This afternoon, we got quite a nice hail storm. Unfortunately, the hail is knocking all the beautiful leaves from the aspen trees.

But, it is bringing us some much needed moisture. And, provides and excuse to build the year's first fire in the open-hearth fireplace.

Have you visited the game camera photo gallery lately? We've added some nice recent shots of the local fauna.

You can find the gallery here. Or, scroll down to find the "Photo Galleries" section in the right-hand column on this page.

We caught a pack rat in the live trap on Thursday night. That's one down, not sure how many to go. They are too cagey to get caught in the kill traps. I baited them with apple slices and some rolled up aluminum foil. They just steal the apples, trip the trap, take the foil to decorate their nests, and go on their merry way. For some reason, I seem to have better luck with the live trap (also baited with an apple slice and foil).

The dogs went crazy when they saw the pack rat in the trap. Barking, growling, pawing, and the showing of teeth was in order.

Now, if I were to release the rat from the live trap, somewhere like this seems to be a nice place:

This is along Sand Creek at the base of Chimney Rock (aka Camel Rock) on the Wyoming side of the border. I could just walk the trap down by the creek and release the rat. It would be a nice place for him, and far away from the cabin.

But, I'd probably get caught. I would not have the required permit to release an animal into the wild. And, on top of that I'd also probably be guilty of transporting said animal across state lines. I could spend the rest of my life in jail.

It would be a nice place to release the rat, though.

When we lived in NJ, this is about the time of year we'd spend two weeks at the cabin. Either September or June. Both are transition times. June is transitioning from Winter into Spring. September, from Summer to Fall and even to wintery weather.

The weather is changing. Days are shorter. Nights are much cooler. We woke to a pretty hard frost this morning and below freezing temperatures. Lynne even built a fire in the wood stove to knock back the chill in the cabin.

The aspen leaves are starting to change. Within a few days we'll be at peak season for aspen. We always like to take a drive or two and see the awesome beauty.

The aspens are just starting to change along our driveway.

The wildlife is transitioning. All the hummingbirds are gone now. In fact, most birds are gone with only some jays and towhees still around. The winter birds have not yet arrived.

Green-tailed towhee at the bird feeder.

And, it is the start of hunting season so the deer, elk and moose have gone to ground. It is musket and bow season now, but starting in October and for almost two months, we will have rifle hunting season. That means trespassers most likely. And, the dogs will need to wear their blaze orange vests and we'll wear our blaze orange jackets when out walking. We don't want to be mistaken for a bear or deer, moose or elk while on a family walk.

99% of hunters are mature, careful, and conscientious people. But, we do get the crazies who can be quite scary.

Hunting is allowed in Sand Creek Park, but only by a landowner on his/her own property (or guests of landowners on their property). Still, we've got landowners that wander onto others' property, and general hunters who can't read that will be trespassing on private land. It is just one of those things we learn to live with.

One big sign of the seasonal changes is the presence of pack rats. If you've followed this blog for a while, you know I hate pack rats. Well, we've got one. He somehow got into the shed the other day and tore it up some. We've also seen signs one has been in the Ranger. And, we'd swear we saw one running across the driveway the other day. So, it is time to start the annual pack rat e-rat-ication process.

And, we are making progress in our transition to winter living. The new appliances are installed and working; the propane generator is working (although not set up for automatic starting yet); we are up to about 4 to 5 cords of cut, split and stacked wood. I think I've given up on the idea of building a wood shed this fall. Instead, we'll just stack wood where the shed would be and cover it with tarps. The wood shed will be a nice project for next summer.

Nifty new appliances!

When we had 7 or 8 or 10 dogs up here, some of whom liked to wander beyond our sight, we got some "bear bells" for them. These are medium sized bells that are attached to a velcro loop that can wrap around the dog's collar. That way, we'd hear them jiggling even when out of sight. It was hilarious when 4 or 5 dogs would take off after a squirrel or rabbit. 

We have one left. They tend to get torn off, especially when the velcro becomes innundated with dog hair and the dogs run through the briars and the bushes.

The last one is Destin's. Tonight we put it on instead of attaching him to his rope or a lead. Within minutes of being outside, the bell was lost. Destin was 100 yards away in the meadow looking for cow poop to chew on and other distusgting things to roll in (it is the day after a dog show, after all). No bell dinging. Crap. We lost the last bell.

Lynne and I sat by the firepit. No fire, it is too dangerous right now. We sat for a long time while Destin, Bella and Hailey roamed and played. Finally, when we were about to come inside, we heard "ding", "ding", "ding". That was the sound of the last bear bell. 

Destin had found it. Picked it up in his mouth. And, was bringing it back to the camp fire site. 

We still have our final bear bell.