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

Miscellaneous Photos

Night camera tripped above Boulder

Bears need a lot of calories before hibernation

Do I smell honey on your porch?

Calm before Florence

"Just print more money!"

Early fall in Colorado

Fall cottage contentment

Bear; Don, Jr; Wray Senate Hearing; Joe Scarborough

Well, I'm sorry to report that the black bear that tried to munch on the 19-year-old guy's head near Ward, Colorado, has been killed by the Department of Wildlife.   -  I still want to know what the guy had in, or on, his hair when the bear bit him.  Bears do not, in normal circumstances, bite or attack sleeping people.  They might attack if they feel endangered, or a sow will attack, if her cubs are threatened - but to wander into a camp and just bite a man's head?!?!?!  Never heard of before.  Did he have food in his tent?  I am very upset that this happened - and especially upset that the bear was killed.

   So the President's Junior has admitted to meeting with a Russian lawyer - and having Jared Kushner, his brother-in-law, and the campaign manager, Paul Manafort - at the NYC T Tower, on my birthday in 2016.  How disgusting.  And how very stupid.  Even more egregiously idiotic was to release the string of e-mails to the public....   He thought he was healping his Dad - and was extremely happy to "get the dirt" on Hilary Clinton, his Dad's opponent.  But these e-mails state that this information is coming from Putin and the Russian government - and Junior embraces it.  That makes him a traitor.  He carbon-copied the e-mails and his responses to Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort prior to their meeting with the Russian lawyer - which makes them traitors.  All three have committed treason to our country.
   Of course, the lawyer who met with the three, and who is married to a Russian Intelligence officer, states that she only came to the US to talk about adoption sanctions - and that she has absolutely no ties to the Kremlin.  How can she claim she has no ties to the Kremlin when her husband is an Intelligence agent for them?  What a laugh!

   I tried to watch the beginning of the Christopher Wray Confirmation Hearing as the new Director of the FBI.  Unfortunately, Senator Chuck Grassley's reading of his own opening statement was so boring, long-winded, and full of incorrect reading followed by self-corrections, that I had to turn the channel off  before anyone else was able to speak, let alone ask and/or answer questions...   I'll be looking at the highlights later, since I can't stand to listen to him now.  -  I did just run out and listen to Senator Lindsey Graham's questioning of Mr. Wray.  It was good, it was probing, and it was intelligent....  Good questions, good answers.

   And, after listening to Joe Scarborough's comments for this past year, I was not surprised by his announcement that he is/has left the Republican party, and is now a registered Independent voter.  He has stated that listening to some of his former colleagues in Congress changing their words every day to go along with the 45th Administration's beliefs and ideals, has shaken his faith and his own belief in the Republican Party.  Joe, I salute you.

