Vehicles and Accidents

I arranged to have today off, so I could sleep in this morning.  Then I received a phone call at 9:30 yesterday evening, asking if I could take a client to the Denver International Airport, leaving at 5:30 this morning.  Since said client would let me use their car through 14 December, I said yes.  So I was up at 5 this morning, downstairs at 5:28, waiting for the 5:30 pick-up, which occurred at 5:52.  The client then drove like mad to DIA  on the tolled Parkway.  I was back home by 7:30 and back in bed.  But my cell phone rang at 9, and it was the client who just wanted me to know that they had left a suitcase at their house....  Hunh?  They didn't want it sent to them, they would get another suitcase where they were - but they just wanted me to know....  I'm still not certain why they called and told me this.
     The same client lost a car Sunday night.  The "children" (male and female in their mid- to late-20s) were home for Thanksgiving, and had left the house together, with both dogs, to go visit friends.  A huge mule deer doe bounded onto the road in front of them, while they were driving at 50 mph - this was at 6 p.m. and it was completely dark; no street lights.  The doe was killed; the car, a Toyota Prius, made a full double roll-over, and luckily came to rest on it's wheels.  The Prius is a total loss - all the windows shattered, and the roof crushed.  The worst thing was that beside the two people and two dogs in the car, they were transporting 24 quart Mason jars fir canning (which, of course, are glass).  The kids were bumped and bruised, and the young man had a small glass cut in the middle of his forehead.  The dog who had been in the rear compartment with the Mason jars, was bounced into the back seat, and bruised.  The younger puppy was in the daughter's arms - and she had  a cut and three very sore legs.  The daughter, while receiving no cuts, was stiff and bracing to protect the puppy, and she has a lot of pain and stiffness, but no broken bones.  What seems crazy is that most of the broken glass ended in the daughter's seat, under her bottom, but she wasn't cut at all....

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)

New Foal and Wildlife

I'm starting to get my horse and pony motors revved up again.  We're 8 weeks away from the running of the 2016 Kentucky Derby, and, last weekend, the first Chincoteague pony foal born on the Virginia end of Assateague Island.  The mare is Tunie, and she has a bay pinto baby.  Darcy Cole is the photographer who tracked them down....  She states the sire is "Hoppy," a bay.  I don't know if she's referring to Little Dolphin, or Effie's Papa Bear….   Darcy calls Effie's Papa Bear "Hoppy."

There are three expectant mares on the Maryland (Northern) end of the island.  Apparently these three did not lose their estrus cycles when darted with their annual birth control medication...

   The birds and other critters are getting the feeling that it's really Spring here in Boulder.  The mating displays can be breath-taking, even when I'm just sitting in the back yard.  Flights, plumage displays, and dancing are very common; and the squirrels are running in patterns only they can see up, down, and around tree trunks.  I stopped the car at 6:10 this morning on a normally busy street to watch three bucks, twelve does, and eight yearlings slowly walk across traffic.  

   I feel so lucky to be able to observe nature - one is not going to see a herd of mule deer crossing the street in any large city.  And, even though I frequently see elk, I am still surprised by their size and majesty.  Buffalo, or bison, are just amazing.  And I'm used to handling large horses, including draft horses and draft crosses - I guess it's because they are wild creatures.

Random Thoughts

Yesterday, Bea and I visited Estes Park, just to get out of Boulder…  It was grand, as usual.  There were a few idiots driving along 36 - I was driving (yes, I admit it) 7 miles over the speed limit on a two-lane black top that has a 50 to 90 foot drop down to a very rocky creek bed.  The other side of the road os blasted rock that is almost perpendicular.  Beatrice and I were amazed when four separate vehicles passed us as if we were standing still.  I have no idea where they were headed in such a hurry, but I was afraid we'd see an accident ahead of us, once they had passed.  We didn't, so I guess angels were looking out for those drivers (and us).
    We poked around and looked at houses, and drove down some roads we hadn't gone down before.  Besides mule deer outside of Rocky Mountain National Park, we saw elk in Estes Park and in Big Thompson Canyon.  On the way home we took another back road and drove past a herd of bison…  I enjoy getting out and seeing wildlife.
    This morning, at a traffic light, I had a green, and was driving at 45 mph.  Some ditzy blond in a Cadillac Escalade turned from the red light side directly in front of me. I slammed on the brakes and watched in disbelief as she made a huge U-turn, and headed in the opposite direction of my stopped progress.  My jaw was, literally, hanging open.  Maybe she didn't see me at all, but a 3/4 turn to go in a totally different direction?  I also felt a bit unsafe as I was driving the Prius this morning, as opposed to the Lexus SUV….
    We drove by Larimer County's Devil's Backbone Open Space yesterday, and I noted that the area is currently closed due to raptor nesting season.
    There are crocus blooming in the back yard this morning.  They are beautiful, but I also know full well that Boulder usually has it's last freeze on or about May 6 - and today is only March 9.  Our little ivy plant inside the apartment is growing very nicely - it's put on about 20 new leaves, and the stems have grown about three inches each.  Usually the only thing I can grow and keep alive is catnip.
    I sat down to do some intensive genealogy work Monday, and was surprised to learn that one of my favorite websites that I use for "quick and dirty" research was totally down and won't be back up until March 15 or so.  The site says that have "hardware" problems…..   Did one of their servers crash and burn?  It's just weird that when I finally get the urge to research, the site is down.  It's pretty frustrating, too.
    As much as I loved driving in the mountains yesterday, I kept talking to Beatrice about Chincoteague and Assateague.  Thank goodness I'm heading back for 11 days in July!  I have foals and fawns on my mind, as well as hatchlings and new growth….   Yes, I miss the islands.

