Enjoying spring

Our house sets within a rectangle of level ground from the front yard through the backyard to the shed. Above the house are rock outcroppings and a slope up to Mr. Jim’s house. Below the house a slope leads down to a dirt road and open meadow.

The backyard is high desert. Rocks poke out at angles in every direction. The boys built a rock fort in the rock outcroppings to the left of the deck. From their vantage point they can survey the entire yard. Or maybe their thoughts are more about how many more chutes we can clear for sledding when the snow returns.

Last year Tad and I cleaned out the freestanding shed that housed the previous owner’s 400-pound hog. We tore out paneling and insulation that chipmunks had filled with birdseed and assorted trash. Anyone standing outside the shed while we worked would have thought it was on fire as clouds of dust poured out the door and window.

In the winter powdery snow comes often, but leaves just as fast. At nearly 8000 feet the bright sun greedily eats all moisture. Then we’re left with the heavy brown tree trunks of the pine trees in more brown dirt and rock.

In April the snows are heavy and wet. Each time they melt you see another new green revealed. The lichen on the rocks by the shed is St Patrick’s Day green. They are swollen and soft with melted snow; visible surprises among patches of snow.

Some snowflakes are unbelievable like super-sized fast food meals. Seeing 10% of the flakes are giants among the regular flakes plays tricks with your eyes. You can’t focus, it’s like a 3-D movie.

This year at the end of April we go downtown to eat at Beau Jo’s Pizza before Mr. Jim leaves to spend his summer in Wisconsin. Snow from the latest snow covers the parking lot and grass leading to the creek. After pizza we walk next door, buy ice cream and eat it as we watch the snow begin again. Driving home the flakes were small and plentiful; our car cocooned in white.

Easter Snakes

This week when the snow melted small green flower shoots poked out of the ground and the snakes reappeared.

Walking out the front door a small deck leads into a driveway of gray gravel. In the gravel gray snakes sun against the house. Sometimes one will stretch out by itself or with another lying beside it. At other times several will make a pile that resembles large spaghetti. You have to look closely to see which end is the head. Once you’ve focused in on the eyes you can count heads. Then you see the red tongues with black tips flick in and out.

If they get scared several will race each other to make it back under the deck. As it gets warmer they will become lazy in the sun and won’t disappear.

I’ve been researching snakes and think these are Western Terrestrial Garter Snakes.

Snow Storm

I baked chocolate chips cookies, ironed the boys’ uniforms and checked them for inspection at the Scout Pack meeting. Then the snow started falling. The flakes were big and the wind whirled them into a white fog. In one hour the snow was a foot deep and it didn’t appear to be slowing down.

Instead of scouts Tad shovels the deck before dinner….and again after dinner.

How strange, one day the ground is 90% visible, the next day a foot of snow covers everything, and then the third day the ground reappears. The dry air and sun vaporizes the snow. The snow doesn’t melt; it just disappears.

Long-eared squirrel

We saw the Abert's squirrel for the first time since fall. It’s very possible he’s been here without us knowing it since he spends a lot of time high in the ponderosa pines eating their seeds and buds. No longer black, now his body is a smoky gray and his tail is interspersed with long white hairs.

This year the Abert has become use to us. He no longer runs off as he did last year, or like the brown squirrels still do when I go out on the deck. Continuing to be upset at the sight of our small white dog still hangs upside down on the bark of a tree and chatters.

Snow and Ice

The frozen Bridal Veil Falls with its large wooden waterwheel in Idaho Springs sits against the mountains on the south side of I-70 across from Idaho Springs. It’s a beautiful sight in the morning driving west to ski, and even prettier in the late afternoon with the sunset behind the waterfall. The mountain leans into the highway towering over the cars that pass beneath.

Another favorite part of the drive to ski is at Eisenhower Tunnel near Loveland Pass. The traffic in the afternoon is heavy and slow, but with the Continental Divide framing the tunnel the wait is easy and relaxing.

Elk

Opening the front door I see 10 elk rumps across the driveway. They appear in larger groups than the deer, and stay very focused on eating low vegetation. A few branch off to the backyard to see what birdseed they want. They are the only animals to visit our yard that are tall enough to reach the top of the birdfeeder stand. If I go on the deck they seem to enjoy eye contact. When we are ready to leave their gait is that of a very tall, lanky adolescent, not very graceful, but with purpose.

Soon they will be in nearby Elk Meadow with their young. Groups of over 100 will be published in the local paper. Driving into town splinter groups will walk along the sidewalks.

In a few months I will see the backend of the elk out my backdoor, as they stand in the flowerbed. I’ve found flowers they won’t eat, but that doesn’t stop them from gently pulling them up and sitting them in a pile for me to replant.

Red Fox

Our red fox appeared. Yah! Two weeks ago he was limping and I didn’t know how he’d make it with a hurt front paw. Today he is walking with only a slight limp. Enjoying the birdseed and nuts he looks like a long, lean dog. This is quite a difference from the fast moving blur with a bushy tail we only got a glimpse of last year.

We see lots of foxes of all colors. In the late 1800s through the mid 1900s foxes and mink were raised in this area. Today a strange mix of colors has evolved from the foxes breeding that were left when the fox farms closed.