I’m writing tonight as our last night here at the cabin. I’ve posted several blog entries today, so if you are interested, please read backward a bit to see them all. I guess I felt the need to catch up a bit more before we left.

This morning we took our coffee and walked down to Serenity Point (as we’ve named it.)




Note to self: Next time I want/need to enjoy some serenity, leave the dogs behind in the cabin.

We are as ready and packed as we can get tonight. We just made the last walk with the dogs down to the bottom and back. They all know that we are leaving tomorrow as they’ve watched the progress of packing up all day long. I would like to think that they are as ready as we are.

The hummingbirds are not happy with us as we just now took down the feeders. They are in a frenzy of sugar withdrawal. I feel bad for them.

I emptied the bird feeders and along with it, all the junk food that we did not eat. So, the beasties will be feeding on Cheez Doodles (better known as Cheeze Do-dos) and stale potato chips and Chex cereal.

I have to say that given the extreme fire danger here, I took some extra photos of the cabin in case I might not see it standing again. Don’t ever take anything for granted. Not in this wild country.

If not this fire that continues to chew away at all the beetle kill, another one might take it. You just don’t know.

Our time here was good. But we are ready to resume our normal lives again and pick the threads of our lives back up again on the other side of the country.

We’ll see you on the flip side! Thanks so much for joining us on our journey west. I hope you enjoyed your vacation!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad at the cabin 8,650 feet above sea level

We just got back from visiting our neighbors Donna and Larry and giving them the remnants of our fridge that we won’t be using tonight and are unable to take home with us.

We were horrified to see this view on the way home. Granted, I am using a zoom lens, so this photo was taken at 75mm.




And here I zoomed to the max of the lens, 300mm.




We could actually see the smoke billowing up. I don’t like this at all! The winds are on our side, but still. It’s scary. There is so much fuel for this fire. So many beetle kill pines. Plus, it’s dry and windy with hardly any humidity. Not good fire fighting weather at all.

Donna and Larry were packing up some things precious to them that they don’t want to lose and are renting a storage unit in Laramie just in case. It’s something you have to think about up here. We are in fact thinking of taking an old clock home with us. Just in case.

I don’t think we or the cabin are in any danger but if the fire keeps increasing it would get too close for comfort.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad at the cabin 8,650 feet above sea level

And adorable! We have a huge population of both ground squirrels and their littler cousins, chipmunks.




They are pretty smart about gaining access to the two bird feeders we have out. This year every time I look out expecting to see birds in the feeders I see ground squirrels or chipmunks instead.

Amazingly, they can climb this pole!

Getting up is one thing, but getting down is not as easy as it would seem.




Our other bird feeder is surrounded by baby aspens. Since it’s impossible for them to climb up the pole and get into this feeder, they’ve learned to climb the little trees and take a flying leap! Rick finally got this in slow motion yesterday and here is the clip. Enjoy!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad at the cabin 8,650 feet above sea level

I’ve shown you Chimney rock earlier on in my cabin posts, right? It’s that strange rock formation that you can’t miss driving to the cabin. It has a large ranch named after it, and all those strange looking rock formations I showed you are all on the ranch.

Seen from the normal angle of the road that goes past it, Chimney Rock does look like a tall chimney and it’s pretty easy to see how it got its name.




But ... it is also known by the name of Camel Rock to some people. Those people look at this landmark from a different angle and they see a camel.



Funny looking, huh? Do you see a camel? I used to think it looked more like a turtle with a big shell.

And here is another view of that old homestead as seen from “Camel” Rock. The homestead is dwarfed by the cliffs behind it.




On another note, my camera is acting up. My new camera. All the photos you see above have been doctored to edit out an annoying UFO blip that just started showing up. Take a look:




It appears to be on the sensor and there is no way to clean it. Sigh. I have no idea where it came from! So, when we get back I will take my camera back in to Best Buy and just have them give me a new one instead of repairing this one under warranty. It’s very frustrating!

I hope to post at least once more today and maybe twice, so stay tuned!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad at the cabin 8,650 feet above sea level