Category: Urban scenes

Nature Friday ~ October 28, 2022

~ Tails Around the Ranch ~ 64 Comments

Holy cow, it’s the last Friday of October. Where in the doggone world has this month gone? Seems like it was just Labor Day, doesn’t it? Now that Howl-oween is upon us, let’s take a look at what Nature dished out this week. As usual, we are joining those cuties from Adventures of the LLB Gang for their weekly blog hop. Don’t forget to check out what others shared from their own natural world.

Nature dealt us a full deck of cards this week. Once again, some very interesting spring plants were blooming and caught our Mom off guard to the point, she did a lot of double takes while on our walks. Norman and Elsa here to share what we found over the past few days.

Elsa: I have a whiplash from Mom going back to check out a couple of plants we saw. Like this Lupine from our own garden! Mom thought it might be a good idea to start winterizing the hoses and water spigot and nearly stepped on this little guy. Naturally I just blinked at it and thought, “whatever.”

Flowers

Norman: Oh come on…we haven’t seen anything like that in over 5 months! How can you not be impressed with that beauty, I mean, just look at that purple flower in the midst of those mahogany leaves of the Plumbago, with its blue flowers.

Elsa: Pfft…well ok…I guess it’s somewhat impressive. But check out this Lobularia Maritima, also known as ‘sweet alyssum.’ Now that’s quite the specimen! For a quick minute I thought it was June again.Flowers

Norman: Right you are, sister! It’s quite something else. And to think less than 24 hours later, this:

Weather

Elsa: Again with the whiplash! 60ºF+ degrees and then in the 30º’s in less than 24 hours. When I went out to do some ‘lady business,’ I was greeted with this. I didn’t even bother chasing that stupid squirrel that constantly hangs out in the alley to filch trash from the bins on pickup day.

Snow

Norman: Those were some mighty large flakes of white stuff but I know just how to deal with conditions like that. Luckily it didn’t accumulate. But still, these brass monkey temps have arrived just too soon for me.

Norman

Elsa: I still can’t get over you needing to bogart Mom’s blanket at the slightest drop in the temperature. Heck, you are always stealing that furry blanket whenever you get the chance.

Norman: Well there’s something very comforting about that blanket. So soft, so cozy…besides, the texture looks great against my furs.

Elsa: Ha…as if you’d know anything about texture. I think you just like to hog the sofa whenever you get a chance.

Norman: Well, I do like being as close to my Mum as possible.

Elsa: {interrupting} “Close?” She can barely fit on the sofa when you stretch out!

Norman: {clearing his throat} Ahem….I’m always happy to share the space with my Mum.

Elsa: ‘Share?!” Is that were she sits on the floor and longingly looks up at a certain sofa-hog?

Norman: {clearly his throat again} Not to change the subject, but did you notice the latest scene at our favorite Howl-oween decorations on our walk yesterday? Mum counted over 20 skellies, racing toward the weekend no doubt.

Halloween

Elsa: Yeah, they’re at it again. There’s even a kidlet skellie on the back of the one to the right of the galloping dog. The guy who creates these scenes must have a huge storage shed where these skellies live in the off-season.

Norman: Oh, I do hope they stay warm while they’re out there. There was a good frost this morning and none of them are even sporting any gloves.

Elsa: Oh good lord, you moron, they’re Skellies, not people. Jeez, how could you be so dim?

Norman: I like to think of myself as extra compassionate. The world can use some extra compassion these days.

Elsa: Well, you do have a point there. Let’s hope everyone has a compassionate and fun weekend celebrating Howl-oween. Will you be ‘Lick or Treating” with your fur-iends this weekend at any events? Searching for treats might just be the ticket, me thinks. Whatever you do, we hope you stay safe and enjoy the many faces of Nature.

Norman: Right-o, Ninja, I know I plan to be chuffed to bits checking it all out. Plus, I do have a height advantage around little people. Those little treat filled hands are just level with my mouth. Here’s to enjoying a top drawer weekend surrounded by Nature.

Nature Friday

Live, love, bark! 🐾

Nature Friday ~ October 21, 2022

~ Tails Around the Ranch ~ 55 Comments

Woof, woof…it’s Friday which means that the intrepid pair of reporters (that’d be Norman and I) are at it again sharing slices of our natural world from around our urban neighborhood. Hiya, Elsa to kick this party off!

