Adventures about pet therapy, dog rescue and urban life in the 'Burbs
Good freakin morning, Monday campers. Hope you survived the weekend. So is this is what hell must feel like?
Today we pay homage to a true saint.
Bless that man.
I tried to do a hard boot, but alas, it clearly work. Stay cool peeps and have a good Monday.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Welcome to this week’s episode of Nature Friday were we join our pals from Adventures of the LLB Gang. Don’t forget to check out what bits of Nature have been shared by others. Wilson here. Today’s post will strictly be only me-Mum is tired and is for history buffs as well as nature lovers as we celebrate our state’s 150th birthday. Colorado became the 38th state in August 1, 1876 having been a territory from 1861. At the western entrance to the capitol building, carved into the 15th step is the inscription “One Mile Above Sea Level” which explains, Denver’s Mile High City moniker. Later is was determined that marker was off due to inaccurate measuring techniques at the time. Now a brass medallion with a silhouette of the Rocky Mountains rests at the 13th step which is exactly at the one mile high mark. The capitol opened in 1894 and in 1908 the dome was covered with 200 ounces of 24-karat gold leaf to acknowledge the state’s gold rush days honoring all those who helped build and settle Colorado. It was reguilded in 1949, 1980, 1991 and 2013.
Designed by architect Elijah E. Myers in a neoclassical design, the capitol was built using Colorado white granite in the 1890’s opening in 1894 with copious amounts of rare Colorado Rose Onyx marble inside with the main entrance hall open to the top of the dome and as tall as an 18-story building. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is part of Denver’s Civic Center area across the street from city hall.
Colorado is well known for it’s purple mountain majesty. According to the Colorado Geological Survey, Colorado has 58 named summits over 14,000 feet. Here are a few of them that we’ve visited over the years. Probably the most famous of our 14’ers is Pikes Peak. You can read more about about how it inspired the writing of America the Beautiful by Katherine Lee Bates here.
Here is another photo showcasing Colorado nature is our state flower, the blue Columbine from the Nederland area.
Well that’s it for me this week. Sorry we’re a bit short on content today. It’s been a busy week. Hopefully you enjoyed slices of nature from around our state on its 150th birthday. Next time Mum will join us in sharing slices of nature. We hope you all have a terrific weekend and manage to get outside to experience nature in person. Oh, and for those interested in where we’re at in the summer countdown, there are 53 days left until autumn. Mum is jonesing to drag out her sweaters. I told her just to let me lay on top of her but she nixed that idea straight away saying I didn’t come with buttons. Not sure what she means by that but..talk about rude.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Happy Monday, troops. Hope you had a lovely weekend. Hard to believe we’ve reached the last week in July. For us we’re just hanging on and ticking off the days until autumn arrives…which for those keeping track of these kinds of monumental happenings, is scheduled to land in 57 days. I know there are a lot of you groaning that summer will be leaving to soon but for some of us, it can’t happen soon enough. Between smoke and evacuations from wildfires to temperatures in the stratosphere, we’re looking forward to a change. But don’t start to worry yet, that’s not happening today and you still have time to ‘enjoy’ what’s left of the season. So let’s start this week with a smile, shall we?
We hope your coffee takes pity on you and you enjoy a miracle or two with lots of smiles this week. Happy Monday.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Ceud mìle fàilte…everyone. If I’m not mistaken and please correct me if I’m wrong, I believe that means a hundred thousand welcomes. Before I get to our featured post, I just want to thank everyone for all the wonderful birthday wishes. I had a great day and Mum agreed with me that the celebration should continue through the end of the month. We both feel like celebrating a birthday shouldn’t be limited to just one day. Still wondering why we didn’t start at the beginning of the month, but glad for the 11 days of additional merrymaking and treats.
Wilson: Why, you ask, did I open with a Scottish expression? Well this last weekend, the sheepdog rescue participated at a local Celtic Festival and today’s pics are all from that festival. It was a hot day in Elizabeth, Colorado (approximately 60 miles southeast from our house) but Mum was up for helping out with other volunteers for our first Celtic Festival participation and what a fun one it was. But as we typically do, we are joining those pups from Adventures of the LLB Gang for their weekly blog hop.
Wilson: While I didn’t attend in person, my breed heritage was with everyone in spirit. We had a couple of Old English Sheepdog ambassadors who attracted a steady stream of visitors who stopped by our tent.