Colorado Wildlife Photos

Cottontail

Mountain goats

Ermine

Mountain lion

Elk

Fox

Mule deer

Bobcat

Haze and a New Fawn

The haze in the sky that I've been commenting on is from 15 wildfires in Canada - located more than 1,000 miles away...  Seems there are multiple large fires in Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories that are burning in heavily forested areas.  The eastern half of Colorado has been blanketed, and there have been complaints and questions about the smoke in Billings, Montana, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and even Aspen, on the western slope.  With higher temperatures today, we also have an Ozone Alert and an Air Quality Warning in effect for folks with breathing problems...
   I was privileged this morning to witness the first breath of a fawn on Redwood Avenue, just after 6 o'clock.  I had fed and watered Tessa, Lily and Lyra, and taken Tess for a quick walk around the block.  Then I went to feed and medicate Tugger and Sasquatch.  After cleaning their litter boxes, I walked into the kitchen to feed the boys - both of whom were staring out the sliding glass door and down into the back yard. That's pretty unusual for them, so I started peering out.  A doe was giving birth just within view - so we all watched.  This mule deer had only a single baby, but it was still a wonderful sight!  We watched her lick and dry and massage the fawn with her tongue; we saw the first tries to stand; and we got to see the first nursing.   After the boys had finished eating, I glanced out to see the fawn making little leaps and bounds - it was just awe-inspiring to see the baby up and running in less than an hour...  Beautiful!
  I had just arrived home this morning when my cell phone rang - it was my sister, in a panic because she had lost her backpack in between her front door and their car.  They were on the way to Denver - could I go find it?  So I turned around and drove back to their house, and there was Kathy's backpack sitting just beside the front door.... I took it inside and came back to see my kits.  They were not terribly impressed with me this morning - I loved them and fed them, and then opened the patio door. Five minutes after I did that, someone let a visiting terrier loose in the backyard; it chased my kits back inside.  Once the dog was inside, our maintenance man decided it was time to mow the back yard....  I just couldn't time things right for the kids today.

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!

Mule Deer Does and Fawns

Lady with twins that I encounter on a daily basis

Nesting fawn

Fawn and Mom reunited this morning

Mule deer mother and child

It's a push-me-pull-you!  A pair of fawns; photo by Worth1000.com

Fawn Rescue, Dog Days, Missing Hiker & Gettysburg

Today is the first of the "Dog Days" of summer, with the star Sirius being seen with the sunrise each day.  Today is also the 150th anniversary of the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg; in those three days, there were a combined 57,225 men declared dead, wounded, or missing in action.  General Lee lost fully one-third of his officers during the battle in this tiny town.  On July 4, 150 years ago, there was a heavy rain in Pennsylvania, and both armies finally began to retreat.
   The search for the 61-year-old brother of Senator Mark Udall is intensifying in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming.  Randy Udall, who has hiked in the area for over 30 years, was due back a week ago; but has not been heard from.  Search teams are looking for him from the air, on foot, and on horse-back.
   The wildfires are still burning here and throughout the southwest.  Seeing a hazy sky is beginning to seem normal, due to all of the smoke and particulates in the air.
   I got off the bus at Riverside Avenue this morning, and neither saw nor heard anything amiss.  I walked past the construction site at Tara High School, walked on down to Redwood, and went inside a house to care for Tugger and Sasquatch.  After spending an hour feeding, medicating, grooming, and playing with the boys, I walked back to Riverside to grab Rosie for our daily walk.  As I was preparing to cross 19th Street, a doe with a pair of fawns nearly knocked me down, trying to evade traffic.  I crossed, and as I was approaching the corner (where Tara HS sits), I kept hearing a repeated high-pitched cry.  It sounded as if something were in pain, or was terribly scared, or both.  I walked quietly on, and saw a doe on the outside of the 7-foot-tall chain link construction site fence, and a fawn inside the fence.  The fawn kept running into the fence to get back with its' mother.  Both gates to the fence were wired shut - I have absolutely no idea how the fawn got inside the fence, but I knew it hadn't been there when I had arrived earlier.  I used my hands and untwisted the wires holding both gates closed; then I opened both gates to their fullest extent.  I walked around the building and approached the fawn - it started to run away, toward the open gates.  Then my brother-in-law ran by, with Boo the Samoyed; mother deer was not happy and charged at them, and as that happened, the fawn ran into the fence again, rebounded against me, and went back around the building.  I waved Jim on, then went across the street and asked a woman who had just parked her car to help me - she, in turn, recruited a runner in a red, white and blue shorts and tank top outfit.  Between us, we finally got the fawn out of the fence, and back with the doe.  I want to thank Melina, a teacher at the Waldorf PreSchool, and the runner, for their help.  I closed the gates back, walked Rosie and did the rest of my usual morning work routine.  - Even though it all occurred a little later than normal.

