A Glimpse of the Lunar Eclipse

The last week has been glorious. The sky has been a deep blue with almost no clouds in it. The aspens have become more and more brilliant, looking gorgeous against the sky.

Shyla and I have enjoyed beautiful bike rides together, soaking up the fleeting autumn colors.

Then, yesterday about an hour before sunset, a bank of clouds moved in. Oh no, I thought... I'd been looking forward to my first attempt at photographing a total lunar eclipse. I'd been out around our area with a compass and the projected path of the moon, figuring out the best vantage point.

The whole pack walked to my chosen vantage point together just before moonrise. Neither of us humans dared to voice the opinion that we weren't going to see the moonrise. Finally, the Runner saw a glimmer behind the clouds, approximately 30 minutes after moonrise and even longer after the eclipse had begun. Still, I didn't have a clear view of the moon.

However, we both spotted a gap in the layers of clouds where we thought the moon just might appear, ever so briefly. And it did.

The gap was substantial enough that I could spend the time to figure out the best camera settings to get a wide view of the ridge to the east and a good exposure of the moon. Moreover, during the time that the moon was visible, the color of the clouds morphed from the post-sunset orange (in the previous photo) to the later-after-sunset pink that I love so much.

Then, after about 15 minutes of enjoying the moon view, the clouds covered it again. The rest of the pack headed for home. I, the ever hopeful photographer, lay in the grass, watching for another glimmer of the moon.

It was so peaceful lying there, gazing at the sky. I suddenly realized that a city-person would think I was crazy feeling so safe lying in my little spot in the meadow. But, I did. I trusted that the coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions, elk, deer, bears, and moose would catch my scent and go around me. And they did.

I didn't glimpse the moon again. However, I was happy with what I'd managed to capture in the brief moments that the moon graced us with its face.

Seeing red among the sea of yellow aspens

Our world is so gorgeous right now. I can barely ride my bike because I want to constantly take photos of the autumn beauty.

So, you can imagine my dismay when K and I rolled out onto the trails this morning and found some subtle things amiss.

First, there were truck tire tracks in a no motorized vehicle forest (I'm told that it was a US Forest Service truck by those who saw it). Second, the truck had tried to go through my favorite sinuous path in an aspen grove behind my house.

Of course, the truck didn't fit on the foot path. So, what did the brilliant USFS employees do? They cut down aspen trees - gorgeous and wondrous aspen trees. That was not subtle - that was egregious.

This is the start of what superficially seems like a logical wildfire "fuel reduction" plan. However, it shows the same blatant disregard for nature's beauty as our local Forest Service has displayed numerous times in the past. In fact, they've reaped destruction in our forests twice in the past 14 years in the name of "fuel reduction". I'm seeing red. There are ominous clouds on the horizon.

Finding the photo below on my wildlife camera certainly took a giant step toward cheering me up. Can you say "Doe Eyes"?

A doe and two youngsters hung around the camera for about five minutes. The fawns have lost their spots and look like miniature moms.

Oh how I love autumn, I love our mountains, and I love our aspen trees.

An autumn Saturday

Picking up right where I left off last time, the bobcats are tracking me! This guy visited a wildlife camera in an anonymous clearing in the forest. One sign that he's a bobcat and not a mountain lion is the tufts on his ear tips.

Then, just to make sure that he wouldn't be misidentified, he showed us his striped tail!

Early each morning, after these carnivores usually go to sleep for the day, K and I shuffle out for our little hike. Lately, our destination has been the same every morning - the only magnificent aspen grove within 200 yards of our house! The rising sun sets it afire each morning, just for us.

We trudge up the hill, with K's cast making deep clunking noises as it hits the ground, to visit the yellow paradise. K's graceful athletic movements are absent for the moment but I hope that they'll return.

It might not be our normal whooshing mountain bike ride but I simply love these few minutes in the peaceful forest with my K.

Yesterday, K had her weekly cast change, and things didn't look as good as I hoped. The toe with the surgically repaired tendon jutted up above all the others. The vet felt that it probably was still OK because, when the vet tickled K's paw pads, K was capable of pulling the toe down. Despite that, I still felt a wave of unease... a sick feeling that maybe her repaired tendon ruptured in the past week. However, all that I can do is wait patiently...