Norman: Top o’ the morning, little sister. Before we get started, let our readers know we’re joining our friends from over at Adventures of the LLB Gang for their weekly blog hop and hope everyone will check out what others have shared from their own natural world.

Elsa:  Always gotta interrupt my zen with facts, don’t ‘cha? Argh.

Norman: Well, we want to make Mum proud of our work.

Elsa: Mom’s proud enough of me, er us. But to stop going back and forth with you, let’s get started. We saw some fairly bizarre things yesterday on our walks that seemed really out of character for this time of year.

Norman: Quite right, Ninja. Mum was catching up with her sister on the phone when we walked past a shrub in bloom. That in and of itself is not the surprising thing, but the kind of shrub it was. Check this out. Have you ever seen a lilac in bloom…in October no less??

Flowers

Elsa: Whoa…that is bizarre! Don’t those thing usually bloom in Springtime?

Norman: How should I know, I’m a British dog.

Elsa: A British dog who seems like they know gardening, I mean you’re the one who waters plants all the time, I just figured you know their watering requirements.

Norman: I couldn’t say. Mum tried to sniff at it (the nerve, I mean sniffing is MY realm!) but it had no scent. Maybe it isn’t a lilac but some sort of hybrid or a related plant. But it left us all feeling like we were in a Tardis box and transported back in time. {scratching his head}

Elsa: It was weird, but then again so were these guys. I kept thinking I had been robbed of enjoying winter and it was now Spring again. While I know you’d be okay with that, I personally like the snow and felt like I had been cheated of dashing through the snow.

Flowers

Norman: Luckily the rest of our walk put us back in the present season. Looks like pumpkins are ruling. Pumpkins and leaves that are changing colors.

Elsa: They’re changing alright, and lots of the leaves have already started to fall. For a hot minute I thought it was snowing yellow and orange yesterday afternoon when a breeze came through.

Leaves

Norman: Right-o. The leaves did seem like they were snowing down on us but as we crunched through them, I was reassured it wasn’t snow but a beautiful nirvana of autumn scents in those falling leaves. Boy, do they smell terrific and very autumn-ish.

Elsa: You know that stretch where we see all sorts of critters in and around a water ditch that flows through part of the ‘Hood? Well yesterday, I  almost thought we were lost, it looked so different with it being dry and full of fallen leaves.

Autumn leaves

Norman: So true-it was like we’d stepped into the woods from a fairytale.

Elsa: Ha! Fairytale? I thought we’d taken a wrong turn and were lost.

Norman: I know Mum would never get lost, we mostly follow the same path all the time and even we know exactly where to turn.

Elsa: Well with all the skellies in the ‘Hood, things can look a little out of place if you know what I mean. Like yesterday, Mom delivered her mail-in ballot to the dropbox off our usual route and it was like we’d entered into a whole new world.

Norman: Indeed. New plants, new houses and new Halloween decorations. Pumpkins seems to be everywhere.

Pumpkins

Elsa: Those are too mild for my tastes. I like the the more interesting yard decor.

Halloween

Norman: Welp! I’m not sure I want to walk past that place again. I mean, if it’d been a creepy cloudy day…well it could have been scarier.

Elsa: Oh jeez, you big fur-baby! That thing can’t hurt us…it was locked behind the closed gate, you fool.

Norman: Well it startled me when its clothes started swaying in the breeze. I wasn’t sure just what that was all about. I thought maybe it was haunted or possessed.

Elsa: Haunted or possessed? Oh brother, you gotta get out more. Besides, while sometimes I might be a little terrifying  toward you, do you actually think I’d let anyone hurt you?

Norman: I can easily stand up for myself, you know. I just choose not to get into shouting matches with Rottweilers and such. But I’d go to the mat if anyone threatened you from behind a fence. You know that, right?

Elsa: Yeah, we’re both pretty bad-a$$ on this side of the fence, if I do say so myself. {looking pretty proud of her bad little self}

Norman: Enough with the bravado, how do you feel about this ‘pup?’ I thought he looked rather sweet in his appearance and demeanor.

Halloween

Elsa: Oh that dude? Bwahahahahahaha. What a pussy cat. I could whip him with one paw tied behind my back.

Norman: No paw tying is necessary. I distinctly heard him passing gas.

