Adopt a Cat - And Fires & Flooding

Cats continue to be available for free adoption at the Humane Society of Boulder Valley though the end of August.  Any cat, aged 6 months or older, is available for adoption at no charge from HSBV - they currently have 80 cats in residence.  These kitties have been spayed or neutered, have all their vaccinations, have been checked out by a licensed veterinarian, and are micro-chipped for identification.  All you have to do is add a loving home with plenty of fresh water and food.  Believe me, the felines will love you forever for saving them.  Not only does HSBV have a surfeit of cats, the Pikes Peak Region of the Human Society has 50 cats that were saved from a hoarder two months ago, that are also ready for adoption.  If you have the money, time, space, and love available, please give one of these cats a good, new, loving, for ever home.  The cats available for adoption at the Humane Society of Boulder Valley may be seen on-line at: http://www.boulderhumane.org/animals/adoption/adopt_cats   The 127 cats available from the Pikes Peak Region may be viewed at: http://www.hsppr.org/cats   I have adopted cats and kittens of all ages throughout my life, and I have to say that they have all given me much more than I have ever given them.

We just can't seem to escape from fires and flooding out here in the West.  In nine western states, there are 95 wildfires burning - and that doesn't include Texas.  California is leading in today's number game, with 20 active wildfires; Idaho comes in second, with 19; and Colorado and Arizona are tied for third with a dozen each.  Utah and Montana each have seven wildfires burning, while Nevada, New Mexico and Wyoming each have six fires raging.  It's amazing we don't go up in smoke.  According to the InciWeb, at noon today, there were 893,390 acres ablaze in these nine states - that equals 1,395.92 square miles....  That's more than the size of the state of Rhode Island (1,214 square miles), and a little over half of the size of the state of Delaware (2,490 square miles).  It's kind of frightening.
   And, now, of course, Colorado is getting the summer monsoon rains - which we really need, don't get me wrong.  But they seem to be falling over areas that have been burned by wildfires over the past 24 months; not long, light rain showers, but real possum pounders that consist of large, heavy rain drops that strike the ground like strafing bullets from a Fokker airplane.  The grass and small undergrowth is just starting to take hold and send their roots deep - this rain drills down into the soil and lifts everything out.  And I do mean everything - young plants, trees, ashes from previous burns, mud, soil, clay, downed limbs, any detritus that can float - it's amazing.  I'm sure you've seen the videos of the mudslides and flash floods in Manitou Springs - that's a heavily traveled area, and, as such, people are there to document the cars sliding away in rivers of mud.  It's just plain old amazing....

Flooding, Football, Coyote Attack & Snow on Pike's Peak

Pre-season NFL games have begun.  Thursday night I watched the first half of the Broncos and 49ers game, and wasn't impressed.  Last night, I watched the Patriots and the Eagles play and was happy to see Tim Tebow on the field; but I was not happy when the NFL Channel stopped showing the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter to show the Cowboys.  I also realize that it was a home game for the Eagles, but I was overwhelmed with information about the Eagles and very little info about the Patriots.  Likewise, I would have preferred to have seen the game playing on the field, rather than the announcers and the Eagles' General Manager.  But enough of my grousing...
  Our summer rains wreaked havoc in the Black Forest burn area yesterday - there was flash flooding along highway 24 in Manitou Springs (near Colorado Springs), which swept more than 20 cars away in a huge mud and ash wave (and causing at least one death).  Fountain Creek in Manitou Springs also flooded across roads and restaurant patios because of the rain.  We are expecting summer thunderstorms each afternoon for the next five days, so I'm hoping none of them stay long in the Black Forest burn area.
  One of the home owners in the neighborhood where I walk dogs is quite deaf.  If she doesn't have both of her hearing aids in place and turned on, she can't hear a word one speaks at a normal conversational level. She was awakened at 4:30 Friday morning by an animal "screaming" - she was sound asleep, no hearing aids in or on, and she ran from window to window in her house, trying to see what was causing the disturbance. She was never able to see anything making the sound, and it died down after about eight minutes.  However, when she was outside, working in her garden at 7:30, she observed a mother doe with twin fawns walking haltingly along the side of her yard.  She grabbed her binoculars, and saw that the chest area of the doe was ripped open and bleeding, and that the wounds went between the doe's front legs and on to the rib area. Since the fawns looked rather young, she called local Animal Control, because she was afraid the doe would die and leave orphans.  The people at the office told her to "let nature take it's course" and, if she saw the doe's body, to contact them again, and they'd see if they could find and rescue the fawns.  She described the wounds to Animal Control, and they told her they thought that coyotes and tried to attack the fawns, and that the doe fought them off, which accounted for the screaming which was heard.  So I sent out a BOLO to the neighborhood regarding the doe and her fawns.
  My brother-in-law is running in a half-marathon today up around Georgetown.  Next weekend, he'll be competing in the Pike's Peak Double - and the weather folks just announced they'd had snow on Pike's Peak this morning.  I'm certain glad I'm not running (or even walking) up that 14,110 foot mountain!

