Stuff. Just Stuff.

Thanksgiving is over and it’s time to catch up on a few things that have happened since the end of our Florida trip. None is of great import but (cumulatively) they do reflect on our daily lives.

The trees have dropped all their leaves, except for a large branch on our cottonwood tree. Several days’ chores have included raking leaves, mulching flower beds, and generally cleaning up for winter. One surprise came to light when a neighbor’s tree became bare: A large hornet nest.

Hornet’s nest in a neighbor’s tree

The nest is large enough to be seen from our house — and there is an empty lot between us. I haven’t noted any activity, the hornets are probably bedded down for the winter, but this may explain the lack of small nests around our eaves which has been common the last few years: all the hornets are now concentrated in this one large colony.

I enjoyed a local ATV trip near Palisade, about 22 miles from our house. I’d heard about this trail, named Chalk Creek, but the only sign I saw indicated the creek’s name was Rapid Creek. In any event, the trail is a loop road that mainly services two large power lines in the area. It is not very scenic but does offer a few views of Mt. Garfield, a local landmark.

Mt. Garfield from Rapid Creek ATV trail

Since this trail is at a lower elevation, under 5,000 feet, it is passable when higher trails are closed. It is also short – 19 miles – which makes it a good choice for a ride in this time of dwindling hours of sunlight. Although not a difficult route, it has quite a few rocky stretches which makes for a fairly slow ride.  I was pleased to finally have a chance to explore this area.

The last bit of activity includes a day-after-Thanksgiving trip to The Lot. In addition to checking the storage shed and general fall wear-and-tear on the driveway, we wanted to get some fresh evergreens to add to our outside holiday decorations. We drove up to the lot and back in a day trip, with the dogs. I knew from checking local conditions there would be some snow, very little in Elkhorn Ranch, and the temps would be in the low 40s.

It turned out to be a pleasant mountain drive, and I enjoyed being in my  mountains again. We arrived early in the afternoon, cut the greenery from the lower edges of some trees (we will need to trim them more fully next year), walked the lot for a while, then headed home. It did seem odd not to have the RV trailer parked at the top of the drive, and, of course, no toilet facilities.

Late November on The Lot

Bare trees and snow-capped peaks = winter

Bare trees and light snow made it clear winter has taken over the high country. We did see one issue; it appears an animal, probably a deer, had tangled with the dog run fence, tearing it away from the gate and bending up a section. We’ll have to fix it next spring, but for now I just rolled up the twisted portion, leaving a gap in the enclosure. Hope the animal wasn’t injured – we didn’t see any hair or hide on the fence.

Otherwise life has returned to its normal routine. Later today we will go grocery shopping and start putting up outdoor Christmas decorations. I’m pretty much done with yard work for this year and our wood cutting ended before our Florida trip, so there will be fewer projects going on in my evenings.

Except — Pam trapped 3 kittens last week that had come to our back deck feeding station with their feral moms. They look to be about 6 – 7 weeks old and are wild, but are getting used to the idea of humans taking care of them. Two of the three can be handled; the third one is getting used to being petted but not yet picked up. Pam hopes to get them to the vet and then off to a shelter for adoption after the new year, which means they will be with us for many weeks to come.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

This little wild litter is foster litter #25 for me.  And I thought long and hard about bringing these kittens indoors, as they were still with their moms.  If it had been summer, I  might have left them outside to live or die as fate dictated.  However, it’s cold here now and small kittens have a very low percentage of making it through the winter outdoors [especially on the mean streets].  Plus, IF they can be domesticated, kittens need to be handled by humans before they’re two months old.

Not my only cat issue this week.  Soot has a draining puss ball on his rump, the second in as many weeks (the previous one was on his neck, maybe he’s learning to run?).  He’s an indoor-outdoor cat, and apparently neutering hasn’t greatly diminished his testosterone output because he has to mix it up with other cats when outdoors.

Always something at The Ark.  The vet pretty much sees me on a monthly basis for something or other.

You  may wonder why we didn’t cut a Christmas tree at Sanderling, in addition to bringing home greenery?  I don’t think there’s a nicely-shaped potential Christmas tree — of the appropriate height — on the entire seven acres.

Happy Trails.