You Knock Me off My Feet
It’s amazing what you’ll find off I-25.
A Bison ranch right off the frontage road has a large herd of Buffalo and their calves. This girl was having a blast rolling around in the dirt.
She’s glad it’s Friday.
And so am I.
You all are so good to me and I enjoy each and every one of your comments. Thank you for your encouragement and inspiration. You guys knock me off my feet! Have a great holiday weekend my friends.
Hugs, Leah
At Sunset
It’s hard to be outside in the middle of the day because the heat is high and the air is so dry. But I do enjoy a good hike while the sun goes down. Here are some captures of my wanders.
The turkey hens and their chicks are still hanging in there.
We don’t have as many sunflowers this summer like we usually do but a couple have popped up along the road.
There’s a storm rollin’ in.
Patrick is now riding Crazy Alice. After working with her in the round pen during his down time, putting shoes on her fresh hooves, and working her a little around cows and other horses, we feel she’s coming along quite well.
Notice the rain in the left of the image and a partial rainbow, we call a sundog, in the right of the image. But because we are in such a drought, the rain evaporates before making it to down to the ground.
Antelope ran from me and the sound of thunder.
I hope you have a great week. My thoughts today are with the folks along the gulf coast. If I could, I’d take all that rain from you in a heartbeat.
the Monarch
The Monarch butterfly is known as the milkweed butterfly because she lays her eggs on various milkweeds for the caterpillar to feed on.
She migrates north in the spring and will head south starting sometime this month.
So glad she paused for a couple portraits before she takes off.
Have a great weekend!
Ewes and Lambs
We worked cattle on the Plains the other day. Every time we make the drive up there our eyes are peeled and our necks are bent looking for sheep on the hillsides. We haven’t seen any in a while but this particular day, we got an up close sighting of two ewes and their lambs.
Through the windshield we saw a little white butt and I said “what is tha…” , at the same time Patrick was whisperyelling “big horn sheep big horn sheep!”
We waited to see where they were going and then crept up slowly beside them.
Watching them climb the rocky mountainside with such grace and agility is truely magical. It’s like watching synchronized swimming or something.
We stayed for about 3 or 4 minutes for pictures and then we left them alone. They were on a mission and we interrupted them. But how can you not stop and take it all in. They are really beautiful creatures.
a winding drive to Glade Park
Earlier this summer, I took a trip to Colorado for business and was fortunate enough to have to drive through the Colorado National Monument to get to where I needed to be.
From Wikipedia: Colorado National Monument (locally referred to as The Monument) is a part of the National Park Service near the city of Grand Junction, Colorado. Spectacular canyons cut deep into sandstone and even granite–gneiss–schist rock formations, in some areas. This is an area of desert land high on the Colorado Plateau, with pinion and juniper forests on the plateau.
Driving the winding Rim Rock Drive at sunrise was magical.
This was the Serpent Trail. Because I had a limited amount of time, I couldn’t put my backpack on and hike it. But I do look forward to making the trip back to spend more time exploring.
Canyon Monument runs the width of the park with many different rock formations.
When the road leveled out, I knew I had reached Glade Park, my final destination. The elevation of Glade Park is approx. 7,000 feet. I went to visit the folks I drove up to see and had a great morning. However, this trip ended up being not about the destination, but all about the journey.
Have a great weekend my friends!
Bird on a Wire
Finch or sparrow? Or something else? I’m not the best at naming birds but I thought this was a pretty scene.
Happy Tuesday!
Moose Encounter
We took a road trip recently traveling through back roads of Wyoming and into Colorado.
And wouldn’t you know we saw a momma moose and her calf.
They were distracted by something else and didn’t pay much attention to us. We kept our distance anyhow.
We drove off, made our way around the corner and there was another one all brushed up in the willows.
This was my first sighting of a moose and it was super cool to watch them move so gracefully around the land and in the tall brush.
A few moose facts:
-Moose are the largest of all the deer species.
-The flap of skin that sways beneath each moose’s throat is known as a bell
-Their hooves act as snowshoes to support themselves in soft snow and in muddy or marshy ground.
-Moose are at home in the water and, despite their staggering bulk, are good swimmers.
-Females give birth to one or two calves in the spring—each weighing some 30 pounds.
-Calves grow quickly and can outrun a person by the time they are just five days old.
(Thanks for the info NatGeo!)
Chasing Fires
a stormy sunset over the hills
It was just another hot summer night here in paradise.
Thunder shook the house last night during supper so we hopped in the truck and went to the top of the hill with binoculars and a camera. A cloud to ground lightning show during sunset went on for about 30 minutes until we got a call to head to a fire. We drove back down to the house get Patrick into his fire gear and he headed out with the crew. The chase was on. They put out one fire near the Cooney Hills and went to another one on Black Mountain. He’s been Black Mountain all night and hasn’t made it home yet this morning. The helicopters are tackling this one with the ground crew this morning.
Such a warm welcome back home after a wet week on the Vineyard.
“This shark, swallow you whole” -Quint
We surprised Dad last week for his birthday on Martha’s Vineyard. Also known as Amity Island, it is where the movie jaws was filmed 30 something years ago.
And Patrick spotted Jaws right here on the island!
Joey’s footprints.
A wet seagull feather sparkled on the sand.
Gayhead Lighthouse.
An osprey nest is housed up high and we watched as one circled in and joined it’s mate and young ones.
Joey enjoyed tossing sand into the ocean at sunset.
A few folks were fishing off the jetty.
Seagulls were everywhere. If you brought a picnic to the beach, you had to make sure you didn’t leave any food unattended or else you’d go hungry. These little thieves are fast and sneaky!
Sunsets were few and far between. The skies were overcast most evenings but we lucked out with this one.
We also enjoyed walking through craft markets and galleries in the many villages on the island.
There was an abundance of wildflowers. The wet and humid summer has done them well.
The ferry ride to the mainland on the last day was foggy, overcast, and dreary.
But the sun peeked through at times giving a calm and peaceful view.
It was so awesome surprising Dad like this. We all had a great week and he said this was the best birthday present ever. So glad we made it out there this year. Thank you Debbie for making it happen!
Uprooted Magnolia 
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