Elsa: Oh dear gawd, you really do need to get out more. That dog is one of those inflatable things that Mom is always joking about. You know she’s not a fan of them, right?

Norman: I gathered but heard her distinctly mention she and her neighbors would begin to look like this one soon enough when they realized the leaf raking had commenced.

Halloween

Elsa: Yeah, she said everyone was going to face plant after they realized they would be raking and raking and raking yet again.

Norman: It’s quite true, this is the beginning of lots of yard work. You think these guys might ride around picking up the falling leaves and carting them away?

Autumn

Elsa: Those guys? Nah, I doubt it. They just look cute in the yard. Remember when they were all decorated for Spring and we wondered if the bike and wagon would still be around. Well, looks like they survived. Wonder if they’re cemented in place? Seems like that’s the only way things like that stay in place these days.

Norman: Well, if that’s what it takes to keep burglars at bay, I guess I’m okay with it. They are pretty cheerful looking.

Elsa: Almost as cheerful as this planter of gourds and pumpkins outside the flower shop. It just screams autumn, doesn’t it?

Pumpkins

Norman: And without the noise or being scary. I liked this one very much. It was quite pretty yet spoke autumn. Well, I think the only thing left to share is our good wishes for a ‘wagnificent’ weekend. Thank you for joining me and my little sister. We’d like to leave you with a spot of zen as you head toward the weekend. Cheers.

Autumn

Elsa: Don’t forget to get outside and explore the wonderful world Nature shares with us. Have a doggone great weekend!

Nature Friday

Live, love, bark! 🐾

Nature Friday ~ June 10, 2022

~ Tails Around the Ranch ~ 72 Comments

We made it to another Friday  where we join our fur-pals, Rosy, Sunny and Jakey from LLB in Our Backyard with their weekly Nature Friday blog hop. Be sure to click on the link to see spots of nature from around Blogville.

Monday we actually received a little shower to the delight of germinating weeds everywhere. Since that moisture and accompanying pleasant temps, areas all over the Southwest have begun their march toward the summer solstice. Temperatures have been steadily moving into pizza oven temperature range and will likely reach the upper 90’sF this weekend. With a black dog and a dog with a ready made fur coat, we’re already beginning to look forward to autumn since not one of us do heat very well.

Offerings are somewhat on the lean side since other than before 6:00 AM it’s not tolerable enough to leisurely walk among fresh blooms, but a few things caught my eye early in the week.

First off, let’s wander around our own garden. The climbing rose near the front door was beginning to burst forth with hundreds of small, delicately scented white blossoms. The lupine were in their prime as well. P.S. Let me know if you want any seeds, there are plenty for sharing. Again. Despite brutal culling last autumn. You can hand water like crazy but let nature deposit a smidgeon of rain and it will turn it into an jungle oasis.

Flowers

As of this morning, it is totally covered with small white flowers, despite being cut down to the ground last autumn. Some branches are above the roofline and there may even be a mailman or two stuck in the branches somewhere that will need to be rescued.

Here’s a close up of the blooms following Monday’s lovely shower. They really are delicate and have the loveliest, slightly spicy scent. Maybe those hi-tech billionaires might want to work on  creating scratch and sniff apps for computer screens rather than dashing off to the moon. Just a thought.

Flowers

The Queen of the garden has begun her reign. The garden has 7 peony bushes, but this colorful one is the most striking. And talk about a divine scent. Whoa Nellie!

Flowers

The poppies are likewise drawing attention to their colorful petals. The ones in my garden are the traditional orange but this one at a nearby garden is an absolutely gorgeous shade of peachy-pink.

Flowers

Our daily walks take us past a front garden that has quite a collection of cactus featured in it and this one definitely caught my attention. Quite the punch of color within the perennials, wouldn’t you say? It almost looks like a tulip but with those spines, best to appreciate from afar.

Flowers

Well that’s it from the Mile High. We hope you are able to stay cool yet enjoy some of nature’s more picturesque elements. Have a great weekend.

Nature Friday

Live, love, bark! 🐾

Wordless Wednesday ~ May 11, 2022

~ Tails Around the Ranch ~ 42 Comments
Peacock door
Door handle to Indian restaurant.