Warm, Warm, Warm!

Lovey is laying between my chest and the keyboard, so I'm having to reach over and/or around her to type.  I could make her move, but I'd rather be close and uncomfortable than chase her away.  Besides my kits, and Rosie, Courtney the goldfish, and the bunnies Chocolate and Blackberry, I add Sasquatch and Tugger to the mix today.  Luckily, Rosie's people and Paulina will both be back tomorrow evening, so I'll be back at home, with twice a day runs to the Redwood brothers (Tugger and Sasquatch).   Next Saturday and Sunday morning, I'm free and clear - then I add Tugger and Sasquatch (again), Maggie May and then Tinkerbell, while watering flowers for another client from now until July 4...
   I wouldn't say that we are having a problem with mother deer here in Boulder, but some folks would.  A young mother, who has an injured hind leg has a new set of twins, whom she usually leaves in a yard on Agate Road.  It's a high traffic area for people who walk, jog, run, and ride bicycles.  It's also a high traffic area for people who walk dogs.  This young mother is very protective of her babies - she will make a stand to keep them safe.  The other day, she attacked a dog (on a leash) who got too close - the lady, who had been talking on her cell phone and not looking around for wildlife, dropped the leash, and the dog ran for the doe.  The doe knocked it over and walked on it, which terrified the owner.  The owner of the house went out and frightened the deer away.  The dog and the woman were unhurt.  But this has caused an uproar in the neighborhood...  and I am not happy with the folks who ignore the law and allow their dogs to roam loose, either.  I am firmly on the side of the deer.  I believe that the woman was at fault for not really taking in/seeing her surroundings...
   Wildfires in Colorado continue to pop up, thanks to lightning, sparks from train wheels on tracks, and idiotic people.Yes, we had snow in April and May, and ran in May.  However, we are still in an extreme drought condition.  The Black Forest wildfire, while contained, has now had the homes destroyed count upped to 511.  The West Fork Complex fire (which has three fires - West Fork, Papoose, and Windy Pass) has now burned over 40,000 acres (or 62.5 square miles) and is still not contained in any way.  The East Peak fire has burned 10,000 acres and 9 homes, and has no containment. The Wild Rose fire, near Rangely, is at 850 acres and is 10% contained. The Lime Gulch fire is up to 600 acres and is 15% contained.  The Rife Gap fire has 0 containment and is estimated at 300 acres. The Bull Gulch fire, northeast of Cotopaxi, is 30% contained.  The Disappointment wildfire has been extinguished.  The Wild-Hacking Complex fire is 15% contained.  The Collins fire, 17 miles southwest of Meeker is uncontained, as are the two fires in northern Eagle County, The Derby Creek and the Brush Creek fires....  With high temperatures, no rain, and winds expected for the next week, I'll just cross my fingers, as usual.

Death of a 16-point Buck

Wow. Apparently, on either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, while I was taking care of Ooch, a 16-point buck met his death via a mountain lion in Ooch's back yard. Connie and I both saw the tracks of a big cat back in the still snowy area behind her Ponderosa pines, where the carcase is still in situ. Deer fur is scattered everywhere beneath the trees and along the Silver Lake Irrigation ditch. Her attention was caught by a coyote in her back yard yesterday afternoon, after her return from Mexio. She went out to see why the coyote was there, and found the buck's remains. She was pretty sure she saw puma prints in yesterday's shadows; I took photos of them today. The buck's head and antlers are still attached to the spine, as are the still- red ribs and cartilage. The hind legs have been pulled free of the spine, while both shoulder blades and fore legs are a good 5 feet from the rest of the body. There might be a few mouthfuls of flesh left on the lower legs, above the hooves, but that's kind of doubtful. The eyes are gone, as is the tongue. I almost felt as if I were desecrating the grave of a Native American, and not that of an animal. It was not Tripod, our neighborhood buck, who has a useless hind leg; this buck looked to be in good health, with good bones and joints in all his legs. It is a puzzle...
Lovey and Nedi have had an hour outside this morning, before I headed over to Connie's to look at the buck and taking care of Tessa and the Thore kits. We're expecting more snow tonight, tomorrow morning, and Tuesday afternoon. I'm letting the kits run as much as possible before they are cooped up again.