Showing posts with label Colorado. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Colorado. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Bits of This and That

No new foals have arrived since 30 June.  We're still expecting quite a few, so there may be a few more before Pony Penning Week (July 20 - 27), and there will probably be about 10 or so born after Pony Penning.  It's hard to believe that two weeks from today the combined herds will be getting their final assessment by the veterinarians before the Pony Swim, and decisions will be in the making on which foals to keep as Buy Backs for the breeding pool.  It also seems very strange not to be gossiping about the foals with Maureen Beebe this year...  Gosh, I miss her!
At the old Beebe homestead - left to right: Paul, Ricky and Clarence (Grandpa) Beebe; 
a Jeffries cousin, and Maureen Beebe.

 
Spent the last week in Old Town Louisville with two black Labrador Retrievers, Ivy and Esmé.  Esmé's owner has allowed her to revert to grabbing her hand with her mouth again - and she asked me to work with her on it while I was there.  I believe that the problem is the dogs don't see the owner as the pack leader...  As soon as I entered the house to do my week's stay, Esmé tried to grab my hand in her mouth.  I pulled it back, said "No!" in a loud voice, and stomped one foot at the same time I said 'no.'  Esmé did not try to grab my hand again during the entire stay, nor did she reach for peoples' hands as we walked around town and folks petted her.
  Not sure I'm going to continue working for this client. On Friday, the company that mows the lawn and does the edge trimming arrived, and I made certain the dogs were inside and closed and locked the doggie door to the back yard.  I had stepped out onto the porch to let the men know the dogs were safely inside, when the owner called me.  She was in a panic - where was Esmé?  Someone down the street had sent her the photo of a dog she found wandering down the street, and insisted it was Esmé.  I told her that her dog was inside the house, and she asked if I was sure.  I went back inside and sat down on the sofa, and I told her I had a dog sitting on either side of me, and that the identity tags said "Ivy" and "Esmé" so I was pretty sure the dogs were at home and with me...  It was crazy.
Old Town Louisville Main Street - I house-sit 6 blocks from here


A black bear on the outskirts of Boulder found an unlocked Subaru on a hillside driveway.  There were discarded food wrappers and a few left-over snacks in bags on the car's floor.  The bear opened the door of the car and climbed in.  The door closed behind him.  He made a mess of the interior trying to get out, and somehow, finally (using the police description) "butt shifted" the vehicle into reverse.  Since the parking brake was not on, the car rolled down the driveway, across the two lane road and on into a field, hitting several trees before stopping.  The striking of the trees caused the driver's door to pop open and the bear escaped, apparently undamaged....


Been working on genealogies for four sets of people - when I hit a roadblock on one family I switch to another and then head onward again. It's definitely not boring, though some people may think that looking at old records is a terrible way to spend a day and/or night.  My cousin asked me to look at someone in her husband's family, and I started at 2 in the afternoon; at 8 she told me she had named the wrong relative, so I switched my search over to the correct man and worked on him and his family until 4 this morning.  Found myself looking at Tribal Records from the Cherokee Nation, since the family was originally Shawnee, but had been adopted into the Cherokee.  It was extremely interesting!
Blue Jacket, a Chief of the Shawnee

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Photos - Winter in the Mid-Tier United States

Northern California

Kansas

Kentucky

Maryland

Colorado

North Carolina

Missouri Ozarks

Memphis, Tennessee

Assateague Island, Virginia

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Mountain Clouds - Photos

Flatirons,  Boulder, Colorado



Switzerland

Lenticular cloud over volcanic peak

Breckenridge, Colorado


Greenland

Lenticular clouds   -  Japan

Thursday, April 27, 2017

Views of US National Monuments To Be Reviewed

Bear Ears  in Utah

Berryessa Snow Mountain  in California

Canyons of the Ancients   in Colorado

Gold Butte  in Nevada

Gold Butte  in Nevada

Grand Sequoia  in California

Grand Staircase - Escalante  in Utah

Grand Staircase - Escalante  in Utah

Grand Staircase - Escalante  in Utah

Hanford Reach  in Washington

Ironwood Forest  in Arizona

Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine  in Atlantic near Connecticut
(Photo Credit:  NOAA)

Organ Mountains - Desert Peaks  in New Mexico

Papahanaumokuakea Marine  in Pacific near Hawaii

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Wildfires in Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, & Colorado

