It has been a busy and interesting summer so far. I got to visit family in Colorado for 2 weeks toward the end of June. Some of the highlights from the trip are shown below.
 |
| view from near my sister's place close to Livermore, CO. Yes, that is snow just visible on the mountain tops near the center of the photo. |
 |
| Late afternoon. |
 |
| Cool clouds. |
 |
| Most (maybe all?) of the pines are Ponderosa Pines. |
 |
| Ponderosa pine bark, up close. It smells like vanilla caramel. |
 |
| Rufous Hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus) at the feeder. The immature male has the first of his red throat feathers. |
 |
| A more mature male. |
 |
| They were not shy birds, making it easy to get photos as they came to the feeders. |
 |
| Handsome fellow |
 |
| That flash of iridescence is definitely eyecatching. |
Hummingbirds were not the only ones at the feeders ...
 |
| chipmunk! |
 |
| The chippers went for peanuts, too. |
 |
| As did the resident Stellars jay. |
 |
| Out in the meadow, we spotted the nest of a lark sparrow. The sparrow itself flew off as we approached, otherwise we would never have seen the nest on the ground. I did manage some photos to get a good ID of the bird with its conspicuous spot on the breast. |
 |
| Scorpionweed (Phacelia) flowers were a nice surprise. |
 |
| The blue larkspurs were intensely, well, blue. Some areas were just covered with them. |
 |
| Prickly poppies were around and being visited by bees, beetles, and flies. |
 |
| Last year's Miner's Candle was attractive to this small butterfly. I don't have the butterfly ID - please leave a comment if you know what it is. |
 |
| Mule deer (just look at the size of the ears to see where they get their name) came quite close to the house. |
 |
| The 3 males were starting to grow their antlers, which are still in velvet. |
 |
| My nephew patiently lured the mountain chickadee to the table using peanut fragments. |
 |
| closer ... |
 |
| will he take it? Not today, but he did the next day! |
 |
| My nephew, a nascent conceptual artist, with his "set up" of rocks with crystals. Not quite so obvious in this photo, but he arranged them with a fine eye for size, shape, and color. It won't be long before I will be saying "I knew him when ..." |
I had a great trip spending time with my siblings and their families. While I was gone, Dennis and the construction crew finished the deck and the railing around our cabana and work continued on the addition. A construction update will follow soon.