The Mum: It was a fun event and while it was hot, we had a nice tented area providing shade which made it seem cooler. When I arrived for my shift, I was greeted by a bag pipe and drum parade. It was such fun to hear and watch them perform. My latent Scottish DNA smiled at their precision and enthusiasm. Young and old all looked like they were having a great time displaying clan banners and marching to the pipes.
Wilson: Bet you’d never seen so many kilts, have you Mum?
The Mum: Nope, sure hadn’t but everyone seemed to enjoy it and everyone was very friendly. One visitor told me this Celtic Festival has been going on for the past 20 years! I could only wonder how I’d missed it? I knew about the big one in Estes Park that will happen in September but had never heard about this one.
Wilson: Are you planning on attending that one since the rescue has signed up to participate?
The Mum: Not sure yet. It’s a bit of a drive and I’m not sure I want you to be left alone all day. We’ll see.
Wilson: I know you spent some time checking out some of the 4-legged attendees while you were there. Just look at this array of Scottish Highland cows.
The Mum: Those cows were huge and the owner told me their meat is renowned for being exceptionally lean (around 90%), quite tender, and very flavorful, often boasting lower fat and cholesterol levels—and higher protein—than many conventional commercial beef breeds. They are a hearty breed as well.
Wilson: What’s with these creatures?
The Mum: You know me…I just love taking photos of critters. It was great fun seeing all these guys at the festival. It was such fun hearing the Llamas making their humming sounds–they’re so cute. I even saw a Scottish Deerhound but that fellow never did get up from his nap and I checked on him a few times. I think he was just a bit overwhelmed since his tent as on the end where all the rescues were located and right next to some noisy St. Bernards. This fella knew just how to deal with the heat. Deerhounds are similarly sized to Greyhounds, but are larger and more heavily boned, with a rough coat. They were bred to hunt deer and are similar to but a bit smaller than Irish Wolfhounds and are a majestic breed.
Wilson: Say didn’t your daughter consider getting one of those guys before settling on Irish Wolfhounds?
The Mum: Yes, I think they did consider them but ended up with the Wolfhound and have raised several Wolfhounds since seeing them at the Estes Park Celtic Festival many years ago.
Wilson: Sounds like quite the day enjoying all things Celtic. Glad it was a fun event, Mum. Also I’m grateful I didn’t have to go. Not sure I’d be all that keen listening to bagpipes and dealing with all the rescue dogs near the tent. But you guys deserve kudos for getting the word out about the sheepdog rescue and for selling a few things to benefit the rescue. You met a lot of people who were interested in the two dogs in foster care so that’s a good thing. All and all, great job, Mum. And what fun animal pics you managed to capture. Well that’s it from us. Stay cool if you can but keep your eyes open for opportunities to check out slices of nature. We hope you have a wonderful weekend. Slán (goodbye).
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Welcome to Monday…and a big Monday it is. Eight years ago this fluffy boy entered the world to create good old fashioned chaos and cuddles. Happy Barkday, House Pony! How about a photo to comemerate the occasion?
Ok, let’s try this again, knucklehead. Let’s shoot for more of a “All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my closeup” kind of photo, okay?
Ahhh, that’s better. Hope you have a fantastic day, sweet boy.
Even though it’s Wilson’s birthday, we still need to start the week out with a smile. We hope your Monday is totally wonderful.
Here’s to doing diddly-squat.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Well, well, well…we’ve reached another Friday and are that much closer to our favorite season, autumn…which for those seeking a smattering of hope is 68 days. Happy Friday peeps. Wilson here. There are no words to describe what we’ve endured so for the benefit of Tom of Reiko’s Journey, who’s clearly exhausted about our whinging about the hot temps we shan’t say another word about it and just let the screenshot speak for itself. And because it’s Friday, we’re joining Rosy and Sunny from Adventures of the LLB Gang. Be sure to check their blog hop to see what other have shared from Nature.
We’ve had a hectic week which will continue through the weekend but we managed to find a few slices of nature on our early morning walks.
Wilson: Imagine my shock while I’m walking along nicely with Mum in the early morning houses, totally in the zone as we crossed one of four bridges along the Ralston Creek Trail and out of the corner of my eye, a creature much larger than me stotted from under the bridge and bounced off like Tigger. I was stunned, the deer was stunned and Mum was stunned. Luckily she managed to actually put aside her surprise and wonder and quickly pulled out her cell phone to capture a few shots.
The Mum: Wasn’t that encounter something else? I’m not sure which of us jumped higher with surprise.
