Our evening last night started out normal enough. We grilled hamburgers and I made potato salad. Both were delicious. We sat down to watch one of our favorite reality TV shows "The Little Couple" and were about halfway through when I got up to get something. Maybe it was dessert, I don't know. Anyway, I glanced out the dining room window (aka The Cabin TV Channel). I looked to the right and saw nothing. I looked to the left and saw the image above. What the? Here is a photo without zooming in taken from the window to show how close he was to the cabin. Sorry for the reflections but it's not supposed to be a great photo, it's just to show what we saw when we looked out.

I yelled to Rick honey, there'sa moose taking a nap in our meadow!

After a bit he stood up. Not afraid, just curious. He could hear our voices.

Unperturbed, he walked over to the mineral lick and started licking. Rick has some great video and you can view it following this link.

After a bit we decided to try going outside to get some photos. Again, he could have cared less and just carried on with his mineral lick. 

We stood outside for quite a while and I even sat outside on the step and just communed with him for quite some time. It was one of the coolest experiences we've had yet.

I know he looks a bit ragged but I think he's just shedding his winter coat. His antlers are just coming in. I'm not sure if it's the same moose that visited last fall, but it might be. He seems very comfortable with his surroundings. Even with us! Now, it's not smart to get too close to a moose as they can cover more than ground than you possibly can, but he seemed not to mind and we took it very carefully. 

We're so excited!

Yesterday morning this little lady graced us with her prescense, not once, not twice, but three different times throughout the morning. The first time she came we were shocked to see her since we were running the generator in preparation for taking our morning showers. The noise did not even phase her. Even though the following is not the greatest photo in the world it shows you how close she was to the cabin. This is looking out our dining room window.

We often just sit our our table, which is a bar height table that affords the best view of the meadow. It's like watching a nature show unfold before our eyes. We like to call it Cabin TV. The birds come and go, the varieties change each time you look. 

Yesterday was a cool bird day. We had several of these Black-Headed Grosbeaks visiting.

Also this red-naped sapsucker.

Of course we also had the stellar jays, the silly pine siskins, juncos and a goldfinch.

Just a brief shower today and in and out sun. Not a bad day weather-wise. The temperature did climb to 63°F although it didn't feel like it with a brisk cool breeze.

We are still trying to acclimate to having land legs again so we didn't do too much. The altitude is kicking our butts a little but each day getting out and walking is helping.

The day got even more exciting with yet another visitor to our meadow. More to come.

Over the past three days we've trekked across half of America to spend a couple of weeks at the cabin. It is three days here, and three days home. So, a two week visit to the cabin is really three weeks away from New Jersey.

We drove Lex, the new Ford Expedition. Wow, what a nice vehicle to travel 1800 miles in. The ride was smooth. The V6 engine does a great job. The turbo kicks in if you need power, but mostly it hums along giving us around 17.5 mpg the whole way. That is a good 2 mpg better than the Suburban ever did. And, the conveniences in the truck are great. Sure, there are adjustable seats and steering wheel, dual climate controls, etc. But, the "gadgets" are the best. The ability to hook up the iPod and listen to music or podcasts, is great. (Although, for music we usually listen to SiriusXM satellite radio.) But, Lynne really likes the ability to view a weather map on the touchscreen display!

It has been raining. A lot. But, we found mostly dry roads on the way in and arrived with a mostly clean truck. Not what I was expecting.

Our chores upon arrival, more-or-less in order, are:

• Close the water drain taps in the crawlspace and turn on the water
• Turn up the water heater
• Sweep up the thousands of dead cluster flies in the cabin
• Turn on the propane to the oven/stove and light the pilot lights
• Turn on the propane to the refrigerator and spend 20 minutes trying to get it to light
• Build a fire in the wood stove to heat the cabin up
• Power up the satellite Internet (it worked!), and reauthorize the satellite TV
• Unload the truck and put everything away
• Walk the dogs

Those are the big ones anyway.

Dinner on the first night is almost always "trailer spaghetti". We call it that because it has been our "first night out" dinner any time we travelled somewhere with our travel trailer, (and later motor home and now T@B trailer again). Fry up some hamburger while you boil water. Pour a store-bought jar of pasta sauce in with the meat and simmer. Cook spaghetti. Combine, scoop onto a plate, top with grated Parmesan and eat.

It rained and hailed. It is not unusual this time of year to get afternoon thunderstorms. We got rain, thunder, hail--and for most of the afternoon. Still, it is wonderful to see the green countryside and to know that the trees and grasses are getting a good soaking this year.

Today, our first full day here was spent doing a few small chores and mostly getting rest from the long trip and starting the altitude adjustment process. (Yes, "altitude" not "attitude".) We are about 8650 feet up. That's about 8000 feet higher than the house in NJ. The air here is thin. Water boils at 180°F.

I'll write about two events of note, and then close for the day.

We saw a beautiful young doe in the meadow this morning. She actually circled around the meadow three times, each time checking out a stump on which we usually leave a salt lick or mineral block.

And, I baked some bread.

When I told Lynne I was posting a photo of the "doe", she thought I meant "dough". Doh! Anyway, here it is:

On the way in along Brubaker Lane.

Hello from 8,600 feet above sea level! We arrived at the cabin yesterday around 1:30 p.m. after a brief shopping trip at Safeway in Laramie. The roads were not as bad coming in as we had feared they would be after all the rain they've had. Lex did not get too muddy -- darn. 

Once we arrived we set to work sweeping up dead flies by the dustpanfull and Rick worked on getting the cabin working again: turning on the water, checking the batteries, starting the propane fridge (which is a pain!) and turning on the internet and TV (which used to be a pain but is now a breeze) before bringing in all our stuff from the truck in.

While unloading the truck hummingbirds kept zipping by us. Get the feeder ready they seemed to be saying. The stellar jays showed up as soon as I put their food out too. Home Sweet Home.

It also rained on us, and then proceeded to hail on us. The hail was small so it wasn't a big deal, but it did hail enough to have large chunks of ice falling off the roof. Our resident snowdrift that forms every winter is still pretty large. Bart's creek is running like crazy with runoff from the snow melt. The girls enjoy the leftover snow,

The aspens have started to unfurl their leaves but not by a lot. We are due for some warmer weather next week so that might make them really pop. We have some wildflowers, mostly the alpine kind (I'll explain in my next post), and we are hoping that all the normal ones will bloom before we have to leave. We have pasque flowers wherever the snow has recently melted.

Much more to come!

We are counting the days until our departure. Count 'em: two to go!

In case I didn't mention it before, we have decided that it's time for Lex to stretch his legs and see how he performs on the open road and also on the (probably) muddy dirt roads that lead to the cabin. Most of our drive from the cabin into Laramie is over dirt roads scattered with open range cows and antelope. Lex has a very cool feature that adjusts the suspension for different rides. Our roads can become very washboarded and rough, so it will be interesting to see if that feature makes a difference. It's just not a good vehicle for up there until it gets coated with red mud!

Our grass seed arrived safe and sound here in New Jersey. Now we just need to carry it back to Colorado and spread it around our meadow so the moose, deer and elk will come more often. 

I am looking forward to blogging from my own computer this year. In years past I've only had my iPad or share Rick's laptap. Now I have my own since we replaced my outdated desktop computer. Have computer, will travel! Woohoo! I am loving the laptop. Now I won't have to transfer all my photos off Rick's when I get home. I am hoping to feel inspired this year to take really interesting photos. We shall see.

We pack up the truck tomorrow!