Live, love, bark! 🐾

Nature Friday ~ April 1, 2022

~ Tails Around the Ranch ~ 55 Comments

Happy Fri-Yay and thanks for joining us and our friends Rosy, Sunny and Jakey from LLB in Our Backyard for this week’s Nature Friday blog hop. It may be April Fool’s Day on the calendar, but nature isn’t fooling around as she continues to deliver some lovely surprises associated with early Spring.

It was another week of a bit of everything where the weather is concerned. But nature seems to be at least trying to nudge  flowers from their winter beds. After a few days of cloudy days, chilly temps and a little bit of rain, the Ranch Hands and I woke up to glorious clear blue-bird skies. When it’s sunny and clear, all seems right.

Blue skies

While you can see buds on the tree (upper left hand corner) in front of this architectural wonder near downtown, other trees and shrubs are moving full steam ahead. I came across a small holly bush that was beginning to bloom.

Flowers

And then there are some trees that are hanging on to last year’s bounty left for the birds. Some people don’t find those scenes as interesting as I do but I love that texture.

Trees

I think this ‘dude’ is firmly grounded in the perplexed category as he resides next to that tree at a nearby elementary school community garden. It was abuzz with activity this week as garden plots were being cleaned up getting ready for early vegetable plantings.

Statute

Daffodils, hyacinths and tulips flash their pretty at a nearby neighbor’s garden that receives plenty of sunshine with great southern exposure. With my large trees, things are still mostly brown in my garden but I can admire others who are lucky to have great sun exposure.

Flowers

Glory of the Snow or scilla (Scilla luciliae) popped up along one of my walks and it was truly beautiful. I don’t see a lot of  these plants but intend to look for some bulbs this autumn when I add to my spring bulbs. Heralding from western Turkey, they are one of the earliest (and in my mind, prettiest) flowering bulbs.

Flowers

After another busy week, I found myself strolling around in the baby blue grape hyacinths to chill and reflect as I watched the bees happily noshing on the blue buffet. This spot always makes me stop and ponder the beauty of the surrounding plants. These bulbs continue to naturalize throughout the garden, much to my amusement. It’s like nature is moving the furniture around and who am I to argue with her design skills? I’ll save that argument for the lupine that’s beginning to emerge (in the foreground). I removed buckets of them last autumn as its naturalization throughout the garden has gotten far more than a ‘bit carried away.’ I’m hoping to encourage it to live politely rather than invasively, but so far it hasn’t seemed to respond to my criticism of “You’re not freaking dandelions, so stop popping up in every little nook and cranny and give the other plants a break!’

Flowers

Some of the reseeding annuals from last autumn are beginning to emerge (or are being planted) around the ‘Hood for some early seasonal color. I found some pansies amidst dried leaves and grass yesterday afternoon. Their cheerful faces provided a nod from me because, who doesn’t love those sweet little faces and color in the dried, brown vestiges from last year?

Flowers

Well, that’s about it from the Ranch for this week. We hope you’re seeing signs that spring has indeed sprung, despite the cycle of one nice day with the next day a visit from mean Uncle Winter. Makes you want to yell “STOP THAT NOW!” But around here we know snow is always a possibility over the next month, so we’ll just try to coexist with it. Have you got any plans for fun this weekend? Me, I’m just going to celebrate my baby sister’s birthday today (albeit from afar until she arrives for a visit later this month). Happy birthday, Kathy. Hope your day is as lovely as a spring day (sans snow). Love you.

Nature Friday

Live, love, bark! 🐾

Nature Friday ~ March 18, 2022

~ Tails Around the Ranch ~ 47 Comments

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Nature Friday blog hop, where we join our pals, Rosy, Sunny and Jakey from LLB in Our Backyard. Don’t forget to click on their link to see what others are sharing.

While the Spring Equinox is scheduled to arrive on Sunday, it continues to tease the Ranch Hands as it takes one step forward and then retreats briefly. Tuesday and Wednesday were warm and inspired me to cleanup various flower beds before another storm was forecast to arrive. While raking up winter debris, I took note of a few unexpected early arrivals.

Flowers

These hyacinths are beginning to wake up from their winter snooze and should be ready to bloom in a couple of weeks or so now that Mile High sun has nudged them.

Garden poppies are beginning to wipe the sleep from their eyes as they started greening up. Seeing green not related to St. Patrick’s Day was so exciting, I nearly did an Irish jig. The  key word being “nearly.” I don’t think I’ve actually ‘jigged’ for decades but in my mind I was pirouetting with joy as if I were young and limber again. The ground was moist and loamy with that invigorating scent of a world of microorganisms. There’s nothing like the smell of freshly tilled ground: earthy and fragrant, full of life from decayed material.

