Monday, August 28, 2017

Fence posts and beyond...

The much cooler August tempts have me wanting to get out in the big outdoors!  Since I broke my pinky toe (about 2 weeks ago) I have not been able to wear a hiking boot, or even a regular closed toe shoe.... praying the dang thing quits hurting soon, most of the black n blue has receded to just one stubborn blue spot and still the whole toe is red and swollen.   (the coffee table and I are in disagreement over how this happened)




haven't been doing much walking on trails or fields, wearing flip flops or even my sturdy rafting sandals unless I want to catch a cacti, rock, or worse yet another stubbed and broken toe to give me more misery!  Oh and by the way I'm not the only person who wears socks with rafting sandals, I've seen a few other geeks with them on! Meanwhile scenic driving is just the ticket to chase away cabin fever (I can get it in a 6 hr span if I'm not careful) 


Last Tuesday Mom and I took a long drive down Mamm Creek Rd (CR 315) looking at birds on wires, in trees, and  on fences and such...we found some other fun things to take photos of like the praying squirrel up top....still having trouble zooming so I'm cropping these days.



We have seen so many immature mountain and western bluebirds..with their dappled grey breast, this is a mountain I determined by the blue patch at the top of the wing...




Lots of critters make use of fences....


Golden Mantle Ground Squirrel 

many fields of Alfalfa are ready for cutting...makes for a beautiful sea of lavender color...with the Hogsback in the distance...


and the large hay rolls are ready to be brought in and stacked...

Western/Cassin's Kingbird white on tip of tail




I have no fellow birders to confer with so I just muddle through...I sometimes use a FB Audubon Group but the last few I put up I got several ID's on the bird soooo it is just everyone's best guess and no grand "Poopah" to confirm. 

 The fence line up continued to amuse us, and I saw a buffy finely stripped breast on this sparrow, and it looks to be the Lincoln's Sparrow...a new lifer!




I didn't get any sharp crisp shots of him, so far ebird agrees...

Saw this rustic little log cabin in the gulch still looks strong and sturdy, roof has some wind damage but that could easily be repaired I wish it was closer to the road and on this side of the fence....I keep hoping to stumble upon a barn owl.  




A few birds of prey were out...the American Kestrel....and the Red tailed hawk, close crops on these as they were distant...












Yesterday (Friday) the three of us headed back to Rifle Gap SP it's very close to us and it's a great spot to enjoy a shady picnic table and be out in the awesome weather we are having now...



Rifle Gap Lake

Say the word "picnic" and suddenly you get lots of friends...



we offered up our scrapes as these birds live in the campground and they expect human handouts


nothing beats a Colorado Rocky Ford watermelon in August 

The Black Billed Magpies are not shy and we sure enjoyed sharing with them...




Then we had a visit from the Red-Naped Sapsucker! Lifer for me...
Ca-Ching, #409, yep I'm still counting just for the fun and challenge of it, like when we were kids and you got double dared to eat as many jelly beans as you could before you barfed it all up...I sure was psyched over this sapsucker, and thanks MOM for spotting it for us!



                                                       
                             the red shafted flicker came by to check us out but he wasn't interested in the picnic...



it was breezy enough for some people to enjoy their sail boards...


Mom seemed to really enjoy herself...


Jimmy has a boo boo and this is his anti-lick boo boo sock...



he hates it...LoL




PEACE
Every day is a new Adventure.

Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Ranch Land



I have not been back through Glenwood Springs and why 82 to check the traffic, so I went sight seeing close by.  This time it's ranch land I was cruising through...county road (CR) 311, Dry Hollow Rd, it will eventually bring you to Vega State Park, where I took you before.  I got rained out so I had to turn back but I enjoyed what I saw...

                                         

Dry Hollow Rd. 



Lots of Horses....





..this looks like an old school house, and I love the old truck...




still a beauty..




the road started out arrow straight then it began to get more interesting...




Rare to see large deciduous tree standing out alone here...





I've seen several of these older stone buildings...a barn? A food storage cellar? Don't know!

Saw lots of birds of prey out hunting...a red tailed hawk...


the road eventually turns to dirt as it enters the National Forest land...





yellow rabbit brush is blooming now...one of the uses of this plant by Native Americans was to make dye for their fibers....


Then rain came down....

so I turned around...



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 Yesterday We went North up Hwy 13, to Rio Blanco County.  
Then  County Road 5 through the Piceance Creek Basin.
 Piceance, a UTE native word for "tall grasses". 




Ranching has been going on here in this Basin since the late 1800's.  Now a days it's hay and Gas Wells...I didn't photo any of the Gas Wells, I'm sure you have seen them...It's the only drawback to this awesome area.  I read there are at least 7 ranches in this area that are Centennial Ranches.  We were heading up to a couple of Cemeteries to take some photos..


                      Several of these Ranch Owners are buried here including some of the Burkes.




We passed a few ponds, and saw a few ducks, Mallards, Mottled and Mexican ducks? as far as I could tell..





Mallard and Mexican


and we saw this dam, we now think it's a muskrat lodge, it just didn't have the look of a beaver lodge or dam...

They use mud and grass and roots, more so than woody stems

...and yet another stone building, I checked for barn owls saw none...but lots of Barn Swallow nests inside...




This door seems to be cut for a cat to get in?  Some research told us this may be the old rural schoolhouse? They have this old School House Historic Trail, it marks the locations of old rural schools..



Close to this we saw  an immature Golden Eagle...



he landed on the rocky ledge across the road..


After as picnic in the Little Hills Wildlife area....


We headed up to the second Cemetery...


Strawberry Cemetery where more of the pioneers of this area are buried. 

rio blanco reservoir 


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Monday was the Eclipse...we were not in the direct black out like my home back in SC was..(darn it) but we made up an eclipse viewing device out of a card board tube...this is what we saw when the moon moved across the sun...






and a photo just pointing my camera at the sun gave me this result...



the eclipse seemed to be refracted on one of those light spots...


check it out..and these weird patterns on the ground



My long time blog friend Diana got some fab shots   She was in the black out total path! Hop over say hi and subscribe to her adventurous blog!

what a beauty 



Till next time...

PEACE
Every day is a new Adventure.