Here and There, Bits and Pieces

I am going to try to get back into the habit of blogging daily again.  I have jobs through the end of July, but nothing yet in August, though I'm sure that a few of my regular clients will suddenly remember that they haven't yet scheduled me to cover for their vacations.  I've been busy trying to keep up with all the new foals on the southern end of Assateague, taking care of multiple houses and the attached critters, working on three families genealogy, trying to keep up with the news, and reading for pleasure.
    I stopped in at the pharmacy yesterday to pick up my anxiety/high blood pressure medication, and received quite a surprise.  I normally get a 90 day supply of 90 50mg tablets four times each year.  Yesterday I was given 30 tablets, and was informed that the pharmacy would not have them in stock again until September - and that I needed to contact my MD and ask to try a different medication.  I just checked for shortages of the medication, but could find none.  I will be calling another pharmacy to see if they have the same problem, and, if not, will transfer my prescription to them.  If there is a shortage of this very prevalent beta-blocker, I want to know why it wasn't recognized sooner - and I guess I'll need to call my MD.  But this has me quite upset, which isn't good for my blood pressure, nor my anxiety.  Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!
   My wonderful 2-year-old Chincoteague filly, Surfer Princess, has apparently settled in with Tornado Legacy's herd.  Legacy is a buckskin pinto, and the Princess is a rich copper color.  I'm hoping she won't have a foal until the summer that she turns four, but I can't control Mother Nature.  Her dam, Surf Queen, has finally settled in Hoppy's herd.  Hoppy is the nickname of Effie's Papa Bear, and he is a 15 hand bay stallion with no markings, not even a brand.  On Monday, June 26, Surf Queen had a half-sister to the Princess - another gorgeous filly, solid bay with three white anklets below her fetlocks and a black right hind.   And I think her legs are longer than the Princess's were...
    At the moment, we're sitting at 60 foals born in the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.  There have been, so far, no new births reported since Surf Queen on Monday - but today might bring new sightings - and there have been three deaths.  One of the deaths, perhaps, might have been prevented - the mare White Saddle lost her foal last year to the marsh, and the same thing occurred this this year.  I am going to ask the Pony Committee to, next year, take her and her newborn to one of the farms on Chincoteague, so that White Saddle won't lead her baby where it should not go again.  The other two deaths were due to a massive infection incurred at birth, and to a congenital leg abnormality.  I'll soon start posting photos of all the foals born so far this year, in order of birth.
    Despite the snow melt making our local creeks run a bit higher than normal, our vegetation is very dry.  There was a grass fire that burned 3 acres yesterday because some idiot set off fireworks along the side of a road - in someone's hay field.  We had an adult black bear spend yesterday in a tree at the corner of 16th Street and Spruce Avenue here in Boulder.  It moved back to the open green space to the west of town during the night.  And an adult moose decided to visit the Flatirons Mall - at an 8-lane Interstate intersection the day before yesterday.  Wildlife officials had to tranquilize the moose, after which they trailered it to South Park, where they turned it loose.
   I am upset, and will stay upset, for as long as the Pompous Pricktator is in the White House.  I well remember that it took almost two years for Nixon to resign - and I hope and pray that this Putin-Sucker will not be able to hold out that long.  That oddly-coiffed creature is an abomination on this planet.  I would dance with joy if he and his cronies were suddenly dropped into Hell through a fiery maw that suddenly opened up beneath their feet!  That mass of orange crass is an ass.  Disgusting.
 

Local Colorado Predators - Photos

Black bear

Bobcat

Coyote

Fox

Mink

Raccoon

Skunk

Mountain lion - photo taken two days ago within the

Boulder city limits

A Sampling of Rocky Mountain Wildlife - Photos

Moose and calf

Black bear

Pika

Big horn sheep

Wolf

Elk

Mule deer

Bald eagle

Bison cow and calf  (buffalo)

Marmot

Mountain lion  (catamount, puma)

Goodbye, Bear.... and Football

I hate to report this, but the young black bear that I met pretty much face-to-face last Friday is dead.  She kept hanging around the neighborhood and several families to the west of our subdivision were frightened by her.  The Department of Wildlife came out and shot her with a tranquilizer dart - but she reacted energetically and broke through the circle of observers.  They lost track of her.  Thirty minutes later, she was found, dead, in a drainage ditch.  The tranquilizer had kicked in and she had gone to sleep - in the bottom of a drainage ditch with four inches of water in it.  She went to sleep, her head fell under the water, and she drowned.  The necropsy showed that she was about two years old, weighed 115 pounds, and had not yet had any cubs.  At least her accidental death did not mean the starvation of cubs, also.  It just goes to show that sometimes, even with good intentions, bad things can happen.  If the tranquilization and capture had gone as planned, she would have been released in the middle of a National Forest, with no human habitations within 10 miles of her.  It's sad.

Once I finish my blog entries for today, I am going to open all my move-in boxes and find my dUSB cord for my camera.  I still haven't looked at the photos I took while in Virginia and Maryland.  I've been busy, but not that busy, and I'm kind of disgusted with myself for letting it go for so long.  

   At least my college football season got off to a good start yesterday.  Even though it wasn't a "pretty" win, the South Carolina Gamecocks defeated the North Carolina Tar Heels, to get me and Coach Spurrier on a winning streak.  Following that game, both the Broncos and the Eagles lost their final pre-season games.  It looks as if I'll be following two pro teams this year - the local Denver Broncos, and, since it looks like Tim Tebow will be on the Eagles' roster, I'll have to tune in for their games, as well.  And, today, the Eagles traded the other quarterback that was battling with Tebow for a spot on the team.  I very rarely positively like a professional quarterback - but I'm all for both Tim Tebow and Peyton Manning.

