I know it’s been a couple weeks since my last post. It has been a busy time for us and I’ll try to cover what has happened over the last few weeks.
Critter Stories
A few weeks ago Pam and I visited The Lot. Out of that trip come a couple of “critter” stories I have not previously mentioned.
As we approached our turnoff in South Park, I saw something crossing the road ahead of us but couldn’t identify what it was. Getting closer, we saw a mom coyote with six kitts who had just crossed the road.
Now this is rare; coyote kitts are rarely seen in daylight. I don’t know why the mom was moving them, but the kitts were as cute as can be. Little triangle ears poking up from small but well defined heads. Each kitt was a miniature image of the mother. We didn’t stop for a photo, but the image remains clear in our memories. Cute!
One of my chores when we start the season is to get fresh water, something I mentioned in an earlier post. However, while I was on my first water trip, I came around a corner and almost ran into three adult pronghorn bucks. I stopped the truck, but when I started to move to grab my camera, the animals took off.
They looked great. Black ebony horns rose above clearly marked faces. One looked to be molting his winter coat in a small area near his belly, but otherwise they were sleek and healthy.
Again, no photos but the memory remains. Seeing these critters was a highlight of that trip.
The Lot News
I have made a couple more solo trips to The Lot and have been able to get some work started. I haven’t done as much as I’d like, primarily due to the weather.
Two weeks ago I went up on a Saturday – Sunday visit; the weather report called for a low of 34 degrees and a chance of snow. In fact, it did snow on the way home, enough to accumulate on Vail Pass, and there were flakes in the air in many places. The main goal was to take up the chipper, replace the LP lines on the tanks, and do some replenishing of items we had forgotten on the first trip. Good thing my goals were not any higher!
Last weekend I made another overnighter, this time to get some work done. I cut brush, chipped small piles of brush, salvaged a few logs for firewood, consolidated some of my pine wood, and cleaned up some dead wood along the driveway and on Homestead Acre. However, rain moved in and I had to cut my visit a few hours short. I brought home a truck full of ‘burn pit’ wood; this stuff is too rotten to salvage and too big to chip.
Here are a few photos from the most recent trip:
Once the storm rumblings began I closed down my operations, put the ATV in shed storage, and shut down The Box in preparation to head for home.
Around the House
The home place looks a little bare with the utility trailer and the chipper gone from the spots they had occupied over the winter. However, the hollyhocks are blooming profusely and the lawn remains very green due to recent rains.
I picked all the cherries off my cherry tree. There were not as many as last year. Pam froze them pits-in for future distribution to the squirrels and chippies at The Lot this fall and early winter. (Pam was not impressed with the crop of “pie cherries” last year; this year’s crop was meant for a different fate.)
So the summer goes on. I have a motorcycle rally in a couple of weeks, based out of Durango in Colorado’s southwest corner. Looking forward to it.
We hope everyone has a Hppy 4th of July!
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
Pam’s Penny
I’m spending quite a bit of time this season being the door concierge for the dogs and a couple of cats. Out/in, out/in, out/in, repeat, repeat, repeat…
Toward the end of July, I may just assemble materials and start working on the Winter Solstice cards. The number of holiday cards I send is dwindling; this past year saw another handful of folks pass into the ether and off my list. I’m thinking of Solstice cards in sapphire blue, since the sapphire is the precious stone representing 45 years of marriage — a milestone Fields and I will pass at the end of the summer.
Happy Trails.
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