I sort of fell off the blog posting bandwagon today and can’t find any words. So instead I will post a few of my favorite photos from the past couple of days.

Mystery shot. You have to guess what this is.




Big sky: cool clouds

Old homestead three ways.
The view they had.




Close up of one section of the house and its gate. Note the sandstone cliffs in the background. They kind of mimic the top boards on the door and all seem to blend together as one.




The whole house.




The “Badlands.”








I don’t like this particular rock formation on the right. It has two eyes that just stare out at me.

And before you even ask, these photos are not touched up. Yes, the sky is that blue. We had a windy day today so the cloud photos are all from today. Without the wind the sky is not quite as interesting!

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

Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam and the DEER



and the ANTELOPE



...uhm… lay?

These antelope were curious about us this morning on our way to town. Sorry, not the best focus.




Rick wants to go on safari sometime over the next few days (maybe tomorrow) and try and get slow motion of them running. Hopefully away from him!

The deer photo was taken last night on our drive around Sand Creek. We had a deer right outside our window this morning at 6:00 a.m. and then watched it track through our now open space but no photo of that one. I would never have known it was there except for eBay. She was not on the counter waiting for her breakfast when I got up and I panicked thinking we had left her on the porch last night. When I pulled the curtains open I saw her on the windowsill staring fixedly at something. I looked where she was looking and she was having a stare-down with a deer! Too funny. They were making eye contact.

We have only ever seen deer that near to the cabin once before. So, a good way to start the day. Plus, we finally had one Stellar Jay visit. We normally have a lot but for some reason they have not been around this year.

Here are some shots of the strange landscape on our way in to town. I think the rock formations are sandstone but I’m not sure.

This is Chimney Rock. It looks different from the side but I’ll show you that view at another time. The sky was beautiful today.



The following photos were taken while traveling through Chimney Rock Ranch. It’s eerie. Very much like the Badlands of South Dakota.










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

Sometimes technology is not such a good thing. Being married to a computer geek does not help. But, if I was not married to this totally cute computer geek for 31-ish years I would not have an iPad2. Which I am totally in love with (maybe not quite as much in love with as with my hubbie of 31-ish years).

Nor would our remote cabin have internet access.

Here is where technology + remote cabin internet access which includes a lot of cabin-to-satellite beaming stuff happening + two freaking iPads + one laptop computer all vying with each other for space gets a bit dicey.

We take all this high-tech stuff from a remote place all in stride. Maybe too much so.

Today I must have tried at least 30 or more times to post my blog entry about Dick the Tree that I wrote early this morning. It just would not post. Not happening. Always an error about uploading photos.

Rick scratched his head and thought about it. We tried various things such as only uploading the post with only one photo. Didn’t work.

Finally, the light bulb went off in Rick’s head. My iPad was still photo stream enabled (I am asking Rick all these technical terms since I haven’t a clue), and iCloud was trying to keep all my photos in sync between my iPad here and the computer at home (because they are all linked together like one big happy computer family) and it was trying to keep up with and send all the photos I’ve taken so far to that big iCloud in the sky.

Eureka! The minute he turned off photo streaming, Dick the Tree was published. Success!

My husband might be a computer geek but he is also brilliant!

He took some amazing slow-mo cines (movies) of hummingbirds both yesterday and today. Hummingbirds doing things (like scratching themselves) you would never see with the naked eye. This camera rocks!

He also took a few of the dogs running towards him; one of Bella which is hilarious!

We hope to upload at least one those in the next couple of days.

But, I guess that all depends on our computer/cloud/satellite connection. Fingers crossed and photo streaming disabled.

Purple Fringe

- Posted using BlogPres

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

No visit to the cabin would be complete without visiting with Dick the Tree.
From the side Dick looks like any other ordinary aspen tree standing tall and proud in the forest.

But seen from the front it’s plain to see that Dick is not an ordinary tree. We really don’t know just how he came to be.




We have never seen a tree before that has grown quite like this. Dick has two separate trees coming up from the ground which meet to form one tree trunk. Years ago he had a stick that protruded from the spot where the two trunks come together, hence his name. Sadly, over the years that stick wore down and it is now completely gone.

Here he is from behind. To us he looks like some old cowboy that has been riding too long in the saddle.

It used to be easier to take a good photo of Dick before the little pine tree started to grow right in front of him.

Of course, we named it Jane. What else?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Okay, first things first. My old camera was a 35mm Canon Rebel XSi. Without the ability to really research cameras from the road we just replaced it with the next generation: a 35mm Canon Rebel T2i. If you bundled the camera together with a nicer lens (55 to 250 zoom) you got the nicer lens (normally a $400 lens) for only $150. A sweet deal for a sweet lens. I normally use the 18 to 55 lens and fill in with my big zoom (75-300). This new lens will bridge the gap nicely.

I had to get a camera on the road. I just had to. Not having my camera (and especially up here) is like having only one arm. I would probably prefer to break my arm than be without a camera.

And, I am loving my new keyboard/cover for my iPad. It works great! A little on the expensive side (from Brookstone) but worth every penny. The keyboard is removable so I don’t have to use it with the cover. Very cool.


After settling in yesterday and giving the dogs a short walk we sat down to a glass of wine and dinner. We sat on the front porch even though it was on the chilly side and listened to the hermit thrush singing. It’s one of my favorite birds and we’ve only ever heard one up here. No owls though and no coyote concert.

I’ve put out bird food and peanuts for the stellar jays but as yet have not seen even one. Usually they show up right away and greedily carry off all the peanuts.

Rick put out the hummingbird feeders this morning and within one hour of hanging them we had hummers. I had forgotten how much bigger this species of hummingbird we have up here (broad-winged) is than the tiny ones that visit our house in New Jersey. Plus, they make noise when they fly and ours at home are pretty much silent.  He’s out there on the front porch steps with the slow motion camera we brought along trying to get some footage. We’ll see how many show up. Usually we have to fill the feeders every day due to heavy drinking at the sugar bar!

This morning he made bran muffins for breakfast. They were delicious! Here they are upside down cooling straight from the muffin tin. They have so many good things in them: yogurt, golden raisins, brown sugar, bran cereal, molasses, vanilla.



After breakfast we took a walk to the top of the sage-covered hill opposite our driveway. From up here you can see pretty far, all the way to the Snowy Range.



This section of land is almost like tundra. Little flowers grow here that don’t grow in other places. It truly is an alpine environment.





This tiny cactus is about to bloom soon.



There were several of these moths flying around. This one landed and we weren’t sure if it just didn’t like flying in the wind or it was at the end of its life cycle.



Happy free range dogs!


These evening primroses love disturbed soil along the road.


The furry seed pods of pasque flowers that have finished blooming.


We have tons of larkspur!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad