A visit to the desert

We headed out to the desert for the weekend, to enjoy a couple of last days relaxing in the sun before winter arrives in the form of a snowstorm tomorrow. We arrived at a favorite campsite in the evening, as the sun was setting over the Colorado River.

As the sun peacefully sunk below the horizon, the world turned orange and red.

After dark, one star rose before all the others and sparkled with furious intensity. I opened the shutter on my camera for a few minutes, and the star turned into a streak above the opposite wall of the canyon.

In the photo above, you can also see lights down in the canyon, regulating the flow of train traffic along the tracks that parallel the river. A train came, and I captured its beam as it rumbled by. The million stars are all streaks due to my long shutter time.

The spot where we camped is one that we've visited many times, and it's always almost completely empty. Alas, this weekend was different. In the middle of the night, a boy scout troop arrived. Because all of the designated campsites were filled, they decided to erect their tents on the desert floor surrounding our campsite. It is an understatement to say that the rest of the night and the following morning were not peaceful. I even had the honor of a flashlight beamed on me while I peed behind a tree in the middle of the night. We kept wondering what values the scoutmasters thought that they were teaching those kids. Camp in illegal places. Trample all over the fragile desert floor. Make lots of noise.

Not surprisingly, we moved to a different campsite the next morning, and, although we had a less spectacular view of the river, we enjoyed peace and quiet again. The river looked different at sunrise than at sunset.

I, of course, enjoyed long mountain bike rides on both days, teetering on the edge of cliffs.

Sometimes, I was teetering over the awe-inspiring Colorado River as I pedaled my bike on the edge.

Little did I know that I would continue to teeter, metaphorically, when I arrived home. Life isn't always easy. Sometimes I feel like the gnarled old Utah Juniper near our campsite who has somehow survived centuries despite the harsh and parched heat of the desert.

Unlike that Juniper, I have my pack around me. I feel very lucky in that regard!

I'll tell you more about my gleeful desert bike rides tomorrow. Believe it or not, the stories include a bear who must have accidentally wandered into the desert. I'm starting to think that bears accompany me everywhere!

A miracle?

As some of you know, K has had more than her share of health issues over the past 18 months that have resulted in a toe amputation and her being on antibiotics for at least half of the 18 months. I'm not complaining - I know that everything could have been far worse.

Despite all of the setbacks, K recovered from the toe amputation and has been my mountain biking buddy this year.

Her latest issue has been a series of urinary tract infections that have recurred many times since April, including a serious kidney infection. We thought that we'd put that whole ordeal behind us until a recent culture of the bacteria in her vagina showed MRSI, a very serious antibiotic-resistant staph infection.

Because the antibiotics that could fight this infection were also potentially toxic to K, the vet and I decided to do another culture, to be super-certain that K truly had MRSI before putting the evil antibiotics in her body. I found out yesterday that the culture results seem to hold some optimism but they're very confusing. The results showed that, as of 6 days ago, K still had a staph infection but the majority of bacteria in the culture were no longer resistant to standard antibiotics. This result is confusing because we did nothing to treat her in between cultures.

After the second sample of cells was taken, we started K on estrogen replacement therapy and on vaginal flushes with antibacterial medicine in them. Remember, however, that we started these things *after* the sample was taken... so they didn't cause the different results. And, yes, you read that correctly - "vaginal flushes". I have been trained by my vet on how to give my dog a douche. It's a trifle embarrassing... especially when a friend arrives at the door unannounced in the middle of the procedure (that actually happened)! Fortunately, rather than laughing at the absurdity of the situation, my friend jumped right in and distracted K with treats while I did my work.

After seeing the latest culture results, we consulted an internal medicine specialist who said to continue on this path and re-do the culture in a couple of weeks. Her hope was that K's body had rallied in between cultures and started killing the bacteria on its own. If she's right, we may avoid the dangerous antibiotics altogether.

I hate being in limbo land... I prefer to make a plan and stick with it. Instead, we're in "wait-and-see" mode. I guess that's better than having K be truly sick. She never has seemed like she had a whole-body illness so far in this episode.

Today, we mountain biked together, through our favorite aspen grove. Can you believe how different it looks from two weeks ago? It was like a golden heaven then.

It's hunting season here - that's why K is wearing a blaze orange vest.

