We don't know why Coloradians think they need marijuana .....

to enjoy their state. 

Take a look at s few of the light in the skies we saw there, between August and September 2013: 

Lots of rolling fog, rainbows, yellow light reflections and a show every almost night at sunset. 

If you just wait and look at it for a while, you'd see the sky colors change form yellow to oranges and occasionally to reds.

Thats why they call these mountains the Sangre de Cristo....
The  Blood of Christ.




Pretty psychedelic scenes, even without drugs, 
don't you think?


(P.S. Hope you don't mind the repetitive sitar-like music..... 
but we wanted to make you feel like you were back in the 1970's.)

Our last day in Colorado

The next-to-the-last Sunday of September, and our last night in Colorado, brought some intense wind. 

Maybe 70+ mph. Power went out twice, for at least an hour each time. 

Monday morning showed us this:

The first snow of the year on Mt. Blanca.

But, as we headed out,

 no snow yet on the "lowlands" at 9,600 feet.

Doing Manuel labor

When you live on a mountain, an hour form the city, you have to do a lot of manual labor yourself.

We wanted to make a new driveway, about 300 feet long, 
so we had them deliver the 4 trucks, each with18 tons of rocks. 
So far away from civilization, the delivery cost was an much as the rock itself.

Unfortunately, they dumped it in rather large piles. 

With no real workers around, we had to do the manuel labor ourselves.

It's a good thing I married  "Manuelita",

who helped me spread it out evenly.

Didn't she do an excellent job?

Where does the name Sangre de Cristo come from?

They say that in the 1500-1700 it was called The Sierra Madre. But what changed?

There are many versions to this story.

Some say it is because of the red color of the mountains at sunrise and sunset, which we have shown you on prior blogs. It's not always that you see it; but if you look at the sunset near  Blanca every day, there it was for a few days this late August and early September that we saw it.

Some say it is because the Penitentes who live here. Around Easter time they would flagellate (whip) them selves as repentance for their sins, suffering just like Christ on his march to the cross. They say this is still practiced in secretive groups to the south of us here.

But there are 2 other more romantic reasons for their name.

One story goes that an exploratory group of military Spaniards came up into the San Luis Valley. They brought with them their native "slaves" who revolted once they got to San Luis. In the process the priest Tomas was injured. While the rest of the Spaniards made it back to civilization, Father Tomas took ill form his would. As he laid dying, he looked up and saw the crimson red color off Mt Blanca and he exclaimed, "The Blood of Christ".

Was this in the 1800's as one site claims on the Internet? Or was it closer to the 1680's when the Pueblo  Indians first revolted agains the Spaniards? Take your choice.

Another story I read in a book about 20 years ago, I cannot find on the Internet now.

The story is that a group of six (I think was how the story went) priests had come up here in the 1600-1700's and where surprisingly successful in convincing the natives to convert to Catholicism. Well, one day, for some unknown reason, a group of natives snuck up on the priests' camp as they slept, and murdered them, shedding "The Blood of Christ".

Take your choice as to the true story.

But we think you'll have to agree that the sunsets here can be quite red.

The "big" rainstorm

The pictures from yesterday's blog that looked like B&Ws were taken the night before the big rain that hit Boulder.

But we are 5-6 hours south of them.

This is what we woke up to here in the southern Sangre de Cristo, as we watched the fog to the East:

But 180 degrees to the West, if you look under the black clouds, the sun is poking through

and creating dancing shadows upon highway 160 and the valley below.

That morning it started raining and continued till mid afternoon of the following day.
We, fortunately, had no problems with flooding (but did find where our cabin leaks).

What a difference 20 degrees makes!

No, we are not talking of temperature. 
We're talking of latitude.

Compare this "fern" at 37 degrees N to those at 57 N. 

Pretty puny. And, in fact, it's really a weed. At first glance we thought it looked like a fern.

At 57N the fern were so tall you could not find an 85 pound lab walking through a summer field.
On the other hand, at 37N

there are other plants are tall enough to accomplish that feat.

And who would have thought we'd find Pushki (Heracleum maximum, or Cow Parsnip) here at 37N?

Sure its not abundant. 
We have been walking past this small growth for 3 weeks and only noticed it yesterday!
(Wonder if it'll give as much of a rash after you touch it and are exposed to sun 
as it did up in the north....'cause sun is one thing we have a lot of here. )

And, upon returning home, in the approaching early evening rainstorm....

 we discovered a little replica of "Kodiak", for sure!


