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.

On the road to the dumpster

On the road to the dumpster, we stopped 'cause of this sunset.

Cindy's pic with her basic camera, turned out to be better than mine, I think.

Don't you like that the grass looks like a B&W,
while the flower and the sky kept their colors? 

Cool, I think!

Checking out our elk herd

Went yesterday to check out our elk herd.
They like the meadows close to the lake, about 5 miles from the cabin.

Found them easily.

I tried to do a panoramic shot. It took 21 pictures to show them all.
I had no luck. Since they kept moving, I could not join up the frames.
These pics are panoramics of just 2 shots each.

Didn't see hardly any males; those we saw looked juvenile.
Guess the mature guys are off doing manly stuff...until hormones brings them into the herd.

There were tons of babies, though.

This particular mom had two babies feeding off her, on & off.

I counted a total of 148 elk.
Cindy says there were closer to 200, because so many babies were lying down; 
hard to see in the grass..
Last year we counted a total of 96, but it was a little later in August.

I think as the season grows longer, a few wander away to be by themselves.

This gal was in meadow by herself, about a mile from the herd.
And there were 4 others at the edge of the woods, 
but they hid as soon as we got close.

We'll, if you don't like elk, 'cause you think they look a little "funny",
there are other hoofed animals to look at here, too.

Yes, there's lots to see, when you are out in the woods.