Forever part of my heart

This is the time of year that I wish that I didn't need to sleep. It's so beautiful outside that I want to live every instant wide awake and enjoying it. Like most years, I'm already starting to get tired, from my binge of outdoor fun!

In that spirit, Shyla and I were up early, getting ready for our mountain bike ride. She stood in the basement, looking at me with big eyes as I readied my bike.

As you can see, her eye infection is improving. When the infection started, I flushed her eye with saline several times with no improvement. By Sunday, the yucky green goobers were getting huge, and the white of her eye was blood red. I had a dog eye antibiotic at home so I decided to try it. It worked - very fast! I called my vet today, who was not at all upset with me for "playing vet". After how many dogs we've had and the innumerable vet visits we've made, I have a decent idea of what's an emergency and what's not.

We had an amazing bike ride this morning. It was still cool, and so many new flowers were blooming!

Shyla is an incredible athlete. The heat can slow her down but that seems to be the only thing that slows her. In our mountain world, anything over about 60°F feels like heat (I'm sure that you're all laughing at our wimpiness now - but remember those snow photos from just a month ago...). Aside from the "heat", it seems like Shyla could run forever. She's a great match for me.

We meandered around our trails, specifically avoiding an area where I am certain that a mountain lion has stashed a "kill", either a deer or elk that he is eating. I have trail camera photos, that I'll share later, of the mountain lion walking the same route at the same time each day with a huge bulging belly. It's best to stay away from that area and let him finish his feast.

Boulder Raspberries are blooming everywhere. I love how they reach for the deep blue sky!

And, not only are the pink "Shooting Stars" blooming, but the Irises are too, as you can see in the background of the next photo.

I managed to completely exhaust myself on the bike, between my ride with Shyla and then a solo ride. After that, we settled in for an afternoon on the deck. Being able to sit on the deck is not an everyday thing up here in the mountains. Even in the summer, it's too cold some days.

Under our deck, we have a pair of Cordilleran Flycatchers who have built a nest on a little "nest tray". I think that they are now waiting for the female to lay eggs because they are just hanging around. One of them seemed to find me to be fascinating, cocking her head like a dog!

Every year, the Flycatchers sit on the same perches to hunt insects and guard their nest. I adore watching them. This year, one of them seems very comfortable with me... not flying away as soon as I pick up my camera (most years, they are much more shy).

As I watched this Flycatcher today, she suddenly swooped up against our house siding and came back with what looked like a wasp.

In an instant, the bug was "down the hatch".

She returned to her perch, watching the world of insects swirl around her. This year should be better than last year for the Flycatchers. Most years, they have four chicks in their nest under our deck. However, we had almost no insects last year due to the drought, and they had only one living chick by fledging time.

Their one chick fledged on the day that K died. As I sat with K's head on my lap under the pine trees in the last hours of her life, I could tell that the parents were shepherding their chick away from our deck and toward the forest.

Everything on Earth still feels like it's related to K for me. I am healing but I still think of her every single day. I now truly understand what it means when someone is part of you forever. Perhaps this Flycatcher, who seems so comfortable with me, is the youngster who fledged on the day that K's spirit took flight. That's a heart-warming thought.