Wilson: You’re not wrong about that. That’s a Mule Deer, an indigenous breed of deer found in the Western United States and particularly in the Great Plains. They received their name based on the size of those large ears. Although more than capable of running away from perceived predators, mule deer most often are seen “stotting” where they spring into the air, lifting all four feet off the ground simultaneously, a common trait of quadrupeds. People who live in areas where these deer can be found often refer to them as rats with hooves. They graze on trees and flowers in suburban communities, much to homeowners’ dismay.
The Mum: It was an exciting few minutes to watch this doe bounce around the landscape all the while keeping on eye of our presence on the path. She was alone and not taking any chances.
Wilson: Maybe we’ll run into her again. I’ll keep my eyes and nose at the ready. Oh, that’s your cue to keep your phone handy. Better yet, maybe bring your big camera with you more often. You missed another opportunity to capture two blue heron as three white egrets this morning. They took off before you could snap their pics.
The Mum: Well, in my defense, they were behind a metal fence which I couldn’t quite crop out of the frame and when I tried to move closer, they took flight. And not seeing anything while having to lug a heavy camera doesn’t make for a fun walk.
Wilson: Oh sure, blame them for your inability to quickly take a pic. I guess if it makes you feel better think…
The Mum: Whoa, lighten up there, House Pony. Encounters with wildlife isn’t always going to result in some award-winning photo.
Wilson: Well in this case, it resulted in no photo…award-winning or otherwise.
The Mum: Ahem…got any other pics to share, Mr. Critical?
Wilson: Well we’ve been seeing these plants called Dipsacus for a while now. Commonly known as ‘teasel,’ these tall herbaceous biennial plants have been popping up along the creek and canal. They’re anywhere from 3 to 8 feet tall (1–2.5 meters) with prickly stems and leaves, with purple, dark pink, lavender or white flowers that form a head on the end of the stems. They are considered invasive in the U.S. despite the seeds being a good winter food source for many bird populations. Teasels have been used since Roman times to comb the nap of wool.
The Mum: Lucky for us, we won’t be getting close to those stickers. I don’t want to be picking those out of my socks or your legs.
Wilson: Appreciate that Mum. So what’s the story about this tree? It sure is pretty.
The Mum: Oooh, I’m glad you asked. I love this maple tree, known as a Tatar Maple. It’s somewhat smallish tree/shrub that grows to anywhere from 13-39 ft. (4–12 m), possessing a short trunk with slender branches. The bark is thin, pale brown, and smooth at first but becomes slightly fissured as the plant ages. It produces green leaves, but the real beauty of these trees is the fruit called samaras with a beautiful rosy red color which matures in late summer and will last until early autumn. Those samaras will quiver on a slightest breeze and add even more visual interest to the landscape.
Wilson: Nice capture before the smoke began to fill the skies with haze, Mum. Speaking of smoke-filled skies, the Aspen Acres fire has now grown to nearly 100,000 acres and is the largest current fire in Colorado. It has destroyed over 800 structures and only around 36-45% contained. At least your brother’s house remains safe but officials are closely watching the winds which have been changing directions daily and is keeping residents from being able to return to their homes. Here’s a graphic of some of the historic fires in the state so you can get a sense of what people are dealing with. We continue to keep everyone affected by wildfires across the U.S. and Canada in our thoughts and prayers. I know the air quality is especially severe in the upper Midwest as well as the East Coast from all these wildfires.
The Mum: Yes, it’s been so heartbreaking that so many are still displaced. We will keep them all in our thoughts and prayers.
Wilson: Make sure to have a safe weekend, stay hydrated and please be mindful of pavement temps on tender paws. And for heavens sake, please don’t leave your pet in the car, even for a few minutes while you dash in to quickly pick up something. Please leave us at home instead.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
We’re hunkering down for the next few days while triple digits visit us. We only hope our few potted plants survive. Gardening this time of year has it’s unique pitfalls. Here’s Vince, the sign guy’s take.
