Seizing the day: an alpine celebration

K and I celebrated her good news yesterday with a hike high above treeline in the thin air. I decided that I wanted to seize the day - we were both healthy and the weather was not stormy - so we sprinted out the door for our adventure.

We had a glorious time, enjoying wildflowers, craggy mountains, snow fields, a lake, and endless views. When I have access to a faster internet connection, I'll share some more photos.

I realized that K and I have hiked to the same mountain pass every summer of her life. As we hiked, I recollected how I worried that she might try to jump on someone (despite being on leash) on the narrow mountain trail back when she was a puppy. Now, she's an experienced mountain hiker, mild-mannered and calm. People ask to pet her when they pass us on the trail because she smiles at them and tries to catch their eyes. Her sweetness can shine through now that her puppy-like excitability has (mostly) passed.

I grinned for almost the entire hike. After all that K has been through this year with the bone infection, toe amputation, and the recent kidney infection, I wasn't sure if we'd be out together on the high alpine trails this season. We did it!

Great news!

I started my day by finding interesting photos on my wildlife camera. It was a bobcat, carrying something in his mouth.

Zooming in showed that the bobcat was going to have a rodent for breakfast. He must have just captured and killed it.

He walked out of the view of the camera, probably seeking a secluded spot to eat breakfast.

A little later in the day, K and I headed for the vet to get her kidneys checked after 4 weeks of antibiotics for the infection.

I was present for the ultrasound, and the vet said that her kidneys looked "beautiful". Believe me, they did not look beautiful four weeks ago so this was awesome news!

That proclamation brought a huge smile to my face. We'll continue antibiotics for another four weeks to make sure that we've killed every last bug that was attacking her kidneys. In the meantime, she's free to zoom!

Wordless Wednesday

Bear cub?

I found a video on my wildlife camera that made me laugh out loud when I first saw it. You can watch it here or at Youtube.

I think that it's one of the bear cubs from the twins that we've been seeing in the area this summer. The camera was very low, below knee level and probably at a cub's snout level. Here's a closeup of one of the cubs from a month ago.

I wish that the bear had backed away from the camera for just a moment so that we could have seen if the rest of his family was there. I'm rooting to get another photo like this one of the whole family!

Do you think that the video was of a bear cub or an adult?

By the way, I didn't put anything tasty on the camera. He must have liked the taste that my hands left behind on the bear-proof case that holds the camera. You can also see that he pawed at it so I'm really glad that I had the camera in a strong case.

It was another hot day in the mountains so I had to take it easy on K in terms of mountain biking. We rode up high and saw the Divide with storms looming yet again.

We stopped to enjoy a meadow but K was looking hot.

So, I took her to a shady north-facing slope and looked for my favorite gems, tiny wintergreen blossoms. Success! The Pink Pyrola had burst into color, barely visible above the carpet of pine needles.

I didn't notice these tiny flowers until I'd lived here for more than five years. At this time of year, the showy wildflowers like the Columbines overwhelm me. But, it's worth looking on the floor of the pine forest for these beauties!

Even after waiting for me to photograph the pink flowers, K still looked hot so we headed home. She seems fine but I am being extra careful not to let her get dehydrated. She has an ultrasound of her kidneys on Thursday that will tell me how well she's healing. I'm hoping that we'll get good news that will make me more confident about taking her on adventures!

As a side note, several of you brought up the idea that R's brindle transition might be caused by medicines or diet. Indeed, that was exactly what I thought at first. There is indeed a tiny chance that the antibiotics that he took to heal his nailbed infection caused it but there are no cases of fur color changes due to those antibiotics anywhere in the veterinary literature. Moreover, we haven't changed his diet.

The Brindle Lab

K made it to some Columbines with me today during a mountain bike ride! We didn't make it to "the" best grove but we visited a patch that has a dappling of purple columbines among the greenery.

K winked for the photo! A happy day...

Here's one of the beauties who we gazed at.

I mentioned that our R is morphing into a "brindle" lab.

I know that you can't see it in the photo above but you can see it in his face in the next one. His jet black fur is becoming peppered with chocolate and white. It's happening all over his body.

For contrast, here was R about two months ago with a completely jet black face.

As I mentioned the other day, either R has a recessive and rare gene that is causing him to become a brindle color or he has a genetically-based disease that will cause him to become brindle and partially bald ("color dilution alopecia"). We're voting for the simple brindling.

My friend suggested that R wanted to be more like his big sister so he's growing some chocolate fur. I like that explanation most of all!

It was another gorgeous day on the Front Range although hot, even at our elevation.

Cats in the night

In the middle of the night, a mountain lion moved stealthily through our forest.

He was moving briskly and his image blurred.