Regardless of how her surgery turns out or whether she can romp again, I still have K by my side. I know that is a gift.

Do you see the flower or star in her eye in the close-up above? I've never seen it in any of my other dogs. It seems mystical. However, the scientist in me had to look in a dog anatomy book to figure out what structure looks like a star in a dog's eye is but it's not mentioned! I'll have to ask my vet when I see her next week.

Some days, I have the honor of taking my black whirlwind, R, for a romp on my mountain bike after K and I walk. He and I are becoming more like a team during our rides, with R anticipating my movements and dancing along side me. I even asked him to "heel" next to my bike, and he did it! I won't kid myself - I know that he isn't yet ready to heel next to my bike in very exciting environments but we're moving slowly in that direction.

I find myself noticing the differences between my normal riding buddy, K, and my new partner, R. The most obvious thing is that R doesn't know the specific places where I've had scary crashes in the past. K has catalogued all of them, and she backs off to let me clear each obstacle before rejoining me. In contrast, R just blasts along as if those spots aren't notable! 

The second difference is R's rodent obsession. Hug Hill with K is a very relaxing place where I take a deep breath and give her a hug. With R, it's an exercise in controlling his chipmunk hunting! In the photo below, he started his search as soon as we arrived.

If I have "good" treats with me to reward him, I can convince him to "leave" the rodents and hang out with me. However, he's not yet as focused on me as K is. While he holds a stay for me, he usually samples the scents flying off the Divide rather than gazing at me.

On occasion, I can convince him to look me in the eye. His eyes are bottomless, warm and very brown! I love my black whirlwind!

A series of photos from one of my remote wildlife cameras shows why I work so hard to keep my off-leash dogs under control in the forest.

Early in the morning, a mule deer doe foraged on an animal trail. She wandered out of view to the right of the camera's view. A moist draw lies in that direction. My guess was that she was grazing down there after this photo was taken.

Then, a dog arrived on the scene, clearly following her scent. I know this dog and he was at least a quarter mile from his human. You can see him in the far right of the photo. My guess is that he didn't hurt the deer but he certainly provided extra stress.

This morning, after my short ride with R, I did a Tour de Aspen.

I climbed brilliant ridges, trying to immerse myself in the gorgeous aspens rather than obsessing over K's toe.

It wasn't hard with views like this one!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Outdoor fun and more bear antics!

We started our day yesterday with a hike up a favorite ridge, from a trailhead a short drive from home. K and I climbed up the south side of the slope, which aside from gullies and small forested sections, was dry! Because the boys of the family were running out ahead of us, the start of our hike was an exercise in recalls. I'd release K, she'd accelerate to try to catch the runners, I'd call her back to me, and then we'd repeat! Below, she's recalling after one of her short chases.
Despite our 'game' of recalls, we rapidly climbed to an elevation with a view. K ecstatically sniffed a scent. The scent might have been elk - it appeared that after our 4' of fresh snow last week, the crafty elk herd headed for this south-facing hillside, knowing that the grass would emerge here first.
Once we attained the spine of the ridge, we walked on the brink between two worlds, the dry and grassy south-facing slope and the deeply snow-covered north-facing slope. K stood on the edge of the snowy and tree-dominated north-facing slope in the photo below.
I walked just on the edge of the snow, watching for animal tracks. I've ridden my mountain bike on this trail hundreds of times and have seen animals and their tracks crossing the ridge from one section of wilderness to another. Last fall, I saw the tracks of a mother mountain lion and her large kitten on two occasions. They climbed up from the south side following the least steep slope and crossed into the forest at a saddle in the ridge. At that same saddle, I had a bobcat try to sneakily cross the ridge just behind me as I perused a wildflower last summer. He came within about 20-30 yards of me... don't worry, bobcats aren't dangerous to humans - they're too small.