Truth About Horse Riding (Part 2)

Horses are a prey animal - other creatures hunt them, kill them, and eat them. Their instincts tell them to run from perceived danger; and if something strange is on their back, they will try to throw the scary thing off by bucking, or by running under low tree limbs in an attempt to knock this strange, threatening thing off their backs.  You can't blame them. Their eyes are on either side of their heads, and while they have a wide field of vision, there are also blind spots.  Packs of canidae (wolves, coyotes, dogs) chase them; mountain lions can leap from high tree limbs or rock ledges; if they are injured and/or lame in the wild, they are literally dead meat.  One can't be angry because they have a good survival instinct.
   Horses pick up the riders attitude.  If you're a relaxed, confident rider, that's the way your horse will be; if you are nervous, your horse will be nervous; if you are a good rider, you should be relaxed, confident and alert.  Then your horse will respond well to you.  ....  Some horses develop bad habits because they are allowed to do things repetitively - one should never run one's horse up to the barn unless it's a very real emergency.  I've always headed out at a slow, easy pace and that's the way I return.  Due to summer heat and winter cold, I have had to "hot walk" my horse to be certain that he/she cooled down normally, and didn't get any physical problems (such as tying up, or colic).  But, again, as I wrote yesterday, the more you ride, the more chances you have of falling off. 
  Horses are super companions, and a great to way explore local areas that are not too suburban.  They can teach you a lot about trust and a lot about how much work taking care of a pet, or companion, can be.  Most folks don't realize that there is a lot more to horsemanship - owning a horse - than just saddling, riding out, and turning your mount loose when you're finished.  Your horse has to be groomed, and his/her feet cleaned (at least) daily.  It must be fed once or twice a day; it must be provided with pasture, or time outside in a paddock; it needs regular handling and riding; it needs shots and the vet and the blacksmith.  The rider has to do all of these things, plus take care of the riding gear, or tack (the saddle, bridle, halter, saddle blanket [numnah], cinch or girth, and any other accouterments your horse wears.   It is something that can take up all of your free time - if your really enjoy riding, you don't mind the time and money commitment; if you do begrudge it, you probably shouldn't own a horse or pony.
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The Waldo Canyon fire is 97% contained this morning.  The difficulty that Colorado is now facing is that our summer monsoonal rain pattern has finally arrived - and we need it desperately - but the rain is now falling on the areas that were recently burned, causing mudslides and flooding.  This morning, the Cache la Poudre River, up by Fort Collins and running through the High Park fire area, is running black from ash and soot from the big burn up there.  It looks surreal to see black water flowing down a river.  -  There have been road closures due to mudslide and flash flooding up in the High Park area.  Today, the entire Front Range and Foothills areas are under a Flash Flood warning until 8 p.m.