This time of year is a transition period; we are not working the Sanderling lot and little else of note is going on. This makes it “interesting” to come up with a weekly post but I keep trying to generate some content.
It’s raining in the high desert today, which means snow in the high country above 8,000 feet. Our mountain property could pick up 6 – 12 inches of new snow out of this storm. The rest of the week, past Monday, looks good though, and we hope the snow melts off the mountain lot by the last week in April. Tonight (Sunday) and tomorrow have forecast lows below freezing; Pam is planning to cover some flowers but the rest will just have to survive on their own. Tulips are beginning to bloom and I see some daffodils blooming around town. Our daffodils don’t look like they will bloom this year – the bulbs may be spent.
In “lot” news, I’ve put in a reservation for a backhoe and applied for vacation for the week between April 28th and May 5th. We are going to get the driveway extension done that week (one way or another). Should be an interesting endeavor! I went through United Rentals as they will deliver and pick up the backhoe to the lot, for a fee of course, but I don’t have the Big Boy Toys to haul such equipment over two mountain passes. We will have to pick up a couple of diesel fuel cans to bring fuel out to the lot. Nearest fuel station is about 25 mile away in Fairplay.
Closer to home, I took the ATV out for a ride yesterday. I wanted to ride through the area that was burned a couple years ago and see how, or if, the recovery was going.
Much of the area has developed a covering of grass but little else. The photo below is typical of this:
Burn area – spring 2014
The little patches of white, seen on the right side of this photo, are flowers.
Wildflowers #1
Throughout the ride I was struck by the number and varieties of wildflowers already in bloom. This makes sense as the high desert receives only about 8 inches of rain per year, and the flowers use the spring moisture to good advantage. Here are a couple more photos of flowers I saw during this outing. (Our mountain flower identification book is in the high country, can’t specifically identify the flowers in the following photos.)
Paintbrush?
Wildflowers #3
So, even though I have ridden these areas before, there is always something new or different to see and I always enjoy getting out on the ATV.
As a follow-up to a note in my last post, friends Mary and Jeff are sending us photos from their trip to England. It looks like they’re having a good time, with a super-packed itinerary!
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
Pam’s Two Cents Worth:
Sis Becky tells me the Chicago relatives have been clued in to this post location, so here’s a shout out to Nancy, Bobby and Uncle Norm! They should get in contact with Bro Larry, who can give them a guided tour of the MyHeritage site – lots of family photos and genealogy content has been catalogued by Larry at that site over the past few years.
Daughter Felicity is in Spokane, Washington at the annual Sweet Adeline competition this weekend. Upon her return to Oregon, she closes her apartment in Beaverton and, a few days after Easter, begins her life as a “digital nomad.” Felic has developed a blog to chronicle the next nine months as she travels, house sits, and attempts to make a living entirely on-line. For those who wish to travel along, Felicity’s blog location can be found here: http://www.blog.felicityfields.com/.
Happy Trails.
‘having seen the “high country” weather forecast, I was sure you’d avoid the 8-16″ of incoming snow! Looks like highs in the 50’s and overnights above freezing by next weekend.
It will be interesting to see if the burn area grows more than ground cover & brush in the next 10-20 years…
If there’s interest from the Illinois relatives, send me an Email (to lparoubek@att.net) and I’ll “invite” you onto (my) MyHeritage website. ‘could also provide “more than you’d want to know” on “Paroubek history”, in Bohemia & before…