Our week so far!

We've had more rain than I expected.  Here is the valley below us after a night of showers..

 Look closely and you see several greenhouses, the white structures, and some fields lined with plastic to keep weeds down?  That is the marijuana grow operation.  They have plants in different stages of development.  At night the greenhouses are all lit up. 

the crop is Hemp actually...

Here's the "kids" on the deck looking out to see what they can bark at!

We hung the hummingbird feeder and got the black chinned hummer right away, 

and Monday I saw a Rufous Hummingbird   (yippie)    

BLACK CHINNED (really is violet)

RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD #400

  So there is a rest area nearby! Lions Park Rest Area.  It's quite the happening place...there is a small pond, and lots of birds hang around...We took the dogs walking there on Sunday and I saw this Osprey in the nest with her "almost ready" young! 

She was shielding them from the hot sun with her big wings...what a mom eh?  At first I only saw one, and what a surprise my photo showed the second chick.  I should of taken more photos of the rest area...next time will do! 

and just across the River was another nest I couldn't make out if this is adult or some juvies...but look what a messy nest!!

the red stuff is shipping strapping from what I could tell...

Back at home we relaxed on the deck again Casey needed to rest...

I was out with the camera finding some isolation shots of the cool gnarly trees...like this one.  MY FAV.

And then out on the rocks... what else but a rock wren!  I've seen several young ones too...

 And this lovely  canyon wren showed up here this morning...

Since I haven't yet seen the sage wren... up till now the canyon wren is my favorite...he/she has such an aerodynamic shape.

Another "yard" visitor this morning was the Woodhouse Scrub Jay, June of 2016, they split the western scrub jay into  Woodhouse and California.  Supposedly the California has more of a turquoise vivid blue.  Very hard for me to keep up with all the changes the AOU is always implementing!  I almost feel like it's really not necessary? What do ya'll think?? 

Woodhouse scrub jay

...as promised here's a few shots of around town, its small so not a whole lot to show...

Here is  main street.  Railroad Ave.  It is a small western town...supposedly the first town in Colorado to have electricity, hydroelectric power from Rifle Falls shown in a previous post.  There's growth over toward the interstate, Walmart, and other familiar chains. Luckily it's away from the original old town area.  

1882

One of the local attractions and on the top 10 list  of things to do in Rifle is to visit the Ute Theater, its Live Entertainment! 

Also on the list of top 10 things to see is the Rifle Creek Museum 

I haven't visited either yet!  It's hard to want to be indoors when there's so much to see outdoors!  Like the picnic we had yesterday at Rifle Gap Reservoir.

sis n mom 

We saw spotted sandpiper, imm bald eagle, belted kingfisher, more mountain bluebirds, and some Canada geese, people boating, kayaking, tubing, fishing, and just hanging out! 

imm mtn bluebird

There is camping here too...they have 4 or 5 campgrounds! I should pick up a park pass, it's $7 each time you enter and if you camp that is in addition to the camp fee...the pass is $70, good for a year! I should have bought one right off the bat since we've already spent $21.  Tomorrow I am off for another adventure!! 

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

Summer rambles...

I guess while I have internet I will post while its fresh in my mind--I figure once I hit the road on my solo journey I may find it hard to get a wifi connection.

Yesterday we walked the dogs near an area called Silt Island Creek an off leash area for dogs to walk.

Jimmy (my sis E's dogs) loves the water so in he went right into the swift Colorado River!

I was afraid he would get caught in the current but he seemed to know where he should and should not go...there is no telling Jimmy what to do!  Some people had memorialized their loved ones who had passed..but once loved walking this trail.

PHOTO MISSING

My other sis M has a home here too, she has already decided this is where she will retire so they bought a home here last yr. We went up today to check it out and it was my first time seeing it..I love the surrounding rocky hills...

And there's horses to look at too from the back porch...

There's a line shack where they hang out..

I loved this lichen on the rocks..

And the ever present Black Billed Magpie

What a wonderful change of pace we are enjoying....Mom and I had a hard summer in S. Carolina, its so refreshingly cool here..and we've been having afternoon thunder storms to help freshen the air. Last night it was 52 degrees here...and today the high was 79. with NO humidity - feels so good to us.  

Here's the neighbors!

sister M- flies in from Carolina tomorrow and we will all be together for the labor weekend!! 

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.