Public Stuff

This was the first morning that I awoke to a clear sky, with no visible smoke, haze, or pollution.  I'm sad to say that the smoke haze has returned this evening.  The west coast is still ablaze, but I haven't heard any recent reports of new wildfires - and, for that, I'm thankful.
   A bear was back in the Githens Acres neighborhood Sunday night, and it tore a large branch from a mature plum tree.  I don't know if it was the same bear I had my encounter with on Friday evening, or if it's another bear.  I did find out that Joel was walking Rosie at the end of Lynn's driveway when the bear climbed over the garden gate and went into the front yard.  Joel decided it was time to take Rosie back home, even though it cut their walk short.
  And, after all the paper-work sent back and forth, and all the money I put down as a deposit for this apartment, I was shocked to receive an e-mail today stating that I was almost $500 in arrears in my payments to them.  I called and asked for an explanation, as they stated in the letter that it was "past due from June" and we signed the lease and moved in on 2 July.  The woman stated that that was a typo on her part, and that I hadn't been charged the $400 pet deposit upon moving in, and that my pet rent hadn't been included in the July rent, either.  So now I have to make up that difference in the next three months, but it was their mistake to begin with.  Am I missing something here?  They were the folks who told me how much I had to pay, up front, deposits and rent, to move in.  I just don't know why I'm now held responsible for their error.
   It amazes me what one overhears in public these days.  Apparently people aren't ashamed or abashed by any of their own actions.  Sitting four rows behind a pair of men talking on the bus, I heard one state that he had stolen over $6,000 in cash from the homes of his neighbors when he was 15 years old.  He stated that the prosecution wanted to "put" him "away" for 6 years, but all he had to do was serve 3 months of probation, since he was a juvenile.  I guess that he was bragging to his older friend that he, too, was a felon...  And I overheard a one-sided conversation, on a cell phone, that sounded conciliatory at the beginning, but, over a period of 5 minutes and 7 calls, became extremely mean nasty.  It started out with, "Hey, hon.  I wanted to explain why I..." and ended up with the phone being thrown onto the sidewalk as the man yelled, "F--- you, b----!  That's why I broke up with you last night!"  Why do psople insist on "sharing" their lives with total strangers?  It makes me dislike crowds, strangers, odd conversations, and cell phones.  -   But then, maybe I'm the odd one out.  (I do not think so, though!)

Black Bear, Brabant, Harbor Seal and Hawk - Photos

A black bear let itself into an unlocked, parked truck in Evergreen, Colorado.  The door closed behind it, and "trapped" the bear.  The owners awoke to the horn blowing, checked it out and called the Sheriff's Department.  A Deputy drove up beside the truck, opened the door from inside his cruiser, and took the next three photos:

This is a Brabant draft horse, originally bred in Belgium

 This is Amy, a harbor seal, being returned to Assateague Island beach and freedom, after several months in a rehabilitation facility.  She seemed happy to swim away.

Swainson's hawk

Boulder, Colorado and Rocky Mountain National Park - Photos

Black bear in Rocky Mountain National Park

Boulder's Flatirons

Abert's squirrel, RMNP

Dream Lake, RMNP

Mount Ida trail, RMNP - looking at the Continental Divide

Elk, RMNP

Identification of some Front Range Peaks, along with their elevations (click to enlarge)