Yesterday, I saw a maze of elk tracks, some deer tracks, bobcat scent posted freshly marked with scat, and one somewhat rare track - a huge turkey track. The turkey left only about 4 tracks, and I know that hunting season is either here or approaching so I tried to rub them out. But, the ground was still frozen solid so I couldn't. I hope that this big bird makes it through the season!
At one point, I strayed into the snow, looking even more intently for the tracks of rarer animals - perhaps the track of an awakening bear or a lion. But, I didn't find any. K stood and watched.
After I turned around to head back toward the car, we met the boys. The Labraduo broke into wild playing in the snowy sections. It was funny that the snow itself seemed to trigger the play.
As an interesting note for anyone who has a dog with joint problems, we've noticed that Adequan injections (liquid glucosamine) have given K her top sprinting speed back. She has the start of arthritis in her spine so we decided to try to head it off with Adequan. Since starting it about 6 months ago, her top speed as returned to scorching levels, and she can even outrun R!
We brought along my bike so that I could start my ride from someplace new, expanding my horizons since I still can't ride all that far. As I rode along a dirt road, I noticed that a few aspen buds were bursting open. These will become fuzzy catkins, essentially aspen seeds, and are a delicious food for wildlife, including birds and bears. Now, for some odd reason, the aspens in this particular spot are always weeks ahead of every other aspen tree in the area each spring. So, everyplace else, the aspens have only red buds.
I had a great ride in perfect conditions with sparse traffic and made it further up my road than I have since my surgery, reaching a point where I could glimpse a new view. I think that my favorite part of surgery is feeling the incredible rebuilding properties of the human body. It can be beaten down but almost always springs back!
After that morning flurry of activity, I came home and put together a video clip of bear play from outside the den. Notice that one cub definitely looks bigger, plays more aggressively, and roams further from the den than the other. Perhaps that is a sign that we have a male and female yearling in this family. In any case, the footage makes it obvious that a bear family is a tight-knit and loving clan. These are sensitive and caring creatures, and they are most definitely NOT the scary monsters that so many people envision.

Also, keep in mind that this rambunctious play occurred within about an hour of the family coming out of the den for the first time in a long time (except for mom's short trips to eat snow and urinate). Imagine having muscles that can stay so strong while lying still for months on end! Bears have amazing physiological tricks that make it possible for them to run at full speed and climb trees almost immediately after sleeping for months. After lying still for that long, humans would lose so much muscle strength that they would probably have trouble standing upright immediately after leaving the den. Then, it would take a human months to rebuild their muscles. Bears are amazing!

Jaws, coyotes, and winter reigns

Today's post will be short. My wisdom teeth extraction ordeal is continuing to hamper my energy and enthusiasm. Now, I have 'dry socket', a complication that seriously slows healing after a tooth extraction, leaving raw nerve endings open to the air and causing screaming pain. Fortunately, my dentist was enthusiastic to meet me at his office and work on my jaw today, a Sunday, to try to alleviate the pain. It seems like it might be helping but I won't know for sure until I get up the nerve to try to eat. On the bright side, I feel lucky to have such a caring human being as my dentist!

Yesterday, I couldn't open the wildlife camera because it was frozen closed. So, today, I had two nights worth of coyote parties to peruse! The coyotes have come and gone from our territory all night long for the past two nights.

On Friday night, snow fell heavily and blanketed their luxurious coats. On that night, I captured about 35 photos of 1-3 coyotes at a time. Their time seemed evenly divided between eating fallen seeds, staring at the ground (hunting for mice?), and scanning the forest edge.
Last night, a solo coyote arrived and checked out the scene. Then, he howled.
Soon thereafter, two others appeared in the distance approaching him.
Again, the pack seemed centered on our territory until dawn, with our wildlife camera capturing about 30 images of various combinations of 1-3 coyotes at a time. I think that even more coyotes lurked behind pine trees in some photos because pairs of eyes glowed from between the boughs.

Yesterday evening, our domestic dog pack took a hike on seldom-used trails, including one informally called 'Wildcat Alley' because I hoped to see some interesting animal tracks. Alas, it appeared that the cats and bears had slept since the snow. Smooth, unbroken snow met us everywhere except where the orange-bedecked dogs had gallivanted.
Today's ride was short. My only goal was to spin the spasms out of my back muscles before visiting the dentist. But, in the process, I enjoyed the beauty of the forest and being with K.
We passed through the meadow that wildflowers completely covered a couple of months ago. It's hard to believe that it's the same meadow! Today, in the snow, I saw and K smelled that a small band of elk had meandered through the meadow. I hope that they stay hidden from the prying eyes of hunters.We saw a small herd of mule deer, who half-heartedly ran away from us, with the largest one stopping to watch us. I think that the deer can distinguish K from other dogs and know that she won't truly chase them.
Dim gray light dominated the ride, with a thick soup of clouds hiding the mountains which normally shine like stars behind where K stood in this photo.But, near the end of the ride, the skies briefly cleared, causing the snow-covered pines and yellow aspen trees to sparkle.
At this instant, two dogs are standing staring at me as I type, silently yelling that it's time for a hike! One of my favorite things about dogs is that, even when my mind and jaw are pleading for a nap, the dogs get me moving. I almost always feel better after a walk in the woods with them!

