? Driving down the highway I decided to turn the knob from air conditioning to vent and the knob jumped off and dropped to the floor board somewhere on the passenger side. Super. Halfway to work and the windows started fogging up from the humidity and I can’t adjust the temperature control because the frigging knob is somewhere out of reach. I guess I’ll know when I hit something by the sudden deceleration.
After a miserable day at work with a pounding headache, I come home to try and relax after taking the dogs for a walk. And the crowning achievement to my day, AJ charged after a flock of geese jerking the leash, dislocating the little finger on my left hand. My consolation for the day was my sacrifice saved some other poor soul from a torturous day.
And The Heat Goes On
The heat and the drought just keeps coming. It’s like a blast furnace each time you walk outside. Taking the dogs on walks is short and slow. They don’t want to be out in the heat anymore than we do. Of course this is the year that we’ve added two raised beds to grow more vegetables. Two more beds means two times more watering, which translates to a much higher water bill. This is a double edged sword for me. I love the taste of home grown tomatoes, nothing like a big juicy home grown tomato. With this drought we have to water almost every day just to keep the plants from withering.
I’m also the utility police at home. I walk around turning lights off, raising or lowering the thermostat and turning the faucet off in mid tooth brushing. I am just plain cheap when it comes to wasting electricity, gas and water. I rant on about saving energy, conserving water and recycling everything we can possibly recycle. Mitch made and installed three rain barrels around the house so I can water the gardens with rainwater. This year all of the rain barrels are bone dry, no water to even dribble out.
We decided to use soaker hoses to accomplish watering more efficiently. The problem was that the three raised beds were too far apart so we were wasting a lot of water in between. Mitch solved this by cutting up the seventy five foot hose into three sections which he snaked through each bed then connected the spaces in between with regular hose pieces. This has worked out very well for us. Now we’re only watering the vegetable beds and not everything in between. Of course the yard has gone dormant and I’m hoping will recover next spring.
Whether you believe in global warming or not, this weather pattern sucks and I’m ready for it to be over.
We’re Hunting Squirrels
Charlie waiting patiently
Orso trying to climb the tree
The object of their interest
We Were Not Alone
Our normal morning walk at o’dark thirty, 4:30am actually, started as always. Me trying to get the dogs and leashes under control. AJ will only walk on my left, Charlie and Orso don’t care which side they walk on as long as Orso is on the outside and Charlie is next to me. Orso and Charlie will switch from the left side to right multiple times during the walk almost always by crossing behind me causing me to have to juggle the leashes around to keep from getting yanked around from behind.
On this particular morning, the walk started off with our normal chaos, sniffing, peeing and snatching grass to munch on during the walk. But when we got to the long stretch of road that has no houses on either side, a ravine on the left and a wooded hill on the right with houses on the hilltop, the dogs discovered we weren’t alone. Something was keeping pace with us. The invisible stalker was up on the hill to our right. Orso discovered our stalker first, stopping and sniffing the air with his head held high, straining at the leash to get a closer sniff. Charlie soon caught a whiff and joined Orso straining at his leash too trying to get closer to whatever “It” was. I looked around in the gloom, but couldn’t see anything, I listened intently to try and catch any rustling sound to try and determine where and what was out there, but I didn’t hear anything. I tugged on their leashes to pull them away from the area and hopefully leaving the thing, whatever it was alone and hopefully leaving us alone too.
But no, our invisible stalker stayed with us, keeping pace staying high on the hill and being quite stealthy. The only giveaway was his scent which evidently was tantalizing to the dogs. Me not so much. I couldn’t smell, see or hear the stalker, so I was getting pretty unnerved trying to keep the dogs under control and alert to a possible threat. The rest of the walk was uneventful when we got past the dark stretch of road and back into the glow of the streetlights. Of course that was until Orso shook his head and I about jumped out of my skin. Just a little jittery, silly me.
A woman's view of hunting...with men 