We hope everyone stays safe and hydrated. Keep smiling…autumn is a mere 71 days away.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Welcome to hell, erm I mean Friday, where we are living the song from Beverly Hills Cop as the heat is most definitely on. Wilson here and I’m almost grateful that Mum stole my furs last weekend. While I may have lost my fabulous floofiness, I’m probably more comfortable than Mum is whenever we’re outside. We’ve been taking our walks even earlier than usual when it’s still reasonably cool and we’ve actually found some rather interesting sights. Of course, there’s almost no one on the trail except for some fairly interesting critters. Chalk up a new one on Mum’s list of wildlife seen on the walk. I was rewarded in seeing my first pack of wild raccoons. Not those urban cousins who looked at you with merely a glance. Mum calls them trash pandas but I’m too refined to be that disparaging. There were at least 3 of them, possibly 4 and they did their best to hide their presence. We wouldn’t have noticed them in the trees if one of the chubbier ones missed a step and fell a couple of branches downward and I first thought it might be a squirrel. They looked like a troop of mama and her babies.
They took one look at us and skedaddled up the trees in a heartbeat…thus the crummy photos. I keep telling Mum she’s gotta be a whole lot quicker with her cell phone. To which she retorts that, “she’s got her hands full simply holding on to my leash,” let alone fishing for a camera inher pocket.” Personally, I think she’s just making excuses.
The Mum: Umm, I heard that…
Wilson: Oh, hiya Mum. {trying to act quite innocent} What ‘cha doing?
The Mum: Nice try, House Pony. Those guys were super quick and I doubt I could have responded any quicker even if you hadn’t been with me. I was surprised how quickly they bogeyed up into the high canopy. Seeing them two days in a row was some kind of fun. I love those kinds of encounters.
Wilson: {changing the subject} Regardless, the sunrise was pretty spectacular what with a threat of rain and lots of wildfire smoke adding to the intensity. It was pretty special. What is that old sailor’s saying…red sky in morning, sailor take warning, red sky at night, sailor’s delight.
The Mum: That morning show was supposed to have been a warning that we might get some rain later in the day and true to the forecast, we received about 2-1/2 minutes of light rain later in the afternoon. I had hoped for a longer shower but think it was a bit too warm and most of it likely evaporated before it hit the ground.
Wilson: It was a bit disappointing but not as much as yesterday when we were told to expect a nice afternoon shower. Sadly it didn’t materialize though I think there might have been 15 drops when it got windy.
The Mum: Yeah, it was disappointing. The weather people keep telling us to be patient…El Niño and the monsoons should be arriving in about 10 days but I’m not all that optimistic. I don’t want to get my hopes up, only to be disappointed.
Wilson: Well look at the bright side, at least we enjoyed some pretty morning sunrises this week. 
The Mum: Indeed we did, buddy. Plus there have been the quiet walks in the early mornings catching glimpses of various critters along the trail.
Wilson: Yes, nice quiet walks and new discoveries. Speaking of new discoveries, I found a new plant that you should make sure neither of us get too close to it. American licorice or wild licorice is popping all around the trail as well as along the canal behind our house. Along the canal it’s quite thick and we discovered the hard way that it has burs. I don’t want to rub up against that thing again! It’s a North American perennial legume native frequently found in the western United States. Native Americans used wild licorice for medicinal purposes and as a food source, it was discovered it had high nutritional value for livestock. Too bad livestock aren’t that keen on it so it quickly reproduces through seeds and rhizomes, leading to large infestations, especially in pastures as well as along streams and ditch banks. We won’t be walking near those plants again any time soon now that the burs are appearing and are so prolific.
The Mum: Right you are. While those burs look soft, they are anything but. And speaking of sunsets, did you know, that yesterday was the last day the sun sets at 8:30 pm. It’ll be the middle of June in 2027 before the sun will set at 8:30 pm again.
Wilson: You don’t say. Huh…well that’s kind of interesting. Guess that means the days are growing shorter as we move toward the arrival of autumn in 74 days just in case you are interested. I think we’ll be be happier though I know a lot of our readers really like the extended sunlight in summer.
The Mum: I’d enjoy the extended sunlight if it wasn’t so doggone hot. Well, that’s about it from us. Triple digits are set to arrive this weekend so I think you and I will definitely be hibernating. Maybe you can scoot over a bit and we can hang out together. What do you say?
Wilson: Umm, I don’t think there’s enough room for you here, Mum. Sorry. Have a good weekend and stay cool and hydrated. If you can, get out early to see what kind of fascinating ‘gifts’ Nature has left for us. Have a great weekend.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
We hope you survived the Fourth of July weekend. It was surprisingly quiet in our neighborhood for which we were grateful. I’m sure the high temps and wildfire smoke may have had something to do with it, although I know in various parts of the metro area, some stupid people were setting them off in crowded, dense neighborhoods. Obviously the heat melted any sense they may have had.