So, I'm working on relaxing while we "wait and see". In the meantime, I promise that we'll be having lots of fun and enjoying sunrises/sunsets like the one that painted K's fur red in the photo below.

As an aside, when I searched the web for things related to "spontaneous recovery from MRSI", I hit a bunch of sites focused on miracles.

Wordless Wednesday: Autumn to Winter

Morning light on aspens and K

Look what we found. It's hunting season here...

Autumn's leaf frozen in stream

Snowy mountains, yellow aspens, and K

2000' higher:  wintertime

Dusk high in the mountains

Wide-eyed K

Sunrise and sunset

K and I were out in the forest for both sunrise and sunset. K and I mountain biked as the sun was rising, and we hiked as the sun was setting. I love being out in the wild as the world transitions between light and darkness, just as it is now transitioning from the wild green growth of summertime to the stark white and blue of the winter sleep.

As the sun set, K and I sat in its golden glow.

I shall never cease to be under the spell of K's beauty for it radiates from how much I love her.

My cells are still spinning from two full hours in a narrow tube for an extensive MRI. I won't even try to write anything more because it won't be coherent.

Waning days of autumn

I had chance to take both halves of the Duo on a mountain bike ride with me. Their voltage was sky-high!

We traveled through paths of golden and red leaves, our yellow-brick road to wintertime.

During one brief stop, K stood next to me and rested her paw on my cycling-shoe clad foot.

Some leaves are still on the trees in the sun-bathed sections of the forests.

This brilliant stand of aspens glows like a beacon in our world.

We are eking out every last bit of fun in the sun during the waning days of our autumn. Soon, it will be truly winter. I always have trouble with the transition to winter but, when it's truly underway, I end up enjoying it. The snow bike emerges from hibernation, animal tracks in the snow intrigue me, and the the bears disappear until next spring.

I am still hoping to capture photos of bears on their way into hibernation but the bear trails have been quiet recently. Perhaps a bear or a bear family will choose the den with my trail camera outside it for their winter sleep like two winters ago. I hope so.

A bobcat mother and kitten

I found a tremendous surprise on my wildlife camera that's set up on our property today.

First, let me explain why the surprise made me so happy. Some of you know that I've been following the progress of a mother bobcat and her kitten for months. First, I noticed an adult bobcat hunting a very small area with great intensity. The bobcat never seemed to eat her prey where she killed it. Rather, she always carried it toward an epicenter, which I now think was the kitten's early den.

Then, from early August through mid-September, I captured photos of a bobcat mother and kitten traveling together.

After mid-September, my wildlife cameras were capturing photos of them separately and never together. I think the photo below was of the kitten. But, where was the mother?

This one looked so big and muscular that I believed that she was the mother. But where was the kitten?

Based on the fact that my friend saw two adult bobcats traveling together in our territory in mid-March (probably a mating pair), I figured that their kittens were born in mid-May or so. The kittens mostly stay in dens for the first couple of months which roughly fits with the fact that my first photos of the kitten were in early August.

So, it didn't make sense to me that the mother and kitten no longer seemed to be together if the kitten was only 5 months old or so. Usually, the kitten gets at least six months with the mother bobcat.

Well, last night, the pair visited our land and stayed in front of a camera for a few minutes! It's a rudimentary camera that takes incandescent flash photos every 30 seconds if there's motion in front of it. The first one looks like nothing until you notice the bobcat leg disappearing in between the boulders. It's in the crack just to the left of the biggest boulder.

The next photo made me laugh with delight!

The only part that I didn't like about the photo above was how much the flash must have blinded the pair, based on their bright eyes. That's why I don't use my incandescent flash cameras anywhere except for close to my house, where I think that the animals are already very wary. Out in the forest far from our house, I use infrared cameras which emit a soft red glow as the "flash" for night photos. The disadvantage is that the photos are in shades of gray and sometimes blurry but the flash doesn't blind the animals.

Finally, the camera caught the hind end of the kitten as he/she departed. Look at the size of those paws! That kitten needs to grow fast to catch up with his/her paws.

This has turned out to be a fortuitous location for my camera. I chose it based on signs that rabbits lived in the boulders - and rabbits attract predators. Then, recently, a coyote walked away from the boulders with a rabbit in his jaws. I nearly moved the camera, thinking that the attraction for predators was gone. However, soon after that, another rabbit showed up on the camera.

