Pool water with the sun’s reflection.

Yesterday was perfect. Truly perfection. The temperature was perfect: 81 degrees with low humidity and a gentle breeze.

We had some shopping to do early in the day such as a new umbrella since the one we’ve had for four years broke and refused to go up anymore. The new one is striped for a change.

We also had to buy another solar cover for the pool. We replaced our old worn-out cover last year but the new cover was so heavy and thick we had trouble reeling it up (and I certainly could not do it by myself), plus it did not fit on our current reel and we had to purchase a new one. It just was not working so we decided to ditch it. The new cover is much lighter and fits on our old reel, so we will try and put the other one on Craig’s List or something to try and sell it.

I got a new pair of sunglasses to replace those that were stolen off our table at the get-together at Rio’s in Ft. Collins. I hope that college kid who cleared our table is enjoying my Revo’s! I hate dishonest people.

We also dropped by the huge and great camera store in our area, Unique Photo, because they were having an Expo with lots of different camera reps and all kinds of things going on. I wanted to talk to the rep about my new Canon T4i since I was not happy with the photos it was taking in Auto Intelligent mode. The shots were always over-exposed. (Okay, I admit I set my camera to “auto” quite a bit. Bad me. But sometimes you just don’t want to mess with settings.)

I had the same difficulty with the very first Rebel I had, but my most recent Rebel (the XSi) did not have that problem. It took pretty decent photos in that mode. Now “Program” mode was another story: there the photos were always under exposed! No camera is perfect I guess.

Anyway, I talked to him and he told me to completely ditch Auto Intelligent mode! Hmmm. Makes you wonder why they even have it as a selection, doesn’t it? He suggested I use the Program mode instead since it gives you a couple of different options, such as adjusting the aperture down or up a few stops.

He also told me about a class called “Canon EOS Discovery Day” that he teaches where they go through your camera and all its features (and how to use them). It sounded like something I need, so I signed up for the next one taking place July 20th. I can’t wait!

While we were there I somehow ended up talking to the Canon rep for photo printers, which I have been telling Rick we need for quite a while, and he had a deal that we just could not refuse. Not something we had planned to buy yesterday, but there you go.

Once home the afternoon was spent installing the new solar cover and setting up all the furniture around the pool. We are getting such a late start to pool time this year! I don’t know what we did before we had the cabana.

We swam a bit and the water was delicious!

And speaking of delicious: our meal shown two different ways. (It’s’ a veal chop.)

Back to the pool to sit and enjoy (I took another dip).

I tried out a new setting on my camera Handheld Night Scene which takes 4 consecutive shots and combines them all together (like HDR). These are the cabana lights that we forgot to put up and Rick just brought them out in a pile and plugged them in. There was no other light except for them.

Cool, eh? I have a lot to learn about this new camera!

Whew. Summer arrived right on time. The past two days have been in the 90’s with high humidity, taking the heat index right over 100 degrees! It’s good for the pool (which was opened last week right before we got back) since it needs to come up a bit in temperature, but it’s not good for much else. I need to get some more weeding done but it’s too muggy out there for me.

The ferns are going crazy.

The bee balm is starting to bloom.

And the day lilies poolside are blooming too.

Last night after dinner Rick couldn’t stand looking at the pool any longer and he had the first swim of the season. 77 degrees isn’t too bad for the water temperature, but it’s still pretty chilly. I watched and cheered him on from the sidelines.

Bella was out with us as usual but Alex and Hailey preferred to stay in the air conditioned house. Can’t blame them.

Rick had just gotten out of the water when I heard a noise and Bella took off down into the yard and into the woods barking. Uh oh. I know what that kind of bark means. I ran to see what it was and saw a bear climbing up a tree. We grabbed Bella and bless her heart she listened and came with us.

I walked back down to the edge of the yard to take a closer look. I’ve learned over the years we’ve lived here to look up, way up in the tree. Sure enough, this bear had three cubs with her! I was so excited I was jumping up and down with joy! This is the first time in two years since they initiated the bear hunt again that we’ve had a momma bear! So great to see her and the cubbies!

It was getting dark so trying to get photos was challenging. This was the best I could do.

The three little monkeys!

Pretty momma!

Another one of the three cubs. I love the little guy sitting astride in the crook of the branch! They are so darling when they’re little. Three cubs is quite a lot. Two is pretty normal, but nothing like Fertile Myrtle’s Five. Do you remember them? Here’s a link to a video of them.

Here’s a pic so you can see how far apart the cubs were from the mother bear.

She was inside the perimeter of our fence which means the cubs had to crawl over it. We have several low spots in the fence from the bears climbing over so it’s not a big surprise. Still, it’s always a little unnerving to have them in your yard!

I don’t know if she’ll be back after all the ruckus or not. She didn’t seem too worried. I’m just so excited to have bears again. They are such interesting animals.