Flowers

Raking up leaves accumulated over the winter, I interrupted several bees hoping to nosh peacefully amidst the freshly bloomed baby-blue, grape hyacinths (their purple cousins continue to sleep in for a bit). When these little charmers appear, I know spring is, indeed on its way. These cuties continue to naturalize throughout the garden as I discovered  some in unexpected spots between the flagstones. The spring cleanup will continue for some time to remove marauding plants to better sites.

Flowers

A lovely day spent getting my hands in the dirt, I waited for the forecasted spring storm to arrive. True to the ‘Springtime in the Rockies’ adage and all which that means to Front Range gardeners, yesterday’s landscape turned into a beautiful sea of heavy, wet spring snow.

Snow

I had previously scheduled my tax returns to be prepared yesterday and decided to walk over rather than drive. It was surprisingly as quiet as it was beautiful. I say ‘beautiful’ because like 99% of all spring storms in the Mile High, it will be mostly melted by late today, a nice drink of welcome moisture for the landscape.

Snow

As I took in the scene, I couldn’t help but notice some ground cover tumbling over the rock wall surrounding the grounds of the assisted living home across the street from my appointment.

Snow

Walking along two of the sides of this oversized city block,  beauty along the fenceline emerged like lace.

Snow

The weekend promises more spring-like temperatures which will beckon more garden work but commitments for the ongoing Canine Colorado magazine fundraiser has higher priority, taking me south to the Colorado Springs area to help another supermodel with his day before the camera, after which I’ll continue southbound and drop in to see my dad. As Norman will be heading to hospital on Monday for visits, it will be a busy weekend getting him ready for his shifts following the photoshoot. Just don’t mention the bath/groom to him-wouldn’t want to wreck spring’s arrival on his tender psyche with his aversion to getting wet.

What plans are on your dance card for this weekend when Spring arrives? Whatever you do, we hope you are able to get out there and immerse your soul in Nature’s gifts.

Nature Friday

Live, love, bark! 🐾

Three Word Wednesday ~ March 16, 2022

~ Tails Around the Ranch ~ 41 Comments

Celebrate-spring’s coming!

Statutes

Live, love, bark!  🐾

Nature Friday ~ March 4, 2022

~ Tails Around the Ranch ~ 60 Comments

Welcome to the first edition in March to the Nature Friday blog hop, where we join our New Mexico hosts, Rosy, Sunny and Jakey from LLB in Our Backyard. Make sure you stop by the clicking on their link to see what others are sharing.

SpringLast week, the Mile High spent most of it suffering in brutally cold conditions with multiple days in a row of snow. Total accumulations were between 8-10 inches.  Apparently this week, Mother Nature reconsidered and then decided an about face might be appropriate, apparently trying to make up for being so bloody harsh and mean last week.Spring

Yesterday morning’s walk showed how she was trying to make up by being pretty and nice. Look at that lovely clump of early blooming crocuses.

Spring

No doubt Mother Nature thought all could be forgiven if she merely provided a burst of beautiful color with some reticulated irises. Well…okay…maybe. Sights like this make you begin to think perhaps all those previous HBO thoughts you had weren’t warranted after seeing gorgeous deep purple crocuses with those vibrant, brightly colored stamens. Sigh, how can you stay mad with Mother Nature when she delivers days like this?

Spring

With sunny, warm days like these, one could easily be seduced into thinking Spring was just around the corner ready to burst forward. And then you hear the weekend forecast foretelling of the age-old battle between Winter and Spring duking it out with two back-to-back storms colliding in the metro area beginning later tonight with accumulations of 2-5 inches, depending on where you live. This, following record-tying temperatures in the mid-70’sF this week.  In March! Today will be fairly nice again (albeit dreary) until this afternoon when the first front moves in with a splatter of moisture.

Weather

And then the bungee cord snaps your head back in the ongoing battle between the seasons here…often referred to as “Springtime in the Rockies.”

Join us next week when we share a big announcement-it’s gonna be ‘pawsome!’

Whatever you do this weekend, we hope you get check out to see what Nature has to offer-whichever season she deigns to share.

Nature Friday

Live, love, bark! 🐾