So, I lucked out! Now we know that the mother and kitten bobcat are doing great and are still traveling together, at least sometimes.

While I was searching through my archives of bobcat photos, I came across this funny photo that one of my wildlife cameras took of me. It was labeled as "tracking a mountain lion". I remember the day - there were patches of snow in shaded spots, and I'd found a fresh mountain lion track in one of them. I grabbed K and tried to figure out which way the lion had gone. I look a bit intense, don't you think? I laughed when I saw the photo today.

Today has been another glorious autumn day here on the Front Range of Colorado. It's not winter yet, and we're taking full advantage of the warmth and sunshine. We mountain biked earlier and plan to hike this afternoon/evening. Ah, the joy of our beautiful surroundings.

Setting Moon

For North Americans, our world is enveloped in darkness for more time each day. The advantage is that I actually see sunrises and sunsets. This morning, the sun had risen above the eastern clouds when K and I arrived atop Hug Hill on our mountain bike ride. And, an airplane appeared to be heading straight for the sun.

When K stood in her favorite spot on the pinnacle of our trail network, she was still in the shade for the first time this autumn. But, notice the almost full moon behind her, dropping toward the western horizon.

We rode further and the world became brighter. K led the way through a rapidly thinning aspen grove. More leaves are on the ground than on the trees now.

K still seems to be full of verve despite the infection. I am following her lead about how much she wants to romp.

When we reached our next vista, I realized that the sun was perfectly positioned to get a backlit photo of K that would look like she had a fiery fringe on her fur.

Photography is so much fun. It's made me acutely aware of the lighting because good light makes a good photo. And, I've learned, the quality of the light can even change how colors look.

At that vista, I saw the moon again, inching ever closer to the Continental Divide.

From that vista, we wound our way through ribbon-like trails in pine forests toward home. We emerged from the cover of the forest to see the moon setting over snow-kissed mountains.

A wonderful start to the day...

A glorious day and a feline treasure

K and I started our day with a glorious mountain bike ride. It was warm enough for me to wear short sleeves and shorts. Ah, what a treat!

K romped through an aspen grove, seeming only slightly subdued despite her infection. We've learned that the bacteria infecting her is actually called MRSI, and it is resistant to all but the most harsh antibiotics. MRSI is closely related to MRSA but is the form that appears more often in dogs. Because of the potentially dangerous side effects of the strong antibiotics that can kill this bacteria, we're doing another culture to make absolutely certain that K has MRSI. In the meantime, we're doing some more benign things to try to keep the infection from growing.

You can tell in this photo that K has no idea that vets and other people are stewing over her health.

Before I dropped K at home, we took some goofy photos. It was the kind of day when neither of us really wanted to go indoors for an instant so we played in the aspens.

After riding with K, I headed out on a ride of my own. I felt fabulous. It was one of the best rides that I've had in months, as I felt a surge of energy and optimism that has been absent since my back became so painful early in September. The docs are continuing to do tests but I think that the more powerful anti-inflammatory drugs are doing their job.

Near the end of my ride, I found a treasure. A large, very territorial, mountain lion had passed two of my trail cameras. I say that he was "very territorial" based on how many times he scraped the ground with his hind paws as he walked the animal trail. He left his calling card all over the trail. I think that we've seen this lion before, and he rules the territory.

He didn't have a radio collar, and his stomach looked full based on the bulge at his waistline in the next photo.

He walked briskly onward past that camera, clearly a cat on a mission.

To give you an idea of how big a mountain lion is compared to a bobcat, here's a photo of an almost full grown bobcat kitten taken by the same camera with the same perspective.

I also have a video of a bear in this exact spot for comparison. You can view it here.

Another of my cameras captured the lion's image a short time later as he walked past a bear whammy tree.

This time, however, he stopped briefly, perhaps sniffing the tree that has been scent marked by a bear recently. I find it surprising that the cats, both lions and bobcats, are so interested in bear whammy trees. While the lion stood still, the scars on his left thigh and flank became apparent. Being a predator of large mammals is dangerous business.

After reading the bear's pee-mail, the lion continued his march through the forest. I wonder if he had a successful hunt last night? I saw no further signs of him beyond this point.

It is amazing how the sight of a mountain lion photo taken by my trail camera infuses me with pure liquid energy. I felt like I could fly for the rest of my ride.