Glorious autumn day with a gray cloud

A glorious day sung in sunshine as I pedaled my mountain bike into a warm wash of air this morning. My pups and I followed a thread-like trail through fading aspens. In our area, a "trail" often spans less than a foot.
We arrived at our favorite lookout, and I couldn't resist another photo of my goofy friends, my bike in the background, and a grandiose view of the mountains.
A wind swept down from the Divide but it brushed my face with warmth rather than cold. We lingered, enjoying what our meteorologist called 'the last warm day', on the peak. As I photographed the mountains with hovering clouds above them, I noticed the Green Gentians that I wrote about when they bloomed back in June. They're the tan stalks, about 2-3' tall, just to the right of center of the foreground.
I've since learned more about these patient gnomes that are also known as Monument Plants. They grow a rosette of basal petals over an astonishingly long time period, up to 60 years, storing energy in preparation for one summer of blooming. Then, when ideal conditions prevail, they blossom and die, in a "big bang" style of reproduction. If they're pollinated, their blossoms metamorphose into seed packets which cover the stalks shown above and are shown in detail below.
After reading about the patience of these plants and their single chance at blossoming, I felt very sad when, late in the summer, I saw a Monument Plant that someone had beheaded. However, this tenacious plant didn't give up. It grew thin stalks from the cut stem that projected upward. Each stalk grew many flowers which became seed packets, as seen below. You can also see an actual blooming flower lower on the stalk, well below where the main stem was hacked off.
So, this morning, as I gazed at the remarkable view of the mountains with the Monument Plants in the foreground, I yet again thought about the stubbornness of nature and the will to live. These plants get one chance to sow their seeds and they don't give up easily. They provide a good lesson for everyone.

After the pups and I headed downhill, we wove through a pine forest where the rising sun highlighted the dense maze of conifers. The dogs love sprinting through this forest, probably because the thick layer of pine needles cushions each step.We visited a meadow, where the two faithful pups guarded my bike while I photographed the world and them.
I gazed at our amazing moon dipping toward the western horizon. In concert with the veil of clouds over the mountains, it awed me.
After I dropped my rambunctious companions off at home, I kept riding, enjoying the feeling that my leg muscles could propel me with zip again. I think that I'm finally recovering!

Snow is forecast for tomorrow so the last vestiges of summer and fall caught my eye. An eternally flashy combination, flowers with purple petals and yellow disks, brought me to a halt. I wondered if it was the last flower that I'd see this season.
Right next to it, a solitary ladybug rested in the warm sunshine on a dried thistle leaf. Ladybugs overwinter by hibernating in protected spots among swarms of their brethren. In fact, I saw a roiling ball of gathered ladybugs, huddling together under a dense pine bough for warmth, during a brief cold snap this summer. I hope that this lady finds some friends to snuggle with before tomorrow's snow!
After riding along the spine of a sunny ridge, my finishing flourish was a loop deep in a pine forest with a few yellow aspens intermingling with the conifers. The clouds over the snowy mountains had swelled, and they foretold a stormy Thursday. I could hardly bear to leave the comfort of the autumnal forest knowing that winter may take hold tomorrow.
To my dismay, upon arriving home, I discovered that tests show that K appears to have a kidney infection. That thought terrifies me, as I lost an elderly dog ears ago, Acadia, to an acute infection that shut down her kidneys within 24 hours. While I realize that K's situation is completely different because she's a young and vibrant dog and the infection appears to be mild, I can't shake the visceral reaction that stems from past experience.

I think that it's time for some smooth sailing around here - no more drama once we get through this chapter!