Odds And Ends

I woke up with a terrible migraine this morning; ended up getting a compazine injection and am almost normal (for me) again.  I enjoyed my television shows for the past two evenings.  I was really delighted with the casting of Carol Kane as the mother of the Penguin in Gotham - that was a neat surprise!  And I loved The Blacklist, as usual.  It did seem a bit weird that NCIS: New Orleans broadcast a show about an outbreak of bubonic plague on the same day the Center for Disease Control verified a case of ebola in Dallas, Texas - but, I was not surprised.
   With flights available to all people everywhere in the world, I would have been surprised had there not been at least two or three cases that were spread by today's methods of travel.  From what I have read, the unfortunate man had traveled in Liberia before returning to the US.  The two things that I find questionable about his treatment were that (1) he was sent back home for two days after first presenting his symptoms at the hospital, and (2) the EMTs and ambulance that carried him to the hospital for this - treatment, or admission, or complaint - were sent back out for routine work for the next two days, before being quarantined.  The man told them he had been in Liberia, in West Africa - why were blood tests for ebola not run immediately, before he was sent back into the public for 48 hours before his symptoms worsened?  After hearing and reading about the failures of the Secret Service in their quest to protect our President and the First Family, I guess I'm really not surprised that a hospital in Dallas, Texas would fail to pass a test, either.  *** Correction:  I just heard that the infected patient is a native of Liberia, who is visiting his family in Texas.  Emergency Room workers were told on Friday, when he was seen in the Er that his had just arrived from Liberia a few days before...  Oversight? ***
   Let's see, what else is going on?  The black bear is still hanging around the Githens Acres neighborhood; it's pretty much still sleeping in the cottonwood trees during the days and eating apples, crab apples, pears and various ripe berries in the yards.  The adult mountain lion is seen frequently at dawn or dusk along the creek at the Riverside Lane cul-de-sac.  Moose usually stay pretty high up in the foothills and mountains around here, but a family group of five has been seen north of Longmont  for the past week.  A lady in Estes Park went into her back yard the other day and came face-to-face with a young bobcat.  The youngster didn't want to leave the yard, but finally fled when the lady came out banging a couple of cast iron frying pans together.
  I've been getting a kick out of the squirrels here...  As it's getting cooler, they are getting more insistent that I produce food for them.  I have two deer antlers that I found in the woods, on Grandma Anne's property, sitting in a chair (each) for the squirrels to chew on to shorten and sharpen their teeth.  It's amazing how they whittle away those antlers!  And now, Cashew, and a few of the older squirrels, climb up onto the window screens and chatter at me - telling me they're out of nuts or corn or grain...  And the one thing that really makes me happy about all of this, is that my cats ignore the squirrels - sometimes the squirrels will initiate a game of chase with Nedi, which he enjoys.  The only things the kits have caught and killed recently are bugs - and I can easily live with that.

A Bear, Wildfires & Odile

It's 60 degrees outside, bright, sunny and breezy.  Mid-80s are predicted for today and 90 tomorrow - then, maybe, some rain.   My kits are enjoying running in and out, and I've re-opened the back window.  The big news here, besides the ebola epidemic, battling ISIL/ISIS, and the negative advertisement battles that have been set up between Mark Udall and Corey Gardner, is the neighborhood bear, the western wildfires, and the path of Tropical Storm Odile from Baja Mexico to our area.
   The neighborhood black bear has been hanging around for almost a week - it looks to be between two and four years old, and other than raiding some bird feeders, it seems pretty peaceful.  It sleeps in cottonwood trees in back yards along Emerald Road, including Alexy's old house, but roams the neighborhood from dusk to dawn (leaving huge piles of scat, so it's feeding well).  The neighborhood apple, crab apple and pear trees are producing a huge crop this fall, and I'm assuming that's what is keeping the bear well-fed and hanging out in the neighborhood.  The only problem with that, is that the Emerald Road back yards are only separated by a shallow ditch from Centennial Middle School.  We were able to keep the bear "a secret" for about 5 days, but then someone called the newspaper, and it sent out photographers. Now the kids are aware of the bear, and the neighborhood is a little tense...   Black bear in Emerald cottonwood tree:

  When Beatrice and I went to Turley's for breakfast Saturday morning, we walked within a yard of a body in bushes beside the sidewalk and never even noticed it.  (How gauche!)  We were busy talking and laughing and watching other traffic on the sidewalk - not looking down in the juniper bushes beside the walkway.  A few minutes after we walked by, another pedestrian did look down, and saw a dead man lying among the bushes.  He called the police, and, while the man is currently unofficially identified, it was one of the homeless men who hang out at the end of our apartment house.

  There are 15 major, uncontrolled, wildfires burning in the western United States right now - 11 are in California, 4 are in Oregon, and one is in Washington state.  According to numbers reported to the National Forest Service last night, 191,691 acres were burning, or had been burned in these fifteen fires. 191,691 acres is equal to 299.5 square miles...  It seems almost impossible.

  What was Hurricane Odile is now a tropical storm - and is pouring rain on Baja Mexico.  The current storm track has the remnants of Odile reaching our area on Monday, bringing lots of rain.  If only the steering air currents could direct this rain-dumping storm up the west coast, instead of sending it inland...  Some, or most of the forest fires (wildfires) might be almost totally doused by the rain from the tropical storm.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Boulder Wildlife Photos

Black bear sow and two cubs playing in the creek

Black bear and cubs moving up the canyon

Crossing the road

Moose at Brainard Lake

A friend's night camera caught this trespasser...