Since the beginning of March, it seems as if there has been a "Huge Sale" on wildfires.  There's a relatively small wildfire that began on 4 March in Mississippi; named the Missala, it's 90% contained and has burned 500 acres.  Florida has four wildfires burning: the Badcock Grub Road fire is 75% contained and has burned 400 acres; the Hickory Tree fire is also 75% contained, but has burned only 110 acres. The Trail fire, southwest of Miami-Dade, has burned 1,065 acres and is 75 % contained.  The big fire in Florida is the Lee Williams Road fire that has burned 6,500 acres and is only 15% contained.
  Our two major wildfires in Colorado have almost burned out, and are 100% contained.  The Wellington fire in Larimer County burned 2,000 acres.  The Logan and Phillips County fire burned homes, more than 200 cattle, and burned 32,550 acres.
   The other fires in three other states are all still total wildfires - except one small fire near Amarillo, Texas that is 100% contained.  The total amounts of areas burned in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas are staggering: more than 861 square miles have burned in Kansas; more than 700 square miles have burned in Texas: and in Oklahoma, more than 1,406 square miles are charcoal.   Livestock and wildlife have lost their lives, but, most importantly, seven people have died from smoke inhalation and/or burns.  I mourn all of them.
    Since 4 March, twenty-three counties in Kansas have had wildfires, and more than 1,000 square miles have burned.  In Reno County, more than 6,000 acres have burned, and that fire is 70% contained.  In Comanche County, more than 236 square miles are charcoal, and the fire is approaching the Kiowa County line to the north.  West of Comanche County is Clark County, and 85% of the county, or 625 square miles, has burned.  That fire is out of control.
    In the state of Texas, the small fire near Amarillo is contained, as stated previously, but there are two other large fires burning in the panhandle. The first, near the Oklahoma state line, has burned 492 square miles, and killed 3 people.  The second fire, a few miles south of the larger one, has burned 210 square miles.
     Oklahoma has suffered the largest area burned, with over 1,406 square miles. they have three separate wildfires alight.  The Starbuck fire began in Beaver County, Oklahoma and has crossed over into Kansas.  The 283 fire is burning in Harper County; and the Selman fire is burning in both Woodward and Harper Counties.All three of these wildfires are only 10% contained.
    Wow.  I just totaled the amounts of land burned so far in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas and found that 3,021 square miles are scorched earth.....  We need rain and/or snow!
    Most of these fires have destroyed, or will continue to destroy, agricultural land.  These areas are farming country - livestock, mostly cattle; and grain and vegetable farms.  The food meant for our tables is being burned before it was able to produce a harvest.  Look for the cost of eating staples to rise.....
 

Monday, February 20, 2017

Wildfires in Our Area

At almost 3 in the afternoon, there are currently three wildfires burning within 30 miles of Boulder.  The temperature is now 61 degrees, the humidity is at 19%, and the wind is from the west-southwest, blowing at 19 mph with gusts up to 45 mph.  Other than overnight frost, we have not had rain or snow in 35 days.  We are dry and dessicated at the moment, and are under a "Red Flag Watch" which means extreme fire danger.  No wonder there are three fires burning...
   One is a grass fire between Denver and Golden; one is a grass fire on a farm's pasture; and one is a grass-brush fire near Longmont that has made some house evacuations necessary.  It is thought that the first two fires were caused by cigarettes flung from car windows.  The one near Longmont hasn't had a cause determined yet...   According to the long-range forecast, after highs in the 70s tomorrow and mid 60s Wednesday (with high winds, of course), we're supposed to have some snow on Thursday, and possibly Friday morning...  I won't hold my breath, though.
    With the weather being so warm, the plants and animals are thinking that it's spring...  Birds are beginning to nest; squirrels are providing acrobatic displays in their search for mates; skunks are having their orgies and spraying everywhere during their breeding.  There's an area, almost one and a half miles wide, near the Denver International Airport, that reeks to high heaven of skunk scent...  It's incredible!
   I'll also ask that you send a few warm thoughts to my "adopted nephew" Connor Evans today, as he has to appear before a Judge at Standing Rock, North Dakota.  Connor is facing charges of "inciting a riot" at the Dakota Pipeline building site on the Standing Rock Reservation.  Connor, who is friendly with the Lakota, had wandered up to the front line of the protest, and was standing next to Chase Iron Eyes.  Connor had wanted to get a first-person eyes-on perspective of what the oil company's men, and the law officers, were doing.  Connor, Chase, and 74 other people, who were standing silently, and watching, were arrested for "inciting a riot."  That is not Connor in any way, shape or form.  If he is found guilty at this hearing, I'm sure he can handle the 10 days in jail sentence.  But I also know that he won't willingly leave Standing Rock - and, the state is changing their laws - if he gets arrested a second time, he can be charged with a felony - and that has me worried.   (Thanks for reading/listening, by the way.) The following photo is Connor at Standing Rock...

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

US EPA Superfund Sites - Map & Photos

EPA map of Superfund sites


Elizabeth Copper Mine, Vermont

Gold King Mine, Colorado

Old coal tar deposits on the Gowanus Canal, New York

Quanta Resources, New Jersey

San Jacinto River, Texas

Tar Creek, California

Cabot-Koppers, Gainesville Florida


Saturday, January 14, 2017

Extreme Skiing - British Columbia, Colorado, Italy

I enjoy the adrenaline rush I have when riding a horse cross-country.
I can (will) only imagine what these skiers feel...

Colorado

Colorado

British Columbia, Canada

Revelstoke, British Columbia

Red Mountain, British Columbia

Sibillini Mountains, Italy


Colorado