Yesterday as I dragged the recycle up the driveway to the curb I noticed something in the other part of the driveway right in front of the door. From a distance I couldn’t see what it was. Maybe a pile of bear poo? Whatever it was was in the shadows and kind of circular which led me to guess the bear had left a present.

No! It was this guy.

I have only seen one other turtle here and that was the first year we lived here. I have no idea where he came from on this fine hot and humid morning.

Look at the beautiful pattern on his shell. I looked him up and came up with Eastern Box Turtle as the type of turtle he is.

He was not too sure about me and was giving me the old turtle “stink eye.” Plus, you think he could have at least finished finished chewing his leafy breakfast!

I took quite a few photos of him and since he was so nervous about me I left him to go about his business whatever it was. I wouldn’t mind if he decided to come back again.

P.S. I picked up my new “new” camera two days ago and am still trying to get used to the differences between it and my old camera. There are quite a few new features!

I see many differences between where I am now and where I’ve been. No, I’m not getting philosophical on you, I mean literally, not figuratively.

Sometimes though I might think a little too deeply. Like how it’s weird that while I am living somewhere else, live goes on without me where I used to live. Two different timelines that converge once in a while. I’m not sure if I can even properly explain it. For any one who has traveled a great deal I think you will know what I am saying. It boggles my mind to think about of all the people you pass while crossing the country, people just like you, are going about their daily lives and you know nothing about it or them.

Okay, on with what I really sat down to write about.

Let’s start with what I am doing right now. Huge computer screen and a mouse. Something I have done without for three weeks. I am used to blogging, getting email and virtually living through my iPad2. Pretty amazing really. All my photos were captured through it too. All 1,565 of them. It took me a bit to get used to such a large screen when I first booted the computer up last night. Even now I almost long to go back and blog from the iPad. It seemed cozier somehow. Easier.

Carrying right along with that thought process is where I am blogging from. At the cabin my blogging place/desk was the counter-high table at the cabin in front of the large windows that looks out onto our newly cleared space. From that viewpoint I saw the remaining beetle kill pines, slash piles from the clearing process, chipmunks and ground squirrels running across a few of the trees that fell over during the winter, using it as their super highway, and in the distance was the outline of Bull Mountain.

Now my view (if I turn around from the computer) consists of green, green and more green in the nature of our hedge in front of the house, the big old oak tree and the expanse of green lawn that peeks through now and then from the other green chaos. My computer desk is piled with various stuff. At the cabin we are so pared down that now all this “stuff” seems excessive. Sorry, no pics; no camera. Just picture it in your mind.

Different bird song.

Silent hummingbirds vs the broad-tailed at the cabin which make a busy whirring noise with their wings.

Trees and limited views as opposed to sage and open vistas.

Two-lane tree-lined winding and twisting roads vs straight, wide roads sans trees. (I have no clue why Colorado has such wide roads and the speed limits are so low.)

67% humidity vs 10%.

Fireflies in the grass. They don’t exist past a line somewhere around the mid-West.

Triple the living space.

A dishwasher instead of the dishwasher being Rick or me or both.

Automatic coffee maker instead of putting my mom’s old Corningware percolator on the burner and remembering to turn the gas down once it barely starts to perk.

Lush ferns vs dried grass and sage. (Again, no pic but you would not believe the fern growth since we were gone!)

King bed vs Queen bed. (Ahhhhhh)

Possibly a new bear vs deer and moose. (Yes, according to neighbor Kim we have a bear again. I thought as much since my hummingbird feeder was taken down with a few claw marks on the deck railing before we left.) Please bear don’t come around until I have a camera again!

A grocery store within 10 minutes instead of 45 minutes.

I’m sure there are more, but for now that’s all that I can think of.

It is more of an adjustment after three weeks than you would think!

We are HOME.

THANK GOD.

Cats had diarrhea again. Well, okay, Sam did and eBay thought about it. Just shy of the Pennsylvania/New Jersey border. I mean, really?  What goes on in the minds of cats? Frankly I am not about to find out ever again. Next year the cats stay home. Granted, we think Sam is really sick and not just the minor bug they at first thought was going on with him. I am never going to have another gross-clean-up-the-cat (this time while the vehicle is in motion) again. NO. Not happening.

We get home to our normally quiet street and what is going on but two parties with cars lining our normally quiet cul-de-sac. One house has never been occupied (except for holidays) with the people who normally live now in Las Vegas, is now alive with screaming party goers!

On the heels of living literally within miles of our nearest neighbors, this is a rude thing.

We are going to try and go to bed and sleep now which we desperately need. Screw the neighborhood at this point. Sorry, folks, for being so graphic but after three hard days on the road, I am ready to give up.

P.S. Last night in the hotel was blissful: no thunderstorm, no hallway noise, no cat noise. Finally a good night’s sleep. Tonight? No so sure.