And wouldn't you agree,  even if you are from "Colorful Colorado",

 that a scene that's almost a B&W....

if you zoom in close....
can be as beautiful  as a colorful "Kodachrome" ?

Autumn along the Sangre de Cristo

We found a big box of pictures inside our cabin, back from when we came here in the 1990's, taken with my fully manual 1970's Pentax K1000.

But, the wife told me it was time to get rid of some.

So, since Fall seems to be on the way, I snapped a few pics off the paper prints on to my digital camera.

In case you are thinking of coming this way in the following month or so, this is what you might see.

Can't tell when the change might start, but a pretty sight it's bound to be.

Please, pardon the speckles from ground-in dust on my old print.
But, hope you get an idea of what's here to see.

Fields and fields of yellow aspen you'll see as you drive around.

Or you can take 3 different train rides, to see it all...
from Antonito towards Chama, NM,
from Alamosa towards our place along the eastern range and La Veta Pass,
or from Durango along the western range.

Maybe it'll start Sept 15th; maybe the first week of October.

But, if you're lucky you'll catch some reds before to yellow they mature.

And if you wait towards the end, they'll take a brownish-red before the leaves fall.

Do you remember what they used to say in the 1970's?
"Try it. You'll like it".

Well, make a plan to come this way; we'd say sometime between Sept 15th and Oct 15th would be just great. 

The elk are ready (or at least getting ready) to Rut

Sure sign of fall....

the bull is bringing his harem to the hill to feed by the side of our house.

I figure this is the Pre-Rut to Early-Rut phase. He doesn't look aggressive. 
But he's moving his herd, who seem to me mainly interested in food.

See what the internet says about the 4 phases of the Rut:

Phases of the Rut

Pre-Rut: Prior to the Rut, the biological drive for all deer centers around feeding.  Does are in a pre-breeding state and congregate in family groups.  Bucks form bachelor groups and intermingle with does at food sources.  Towards the end of this phase, testosterone levels in bucks begin to rise and they begin exhibiting rutting behavior.

Early Rut: As the Early Rut begins and the first does begin their estrus (breeding) cycle, bucks become more territorial and break off from their bachelor groups. Bucks seem to become more reckless in their behavior and can be seen moving more during the day as the Rut swings into full gear.

Full Rut: The Full Rut coincides with the time when the majority of the does come into estrus. Deer movement occurs during all hours of the day. Bucks increase their home range in search of receptive does, traveling their rub lines and frequenting their scrapes. This is an exciting time to be in the field.

Post Rut: As the Full Rut fades to the Post Rut, the majority of the breeding activity is concluded and bucks seem to disappear from view. The increased daylight activity  seen during the Rut diminishes and frustrated hunters may only catch a glimpse of the dominant buck the last minutes of twilight.

Early signs of Fall

There are few true signs that Autumn is on it's way.

A little yellow on the aspens is starting to develop.

And those pretty purple flowers we showed a few days ago, have lost their flowers.

But, that might not be a bad thing, 'cause we just discovered that it's not a welcomed plant here in Colorado. We found it's picture in this publication:

We'll let you read what they have to say:

Looks like those particular Canadians are not welcomed here.

The good thing about having dogs....

is that every night they makes you take them out for a walk.

And, if one's a lab, he'll stand and wait for you to climb the hill.
And find for you neat animals to see...like rabbits and deer and even a few elk.
(We just have to teach the him not to chase.)

But, if you happen to be at the right place at the right time, the views can suddenly surprise you.

For a second you'd think Autumn has begun.

Then realize it's just the fortuitous reflection of the setting sun, upon the non-shaded evergreen pines.

And when you see the setting sun as you make it home, 

it makes you take out your I-phone and snap a few.

At Monte Vista's drive in

Went to Monte Vista's drive in theater last Saturday. 
It's way on the other side of San Luis Valley.

Saw the movie about Steve Jobs.

The one for kids had lots more people. Here they are, starting to arrive, and 
backing up in their pick-up trucks and SUVs, to let the kids watch it out the back.

We drove in the regular way and sat in our reclining bucket seats
as our dogs watched the activity out the back.....

