This time of year there are plenty of beautiful wildflowers to behold. We are lucky that many different varieties bloom on our land. We have a varied environment for them to thrive in; everything from sage meadows to deep woods. Here a few that are now blooming.

Purple Fringe

Paintbrush

Larkspur

Wild Iris

and my very favorite, the elusive Fairy Slipper (also called Calypso Orchid) which is endangered. It blooms down by Bart’s Creek in the moist woodsy soil.

We finally managed to get our internet connection working last night. I am really sitting in our cabin writing to you rather than sitting on the hilltop. Magic.

In the crisp morning air all that can be heard is the whizzing, whirring sound of the hummingbirds as they go back and forth between our two feeders, the peewee is screeching its monotonous song, and the light babble of Bart’s Creek, still flowing with spring run off water. It’s very peaceful here. It’s taken some time but I think we are finally on cabin time. Time that passes slowly and sweetly, without you even noticing. It’s hard to explain.

We are “off the grid” here, meaning we have no one providing us with services. We make our own electricity, relying on the sun to spill its power onto our solar panels and down into the batteries, so we have to be mindful of our usage. We have a wind generator too, but we took it down when we moved to New Jersey. The wind is downright wicked up here and would have ruined it if we had left it up unattended. We do have a large propane tank and our refrigerator, stove and furnace are powered by propane. We have a well with deliciously cold water. Yes, we have running water and all the comforts that go along with it. Rustic but comfortable.

The dogs are certainly enjoying themselves. We take plenty of long walks.

For now I will leave you with the sunset from the other night. More coming soon.

Okay. The tech came out last evening and spent four hours trying to get us up and running with no success. It seems they switched satellites on us and for some reason they were denying us access to the only satellite that we could get a decent signal from.

Yesterday we tried our hilltop again, but the wireless connector stubbornly refused to cooperate. It reminded us of a string of Christmas lights, blinking alternately green and red.

Right now I am sitting in a laundromat in Laramie, Wyoming. We’re in town to wash clothes and bedding and restock our grocery supply. Rick just got off the phone from the satellite provider and we think we may have it figured out. Of course, we won’t know until we get back to the cabin and try it out, but then you realize we don’t have cell phone coverage any more so if something goes wrong we can’t call them and ask questions. Very frustrating. Keep your fingers crossed. I have some great photos to share with you!

photo: view looking toward Laramie from just down the road from the cabin

Hello from the cabin! We don’t have internet yet but hope to on Thursday. Right now I am sending this from the nearest hilltop where Rick’s wireless connection works, albeit very slowly. Twice per day we drive until we can get a signal to check our email and connect with the rest of the world.

The cabin is peaceful. Many flowers are in bloom, the weather is warm and sunny and the dogs are having a great time sliding down the one remaining snow bank.

My eyes have had to adjust to the high altitude sun and the lack of lush greeness that is New Jersey. Here the high prairie has its own beauty, but it’s different.

I hope to blog a lot more once we have a connection from the cabin itself and not the nearest high point.

Until then ...

Since my videos aren’t working for some people, I thought I’d try a different approach and use a new service called PhotoBucket. Thanks Reya, for pointing me in this direction. The quality is so much better than YouTube!

What follows is a video I took while driving to the cabin. There is some narration but I’m not sure you can hear me well enough. We have to drive up into Laramie, Wyoming and drop back down into Colorado to get to our cabin the way we went in. Chimney Rock is a landmark just on the border between Wyoming and Colorado. At the start of the video it’s in the distance, then we drive past it. I always thought it looked more like a camel, a turtle or a giant snail from the side. We also drive past an old homestead that is rapidly falling down. My Mom has always wanted to live there, so I filmed it for her. We do whizz past pretty fast though. The klunk at the end of the video is us driving over the cattle guard at the border. Enjoy!