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!

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

Bee on something sweet smelling on my street. Honeysuckle? Taken today.

I have my husband home tonight after one week of having been gone from us. His body is here but his mind is not. He had a hard week. I’m glad to have him home again.

Alex was the most excited of us all and gave him what I like to call his cry-baby greeting. It was so sweet. I was glad to see him too but I think Alex’s greeting was the best.

I don’t get that when I come home, but then again, I am never away from home anymore unless Rick is with me. After all, I’m just Mom who is always here. Mom feeds. She scoops dog stuff and cat stuff and cleans up after us when we make a mess.

Maybe that needs to be fixed.

When my Mom was alive I at least got to break away for a night when I went up to get her to bring her down to New Jersey and Rick got to deal with dogs/cats/feeding/scooping/at home things while I was gone for a short time. Since her death I really have nowhere to go. sniff, sniff. (insert really feeling sorry for myself here.)

I could get on an airplane, but that costs money. And lots of planning. And not my most favorite thing in the world. And, really, where would I go? I want to be taken care of, not take care of someone else if I go somewhere. I have enough of that at home. Is that selfish? Yes. Completely.

There is no clear answer to my dilemma. So, here I am, and here I will stay.

Feeding, scooping, letting dogs in and out, etc.

I know I have so many things to be thankful for, and I am. I am thankful for everything I have in my life, but sometimes the daily routine just gets tiresome and I would love a break. Not really complaining; not really. Well, maybe just a little…

I woke up the other morning around 5:00 a.m. and could not get back to sleep. This is not an unusual experience for me. I usually hate just lying there waiting to drift off into a little more slumber before I need to get up. But on this morning I found it rather pleasant. The neighbor’s rooster was crowing every now and then; the peepers were still singing; and an owl was hooting in the woods. We don’t normally hear owls so it was extra special to hear it.

And what about those crazy peepers? We don’t normally hear them until late April/early May but for the past week we’ve been hearing them and they are getting more numerous by the day. Yes, Spring certainly is eager to get going this year.

While out in Mia we could see the pinkish-red fuzzy blur of the popped maples everywhere we went. In our woods there is an ever-so-slight tinge of green from the undergrowth starting to leaf out.

The forsythia bushes have clusters of plump buds just waiting to burst open in an explosion of yellow happiness.

I took advantage of the warm weather yesterday to rake part of the big flower bed where the forsythia is planted, and also to clean out all the leaf clutter from the day lily bed in the rock bed by the pool.

Here is a before, during, and after photo of my hard work on the day lilies.

The rest of the large bed and all the ferns in the rock bed still need attention, but at least it’s a start. I might just get out there this afternoon and do a little more. They really need the extra attention this year as last year I had injured muscles and was unable to do much yard work so the beds were left pretty wild.

The warm weather has also brought out the cherry blossoms in Branch Brook Park a few weeks early. Here they are last year. I hope to talk Rick into taking a long lunch on Friday and going there for a few hours to get some photos since it’s supposed to be a pretty nice day. I love the cherry blossoms!