It was supposed to be a special moon out tonight.

It was supposed to be a Blue Moon 
because it was the second full moon in the month.
But it was as white as ever.

It was, however, larger than most moons...´cause it is the ¨perigee¨,
meaning the moon is closer to earth than usual.
But, it didn't look that large to me.

If you missed it, don´t despair. 
Next month, on Sept 28, there´ll a full moon and it will even be closer to the earth than this one.
So it might appear even larger.

Anyway... since my photo looked just about like any other moon....

I decided to have a little fun:
waited till a few clouds came over it.....

and saw some sort of big bad woolf-bat grab it & carry it away, 
while other demon-looking creatures stood and watched close by.

Is it the South Texas heat affecting my mind? 
Or am I just ready for Halloween?

I think this is one of the most beautiful cities.

What do you think?

I took these Tuesday, during a sunset stroll along Corpus Christi´s marina ¨T-heads¨

Can you imagine sitting in your boat, having a Margarita?

How about stopping by the shrimpers to buy today´s fresh catch?

Or  if nothing else, how about meeting with your grandmother, 
to find out what things were like in the good old days. 

If you are ever this way, be sure to make a stop and enjoy it for a while.

Visiting more western Colorado

Went to visit friends near Pagossa Springs.

Didn't expect to actually enjoy going out in their ATV.

But, you get to see things you would not, otherwise.


Next day, headed south for Navajo Lake. Took off form Colorado.
But right outside the marina we were in our former home state of New Mexico.

Weather didn't look good, 
but the rental people had assured it those clouds would pass over without any incident.

There were lightning strikes all around us however.
Yes, I was too scared to take out my camera for a single lightning picture......

And we were too busy looking for a cove in which to hide.

A 40 hp motor doesn't get you there fast. 
Finally found one in which we could anchor and tried to stay dry under the small canopy.

Our fearless captain, on the other hand, had no concerns.

Of course, according to his wife, any adventure he returns from alive, is a great adventure.

This was an adventure. Yes, indeed.

Learning from a by-stander.

Took a side-trip while they worked on our van this Tuesday.

Yes, this is Garden of the Gods, in Colorado Springs.

But, when we made it half way through the park, the weather from the west, 
on this side of Pike's Peak, started looking rather bad.

A young guy there was so excited; claimed he was some sort of a weather guy.
He kept talking about those downward pointing clouds and how they sometime came down as mini tornadoes, right here in Colorado.

Claimed occasionally the spirals reached the ground. 
But the wind is not too bad from these. 
Much of the damage is form the hail that comes with them.

He was sure one would develop.

I didn't give him much credit....
specially when it started to rain and I saw him in his car, rolling up a cigarette with light green, broccoli-like stuff inside. 

But, sure enough, it soon started to hail.

Later in the day the weather cleared and we returned back towards the Garden.

and there was lots of hail around, almost looking like fresh snow.

Guess the fellow knew what he was talking about, after all.

Sorry for the crappy pictures

on the blog about seeing the stars up here in the mountains.

But, I have an excuse for it......Turn on the violins.  

I had spent over an hour outside in complete darkness, so I could see the stars better.
Then I came into the house to process the images without turning on any lights, 
so I wouldn't wake up the wife.
My eyes never got a chance to undilate back up to normal, 
so those dark pics looked OK to me.

Or...maybe I should just say: It was late, it was dark and I was tired.

Anyway... I screwed up in what pictures I posted.

I noticed it the next  day, when I had creepy slow internet.
So finally, today here are the correct ones.

One looking towards the west,

and one towards the north east, with the bear welcoming you to Camp Rio.

(PS  Those pines in the back are about 1-1.5 X the height of a telephone pole.)

Clear skies at 9,000 feet

The skies are pretty clear, here at 9,370 feet.
The lack of city light helps.

I tried to make a 180 degree Panoramic of the Milky Way.
Guess I screwed up and skipped a few stars when I took the pic straight up from me. 
Darn it. Couldn't join them together.

Pretend you are lying on your back.

The pic  below is as if you looked to the right.

And this one is if you looked to your left.

Too bad I could not join the two!
Maybe next time.

Hiking up Bear Mountain

The FP Wednesday hiking group went up to Bear Mountain today.

You could almost hear...... The Hills Are Alive ......

Then, at the top, it was time for lunch, where we looked at Forbes Park down below,

and the 2 Spanish Peaks, off in the horizon, to your right.

A call warning us of a Bobcat

Today the neighbor called to warn us of a bobcat.
Apparently his wife saw it in their yard this morning; it was pretty big and was chasing a deer.

I saw it the first week I was here. It didn't look very fierce to me...although the internet shows pictures of moderate sized ones (20-30 pounders) taking down a 5 foot deer.

And besides, I am not fond of the deer this year.

Last year, you might recall, there was a female that kept coming around and trying to play with Dallas. 
We figured it had lost it's babies and wanted to adopt him as a child. 

But, this year that same deer has 2 fawns that were born about the week before we arrived. 
Now we call her the Crazy Mama Deer.
Yes, it actually charges against us and has come within 2 feet on one of those charges!

The neighbor says it attacked a fully grown black lab from behind while the dog has playing in his own yard. 

I know these guys can look real cute.

But, because of what's happened,  the neighbor hikes with his gun. 
We don't, but we are always mindful where a tree might be that we can run and hide behind, 
in case the Crazy Mama attacks again!

Anyway....... at the moment, we actually fear the deer more than the Bobcat...
and if the Bobcat has his way, we'll just have to say,  "Nature takes it's course".


P.S. The 2 fawns are till alive as of the following morning. The Mom brought them by our house.

P.S. # 2 The next evening we went for a walk and saw these imprints in the mud.

The wife says form now on we are BOTH wearing our guns on any hike we take. 

Took a hike up the hill yesterday

That's Mt. Blanca behind us, over 14,000 feet high 
(3rd highest in Colorado, in fact).

And see the house in the left lower quadrant?

That's our humble abode.