Anyway, we found a few smiles that indicate how hot it’s been. The forecast is calling for triple digits by the weekend and temps are expected to linger around the OMG level of hot for three or four consecutive days. Oh joy, I can hardly wait. On the plus side, autumn is scheduled to arrive in 78 days.
Stay cool, hydrated and keep smiling. Have a great Monday.
Live, love, bark! 🐾
Welcome to the latest edition of Nature Friday where we join the pups from the Adventures of the LLB Gang. Be sure to check out what others have shared. Wilson here and we’re getting ready for America’s Semi-quincentennial, aka the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Mum has strong feelings about fireworks any time of year but especially on July 4th. It’s the day where more dogs go missing from fireworks. She’s watched various dogs over the years totally freak out when loud boomers go off. This year with Colorado’s wildfires, it’s even more essential not to have fireworks spark another blaze. Because the Aspen Acres fire near Pueblo is now the largest fire in the country burning over 60,000 acres with zero containment. Yesterday, both Douglas and Jefferson counties here in the metro area have cancelled public firework shows and I suspect other municipalities have followed suit. Truth be told, we’re not sad about that. Pets, veterans and other folks struggle with loud fireworks.
Anyway, this week rather than specifically focusing on the 4th of July, we thought we’d instead, take a trip to a garden center for Nature Friday. Let’s get started, shall we?
The Mum: Thanks House Pony, I know I get worked up about fireworks going off so I appreciate your showcasing flowers from the garden center down the road from the house.
Wilson: Sure, Mum, No problem-o. It’s good to investigate some of the nearby centers close to our house and I know you were checking to see if they might have a replacement bowl for our birdbath. So far, we haven’t found anything that will work with the solar fountain but we did see some nice plants. This is a small, family garden center and you were impressed with some of their plants. Just look at these beautiful Echinacea plants. Who knew there were so many different collections separate from your standard plain variety. Those ruffly ones were pretty cool. Looks like the bees liked them.
The Mum: Yeah, I was rather impressed with the various colors. When I went into the greenhouse, I was followed by a hummingbird. He zipped in and around the flowers and while the photo that I managed to capture of him, it isn’t great since I only had my cell phone but it was entertaining watching him flit this way and that among the flowers.
Wilson: It’s not horrible..for a cell phone. Still, I see you had to highlight it because he was so quick and so tiny among the blooms.
The Mum: You know me, any critter comes within 20 feet of me and I’m all in.
Wilson: Right…you do tend to lose your mind love it whenever you see critters of any kind. You need to start being prepared better with cameras. You missed a great shot of a large doe in the wildlife habitat area on the trail. ‘Course she wasn’t willing to wait for you to pull your phone out of your pocket and focus on her. She took one look at me and was gone in a heartbeat.
The Mum: Yeah, I totally missed out on that one but remain hopeful that we’ll see her again on one of our walks.
Wilson: Like you always say, hope springs eternal. I noticed you spent a lot of time looking at the zinnias too.
The Mum: Guilty as charged. I just love them and the had a nice selection of some very colorful ones.
Wilson: These were especially colorful. You do like the unusual in plants, don’t you?
The Mum: I really do. Showy and out of the ordinary colored blooms are my jam. Like this Scabiosa (pin cushion plant). I just loved that deep color.
Wilson: And the bees seem to like it too.
The Mum: There were lots of bees all over the center. It was nice walking through the various plant rows. Here’s a gorgeous impatiens with bright color and striking foliage.
Wilson: Here’s another plant we found near our house. The bees were all over those pretty purple flowers. I could hear them buzzing!
The Mum: Yeah I think that’s a Blue Mist Spirea shrub. They’re pretty drought tolerant and have a long blooming season. Pollinators are drawn to those purple flowers. We found a twelve spot dragonfly this week. While they aren’t very good pollinators, they are a large insect predator. These guys can devour pests like mosquitoes, gnats, flies, and midges. They aren’t interested in pollen so they generally don’t visit flowers. When you see these guys it indicates a healthy local water quality and they tend to show their habitat has an active, balanced ecosystem. I was thrilled to see this guy on the sidewalk. I only hope he followed us home to nosh on the irritating midges near the front door.
Wilson: He wasn’t too keen on my sniffing him.
The Mum: Well I think he was startled by you since it looked like he was resting.
Wilson: Well that’s it from us. Happy 250th birthday to the U.S. We hope everyone has a safe holiday and hope people are considerate to those who aren’t fans of loud fireworks.
Live, love, bark! 🐾