Where the antelope roam

Fall in the Rockies

Random thoughts about fall in the Rockies...

1. Fall has definitely arrived in the Rocky Mountains. It's was 34 degrees outside this morning. It was pretty cold in the cabin, too. I had to get up and start a fire this morning; the first for the season. The bridge over the creek was frozen. I just about lost my footing when I went out to feed the horses. Luckily, for me anyway, the creek dried up a month ago. Even so, I'm thinking handrail?

2. The cold is bringing lots of changes. The leaves are turning yellow, red and different shades of brown. I had a little 'walkabout' to take some pictures. I LOVE fall!

3. The elk have also moved up higher in the mountains. The last one I saw on the property had antlers with an 8' spread. Yup. Big guys. Bigger than my Jeep. I've been hearing them rutting (sparring) and bugling. I love to hear them bugling but it takes a little getting used to. It is almost eerie and it echoes in the canyons. The other day I heard it and was wondering if there was a donkey in the woods.

4. We spent several days this week hauling wood. One of my friends called and asked what I was doing that day. I told her we were pulling trees. She wanted to know how you pull trees...MacGyver cut down a bunch of standing dead aspens and then again into 10' sections. I would take the ATV into the woods, attach 6 or so with a chain, and pull them out to the road near one of the piles. The kids would unhook them, push them closer to the pile of wood and the whole process would repeat until we got them all out. The next day we went back, loaded up the truck and hauled them to the woodpile and dropped them. The last step is to buck them to 18" and the larger pieces of pine have to be split. Most of the aspens are no bigger than about 8" in diameter so we don't have to split them. We guesstimate the grove we were working in has another 50 trees or so that need to come down. We need about 3 chords of wood to get safely through the winter so that should do it. I think we have about 2 chords but we don't have it all cut and split so it's hard to tell. We've got our work CUT out for us! (Sorry, couldn't help myself).

Wood waiting to be bucked

Wood waiting to be split

In the woodbox waiting to be burned

5. We have a trash situation. We used to empty our trash can once a day or once every day and a half. That adds up quick. We also don't get curbside trash service so once a month we would haul it in the back of the truck to the local dump. But with the bears, squirrels and raccoons getting into it, it often means we are having to go more often or pick up a big mess. We decided a few weeks ago to get a trash compactor to see if it would help the 'situation'. Since getting it, we have only taken the trash out THREE times. We can't believe it! I think every house should have one. It would save everyone money, time and energy and think about the landfill space we could save. We even used it once to crush our cans. It is totally worth it. Plus, there has been no more squirrel, raccoon or bear sightings. And I don't have to pay out chore money quite so often! HAHA! One word: Awesome!

One week's worth of trash in a nice, compact 8"x16"x16" bag.

6. Ike and MacGyver are going camping with the Boy Scouts this weekend. This is Ike's first scout camping trip. He's trying to move up in his rank and he'll be able to knock out most of the camping requirements this weekend. He's using my old internal frame backpack. He's excited beyond belief! He's packed, meals are bought and packed and ready to go. Now all I've got to do is make some Rice Krispy Treats for a bunch of hungry boys. I think I'm going to make him add some long underwear, in light of the recent nighttime plunge in temperature, as well as a sleeping bag liner.

7. We met one of our neighbors yesterday. He lives at the end of our road (on the paved side). We were getting a new propane tank because we are switching companies and getting the propane topped off for the winter. Evidently, Mr. Propane guy couldn't find us and stopped to ask Mr. Neighbor where our house is. It isn't a surprise, really, when even the fire department can't seem to locate us. So, Mr. Neighbor jumped on his ATV and came up to our cabin to inquire if it was the correct address. I was just getting back from town and pulled up to a traffic jam (haha) on our road with the confused Propane Guy, Mr. Neighbor Guy, and MacGyver on his ATV. The propane guys aren't able to get back here between October and May so we have to make sure our tank is full before the snow starts to fly. Anyway, Mr. Neighbor knows all the ATV trails around these parts and offered to show them to us. I see plans in the near future! The kids were hoping he'd drop a tire like this guy.

8. The puppies all have their eyes open and have doubled in size. I think it's just about time to start feeding them solids. I'm not sure Molli is able to keep up...plus they are getting teeth. She has it written all over her face: "I'm DONE"! I'm going to run to Wally World and pick up a couple of chip and dip serving trays. You know the kind with the bowl in the center? They are pretty cheap and is a great way to feed the puppies and keep them from walking all thru their food. We still have to wipe them down or give them a full bath once in a while, but it reduces the frequency.

9. We have a new 9 week old puppy. I know. We are insane. At the moment, we have 3 dogs and 9 puppies. We are training him as a Medical Alert Dog. He chewed thru our high-speed internet yesterday. Luckily, MacGyver had enough cable to replace it. We also hung it higher so he couldn't get to it again. I scolded Tank for not being a better babysitter. He gave me the familiar look, too... "I'm DONE"!

10. Maggie caught a pheasant the other day. She caught us a little off guard, too. We didn't know she was a bird dog. When we yelled at her, she let it go and it flew off. We saw a pair of pheasants a few days later and wondered if that was one of them. One of them was looking a little dazed and confused. I'm guessing the sight of us gave him a little Post Traumatic Stress.

Ahh, Fall in the Rockies!

