This was the sunset on Thursday evening. It was a pretty quiet day wildlife-wise today. We did have a herd of seven deer cross the meadow early this morning. We were gone most of the morning on a trip in to Laramie so we don't really know what happened while we were gone.The moose made an appearance late afternoon but only down by the salt lick and he didn't come into the meadow. Still, he was here.

We sat on the front porch with our bread pudding with whiskey sauce that we made from our failed bread and just listened to the evening sounds. The Great-Horned Owl was in the Ewok Forest hoo-hoo-hooing, the first time we've heard him this year. We've had a Great Horned for many, many years and since I don't think they live that long it must be offspring of theirs still living in our woods. A very nice thought. Hearing the owl made up for the lack of wildlife. (Hah, listen to me complaining we only saw a herd of seven deer and the moose at the salt lick! Maybe we're becoming spoiled?)

Rick went inside to do something and I stayed on the porch, just taking it all in. Here are the thoughts that ran through my head.

I hear:

• the gurgling and splash of Bart's creek down in the bottom
• the "mexican fiesta bird" aka the Ruby-Crowned Kinglet singing his little Mexican ditty : mammachita-mammachita-mammachita (repeat super fast)
• the Great Horned Owl
• the light-saber-wielding-whizzing of the hummingbirds
• the chitting of the chipmunks.

I smell:

the smoke from our woodstove mingling with the scent of wet sage.

I stayed on the porch until the owl stopped as night fell.

And I have this as a final good-bye to the evening. 

Do you have any more questions as to why we want to be here?

(By the way, this little cow reminds me of an old blog post. Click here to see what I mean!)

My last post was written about the moose visit on Tuesday evening. Wednesday morning was the ultimate wildlife TV show out our window. Probably the like of which we will never see again. It started with the moose.

From this angle his newly sprouted antlers look like a big dog bone to me!

This post continues in MORE below, just click through. I am trying to abide by Rick's rules of blogging since we are now sharing this space.

More...

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.