Welcome to this week’s edition of Nature Friday where we join our New Mexico hosts, Rosy, Sunny and Jakey from LLB in Our Backyard on their blog hop. Be sure to click on the link to see what others have shared.
Hard to believe little February’s last Friday of the month is here. Where has this month gone? The cold and snow repeatedly shared over this month seems much like a listening to a record with a deep scratch, repeating the chorus over and over in the short month. But time marches forward so we continue wait for Spring’s pending arrival.
Don’t know if you guys are as tired or snow scenes as I am, but I’ve grown weary of them. Don’t misunderstand, I’m happy about the moisture, especially since February is one of the driest months of the year here, but I need a change of ‘mise en scène.’ So for today’s post, let’s check out some critters from around the ‘Hood.
I’ve noticed traffic has picked up after a bit of melting with the congestion remaining front and center.
From a recent walk during a lull in the white stuff, a friendly nose greeted me. This big girl always comes charging toward the fence but then seems to realize, “Oh yeah, you’re that lady with the magic pocket of treats” who then turns into a tail-wagging ‘pussy cat.’
No matter what the weather is like, Sloan’s Lake Canadian Geese never seem to mind. While somewhat threatening when the dogs are close, when I’m alone I can get closer to watch their slow paddling about in the water. It’s calming on the mind and allows me time to take in other slices of nature that I might normally miss just walking around the lake when I’m more focused on keeping the dogs in line. Reminder to self: walk this park more often, it’s good for your spirit.
The cabin fever that’s rather consumed the Ranch Hand brains has also tugged on my psyche, so with a friend from the Old English Sheepdog Rescue of Colorado, we took a cheese-making class at a nearby urban farm. The owner used to be a neighbor who moved 5 miles away to the farm which is located on a conservation easement in Wheat Ridge. She has a thriving egg business along with a small herd of La Mancha goats and offers cheese-making classes once a month. Previously she raised Nubian goats but switched to the La Manchas whose milk produces a less ‘goaty’ taste to the milk, are hardy but prolific milk producers with high butterfat content in their milk. Amanda’s goats are docile and will follow you around much like a pet dog. Not only did we all have a great visit away from all the recent, intense work of the rescue, we were also able to make a nice mozzarella, as well go home with a bonus of some ricotta made from the leftover whey. It was soooo tasty on a slice of breakfast toast this morning.
The resident pooch is a real favorite, greeting all visitors. After a good ear and belly rub, sweet “Ava Perón” a friendly Bull Terrier, spent time enjoying a nice sun puddle while we swooned over the relatively simple cheese-making process.
Well, that’s it for a slightly different look at nature around the Ranch. We hope it inspires you to seek something similar this weekend. Whatever you do, we hope the last weekend in February is extra ‘pawsome!’
Live, love, bark! 🐾
It’s Labor Day today in the US and its territories where we celebrate and acknowledge the contributions of workers. Every first Monday in September we honor the labor and union movements (if you work 40 hours or less a week, you can thank unions) as well as the role all workers made to the strength and well-being of the nation. Many of us will have today off (Labor Day is a national holiday) and this day often signals the new school year along with the start of football season. Although with the current age of the COVID panDAMNic, nothing is the way we were used to on past Labor Days when swimming pools, amusement parks generally close at Labor Day, summer concerts and festivals wrap up the season. Labor Day is usually considered the unofficial last weekend of summer with BBQ get-togethers often being a frequent pastime as well as any number of retail sales events. All that has been turned upside down if you’ve been following common sense, local mandates about personal distancing and mask wearing in public.
Hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s off to West Pines we go.🎶 After many patient and staff visits (and more than a few ‘dates with nurses’) at hospital yesterday, Sam is off to West Pines this morning. We had loads of interaction with all sorts of folks yesterday from two year olds to eighty plus year olds including a surprising number of visits at hospice. Since it was the first time this summer that Sam has been back, I wasn’t sure how he’d do. But my boy proved he’s still got game and was only slightly off kilter. I tried to make yesterday’s shift as easy as possible and he seemed to enjoy the lighter duty. His hospital friends we always visit were very happy to see his sweet face. When I saw the smiles he put on people’s faces, I know he was back in his element despite being tuckered out once we returned home. Visits normally take a lot of energy out of him, but after a good night’s sleep, he’s raring to go today and ran toward the garage before our morning constitution.
Happy mid-week. May the slide toward the weekend be an easy one for you.
A reliably large shade tree (they can reach 50-130 feet at maturity), they adapt well to Colorado’s wide-ranging climate and alkaline soils. Linden’s have a very flexible wood making them ideal as wind breaks. In late spring/early summer, they burst with tiny yellow, fragrant flowers and right now they are at their peak. The heart-shaped, green leaves will turn yellow this autumn.