I think that he/she is a different lion from the one who recently walked up and down a nearby gully for more than a week, probably circling a carcass that he/she was eating. Last night's lion had a different type of radio/GPS collar than the previous lion. I think that both of these lions were females because they left no scrapes. Males tend to scrape and urinate all along their routes to mark their territory.

In the darkness of night, it's primarily our cats who are active, yet this bobcat most definitely did not want to meet the mountain lion. A lion will kill and eat a bobcat.

In the sunlight of daytime, I've been enjoying the fluttering of butterflies among the brightly colored wildflowers. What a contrast from the mountain lion and bobcat photos.

Locoweed (Oxytropis lambertti) seems to attract butterflies more than any other flower.

Locoweed is dominating our meadow presently, and the Duo love sprinting through it.

Since K's toe amputation, R always wins the races. But, they both have fun!

R is at the tiptop of his physical prime. Watching him glide and leap through the meadows and forest is like watching a ballet.

It has stormed almost every evening for a week. K's fur glowed in ray of sunshine with storm clouds behind her.

After posing, she beseeched me to give her some treats.

Time to head home before another big thunder storm at the end of a summer day.

Miracle of life

I had a wonderful early evening hike with the Duo yesterday. As you can see, K was zipping around and romping like she'd never been sick!

R showed his trademark, lead with the teeth, recall!

You might be able to see in the photo above that R's fur is changing color. It started while he was sick with a nasty infection after he shredded a toenail but that timing could be purely coincidence. Since then, the fur all over his body has become peppered with brown and white hairs. We felt a little silly about it but we took him to the vet. It turns out that R either has a very very rare gene that will cause him to become a "brindle" (mixture of black, chocolate, and white) lab over time OR he has a different gene that is causing him to get "color dilution alopecia", a disease that causes him to turn brindle and gradually become bald.

We could do fancy tests to find out if he has CDA but, since there's no treatment, it seems better to spare him the stress and take life as it comes. I keep wondering, however, why our little family gets so many odd veterinary issues. We're like a real life "case study"!

On a lighter note, about a week ago, I found a nest under an overhanging boulder.

It had three hatchlings and one unhatched egg. A Townsend Solitaire sat in a tree and chirped while I looked at it.

I worried about them during our torrential deluges of rain over the past week. Five days after hatching, all four of them looked very strong with huge beaks waiting for food from mom and dad.

One of them gave me the evil eye. Don't worry - I stayed less than a minute.

Today, 8 days post-hatching, they were feathered and much more camouflaged. They didn't open their beaks during my 15 second peek.

The miracle of life astounds me!

These Fairy Trumpets seem to be bugling out the message that life is a miracle! I associate them with my dog Acadia who died exactly eight years ago today. Her photo is in the sidebar.

I miss her but I always smile when I think of her. She taught me about the depth of the human-dog bond.

P.S. One of you asked if I've seen signs of the sow and her two cubs. I captured video of what I believe to be the "rebel" cub licking and sniffing one of my cameras yesterday. I expect that the family is still together because the cubs usually don't leave their mother until they're close to 18 months old. I'll upload the video when I have a fast internet connection. Another example of the miracle of life...

K and the days of summer

K has been showing definite signs of improvement, moving with more enthusiasm and living life with a spark of excitement. Our very short mountain bike rides have commenced (with prior approval by our trusty vet).

Her kidneys still seem to be sore which I wish that we could resolve. I'm trying to learn to live with the uncertainty and just enjoy each day.

K's resurgence is just in time because I'm hearing rumors that some of our favorite alpine trails are finally losing their snow cover. I hope that K will be able to join me for some thin air hikes way up above the trees in the near future.

The wildflowers, like the Marsh Marigolds above, should be spectacular after the soaking of snow melt and our daily thunder storms.

The bluebirds have loved the recent wet weather - this male was taking a tasty morsel to his nestlings.

The mud has also provided some tracking opportunities. A bear walked through a mud flat and left beautiful tracks.

I wonder if it was the same bear as visited us last week. This biggish bear persisted for a long time trying to wrench our base pole for our bear-proof birdfeeders out of the ground. His visit was during a deluge of rain so the photos are a bit blurry.

Despite his persistence, this brute left without any bird food in his stomach. The Runner, who designed our bearproof birdfeeding station, wins another round of IQ testing against the bear!

The bear was not a good sport about losing this round. As he departed our clearing, he knocked over a bear proof trash can to vent his frustration.

It's truly summer. Flowers are bursting from every crevice of the forest, and bears seem like a daily part of our lives. I cherish each day of our very brief summer!

P.S. Yesterday's mystery flower was a Spotted Coral Root (Corallorhiza maculata), an orchid that thrives in pine forests.