Kenosha Pass, Georgia Pass & Breckenridge Pt. 1

A few days ago, we took a break from everything remotely considered work and decided to go four-wheeling. A much needed and much deserved break. MacGyver's been working me pretty hard lately (can you hear the violin's playing in the background?). The kiddos were also starting their Thursday school the following day and we wanted to get one last fling in before school set in full-force! So, we decided to head towards Breckenridge via Georgia Pass. Georgia Pass is a four-wheel drive trail rated easy to moderate so it should be easy enough to do in the truck. We usually save the harder trails for the Jeep. We definitely needed the high clearance but only used the 4x4 in a few spots. We took almost 300 pictures in one day. Yikes! I've pulled out a small percentage of that to share but still decided to break it up into 2 blogs...Going over Kenosha Pass (which is a paved road) and Georgia Pass (four-wheeling), and then Breckenridge, where we ended a beautiful, fun-filled family day with more fun and yummy pizza! These are mostly flora and fauna pictures and not a lot of family pictures. We are definnitely nuts about God's beautiful creations!

Stopping for a picnic lunch

 Remants of the old Santa Fe railroad

Snow still visible in the valleys with temps in the mid 80's

First sign of leaves changing

MacGyver teaching the kiddos how to gold pan in one of the creeks we crossed

Chipmunks (aka minibears), cool rocks and flora

And when we got to the top of Georgia Pass, we saw these:

There were about a dozen mountain goats hanging out, eating the grass. (I'm not exactly sure why their tongues are sticking out but we thought it was funny)! Ike decided he would try to sneak up on them and see if he could pet them. After ensuring him they were wild, would run and may charge, he decided to listen to his own wisdom...I want to pet them! Needless to say, we were ready with the camera to capture him getting butted by the mountain goats (we are solid parents, huh?). An eleven year old is old enough to know better! Fortunately, they were indeed scared of him but did little more than move away slowly and continued to hang out and graze. He did get within a few feet of the big daddy! It was funny to watch him squatted down, walking like a duck one step at a time trying to "sneak" up on them.

At one point, MacGyver yelled out the window, "watch out for the one coming up behind you"! He shot up and started running for the truck before he realized his dad was teasing him. LOL!

We also saw a bunch of different kinds of huge, cool looking but very poisonous mushrooms.

An old outhouse just a few yards away from an old mining cabin

But the highlight of the trip, was seeing a mama and her two baby...

MOOSE!

They were grazing in one of the meandering creeks. We have never seen the wild moose in Colorado before. The only wild moose we've ever seen were in Yellowstone. We were so excited!

  

The babies went and hid behind the shrub while mama continued to nibble

A beautiful pond showing the signs of mining from over a hundred years ago!

 

Kenosha Pass, Georgia Pass & Breckenridge Pt. 2

Our fun family day took us over Kenosha Pass and Georgia Pass and concluded in Breckenridge, a ski resort located about an hour and a half west of us. As the dirt road met the paved road coming into Breckenridge, we stopped at an historic site. We found an old gold-dredging boat dating back to the 1890's. I never knew there was such a thing!!!

After grabbing a buffalo chicken pizza from Northside Pizza, we jumped on the gondola...

We rode the gondola (this one is taken from inside) which happened to be a 25 minute ride with 3 stops and 3 turns along the way. I've never ridden such a long gondola with so many stops. It was pretty cool. The very last stop was where the Fun Area is with the Alpine Slide, putt-putt and a bunch more summer and winter activities. We didn't get off and play because we were the last to get on the gondola before they shut down for the day and weren't prepared to hike all the way down! By the way, did I mention that Ike is afraid of heights? He tolerates these things pretty well but doesn't like for anyone to stand or move around while we are in transit. To put it mildly, It Freaks Him Out!

By the way, Breckenridge is one of the prettiest towns I've ever been to. The residences and businesses have spent a lot of time and money making it a town you want to come to for either a romantic getaway or a family vacation and in any season. I've been here a few times at different times of the year and it is one of my favorite local spots. And it is way more affordable than our other local celebrity hangouts like Vail or Aspen, where even the fast food can be expensive!

After walking around town a bit, we decided we needed some icecream...

I realized just now I really should have taken before and after pictures...I think she had more on her face than she actually ingested!

Oh, I'm sorry. Am I interrupting your waffle cone and cupcake icecream moment? What a look!!!

And the local wildlife are always looking for a handout!

As we were walking back to the truck, the kiddos decided they wanted to go bouldering in the river. It was kind of hard as a mom to watch them jumping from wet rock to wet rock, but there is always a part of me that wants them to enjoy life without taking into accout my fear. I have noticed that kids like to give their mother's heart attacks and strokes. They even think it is funny.

They crossed the river 4 or 5 times.

And as they became bolder bouldering...there's a tongue twister for you...the funnier the situation became. I knew it was a matter of time before one of them took a plunge into that frigid, icy, straight out of the mountain, water. And guess what?

It was just a matter of time! What a laugh! The kiddos had a blast, and Ike had a change of clothes and an extra pair of shoes waiting for him. (We like to come prepared because we never know what situation we will find ourselves in)!

As we headed home, we passed Lake Dillon and saw some boaters, a family and their dog playing in the water and enjoying the beautiful day, as well. Ya gotta love the diversity of Colorado!

Did I mention Colorado has 300 sunny days a year?

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