But, pretty soon after the start, a fox came by and circled the car twice...guess it's used to finding scraps.
And it returned a few more times, just in case we littered some.
It must have been pretty sly, 'cause the dogs didn't even see it either time.

And as the movie played on, thunder and lightning behind the screen added another enjoyable element to the movie show.

Pueblo, the State fair, and elevation effect on temperature.

Went to Pueblo last Friday, just before Labor Day.

Sometimes you just have to have somethings from a "Big Box",  even if it's 90 miles away.....specially constructions stuff form the hardware stores.

The wife wasn't happy, though:  both sewing stores were closed for the week.
It was State Fair time in Pueblo and many small businesses just close down for the entire week!

Thought about going too. It is a lot of fun; we even like it more than the ones in NM and TX. Seems smaller but has all the attractions; you can see it all.
(PS we "pirated" that pic form the Internet, since didn't get to go this time!)

But at 96 degrees, we just couldn't leave the dogs in the van.

So, we headed back home to the cabin, climbing exactly 5,000 feet in elevation.
And saw the temperatures drop as we climbed: from 96 down to 77!

Don't as us how come the temps drop as you climb in Summer,
but in winter they rise.

Yes, in winter time we routinely see the temps rise from 8 to 14 , 0 to 8, or from -8 up to 0, as we drive form the valley in Alamosa at 7,500 feet to the cabin at 9,370.

Strange, how it falls in summer and rises in winter.

Where in Colorado are we?

Well, it's called Forbes Park.  

It has: 13,000 acres;  with 5,000 of "common land";  
and less than 4,000 lots......about 2 acres each.
But, with only 288 houses, there are very few people around.  

You can be alone.

So, where is this place?
South-central Colorado. 
37 degrees, 29 minutes N ; 105 degrees, 12 minutes W

See how the Rocky Mountains split, as they go from North to South?

We are on the eastern range, called the Sangre de Cristo mountains, at 9,370 feet elevation.

And just to our west is the San Luis Valley, with Ft Garland, and then the city of Alamosa.

The San Luis Valley is a "high desert", averaging 7,800 feet elevation,
and has the Great San Dunes National Monument. 

Can you imagine this: sand dunes right next to mountains and no sea around? 
It's the wind that carries tiny particles of dirt form the valley; 
but it doesn't have enough strength to carry it over the eastern mountain range, 
so it drops down as sand.

Really cool! 

And, if you look at the map, do you see all the rivers in that valley? 
This is the valley through which the Rio Grande river flows, after originating on the western mountains, the San Juan Mt range.
All those little streams and rivers collect snow-melt form the two bordering mountain ranges 
and feed the Rio Grande.

The Rio Grande then flows through NM, by Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and then to El Paso, where it makes the border with Mexico...all the way to Brownsville and the Gulf of Mexico.
It's not wide but it is quite long. That's why the call it Grande.

Anyway, we are now nearly 1,800 miles "up the river" from where I grew up.
It's been a great journey getting here, even if it's taken 40 years from the days by the Gulf of Mexico.


We'll continue to show more pics in the next few blogs. And we bet you'll wish you were here, too!
We'll start by telling you that it's 50 degrees and the high today will be 73.

Y'all come!

Arriving Fall?

From Sunday's morning walk, you'd think it was still Spring time.

But, by the late afternoon, temps had dropped to the low 60's and rain was on it's way.
So, we put on our AK light rain gear and went on a walk.

Colors are slightly changing, just in the last day.
The aspen have gotten a little lighter green.

And the grass, by Sunday's afternoon rainbow,

has taken a brownish tinge.

Seems like Colorado knows that September has arrived.

Enough sky pictures....

I guess that after living in the North Pacific for 6 years, we were used to seeing the beauty
of gray skies, almost like looking at B&W pictures.

Now we are like kids, sitting in front of the Zenith TV store, back in the 1960's, 
staring at a new thing called "color" TV.

Well, lets leave the skies for a while and show you what there is on the ground, 
here in Southern Colorado, at 9,400 feet.

Yellow is the now primary color, but there are numerous varieties.

About 2 weeks ago, there were a lot of red ones,

and of course quite a few white ones as we'll.

But the number 2 color this week is....

.. a combination of blue and purple!

This is not what we expected with September just around the corner.
We'd have thought it was just too late to see so many flowers.

But, maybe that's another reason why they call it "Colorado". 'cause there is a lot of color.