Yesterday was annoying. Evidently Rick got too greedy with our internet. He had both the iPhone and the computer hooked up so both were taking up band-width space. Our server decided to penalize us by cutting us back so drastically we basically could not even get on to do anything. How dare they! But, now we are back to normal after having to stand in the corner with our noses to the wall. Shame on us!

Bella is upset because she is really anxious to bring you up to speed on what she’s been doing but I told her she’d have to wait her turn. Later, Bella, later.

This morning we filled the cabin with the smell of baking cookies and bread. I tried a new recipe from the latest Food Network magazine and Rick made Breakfast Bread for our breakfast.

The cookies are tasty and chock full of things good for you (molasses, dried cranberries, golden raisins, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, greek yogurt) but they don’t look very pretty. Baking at high altitudes is challenging!

Yesterday I felt like a pioneer woman. I did laundry in the kitchen sink, then hung it out to dry. I’ll spare you the photo of our underwear and socks hanging on the line. Getting the rinsing cycle down is not easy and I’m certain that I left some soap still clinging to the threads. And with all the wringing out I did it certainly makes you appreciate the spin cycle on your washer.

We had a visit from neighbors Donna and Larry, and after they left we put together a puzzle. That was about our day yesterday other than the walks with the dogs. For a few days now it will be the last of the walks with all the dogs together as Bella has entered standing heat. Not much fun for anybody, believe me! But, we’ve been through it before up here at the cabin (with multiple intact male dogs!) and survived, so I think we can do it again. It just makes things more difficult.

I need to do a picture post but none seem to go with this entry. Maybe later ...

P. S. No pack rat nest under the hood for two days now, so it must have been the only one. The furnace is still working.

Here are some snaps taken on our walk yesterday morning to the top of our other piece of land (the one without the cabin). We waited a few days to tackle the climb until we had acclimated more to the altitude.

Bull Mountain with the moon.

Hailey looking cute.

The dogs having a romp. (Alex and Hailey running towards me with Bella in the background; Bella)

Alex looking regal.

As is our custom, we took an after dinner drive last night. We had rain all around us but all we got were sprinkles. The sky did offer up this half rainbow that seems to explode as it “hits” the ground.

Sometimes we see wildlife, sometimes not. We did see several hunting camps along the way, something I can’t stand to see. Right now it is bow season and I think muzzle loading season just started. I think the animals know when it’s hunting season and make themselves scarce. And, for whatever reason, the moose seem to leave the area during August.

This bull elk must not have gotten the newsletter about hunting season. We had just passed a camp of hunters dressed in their camouflage when I spotted him at the edge of the trees. Look at the rack on him!

He was nervous about our stopping to admire him and walked back into the trees moments later. I hope he stays safe and those glorious antlers of his don’t end up hanging over someone’s fireplace.

The only other creatures we saw were cows (they don’t count), and this beautiful hawk perched in a tree right by the road.

There were too many clouds around to make for a perfect sunset but it was pretty anyway.

Today we are sticking close to the cabin since we have a furnace repair person coming. That is another story ...

After eating dinner, walking the dogs and cleaning up the dishes, we decided to sit on the screened-in porch and have dessert and an after dinner limoncello.

We turned off all the inside lights and lit the lantern on the porch. The dogs melted into contented piles around us. We sat listening to the trickle of water left over from our little shower that waited until we were home to really cut loose and rain.

Not long after we had all settled ourselves, we were treated to a coyote concert. The dogs don’t like it much. They prick up their ears and cock their heads from side to side listening. Is it friend or foe they seem to be asking?  They really don’t know quite what to make of the coyotes.

As we sit, the silence is absolute. The lack of sound is deafening to our ears. It’s a very strange sensation.

An owl starts hooting in the distance. Is it our owl, the one that has been here all the years that we have, or another? He keeps up his insistent song for ten minutes or so, but as the light fades deeper and deeper, from twilight to something beyond, we hear him no longer. It seems that he has found his bed too, as we must also soon.

It’s been quite a day, and I’m sure Bella will have at least one story to tell you tomorrow about her swimming activities. Gosh is that beaver pond cool!

Until tomorrow ...

I thought I would post a few photos from our morning walk. I am going to think of all our beetle-killed pines as just changing color for the season. If I think of it that way they don’t look quite so bad.

Bella liked the boggy area of our beaver pond (of course).

The aspen trees in the bottom of our woods are thick and lush. Some of them are so big we can’t get our arms around them.

The little aspens on our “avalanche slope” (as we like to call the huge hill that collects snow in the winter) are changing.

Alex trotting up the road on the last leg of the walk.

Alex and Bella on the road at our driveway. Not sure if you can see them in this photo, but the dark trees on the mountain across the way are all beetle-killed. It has really spread since last year. In my blog header you can see the same mountain as it was two years ago.

Bella says “are we there yet, wherever the heck we are going?” I’m a good traveler, mom!

After a relatively short day yesterday we arrived in Laramie about 12:30. We did our mega grocery shopping, getting groceries for meals for a week, then headed straight for the cabin. The drive in, on washboarded dirt roads, is pretty scenic. Lots of antelope and weird sandstone ridges and formations.

The western sky welcomed us with a pretty show of clouds. You don’t get skies like this in New Jersey!

The dogs and cats immediately knew where we were when we pulled into the driveway. They haven’t forgotten. After unloading all the groceries and all the things we had brought with us, we set to the task of putting it all away. Quite the chore but it has to be done first.

It was sad to see that the beetle kill is extensive in our pine forest. So many more trees have succumbed to the those beetle devils that are decimating the forests of Colorado. I’ll have photos later on.

The dogs enjoyed a walk to the bottom of our road before dinner. Here are Hailey and Bella.

We all need to adjust to the change in altitude. From nearly sea level to 8,600 feet above is quite a bit of change.

Here are Sam and eBay on top of the kitchen cabinets trying to decide which one is trespassing on the other’s territory. I think eBay had it staked out first.

And, our full moon last night, rising up over the trees.

It’s good to finally be here. It feels like home.