Category: Photos

My friend’s crab apple tree is flowering.

I saw these clouds on my Friday walk, but fortunately no snakes. Dudley tolerated staying on the lead for the complete walk better than I had expected.

My oregano is flourishing. So is the dianthus, the columbines, and the other herbs. However, it looks as though only one of two cinqfoils survived, and two of five rose bushes. Must do a better job of mulching next year.

After going out to feed a few nights ago, Jack returned to the house to say: “Voracious little monsters.” I asked, “What, the horses?” “No.” he said, “the hummingbirds.”

A skunk is bad enough, but I had a real thrill this afternoon when I took the dogs up to the plateau for an afternoon walk. I was returning by the normal way, walking on a path I had walked along a hundred times, and I saw a glint out of the corner of my eye about the same time as I heard a furious rattling sound. The glint quickly resolved itself to a rattlesnake, coiled to strike, which seemed near enough to touch, but was actually probably at least six feet from me. I quickly grabbed hold of Dudley, while my heart tried to leave my ribcage. I got the lead back on Dudley while I called Lody to me. I wasn’t too concerned about Lody messing with the snake, but I was very concerned about Dudley. We’ve nursed three dogs through suspected snake bites, and I didn’t want to add Dudley to the roster. I think I will keep him on the lead for the next few walks.

I’ve been hearing, and occasionally seeing, hummingbirds for almost a week, but Jack just put a feeder up this morning. We had to buy a new one, since we couldn’t find all the components for the ones we used last year.

Pikes Peak has more snow on it right now than it has all winter. Taken from “a back porch in North Colorado Springs.”:http://www.stardel.com/topaz/

More snow this morning. It had melted by noon. All this precipitation has turned the area around the barn into a bog. I have to step carefully so that my boots don’t get sucked off my feet. Smoke and Rags don’t seem to care, but Hap goes through it with a sort of weary disdain.

These are the wettest conditions I can recall for three or four years: not enough to bring the water table up, but should help push back extreme fire hazard for a month or two.

Although it snowed for over a day, there wasn’t much accumulation because it melted due to the warm ground almost as quickly as it fell. The horses were inclined to be grumpy, but they will appreciate the grass later on. I did break down and put a blanket on Smoke: the icicles in the mane get me every time.

The first few years I had Hap, this large soft eye made me think many times: Funny, he doesn’t look like maniac. One year, I took him to State Fair and put a sign on his stall door with large letters: Do not pet this horse. He bites! I still found parents holding their children up to pet him. (Mind you: Hap’s biting was the affectionate nibble he would do to another horse, but I don’t think it matters when dealing with an 1100 pound critter.) The fact that so many people thought they were in a petting zoo is one reason I never took Hap back.

Late afternoon on the plateau. I don’t usually walk the dogs this late, but enjoy the look of the setting sun.